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LADY F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father ;

By long and vehement fuit I was feduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed:-
Heaven lay not my tranfgreffion to my charge!—
Thou art the iffue of my dear offence,
Which was fo ftrongly urg'd, past my defence.
BAST. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wifh a better father.

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Some fins do bear their privilege on earth,
And fo doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Needs muft you lay your heart at his difpofe,-
Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
Against whofe fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,"
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.
He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart, I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but fay, thou didst not well
When I was got, I'll fend his foul to hell.

7 Thou art-] Old copy-That art.

Corre&ed by Mr. Rowe.
MALONE.

Some fins-] There are fins, that whatever be determined of them above, are not much cenfured on earth. JOHNSON.

Needs muft you lay your heart at his dispose,

Against whofe fury und unmatched force

The awless lion could not wage the fight, &c.] Shakspeare here alludes to the old metrical romance of Richard Coeur-de-lion, wherein this once celebrated monarch is related to have acquired his diftinguifing appellation, by having plucked out a lion's heart to whofe fury he was exposed by the Duke of Auftria, for having flain his fon with a blow of his fift. From this ancient romance the ftory has crept into fome of our old chronicles: but the original paffage may be seen at large in the introdu&ion to the third volame of Reliques of ancient English Poetry. PERCY.

Come, lady, I will fhow thee to my kin;
And they fhall fay, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadft faid him nay, it had been fin:
Who fays it was, he lies; I say, 'twas not.

ACT II.

SCENE I.o

France. Before the walls of Angiers.

[Exeunt.

Enter, on one fide, the Archduke of Auftria, and Forces; on the other, PHILIP, King of France, and Forces, LEWIS, CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and Attendants.

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LEW. Before Angiers well met, brave Auftria.Arthur, that great forerunner of thy blood, Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart," And fought the holy wars in Palestine, By this brave duke came early to his grave:

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Richard, that robb'd &c.] So, Raftal, in his Chronicle: "It is fayd that a lyon was put to kynge Richard, beynge in prison, to have devoured him, and when the lyon was gapynge he put his arme in his mouth, and pulled the lyon by the harte so hard that he flewe the lyon, and therefore fome fay he is called Rycharde Gure de Lyon; but fome fay he is called Cure de Lyon, because of his boldness and hardy ftomake." GREY.

I have an old black-lettered hiftory of lord Fauconbridge, whence Shakspeare might pick up this circumftance. FARMER.

In Heywoods Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601, there is a long defcription of this fabulous atchievement.

The same story is told by Knighton, inter Decem Scriptores, and by Fabian, who calls it a fable. It probably took its rife from Hugh de Neville, one of Richard's followers, having killed a lion, when they were in the Holy Land: a circumftance recorded by Matthew Paris. MALONE.

3 By this brave duke came early to his grave:] The old play led Shakspeare into this error of afcribing to the Duke of Auftria the

And, for amends to his pofterity,
At our importance 4 hither is he come,
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither. ARTH. God fhall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death,

The rather, that you give his offspring life, Shadowing their right under your wings of war:

death of Richard, who loft his life at the fiege of Chaluz, long after he had been ranfomed out of Auftria's power. STEEVENS.

The producing Auftria on the fcene is alfo contrary to the truth of history, into which anachronism our author was led by the old play. Leopold Duke of Auftria, by whom Richard I. had been thrown in prifon in 1193, died in confequence of a fall from his horse in 1195, fome years before the commencement of the prefent play.

The original caufe of the enmity between Richard the First, and the Duke of Auftria, was, according to Fabian, that Richard "tooke from a knighte of the Duke of Oftriche the faid Duke's banner, and in despite of the said duke, trade it under foote, and did unto it all the fpite he might." Harding fays, in his Chronicle, that the cause of quarrel was Richard's taking down the Duke of Auftria's arms and banner, which he had set up above thofe of the King of France and the King of Jerufalem. The affront was given, when they lay before Acre in Paleftine. This circumftauce is alluded to in the old King John, where the Baftard, after killing Auftria, fays,

"And as my father triumph'd in thy fpoils,

"And trod thine enfigns underneath his feet," &c.

Other hiftorians fay, that the Duke fufpe&ed Richard to have been concerned in the affaffination of his kinfman, the Marquis of Montferrat, who was ftabbed in Tyre, foon after he had been eleaed King of Jerufalem; but this was a calumny, propagated by Richard's enemies for political purposes. MALONE.

4 At our importance-] At our importunity. JOHNSON.

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"The letter at Sir Toby's great importance." STERVENS.

I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unflained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
LEW. A noble boy! Who would not do thee
right?

AUST. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs, As feal to this indenture of my love;

That to my home I will no more return,

Till Angiers, and the right thou haft in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,5
Whofe foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, flill fecure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utmoft corner of the weft,
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

CONST. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's

thanks,

Till your ftrong hand fhall help to give him ftrength, To make a more requital to your love.

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AUST. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their swords

In fuch a just and charitable war.

K. PHI. Well then, to work; our cannon fhall be bent

Against the brows of this refifting town.
Call for our chiefeft men of difcipline,

5 -that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,] England is fuppofed to be called Albion from the white rocks facing France.

JOHNSON.

• To make a more requital, &c.] I believe it has been already obferved, that more fignified in our author's time, greater. STEEVENS.

To cull the plots of beft advantages:-'
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the marketplace in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

CONST. Stay for an answer to your embassy, Left unadvis'd you ftain your fwords with blood: My lord Chatillon may from England bring That right in peace, which here we urge in war; And then we fhall repent each drop of blood, That hot rafh hafte fo indirectly fhed.

Enter CHATILLON.

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K. PHI. A wonder, lady! -lo, upon thy wish, Our meffenger Chatillon is arriv'd.

What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly paufe for thee; Chatillon, speak.
CHAT. Then turn your forces from this paltry fiege,
And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whofe leisure I have ftaid, have given him time
To land his legions all as foon as I:
His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,

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7 To cull the plots of best advantages:] i. c. to mark such stations as might moft over-awe the town. HENLEY.

8 A wonder, lady!] The wonder is only that Chatillon happened to arrive at the moment when Conftance mentioned him; which the French king, according to a fuperftition which prevails more or lefs in every mind agitated by great affairs, turns into a miraculous interpofition, or omen of good. Johnson.

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expedient-] Immediate, expeditious. JOHNSON.

So, in K. Henry VI. Part II:

"A breach, that craves a quick, expedient Rop." STEEVENS. VOL. XI.

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