Were there in arms, they would be as a call1
To train ten thousand English to their side;
Or, as a little snow,2 tumbled about,

Anon becomes a mountain. O noble Dauphin,
Go with me to the king: 'Tis wonderful,
What may be wrought out of their discontent :
Now that their souls are topfull of offence,
For England go; I will whet on the king.
LEW. Strong reasons make strong actions: Let
us go;

If you say, ay, the king will not say, no.

1

[Exeunt.

they would be as a call-] The image is taken from the manner in which birds are sometimes caught; one being placed for the purpose of drawing others to the net, by his note or call. MALONE.

Or, as a little snow,] Bacon, in his History of Henry VII. speaking of Simnel's march, observes, that "their snow-ball did not gather as it went." JOHNSON.

strong actions:] The oldest copy reads-strange actions: the folio 1632-strong. STEEVENS.

The editor of the second folio, for strange, substituted strong; and the two words so nearly resemble each other that they might certainly have been easily confounded. But, in the present instance, I see no reason for departing from the reading of the original copy, which is perfectly intelligible. MALONE.

The repetition, in the second folio, is perfectly in our author's manner, and is countenanced by the following passage in King Henry V :

"Think we King Harry strong,

"And, princes, look, you strongly arm to meet him."

STEEVENS.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

Northampton. A Room in the Castle.

Enter HUBERT and Two Attendants.

HUB. Heat me these irons hot; and, look thou stand

Within the arras: when I strike my foot Upon the bosom of the ground, rush forth: And bind the boy, which you shall find with me, Fast to the chair: be heedful: hence, and watch. 1 ATTEND. I hope, your warrant will bear out the deed.

HUB. Uncleanly scruples! Fear not you: look to't.[Exeunt Attendants. Young lad, come forth; I have to say with you.

Enter ARTHUR.

ARTH. Good morrow, Hubert.
HUB.

Good morrow, little prince.

Northampton.] The fact is, as has been already stated, that Arthur was first confined at Falaise, and afterwards at Rouen, in Normandy, where he was put to death.-Our author has deviated, in this particular, from the history, and brought King John's nephew to England; but there is no circumstance, either in the original play, or in this of Shakspeare, to point out the particular castle in which he is supposed to be confined. The castle of Northampton has been mentioned, in some modern editions, as the place, merely because, in the first Act, King John seems to have been in that town. In the old copy there is no where any notice of place. MALONE.

ARTH. As little prince (having so great a title To be more prince,) as may be. You are sad. HUB. Indeed, I have been merrier.

ARTH. Mercy on me! Methinks, no body should be sad but I: Yet, I remember, when I was in France, Young gentlemen would be as sad as night, Only for wantonness. By my christendom,

Young gentlemen &c.] It should seem that this affectation had found its way into England, as it is ridiculed by Ben Jonson, in the character of Master Stephen, in Every Man in his Humour, 1601. Again, in Questions concernyng Conie-hood, and the Nature of the Conie, &c. 1595: "That conie-hood which proceeds of melancholy, is, when in feastings appointed for merriment, this kind of conie-man sits like Mopsus or Corydon, blockish, never laughing, never speaking, but so bearishlie as if he would devour all the companie; which he doth to this end, that the guests might mutter how this his deep melancholy argueth great learning in him, and an intendment to most weighty affaires and heavenlie speculations."

Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Queen of Corinth, Onos says:

"Come let's be melancholy."

Again, in Lyly's Midas, 1592: Melancholy! is melancholy a word for a barber's mouth? Thou should'st say, heavy, dull, and doltish: melancholy is the crest of courtiers, and now every base companion, &c. says he is melancholy."

Again, in The Life and Death of the Lord Cromwell, 1613: "My nobility is wonderful melancholy.

"Is it not most gentleman-like to be melancholy?"

STEEVENS.

Lyly, in his Midas, ridicules the affectation of melancholy: "Now every base companion, being in his muble fubles, says, he is melancholy.-Thou should'st say thou art lumpish. If thou encroach on our courtly terms, weele trounce thee." FARMER.

I doubt whether our author had any authority for attributing this species of affectation to the French. He generally ascribes the manners of England to all other countries. MALONE.

6

By my christendom,] This word is used, both here and in All's well that ends well, for baptism, or rather the