(12) Mens evil manners live in brass ; their virtues We write in water. * * *

* * This cardinal, Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly Was fashion'd .co much honour, from his cradle ; He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one ; Exceeding wife; fair spoken, and persuading ; Lofty, and four to them that lov'd him not : But to those men that fought him, sweet as fummer. And though he was unsatisfy'd in getting, (Which was a fin) yet in bestowing, madam, He was most princely : Ever witness for him Those twins of learning that he rais'd in you, Ipswich and Oxford ! one of which fell with him, Unwilling to out-live the good he did it: The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous, So excellent in art, and ftill so rising, That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue. His overthrow heap'd happiness upon him; For then, and not till then, he felt himself, And found the blessedness of being little ; And to add greater honours to his age Than man could give him, he dy'd, fearing God.

was (way'd; but I pretend not to say any thing certain ; the ju. dicious reader will soon see whether the explication given fatisfies hin.

(12) Mens, &c.] Beaumont and Fletcher borrow'd this fentiment from Shakespear in their Pbilafter. Act si

All your better deeds
Shall be in water writ, but this in martle.

ACT ACT V. SCENE V.

Malicious Men,

(13) Men that make Envy and crooked malice nourishment, Dare bite the best,

A Church-man.

Love and meekness, Lord,
Become a church-man better than ambition:
Win Araying fouls with modesty again ;
Caft none away.

IN HUMANITY.

(14) 'Tis a cruelty To load a falling man.

Scene VIII. Archbishop Cranmer's Prophecy.

Let me speak, Sir ; (For heav'n now bids me) and the words I utter,

(13) Men, &c.] In Paftor Fida, there is a fine sentiment not unlike this. AEt 5. S. 1.

Who now can boast of earth’s felicity,
When

envy

treads on virtue's heels ? S. R. Fanshaw. (14) 'Tis, &c.] The poet, in the former part of the play, gives us the same humane and tender sentiment

O my lord, Press not a falling man too far ; 'tis virtue. A&t 3. S. 6. Nothing can afford us a better idea of the author's excellent mind; and we are assured, from the account we have of his character, He was remarkable for his humanity, benevolence, and many virtues.

Look how the father's face, (says Ben Johnson)
Lives in his issue, even so the race
Of Shakespear's mind and manners brightly shines,
In his well-torned, and true filed lines.

Let

Let none think flatt'ry, for they'll find 'em truth.
This royal infant, (heav'n still move about her)
Though in her cradle, yet now promises
Upon this land a thousand, thousand blessings,
Which time shall bring to ripeness. She shall be
(But few now living can behold that goodness)
A pattern to all princes living with her,
And all that shall succeed. Sheba was never
More covetous of wisdom and fair virtue,
Than this bleft foul Thall be.

All princely graces,
That mould up such a mighty piece as this,
With all the virtues that attend the good,
Shall still be doubled on her. Truth fhall nurfe her:
Holy and heav'nly thoughts ftill counsel her:
She shall be lov'd and fear'd. Her own shall blefs

her: Her foes shake, like a field of beaten corn, : And hang their heads with sorrow. Good grows

with her.
415) In her days, ev'ry man shall eat in fafety,
Under his own vine, what he plants ; and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours.
God shall be truly known, and those about her,
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour,
And claim by those their goodness, not by blood.
Nor shall this peace sleep with her ; but as when

(15) In, &c.] The poet's excellence in so beautifully keeping up the propriety of his characters, can never be sufficiently admired ; no expressions could have so well become the mouth of an archbishop as scripture ones; and we may observe, what graces this elegant compliment to his princess gains from thence ; the bleffings of Solomon's reign are set forth in the first of Kings, Ch. iv. where particularly 'tis faid, “ Every man dwelt safely under his vine ;' and so in the prophet Micah, “ They shall fit every man under his vine, and under his fig-trce ; and none shall make them afraid ; for all people will walk every one in the name of his God, &c. See Cb, iv. Ver. 4.

Thz

The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phønix,
Her ashes new create another heir,
As great in admiration as herself ;
So shall fhe leave her blessedness to one,
(16) When heav'n fhall call her from this cloud of

darkness)
Who from the sacred ashes of her honour
Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was,
And so stand fix’d. Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the servants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him :
Where-ever the bright sun of heav'n shall shine,
His honour and the greatness of his name
Shall be, and make new nations. He shall flourish,
And like a mountain-cedar, reach his branches
To all the plains about him ; Children's children
Shall see this, and bless heav'n.

(16) This cloud of darkness. ] Milton in his Comus, at the beginning, thus speaks in contempt of the earth :

Above the smoak and stir of this dim spot,
Which men call earth, and with low-thoughted care
Confin'd, and pefter'd in this pinfold here,
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,
Unmindful of the crown that virtue gives.

Tbe

God-a-mercy,

G

OOD-den, Sir Richard,

fellow;
And if his name be George, I'll call him

Peter :
For new made honour doth forget mens names :
'Tis too respective and unfociable
For your conversing. Now your traveller,
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess :
And when iny knightly stomach is suffic'd,
Why then, I fuck my teeth, and catechise
(1) My piked man of countries ;-my dear Sir,
VOL. II.

E

(Thus

多

King John.] The style all thro' this excellent play is grand and equal, and it abounds with a great variety of fine topic's, and affecting pafiages : Shakespear feems to have had a particular refpect for Faulconbridge, whose character is well maintain’d, as is that of the king, than whom none could have been a more proper person for tragedy ; I know not by what singular good fortune too it has happened, that the text is remarkably correct, and free from that multitude of mistakes, wherewith most of our author's works fo unhappily abound. • (1) My piked.]' Mr. Pope explains this by “