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

Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly
Was fashion'd to much honour, from his cradle ;
He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one;
Exceeding wife; fair spoken, and perfuading;
Lofty, and four to them that lov'd him not:
But to those men that fought him, fweet as fummer.
And though he was unfatisfy'd in getting,
(Which was a fin) yet in beftowing, 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 fo rifing,
That Christendom fhall 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 fray'd; but I pretend not to say any thing certain; the judicious reader will foon fee whether the explication given satisfies him.

(12) Mens, &c.] Beaumont and Fletcher borrow'd this fentiment from Shakespear in their Philafter. A& 5.

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 fraying fouls with modefty again;
Caft none away.

INHUMANITY.

(14) 'Tis a cruelty

To load a falling man.

SCENE VIII. Archbishop Cranmer's Prophecy.
Let me fpeak, Sir;

(For heav'n now bids me) and the words I utter,

(13) Men, &c.] In Paftor Fido, there is a fine fentiment not unlike this. At 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 fame humane and tender fentiment

O my lord,

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

Look how the father's face, (fays Ben Johnson)
Lives in his iffue, even fo the race

Of Shakespear's mind and manners brightly fhines,
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 ftill move about her)
Though in her cradle, yet now promifes
Upon this land a thousand, thousand bleffings,
Which time fhall bring to ripeness. She fhall be
(But few now living can behold that goodness)
A pattern to all princes living with her,
And all that fhall fucceed. Sheba was never
More covetous of wisdom and fair virtue,
Than this bleft foul fhall be. All princely graces,
That mould up fuch a mighty piece as this,
With all the virtues that attend the good,

:

Shall ftill be doubled on her. Truth fhall nurfe her
Holy and heav'nly thoughts ftill counsel her:
She fhall be lov'd and fear'd. Her own fhall blefs

her:

Her foes fhake, like a field of beaten corn,
And hang their heads with forrow.
with her.

Good grows

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

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

The

The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix,
Her afhes new create another heir,

As great in admiration as herself ;

So fhall the leave her bleffedness to one,

(16) When heav'n fhall call her from this cloud of darkness)

Who from the facred afhes of her honour

Shall ftar-like rise, as great in fame as fhe was,
And fo ftand fix'd. Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror,
That were the fervants to this chosen infant,
Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him :
Where-ever the bright fun 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 fee this, and bless heav'n.

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

Above the fmoak 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.

G

ACTI. SCENE III.

New Titles.

OO D-den, Sir Richard, God-a-mercy,
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 converfing. Now your traveller,
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess:
And when my knightly ftomach is fuffic'd,
Why then, I fuck my teeth, and catechife
(1) My piked man of countries ;-my dear Sir,
VOL. II.
E

(Thus

* King John] The ftyle all thro' this excellent play is grand and equal, and it abounds with a great variety of fine topic's, and affecting paffages: Shakespear feems to have had a particular refpect for Faulconbridge, whofe character is well maintain'd, as is that of the king, than whom none could have been a more proper perfon for tragedy; I know not by what fingular 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 " a Man formally bearded." "The old copies, (fays Theobald) give it us picked, by a flight corruption in the fpelling; but the author certainly defign d picqued (from the French verb, je piquer) i. e touchy, tart, apprehenfive, upon his guard.' A fenfe, (that perhaps may feem ridiculous to fome readers, and which I by no means advance as

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true)