Leaving his body as a paradise ;
T'invelope and contain celestial spirits.

King Henry V. His Perfections.

Hear kim but reason in divinity,
And, all-admiring, with an inward wish,
You would desire, the king were made a prelate.
(3) Hear him debate in common-wealth affairs,
You'd fay, it hath been all in all his study.
Lift his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in mufick.
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter. When he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still ;
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honied sentences.

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less source of true knowledge and sublimity : this Mr. Upton has judiciously observed, who remarks on this paffage, that " cording to the scripture-expressior, the old Adam, or the old Man, maratos avogW 7805, fignifies man in his unregenerated, or gentile state : and the new man, is man in his regenerated and chri. ftian state. See Rom. vi. 6. Ephef. iv. 22. Colon. iii. 9,"

(3) Har him, &c.] I have purposely avoided any historical remarks, or characters of persons in this work, as it would swell it much beyond the intended compass : however, the English reader will find no small satisfaction in comparing the historical plays of Shakespear with the genuin history, and more particularly if he is happy enough to read that fine history of England, which doth honour to the nation, and is superior to all the encomiums I can give it, compil'd by Mr. Gutbrie, to whom our author likewife is particularly obliged for his judicious and incomparable Elay on Tragedy,

SCENE

SCENE II. The Common-wealth of Bees.
(4) So work the honey bees :
Creatures, that by a * ruling nature tcach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of fort :
Where fome, like magistrates, correct at home i

(4) So, &c.] That Shakespear, in this place, really and delignedly imitated Virgil, and took the chief hints from him, I cannot but believe ; however, it would be endless to quote from Virgil, and other authors, the many passages fimilar to it : the subject of Virgii's 4th Georgic, and the agreeable manner in which he treats it, is known to almost every one, that reads I fhall only quote a few lines from Dr. Trap's translation, and refer those who desire to see more, to the original. See verse 180.

Of all the mute creation, these alone
A public-weal and common int’rest know,
Imbody'd ; and subfift by certain laws.
Mindful of winter, they in summer toil;
And, for their country's good, preserve their store.
Some, by joint compact, range the fields for food,
Industrious ; others in their tents at home
Narcissus clammy tears, and gun from trees,
Lay, as the first foundation of their combs ;
Then into arches build the vifcid wax :
Others draw forth their colonies adult,
The nation's hope : fome work the purer sweets
And with the liquid nectar stretch their cells :
Some (such their post allotted) at the gates
Stand centry : and alternate watch, the rain
And clouds observing : or unlade their friends
Returning : or in troops beat off the drones
A lazy cattle : hot the work proceeds; &c.

The aged fires
With curious architecture build their cells;
And guard their towns, and fortify their combs :
But late at night the youth fatigu'd return,

Their legs, with thyme full-laden, &c.It is worth remarking how much Shakespear makes any thing his own, and how truly an original, his judicious manner renders that which is really an imitation. Vanier ; in his Prædium R:ficum, hath many pretty and new things on this subje:t, in that book, where he treats of Bees,

Ruling, Warb. vulg. Rule in. VOL. II.

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Others

Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad :
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds :
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor :
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing mason, building roofs of gold ;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey ;
The poor' mechanick porters crowding in
Their heavy burthens at his narrow gate :
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy, yawning drone.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Warlike Spirit.

(5) Now all the youth of England are in arms,
And filken dalliance in the wardrobe lies :
Now strive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man :
They fell the pasture now to buy the horse,
Following the mirror of all christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries,

(5) Now, &c.] See the beginning of Richard the third ; I know not a finer image in all Shakespear, than that of expeet ation in the subsequent lines : Milton too has made a person of expectation in the 6th book, and ver. 306. of Paradise Loft; but though truly sublime, he must submit very much to our daring and admirable poet.

Two broad funs, their fhields,
Blaz'd oppofite, while Expectation stood

In horror. Mr. Warburton observes of the passage in the text, that “ Expectation fitting in the air, designs the height of their ambition and the sword, hid from the hilt to the point with crowns and coronets, that all lentiments of danger were lost in the thoughts of glory."

For

For now fits expectation in the air,
And hides a sword from hilts unto the point,
With crowns imperial : crowns and coronets,
Promis'd to Harry and his followers.

ENG LA N D.
* O England ! model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,
What might'st thou do, that'honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural ?
But see, thy fault France hath in thee found out i
A nest of hollow bofoms, which he fills
With treach'rous crowns.

SCENE II. Falfe. Appearances. Oh! how thou hast with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance ! Thew men dutiful ? Why so didft thou : or seem they grave and learned Why so didit thou : come they of noble family? Why so didit thou : 'feem they religious ? Why so didit thou: or are they fpare in diet, Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger, Constant in fpirit, not swerving with the blood, Garnish'd and deck'd in modeft compliment, (6) Not working with the eye without the ear, And but in purged judgment trufting neither? Such, and so finely bculted didst thou seem. And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot :

* 0, &c.] See the last paffage in king John.

(6) Not, &c.] i, e. not trusting to either, eye or ear only, but using both on every occafion, and trusting neither but in purged judgment, with well-weigh'd deliberation. Mr. Warburton's emendation, which is adopted by Mr. bcobald, needs only be mentioned to Thew it is not Shakespear's, Not working with the car, but with the eye.

To mark the full-fraught man, the best endu'd,
With some fufpicion.

'

SI EST
ACT III. SCENE I. :S
Description of a Fleet setting fail.

(71 Suppose, that you have seen
The well-appointed king at Hampton-pier
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
With filken streamers the young Phoebus fanning

991
Play with your fancies; and in them behold,
Upon the hempen tackle, hip-boys climbing ;
Hear the fhrill whistle, which doch order give
To sounds confus'd; behold the threaded fail,
Borne with th' invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd fea, ve!
Breasting the lofty surge!),

DET

ACT IV. SCENE I.

Description of Night in a Camp.
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of

night,
The hum of either army Atilly founds;
That the fixt centinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each cthers watch.
Fire answers fire; and through their paly flames
Each battle fees the other's umber'd face.
Steed threatens Steed, in high and boastful neighs,

(7) Suppose, &c.) On this subject we might reasonably expect Shakespear fhould stand unrivalled by the writers of every other country, as here his country juftly, boasts herself unrivalled. Milton in Sampson Agoniftes, says beautifully enough of Dalila, the

Like a stately ship,
Proud of her gawdy trim, comes this way failing,
With all her brav ry on, and tackle trim.
Sails fill d and Atreamers waving,
Courted by all the winds that hold them play.
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