THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 WITHDRAWN 
 
 STANLEY JOHNSON 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 ENGLISH READING ROOM
 
 /^yPAn^ 
 
 rv\
 
 THE LIFE AND DEATH 
 
 OF 
 
 KING JOHN
 
 THE WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 SHAKESPEARE 
 
 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 IVOR B. JOHN 
 
 ? 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 THE BOBBS-MERRILL CO. 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 First Published in 1907
 
 SRLF 
 URL , 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction vii 
 
 The Life and Death of King John i 
 
 Appendix 147
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The reign of King John seems to have had considerable 
 attraction for English dramatic writers. Some time before 
 1563, and probably not earlier than 1548, John Bale, 
 Bishop of Ossory (b. 149S, d. 1563), had seized upon the 
 subject as a weapon with which to attack the Papists. 
 While still preserving the form and methods of the Moral- 
 ity play, the zealous bishop introduced into his Kynge 
 Johan a certain amount of the historical element; for we 
 find King John represented as the champion of Protes- 
 tantism endeavouring to aid " Ynglond " in shaking off the 
 chains of Papacy. For this he is excommunicated and 
 the country is laid under an interdict, while invasion is 
 threatened by the French, Spaniards and Northmen in aid 
 of the Papal cause. To save his country from these 
 accumulated horrors John submits to the Pope, but is 
 poisoned by " Dyssymulacyon," otherwise " Simon of Swin- 
 sett," and dies a Protestant martyr. 
 
 With the exception of the King the characters of this 
 play are little better than the personified abstractions of 
 the Morality, who occupy their time in religious and pol- 
 itical discussions while the action is at a standstill. Dra- 
 matic propriety of any kind is entirely wanting throughout. 
 
 Though ineffably tedious to read at the present day,
 
 viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 this production is interesting from at least two points of 
 view. In the first place it is a point of fusion between 
 the Morality and the Historical play. In the second 
 place it is very kind to the memory of "Johan" and 
 exalts him into a hero, saint and martyr: 
 
 This noble Kynge Johan, as a faythfull Moyses 
 Withstode proude Pharo for hys pore Israel, (lines 1 106-7). 
 
 He takes part with Englandes ryghtfull herytage " 
 for Bale carefully avoids any mention of Arthur and is 
 made to declare that his enemies have ever hated him 
 11 for doynge justice " {line 2125). The panegyric pronounced 
 by " Veryte " best explains the author's attitude towards 
 his "hero." 
 
 I assure ye, fryndes, lete men wryte what they wyll, 
 Kynge Johan was a man both valiaunt and godlye 
 What though Polydorus reporteth hym very yll 
 At the suggestyons of the malicyouse clergye, 
 Thynke you a Romane with the Romans can not lye ? 
 Yes ; therfore, Leylonde, out of thy slumbre awake, 
 And wytnesse a trewthe for thyne owne contrayes sake, 1 
 
 For his valiauntnesse many excellent writers make, 
 As Sigebertus, Vincentius, and also Nauclerus ; 
 Geraldus and Mathu Parys with hys noble vertues take ; 
 Yea, Paulus Phrigio, Johan Major, and Hector Boethius, 
 Nothynge is allowed in hys lyfe of Polydorus, 
 Which discommendeth hys ponyshmentes for trayterye, 
 Advauncynge very sore hygh treason in the clergye. 
 
 Of hys godlynesse thus muche report wyll I : 
 Gracyouse provysyon for sore, sycke, halte and lame 
 He made in hys tyme, both in toune and cytie, 
 Grauntynge great lyberties, for mayntenance of the same, 
 By markettes and fayers in places of notable name ; 
 
 ^ote the "liaison" between the last rhyme of one stanza and the 
 first rhyme of the next.
 
 INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 Great monymentes are in Yppeswych, Donwych, and Berye, 
 Whych noteth hym to be a man of notable mercye; 
 
 The cytie of London, through his mere graunt and premye, 
 Was first privyliged to have both mayor and shrive, 
 Where before hys tyme it had but baylyves onlye ; 
 In hys dayes the Brydge, the cytizens ded contryve, 
 Though he now be dead, hys noble actes are alyve. 
 His zele is declared, as towchinge Christes religyon, 
 In that he exyled the Jewes out of thys regyon. 
 
 The good bishop's idea of John is as faulty as his 
 idea of poetry and verse ; his bias is due chiefly to his 
 hatred of Catholicism which appears continually in such 
 passages as 
 
 K. J. . . . thou menyst the Pope. 
 
 Ynglond. I mean none other but hym, God geve hym a rope ! 
 
 {Kynge Johan, i. 75.) 
 
 Kynge Johan lay in manuscript until printed by Collier 
 for the Camden Society in 1838. If acted at all, it seems 
 to have left no trace behind, for in 1 591 there was 
 " Imprmted at London for Sampson Clarke, to be solde 
 at his shop, on the backe-side of the Royall Exchange," 
 a play entitled The Troublesome Raigne of John King of 
 England, with the discoverie of King Richard Cordelions 
 Base Sonne {vulgarly named, The Bastard Fawconbridge) : 
 also the death of King John at Swinstead Abbey. As it 
 was {sundry times') publikely acted by the Queenes Majesties 
 Players, in the honourable citie of London ; and in this 
 play the influence of Kynge Johan is nowhere visible. 
 The Troublesome Raigne was divided into two parts, the 
 second being entitled The Second part of the troublesome 
 Raigne of King John, conteining the death of Arthur
 
 x INTRODUCTION 
 
 Plantaginet, the landing of Lewes, and the poysning of 
 King John at Swinstead Abbey, and it was probably 
 written about 1589; but this is only conjecture, for we 
 have no definite evidence on the point. Another edition, 
 " Imprinted by Valentine Sims for John Helme," appeared 
 in 161 1, claiming to have been "written by W. Sh.," 
 while a third edition of 1622 shamelessly asserts itself 
 to have been "written by W. Shakespeare." 
 
 No one who compares the Troublesome Raigne with 
 King John can for a moment entertain the idea that the 
 former is a "first draft" of the latter. 1 If any argument 
 of disproof were needed it would be sufficient to point 
 out, as Mr. Rose has done, that no writer could possibly 
 recast his own work in such a manner as to remodel 
 every line but four. The explanation of the claim on the 
 title-pages of the later editions of the Troublesome Raigne 
 is quite simple; it was a deliberate attempt to make the 
 public believe that the play for sale was the King John 
 of Shakespeare, of which no Quarto seems to have ap- 
 peared. King John had been performed before 1 598 {vide 
 infra), and so a wily publisher might easily gull the 
 public in 1611 and 1622 into the belief that the Trouble- 
 some Raigne was the Shakespearian play. 
 
 Tieck clung to the belief that Shakespeare wrote the 
 Troublesome Raigne, maintaining not only that every line 
 of it bears the impress of Shakespeare's hand but that it 
 is superior to King John ! Pope says that it was written 
 
 1 Since the above was written Prof. Courthope's volume dealing with 
 King John has appeared, in which the Troublesome Raigne is given to 
 Shakespeare. I still fail to see that there is the slightest justification 
 for this.
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 "by W. Shakespeare and W. Rowley," and Farmer, who 
 believes Rowley to have been the author, thinks that there 
 must have been a tradition to that effect in Pope's time. 
 Malone attributed the earlier play to Peele or Greene, 
 while Fleay sees in it the joint work of Peele, Greene, 
 and Lodge. 
 
 Marlowe's name has also been suggested, but the 
 character of the play as a whole does not encourage 
 belief in Marlowe's authorship. We may say, however, 
 that no one but an admirer or pupil of Marlowe's could 
 have produced Faulconbridge's soliloquy : 
 
 What winde of honour blowes this furie forth ? 
 
 Or whence proecde (sic procede) these fumes of Majestie ? 
 
 Me thinkes I heare a hollow Eccho sound, 
 
 That Philip is the Sonne unto a King : 
 
 The whistling leaves upon the trembling trees, 
 
 Whistle in consort I am Richard's Sonne : 
 
 The bubling murmur of the water's fall, 
 
 Records Phillipus Regius filius : 
 
 Birds in their flight make musicke with their wings, 
 
 Filling the ayre with glorie of my birth ; 
 
 Birds, bubbles, leaves, and mountains, Eccho, all 
 
 Ring in mine eares, that I am Richard's Sonne. 
 
 (Troublesome Raigne, lines 263-274.) 
 
 The address to the Gentlemen Readers of the Play 
 
 bears out this supposition, for they are addressed as 
 
 You that with friendly grace of smoothed brow 
 Have entertained the Scythian Tamburlaine. 
 
 But, in fine, we can only guess at the authorship of the 
 Troublesome Raigne, and there is little to guide or check 
 our guesses. 
 
 The early play has, of course, to bear comparison with 
 Shakespeare's recast of it, and therefore appears at a great
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 disadvantage. But, taken on its merits, it is by no means 
 an utterly poor piece of work. In structure and in its 
 sequence of events it fully satisfied Shakespeare ; for the 
 differences between the two versions in these respects are 
 few and comparatively unimportant 
 
 The Troublesome Raigne is 3081 lines in length. King 
 John has 2715 lines; therefore, on the whole, Shakespeare 
 has shortened his original. When we compare the first and 
 second parts of the Troublesome Raigne with the corre- 
 sponding parts of King John, we find that the 1822 lines 
 of the first part of the Troublesome Raigne have been 
 expanded by Shakespeare into 1987 in King John, 
 while the 1259 of the Troublesome Raigne, Part II., have 
 been compressed into 728 in King John. A glance at 
 the dramatic content of each part reveals at once the 
 reason for this difference of treatment Part I. of the 
 Raigne contains much more of the action than Part II. 
 It ends with Hubert's setting out to inform the nobles 
 that Arthur still lives, leaving little more than the deaths 
 of Arthur and John to be dealt with in the second part. 
 Therefore what Shakespeare did was to expand the more 
 vigorous Part. I., and to take the drag off the more slow- 
 moving Part II. 
 
 The further and slighter alterations worth notice are 
 as follows : The mother is not present during the scene 
 where Faulconbridge proudly claims illegitimacy, and a 
 little later Shakespeare adds a certain James Gurney to 
 the dramatis persona?, a supernumerary of absolutely no 
 importance. 1 
 
 1 See Coleridge's curious note on this point, Table Talk, 12th March, 
 1827. " For an instance of Shakespeare's power in minimis, I generally
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 King John makes no mention of the Bastard's hope 
 of winning Blanch for himself. In the Raigne he says 
 (line 825): "Slave as I was, I thought to have moovde the 
 match " ; and this explains his hatred of the Dauphin. 
 
 The incidents of the quarrel between the Bastard and 
 Lymoges-Austria are altered. In the Raigne Faulcon- 
 bridge chases the Duke and makes him drop the lion's 
 skin as early as the first battle between the English and 
 French ; later, the two quarrel before John, and Lymoges- 
 Austria refuses to fight with Faulconbridge, his social in- 
 ferior. John thereupon makes the Bastard Duke of Nor- 
 mandy, but Lymoges-Austria still will not fight. The 
 death of the latter takes place under the same circumstances 
 in both plays. 
 
 The capture and rescue of Elinor is part of the action 
 in the Raigne \ while Shakespeare merely narrates it in 
 seven lines. 
 
 The scene in the Raigne in which Faulconbridge is 
 shown at work ransacking the monastery and convent is 
 completely omitted from King John. It is out of keep- 
 ing even with the cruder style of the earlier play, where it 
 seems to be inserted as a vulgar interlude, written in abomin- 
 able doggerel. Still more would it have been out of 
 keeping with Shakespeare's whole treatment of the play. 
 
 The "five moons" alluded to in King John are actually 
 staged in the Raigne (how this was managed we dare not 
 guess !) and the scenes concerned with the coronation and 
 with Peter of Pomfret have been taken to pieces and reset. 
 
 quote James Gurney's character in King John. How individual and comical 
 he is with the four words allowed to his dramatic life t And pray look at 
 Skelton's Richard Sparrow also ! "
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 In the Raigne Faulconbridge is absent when the body 
 of Arthur is found by the nobles and they accuse Hubert 
 of the murder. 
 
 In the last Act the earlier dramatist stages the poison- 
 ing of the King, while Shakespeare brings the King on 
 after he has taken the poison. 
 
 Thus we see that, so far as structure goes, Shake- 
 speare practically took over the old play as it stood. 
 The earlier dramatist took his material from Holinshed's 
 Chronicles, handled it to suit his own purposes, and 
 cared not a jot for fidelity to his original. It is a far 
 cry, therefore, from King John and the Troublesome Raigne 
 to the actual events of the reign of the historical King 
 John, for Holinshed's Chronicles themselves are not a well 
 of English history undefiled. 
 
 The play opens soon after the accession of John in 
 1 1 99 and ends with his death in 12 16. For Chatillon's 
 embassy there is no historical warrant, nor could Philip 
 of France have demanded Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; 
 for, says Holinshed, " by generall consent of the nobles 
 and peeres of the countries of Anjou, Maine and Touraine, 
 Arthur was received as the liege and sovereigne lord of the 
 same countries." 
 
 The writer of the Troublesome Raigne^ who, as we have 
 shown, made much more of the matter than Shakespeare 
 did, probably obtained the idea of John's rifling the abbeys 
 from a note in Holinshed sub anno 12 10, where we are 
 told that John on returning from an expedition to Ireland 
 " constreined " the Cistercians to pay 40,000 pounds of 
 silver notwithstanding " all their privileges to the contrary.
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 The cause that mooved the King to deal so hardlie with 
 them was, for that they refused to helpe him with monie, 
 when before his last going over into Normandie, he de- 
 manded it of them towards the paiment of the thirtie 
 thousand pounds which he had covenanted to pay the 
 French king." 
 
 The doings of Philip Faulconbridge have been com- 
 pounded of materials derived from several sources. Holin- 
 shed mentions " Philip, bastard sonne to King Richard to 
 whom his father had given the castell and honor of 
 Coinacke," who " Killed the vicount of Limoges, in re- 
 venge of his father's death, who was slaine (as yee have 
 heard) in besieging the castell of Chalus Cheverell." The 
 "discovery of the base sonne" seems to be an adaptation 
 of what Halle has to say about the conduct of Dunois, 
 the Bastard of Orleans. His father " the lord of Cauni " 
 and his mother being dead, Dunois, at eight years of age 
 proudly claimed to be the illegitimate son of the Duke of 
 Orleans, when the next-of-kin of Cauni claimed the in- 
 heritance. Stow has a somewhat similar story, in which 
 Morgan, Provost of Beverley, would have been made 
 Bishop had he not preferred to style himself the bastard 
 son of King Henry, rather than the lawful issue of "one 
 Radulph Bloeth." 
 
 The interview between John and Philip, spoken of in 
 Act II., took place on 16th August, 1199; "on the 
 morrow after the feast of the Assumption of our ladie." 
 Blanch of Castile was not present at this meeting, nor 
 was her betrothal mentioned. The match was "clapped 
 up " at the next meeting of the Kings, Blanch still being
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 absent. " Finallie, upon the Ascension day in this second 
 yeare of his reigne, they came eftsoones to a communica- 
 tion betwixt the townes of Vernon and Lisle Dandelie ; 
 where finallie they concluded an agreement, with a 
 marriage to be had betwixt Lewes the sonne of King 
 Philip, and the ladie Blanch, daughter to Alfonso King 
 of Castile the 8 of that name, and neece to K. John by 
 his sister Elianor. In consideration whereof, King John, 
 besides the summe of thirtie thousand markes in silver, 
 as in respect of dowrie assigned to his said neece, resigned 
 his title to the citie of Eureux, and also unto all those 
 townes which the French King had by warre taken from 
 him, the citie of Angiers onelie excepted, which citie he 
 received againe by covenants of the same agreement . . . 
 The King of England likewise did homage unto the 
 French King for Britaine, and againe (as after you shall 
 heare) received homage for the same countrie, and for 
 the countie of Richmont, of his nephue Arthur." 
 
 The first part of Act III. Scene i. pursues the thread 
 of incident in historical order until we come to the entry 
 of Pandulph, who was not sent to England by the Pope 
 until 121 1, when the country was still lying under the 
 interdict of 1208. The quarrel between John and the 
 Pope had arisen soon after 1205 when Hubert, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, died, and John had refused to allow 
 Stephen Langton, the Pope's nominee, "to injoy the rule 
 of the bishopricke and dioces of Canturburie ". It was 
 not until after the failure of the legates to intimidate 
 John that Innocent absolved his subjects from their allegi- 
 ance, and declared a kind of Crusade against him. This 
 brings us to 12 12.
 
 INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 In Scene ii. of the same Act we find Faulconbridge 
 gloating over the payment of his score against Lymoges- 
 Austria. Holinshed (see p. xv. ante) mentions the killing 
 in 1 199. The writer of the Troublesome Raigne has 
 identified the Duke of Austria who imprisoned Richard 
 Cceur-de-Lion in 1 193 with Vidomar, Viscount of Limoges. 
 "Brave Austria, cause of Cordelions death" {Troublesome 
 Raigne, i. 446) says the French King ; and in a stage-direction 
 the Bastard "chaseth Lymoges the Austrich Duke." 
 
 Then follows the capture of Arthur by John, which 
 brings us back to 1202, when Arthur was taken at Mira- 
 beau, to be imprisoned first at Falaise and afterwards at 
 Rouen. The "assailing" of Elinor in her tent is founded 
 on the chronicler's description of her being hard beset at 
 Mirabeau previous to the turn of fortune which led to 
 Arthur's capture. 
 
 Angiers was taken by John in 1206 "comming to the 
 Citie of Angiers, [he] appointed certeine bands of his 
 footmen, and all his light horssemen to compasse the 
 towne about, whilest he, with the residue of the footmen, 
 and all the men of armes, did go to assault the gates. 
 Which enterprise with fire and sword he so manfullie 
 executed, that the gates being in a moment broken 
 open, the citie was entered and delivered to the soldiers 
 for a preie. So that of the citizens some were taken, 
 some killed, and the wals of the citie beaten flat to the 
 ground." It had previously been taken by the Queen- 
 mother in 1 199. 
 
 In the first scene of Act IV. we are again with 
 Arthur, and the method of the playwrights in dealing
 
 x\ii INTRODUCTION 
 
 with the actual facts about the prince may be best under- 
 stood by comparing the words of the chroniclers with 
 the plays. " It is said that King John caused his 
 nephue Arthur to be brought before him at Falais, and 
 there went about to persuade him all that he could to 
 forsake his freendship and aliance with the French king, 
 and to leane and stick to him, being his naturall uncle. 
 But Arthur, like one that wanted good counsell, and 
 abounding too much in his owne wilfull opinion, made a 
 presumptuous answer ; not onelie denieing so to doo, but 
 also commanding King John to restore unto him the 
 realme of England, with all those other lands and pos- 
 sessions which King Richard had in his hand at the 
 houre of his death. For, sith the same apperteined to 
 him by right of inheritance, he assured him, except resti- 
 tution were made the sooner, he should not long continue 
 quiet. King John being sore mooved with such words, 
 thus uttered by his nephue, appointed (as before is said) 
 that he should be straitlie kept in prison, as first in 
 Falais, and after at Roan within the new castell there. 
 Thus by means of this good successe, the countries of 
 Poictou, Touraine, and Anjou were recovered. 
 
 " Shortlie after, King John, comming over into Eng- 
 land, caused himselfe to be crowned againe at Canturburie 
 by the hands of Hubert the archbishop there, on the four- 
 teenth day of Aprill, and then went backe againe into 
 Normandie, where, immediatlie upon his arivall, a rumour 
 was spread through all France, of the death of his nephue 
 Arthur. True it is that great suit was made to have 
 Arthur set at libertie, as well by the French king, as by
 
 INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 William de Riches a valiant baron of Poictou, and diverse 
 other noble men of the Britains, who when they could 
 not prevaile in their suit, they banded themselves togither 
 and, joining in confederacy with Robert, earle of Alanson, 
 the vicount Beamont, William de Fulgiers, and other, 
 they began to levie sharpe wars against King John in 
 diverse places, insomuch (as it was thought) that, so long 
 as Arthur lived, there would be no quiet in those parts ; 
 whereupon it was reported that King John, through per- 
 suasion of his councellors, appointed certeine persons to 
 go unto Falais, where Arthur was kept in prison, under 
 the charge of Hubert de Burgh, and there to put out the 
 yoong gentlemans eies. 
 
 " But through such resistance as he made against one of 
 the tormentors that came to execute the kings com- 
 mandement (for the other rather forsook their prince and 
 countrie, than they would consent to obeie the king's 
 authoritie heerein) and such lamentable words as he 
 uttered, Hubert de Burgh did preserve him from that 
 injurie ; not doubting but rather to have thanks than dis- 
 pleasure at the kings hands, for delivering him of such 
 infamie as would have redoundede unto his highnesse, if 
 the yoong gentleman had been so cruellie dealt withall. 
 For he considered, that King John had resolved upon this 
 point onelie in his heat and furie (which moveth men to 
 undertake many an inconvenient enterprise, unbeseeming 
 the person of a common man, much more reprochfull to 
 a prince, all men in that mood being meere foolish and 
 furious and prone to accomplish the perverse conceits of 
 their ill possessed heart; . . .) and that afterwards, upon
 
 xx INTRODUCTION 
 
 better advisement, he would both repente himselfe so to 
 have commanded, and give them small thanke that should 
 see it put into execution. Howbeit, to satisfie his mind 
 for the time, and to staie the rage of the Britains, he 
 caused it to be bruted abroad through the countrie, that 
 the kings commandement was fulfilled ; and that Arthur 
 also through sorrow and greefe was departed out of this 
 life. For the space of fifteen daies this rumour incessantlie 
 ran through both the realmes of England and France, and 
 there was ringing for him through towns and villages, as 
 it had beene for his funerals." This happened in 1202, 
 Arthur being then fifteen years of age. From this point 
 onward the writer of the Troublesome Raigne "wildly 
 walks " from the path of historical accuracy, and, of course, 
 Shakespeare follows him. A messenger enters while we 
 are still dealing with the events of 1202, to announce the 
 landing of the French, which did not actually take place 
 until 1 2 16. At the same time the apparently recent deaths 
 of Elinor and Constance are announced ; Elinor, however, 
 died in 1204, while Constance died three years (not "three 
 days") before in 1201. With Peter of Pomfret we are in 
 12 1 2. Concerning Peter, Holinshed has a good deal to 
 say, the most important things for our purpose being as 
 follows : " This Peter, about the first of Januarie last past, 
 had told the king that, at the feast of the Ascension, it 
 should come to passe, that he should be cast out of his 
 kingdome. And (whether, to the intent that his words 
 should be the better beleeved, or whether upon too much 
 trust of his owne cunning) he offered himself to suffer 
 death for it, if his prophesie prooved not true. Heere-
 
 INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 upon being committed to the Castle of Corf, when the 
 day by him prefixed came, without any other notable 
 damage unto king John, he was, by the king's commande- 
 ment, drawn from the said castell unto the towne of 
 Warham, and there hanged, togither with his sonne. The 
 people much blamed king John for this extreame dealing, 
 bicause that the heremit was supposed to be a man of 
 great virtue, and his sonne nothing guiltie of the offense 
 committed by his father (if any were) against the king. 
 Moreover, some thought that he had much wrong to die, 
 bicause the matter fell out even as he had prophesied ; 
 for, the day before the Ascension day, king John had 
 resigned the superioritie of his kingdome (as they tooke 
 the matter) unto the pope, and had doone to him hom- 
 age, so that he was no absolute King indeed, as authors 
 affirm. One cause, and that not the least which mooved 
 king John the sooner to agree with the pope, rose through 
 the words of the said heremit, that did put such a feare 
 of some great mishap in his hart, which would grow 
 through the disloialtie of his people, that it made him 
 yeeld the sooner." 
 
 The " five moons " are soberly recorded in Holinshed 
 as having appeared in 1200. "About the moneth of 
 December, there were seene in the province of Yorke 
 five moones, one in the east, the second in the west, the 
 third in the north, the fourth in the south, and the fift 
 as it were set in the middest of the other; having manie 
 stars about it, and went five or six times incompassing 
 the other, as it were the space of one houre, and shortlie 
 after vanished awaie."
 
 xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 With Arthur's death we are again carried forward to 
 1 203. After explaining how the " Britains " were angered 
 still more upon hearing rumours of Arthur's death, and 
 how the fact that he was still living was then made 
 known, Holinshed goes on to say: "But now touching 
 the maner in verie deed of the end of this Arthur, writers 
 make sundrie reports. Nevertheless certeine it is, that, 
 in the yeare next insuing, he was remooved from Falais 
 unto the castell or tower of Rouen, out of the which there 
 was not any that would confesse that ever he saw him go 
 alive. Some have written, that, as he assaied to have 
 escaped out of prison, and prooving to clime over the 
 wals of the castell, he fell into the river of Saine, and 
 so was drowned. Other write, that through verie greefe 
 and languor he pined awaie, and died of naturall sicknesse. 
 But some affirme, that King John secretlie caused him to 
 be murthered and made awaie, so as it is not throughlie 
 agreed upon, in what sort he finished his daies ; but 
 verelie king John was had in great suspicion, whether 
 worthilie or not, the lord knoweth." 
 
 Act V. opens with John's submission to Pandulph, 
 which took place on 22nd May, the vigil of Ascension 
 Day, 12 1 3. The play, however, treats it as Ascension 
 Day. Shakespeare makes the handing over of the crown 
 a brief formality; but in the Raigne a long scene is 
 inserted between the surrender of the crown and its re- 
 delivery to John. During this time Faulconbridge has 
 gone to and returned from Edmundsbury, where the 
 English nobles have assembled to meet Lewis. Holinshed 
 tells us that " Pandulph, keeping the crown with him for
 
 INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 the space of five daies in token of possession thereof, at 
 length (as the popes vicar) gave it him againe." 
 
 The continual references to the French in England 
 transport us to the year 1216, while the "cloked pilgrim- 
 age " of the barons who * assembled themselves togither at 
 the abbeie of Burie (under colour of going thither to do 
 their devotions to the bodie of S. Edmund which laie 
 there shrined) where they uttered their complaint of the 
 kings tyrannicall manners." 
 
 This really was the first step towards the attainment 
 of the Great Charter, and had little to do with the motives 
 ascribed to the barons in the plays ; for "... being thus 
 assembled in the queere of the Church of S. Edmund, 
 they received a solemn oath upon the altar there, that, 
 if the King would not grant to them the same liberties, 
 with others which he of his owne accord had promised 
 to confirm to them, they would from thencefoorth make 
 warre upon him, till they had obteined their purpose, and 
 inforced him to grant, not onelie to all these their peti- 
 tions, but also yeeld to the confirmation of them under 
 his seale, for ever to remaine most stedfast and inviolable." 
 
 The invasion of England by Philip had been really 
 staved off by Pandulph in 1 2 1 3 ; the French King, how- 
 ever, having prepared for war was resolved to have it, 
 and so attacked Ferrand, Count of Flanders, an ally of 
 John's. Ferrand's appeal for help brought on a struggle 
 which was ended by Philip's defeat of the English, 
 Germans and Flemings at Bouvines on 27th July, 12 14. 
 An attempt to recover Poitou and Brittany further 
 weakened the English King at home, and the barons
 
 xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 seized the opportunity to make head against him at St. 
 Edmundsbury, as we have seen. 
 
 The account of the success of the French in Kent is 
 historically correct So is the account of Lewis's duplicity 
 towards his English helpers, and of its exposure by 
 Melun. 
 
 The fight in Scene iii. has no historical warrant unless 
 it refers to the battle of Lincoln in 12 17, seven months 
 after John's death. The wrecked " supply " can only be 
 the reinforcements sent by Philip three months after the 
 battle of Lincoln. These were destroyed in a naval fight 
 by Hubert de Burgh, the stout defender of Dover Castle. 
 
 For the last scenes, chiefly dealing with the death of 
 John, the dramatists have used the more picturesque ac- 
 counts. Holinshed says "the king hasted forward till he 
 came to Wellestreme sands, where passing the washes he 
 lost a great part of his armie, with horsses and car- 
 riages ; so that it was judged to be a punishment ap- 
 pointed by God, that the spoile, which had beene gotten 
 and taken out of churches, abbeies, and other religious 
 houses, should perish, and be lost by such means togither 
 with the spoilers. Yet the king himself, and a few other, 
 escaped the violence of the waters, by following a good 
 guide. But, as some have written, he tooke such greefe 
 for the losse susteined at this passage, that immediatlie 
 thereupon he fell into an ague ; the force and heat where- 
 of, togither with his immoderate feeding on rawe peaches, 
 and drinking of new sider, so increased his sicknesse, that 
 he was not able to ride, but was faine to be carried in a 
 litter presentlie made of twigs, with a couch of strawe
 
 INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 under him, without any bed or pillow, thinking to have 
 gone to Lincolne ; but the disease still so raged and grew 
 upon him, that he was inforced to staie one night at the 
 castell of Laford, and, on the next day with great paine, 
 caused himselfe to be caried unto Newarke, where, in the 
 castell, through anguish of mind, rather than through force 
 of sickness, he departed this life before the nineteenth day 
 of October, in the yeare of his age fifty and one, and 
 after he had reigned seaventeene yeares, six moneths, and 
 seaven and twentie daies. 
 
 "There be which have written, that, after he had lost 
 his armie, he came to the abbeie of Swineshead in Lin- 
 colneshire, and, there understanding the cheapenesse and 
 plentie of corne, shewed himselfe greatlie displeased there- 
 with, as he that for the hatred which he bare to the 
 English people, that had so traitorouslie revolted from him 
 unto his adversarie Lewes, wished all miserie to light 
 upon them ; and thereupon said in his anger, that he 
 would cause all kind of graine to be at a farre higher 
 price, yer manie daies should passe. Whereupon a moonke, 
 that heard him speake such words, being mooved with 
 zeale for the oppression of his countrie, gave the King 
 poison in a cup of ale, wherof he first took the assaie, to 
 cause the King not to suspect the matter, and so they 
 both died in manner at one time." 
 
 The time supposed to be taken up by the play of 
 King John is in all not more than about four months. 
 Mr. Daniel has done the necessary analysis once and for 
 all, and his successors borrow his tables, as I do here.
 
 xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 Day i. Act I. sc. i. 
 
 An interval. Return of the French ambassador, 
 and arrival of John in France. 
 Day 2. Act II. sc. i. 
 Act in. sc. i. 
 Act III. sc. ii. and iii. 
 An interval. 
 Day 3. Act III. sc. iv. (Some time after the battle, 
 since the French know that John has forti- 
 fied the places he has won and has returned 
 to England : from whence they also have news 
 that the Bastard is ransacking the church.) 
 An interval : (deaths of Constance, 28th March, 
 and Elinor, 1st April). 
 Day 4. Act IV. sc. i. 
 
 Act IV. sc. ii. Hubert announces that " Arthur 
 
 is deceased to-night" ( last night). 
 Act IV. sc. iii. "Hub. Tis not an hour since 
 I left him well " ; i.e. at end of Act IV. 
 sc. i. 
 An interval. 
 Day 5. Act V. sc. i. The arrival of Ascension Day, 
 the presence of Pandulph, the news of the 
 Dauphin's success, demand an interval be- 
 fore this Act. On the other hand, the 
 Bastard has only now returned from his 
 mission to the nobles, and the King now 
 hears first of Arthur's actual death. These 
 facts would connect the scene closely with 
 the preceding.
 
 INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 An interval for Pandulph's return to the Dau- 
 phin, the Bastard's preparation for defence, 
 and the march to St. Edmundsbury. 
 Day 6. Act V. sc. ii. 
 Act V. sc. iii. 
 Act V. sc. iv. 
 ,, Act V. sc. v. 
 Day 7. Act v. sc. vi. 
 Act v. sc. vii. 
 An "interval " means at least a clear twenty-four hours, 
 in one day. 
 
 As we have pointed out, the construction of the plot 
 is entirely the work of the earlier unknown dramatist. 
 We have catalogued the most important liberties he has 
 taken with chronology and historical fact, and must now 
 ask whether he was justified in so doing. He was more 
 than justified ; the alterations made were absolutely neces- 
 sary in order to obtain sufficient dramatic concentration, 
 for it needs no pointing out to see that the play would 
 have been utterly impossible as a play if the writer had 
 slavishly followed the chronicles. As it is, the identifi- 
 cation of Lymoges with Austria, the presence of Blanch 
 at the interview between the Kings, and the sudden " clap- 
 ping up " of her marriage ; and, above all, the close weav- 
 ing together of the Papal interference, the death of Arthur, 
 the baronial revolt as if brought about by Arthur's supposed 
 murder, and the French invasion all these are felt to be 
 dramatic gains. 
 
 In his adaptation two small points escaped Shakespeare's
 
 xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 notice : in the first place, as we have previously mentioned, 
 he does not explain the reason why Faulconbridge should 
 so hate the Dauphin ; and, secondly, the monk who poisons 
 John does so without any apparent motive, for by this 
 time the King has submitted to the Pope. In the Trouble- 
 some Raigne things are a little more explicit. Swinsted 
 seems to have suffered from John's previous plunderings, 
 and, in revenge, the monk poisons the King. 
 
 Shakespeare does not seem to have consulted the 
 Chronicles at first hand. Mr. Moore-Smith has indicated 
 some minor points which seem to argue for his having 
 done so the accusation of unchastity brought by Con- 
 stance against Elinor, the death of Elinor on 1st April, 
 the use of the word "supply" in the last Act, and John's 
 desire to be buried at Worcester. Even granting that 
 Shakespeare did go to the Chronicles, he made no inde- 
 pendent use of them in any important detail. 
 
 There is no extant Quarto of King John, that is, it 
 does not seem to have been published until it made its 
 appearance in the First Folio of 1623. It is mentioned 
 in Meres' Palladis Tamia, 1598, in the famous phrase 
 " For tragedy : his [Shakespeare's] Richard I I. .Richard III., 
 Henry IV., King John, Titus Andronicus, and his Romeo 
 and Juliet." We have already seen that the first edition 
 of the Troublesome Raigne was published in 1591, and a 
 reference in King John (Act I. sc. i. 1. 244) to the play 
 of Soliman and Perseda published in 1 592, completes the 
 only dejinite evidence we have concerning the date of the 
 play. Often following what we shall see to be the most
 
 INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 flimsy evidence of the purely internal kind that which 
 sees in certain passages obscure allusions to contemporary 
 events different editors have placed the play in every 
 year between 1592 and 1598. Malone, for instance, was 
 in favour of 1596 for the following reasons: (1) Shake- 
 speare's son Hamnet died in August, 1596, and the lamen- 
 tations of Constance for her captive son are partly an 
 expression of Shakespeare's own grief. (2) Chatillon's 
 speech, Act II. sc. i., "a braver choice of dauntless spirits," 
 etc., may refer to the fleet sent out against Spain in 1596. 
 (3) The lines in Act III. sc. i. 176-9 
 
 And meritorious shall that hand be call'd, 
 Canonised and worshipp'd as a saint, 
 That takes away by any secret course 
 Thy hateful life, 
 
 may refer to the Bull published against Elizabeth in 1596. 
 Other reasons are given which are even less plausible than 
 these, and we must admit that when one of the greatest 
 Shakespearian scholars can, along these lines, only adduce 
 such slender evidence as this, we must search in other 
 directions for clues to the date of our play. 
 
 First of all, it is quite clear that we are dealing with 
 "early Shakespeare." Apart from a certain want of de- 
 finite continuity throughout the play which in itself might 
 very well be put down to the close following of the older 
 version we find the "clenches," the lengthy speeches, the 
 antithetical answers, the absence of prose, and the more 
 inelastic verse characteristic of Shakespeare's earlier manner. 
 The minute analysis of this last point verse the formid- 
 able array of perhaps rather too mechanical " double-ending,"
 
 \\\ 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 " light-ending," and "broken-line" tests, together with the 
 " rhyme-test," lead us to the same conclusion. Professor 
 Herford in his Introduction to the Warwick edition of 
 Richard II. thus tabulates the results of these tests: 
 
 
 s 
 
 (6 
 
 tj 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 ^ 
 
 U 
 
 
 * 
 
 1 
 
 a: 
 
 <3 
 ftj 
 
 ti 
 
 ti 
 
 
 
 ti 
 
 
 io-o 
 8-2 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rhyme test 
 Double-ending teat 
 
 3 
 
 137 
 
 3'5 
 19'5 
 
 I7-2 
 
 8-2 
 
 %\ 
 
 186 
 
 II'O 
 
 2-7 
 51 
 
 29 
 
 163 
 
 32 
 20-5 
 
 Light-ending test . 
 Broken-line test 
 
 io*4 
 *5 
 
 IO'O 
 I'O 
 
 3* 
 
 29 
 
 142 
 14-9 
 
 177 
 
 121 
 
 199 
 
 7'3 
 
 228 
 I42 
 
 214 
 
 16-8 
 
 218 
 18-3 
 
 These percentages in the first two cases do not en- 
 lighten us much, but we notice that in the last two, 
 which are generally supposed to be the more trustworthy, 
 King John shares with Richard II. the middle place in 
 the series, and on general grounds (following what we 
 might call the "feeling" test) Richard II. and King John 
 seem to be grouped together. Authorities unanimous in 
 dating Richard II. about 1593-4 are now equally un- 
 animous in dating John either immediately before or im- 
 mediately after Richard; we have therefore to choose 
 between a date nearer to 1 593 and a date nearer to 1 595. 
 Nothing can guide us in our choice except a comparison 
 of the plays in the hope of discovering signs of greater 
 maturity in the treatment of one or the other. But even 
 here we are handicapped ; firstly, by the fact that Shake- 
 speare deliberately chose to keep close to his " source " 
 in so many respects, and therefore did not allow his own 
 genius full play, and secondly, by the fact that, in any
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 case, the plays were written within a very short time of 
 one another. Comparison of the methods and character- 
 istics of the two plays yields the following results: 
 There is a greater consistency and unity in the treatment 
 of Richard's character. He is, all through, the weak, senti- 
 mental poseur, whose weakness we pity, and whose poses 
 we despise; but we sympathise with him in his mis- 
 fortunes because they are brought about not by crime but 
 by incompetence, not by deliberate malice but as a result 
 of sentimental impotence. On the other hand, John is at 
 one and the same time the swift and resolute warrior 
 leaping fearlessly upon his enemy, the champion of his 
 country against Papal aggression, and the vacillating coward 
 far worse than the murderer of Arthur, toadying to Pan- 
 dulph and detracting from our sympathy with his awful 
 death by the childishness of his unkingly lamentations. 
 John is neither the hero nor the villain of the piece but 
 an unpleasant mixture of both. 
 
 Again, the characters in Richard appear to be drawn 
 by a hand at once firmer and more subtle. 
 
 We get to know Bolingbroke gradually and surely as 
 the play progresses, every action and almost every word 
 add little by little to our conception of his character, and 
 that conception is only completed with the last scene of 
 the last Act. There is no parallel to this in King John. 
 We know Faulconbridge as well at the end of the first 
 scene as we do when we close the book. It may be said 
 that every scene is a new revelation of John's character. 
 Granting that, we still find that the revelation is not 
 consistent, natural and inevitable as it is in the case of
 
 xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 Bolingbroke. These arguments and others of a similar kind 
 that might be adduced make for the later date of Richard. 
 
 As opposed to that view it may be held that the 
 mixture of tragedy and comedy in the play brought 
 about by Shakespeare's treatment of the character of the 
 Bastard is a sign of more mature work ; besides, the 
 continual and fatiguing drop into rhyme in the earlier 
 part of Richard and the uncalled-for puns and conceits 
 in unwelcome places also seem to indicate that Richard 
 was earlier than John. Again, if we examine more closely 
 the table of tests just given, and compare only the figures 
 relating to Richard and John, we find that the first and 
 last are in favour of the earlier date of Richard while the 
 other two are against it. The tests therefore are at least 
 not against the earlier date of Richard II. 
 
 A comparison between two similar passages, King 
 John, II. i. 23 et sea. and Richard II., II. i. 40 et seq., may 
 give a slight hint as to their order. Shakespeare never 
 goes back, and in such cases the more elaborate and fuller 
 passage is always the later. In this case the Richard 
 passage is far more fully developed than that in John ; 
 this seems therefore to make for the later date of Richard. 
 
 The definite truth, however, " by our best eyes cannot be 
 censured," and we must therefore candidly date John with 
 a hyphen, 1593-5. 
 
 We have dealt with the dry bones of the play as 
 Shakespeare took them over from the Troublesome Raigne, 
 but we have still to deal with the flesh and blood in which 
 he clothed them.
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 Once again it is the old story of genius, like the 
 "glorious sun" playing 
 
 . . . the alchemist, 
 Turning with splendour of his precious eye 
 The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold. 
 
 It is true that the play has its defects. We have 
 already partly mentioned the greatest of these, it has no 
 real "hero." John ought to be the hero. He is "cast" 
 for it, but cannot play the part. Faulconbridge, although 
 prominent, is not quite prominent enough, and, as the 
 provider of continual " comic relief," is not dignified enough. 
 Arthur, in order that the pathos of his situation may be 
 more fully developed in the scene with Hubert it is 
 absolutely essential that Arthur should be an innocent 
 child is kept too young, and dies too soon. This want 
 of a commanding central figure gives a certain regrettable 
 looseness of structure to the play. The minor faults of 
 construction we have already noticed, and with them we 
 are at the end of our fault-finding. 
 
 When we come to ask what are the strong points of 
 the play, we do not know whether to admire most that 
 breathing of life into the clay figures of the Raigne, which 
 stirred into being men and women worthy to take their 
 places in the front ranks of Shakespeare's wondrous array 
 of human creations ; or that exhibition of supreme mastery 
 of all the detail of stage-craft to be found in every re- 
 jection, acceptation or alteration of the arrangement of the 
 original. Probably the best way to appreciate these things 
 would be to read both plays together, scene for scene and 
 speech for speech; we can hardly illustrate them within
 
 xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 the limits of an Introduction. But, apart from comparison, 
 it is quite easy to recognise the touch of genius in the 
 presentation of the character of that "hardy wild head, 
 tough and venturous," as the Raigne calls him, the Bastard ; 
 in the revelation of the depths of Constance's love and 
 grief ; in the pathetic and innocent pleadings of Arthur for 
 his eyes ; and, indeed, in the glib sophistry of Pandulph. 
 
 For the detailed stage history of the play the reader 
 is referred to the Irving Shakespeare. We know nothing 
 of it previous to 1736, when Cibber rehearsed an adapta- 
 tion of it entitled Papal Tyranny under King John ; but 
 this failed to weather a storm of denunciation from op- 
 ponents of any tampering with Shakespeare, and " King 
 John in silence modestly expire(d)," as Pope took care to 
 inform the world. But in 1745 th e aged Cibber saw his 
 play actually staged, he himself taking the part of Pan- 
 dulph. 
 
 In 1737 Shakespeare's King John was produced by 
 Rich at Covent Garden, and Walker's Faulconbridge was 
 declared to have been a finer performance than that of 
 his successors Garrick, Sheridan, Delane and Barry. 
 
 Between 1737 and 1846 the play was often revived. 
 The Constance of Mrs. Cibber and Mrs. Siddons, the King 
 John of Garrick, Macready and Charles Kean, and the 
 Faulconbridge of Kemble being notable performances. 
 
 Mr. Tree's revival of the play at the Haymarket in 
 1899 aroused considerable interest, inasmuch as several 
 alterations were made. The play was divided into three 
 Acts instead of five, the new divisions being made with
 
 INTRODUCTION xxxv 
 
 reference to Arthur Act I. ended with his capture, Act II. 
 with his death, Act III. with John's death as a conse- 
 quence of Arthur's. Two tableaux were introduced, one 
 of the battle before Angiers, and a second (which is very 
 difficult to defend) of the signing of Magna Charta, before 
 the last Act. 
 
 As regards the Charter, it does seem strange to us, no 
 doubt, that Shakespeare and his predecessor completely 
 ignored it. But we must remember that in their day the 
 importance of the Charter had not begun to be under- 
 stood. In any case, its introduction into Mr. Tree's ver- 
 sion on account of its historical and constitutional import- 
 ance hardly seems justified when we remember that it has 
 nothing whatever to do with the plot or development of 
 the play. Some cleverly conceived and very effective 
 minor " business " was also introduced, and the revival had 
 a longer life than any other. 
 
 In preparing this edition I have availed myself freely 
 of the labours of my predecessors, and of the works of 
 the army of critics and editors of Shakespeariana, of 
 which latter class the Shakespeare's Holinshed, of Mr. Bos- 
 well-Stone, stands as a splendid example. 
 
 As regards readings, the fact that there is no Quarto 
 of King John makes the correction of corrupt passages a 
 matter of pure conjecture, and, consequently, we have had 
 made many "giddy, loose suggestions." In all cases I 
 have endeavoured to be as conservative of the text as 
 possible, and besides, I have had no hesitation in sitting 
 firmly on the fence where explanations seem unsatisfactory
 
 xxxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 or where probabilities seem evenly balanced ; very rarely 
 indeed have I offered an independent suggestion, the chief 
 instance being the reading of " fury-kindled " for fiery- 
 kindled" in II. L 358. In one or two instances men- 
 tioned and noted passim, I have altered the punctuation. 
 Finally, I gratefully acknowledge valuable help from 
 Professor Littledale and from the general editor of this 
 series.
 
 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONS* 
 
 King John. 
 
 Prince Henry, son to the king. 
 
 Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, nephew to the king. 
 
 The Earl of Pembroke. 
 
 The Earl of Essex. 
 
 The Earl of Salisbury. 
 
 The Lord Bigot. 
 
 Hubert de Burgh. 
 
 Robert Faulconbridge, son to Sir Robert Faulconbridge. 
 
 Philip the Bastard, his half-brother. 
 
 James Gurney, servant to Lady Faulconbridge. 
 
 Peter of Pomfret, a prophet. 
 
 Philip, king of France. 
 
 Lewis, the Dauphin. 
 
 Lymoges, Duke of Austria. 
 
 Cardinal Pandulph, the Pope's legate. 
 
 Melun, a French lord. 
 
 Chatillon, ambassador from France to King John. 
 
 Queen Elinor, mother to King John. 
 
 Constance, mother to Arthur. 
 
 Blanch of Spain, niece to King John. 
 
 Lady Faulconbridge. 
 
 Lords, Citizens of Anglers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, 
 Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. 
 
 Scene: Partly in England, and partly in France. 
 
 * The list of dramatis persona does not appear in the Folios. It was 
 first given by Rowe. 
 
 2
 
 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 
 KING JOHN 
 
 ACT I 
 
 SCENE I. King John's Palace. 
 
 Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Essex, 
 Salisbury, and others, with Chatillon. 
 
 K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us ? 
 
 Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France 
 In my behaviour to the majesty, 
 The borrowed majesty, of England here. 
 
 Eli. A strange beginning : " borrowed majesty ! " 5 
 
 K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy. 
 
 Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf 
 Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, 
 Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim 
 
 with Chatillon] The Folios read their behaviours from the great," and 
 
 "with the Chattylion of France." Faulconbridge's embassy to the 
 
 Perhaps "Lord" had dropped out French, v. ii. 128, 129: "Now hear 
 
 before " Chattylion" or perhaps our English king ; For thus his 
 
 " Chatyllion" was taken to mean royalty doth speak in me." 
 
 " Chatelain " or some similar title. 9. Arthur . . . claim] Pope need- 
 
 3. In my behaviour] through my lessly omits most. Scan "Arthur 
 
 conduct as ambassador. Compare v. Plantag'net, lays most lawful claim." 
 
 i. 50, 51 : " inferior eyes, That borrow Compare 3 Henry VI. 1. i. 40 : " Un-
 
 4 KING JOHN [act .. 
 
 To this fair island and the territories, 10 
 
 To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, 
 
 Desiring thee to lay aside the sword 
 
 Which sways usurpingly these several titles, 
 
 And put the same into young Arthur's hand, 
 
 Thy nephew and right royal sovereign. 15 
 
 K. John. What follows if we disallow of this ? 
 
 Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war, 
 To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld. 
 
 K. John. Here have we war for war and blood for blood, 
 Controlment for controlment : so answer France. 20 
 
 Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, 
 The farthest limit of my embassy. 
 
 K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace: 
 Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France ; 
 For ere thou canst report I will be there, 25 
 
 18. enforce] in/orce F x. 
 
 less Plantag'net, Duke of York, be 17. The proud . . . war] the proud 
 
 king" ; and ibid, line 48: '* I'll plant constraint of fierce and bloody war. 
 
 Plantag'net, root him up who dares." There is no similar use of the word 
 
 In many other cases, however, Shake- " control " in Shakespeare. In 
 
 speare gives four syllables to Plan- Troublesome Raigne, 1. ii. 11, however, 
 
 tagenet. we find : " Till I had with an unre- 
 
 10. island] One is here tempted to sisted shock Controld the mannage 
 
 keep the older and more correct form of proud Angiers walls " ; and in 
 
 " Hand" as printed in F 1. Compare Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, 1. ii. 138, 
 
 Milton's Comus, line 50 : " On Circe's 139 : 
 
 Hand fell." " The trespass that my father made 
 
 10. the territories] There is no in peace 
 
 other case of the use of " the terri- Is now controll'd by fortune of 
 
 tories " in this way by Shakespeare. the wars." 
 
 One is tempted to suggest either 20. controlment: so] Shakespeare 
 
 " and the territories Of Ireland," or often uses, as here, an extra syllable 
 
 " her territories." In Troublesome before the caesura. There is no need 
 
 Raigne, 11. iii. (ed. 1591), we have to alter the second " controlment " to 
 
 "to England, Cornwall and Wales, "control." 
 
 and to their territories." 21. Then take . . . mouth] Com- 
 
 12. Desiring] commanding. Com- pare Henry V. m. v. 37 : " Let him 
 
 pare modern English (to a child) : " I greet England with our sharp de- 
 
 dtsire you to come here." fiance."
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 5 
 
 The thunder of my cannon shall be heard : 
 So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath 
 And sullen presage of your own decay. 
 An honourable conduct let him have : 
 Pembroke, look to't. Farewell, Chatillon. 30 
 
 [Exeunt Chatillon and Pembroke. 
 
 Eli. What now, my son! have I not ever said 
 
 How that ambitious Constance would not cease 
 
 Till she had kindled France and all the world, 
 
 Upon the right and party of her son ? 
 
 This might have been prevented and made whole 35 
 
 With very easy arguments of love, 
 
 Which now the manage of two kingdoms must 
 
 With fearful-bloody issue arbitrate. 
 
 K. John. Our strong possession and our right for us. 
 
 Eli. Your strong possession much more than your right, 40 
 Or else it must go wrong with you and me: 
 So much my conscience whispers in your ear, 
 Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear. 
 
 Enter a Sheriff. 
 
 Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy 
 
 Come from the country to be judged by you, 45 
 
 That e'er I heard : shall I produce the men ? 
 
 29. An honourable conduct . . . 37. the manage of two kingdoms] 
 
 have] In Troublesome Raigne, 1. i. 61 i.e. those who manage the two 
 
 et seq. John says : kingdoms, the powers, the authori- 
 
 " Pembroke, convay him safely to ties. Compare note on line 17 supra. 
 
 the sea, Fleay wished to treat it as a plural 
 
 But not in hast : for as we are noun, but if we take it in the more 
 
 advisde abstract sense this is unnecessary. 
 We mean to be in France as 38. fearful-bloody] Mr. Craig sug- 
 soone as he." gests the hyphen a typically Shake- 
 Shakespeare does not ascribe this spearian compound, 
 petty treachery to John. Enter a Sheriff] The Trouble- 
 29. conduct] safe conduct. some Raigne, Part i., has the stage-
 
 6 KING JOHN [act i. 
 
 K. John. Let them approach. 
 
 Our abbeys and our priories shall pay 
 This expedition's charge. 
 
 Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip his bastard 
 
 brother. 
 
 What men are you? 
 
 Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman 50 
 
 Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest son, 
 As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge, 
 A soldier, by the honour-giving hand 
 Of Cceur-de-lion knighted in the field. 
 
 K.John. What art thou? 55 
 
 Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge. 
 
 K.John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir? 
 You came not of one mother then, it seems. 
 
 Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king ; 
 
 That is well known ; and, as I think, one father : 60 
 But for the certain knowledge of that truth 
 I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother : 
 Of that I doubt, as all men's children may. 
 
 49. expedition's] expeditious F i ; Fleay keeps this reading. 54. Cceur- 
 
 de-lion] Ff and Troublesome Raigne spell Richard's appellation Cordelion. 
 
 direction, " Enter the Shrive, and some Raigne than in King John. In 
 
 whispers the Earl of Sals, in the eare." Bale's Kynge Johan John is always 
 
 Capell introduced this into Shake- harping on the riches of the Church, 
 
 speare's play, substituting " Essex " See Introduction, 
 
 for " Salisbury." Some such device 54. knighted . . . field] To be 
 
 is necessary, unless we assume that knighted in the field was an honour 
 
 Shakespeare wishes us to believe given only to the bravest fighters, 
 
 that Essex had previous knowledge See Gautier's La Chevalerie for in- 
 
 of the Sheriffs business. stances (pp. 253, 254). Compare also 
 
 48, 49. Our abbeys . . . charge] Cymbeline, v. v. 20. 
 
 This pillaging of the Church plays 62. put you o'er to] refer you to. 
 a much larger part in the Trouble-
 
 sc. 
 
 i] KING JOHN 
 
 Eli. Out on thee, rude man ! thou dost shame thy mother 
 And wound her honour with this diffidence. 65 
 
 Bast. I, madam ? no, I have no reason for it ; 
 
 That is my brother's plea and none of mine ; 
 The which if he can prove, a' pops me out 
 At least from fair five hundred pound a year: 
 Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land ! 70 
 
 K. John. A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born, 
 Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance? 
 
 Bast. I know not why, except to get the land. 
 But once he slander'd me with bastardy: 
 But whether I be as true begot or no, 75 
 
 That still I lay upon my mother's head ; 
 But that I am as well begot, my liege, 
 Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me ! 
 Compare our faces and be judge yourself. 
 If old sir Robert did beget us both 80 
 
 75. whether] Ff 1-3 have where for whether according to the pro- 
 nunciation. 
 
 64. rude man] m rude-man. Com- would then require alteration to 
 pare "rudesby" in Taming of the "slanders." There seems no ade- 
 Shrew, 111. ii. 10, and Twelfth Night, quate reason for rejecting the obvious 
 iv. i. 55. Mr. Craig suggests read- meaning of "once" in time past, 
 ing "Out, out on thee, rude man! "Slander'd" does not here neces- 
 Dost shame thy mother I " sarily imply falseness of accusation 
 
 65. diffidence] obsolete sense of as it does nowadays, but accusation 
 " mistrust." Compare King Lear, merely. 
 
 1. ii. 161 : " heedless diffidences, 74-78. But] Vaughan suggests that 
 
 banishment of friends, dissipation of three initial "buts" in five lines 
 
 cohorts." could not be due to Shakespeare. 
 
 69. pound] The singular is often He would put line 76 in brackets, and 
 
 used for the plural by Shakespeare in read " Yet " for " But " in line 77. 
 
 these cases. Here it adds to the 78. Fair fall] fair hap befal. Com- 
 
 colloquialism of the Bastard's speech, pare Richard III. 1. iii. 282 : " Now 
 
 who also uses the colloquial a' for fair befal thee and thy noble house " ; 
 
 he. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Captain, 
 
 74. once] Delius would take " once " iii. 3 : " Fair fall thy sweet face for 
 
 as equivalent to "once for all." Mr. it"; Burns' Lines to a Haggis: 
 
 Wright objects, for "slander'd" " Fair fa' thy honest sonsie face."
 
 s 
 
 KING .JOHN 
 
 [act I. 
 
 And were our father and this son like him, 
 
 old sir Robert, father, on my knee 
 
 1 give heaven thanks I was not like to thee! 
 
 K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us 
 
 here! 
 Eli. He hath a trick of Cceur-de-lion's face; 85 
 
 The accent of his tongue affecteth him. 
 
 Do you not read some tokens of my son 
 
 In the large composition of this man? 
 K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts 
 
 And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak, 90 
 
 What doth move you to claim your brother's land? 
 Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father. 
 
 84. lent] sent Hudson (Heath conj.). 
 year I] father? . . . land, . . . year? 
 
 92-94. 
 
 year? Ff 3, 4; father, 
 . . . year I Theobald. 
 
 land 
 
 ^4. father. . . . land : . . . 
 Ff i, 2 ; father, . . . land, . . . 
 year. Capell ; father, . . . land ? 
 
 85. He hath a trick] Vaughan would 
 prefer to read " the trick." As it 
 stands it means " He hath a copy of 
 Cceur-de-lion's face " ; " trick" being 
 a heraldic term for a pen-and-ink 
 copy of a coat-of-arms. " Tricked : 
 sketched in outline with pen and 
 ink " (Boutell's Heraldry, p. 84). 
 Compare "Copy of the father, eye, 
 nose, lip, The trick of 's frown " (The 
 Winter's Tale, 11. iii. 100) ; " The 
 trick of that voice I do well remem- 
 ber " (King Lear, iv. vi. 108), which 
 seem to be less pertinent examples, 
 where "trick " is used in the more 
 modern sense of " peculiarity." 
 
 86. affecteth] resembleth. There 
 is no other example of this use in 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 88. large composition] big build. 
 Compare 1 Henry VI. 11. iii. 75 : 
 " You did mistake The outward com- 
 position of his body " ; and Lyly's 
 Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 293, line 6) : 
 
 " disposition of the mind follows com- 
 position of the body." 
 
 92, 94. half-face] profile. For 
 "half that face " (line 93) Theobald 
 reads " that half-face " ; Vaughan 
 suggests "half a face," and another 
 conjecture is " half the face." Theo- 
 bald's reading seems to be the most 
 rational. Half-faced groat : a groat 
 with the sovereign's face in profile. 
 Compare Boorde, Introduction to 
 Knowledge (quoted in New Eng. 
 Diet.): "They have half -face 
 crowns." There seems to be at 
 least a suggestion of contempt in the 
 use of the term. Compare 2 Henry 
 IV. in. ii. 283 : " And this same half- 
 faced fellow, Shadow . . . the foe- 
 man may with as great aim level at 
 the edge of a penknife"; and Mun- 
 day's Downfall of Richard Earl of 
 Huntington (quoted in Ntw Eng. 
 Diet.) : " You halffac'd groat ! You 
 thick- (? thin-) cheek'd chittiface."
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 9 
 
 With half that face would he have all my land : 
 A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year! 
 
 Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father lived, 95 
 Your brother did employ my father much, 
 
 Bast. Well sir, by this you cannot get my land : 
 
 Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother. 
 
 Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassy 
 
 To Germany, there with the emperor 100 
 
 To treat of high affairs touching that time. 
 
 The advantage of his absence took the king 
 
 And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's ; 
 
 Where how he did prevail I shame to speak, 
 
 But truth is truth : large lengths of seas and shores 105 
 
 Between my father and my mother lay, 
 
 As I have heard my father speak himself, 
 
 When this same lusty gentleman was got. 
 
 Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd 
 
 His lands to me, and took it on his death no 
 
 That this my mother's son was none of his ; 
 
 And if he were, he came into the world 
 
 Full fourteen weeks before the course of time. 
 
 Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine, 
 
 My father's land, as was my father's will. 115 
 
 100. the emperor] Henry VI. this wound on the thigh." Owing 
 no. took it on his death] my to the mention of "death-bed" in 
 father swore most solemnly. This line 109, Steevens explains it as 
 phrase, often met with in Elizabethan "entertained it as his fixed opinion 
 literature, implies that the person when he was dying." Vaughan 
 swearing used the most solemn form takes it to mean " engaged to be re- 
 of words known to him. Compare sponsible for it as for a statement 
 the modern phrase " May I die if made at the approach of death," 
 ..." Falstaff could use this for- which seems to be exactly the mean- 
 mula without fear on one point only, ing here. "Oath" has been need- 
 See 1 Henry IV. v. iv. 154: "I'll lessly suggested for " death." 
 take it upon my death, I gave him
 
 10 KING JOHN [act i. 
 
 K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate ; 
 
 Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him, 
 And if she did play false, the fault was hers ; 
 Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands 
 That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother, 120 
 Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, 
 Had of your father claim'd this son for his? 
 In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept 
 This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world ; 
 In sooth he might ; then, if he were my brother's, 125 
 My brother might not claim him ; nor your father, 
 Being none of his, refuse him : this concludes ; 
 My mother's son did get your father's heir ; 
 Your father's heir must have your father's land. 
 
 Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force 130 
 
 To dispossess that child which is not his? 
 
 Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir, 
 Than was his will to get me, as I think. 
 
 Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, 
 
 And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land, 135 
 
 Or the reputed son of Cceur-de-lion, 
 Lord of thy presence and no land beside? 
 
 Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape, 
 
 134. rather . . . Faulconbridge] rather, be Capell ; be? a Vaughan conj. 
 138. an if] The Folios read and if lot an if continually. 
 
 119. lies on the hazards, etc.] is possess land, or to be reputed the son 
 
 among the risks all husbands must of Cceur-de-lion, keeping his present 
 
 run. appearance, and having no land. 
 
 137. Lordof thy presence]" continu- The phrase will also bear the mean- 
 ing to possess precisely the same ing of " Lord from thy very appear- 
 figure and face which you now have " ance," that is, "your mere appear - 
 (Vaughan). As Vaughan points out, ance would tell people that you were 
 " whether" proposes two alternatives nobly born." But compare 11. i. 367 
 to be like the legitimate son and infra.
 
 SC. I.] 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 11 
 
 And I had his, sir Robert's his, like him ; 
 
 And if my legs were two such riding-rods, 140 
 
 My arms such eel-skins stuff d, my face so thin 
 
 That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose 
 
 Lest men should say " Look, where three-farthings 
 
 goes 
 
 !" 
 
 And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, 
 Would I might never stir from off this place, 
 I would give it every foot to have this face ; 
 I would not be sir Nob in any case. 
 Eli. I like thee well : wilt thou forsake thy fortune, 
 Bequeath thy land to him and follow me ? 
 I am a soldier and now bound to France. 
 
 145 
 
 150 
 
 139. sir Robert's his] This is treated 
 by Schmidt and Mr. Moore-Smith as 
 a double genitive. It may be so ex- 
 plained, and be quite in keeping with 
 the Bastard's colloquial roughness of 
 speech. Vaughan would read "just 
 Sir Robert's shape," or "just Sir 
 Robert his." The meaning is obvious 
 " if my brother had my shape and 
 I had his." Again, we may suppose 
 the Bastard to be literally pointing 
 the finger of scorn at his brother at 
 the words " his, like him." 
 
 140. riding-rods] switches. Com- 
 pare Cotgrave, " Houssine : a switch, 
 ... a riding rod of holly ; an holly 
 wand." Compare Two Angry Women 
 (1597), ii. 53 : "And if he give her 
 [a horse] but a nod, She thinks it is 
 a riding rod." 
 
 141. eel-skins] Compare 2 Henry 
 IV. m. ii. 351: "You might have 
 thrust him and all his apparel into an 
 eel skin." 
 
 143. three-farthings] Pieces of this 
 value were coined in Elizabeth's reign 
 for the first and last time in the 
 history of English coinage. As the 
 smaller coins were of values closely 
 approximating to one another, the 
 odd and alternate pieces were dis- 
 
 tinguished by a rose or rosette behind 
 the head of the queen. The three- 
 farthings was so marked (see Haw- 
 kins, Silver Coins of England, 2nd 
 ed., under " Elizabeth "), hence the 
 point of the allusion in Beaumont and 
 Fletcher's Scornful Lady, 111. ii. : 
 " He had a bastard, his own 
 toward issue, 
 Whipp'd and then cropp'd, 
 For washing out the roses in 
 
 three-farthings 
 To make 'em pence." 
 
 144. And, to his shape, . . . land] 
 and in addition to having his appear- 
 ance were heir to all this land that 
 is in question. The " this," which 
 Vaughan would alter, with great pro- 
 bability, to "his," may be a collo- 
 quialism. 
 
 145. Would . . . stir] Compare 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor, v. v. 
 199 : " If I did not think it had been 
 Anne Page, would I might never 
 stir. 1 '' 
 
 147. I would not] The first Folio 
 reads It would not, which Delius re- 
 tains, believing that it refers to 
 " face." 
 
 147. Nob] diminutive of Robert, 
 used contemptuously by the Bastard.
 
 12 KING JOHN [act i. 
 
 Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance. 
 
 Your face hath got five hundred pound a year, 
 
 Yet sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear. 
 
 Madam, I '11 follow you unto the death. 
 Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. 155 
 Bast. Our country manners give our betters way. 
 K. John. What is thy name? 
 Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name begun ; 
 
 Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son. 
 K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose form 
 thou bear'st: 160 
 
 Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great, 
 
 Arise sir Richard and Plantagenet. 
 Bast. Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand : 
 
 My father gave me honour, yours gave land. 
 
 Now blessed be the hour, by night or day, 165 
 
 When I was got, sir Robert was away ! 
 Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet ! 
 
 I am thy grandam, Richard ; call me so. 
 Bast. Madam, by chance but not by truth ; what though ? 
 
 Something about, a little from the right, 170 
 
 In at the window, or else o'er the hatch : 
 
 161. Kneel . . . great] The line is defective. Pope, rise up ; Steevens, 
 arise ; Keightley, to rise. 
 
 169. truth] = honesty = honour- '* Go not about, my love hath in 't 
 
 able conduct. a bond 
 
 169. what though?] what of that? Whereof the world takes note." 
 what matters it ? Common in Shake- This speech consists of references to 
 speare. See As You Like It, in. iii. the Bastard's illegitimacy wrapped up 
 51; Merry Wives 0/ Windsor, 1. i. in everyday phrases and proverbs. 
 286 ; Henry V. 11. i. 9. 171. o'er the hatch] over the lower 
 
 170. Something about] something half of a door which opened in two 
 indirect, not straightforward. Com- parts, like the door of most country 
 pare All 's Well that Ends Well, 1. smithies to-day. Compare Webster, 
 iii. 194: Northward Ho, i. 1: "Kindred that 
 
 comes in o'er the hatch."
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 13 
 
 Who dares not stir by day must walk by night, 
 And have is have, however men do catch : 
 
 Near or far off, well won is still well shot, 
 
 And I am I, howe'er I was begot 175 
 
 K. John. Go, Faulconbridge : now hast thou thy desire ; 
 
 A landless knight makes thee a landed squire. 
 
 Come, madam, and come, Richard, we must speed 
 
 For France, for France, for it is more than need. 
 Bast. Brother, adieu: good fortune come to thee! 180 
 
 For thou wast got i' the way of honesty. 
 
 \Exeunt all but Bastard. 
 
 A foot of honour better than I was ; 
 
 But many a many foot of land the worse. 
 
 Well, now can I make any Joan a lady. 184 
 
 "Good den, sir Richard!" " God-a-mercy, fellow!" 
 
 And if his name be George, I '11 call him Peter ; 
 
 For new-made honour doth forget men's names; 
 
 183. many a many] Hanmer reads John and his Joan " ; and Love's 
 "many, many a," and Collier, ed. 2 Labour's Lost, in. i. 207: "Some 
 (Collier MS.), ' many, ah I many a." men must love my lady and some 
 The emendations are needless, for Joan." 
 
 a many was often used where we use 185. Good den] good-evening, 
 
 many a, e.g. Massinger's Virgin good-even, good-e'en, good-den, and 
 
 Martyr, ii. 2 : " Honesty is some sometimes " god-den," e.g. Henry 
 
 fiend, and frights him hence ; A many V. m. ii. 89 : " God-den to your wor- 
 
 courtiers love it not"; Edward III. ship, good captain James." 
 
 in. iii. 162 (Temple ed.): "As 185. God-a-mercy] This was the 
 
 'twere a many over -ridden jades"; salutation of a superior to an inferior. 
 
 ibid. iii. 4 (stage-direction) ; " Enter This perhaps is most plainly seen in 
 
 a many Frenchmen flying." This A rden of Feversham, where there are 
 
 passage, like so many others, is quite many examples, 
 
 in keeping with the Bastard's char- 187. For new-made honour, etc.] 
 
 acter and needs no emendation. new-made honour doth forget men's 
 
 184. Joan] Used as a common names ; to remember them is to do 
 noun. " A generic name for a female them too much honour, and is too 
 rustic " (New Eng. Diet.). It was sociable for one who has suddenly 
 a common peasant name. Compare been promoted to a high position. 
 Gosson's Schoole of Abuse (Arber's The Bastard then goes on to suppose 
 Reprints, No. iii. p. 35) : " Every himself seated at dinner with a tra-
 
 14 KING JOHN [act i. 
 
 Tis too respective and too sociable 
 
 For your conversion. Now your traveller, 
 
 He and his toothpick at my worship's mess, 190 
 
 And when my knightly stomach is sufficed, 
 
 Why then I suck my teeth and catechize 
 
 My picked man of countries : " My dear sir," 
 
 Thus, leaning on mine elbow, I begin, 
 
 " I shall beseech you " that is question now ; 195 
 
 And then comes answer like an Absey book : 
 
 11 sir," says answer, " at your best command ; 
 
 At your employment ; at your service, sir : " 
 
 "No, sir," says question, "I, sweet sir, at yours:" 
 
 And so, ere answer knows what question would, 200 
 
 Saving in dialogue of compliment, 
 
 And talking of the Alps and Apennines, 
 
 The Pyrenean and the river Po, 
 
 203. Pyrenean] Perennean F 1 ; Pyrennean Ff 2, 3, 4 ; Pyreneans Collier, 
 ed. 2 (Collier MS.). 
 
 veiled man. Holt White, followed 201. Saving] Theobald, after a 
 
 by Mr. Wright, believes "picked conjecture of Warburton's, reads 
 
 man of countries" to mean " travelled Serving. Vaughan, in Notes and 
 
 fop," while Steevens and others take Queries (1882) suggests Sharing or 
 
 " of countries " as equivalent to Halving or Salving ; while in his 
 
 "about countries" and depending 1886 edition he says: "The line 
 
 upon " catechize." The toothpick should certainly run : ' Salving in 
 
 was a sign of travelled foppishness, dialogue of compliment ' " ; the idea 
 
 The " mess " seems to have been a being that the two speakers were 
 
 table laid for four, guests at a great merely soothing one another by 
 
 dinner being arranged in fours (see bandying compliments. If we take 
 
 Dyce-Littledale). Malone takes "at the line as it stands "Before the 
 
 my worship's mess" to mean "At answering man knows what the ques- 
 
 that part of the table where I, as a tioner would, except in so far as 
 
 knight, shall be placed," that is, customary complimentary retorts are 
 
 above the salt (ibid.). The "Absey concerned" we leave "And so" 
 
 book " was the ABC book or primer, in the air ; but having regard to 
 
 which often included the Catechism, the looseness of structure of the 
 
 193. picked] finikin. Compare Lyly, whole speech, this may not be im- 
 
 Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 277, line 27) : possible. We may shuffle out of the 
 
 " then they used to woo in plain difficulty by suspecting a dropped 
 
 terms, now in piked sentences." line.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 15 
 
 It draws toward supper in conclusion so. 
 
 But this is worshipful society, 205 
 
 And fits the mounting spirit like myself; 
 
 For he is but a bastard to the time 
 
 That doth not smack of observation ; 
 
 And so am I, whether I smack or no ; 
 
 And not alone in habit and device, 210 
 
 Exterior form, outward accoutrement, 
 
 But from the inward motion to deliver 
 
 Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth: 
 
 Which, though I will not practise to deceive, 
 
 Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn ; 215 
 
 For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising. 
 
 But who comes in such haste in riding-robes? 
 
 What woman-post is this ? hath she no husband 
 
 That will take pains to blow a horn before her? 
 
 Enter Lady Faulconbridge and James Gurney. 
 
 O me ! it is my mother. How now, good lady ? 220 
 What brings you here to court so hastily? 
 Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother? where is he, 
 That holds in chase mine honour up and down? 
 
 204. toward] Ff i, 2 ; towards Ff 3, 4. 208, 209. smack . . . smack] 
 
 Theobald's emendation ; smoake . . . smacke Ff 1, 2 ; smoak . . . smack 
 Ff 3, 4 ; smack . . . smoak Pope. 220. it is] Pope ; 'tis Ff. 
 
 207. For he is but a bastard, etc.] 208. observation] the observing of 
 
 For he is but a bastard to this age the wishes of others, i.e. obsequious- 
 
 who is not a little obsequious. But ness. 
 
 I am a bastard in any case, not in 212. inward motion] " movements " 
 
 appearance alone but inwardly also, of the mind. Compare Lyly, Euphues 
 
 for I will not use flattery. I shall (ed.Arber, p. 236,line 25): "carried the 
 
 learn it though ; not to deceive others motion of his mind in his manners." 
 
 but to avoid being deceived, for as I 213. sweet . . . tooth] Compare 
 
 rise flattery will be strewn before me Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 34, line 
 
 like flowers before one making a pro- 27) : " followed unbridled affection, 
 
 gress. most pleasant for his tooth."
 
 16 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 [act I. 
 
 Bast. My brother Robert ? old sir Robert's son ? 
 
 Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man? 225 
 
 Is it sir Robert's son that you seek so? 
 Lady F. Sir Robert's son ! Ay, thou unreverend boy, 
 
 Sir Robert's son : why scorn'st thou at sir Robert ? 
 
 He is sir Robert's son, and so art thou. 
 Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile ? 230 
 Gur. Good leave, good Philip. 
 Bast. Philip ! sparrow : James, 
 
 There 's toys abroad : anon I '11 tell thee more. 
 
 [Exit Gurney. 
 
 Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son : 
 
 Sir Robert might have eat his part in me 
 
 232. toys] noise Gould conj. 
 
 225. Colbrand the giant] A popular 
 giant and "bug" in Elizabethan 
 times. Compare Ralph Roister 
 Doister, l. ii. 123 : " Who is this ? 
 Great Goliah, Sampson or Col- 
 brand " ; and Henry VIII. v. iv. 22 : 
 " I am not Samson, nor Sir Guy, 
 nor Colbrand To mow 'em down be- 
 fore me." He was one of the 
 mightiest giants overthrown by Guy 
 of Warwick. He had been brought 
 by the Danes as their champion from 
 Africa, and was overthrown by Guy 
 before King Athelstan at Winchester. 
 (See the fifteenth century version of 
 Guy of Warwick, ed. Zupitza, Early 
 English Text Society, 1876.) 
 
 231. Philip I sparrow]The sparrow 
 from its chirp was often called Philip 
 or Phip. We may remember Skel- 
 ton's Boke of Phyllip Sparowe ; and 
 Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (ed. 
 Grosart, i. 109, no) (To a Sparrow) : 
 " Good brother Philip " and " Leave 
 that Syr Phip " ; and " ad solam 
 dominam usque pipiabat " (Lesbia's 
 Sparrow, Catullus). The Bastard is 
 now no longer Philip Faulconbridge 
 
 but Sir Richard Plantagenet, and is 
 playfully rebuking Gurney for calling 
 him by his old name, at the same 
 time raising his curiosity which he 
 promises to satisfy later. Theobald's 
 (Warburton's) and Grey's readings 
 Philip, spare me, and Philip spare 
 oh I are amusing. 
 
 232. toys] Compare Edward III. 
 iv. iii. 83 : ** But all are frivolous 
 fancies, toys and dreams." As 
 Steevens says, Shakespeare uses the 
 word with great latitude. Here it 
 seems to mean rumours. Compare 
 The Winter's Tale, m. iii. 39 : 
 " Dreams are toys " ; and Midsummer- 
 Night's Dream, v. i. 3 : "I never may 
 believe These antique fables nor these 
 fairy toys." The broad meaning, 
 " imaginary things," would cover all 
 these uses. 
 
 2 34 2 35- ea * Z 01 '] Prover- 
 bial. Compare Heywood's Proverbs 
 (1564), ed. Sharman (1874) : " He 
 may his part on good Fridaie eate, 
 And fast never the wurs, for ought he 
 shall geate."
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 17 
 
 Upon Good-Friday and ne'er broke his fast : 235 
 
 Sir Robert could do well : marry, to confess, 
 Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it: 
 We know his handiwork : therefore, good mother, 
 To whom am I beholding for these limbs? 
 Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. 240 
 
 Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too, 
 
 That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour ? 
 What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave? 
 
 Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like. 
 
 What ! I am dubb'd ! I have it on my shoulder. 245 
 
 But, mother, I am not sir Robert's son ; 
 
 I have disclaim'd sir Robert and my land ; 
 
 Legitimation, name and all is gone: 
 
 Then, good my mother, let me know my father; 
 
 Some proper man, I hope : who was it, mother ? 25a 
 
 Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge ? 
 
 Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. 
 
 236, 237. Sir Robert . . . do if] Compare The Taming of the Shrew, 
 
 Vaughan suggests a plausible altera- iv. v. 79 : " If she be froward, Then 
 
 tion in the punctuation : thou hast taught Hortensio to be un- 
 
 "Sir Robert could do well, toward." 
 
 (Marry, to confess,) 244. Basilisco-like] Theobald first 
 
 Could he get me. Sir Robert pointed out the allusion to Kyd's 
 
 could not do it." Soliman and Perseda : 
 The meaning is plain and is prefer- " Bas. I.the aforesaid Basilisco, 
 able to that of the generally accepted Knight, good fellow, Knight, 
 
 reading, where " Sir Robert could do Knight, 
 
 well " seems meaningless when con- Pist. Knave, good fellow, Knave, 
 
 trasted with the next line, while Knave." 
 
 " marry, to confess," has to be treated A large early cannon was called a 
 
 as a mere cliche. Keightley reads " to basilisco or basilisk, 
 confess the truth," and Dyce, follow- 247, 248. Robert ... 15 gone] 
 
 ing the Collier MS., reads " could not Fleay, after a conjecture of Sidney 
 
 get me," neither of which is satisfac- Walker's, reads " Robert ; and my 
 
 tory. The Folios read " Could get land, Legitimation name and all is 
 
 me Sir " without a stop after " me." gone," an improvement certainly. 
 
 The reading in the text is Pope's. but the accepted text is quite sound 
 
 243. untoward] bad - mannered, in meaning.
 
 18 KING JOHN [act i. 
 
 Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father: 
 By long and vehement suit I was seduced 
 To make room for him in my husband's bed: 255 
 Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge! 
 Thou art the issue of my dear offence, 
 Which was so strongly urged past my defence. 
 
 Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again, 
 
 Madam, I would not wish a better father. 260 
 
 Some sins do bear their privilege on earth, 
 
 And so doth yours ; your fault was not your folly : 
 
 Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose, 
 
 Subjected tribute to commanding love, 
 
 Against whose fury and unmatched force 265 
 
 The aweless 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! 270 
 
 257. Thou] F 4 ; That Ff 1, 2, 3. 267. hand] hands F 4. 
 
 257. Thou] If we read That with offence. Compare Richard II. 1. i. 
 
 the first three Folios, then it seems 130: 
 
 necessary to read thy charge with "Upon remainder of a dear ac- 
 Staunton and Long MS. in the previ- count." 
 
 ous line. Delius reads That, con- 266. The aweless lion, etc.] Allud- 
 necting it with my transgression ing to the legend of Cceur-de-lion. 
 (Wright), which is hardly so likely. Richard, being in the clutches of the 
 Evidence and probability seem equally King of Almain, is to be put to death 
 balanced between Lady Faulcon- by a fasting lion. The beast, however, 
 bridge's praying that she should not is nearly felled by a blow from 
 be punished for her transgression Richard's fist, and as it is opening 
 since she was forced into it, and pray- its mouth to roar previous to renew- 
 ing that her transgression should not ing the attack, Richard thrusts his 
 be visited upon the innocent issue of arm down its throat and tears out 
 it. its heart, which he eats later before 
 
 257. dear offence] either offence for the assembled court (see Ellis, 
 
 which I have paid dearly (as Mr. Early Eng. Mctr. Romances, pp. 296, 
 
 Wright suggests), or my own private 297).
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 19 
 
 Who lives and dares but say thou didst not well 
 When I was got, I '11 send his soul to hell. 
 Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin ; 
 
 And they shall say, when Richard me begot, 
 If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin : 275 
 
 Who says it was, he lies; I say 'twas not. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 276. Who says . . . 'twas not] (Vaughan). Vaughan's suggestion 
 
 "The stanza is nonsense as the last seems quite un-Shakespearian. Still, 
 
 line now stands. . . . Shakespeare literally, the stanza is nonsense in its 
 
 unquestionably wrote : present shape. The meaning is 
 
 1 If thou hadst said him " nay," obvious, but we arrive at it by wrest- 
 
 it had been sin. ing round the " it " in the last line to 
 
 Who says "ay "was, he lies; I mean Lady Faulconbridge's surrender 
 
 say 'twas not' " to Cceur-de-lion.
 
 ACT II 
 
 SCENE I. France. Before Angiers. 
 
 Enter AUSTRIA and forces, drums, etc., on one side : on 
 the other King PHILIP of France and his power ; 
 Lewis, Arthur, Constance, and attendants. 
 
 Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria. 
 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: 5 
 
 And for amends to his posterity, 
 At our importance hither is he come, 
 To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf, 
 And to rebuke the usurpation 
 
 Of thy unnatural uncle, English John: 10 
 
 Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither. 
 
 Arth. God shall forgive you Cceur-de-lion's death 
 The rather that you give his offspring life, 
 
 Act 11. Scene /.] This is the second " Maria writ 
 
 scene of Act 1. in the Folios. The letter at Sir Toby's great 
 
 2. great forerunner] Shakespeare importance." 
 
 is here in error if "forerunner " is 13. The rather that] all the more 
 taken to mean direct ancestor. Cceur- because. Compare Hamlet, iv. vii. 
 de-lion and King John were both 70 : 
 uncles of Arthur. " My lord, I will be ruled ; 
 
 7. At our importance] upon our The rather, if you could devise it 
 
 importuning him. Compare Twelfth so 
 
 Night, v. i. 371 : That I might be the organ." 
 
 20
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 21 
 
 Shadowing their right under your wings of war: 
 I give you welcome with a powerless hand, 15 
 
 But with a heart full of unstained 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 kiss, 
 
 As seal to this indenture of my love, 20 
 
 That to my home I will no more return, 
 
 Till Angiers and the right thou hast in France, 
 
 Together with that pale, that white-faced shore, 
 
 Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides 
 
 And coops from other lands her islanders, 25 
 
 Even till that England, hedged in with the main, 
 
 That water-walled bulwark, still secure 
 
 And confident from foreign purposes, 
 
 Even till that utmost corner of the west 
 
 Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy, 30 
 
 Will I not think of home, but follow arms. 
 
 Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, 
 
 Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength 
 To make a more requital to your love ! 
 
 29. utmost] Ff 1, 2, 3 ; outmost F 4. 
 
 18. do thee right] take thy part. A chant of Venice, v. i. 97, a poetical 
 
 common Shakespearian usage. expression which may be rendered as 
 
 25. coops] protects by shutting in. " the continent of waters." It would 
 So 3 Henry VI. v. i. 109: "Alas! I then mark the transition between 
 am not coop'd here for defence." main = land and main = water. 
 This speech recalls Gaunt's dying Compare " Sailing the Spanish main " 
 words in Richard II., and may have in the Wreck of the Hesperus. See 
 some bearing on the question of the also Friar Bacon (1594), ed. Gayley. 
 dating of King John and Richard II. One reading of 1. viii. 59, 60 has : 
 See Introduction. " And draw the dolphins to thy 
 
 26. main] Hakluyt generally used lovely eyes 
 
 this word for mainland. We have To daunce lavoltas in the purple 
 
 "a main of waters" in The Mer- main."
 
 22 KING JOHN [act h. 
 
 Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords 
 In such a just and charitable war. 36 
 
 K. Phi. Well then, to work: our cannon shall be bent 
 Against the brows of this resisting town. 
 Call for our chiefest men of discipline, 
 To cull the plots of best advantages: 40 
 
 We'll lay before this town our royal bones, 
 Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood, 
 But we will make it subject to this boy. 
 
 Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy, 
 
 Lest unadvised you stain your swords with blood : 45 
 My Lord Chatillon may from England bring 
 That right in peace which here we urge in war, 
 And then we shall repent each drop of blood 
 That hot rash haste so indirectly shed. 
 
 Enter CHATILLON. 
 K. Phi. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish, 50 
 
 Our messenger Chatillon is arrived ! 
 What England says, say briefly, gentle lord ; 
 We coldly pause for thee ; Chatillon, speak. 
 
 37. work : our] work, our F 4 ; work our F 3 ; worke our Ff 1, 2. 
 
 37. cannon] To avoid the anach- Compare The Merchant of Venice, 
 
 ronism Pope substituted "engines" iv. i. 359: 
 
 for "cannon," with needless pre- "Indirectly and directly too 
 
 cision. Thou hast contrived against the 
 
 40. To cull, etc.] "either to select very life." 
 positions which will be most favour- The meaning here is nearer to " indis- 
 able to us" (Steevens, Mr. Wright), creetly" than to " underhandedly," 
 or to take counsel together, to discuss although precipitating a fight before 
 the most profitable plans. The the return of a possibly peaceful 
 latter explanation seems to fall in answer from the opponent might be 
 more with calling upon the " chiefest called "indirection" by an honour- 
 men of discipline." able soldier. Cotgrave has " Indirecte- 
 
 45. unadvised] unadvisedly, hastily, ment : in-directly, ... by unfit 
 
 49. indirectly] generally means means." 
 underhandedly in Shakespeare. 53. coldly] dispassionately.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 23 
 
 Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege 
 
 And stir them up against a mightier task. 55 
 
 England, impatient of your just demands, 
 
 Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds, 
 
 Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time 
 
 To land his legions all as soon as I ; 
 
 His marches are expedient to this town, 60 
 
 His forces strong, his soldiers confident. 
 
 With him along is come the mother-queen, 
 
 An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife; 
 
 With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain ; 
 
 With them a bastard of the king's deceased ; 65 
 
 And all the unsettled humours of the land, 
 
 Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries, 
 
 With ladies' faces and fierce dragons' spleens, 
 
 Have sold their fortunes at their native homes, 
 
 Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs, 70 
 
 70. birthrights] Ff i, 2 ; birthright Ff 3, 4. 
 
 60. His marches . . . town] he is 65. a bastard . . . deceased] We 
 
 marching to this town with all ex- should now say "a bastard of the 
 
 pedition. See line 223 infra : deceased king's." This inversion 
 
 " Who painfully with much ex- was common in Elizabethan writings, 
 
 pedient march yet it was apparently corrected in 
 
 Have brought a countercheck Folios 2-4, which read " King." 
 
 before your gates " ; The line is almost verbally the same 
 
 and iv. ii. 268 infra : in Troublesome Raigne : " Next them 
 
 " to my closet bring a bastard of the King's deceast." 
 
 The angry lords with all ex- 67. voluntaries] volunteers. Com- 
 
 pedient haste." pare Cotgrave, " volontaire : a 
 
 63. Ate] Rowe's famous emendation voluntarie, one that serves or does 
 
 of the Ace of the Folios. Compare anything without pay or compul- 
 
 yulius Casar, m. i. 271 : " Caesar's sion." 
 
 spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate 68. dragons' spleens] Compare 
 
 by his side come hot from hell." See Richard III. v. iii. 350: "Inspire 
 
 also Friar Bacon (1594), ed. Gayley, us with the spleen of fiery dragons." 
 
 1. x. 137 : The dragon was the most fearful wild 
 
 " Fond Atae, doomer of bad boad- fowl of Bartholomew and the Hortus 
 
 ing fates, Sanitatis of Topsell. 
 
 That wrappes proud fortune in 70. Bearing their birthrights, etc.] 
 
 thy snaky locks." Compare Henry VIII. 1. i. 84 :
 
 24 KING JOHN [act n. 
 
 To make a hazard of new fortunes here: 
 In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits 
 Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er 
 Did never float upon the swelling tide, 
 To do offence and scath in Christendom. 75 
 
 [Drum beats. 
 The interruption of their churlish drums 
 Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand, 
 To parley or to fight ; therefore prepare. 
 
 K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition! 
 
 Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much 80 
 
 We must awake endeavour for defence; 
 For courage mounteth with occasion : 
 Let them be welcome then; we are prepared. 
 
 Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the BASTARD, 
 Lords, and Forces. 
 
 K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit 
 Our just and lineal entrance to our own ; 85 
 
 If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven, 
 Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct 
 Their proud contempt that beats His peace to heaven. 
 
 K. Phi. Peace be to England, if that war return 
 
 From France to England, there to live in peace. 90 
 
 " O, many 82. with occasion] when the emer- 
 
 Have broke their backs with gency demands. 
 
 laying manors on them." 87. Whiles] the genitive form of 
 
 73. bottoms] vessels. Used techni- while (A.S. hwil) used adverbially. 
 
 cally in this sense at the present Common in Shakespeare. Rowe 
 
 day. reads Whilst. 
 
 77. circumstance] detailed descrip- 88. beats] Hanmer reads beat, mak- 
 
 tion, attendant detail. Compare ing that refer to the plural pronoun 
 
 Othello, hi. iii. 355 : " Pride, pomp, contained in their and not to contempt 
 
 and circumstance of glorious war." a needless alteration.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 25 
 
 England we love; and for that England's sake 
 
 With burden of our armour here we sweat 
 
 This toil of ours should be a work of thine; 
 
 But thou from loving England art so far, 
 
 That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king, 95 
 
 Cut off the sequence of posterity, 
 
 Out-faced infant state, and done a rape 
 
 Upon the maiden virtue of the crown. 
 
 Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face ; 
 
 These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his : 
 
 This little abstract doth contain that large 10 1 
 
 Which died in Geffrey, and the hand of time 
 
 Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume. 
 
 That Geffrey was thy elder brother born, 
 
 And this his son; England was Geffrey's right, 105 
 
 And this is Geffrey's in the name of God ; 
 
 106. Geffrey's . . . God ;] Geffreyes in the name of God : Ff 1, 2, 3 
 
 (Geffreys F 3) ; Geffreys, in the name of God, F 4 ; Geffrey's : in the name 
 of God Cambridge Editors. 
 
 95. That . . . king] that thou hast the larger volume, Geffrey. Compare 
 
 undermined the lawful king of Eng- Edward III. 11. i. 82 : 
 
 land. His is the neuter possessive pro- "Whose body is an abstract or a 
 
 noun. Collier MS. reads her, to agree brief 
 
 with the personification of England. Contains each general virtue in 
 
 97. Out-faced infant state] Gould the world." 
 conjectures " Out-raced infant right." 106. And this is Geffrey's . . . 
 Mr. Wright explains the line as God] Apart from the variations in the 
 " browbeaten, put down by intimida- punctuation of the Folios this reading 
 tion or bravado, the state that belongs has much exercised the critics. The 
 to an infant." " Out-faced " is simple difficulty lies in the phrase " And this 
 enough, but "infant state" offers is Geffrey's." We cannot add " son " 
 some difficulty. How can the state because of the previous line. Vaughan 
 or majesty that belongs to an infant suggests " And is this Geffrey's," i.e. 
 be browbeaten ? And can John's Arthur's, as opposed to " that " 
 conduct be described in this way ? Geffrey's the dead father's. Fail- 
 Can " out-raced " mean " out- ing that, and following out the same 
 rooted " ? Compare " a race of idea, he would read " And this is 
 ginger" = a root of ginger. Geffrey." In default of better, 
 
 101. This little abstract, etc.] Vaughan's suggestion is preferable 
 
 Philip calls Arthur a small copy of to the others.
 
 26 KING JOHN [act b. 
 
 How comes it then that thou art call'd a king, 
 When living blood doth in these temples beat, 
 Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest ? 
 
 K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, 
 France, no 
 
 To draw my answer from thy articles? 
 
 K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughts 
 In any breast of strong authority, 
 To look into the blots and stains of right : 
 That judge hath made me guardian to this boy: 115 
 Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong, 
 And by whose help I mean to chastise it 
 
 K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority. 
 
 K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down. 
 
 Eli. Who is it thou dost call usurper, France? 120 
 
 Const. Let me make answer ; thy usurping son. 
 
 Eli. Out, insolent ! thy bastard shall be king, 
 
 That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world ! 
 
 Const. My bed was ever to thy son as true 
 
 113. breast] beast F 1. 119. Excuse ;] so Malone ; Excuse it is Ff. 
 
 log. owe] own. Frequent in Staunton, with great probability. 
 
 Shakespeare. Compare Comedy of claims this as a metaphor taken from 
 
 Errors, in. i. 42: chess. 
 
 " What art thou that keepest me 124, 125. My bed . . . husband] 
 
 out from the house I owe ? " It seems strange that Constance 
 
 in. from thy articles] Hanmer should compare her own fidelity with 
 
 prints "to." " Articles " are the sec- that of the person whom she accuses 
 
 tions of a formal document, and the of infidelity a moment later (line 
 
 idea conveyed here is that Philip has 130). Elinor too had been divorced 
 
 been taxing John as if he were reading from Louis VII. for infidelity. To 
 
 a formal indictment. avoid the difficulty Vaughan proposes 
 
 112. supernal] This is the sole use to read: " As to me was my husband." 
 of the word by Shakespeare, but it is It may be that Shakespeare was con- 
 found in contemporaries. See Cot- tent to make Constance femininely 
 grave, Sir Thomas More, Milton, illogical in her passion. Mr. Craig's 
 Formed by analogy with infernal suggestion that Constance meant 
 (Mr. Wright). " My bed was at least as true as 
 
 123. That thou . . . world] yours " avoids the difficulty.
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 27 
 
 As thine was to thy husband; and this boy 125 
 
 Liker in feature to his father Geffrey 
 
 Than thou and John in manners ; being as like 
 
 As rain to water, or devil to his dam. 
 
 My boy a bastard ! By my soul, I think 
 
 His father never was so true begot: 130 
 
 It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother. 
 
 Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father. 
 
 Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot 
 thee. 
 
 Aust. Peace! 
 
 Bast. Hear the crier. 
 
 Aust. What the devil art thou? 
 
 Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you, 135 
 
 An a' may catch your hide and you alone: 
 You are the hare of whom the proverb goes, 
 Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard : 
 I '11 smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right ; 
 Sirrah, look to't; i' faith, I will, i' faith. 140 
 
 127. John in manners ; being] Capell ; John, in manners being Ff. 
 133. There 's . . . thee] Pope ; two lines in Ff, ending boy, . . . thee. 
 
 127. John in manners ; being] in this connection by Elizabethan 
 
 Vaughan suggests " manners, writers. 
 
 being," for the comparison of devil 136. your hide] Austria was wearing 
 
 and his dam is, of course, more closely the lion's skin he had taken from 
 
 connected with John and his mother Coeur-de-lion. 
 
 than with Arthur and Constance. 137. the proverb] Given by Erasmus 
 
 The " devil and his dam " are evi- amongst his Adagia : " mortuo leoni 
 
 dently two personages from the Moral- et lepores insultant." Compare Re- 
 
 ity plays. Compare Ralph Roister turn from Parnassus (p. 71, ed. Mac- 
 
 Doister, 11. iv. 38 : " the devil's dam ray) : " Soe hares may pull deade 
 
 was ne'er so bang'd in hell." " Play lions by the bearde." 
 the devil " (line 135) would mean 139. smoke] beat. Halliwell says 
 
 " play as violent a part as the devil that in Devonshire it means " to abuse 
 
 of the Moralities." a person," and in the North " to beat 
 
 132. blots] impute dishonour to. severely." To strike one so violently 
 
 Continually used as noun and verb as to make dust fly out of the coat.
 
 28 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 [act II. 
 
 Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe 
 That did disrobe the lion of that robe ! 
 
 Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him 
 As great Alcides shows upon an ass : 
 But, ass, I'll take that burthen from your back, 145 
 Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack. 
 
 Aust. What cracker is this same that deafs our ears 
 With this abundance of superfluous breath ? 
 King Philip, determine what we shall do straight. 
 
 K. Phi. Women and fools, break off your conference. 1 50 
 King John, this is the very sum of all ; 
 England and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, 
 In right of Arthur do I claim of thee: 
 Wilt thou resign them and lay down thy arms? 
 
 152. Anjou] Theobald ; Anglers Ff. 
 
 144. Alcides shows] The Folios 
 read " Alcides shooes " (" shoos," 
 F 4). Editors quote a proverb from 
 Gosson's Schoole of Abuse: "Too 
 draw the Lyon's skin upon Aesop's 
 Asse, Hercules shoes on a childes 
 feete." It may therefore be possible 
 that Shakespeare had a confused 
 recollection of Gosson's lines in his 
 mind and that the reading of the 
 Folios is correct. Fleay prints 
 "shoes . . . ape," and suggests 
 "dwarf" or "child" to take the 
 place of " ass." Rejecting "shows" 
 and " shoes," Keightley reads 
 " shew'd," and suggests " should." 
 Hudson, following a conjecture of 
 Vaughan's, reads "does." Kinnear 
 conjectures "spoil," and Gould 
 " robes." Mr. Worrall (see Warwick 
 ed.) suggests that if "shows" is 
 right, it is a verb. The reading in 
 the text is that ot Theobald, followed 
 by most modern editors. It is in any 
 case preferable to the Folios' reading, 
 which can only be defended by sup- 
 
 posing that Shakespeare was guilty 
 of a most senseless confusion. There 
 is no possible point in speaking of an 
 ass wearing the shoes of Hercule>, 
 and as Vaughan pointed out, the 
 question concerns something worn or 
 borne upon the back. 
 
 147. cracker] boaster. Cotgrave 
 has " se vanter, ... to crack." 
 Compare Ralph Roister Doister, 1. i. 
 
 35: 
 
 " All the day long is he facing 
 
 and cracking 
 Of his great acts in fighting and 
 
 fraymaking." 
 And compare the modern "a thing 
 much cracked-up," i.e. boasted about, 
 and " a crack player." 
 
 149. King Philip] The Folios read 
 " King Lewis." The emendation is 
 Theobald's. Lewis was not king, 
 and Austria was not likely to appeal 
 to him for a final decision in anything 
 of moment. We must, therefore, 
 suppose a mistaken substitution of 
 Lewis for Philip.
 
 sc i] KING JOHN 29 
 
 K. John. My life as soon: I do defy thee, France. 155 
 Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand; 
 And out of my dear love I '11 give thee more 
 Than e'er the coward hand of France can win : 
 Submit thee, boy. 
 
 Eli. Come to thy grandam, child. 
 
 Const. Do, child, go to it grandam, child ; 160 
 
 Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will 
 Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig: 
 There's a good grandam. 
 
 A rth. Good my mother, peace ! 
 
 I would that I were low laid in my grave: 
 I am not worth this coil that's made for me. 165 
 
 Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps. 
 
 Const. Now shame upon you, whether she does or no! 
 His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames 
 Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, 
 Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee; 170 
 
 156. Bretagne] Hanmer ; Britaine Ff 1, 2; Britain F 3; Brittain F 4. 
 168. wrongs] Ff i, 2, 3 ; wrong F 4. 
 
 156. Bretagne] This spelling of be Celtic in origin, like many other 
 Hanmer's, in spite of its suggestion words of untraceable pedigree. Pro- 
 of French pronunciation, is adopted bably of slang derivation (see New 
 by most modern editors to avoid Eng. Diet.). 
 
 confusion with Britain. Shake- 168, 169. wrongs, . . . shames 
 
 speare spelt Britanny and Britain in Draws] The usual defence of this 
 
 the same way. grammatical error, that a singular 
 
 160, etc. it] Baby talk. Capell phrase has been slipped in between 
 
 could not suffer "it" to remain and the nominative and verb, does not 
 
 reads " it's" I Pope put the whole hold good here. We have either to 
 
 passage down as spurious, from suppose a misprint or believe with Dr. 
 
 "Submit thee" to "repetitions," in Abbott that the Elizabethan ear, owing 
 
 spite of such lines as 165, 168- to dialectic influences, was less sensi- 
 
 172. tive than ours. It seems preferable 
 
 165. coil] Cotgrave has " vacarme, to blame the printer's eye rather than 
 
 ... a tumultuous garboil, hurly- Shakespeare's ear. Folio 4 corrects 
 
 burly, stir, coil." Once thought to the error, but not happily.
 
 30 KING JOHN [act ii. 
 
 Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be bribed 
 To do him justice and revenge on you. 
 
 Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth! 
 
 Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth ! 
 
 Call not me slanderer; thou and thine usurp 175 
 
 The dominations, royalties and rights 
 
 Of this oppressed boy: this is thy eld'st son's son, 
 
 Infortunate in nothing but in thee: 
 
 Thy sins are visited in this poor child ; 
 
 The canon of the law is laid on him, 180 
 
 Being but the second generation 
 
 Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb. 
 
 K. John. Bedlam, have done. 
 
 Const. I have but this to say, 
 
 That he is not only plagued for her sin, 
 But God hath made her sin and her the plague 185 
 
 175. not me] Ff 1, 2, 3 ; me not F 4. 176. dominations] F i ; domina- 
 
 tion Ff 2, 3, 4. 177. this is thy eld'st] Capell ; this is thy eldest Ff. 
 
 171. crystal . . . bribed] Mr. Craig passage as follows : " God hath made 
 
 suggests that here we have a reflec- her sin and herself to be a plague to 
 
 tion of the old voyagers' stories of this distant child, who is punished 
 
 bribing Indians with beads. for her and with the punishment be- 
 
 180. The canon . . . on him] The longing to her : God has made her 
 
 sins of Elinor, Arthur's grandmother, sin to be an injury to Arthur, and her 
 
 are being visited upon her grandson, injurious deeds to be the executioner 
 
 according to the canon of the law, to punish her sin : all which (viz. her 
 
 even to the third and fourth genera- first sin and her now injurious deeds) 
 
 tion. are punished in the person of this 
 
 183. Bedlam] lunatic. Rann, child." The only difficulty here is 
 
 after a conjecture of Ritson's, reads the use of" injury " in two ways, the 
 
 (quite possibly) " Beldam," but com- first meaning injury to Arthur, and the 
 
 pare King Lear, m. vii. 103: "Let's second meaning injurious deeds per- 
 
 follow the old earl, and get the bed- petrated by Elinor. The Folios read 
 
 lam To lead him where he would." (line 187) ** with her plague her sinne." 
 
 Derived from the Bethlehem Hospital The passage is difficult and has given 
 
 for the Insane. rise to all kinds of suggestions. 
 
 185. But God hath made her sin, Malone supposed that two half lines 
 
 etc.] We follow the punctuation sug- had been dropped after " And with 
 
 gested by Roby, who explains the her."
 
 sc. i ] KING JOHN 31 
 
 On this removed issue, plagued for her 
 
 And with her plague; her sin his injury, 
 
 Her injury the beadle to her sin, 
 
 All punish'd in the person of this child, 
 
 And all for her; a plague upon her! 190 
 
 Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce 
 A will that bars the title of thy son. 
 
 Const. Ay, who doubts that ? a will ! a wicked will ; 
 A woman's will ; a canker'd grandam's will ! 
 
 K. Phi. Peace, lady ! pause, or be more temperate : 195 
 It ill beseems this presence to cry aim 
 To these ill-tuned repetitions. 
 Some trumpet summon hither to the walls 
 These men of Angiers : let us hear them speak 
 Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's. 200 
 
 Trumpet sounds. Enter certain Citizens upon the walls. 
 
 First Cit. Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls? 
 
 K. Phi. 'Tis France, for England. 
 
 K. John. England, for itself. 
 
 You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects, 
 K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects, 
 
 Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle, 205 
 K. John. For our advantage ; therefore hear us first. 
 
 190. And . . . her] Mr. Craig sug- violent proceedings all thy neighbours 
 
 gests that Shakespeare wrote " And shall cry aim." Several editors have 
 
 all for her, for her ; a plague upon endeavoured to improve the passage. 
 
 her ! " Jonson suggested that " aim " was an 
 
 196. cry aim] " To cry aim " meant abbreviation of " J'aime " ! 
 
 in the first place, to encourage archers 198. Some . . . walls] Mr. Craig 
 
 when shooting. The bystanders suggests " Sound trumpet ! Summon 
 
 evidently used to cry "Aim!" It hither to the walls." 
 
 then came to mean encouragement in 205. parle] parley, conference, or 
 
 general. Compare Merry Wives of even speech. So constantly in 
 
 Windsor, m. ii. 45 : " And to these Elizabethan plays.
 
 32 KING JOHN [act ii 
 
 These flags of France, that are advanced here 
 
 Before the eye and prospect of your town, 
 
 Have hither march'd to your endamagement: 
 
 The cannons have their bowels full of wrath, 210 
 
 And ready mounted are they to spit forth 
 
 Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls: 
 
 All preparation for a bloody siege 
 
 And merciless proceeding by these French 
 
 Confronts your city's eyes, your winking gates ; 215 
 
 And but for our approach those sleeping stones, 
 
 That as a waist doth girdle you about, 
 
 By the compulsion of their ordinance 
 
 By this time from their fixed beds of lime 
 
 Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made 220 
 
 For bloody power to rush upon your peace. 
 
 But on the sight of us your lawful king, 
 
 Who painfully with much expedient march 
 
 Have brought a countercheck before your gates, 
 
 To save unscratch'd your city's threatened cheeks, 225 
 
 Behold, the French amaz'd vouchsafe a parle; 
 
 215. Confronts your] Capell ; Comfort yours Ff 1, 2 ; Comfort your Ff 3, 
 4 ; Confront your Rowe ; Come 'fore your Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.). 
 
 207. advanced] lifted up (a common 217. waist] a garment worn round 
 
 Elizabethan meaning). Compare the waist. The modern American 
 
 Cotgrave, " Hausse : hoised, raised, lady calls a blouse a " waist." 
 
 advanced, . . . hoven up, . . . set Compare Spenser's Ditty to Eliza : 
 
 aloft." " gird in your waist, For more fine- 
 
 215. winking] closed at our ap- ness with a tawdry lace. " 
 proach. "To wink," *in the sense 217. dor A] Here we have " stones" 
 
 of closing both eyes, is common nominative to " doth " owing to the 
 
 in Elizabethan English. Compare interposition of the singular noun 
 
 Promos and Cassandra (pt. i.), v. v. : ** waist." Contrast lines 168, 169 
 
 "... your eyes harde you must above. 
 
 close. . . . Winke harde " ; and Lyly, 220. Had been . . . made] Fleay 
 
 Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 333, line 28): regularises the line by reading " dis- 
 
 " though I wink at a flash of lightning, habit" needlessly. Compare 1. i. 
 
 I dare open my eyes again." 20 and note above.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 33 
 
 And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire, 
 To make a shaking fever in your walls, 
 They shoot but calm words folded up in smoke, 
 To make a faithless error in your ears : 230 
 
 Which trust accordingly, kind citizens, 
 And let us in, your king, whose labour'd spirits 
 Forwearied in this action of swift speed 
 Crave harbourage within your city walls. 
 K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both. 235 
 Lo, in this right hand, whose protection 
 Is most divinely vow'd upon the right 
 Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet, 
 Son to the elder brother of this man, 
 And king o'er him and all that he enjoys: 240 
 
 For this down-trodden equity, we tread 
 In warlike march these greens before your town, 
 Being no further enemy to you 
 Than the constraint of hospitable zeal 
 In the relief of this oppressed child 245 
 
 Religiously provokes. Be pleased then 
 To pay that duty which you truly owe 
 To him that owes it, namely this young prince : 
 And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear, 
 
 234. Crave] Pope ; Craves Ff. 
 
 229. They shoot . . . smoke] Com- 247, 248. owe . . . owes] The two 
 
 pare Lucrece, 1027: "This helpless meanings of " owe " are used. Com- 
 
 smoke of words doth me no right." pare ( 'owes," which Pope needlessly 
 
 233. Forwearied] completely altered to " owns," with line 109 
 wearied, tired out. The prefix for above. 
 
 is exactly equivalent to the German 249. arms] Vaughan suggests 
 
 ver-. " army " as more in keeping with the 
 
 234. Crave] See note on line 217 simile of the bear, and as saving the 
 above. grammar ; but it makes the line too 
 
 236. in] We should now say " on." long. 
 
 3
 
 34 KING JOHN [act b. 
 
 Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up; 250 
 
 Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent 
 
 Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven ; 
 
 And with a blessed and unvex'd retire, 
 
 With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruised, 
 
 We will bear home that lusty blood again 255 
 
 Which here we came to spout against your town, 
 
 And leave your children, wives and you in peace. 
 
 But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer, 
 
 'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced walls 
 
 Can hide you from our messengers of war, 260 
 
 Though all the English and their discipline 
 
 Were harbour'd in their rude circumference. 
 
 Then tell us, shall your city call us lord, 
 
 In that behalf which we have challenged it? 
 
 Or shall we give the signal to our rage 265 
 
 And stalk in blood to our possession? 
 
 First Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects : 
 For him, and in his right, we hold this town. 
 
 K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in. 
 
 First Cit. That can we not ; but he that proves the king, 270 
 
 253. unvex'd] unharassed. words in -ure. Compare Sonnet xxi. : 
 
 253. retire] retreat. Compare " . . . all things rare That heaven's 
 
 Henry V. iv. iii. 86 : air in this huge rondure hems " ; and 
 
 " that their souls cincture, iv. iii. 155 infra. 
 
 May make a peaceful and a sweet 259. old-faced] Williams' conjecture 
 
 retire " ; of " bold-faced " looks very probable. 
 
 and line 326 infra. " Old-faced" does not seem particu- 
 
 258. proffer'd offer] The repetition larly apt in the light of the context, 
 of sound here has worried the critics : The same scholar would alter " rude " 
 but the "proper offer" of Jervis, the in line 262 to "wide." We might 
 "proffer'd love" of S. Walker, the suppose that Philip is belittling the 
 "proffer'd peace" of Hudson, do not fortifications of Angiers, which would 
 seem needful or convincing. justify reading "old-faced" and 
 
 259. roundure] The Folios read "rude." 
 " rounder," as often with French
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 35 
 
 To him will we prove loyal: till that time 
 Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world. 
 
 K. John. Doth not the crown of England prove the king ? 
 And if not that, I bring you witnesses, 274 
 
 Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed, 
 
 Bast. Bastards, and else. 
 
 K. John. To verify our title with their lives. 
 
 K. Phi. As many and as well-born bloods as those 
 
 Bast. Some bastards too. 
 
 K. Phi. Stand in his face to contradict his claim. 280 
 
 First Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest, 
 We for the worthiest hold the right from both. 
 
 K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls 
 That to their everlasting residence, 
 Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet, 285 
 
 In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king ! 
 
 K. Phi. Amen, amen ! Mount, chevaliers ! to arms ! 
 
 Bast. Saint George, that swinged the dragon, and e'er 
 since 
 Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door, 
 
 288, 289. Saint George . . . door] So Pope ; the Folios end the first line 
 at dragon. 
 
 276. Bastards, andelse] Mr. Moore- The sign of "St. George and the 
 
 Smith seems more accurate than Dragon " must have been very com- 
 
 Schmidt in taking this to mean mon in Elizabethan times ; indeed 
 
 " Bastards and otherwise " instead it is not uncommon nowadays. Com- 
 
 of "Bastards and such-like." pare Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 
 
 281. Compound] settle among your- 47, line 288): "St. George, who is 
 
 selves. Compare The Taming of ever on horseback yet never rideth." 
 
 the Shrew, i. ii. 27 : " We will com- 288. swinged] thrashed, whipped. 
 
 pound this quarrel." A.S. swingan, to beat. Compare 
 
 285. fleet] flit. Compare The 2 Henry IV. v. iv. 21 : 
 
 Merchant of Venice, iv. i. 135 : " Even " I will have you swinged soundly 
 
 from the gallows did his fell soul for this." 
 
 fleet.' 1 '' 289. horse] Perhaps we ought to 
 
 288, 289. Saint George . . . door] read horse' to indicate the possessive.
 
 36 KING JOHN [act n. 
 
 Teach us some fence! [To Aust.] Sirrah, were I at 
 home, 290 
 
 At your den, sirrah, with your lioness, 
 
 I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide, 
 
 And make a monster of you. 
 Aust. Peace ! no more. 
 
 Bast. O, tremble, for you hear the lion roar. 
 K. John. Up higher to the plain ; where we '11 set forth 295 
 
 In best appointment all our regiments. 
 Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field. 
 K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill 
 
 Command the rest to stand. God and our right ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Here after excursions, enter the Herald of France, with 
 trumpets, to the gates. 
 
 F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates, 300 
 And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in, 
 Who by the hand of France this day hath made 
 Much work for tears in many an English mother, 
 Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground: 
 Many a widow's husband grovelling lies, 305 
 
 Coldly embracing the discoloured earth ; 
 And victory, with little loss, doth play 
 Upon the dancing banners of the French, 
 
 290. some fence] literally " some 304. bleeding ground] Note the 
 
 fencing." Compare " An I thought transference of the adjective, 
 
 he had been so valiant and cunning 308, 309. Upon the . . . display'd] 
 
 mfence " (Twelfth Night, m. iv. 312), Vaughan connects "triumphantly 
 
 and the phrase " a master of fence." display'd" with "French." Why 
 
 292. J would . . . hide] one more he should prefer this to the far more 
 
 variation of the inevitable Elizabethan natural " banners " does not appear, 
 
 joke on the cuckold's horns. Keightley inverts the line into
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 37 
 
 Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd, 
 
 To enter conquerors, and to proclaim 310 
 
 Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours. 
 
 Enter English Herald, with trumpet. 
 
 E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells ; 
 King John, your king and England's, doth approach, 
 Commander of this hot malicious day : 
 Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright, 315 
 Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood; 
 There stuck no plume in any English crest 
 That is removed by a staff of France ; 
 Our colours do return in those same hands 
 That did display when we first march'd forth; 320 
 And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come 
 Our lusty English, all with purpled hands, 
 Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes : 
 Open your gates and give the victors way. 
 
 First Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might behold, 325 
 From first to last, the onset and retire 
 
 318. a staff] any staff Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.). 
 
 " Triumphantly display'd ; who are To transfer dying to foes would 
 
 at hand." This seems unnecessary. hardly be an improvement, and we 
 
 316. Hither . . . blood] Compare are forced to believe that Shakespeare 
 
 Macbeth, 11. iii. 118 : sacrificed sense a little for the sake of 
 
 " Here lay Duncan playing with the sound. 
 
 His silver skin laced with his 325. First Cit.] In the Folios the 
 
 golden blood " ; person here called the First Citizen is 
 
 and Ford, 'Tis Pity, v. vi. : "gilt called Hubert. Mr. Knight retains 
 
 with the blood of a fair sister and a this, identifying him with Hubert 
 
 hapless father." Compare also the de Burgh. Mr. Wright suggests 
 
 phrase " red gold." that the parts both of Hubert and of 
 
 318. staff] Here used as equivalent the Citizen were played by the same 
 
 for the whole spear. actor. In the Troublesome Raigne 
 
 323. Dyed . . . dying] The play Hubert and the Citizen are two dis- 
 
 upon words is obvious, and " dying tinct persons. 
 
 slaughter " may be compared with 326. retire] See line 253 and note 
 
 " bleeding ground," line 304 supra, supra.
 
 38 KING JOHN [act u. 
 
 Of both your armies ; whose equality 
 
 By our best eyes cannot be censured : 
 
 Blood hath bought blood and blows have answered 
 
 blows ; 
 Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted 
 
 power : 330 
 
 Both are alike ; and both alike we like. 
 One must prove greatest : while they weigh so even, 
 We hold our town for neither, yet for both. 
 
 Re-enter the two Kings, with their powers, severally. 
 
 K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away ? 
 Say, shall the current of our right run on? 335 
 
 Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment, 
 Shall leave his native channel, and o'erswell 
 With course disturb'd even thy confining shores, 
 Unless thou let his silver water keep 
 A peaceful progress to the ocean. 340 
 
 K. Phi. England, thou hast not saved one drop of blood, 
 In this hot trial, more than we of France ; 
 Rather, lost more. And by this hand I swear, 
 
 335. run] Ff 3, 4 ; runne F 2 ; rome F 1 ; roam Malone ; foam Nicholson 
 conj. 
 
 327, 328. whose equality . . . cert- i. 33) is not, however, convincing. 
 
 sured] our best eyes cannot dis- An old dictionary (1696) by Coles 
 
 tinguish between the two claimants, gives " Censure : to judge, give 
 
 so equally matched are you. Malone sentence," and the meaning "to 
 
 says, " Our author ought to have judge " seems sufficient for our 
 
 written ' whose superiority,' or passage. 
 
 ' whose inequality ' cannot be cen- 335. shall . . . run on] Compare 
 
 sured." Vaughan explains, " whose v. iv. 56 : " And calmly run on in 
 
 equality is so exact that our best eyes obedience." In view of this there is 
 
 can see no flaw in its completeness," no doubt that run is the preferable 
 
 and adds that " censure appears to be reading. 
 
 a term specially applicable to the 344. climate] Here a portion of the 
 
 discrimination of differences." The sky. In Richard II. iv. i. 130 it is 
 
 instance he quotes (Henry VIII. 1. used for a region of the earth (" That
 
 sc. i.J KING JOHN 39 
 
 That sways the earth this climate overlooks, 
 Before we will lay down our just-borne arms, 345 
 We '11 put thee down 'gainst whom these arms we bear, 
 Or add a royal number to the dead, 
 Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's loss 
 With slaughter coupled to the name of kings. 
 Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, 350 
 
 When the rich blood of kings is set on fire ! 
 O, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel ; 
 The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs ; 
 And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men, 
 In undetermined differences of kings. 355 
 
 Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus? 
 Cry " havoc ! " kings ; back to the stained field, 
 You equal potents, fiery kindled spirits! 
 
 358. fiery kindled] fiery-kindled Pope ; fire-y kindled Collier, ed. 2 (Collier 
 MS.) ; fire-enkindled Lettsom conj. 
 
 in a Christian climate souls refined gives " *o mouch " = " to eat up 
 
 Should show as heinous . . ."). greedily " (Line), and Coles, " to eat 
 
 Cotgrave has " Climat ; a clime, or up all." 
 
 climate ; a division in the skie, or 357. " havoc I "] The crying of 
 
 portion of the world, between south " havoc I " was the signal for indis- 
 
 and north"; Coles (1696) " Climote criminate slaughter. Compare Julius 
 
 (sic) : clime, such a space of earth Casar, in. i. 273 : 
 
 (between two parallel lines) as makes " Cry Havoc,' and let slip the 
 
 half an hour's difference in the sun- dogs of war." 
 
 dials and length of days." The New Eng. Diet, quotes (1385) 
 
 350. towers] soars. See v. ii. 149 Ord. War Richard II. in Black Bk. 
 
 infra. A hawking term. A grouse Admiralty (Rolls), i. 455 : 
 
 that rises high before dropping after " Item, qe nul soit si hardy de 
 
 being mortally struck is still said to crier havok sur peine davoir la 
 
 " tower." teste coupe." 
 
 354. mousing] generally given as 358. equal potents] equally 
 
 " tearing, as a cat tears a mouse." matched powers. 
 
 A much better sense is given by tak- 358. fiery kindled] See readings 
 
 ing the more obvious meaning of in the variant, supra. I would sug- 
 
 gnawing, nibbling as a mouse does, gest" fury-kindled spirits." Compare 
 
 The "Well moused, Lion I " of A Edward III. hi. iii. 113: "Or that 
 
 Midsummer-Night' s Dream, v. i. 274, enkindled fury turn to flame " ; and 
 
 will also bear this interpretation. It Richard II. i.i.152: "Wrath-kindled 
 
 is perhaps worth noting that Halliwell gentlemen, be ruled by me."
 
 40 KING JOHN [act 11. 
 
 Then let confusion of one part confirm 
 The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and 
 death ! 360 
 
 K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit ? 
 
 K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England ; who 's your king ? 
 
 First Cit. The king of England, when we know the king. 
 
 K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right 
 
 K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy, 365 
 
 And bear possession of our person here, 
 Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you. 
 
 First Cit. A greater power than we denies all this ; 
 And till it be undoubted, we do lock 
 Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates ; 370 
 King'd of our fears, until our fears, resolved, 
 Be by some certain king purged and deposed. 
 
 Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout you, 
 kings, 
 And stand securely on their battlements, 
 As in a theatre, whence they gape and point 375 
 At your industrious scenes and acts of death. 
 
 362. who's] Ff 2, 3, 4 ; whose F 1. 367. of you] Ff 1, 4 ; if you Ff 2, 3. 
 
 367. Lord of our presence] See 1. i. feare" and 3 and 4, " Kings of our 
 137 supra. Vaughan's explanation fear" having our fears for king. 
 of the use in Act 1. would not hold Various other readings have been 
 here. Mr. Wright says "presence" suggested, but none seem worth corn- 
 here means " personal dignity " ; but paring with Tyrwhitt's suggestion, 
 it seems difficult to think that John 373. scroyles] scabby fellows, a 
 means " I am here master of my term of utmost contempt. Compare 
 personal dignity, of Angiers, and of Cotgrave, *' dme escrouellee, an in- 
 you." I should imagine '* Lord of fected traiterous or depraved spirit " ; 
 our presence " to mean " Lord of the " Les escrouelles, the King's evil." 
 title by which I am generally known, Steevens quotes Ben Jonson, Every 
 i.e. King of England, and also Lord Man in his Humour, 1. i. : " hang 'em 
 of Angiers and of you." scroyles." 
 
 371. King' d of our fears] So Rann, 376. At your . . . death] at the 
 
 after a conjecture of Tyrwhitt's. scenes and acts of death which you 
 
 Folios 1 and 2 read ** Kings of our industriously perform. For the trans-
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 41 
 
 Your royal presences be ruled by me: 
 
 Do like the mutines of Jerusalem, 
 
 Be friends awhile and both conjointly bend 
 
 Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town : 380 
 
 By east and west let France and England mount 
 
 Their battering cannon charged to the mouths, 
 
 Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down 
 
 The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city: 
 
 I 'Id play incessantly upon these jades, 385 
 
 Even till unfenced desolation 
 
 Leave them as naked as the vulgar air. 
 
 That done, dissever your united strengths, 
 
 And part your mingled colours once again ; 
 
 Turn face to face and bloody point to point ; 390 
 
 Then, in a moment, Fortune shall cull forth 
 
 Out of one side her happy minion, 
 
 To whom in favour she shall give the day, 
 
 And kiss him with a glorious victory. 
 
 379. awhile] a-while Ff I, 2 ; a while Ff 3, 4. 
 
 ference of adjective, compare line 383. soul-fearing] causing the soul 
 
 304 supra. Capell reads " illustri- to fear. Compare The Merchant of 
 
 ous." Venice, 11. i. 9 : 
 
 378. mutines] Spedding needlessly " I tell thee, lady, this aspect of 
 
 conjectures mutiners. Compare mine 
 
 Hamlet, v. ii. 6 : " Methought I lay Hath fear'd the valiant." 
 
 worse than the mutines in the bilboes." Compare Ralph Roister Doister, In- 
 
 The reference is to the leaders of the duction (ed. Dent, p. 13, line 85) : 
 
 factions in Jerusalem, John of Giscela " We '11 fear our children with him ; 
 
 and Simon bar Gioras, who stopped if the}' be never so unruly do but cry, 
 
 their internecine strife in order to Ralph comes . . . and they '11 be as 
 
 fight against the Romans (see quiet as lambs." 
 
 Josephus, Jewish Wars, bk. v. chs. 392. minion] Cotgrave has " Mig- 
 
 2 and 6). Since Josephus was not non : a minion, favourite, wanton, 
 
 translated until 1602, Mr. Wright dilling, darling." Compare 1 Henry 
 
 believes Shakespeare's source to have IV. 1. i. 83: "Who is sweet For- 
 
 been Peter Morwyng's translation of tunes minion and her pride." Used 
 
 the spurious narrative of Joseph ben often as a slighting term in Shake- 
 
 Gorion. speare.
 
 42 KING JOHN [act u. 
 
 How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? 395 
 Smacks it not something of the policy? 
 
 K, John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads, 
 I like it well. France, shall we knit our powers 
 And lay this Angiers even with the ground ; 
 Then after fight who shall be king of it? 400 
 
 Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king, 
 
 Being wrong'd as we are by this peevish town, 
 
 Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery, 
 
 As we will ours, against these saucy walls ; 404 
 
 And when that we have dash'd them to the ground, 
 
 Why then defy each other, and pell-mell 
 
 Make work upon ourselves, for heaven or hell. 
 
 K. Phi. Let it be so. Say, where will you assault? 
 
 K. John. We from the west will send destruction 
 
 Into this city's bosom. 410 
 
 Aust. I from the north. 
 
 K. Phi. Our thunder from the south 
 
 Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. 
 
 411. thunder] thunders Grant White (Capell conj.). 
 
 395. states] persons in high posi- Elizabethan plays the word denotes 
 tions. Compare Troilus and Cres- crafty dealings. Compare Middleton's 
 sida, v. v. 65 : " Hail, all you state Roaring Girl, ii. 2 : "By opposite 
 of Greece." Compare also " infant policies, courses indirect " ; ibid. iv. 
 state" (11. i. 97 supra). 1 : " I'll make her policy the art to 
 
 396. the policy] Gould suggests trap her " ; and Webster's Vittoria 
 "true policy." Schmidt explains Corombona (ed. Dyce, p. n, col. 2) : 
 " the policy you make so much of" ; " So who knows policy and her 
 Mr. Wright, " the policy which is so true aspect, 
 
 much thought of." Cotgrave and Shall find her ways winding and 
 
 Coles equate policy with government, indirect." 
 
 a meaning which lends colour to 406. pell-mell] Cotgrave has " Pesle- 
 
 Mr. Moore - Smith's conjecture of mesle : pell-mell, confusedly, hand 
 
 " Has it not some smack or savour over head, all on a heap, one with 
 
 of the political art." In the light of another." 
 
 this meaning, Gould's suggestion of 412. drift] the shower of bullets 
 
 "true" for "the" is tempting. In compared to snow driven by the wind.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 43 
 
 Bast. O prudent discipline ! From north to south. 
 Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth : 
 I '11 stir them to it. Come, away, away ! 415 
 
 First Cit. Hear us, great kings : vouchsafe awhile to stay, 
 And I shall show you peace and fair-faced league ; 
 Win you this city without stroke or wound ; 
 Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds, 
 That here come sacrifices for the field : 420 
 
 Persever not, but hear me, mighty kings. 
 
 K. John. Speak on with favour ; we are bent to hear. 
 
 First Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch, 
 Is niece to England : look upon the years 
 Of Lewis the Dauphin and that lovely maid: 425 
 If lusty love should go in quest of beauty, 
 Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch? 
 If zealous love should go in search of virtue, 
 Where should he find it purer than in Blanch ? 
 If love ambitious sought a match of birth, 430 
 
 Whose veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch ? 
 Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth, 
 Is the young Dauphin every way complete : 
 If not complete of, say he is not she ; 
 
 421. Persever] Ff i, 2; Persevere Ff 3, 4. 422. Speak on with favour ; 
 we] Speak on with favour, we Ff; Speak on; with favour we Rowe. 424. 
 niece] So Singer, ed. 2 (Collier MS.) ; neere Ff 1, 2 ; neer Ff 3, 4. 428. 
 should] omitted in Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 418, 419. Win you . . . Rescue] I Neece to K. Iohn, the lovely 
 
 shall win you ... I shall rescue. Ladie Blanch. " 
 
 422. Speak on . . . to hear] we 434. complete of] There seems to 
 grant you leave to speak on ; we are be no other instance of the use of this 
 listening. phrase, and several emendations have 
 
 424. niece] The reading of the Folios been suggested. Hanmer, "If not 
 
 is an obvious misprint. Compare complete, oh say, he is not she " ; 
 
 Troublesome Raigne : Kinnear for " of" reads " so." " So," 
 
 " The beauteous daughter of the with the long s, may have been 
 
 King of Spaine, printed " os " and read as " of."
 
 44 KING JOHN [act n. 
 
 And she again wants nothing, to name want, 435 
 If want it be not that she is not he: 
 He is the half part of a blessed man, 
 Left to be finished by such as she ; 
 And she a fair divided excellence, 
 Whose fulness of perfection lies in him. 440 
 
 O, two such silver currents, when they join, 
 Do glorify the banks that bound them in ; 
 And two such shores to two such streams made one 
 Two such controlling bounds shall you be, kings, 
 To these two princes, if you marry them. 445 
 
 This union shall do more than battery can 
 To our fast-closed gates ; for at this match, 
 With swifter spleen than powder can enforce, 
 The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope, 
 And give you entrance : but without this match, 450 
 The sea enraged is not half so deaf, 
 Lions more confident, mountains and rocks 
 More free from motion, no, not Death himself 
 In mortal fury half so peremptory, 
 As we to keep this city. 
 Bast. Here's a stay 455 
 
 438. such as she] Theobald reads, bear its more usual meaning of 
 
 after a conjecture of Thurlby's, " such " ill-temper." 
 
 a she," a very probable reading. 454. peremptory] Cotgrave has 
 
 447. match] A play upon the double " peremptoire, . . . absolute, . . . 
 
 meaning, the match between the forcible ; . . . earnest ; that will have 
 
 Dauphin and Blanch, and the match no nay." 
 
 to fire the mine. In the next line 455. stay] Johnson was dissatis- 
 
 Pope reads " speed " for '* spleen," fied with this word, and conjectured 
 
 while Becket conjectures " Swifter " flaw," which Hudson adopted, 
 
 than powder can in spleen enforce." Becket suggested " say," which 
 
 We must either take " spleen " to Singer adopted in his second edition, 
 
 mean " haste " (see v. vii. 50 infra) Williams suggested " story " or 
 
 or suspect the text, for it cannot here "storm"; Elze (Athenaum, 1867)
 
 sc i] KING JOHN 45 
 
 That shakes the rotten carcass of old Death 
 Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed, 
 That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas, 
 Talks as familiarly of roaring lions 
 As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs ! 460 
 
 What cannoneer begot this lusty blood ? 
 He speaks plain cannon fire, and smoke and bounce; 
 He gives the bastinado with his tongue: 
 Our ears are cudgell'd ; not a word of his 
 But buffets better than a fist of France: 465 
 
 Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words 
 Since I first call'd my brother's father dad. 
 Eli. Son, list to this conjunction, make this match; 
 Give with our niece a dowry large enough: 
 For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie 470 
 
 Thy now unsured assurance to the crown, 
 That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe 
 The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit. 
 I see a yielding in the looks of France; 
 Mark, how they whisper : urge them while their 
 
 souls 475 
 
 Are capable of this ambition, 
 
 "bray," Vaughan "style," Herr Gayley, line 609: "Dub dub a dub, 
 
 "sway," Gould "slave." None of bounce quoth the guns with a sulpher- 
 
 these are satisfactory. We must ous huffe snuffe " ; and 2 Henry IV. 
 
 assume that "stay" or the word it in. ii. 304 : " ' Bounce ' would 'a say " ; 
 
 represents means a sudden check or and Knight of the Burning Pestle, v. 
 
 hindrance. In Cheshire there is a i. 94 : " ' Sa, Sa, Sa, bounce t ' quoth 
 
 dialectical term " staw'd " applied to the guns." Its modern meaning of 
 
 a horse who is checked by a difficulty bombast does not seem to have de- 
 
 in climbing a hill (Cheshire Folk- veloped in Shakespeare's time. 
 
 Speech, Dialect Society). 467. Since . . . dad] An inimitable 
 
 462. bounce] The onomatopeic turn of a common saying to suit the 
 
 word for the report of a gun, com- Bastard's own case, 
 
 mon in Elizabethan plays. Compare 468. list to this conjunction] list to 
 
 Peele's Old Wives 1 Tale (1595), ed. the suggestion of this conjunction.
 
 46 KING JOHN [act ii. 
 
 Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath 
 Of soft petitions, pity and remorse, 
 Cool and congeal again to what it was. 
 
 First Cit. Why answer not the double majesties 480 
 
 This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town ? 
 
 K. Phi. Speak England first, that hath been forward first 
 To speak unto this city : what say you ? 
 
 K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son, 
 Can in this book of beauty read " I love," 485 
 
 Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen: 
 For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers, 
 And all that we upon this side the sea, 
 Except this city now by us besieged, 
 Find liable to our crown and dignity, 490 
 
 Shall gild her bridal bed, and make her rich 
 In titles, honours and promotions, 
 As she in beauty, education, blood, 
 Holds hand with any princess of the world. 494 
 
 K. Phi. What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face. 
 
 Lew. I do, my lord ; and in her eye I find 
 A wonder, or a wondrous miracle, 
 The shadow of myself form'd in her eye ; 
 
 477. Lest] F 4; Least Ff 1, 2, 3. 486. a queen]Ff i, 2 ; the queen Ff 3, 4. 
 487. Anjou] So Pope; Anglers Ff. 494. hand] F 1 ; hands Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 477-479. Lest zeal . . . it was] breath, etc., should cool and freeze 
 
 Hanmer puts the comma after into its previous form if advantage 
 
 " melted," thus making the windy be not now taken." 
 
 breath of soft petitions, pity and 480. the] Lettsom suggests " ye " ; 
 
 remorse do the work of freezing zeal but Shakespeare's usage would then 
 
 which is now melted. The adjective require two " ye's " " Why answer 
 
 " soft," however, clearly determines ye not, ye double majesties." 
 
 the sense : " Lest [Jackson suggests 494. Holds hand] Compare the 
 
 " let "] the desire which the French modern phrase " to touch elbows 
 
 king now has to fall in with the sug- with," i.e. to be the equal of. 
 gestion, a desire melted by the windy
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 47 
 
 Which, being but the shadow of your son, 
 
 Becomes a sun and makes your son a shadow : 500 
 
 I do protest I never loved myself 
 
 Till now infixed I beheld myself 
 
 Drawn in the flattering table of her eye. 
 
 [Whispers with Blanch. 
 
 Bast. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye! 
 
 Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow! 505 
 And quarter'd in her heart! he doth espy 
 Himself love's traitor : this is pity now, 
 That, hang'd and drawn and quarter'd, there should be 
 In such a love so vile a lout as he. 
 
 Blanch. My uncle's will in this respect is mine: 510 
 
 If he see aught in you that makes him like, 
 That any thing he sees, which moves his liking, 
 I can with ease translate it to my will; 
 Or if you will, to speak more properly, 
 I will enforce it easily to my !ove. 515 
 
 Further I will not flatter you, my lord, 
 That all I see in you is worthy love, 
 
 515. easily] Ff 3, 4 ; easlie Ff 1, 2. 
 
 503. table] " the surface on which 504-509. Drawn in ... as he] 
 a picture is painted " (Dyce-Little- Mr. Worrall suggests that Shake- 
 dale). Fr. tableau (?). Coles, speare is here mocking at the love 
 " Table of Appelles." Compare conceits of contemporary sonneteers. 
 Sonnet xxiv. 2 : The sonnet quoted to illustrate the 
 " Mine eye hath play'd the painter, last note is quite in the vein which 
 and hath stell'd Shakespeare is here caricaturing. 
 Thy beauty's form in table of my 512, 513. That any thing . . . my 
 heart " ; will] that which he sees and likes I 
 and Friar Bacon (1595), ed. Gayley, can easily bring myself to like too. 
 1. i. 56: The "it" in line 513 summing up 
 " Her form is Beauty's table, where " That anything he sees " is pleon- 
 she paints astic. 
 The glories of her gorgious ex- 517. all . . . worthy love] all I 
 cellence." see in you is worthy of love.
 
 48 KING JOHN [act b. 
 
 Than this; that nothing do I see in you, 
 
 Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your 
 
 judge, 
 That I can find should merit any hate. 520 
 
 K. John. What say these young ones ? What say you, 
 my niece? 
 
 Blanch. That she is bound in honour still to do 
 What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say. 
 
 K. John. Speak then, prince Dauphin ; can you love this 
 lady? 
 
 Lew. Nay, ask me if 1 can refrain from love; 525 
 
 For I do love her most unfeignedly. 
 
 K. John. Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine, 
 Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces, 
 With her to thee ; and this addition more, 
 Full thirty thousand marks of English coin. 530 
 
 Philip of France, if thou be pleased withal, 
 Command thy son and daughter to join hands. 
 
 K. Phi. It likes us well ; young princes, close your 
 hands. 
 
 523. still] will Pope ; shall Steevens (1785) (Capell conj.). 533. It 
 
 likes . . . hands] Rowe ; It likes us well young princes : close your 
 hands Ff. 
 
 519. churlish] grudging. Cotgrave larly." We find the same use in the 
 
 gives " churlish : aspre, rude, vilain." north of Ireland dialect Compare 
 
 Coles " churlich (sic) : plainly, Milton, Comus, lines 558-560 : 
 
 homely." Every other Shakespearian "(Silence) wished she might 
 
 use of the word can be paraphrased Deny her nature, and be never 
 
 by " boorish." more, 
 
 522, 523. ift//] often bore the Still to be so displaced." 
 
 meaning of "continually." It has 527. Volquessen] "The ancient 
 
 been borrowed, probably from county of the Velocasses {pagus 
 
 Elizabethan English, into Mid- Velocassinus), whose capital was 
 
 Cardigan and Carmarthenshire Welsh, Rouen; divided in modern times 
 
 where "Ymae'n dyfod still" means into Vexin Normand and Vexin 
 
 "he comes continually" or " regu- Francais" (Mr. Wright).
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 49 
 
 Aust. And your lips too; for I am well assured 
 
 That I did so when I was first assured. 535 
 
 K. Phi. Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates, 
 Let in that amity which you have made; 
 For at Saint Mary's chapel presently 
 The rites of marriage shall be solemnized. 
 Is not the Lady Constance in this troop ? 540 
 
 I know she is not, for this match made up 
 Her presence would have interrupted much : 
 Where is she and her son? tell me, who knows. 
 
 Lew. She is sad and passionate at your highness' tent. 
 
 K. Phi. And, by my faith, this league that we have 
 made 545 
 
 Will give her sadness very little cure. 
 Brother of England, how may we content 
 This widow lady? In her right we came; 
 Which we, God knows, have turn'd another way, 
 To our own vantage. 
 
 K. John. We will heal up all; 550 
 
 For we'll create young Arthur Duke of Bretagne 
 And Earl of Richmond ; and this rich fair town 
 
 539. rites] F4; rights Ff i, 2, 3. 
 
 535. assured] betrothed. have been pronounced " pashnate." 
 
 538. presently] immediately. Com- The word denotes violence of feeling, 
 
 pare The Tempest, iv. i. 42: "Pre- probably of grief in the case of Con- 
 
 sently ? Ay, with a twink." stance, not as would suit the case of 
 
 543. Where . . . knows] The Elinor " in a passion." Compare 
 punctuation here is that of Steevens Arden of Fever sham, hi. v. 45 : " How 
 (1793). The Folios have " sonne, now, Alice ? what, sad and passion- 
 . . . knowes ? " Steevens evidently ate ? " and Middleton, A Trick, iv. ii. 
 takes it to mean " Let him who (Mermaid ed. p. 53), where Witgood 
 knows tell me ! " is lamenting and the "2nd Gent." 
 
 544. passionate] Vaughan suspected says to him : " Fie 1 you a firm 
 "passionate " owing to the extra foot scholar, and an understanding gentle- 
 in the line, but has withdrawn his sug- man, and give your best parts to 
 gested alterations. It may, he says, passion." 
 
 4
 
 50 KING JOHN [act h. 
 
 We make him lord of. Call the Lady Constance ; 
 Some speedy messenger bid her repair 
 To our solemnity: I trust we shall, 555 
 
 If not fill up the measure of her will, 
 Yet in some measure satisfy her so 
 That we shall stop her exclamation. 
 Go we, as well as haste will suffer us, 
 To this unlook'd for, unprepared pomp. 560 
 
 [Exeunt all but the Bastard. 
 Bast. Mad world ! mad kings ! mad composition ! 
 John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole, 
 Hath willingly departed with a part : 
 And France, whose armour conscience buckled on, 
 Whom zeal and charity brought to the field 565 
 
 As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear 
 With that some purpose-changer, that sly devil, 
 That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith, 
 That daily break-vow, he that wins of all, 
 Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids, 570 
 Who, having no external thing to lose 
 
 555. solemnity] the marriage of the forth.' " Mr. Wright points out that 
 
 Dauphin and Blanch. the proper form of the word is 
 
 561. composition] agreement, "rouned," from A.S. runian, and 
 
 Compare "compound," line 281 quotes Piers Plowman (B text), iv. 13 : 
 
 supra. " And ritt rijte to resoun, and rowneth 
 
 563. departed with] parted with, in his ere." Compare also Gosson's 
 
 566. God's own soldier] Compare Apology of the Schoole of Abuse (ed. 
 
 Macbeth, v. viii. 45 i Arber, p. 74) : " for his Pypers were 
 
 " Siw. Had he his hurts before ? ready too rounde him in the eare, what 
 
 Ross. Ay, on the front. he should speake." 
 
 Siw. Why then, God's soldier 568. broker] agent. The Bastard 
 
 be he 1 " harps upon the connection of breaking 
 
 566. rounded] whispered. Com- with the sound of " broker." 
 
 pare The Winter's Tale, 1. ii. 217: 571, 572. Who . . . cheats] An 
 
 " They 're here with me already, obvious anacoluthon. 
 whispering, rounding ' Sicilia is a so-
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 51 
 
 But the word " maid," cheats the poor maid of that, 
 
 That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling Commodity, 
 
 Commodity, the bias of the world, 
 
 The world, who of itself is peised well, 575 
 
 Made to run even upon even ground, 
 
 Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias, 
 
 This sway of motion, this Commodity, 
 
 Makes it take head from all indifferency, 
 
 From all direction, purpose, course, intent: 580 
 
 And this same bias, this Commodity, 
 
 This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word, 
 
 Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France, 
 
 Hath drawn him from his own determined aid, 
 
 From a resolved and honourable war, 585 
 
 To a most base and vile-concluded peace. 
 
 And why rail I on this Commodity? 
 
 But for because he hath not woo'd me yet: 
 
 Not that I have the power to clutch my hand, 
 
 When his fair angels would salute my palm ; 590 
 
 But for my hand, as unattempted yet, 
 
 Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich. 
 
 Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail 
 
 573. tickling'] flattering. We still of running out of the straight. 
 
 speak of tickling a man's pride. Peised : poised, balanced. To " take 
 
 Compare Coriolanus, 1. i. 263 : head from all indifferency " is to 
 
 " Such a nature, leave impartiality, to become biased. 
 
 Tickled with good success, dis- The "eye," according to Staunton, 
 
 dains the shadow was the aperture in the bowl where 
 
 Which he treads on at noon." the leaden weight, also called the 
 
 Vaughan would read "tickling" as "bias," was fixed. 
 
 a trisyllable. 590. angels] the angel was a gold 
 
 574-580. Commodity . . . intent] coin worth ten shillings in Elizabeth's 
 
 The Bastard compares Commodity, time. 
 
 i.e. Expediency or Self-interest, to 591. But . . . yet] because my 
 
 the leaden weight inserted in the side hand has been untempted as yet. 
 of a bowl to give it" bias," the power
 
 52 KING JOHN [act d. 
 
 And say there is no sin but to be rich]; 
 
 And being rich, my virtue then shall be 595 
 
 To say there is no vice but beggary. 
 
 Since kings break faith upon commodity, 
 
 Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee. 
 
 [Exit.
 
 ACT III 
 SCENE I. The French King's Pavilion. 
 
 Enter CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and SALISBURY. 
 
 Const. Gone to be married ! gone to swear a peace ! 
 
 False blood to false blood join'd ! gone to be friends ! 
 Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those pro- 
 vinces ? 
 It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard; 
 Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again: 5 
 
 It cannot be ; thou dost but say 'tis so : 
 I trust I may not trust thee; for thy word 
 Is but the vain breath of a common man : 
 Believe me, I do not believe thee, man ; 
 I have a king's oath to the contrary. 10 
 
 Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me, 
 For I am sick and capable of fears, 
 Oppress'd with wrongs and therefore full of fears, 
 A widow, husbandless, subject to fears, 
 A woman, naturally born to fears; 15 
 
 Act in.] Actus Secundus in the 14. widow] This is not historically 
 
 Folios, ending at line 74. correct. At this time Constance was 
 
 12. capable of fears] susceptible to married to a third husband, Guido, 
 
 fears. Compare 11. i. 476 supra, and brother to the Viscount of Touars. 
 
 Greene's Never Too Late (1600), She had been divorced from her 
 
 p. 95 : " Mirimadas eares were not second husband, Ranulph, Earl of 
 
 capable of any amorous persuasion." Chester. 
 
 53
 
 54 KING JOHN [act dl 
 
 And though thou now confess thou didst but jest, 
 With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce, 
 But they will quake and tremble all this day. 
 What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head ? 
 Why dost thou look so sadly on my son? 20 
 
 What means that hand upon that breast of thine ? 
 Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum, 
 Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds? 
 Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words? 
 Then speak again ; not all thy former tale, 2 5 
 
 But this one word, whether thy tale be true. 
 
 Sal. As true as I believe you think them false 
 That give you cause to prove my saying true. 
 
 Const. O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow, 
 
 Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die, 30 
 
 And let belief and life encounter so 
 
 As doth the fury of two desperate men 
 
 Which in the very meeting fall and die. 
 
 Lewis marry Blanch ! O boy, then where art thou ? 
 
 France friend with England, what becomes of me? 35 
 
 Fellow, be gone : I cannot brook thy sight : 
 
 This news hath made thee a most ugly man. 
 
 16, 17. And . . . truce] So Rowe ; And . . . jest with . . . spirits, . . . 
 truce Ff. 24. signs] sighs Warburton. 27. you] you '11 Keightley. 
 
 17. cannot] Pope printed " can 't " " Have every pelting river made so 
 in order to regularise the line. But proud 
 
 " spirits " is often a monosyllable, That they have overborne their 
 
 and the accentuation of the line in- continents " 
 
 dicates that it is so here. exactly the continenti ripa of Horace. 
 
 19-26. What dost . . . be true] 27, 28. As true . . . saying true] 
 
 This may be compared with Rather a roundabout asseveration, but 
 
 Northumberland's speech on hearing quite in the vein of early Shakespeare. 
 
 of Hotspur's death (2 Henry IV. i. 1). 36, 37. Fellow, be gone . . . ugly 
 
 23. bounds] containing banks, man] Compare this with Cleopatra's 
 
 Compare A Midsummer -Night's reception of bad news about Antony 
 
 Dream, 11. i. 92: (Antony and Cleopatra, 11. v.).
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 55 
 
 Sal. What other harm have I, good lady, done, 
 But spoke the harm that is by others done ? 
 
 Const. Which harm within itself so heinous is 40 
 
 As it makes harmful all that speak of it. 
 
 Arth. I do beseech you, madam, be content. 
 
 Const. If thou, that bid'st me be content, wert grim, 
 Ugly and slanderous to thy mother's womb, 
 Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains, 45 
 
 Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious, 
 Patch'd with foul moles and eye-offending marks, 
 I would not care, I then would be content, 
 For then I should not love thee, no, nor thou 
 Become thy great birth nor deserve a crown. 50 
 
 But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy, 
 Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great : 
 Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with lilies boast 
 And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O, 
 She is corrupted, changed and won from thee; 55 
 
 45. and sightless] unsightly Collier MS. 
 
 45. sightless] equivalent in mean- 53, 54. lilies . . . rose] These 
 ing to the " unsightly " of Collier's flowers have been generally deemed 
 corrector. Compare the opposite the fairest by poets. It is interesting 
 meaning of " sightly " (11. i. 143 to remember in this connection that 
 supra). the lily is the flower of France, the 
 
 46. swart] black. This was hide- rose that of England. There are 
 ous in Elizabethan eyes. Compare many comparisons of the beauty of 
 Much Ado About Nothing, v. iv. 36 : youths and maids to the beauty of 
 " I '11 hold my mind were she an lilies and roses to be found in Shake- 
 Ethiope." speare and other Elizabethan liter- 
 
 46. prodigious] of the nature of a ature. Compare A Midsummer- 
 prodigy in the worst sense, therefore Night's Dream, 111. i. 96 : 
 monstrous. Compare Richard III. " Most lily like in hue 
 1. ii. 22: "If ever he have child, Of colour like the red rose." 
 abortive be it, Prodigious . . ." Cot- See also Tennyson's Maud, xxii. 9 : 
 grave has *' Prodigieux : prodigious, " Queen rose of the rosebud garden 
 wondrous, monstrous, most unnatural of girls . . . 
 or out of course." Queen lily and rose in one."
 
 56 KING JOHN [act dl 
 
 She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John, 
 
 And with her golden hand hath pluck'd on France 
 
 To tread down fair respect of sovereignty, 
 
 And made his majesty the bawd to theirs. 
 
 France is a bawd to Fortune and King John, 60 
 
 That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John ! 
 
 Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn? 
 
 Envenom him with words, or get thee gone, 
 
 And leave those woes alone which I alone 
 
 Am bound to under-bear. 
 
 Sal. Pardon me, madam, 65 
 
 I may not go without you to the kings. 
 
 Const. Thou mayst, thou shalt ; I will not go with thee : 
 I will instruct my sorrows to be proud ; 
 For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop. 
 To me and to the state of my great grief 70 
 
 Let kings assemble; for my grief's so great 
 That no supporter but the huge firm earth 
 Can hold it up: here I and sorrow sit; 
 Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it. 
 
 [Seats herself on the ground. 
 
 64. those] these F 4. 
 
 56. She adulterates] The Folios suspect "stoop" and perhaps "his 
 
 print ' Sh' adulterates," thus indicat- owner." All the suggested emenda- 
 
 ing the scansion ; meaning = " com- tions wrest some meaning out of the 
 
 mits adultery." This somewhat rare passage, but not one of them carries 
 
 use is almost paralleled by Hamlet, conviction with it. Perhaps " proud " 
 
 1. v. 41 : " that adulterate beast " = is the corrupt word, which ought to be 
 
 that " adulterous " beast. "poor" (as suggested by H. A. C, 
 
 65. under-bear] support. Compare A then. 1S67) or some such equivalent. 
 Richard II. 1. iv. 29: "And patient This would make Constance say in 
 underbearing of his fortune." effect, "I will, in spite of my grief 
 
 69. For grief . . . stoop] There is which is apt to bow me down and 
 evidently some corruption of the text make me humble, be proud in my 
 here, and the context leads one to sorrow and make kings come to me."
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 57 
 
 Enter KING JOHN, KING PHILIP, LEWIS, BLANCH, 
 
 Elinor, the Bastard, Austria, and Attendants. 
 
 K. Phi. Tis true, fair daughter ; and this blessed day 75 
 Ever in France shall be kept festival : 
 To solemnise this day the glorious sun 
 Stays in his course and plays the alchemist, 
 Turning with splendour of his precious eye 
 The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold : 80 
 
 The yearly course that brings this day about 
 Shall never see it but a holiday. 
 
 Const. A wicked day, and not a holy day ! \Rising. 
 
 What hath this day deserved ? what hath it done, 
 That it in golden letters should be set 85 
 
 Among the high tides in the calendar? 
 Nay, rather turn this day out of the week, 
 This day of shame, oppression, perjury. 
 Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child 
 Pray that their burthens may not fall this day, 90 
 Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross'd : 
 
 82. holiday] holy day Ff 1, 2, 3 ; holy-day F 4. 
 
 77-80. To solemnise . . . gold] Opening on Neptune with fair 
 
 Compare Sonnet xxxiii. : blessed beams, 
 
 "Full many a glorious morning Turns into yellow gold his salt 
 have I seen green streams." 
 Flatter the mountain tops with 85. golden letters] Probably a refer- 
 sovereign eye, ence to the "golden number " used in 
 Kissing with golden face the calculating the feast days of theChurch. 
 meadows green, 86. tides] in the sense of time. Corn- 
 Gilding pale streams with pare "Time and tide wait for no man." 
 heavenly alchemy." " High tides " would mean festival- 
 Compare also A Midsummer-Night's days, e.g. Whitsun-tide, Shrove-tide. 
 Dream, in. ii. 390: 90. fall] Whether this means "fall 
 " [1] like a forester, the groves due " or " to fall " literally is not 
 may tread quite clear. 
 Even till the eastern gate, all 91. prodigiously] Compare line 46 
 fiery-red, supra.
 
 58 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 [act III. 
 
 But on this day let seamen fear no wrack ; 
 
 No bargains break that are not this day made : 
 
 This day, all things begun come to ill end, 
 
 Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change! 95 
 
 K. Phi. By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause 
 To curse the fair proceedings of this day: 
 Have I not pawn'd to you my majesty? 
 
 Const. You have beguiled me with a counterfeit 
 
 Resembling majesty, which, being touch'd and tried, 
 
 Proves valueless : you are forsworn, forsworn ; 
 You came in arms to spill mine enemies' blood, 
 But now in arms you strengthen it with yours: 
 The grappling vigour and rough frown of war 
 Is cold in amity and painted peace, 
 
 101 
 
 105 
 
 92. on this day] For some inscrut- 
 able reason the Folios put " on this 
 day " within brackets. Mr. Craig has 
 suggested that brackets sometimes 
 played the part of commas in F 1. 
 See Cymbehne, 1. i. 120 : 
 
 "As I (my poor selfe) did ex- 
 change." 
 " But " here means " except," which 
 Pope printed. 
 
 92. wrack] I keep the old form, 
 which indicates the pronunciation. 
 
 93-95. break . . . come . . . 
 change] These verbs here are in the 
 subjunctive mood expressing a wish. 
 
 99. Counterfeit] i.e. a counterfeit 
 coin. Cf. Ben Jonson, Magnetic 
 Lady, iii. 1 (Routledge, p. 453 a) : 
 " had the slip slurr'd on me 
 A counterfeit." 
 Compare also Lyly, Alexander and 
 Campaspe (1584), Prologue at Court : 
 " As yet we cannot tell what we 
 should tearme our labours, iron or 
 bullion ; only it belongeth to your 
 Majestie to make them fit either for 
 
 the forge or the mynt, currant by the 
 stampe or counterfeit by the anvill." 
 
 100. touch'd and tried] tested by 
 being rubbed on a touchstone. A 
 touchstone was generally made of 
 black jasper and the trained eye could 
 tell the fineness of gold rubbed on it 
 by the character of the streak left. 
 Compare Richard III. iv. ii. 8 : 
 
 " Now do I play the touch, 
 To try if thou be current gold 
 indeed." 
 
 102, 103. in arms] armed (line 102) ; 
 in one another's arms (line 103). 
 As Johnson said, " I am afraid here 
 is a clinch intended." 
 
 105. cold] The inconsistency of the 
 metaphor has led to many suggestions, 
 most of them introducing other and 
 equally great inconsistencies. It 
 seems to me that the process of trans- 
 forming vigour and a frown into amity 
 may as well be expressed by " cool- 
 ing" as by any other figure. I 
 therefore see no reason to tamper 
 with the text.
 
 sc i] KING JOHN 59 
 
 And our oppression have made up this league. 
 
 Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjured kings ! 
 
 A widow cries ; be husband to me, heavens ! 
 
 Let not the hours of this ungodly day 
 
 Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset, no 
 
 Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings ! 
 
 Hear me, O, hear me! 
 
 Aust. Lady Constance, peace! 
 
 Const. War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war. 
 O Lymoges ! O Austria ! thou dost shame 
 That bloody spoil : thou slave, thou wretch, thou 
 coward ! 115 
 
 Thou little valiant, great in villany ! 
 Thou ever strong upon the stronger side! 
 Thou Fortune's champion, that dost never fight 
 But when her humorous ladyship is by 
 To teach thee safety! thou art perjured too, 120 
 
 And soothest up greatness. What a fool art thou, 
 A ramping fool, to brag and stamp and swear 
 
 no. day] So Theobald; dales F 1 ; dayes F 2 ; days Ff 3, 4. 122. and 
 stamp] to stamp F 4. 
 
 106. And our . . . this league] and 121. Soothest up] i.e. flatterest, 
 
 your oppression of us has joined you dost humour. The tendency so preva- 
 
 together. lent nowadays to add " up " to verbs 
 
 114. O Lymoges I O Austria] An without adding much to the sense, 
 unwarrantable identification of the except perhaps making the verb em- 
 Duke of Austria and the Viscount phatic (e.g. " pay up," " smash up "), 
 of Limoges, two entirely different is to be detected in Elizabethan 
 people. See Introduction. English. Compare Spanish Tragedy, 
 
 115. bloody spoil] the lion's skin in. x. 19: " Salve all suspicions, only 
 which had previously raised the ire soothe me up" ; and Friar Bacon 
 of the Bastard. (i594)> ! 21, 22 : 
 
 119. humorous] i.e. full of differ- " This is a fairing, gentle sir, 
 
 ent humours, capricious. Compare indeed, 
 
 Love's Labour 's Lost, m. i. 76 : To soothe me up with such 
 
 " I, that have been love's whip ; smooth flatterie." 
 
 A very beadle to a humorous 122. ramping] wildly gesticulating, 
 
 sigh." Cotgrave gives " grimpement : a
 
 60 KING JOHN [act m. 
 
 Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave, 
 Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side, 
 Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend 125 
 
 Upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength, 
 And dost thou now fall over to my foes ? 
 Thou wear a lion's hide ! doff it for shame, 
 And hang a calfs-skin on those recreant limbs. 
 
 Aust. O, that a man should speak those words to me ! 130 
 
 Bast. And hang a calfs-skin on those recreant limbs. 
 
 Aust. Thou darest not say so, villain, for thy life. 
 
 Bast. And hang a calfs-skin on those recreant limbs. 
 
 K. John. We like not this; thou dost forget thyself. 
 
 Enter PANDULPH. 
 
 K. Phi. Here comes the holy legate of the pope. 135 
 
 Pand. Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven ! 
 To thee, King John, my holy errand is. 
 I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal, 
 And from Pope Innocent the legate here, 
 
 131. calfs skin] Capell ; Calves skin Ff 1, 2, 3; Calves-skin F 4. 
 
 climbing, crawling, creeping, ramp- of a Kentish inn called the " Ramping 
 
 ing, running upwards " ; and " grim- Cat " I 
 
 per: to ramp." " Lion rampant " in 127. fall over] revolt. Compare 
 
 heraldry ought therefore to mean a 1 Henry IV. 1. iii. 93 : 
 
 lion climbing, and this is just the " Revolted Mortimer ! 
 
 attitude of the lions " rampant " He never did fall off my sove- 
 
 given in Woodward and Burnett's reign liege, 
 
 Heraldry, i. plate xxi. It would re- But by the chance of war." 
 
 quire little imagination however to 129. calfs-skin] There may be a 
 
 deem this the representation of a lion reference here to the fact mentioned 
 
 seeking whom he might devour, and by Sir John Hawkins that domestic 
 
 there is no doubt that in this speech fools were clothed in a coat of calf s- 
 
 of Constance "ramping" bears the skin. "Calf" in Shakespeare often 
 
 meaning of rushing wildly about, means " fool." 
 
 As Mr. Wright suggests, the lion's 129. recreant] cowardly. See note 
 
 skin had something to do with the on "recreant" and "miscreant" in 
 
 choice of epithet. Mr. Craig tells me Arden edition of Richard II.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 61 
 
 Do in his name religiously demand 140 
 
 Why thou against the church, our holy mother, 
 So wilfully doth spurn ; and force perforce 
 Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop 
 Of Canterbury, from that holy see : 
 This, in our foresaid holy father's name, 145 
 
 Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee. 
 K. John. What earthy name to interrogatories 
 Can task the free breath of a sacred king ? 
 Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name 
 So slight, unworthy and ridiculous, 150 
 
 To charge me to an answer, as the pope. 
 Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England 
 Add thus much more, that no Italian priest 
 Shall tithe or toll in our dominions; 
 But as we, under heaven, are supreme head, 155 
 
 So under Him that great supremacy, 
 Where we do reign, we will alone uphold, 
 Without the assistance of a mortal hand : 
 So tell the pope, all reverence set apart 
 To him and his usurp'd authority. 160 
 
 144. see] F 4 ; Sea Ff I, 2, 3. 148. task] Theobald ; tast Ff 1, 2 ; 
 
 taste Ff 3, 4 ; tax Rowe (ed. 2). 
 
 140. religiously] solemnly, or per- term for questions which a witness 
 
 haps, in the name of religion. was bound to answer faithfully. " A 
 
 142. force perforce] by violent question in legal examinations " 
 
 means if necessary, by compulsion. (Coles' Diet.). John asks " whose 
 
 Compare 2 Henry VI. I. i. 258 : "And, name can sanction questions put to a 
 
 force perforce, I '11 make him yield the sacred king ? " 
 crown." 154. tithe or toll] Used as verbs = 
 
 147. What earthy name, etc.] John to exact tithe or toll, 
 here poses as the defender of the Con- 155. heaven] Here must be equiva- 
 
 stitution against the Church. See lent to God; see "Him" next line. 
 
 Introduction. Collier suggests reading " God." 
 
 147. interrogatories] A technical
 
 62 KING JOHN [act in. 
 
 K. Phi. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this. 
 
 K. John. Though you and all the kings of Christendom 
 Are led so grossly by this meddling priest, 
 Dreading the curse that money may buy out; 
 And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust, 165 
 
 Purchase corrupted pardon of a man, 
 Who in that sale sells pardon from himself, 
 Though you and all the rest so grossly led 
 This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish, 
 Yet I alone, alone do me oppose 170 
 
 Against the pope and count his friends my foes. 
 
 Pand. Then, by the lawful power that I have, 
 Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate: 
 And blessed shall be he that doth revolt 
 From his allegiance to an heretic; 175 
 
 And meritorious shall that hand be call'd, 
 Canonised and worshipp'd as a saint, 
 
 164. Dreading . . . out] Compare 173. excommunicate] excommuni- 
 Chaucer's Prologue to Canterbury cated. English words from a Latin 
 Tales, lines 654-60 : past participle in -atus are often used 
 
 " He wolde techen him to have non without the -ed in the past. 
 
 awe, 177. Canonised . . . saint] Seymour 
 
 In swich cas, of the erchedeknes would read *' Worshipp'd and canon- 
 curs, iz'ed as a saint." But we may read 
 
 But-if a mannes soule were in his " canonized and worshipp'd as a 
 
 purs. saint," which is the accentuation in 
 
 For in his purs he sholde y-pun- Hamlet, 1. iv. 47 : 
 
 isshed be. " But tell 
 
 Purs is the erchedeknes helle,' Why thy canbniz'd bones hearsed 
 
 seyde he." in death." 
 
 165. vile] Nearly always spelt Compare also Troilus and Cressida, 
 " vilde " or " vild " in plays of this 11. ii. 202 : 
 
 period. " And fame in time to come canon- 
 
 168, 169. Though you . . . cherish] ize us " ; 
 
 though you and all the rest who are and m. iv. 52 infra, where Seymour 
 
 so foolishly led, help to keep up this again would needlessly invert the line 
 
 juggling witchcraft (i.e. Popery) by for the same reason, 
 contributing monies towards it.
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 63 
 
 That takes away by any secret course 
 Thy hateful life. 
 
 Const. O, lawful let it be 
 
 That I have room with Rome to curse awhile ! 1 80 
 Good father cardinal, cry thou amen 
 To my keen curses ; for without my wrong 
 There is no tongue hath power to curse him right. 
 
 Pand. There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse. 
 
 Const. And for mine too: when law can do no right, 185 
 Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong: 
 Law cannot give my child his kingdom here, 
 For he that holds his kingdom holds the law; 
 Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong, 
 How can the law forbid my tongue to curse? 190 
 
 Pand. Philip of France, on peril of a curse, 
 Let go the hand of that arch-heretic; 
 And raise the power of France upon his head, 
 Unless he do submit himself to Rome. 194 
 
 Eli. Look'st thou pale, France ? do not let go thy hand. 
 
 Const. Look to that, devil ; lest that France repent, 
 And by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul. 
 
 Aust. King Philip, listen to the cardinal. 
 
 185. right,'] right. Ff. 196. that, devil ;] Pope; that devil ; Ff. 
 
 180. room . . . Rome] It seems righted then let no wrongdoing at 
 
 evident that here " room " and all be hindered. Law cannot give 
 
 "Rome" were to be pronounced Arthur his kingdom, for John is 
 
 alike. That " Rome " was pronounced master of the law ; therefore since 
 
 "room" is shown by rhymes in the law itself is " perfect wrong," how 
 
 Lucrece, 715 and 717, 1644 and 1645. can I be rightfully restrained from 
 
 Compare also Julius Casar, 1. ii. 156 : cursing. This mixture of quibbling 
 
 " Now is it Rome indeed and room with passionate argument is charac- 
 
 enough." teristic of this play. 
 
 185. when law can do no right, 193. raise the power . . . head] 
 
 etc.] when the law cannot see people lead the French forces against him.
 
 64 KING JOHN [act hi. 
 
 Bast. And hang a calfs-skin on his recreant limbs. 
 Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, 200 
 
 Because 
 Bast. Your breeches best may carry them. 
 
 K. John. Philip, what say'st thou to the cardinal? 
 Const. What should he say, but as the cardinal? 
 Lew. Bethink you, father; for the difference 
 
 Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome, 205 
 
 Or the light loss of England for a friend: 
 
 Forgo the easier. 
 Blanch. That's the curse of Rome. 
 
 Const. O Lewis, stand fast ! the devil tempts thee here 
 
 In likeness of a new untrimmed bride. 
 Blanch. The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith, 
 
 But from her need. 211 
 
 207. That '5] That s Ff 1 ; That is Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 iog. And hang . . . recreant limbs] aside the trimmings in which she had 
 
 The Bastard takes little interest in been married. Schmidt drew atten- 
 
 the wrongs of either party. He seems tion in this connection to Sonnet 
 
 only too delighted that mischief is xviii. : 
 
 afoot and takes the opportunity to "And every fair from fair some- 
 
 worry Austria. times declines, 
 
 203. What . . . cardinal ?] what By chance or nature's changing 
 
 should he say, except what the course untrimmed." 
 
 Cardinal has already said ? White says '* untrimmed = in des- 
 
 207. the curse of Rome] To Blanch habille," which is hardly likely, even 
 
 the curse of Rome would be the lesser though the marriage was suddenly 
 
 of two evils, for if John and Philip clapped up. Others see an allusion 
 
 fell out she would have to oppose her to the bride's going to church with 
 
 friends to her husband and his friends, her hair dishevelled. Compare 
 
 This course she has to take ulti- Webster, Vittoria Corrombona (ed. 
 
 mately. Dyce, p. 27, col. 1) : " Let them 
 
 209. new untrimmed] " Trim " in dangle loose as a bride's hair." The 
 Elizabethan English means gaily emendations are " new and trimmed " 
 decked. Compare the use as a verb (Theobald, who also conjectured 
 in Romeo and J uliet, iv. iv. 24 : "Go "new untamed" or "new be- 
 waken Juliet, go and trim her up." trimmed "), " new uptrimmed " 
 Taking the passage as it stands, we (Dyce), "new entrimmed" (Richard- 
 may explain it by supposing Con- son conj.), " new untamed " (Vaug- 
 stance to mean that Blanch was a han, agreeing with Theobald's conj.), 
 new-made bride having just laid "new-intervened" (Herr conj.).
 
 sc l] KING JOHN 65 
 
 Const. O, if thou grant my need, 
 
 Which only lives but by the death of faith, 
 That need must needs infer this principle, 
 That faith would live again by death of need. 214 
 O then, tread down my need, and faith mounts up; 
 Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down ! 
 
 K. John. The king is moved, and answers not to this. 
 
 Const. O, be removed from him, and answer well ! 
 
 Aust. Do so, King Philip ; hang no more in doubt. 
 
 Bast. Hang nothing but a calfs-skin, most sweet lout. 220 
 
 K. Phi. I am perplex'd, and know not what to say. 
 
 Pand. What canst thou say but will perplex thee more, 
 If thou stand excommunicate and cursed ? 
 
 K. Phi. Good reverend father, make my person yours, 
 And tell me how you would bestow yourself. 225 
 This royal hand and mine are newly knit, 
 And the conjunction of our inward souls 
 Married in league, coupled and link'd together 
 With all religious strength of sacred vows ; 
 The latest breath that gave the sound of words 230 
 Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love 
 Between our kingdoms and our royal selves, 
 And even before this truce, but new before, 
 No longer than we well could wash our hands 
 To clap this royal bargain up of peace, 235 
 
 233. but new before^] but new before Seymour conj. 
 
 227. And the conjunction, etc.] 233. but new before] only just be- 
 There is a looseness of construction fore. 
 
 in this sentence, for, although " con- 235. clap . . . up] A bargain or a 
 
 junction " is the subject of " (is) wager was sealed by a handshake, 
 
 married," "(is) coupled," and "(is) There are numerous instances in plays 
 
 linked," these participles agree in of the period. Compare Gosson's 
 
 meaning with " inward souls." To the Gentlewomen of London (ed. 
 
 5
 
 66 KING JOHN [act ... 
 
 Heaven knows, they were besmear d and overstain'd 
 With slaughter's pencil, where revenge did paint 
 The fearful difference of incensed kings: 
 And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood, 
 So newly join'd in love, so strong in both, 240 
 
 Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet ? 
 Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven, 
 Make such inconstant children of ourselves, 
 As now again to snatch our palm from palm, 
 Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed 245 
 Of smiling peace to march a bloody host, 
 And make a riot on the gentle brow 
 Of true sincerity? O, holy sir, 
 My reverend father, let it not be so! 
 Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose 250 
 
 Some gentle order ; and then we shall be blest 
 To do your pleasure and continue friends. 
 Pand. All form is formless, order orderless, 
 % Save what is opposite to England's love. 
 Therefore to arms! be champion of our church, 255 
 Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse, 
 A mother's curse, on her revolting son. 
 France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue, 
 
 Arber, p. 59): "and the match (is) give. Compare Richard II. 1. iii. 
 
 made, ere you strike hands " ; and 142 : " Shall not regreet our fair 
 
 Middleton, A Trick, iii. 1 (Mermaid dominions." 
 
 ed. p. 39): "Come, clap hands, a 242. Play fast and loose] originally 
 
 match." to play at a cheating game in which 
 
 240. so strong in both] i.e. hands the gull had no chance (see Appendix) ; 
 strong in fight and strong in friend- then to deal dishonourably. 
 
 ship. 253,254. All form . . . England's 
 
 241. regreet] greeting once again, love] Everything is null and void 
 therefore r-agreement, not merely except what is directly opposed to 
 greeting or salutation as most editors love towards England.
 
 sc l] KING JOHN 67 
 
 A chafed lion by the mortal paw, 
 
 A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, 260 
 
 Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. 
 
 K. Phi. I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith. 
 
 Pand. So makest thou faith an enemy to faith; 
 And like a civil war set'st oath to oath, 
 Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow 265 
 First made to heaven, first be to heaven perform'd, 
 That is, to be the champion of our church. 
 What since thou sworest is sworn against thyself 
 And may not be performed by thyself, 
 For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss 270 
 
 Is not amiss when it is truly done, 
 And being not done, where doing tends to ill, 
 The truth is then most done not doing it : 
 The better act of purposes mistook 
 Is to mistake again; though indirect, 275 
 
 259. chafed] So Theobald ; cased Ff. 
 
 259. chafed] None of the suggested the paw. If we retain " chafed " we 
 
 meanings for the " cased " of the must of course assume it to mean 
 
 Folios seems satisfactory. Mr. Moore- " enraged." 
 
 Smith says " the point of the epithet 268. What since thou sworest, etc.] 
 would seem to be that if the lion were "What you have sworn since then is 
 shut in, the man would be shut in sworn against yourself and cannot be 
 also, and so much more courage would performed by you, for what wrong 
 be required." I fail to see why the you have sworn to do is not wrong 
 man should be supposed to be shut if truly performed, and if you do it 
 in. Henry VIII. in. ii. 206, 207, not, because the doing of it would be 
 supports Theobald : wrong, then you are most truly per- 
 '* so looks the chafed lion forming it by not doing it." An 
 Upon the daring huntsman who excellent bit of sophistry, quite in the 
 has gall'd him." early Shakespearian vein. 
 There is something to be said for 275-278. though indirect . . . new- 
 Pope's reading, " chased," which burn'd] though in not keeping your 
 would hold also in the Henry VIII. vow you are turning from the straight, 
 passage. A lion that had been hunted yet since you are already on the 
 and, so to speak, driven to bay, would wrong path this very turning will 
 not be a pleasant creature to take by bring you back to the right path.
 
 68 KING JOHN [act m. 
 
 Yet indirection thereby grows direct, 
 
 And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire 
 
 Within the scorched veins of one new-burn'd 
 
 It is religion that doth make vows kept; 
 
 But thou hast sworn against religion, 280 
 
 By what thou swear'st against the thing thou 
 
 swear'st, 
 And makest an oath the surety for thy truth 
 Against an oath : the truth thou art unsure 
 To swear, swears only not to be forsworn ; 
 Else what a mockery should it be to swear ! 285 
 But thou dost swear only to be forsworn ; 
 And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear. 
 Therefore thy later vows against thy first 
 Is in thyself rebellion to thyself; 
 And better conquest never canst thou make 290 
 
 278. scorched] Ff 1, 2 ; scorching Ff 3, 4. 282, 283. truth, Against an 
 
 oath the truth,] Ff i, 2 ; truth : Against an oath the truth, Ff 3, 4. 288. 
 later] Ff 1, 2 ; latter Ff 3, 4. 
 
 Compare The Merchant of Venice, iv. give a meaning which Shakespeare 
 
 i. 216 : " To do a great right, do a never intended. Lines 280, 281 are 
 
 little wrong." awkward, but can be taken to mean 
 
 281. But what thou swear'st, etc.] " You have sworn against religion 
 
 Mr. Wright says that the language is by calling in religion to witness an 
 
 made intentionally obscure. Although oath which will do her harm." " The 
 
 this passage is undoubtedly obscure, truth . . . forsworn " is the phrase 
 
 I cannot admit that Shakespeare ever that offers most difficulty. It yields 
 
 deliberately made a serious character sense by supposing it to be a slight 
 
 speak obscurely. Besides, the general digression from the main argument, 
 
 argument here is plain enough Of meaning " and when you are asked 
 
 two oaths the greater, that taken to to take an oath of which you are not 
 
 God and the Church, absolves Philip sure of the consequences (such as, 
 
 from the consequences of breaking a Pandulph would imply, the oath you 
 
 lesser, that plighted to John, if the took with John), you only swear not 
 
 lesser oath is contrary to the first, to be forsworn, i.e. on condition that 
 
 Most editors and critics have at- it is not contrary to some greater 
 
 tempted to better the passage, but oath." 
 
 the alterations seem so violent that, 289. Is] Explained as agreeing in 
 
 as Mr. Wright says about Staunton number with rebellion and not with 
 
 and Hudson's readings, they may vows.
 
 sc. 
 
 i.] KING JOHN 69 
 
 Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts 
 Against these giddy loose suggestions : 
 Upon which better part our prayers come in, 
 If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know 
 The peril of our curses light on thee 295 
 
 So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off, 
 But in despair die under their black weight 
 
 Aust. Rebellion, flat rebellion! 
 
 Bast. Will't not be? 
 
 Will not a calfs-skin stop that mouth of thine? 
 
 Lew. Father, to arms ! 
 
 Blanch. Upon thy wedding-day? 300 
 
 Against the blood that thou hast married ? 
 What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men ? 
 Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums, 
 Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp? 
 O husband, hear me! ay, alack, how new 305 
 
 Is husband in my mouth! even for that name, 
 Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce, 
 Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms 
 Against mine uncle. 
 
 Const. O, upon my knee, 
 
 Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee, 310 
 Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom 
 Forethought by heaven ! 
 
 305. ay,] Ff; ah I Theobald. 309-312. Against . . . heaven !] Pope's 
 
 arrangement ; Folios end the lines kneeling . . . Dauphin . . . heaven. 
 
 295. peril . . . light] Note con- thet was applied to the drum once 
 
 fusion of number; peril grammati- before (see 11. i. 76 supra). 
 
 cal subj. to light, but them showing 304. measures'] The accompanying 
 
 that curses was treated as subj. in music to our wedding festivities, 
 
 meaning. 312. Forethought] foreseen, and 
 
 303. churlish] This expressive epi- therefore, since "foreseen by heaven,"
 
 70 KING JOHN [act ru. 
 
 Blanch. Now shall I see thy love: what motive may 
 
 Be stronger with thee than the name of wife? 
 Const. That which upholdeth him that thee upholds, 315 
 
 His honour: O, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour! 
 Lew. I muse your majesty doth seem so cold, 
 
 When such profound respects do pull you on. 
 Pand. I will denounce a curse upon his head. 
 K. Phi. Thou shalt not need. England, I will fall from 
 thee. 320 
 
 Const. O fair return of banish'd majesty! 
 Eli. O foul revolt of French inconstancy! 
 K. John. France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour. 
 Bast. Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time, 
 
 Is it as he will? well then, France shall rue. 325 
 
 Blanch. The sun 's o'ercast with blood : fair day, adieu ! 
 
 Which is the side that I must go withal,? 
 
 I am with both : each army hath a hand ; 
 
 And in their rage, I having hold of both, 
 
 foreordained. Compare Cymbeline, course no idea of impeachment or 
 
 in. iv. 171 : accusation. 
 
 " Fore-thinking this, I have already 320. fall from thee] leave your 
 
 fit party. Mr. Wright quotes Heywood, 
 
 Tis in my cloak bag doublet, 2 Edward IV. i. 6: 
 
 hat, hose . . ." '* If he will recant 
 
 Cotgrave has " premedite : premedi- And fall from Lewis again." 
 
 tated, forethought of." 322. French inconstancy] Compare 
 
 317. / muse] I marvel. Compare a curious passage in Gosson's Schoole 
 Two Gentlemen of Verona, 1. iii. 64: of Abuse (ed. Arber, p. 34): "We 
 " Muse not that I thus suddenly pro- have robbed Greece of gluttonie, Italy 
 ceed." of wantonnesse, Spaine of pride, 
 
 318. respects] considerations. See Fraunce of deceite, and Dutchland 
 Hamlet, m. i. 68 : of quaffing." 
 
 " There 's the respect 324, 325. Old Time . . . shall rue] 
 
 That makes calamity of so long The Bastard remarks after John's 
 
 life " ; threat, " If it 's merely a matter of 
 
 and compare v. iv. 41 infra. time France shall rue." This lacks 
 
 319. denounce] merely equivalent the usual salt of theBastard's speeches, 
 to our " proclaim " ; it contains of and the text has been suspected.
 
 sc. ij KING JOHN 71 
 
 They whirl asunder and dismember me. 330 
 
 Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win ; 
 Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose ; 
 Father, I may not wish the fortune thine; 
 Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive : 
 Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose; 335 
 
 Assured loss before the match be play'd. 
 
 Lew. Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies. 
 
 Blanch. There where my fortune lives, there my life dies. 
 
 K. John. Cousin, go draw our puissance together. 
 
 [Exit Bastard. 
 France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath ; 340 
 A rage whose heat hath this condition, 
 That nothing can allay, nothing but blood, 
 The blood, and dearest-valued blood, of France. 
 
 K. Phi. Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn 
 To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire: 345 
 Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy. 
 
 K. John. No more than he that threats. To arms let's 
 hie ! {Exeunt. 
 
 337. lies] lives Capell. 341. this] a Vaughan conj. 342. allay] 
 
 alloy't Dyce (ed. 2) (Capell conj.). 
 
 339. Cousin] Loosely used for conjectures " the dearest-valued 
 
 kinsman in Elizabethan English, blue." The text, however, is de- 
 
 Cotgrave has " Cousin : a cosin or fensible. John says nothing can 
 
 kinsman." allay his rage but blood ; he is going 
 
 339. puissance] powers, forces, to state that it must be French blood, 
 
 Sometimes a dissyllable, here a tri- and when half-way through the 
 
 syllable. sentence, he sees a method of 
 
 343. The blood . . . blood] The heightening the effect and interjects 
 
 repetition of the word "blood" has "and (that the) dearest- valued 
 
 led to emendation. Hudson prints, blood." 
 
 after a suggestion of Sidney Walker's, 346. jeopardy] danger, hazard. 
 
 " The best and dearest valued blood." Mr. Wright derives this from jeu 
 
 Hudson also suggests " The blood, parti, a game where the risk is evenly 
 
 the dearest-valued blood." Bulloch divided.
 
 72 KING JOHN [act bl 
 
 SCENE II. The same. Plains near Angiers. 
 
 Alarums, excursions. Enter the BASTARD, with Austria's 
 
 head. 
 
 Bast. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot; 
 Some airy devil hovers in the sky, 
 And pours down mischief. Austria's head lie there, 
 While Philip breathes. 
 
 Enter KING JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT. 
 
 K. John. Hubert, keep this boy. Philip, make up : 5 
 
 My mother is assailed in our tent, 
 
 And ta'en, I fear. 
 Bast. My lord, I rescued her ; 
 
 Her highness is in safety, fear you not : 
 
 But on, my liege; for very little pains 
 
 Will bring this labour to an happy end. 10 
 
 {Exeunt. 
 
 2. airy} fiery Theobald (Warburton). 7. ta'en] Rowe; tone Ff. 
 
 2. airy] belonging to the air, aerial. " There, Hubert" ; Keightley, " Here, 
 Compare the old list of dramatis Hubert " ; Fleay, " Good Hubert." 
 persona in The Tempest: "Ariel, an Rann, after a conjecture of Tyrwhitt's, 
 ayrie Spirit"; also Webster, The inserts " thou " after " keep." Theo- 
 Devil's Law Case, v. 5 (ed. Dyce, p. bald reads " Richard " and Hanmer 
 143) : " The devil that rules in the '* Cousin " for *' Philip." It would 
 air hangs in their light." This line be equally natural for King John and 
 also occurs in the Duchess of Malfi, for Shakespeare to forget the Bastard's 
 11. i. (Dyce, p. 67). Spirits were change of name, 
 divided into four classes inhabiting 5. make up] move onward. Corn- 
 respectively the four elements, air, pare 1 Henry IV. v. iv. 4, 5 : 
 fire, earth and water. " I do beseech your majesty, 
 
 5. Hubert . . . make up] Editors make up, 
 
 have been unwilling to let this line Lest your retirement do amaze 
 
 remain defective. Pope reads your friends."
 
 sc in] KING JOHN 73 
 
 SCENE III. The same. 
 
 Alarums, excursions, retreat. Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, 
 Arthur, the Bastard, Hubert, and Lords. 
 
 K. John. [To Elinor :] So shall it be; your grace shall 
 stay behind 
 
 So strongly guarded. [To Arthur.] Cousin, look not 
 sad : 
 
 Thy grandam loves thee; and thy uncle will 
 
 As dear be to thee as thy father was. 
 Arth. O, this will make my mother die with grief! 5 
 K. John. [To the Bastard.] Cousin, away for England ! 
 haste before: 
 
 And, ere our coming, see thou shake the bags 
 
 Of hoarding abbots; imprisoned angels 
 
 Set at liberty: the fat ribs of peace 
 
 Must by the hungry now be fed upon : 10 
 
 Use our commission in his utmost force. 
 Bast. Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back, 
 
 When gold and silver becks me to come on. 
 
 I leave your highness. Grandam, I will pray, 
 
 If ever I remember to be holy, 15 
 
 For your fair safety; so, I kiss your hand. 
 
 2. So] Lettsom's conjecture, adopt- proposed transposition, printed by 
 
 ed by Hudson, of " More" for "So" Grant White, is the least violent 
 
 seems very plausible. The printer's way out of the difficulty, if real 
 
 error can be explained by his eye difficulty there be. He would read 
 
 having caught the " So " of the pre- " set at liberty, Imprisoned angels." 
 vious line a common failing among 12. Bell, book, and candle] The 
 
 printers. " properties " necessary for the per- 
 
 8, 9. imprisoned . . . liberty] The formance of the Catholic curse of 
 
 want of rhythm in these lines has led excommunication; referred to in 
 
 to emendation. Sidney 'Walker's Kynge Johan.
 
 74 KING JOHN [act m. 
 
 Eli. Farewell, gentle cousin. 
 
 K. John. Coz, farewell. 
 
 [Exit Bastard. 
 
 Eli. Come hither, little kinsman ; hark, a word. 
 
 K. John. Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert, 
 We owe thee much ! within this wall of flesh 20 
 
 There is a soul counts thee her creditor, 
 And with advantage means to pay thy love: 
 And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath 
 Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished. 
 Give me thy hand. I had a thing to say, 25 
 
 But I will fit it with some better time. 
 By heaven, Hubert, I am almost ashamed 
 To say what good respect I have of thee. 
 
 Hub. I am much bounden to your majesty. 
 
 K. John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet, 30 
 But thou shalt have ; and creep time ne'er so slow, 
 Yet it shall come for me to do thee good. 
 I had a thing to say, but let it go: 
 The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day, 
 Attended with the pleasures of the world, 35 
 
 Is all too wanton and too full of gawds 
 To give me audience: if the midnight bell 
 Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth, 
 
 26. time] Pope ; tune Ff. 
 
 22. advantage] Mr. Wright and in 1 Henry IV. n. iv. 599, "The 
 
 Mr. Moore-Smith explain this as money shall be paid back with ad- 
 
 " interest." It is true that the line vantage," means something thrown 
 
 may be paraphrased " I mean to pay into the bargain, more than one 
 
 back thy love with interest," because can legally expect. See Cotgrave, 
 
 our modern phrase "with interest" "Avantagc : . . . an advantage, . . . 
 
 really means more than mere legally overplus, addition, eeking." 
 due interest. The word here and 28. respect] opinion, esteem.
 
 sc. in.] KING JOHN 75 
 
 Sound on into the drowsy ear of night; 
 
 If this same were a churchyard where we stand, 40 
 
 And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs ; 
 
 Or if that surly spirit, melancholy, 
 
 Had baked thy blood and made it heavy-thick, 
 
 Which else runs tickling up and down the veins, 
 
 Making that idiot, laughter, keep men's eyes 45 
 
 And strain their cheeks to idle merriment, 
 
 A passion hateful to my purposes ; 
 
 Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes, 
 
 Hear me without thine ears, and make reply 
 
 Without a tongue, using conceit alone, 50 
 
 Without eyes, ears and harmful sound of words; 
 
 Then, in despite of brooded watchful day, 
 
 43. heavy-thick] Pope ; heavy, thick Ff. 44. tickling] trickling Grey 
 
 conj. ; tingling Collier MS. 
 
 39. ear] So printed by Dyce and 52. brooded] Even though 
 
 Staunton after conjectures of Collier " brooded" be equivalent to "brood- 
 
 and Sidney Walker. The Folios ing," as Mr. Wright points out, it 
 
 have " race," which is therefore sup- does not seem an apt epithet for 
 
 posed to have been a misprint for " day " in this connection. Cotgrave 
 
 " eare." For " on " Theobald printed gives " Accouve ; brooded: set close 
 
 "one." But as Vaughan pointed on, crouded (crouched?) over; also 
 
 out the midnight bell does not sound covered, hidden, overshadowed," thus 
 
 one! Delius conjectured "on!" vouching for the form of the word in 
 
 Wetherell "not" and Bulloch -ed, but proving the inapplicability 
 
 " dong." Other emendations of the of the meaning. The day cannot be 
 
 line have been proposed, but with proud, wanton and full of gawds, 
 
 the single alteration of " race " to attended with the pleasures of the 
 
 "ear" it gives perfectly good sense. world, watchful and at the same time 
 
 45. keep] occupy. Compare Love's brooded. Pope reads " broad-ey'd," 
 
 Labour's Lost, iv. iii. 324: "Other Collier MS. "the broad," Delius 
 
 slow arts entirely keep the brain." after a conj. of Mason's, " brooded- 
 
 Mr. P. A. Daniel points out that in watchful." An anonymous conj. in 
 
 The Puritan, in. vi. 592, we find Halliwell suggests "broody," while 
 
 " we '11 steep Our eyes in laughter." Vaughan has withdrawn his sug- 
 
 50. conceit] in Elizabethan English gestion of " bruited." Perhaps the 
 
 often means imagination. Compare Delius-Mason reading is the least 
 
 Richard II. 11. ii. 33 : "'Tis nothing objectionable, taking "brooded" to 
 
 but conceit, my gracious lady." Here be an epithet applied to watchful, the 
 
 it has a wider meaning, equivalent to day being as watchful as a sitting bird; 
 
 " some intangible power of the mind." but even this is far from satisfactory.
 
 76 KING JOHN [act m. 
 
 I would unto thy bosom pour my thoughts : 
 
 But, ah, I will not ! yet I love thee well ; 
 
 And, by my troth, I think thou lovest me well. 55 
 Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake, 
 
 Though that my death were adjunct to my act, 
 
 By heaven, I would do it 
 K. John. Do not I know thou wouldst? 
 
 Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye 
 
 On yon young boy ; I '11 tell thee what, my friend, 60 
 
 He is a very serpent in my way ; 
 
 And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread, 
 
 He lies before me : dost thou understand me ? 
 
 Thou art his keeper. 
 Hub. And I '11 keep him so, 
 
 That he shall not offend your majesty. 
 K. John. Death. 65 
 
 Hub. My Lord? 
 K. John. A grave. 
 
 Hub. He shall not live. 
 
 K. John. Enough. 
 
 I could be merry now. Hubert, I love thee; 
 
 Well, I '11 not say what I intend for thee : 
 
 Remember. Madam, fare you well: 
 
 I '11 send those powers o'er to your majesty. 70 
 
 Eli. My blessing go with thee! 
 K. John. For England, cousin, go : 
 
 Hubert shall be your man, attend on you 
 
 With all true duty. On toward Calais, ho! 
 
 {Exeunt. 
 
 66. My lord?] Rowe; My lord. Ff. 72. attend] Ff 1, 2; to attend 
 
 Ff 3, 4 ; f attend Pope.
 
 sc. iv] KING JOHN 77 
 
 SCENE IV. The same. The French Kings tent. 
 
 Enter KING PHILIP, LEWIS, PANDULPH, and 
 Attendants . 
 
 K. Phi. So, by a roaring tempest on the flood, 
 A whole armado of convicted sail 
 Is scattered and disjoin'd from fellowship. 
 
 Pand. Courage and comfort ! all shall yet go well. 
 
 K. Phi. What can go well, when we have run so ill? 5 
 Are we not beaten ? Is not Angiers lost ? 
 Arthur ta'en prisoner ? divers dear friends slain ? 
 And bloody England into England gone, 
 O'erbearing interruption, spite of France? 
 
 Lew. What he hath won, that hath he fortified: 10 
 
 So hot a speed with such advice disposed, 
 Such temperate order in so fierce a cause, 
 Doth want example: who hath read or heard 
 Of any kindred action like to this ? 
 
 K. Phi. Well could I bear that England had this praise 1 5 
 So we could find some pattern of our shame. 
 
 Pandulph] Pandulpho F I ; Pandupho Ff 2, 3, 4. 14. kindred action] 
 
 hyphened in Ff. 
 
 2. armado] From the Spanish scattered by a storm and disposes 
 
 armada, a fleet of armed ships. of the various suggested emendations. 
 
 2. convicted] Mr. Wright takes Mr. Wright sees in the phrase a re- 
 
 this to mean " beaten, discomfited," ference to the defeat of the Spanish 
 
 for which Malone gives the authority Armada. Delius reads " connected." 
 
 of Florio's Worlde of Words. The 12. cause] Theobald made a tempt- 
 
 New Eng. Diet, quotes Lloid's ing suggestion of course, which 
 
 Pilgrimage of Princes (1607), ii. : Hanmer has printed. 
 
 "(Hippolita) being convicted by 16. So we could . . . our shame] 
 
 Theseus . . . was married to him." If we could find some example of 
 
 This meaning gives quite good others put to such shame as we have 
 
 sense A discomfited fleet has been been.
 
 78 KING JOHN [act .. 
 
 Enter CONSTANCE. 
 
 Look, who comes here ! a grave unto a soul ; 
 
 Holding the eternal spirit, against her will, 
 
 In the vile prison of afflicted breath. 
 
 I prithee, lady, go away with me. 20 
 
 Const. Lo, now! now see the issue of your peace. 
 
 K. Phi. Patience, good lady ! comfort, gentle Constance ! 
 
 Const. No, I defy all counsel, all redress, 
 
 But that which ends all counsel, true redress, 
 Death, death; O amiable lovely death! 25 
 
 Thou odoriferous stench ! sound rottenness ! 
 Arise forth from the couch of lasting night, 
 Thou hate and terror to prosperity, 
 And I will kiss thy detestable bones 
 And put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows 30 
 
 And ring these fingers with thy household worms 
 And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust 
 And be a carrion monster like thyself: 
 
 24, 25. redress, Death, death ;] Theobald ; redresse : Death, death, Ff ; re- 
 dress, Death ; death, Pope. 
 
 19. the vile prison . . . breath] 26. Thoti . . . rottenness !] The 
 
 The body is often looked upon as a man who could pen certain passages 
 
 vile prison for the purer spirit or in the Dunciad rejected this line 1 
 
 breath (anima) which is afflicted by 27. forth from] The inversion 
 
 being kept prisoner within the body, "from forth" of the Collier MS. 
 
 One is reminded of Browning's betters the line in rhythm and gives 
 
 Karshish : a more natural order of words than 
 
 " This man's flesh he hath admir- ' Arise forth." 
 
 ably made, 28. Thou hate . . . prosperity] 
 
 Blown like a bubble, kneaded Thou who art hated and feared by the 
 
 like a paste, prosperous. 
 To coop up and keep down on 29 36. And I will kiss, etc.] Con- 
 earth a space stance compares death to a skeleton 
 That puff of vapour from his and goes into grim detail. 
 
 mouth, man's soul." 32. fulsome] nauseous. See Cot- 
 
 23. defy] renounce. Compare 1 grave, " Nideitr : the stench, or 
 
 Henry IV. I. iii. 228: "All studies fulsom savour of things broiled or 
 
 here I solemnly defy." burnt."
 
 sc. iv] KING JOHN 79 
 
 Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smilest, 
 And buss thee as thy wife. Misery's love, 35 
 
 O, come to me! 
 
 K. Phi. O fair affliction, peace ! 
 
 Const. No, no, I will not, having breath to cry: 
 
 O, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth! 
 Then with a passion would I shake the world; 
 And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy 40 
 
 Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice, 
 Which scorns a modern invocation. 
 
 Pand. Lady, you utter madness, and not sorrow. 
 
 Const. Thou art not holy to belie me so; 
 
 I am not mad : this hair I tear is mine ; 45 
 
 My name is Constance ; I was Geffrey's wife ; 
 
 Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost : 
 
 I am not mad : I would to heaven I were ! 
 
 For then, 'tis like I should forget myself: 
 
 O, if I could, what grief should I forget ! 50 
 
 39. would r\ Fi; J would Ff 2, 3, 4. 44. not holy] F 4 ; holy Ff 1, 2, 3. 
 
 35. buss] to kiss wantonly. The 42. modern] trite, commonplace, 
 older form was " bass." The same Compare All 's Well that Ends 
 distinction holds between "kissing" Well, IX. iii. 2: "To make modern 
 and " bussing " as between modern and familiar things supernatural 
 French embraser and baiser. and causeless " ; also As You Like 
 
 36. affliction] afflicted one. The It, 11. vii. 156 : " Full of wise 
 abstract for concrete. saws and modern instances." Rowe, 
 
 40. anatomy] skeleton. So Comedy Knight and Collier MS. emend need- 
 0/ Errors, v. i. 237-238 : lessly. See Prof. Case's note in 
 
 " a hungry lean-faced villain, Antony and Cleopatra (Arden Shake- 
 
 A mere anatomy." speare). 
 
 Compare Cotgrave, " Scelete : the 44. not holy] This emendation by 
 
 whole coagmentation of bones in the fourth Folio is perhaps not so 
 
 their natural position ; also an ana- good as the " unholy " conjectured by 
 
 tomy made thereof" ; and Reginald Steevens, and adopted by Delius and 
 
 Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584 Staunton ; but it has the Folio autho- 
 
 (Nicholson, p. 36): "as bare and rity. 
 naked as an anatomie."
 
 80 KING JOHN [act m. 
 
 Preach some philosophy to make me mad, 
 
 And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal ; 
 
 For, being not mad but sensible of grief, 
 
 My reasonable part produces reason 
 
 How I may be deliver'd of these woes, 55 
 
 And teaches me to kill or hang myself: 
 
 If I were mad, I should forget my son, 
 
 Or madly think a babe of clouts were he: 
 
 I am not mad ; too well, too well I feel 
 
 The different plague of each calamity. 60 
 
 K. Phi. Bind up those tresses. O, what love I note 
 In the fair multitude of those her hairs! 
 Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen, 
 Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends 
 Do glue themselves in sociable grief, 65 
 
 Like true, inseparable, faithful loves, 
 Sticking together in calamity. 
 
 Const. To England, if you will. 
 
 K. Phi. Bind up your hairs. 
 
 Const. Yes, that I will ; and wherefore will I do it ? 
 
 I tore them from their bonds and cried aloud, 70 
 "O that these hands could so redeem my son, 
 As they have given these hairs their liberty ! " 
 But now I envy at their liberty, 
 And will again commit them to their bonds, 
 Because my poor child is a prisoner. 75 
 
 52. canonized] pronounced canon- Wright suggests that lines 21-67 may 
 
 iz'd. See in. i. 177 supra. have been added to the original 
 
 58. babe 0/ clouts] rag doll. draft of the play. His alternative 
 
 64. friends] Rowe's reading. The suggestion that Constance is sinking 
 
 Folios have "fiends " a queer error, into apathy after her first outburst is 
 
 68. To England] Constance's reply not convincing, because, in the next 
 
 to Philip's invitation, line 20. Mr. line, she resumes her lamentations.
 
 sc. iv] KING JOHN 81 
 
 And, father cardinal; I have heard you say- 
 That we shall see and know our friends in heaven : 
 If that be true, I shall see my boy again ; 
 For since the birth of Cain, the first male child, 
 To him that did but yesterday suspire, 80 
 
 There was not such a gracious creature born. 
 But now will canker sorrow eat my bud 
 And chase the native beauty from his cheek 
 And he will look as hollow as a ghost, 
 - As dim and meagre as an ague's fit, 85 
 
 And so he '11 die ; and, rising so again, 
 When I shall meet him in the court of heaven 
 I shall not know him : therefore never, never 
 Must I behold my pretty Arthur more. 
 
 Pand. You hold too heinous a respect of grief. 90 
 
 Const. He talks to me that never had a son. 
 
 K. Phi. You are as fond of grief as of your child. 
 
 Const. Grief fills the room up of my absent child, 
 Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, 
 Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, 95 
 
 Remembers me of all his gracious parts, 
 Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form ; 
 
 78. 1/ that . . . boy again] The comfort from the thought that she 
 
 slight irregularity of this line has led will see and know her son in heaven, 
 
 to its being suspected, and its con- But then comes the thought " sorrow 
 
 tradiction of lines 88, 89 appears to will so alter him that I may meet him in 
 
 confirm the suspicion. Pope omits the court of heaven and not know him, 
 
 " true," Vaughan omits " see," Fleay, therefore I shall never see him more." 
 
 following Sidney Walker's conjecture, 90. You hold . . . of grief] You 
 
 prints " shall," while Seymour con- look upon your grief too hatefully, 
 
 jectures " I '11." All these merely 92. You are as fond . . . child] 
 
 set the rhythm right. Kinnear con- One may suspect a play upon "fond " 
 
 jectures " If that be true, then never here. You are as fond of (or you as 
 
 shall I see my boy again." But this foolish owing to) grief as you are 
 
 is not warranted by the real meaning fond of your child. Constance, of 
 
 of the speech. Constance first takes course, only sees one meaning. 
 6
 
 M KING JOHN [act i... 
 
 Then have I reason to be fond of grief. 
 
 Fare you well: had you such a loss as I, 
 
 I could give better comfort than you do. ioo 
 
 I will not keep this form upon my head, 
 
 When there is such disorder in my wit. 
 
 O Lord ! my boy, my Arthur, my fair son ! 
 
 My life, my joy, my food, my all the world ! 
 
 My widow-comfort, and my sorrows' cure ! [Exit. 105 
 
 K. Phi. I fear some outrage, and I '11 follow her. [Exit. 
 
 Lew. There 's nothing in this world can make me joy : 
 Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale 
 Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man; 
 And bitter shame hath spoil'd the sweet world's taste, 
 That it yields nought but shame and bitterness, in 
 
 Pand. Before the curing of a strong disease, 
 Even in the instant of repair and health, 
 The fit is strongest ; evils that take leave, 
 On their departure most of all show evil : 115 
 
 What have you lost by losing of this day? 
 
 Lew . All days of glory, joy and happiness. 
 
 Pand. If you had won it, certainly you had. 
 
 101. Most editors print a stage- no. world's] Pope's almost certain 
 
 direction here. "Tearing off her emendation of the "words" of the 
 
 Head-cloaths," Pope ; " Looses her Folios. Delius suggests a meaning 
 
 hair again," Dent MS.; "Tearing by allowing " word's " to refer to life, 
 
 her hair " Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.), and reading "that sweet word's 
 
 It is evident that Constance does taste." Jackson conjectures " word, 
 
 again fall to tearing her hair, and we state." 
 
 must understand "form" as merely in. shame] The repetition of 
 
 order or arrangement in opposition " shame " has led Sidney Walker to 
 
 to "disorder" in the next line with- conjecture "gall" in the second 
 
 out going into the concrete " Head- place, while Cartwright suggests 
 
 cloaths " of Pope. "grief." There is no pressing need 
 
 107. joy] rejoice. So Much Ado for this painting of the lily. 
 
 About Nothing, i. i. 28 : " How much 118. 7/ you had won it, etc.] 
 
 better it is to weep at joy than to joy Pandulph rises through sophistry 
 
 at weeping 1" into prophecy.
 
 sc. 
 
 iv] KING JOHN 83 
 
 No, no ; when fortune means to men most good, 
 She looks upon them with a threatening eye. 120 
 Tis strange to think how much King John hath 
 
 lost 
 In this which he accounts so clearly won : 
 Are not you grieved that Arthur is his prisoner? 
 
 Lew. As heartily as he is glad he hath him. 
 
 Pand. Your mind is all as youthful as your blood. 125 
 Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit; 
 For even the breath of what I mean to speak 
 Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little rub, 
 Out of the path which shall directly lead 
 Thy foot to England's throne ; and therefore mark. 
 John hath seized Arthur; and it cannot be 131 
 
 That, whiles warm life plays in that infant's veins, 
 The misplaced John should entertain an hour, 
 One minute, nay, one quiet breath of rest. 
 A sceptre snatch'd with an unruly hand 135 
 
 Must be as boisterously maintain'd as gain'd ; 
 And he that stands upon a slippery place 
 Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up : 
 That John may stand, then Arthur needs must 
 
 fall; 
 So be it, for it cannot be but so. 140 
 
 Lew. But what shall I gain by young Arthur's fall? 
 
 132. whiles] whilst Rowe. 139. stand, then] stand then, Hanmer. 
 
 12S. rub] "Any obstruction to the green is supposed to be as absolutely 
 
 bowl's course from inequalities of the true as a billiard-table. Bowls was 
 
 ground or natural obstacles; also a favourite Elizabethan game, and 
 
 used of a running bowl sideling from from Shakespeare's frequent refer- 
 
 another" (Encyc. of Sport, i. 129). ences to it we may guess that it was 
 
 "Each dust, each straw," is hardly a favourite game of his. 
 any exaggeration, for a good bowling-
 
 84 KING JOHN [act m. 
 
 Pand. You, in the right of Lady Blanch your wife, 
 May then make all the claim that Arthur did. 
 
 Lew. And lose it, life and all, as Arthur did. 
 
 Pand. How green you are and fresh in this old world ! 145 
 John lays you plots ; the times conspire with you ; 
 For he that steeps his safety in true blood 
 Shall find but bloody safety and untrue. 
 This act so evilly born shall cool the hearts 
 Of all his people and freeze up their zeal, 150 
 
 That none so small advantage shall step forth 
 To check his reign, but they will cherish it ; 
 No natural exhalation in the sky, 
 No scope of nature, no distemper'd day, 
 No common wind, no customed event, 155 
 
 But they will pluck away his natural cause 
 And call them meteors, prodigies and signs, 
 Abortives, presages and tongues of heaven, 
 Plainly denouncing vengeance upon John. 
 
 152. reign] F 4; reigne Ff 1, 2, 3 ; rein Capell conj. 
 
 146. John lays you plots] John lays within the range of natural pheno- 
 
 plots by which you and not he will mena. Pope reads "scape" as 
 
 benefit. Malone conjectures "your equivalent to "freak," but this is 
 
 plots," where the meaning would unsupported by any example of the 
 
 necessarily be the same ; hence we same use in Shakespeare, 
 
 gain nothing by the alteration. 157. meteors] supernatural pheno- 
 
 151, 152. none so small . . . but] mena. See Coles, " Meteors : appari- 
 
 no circumstance, however trifling, tions on high, or bodies imperfectly 
 
 that may give them any weapon mixt of vapours drawn up in the air, 
 
 against him will they omit to make as comets, clouds, wind, rain, etc." 
 
 the most of. Evidently in the sixteenth and seven- 
 
 153. exhalation] meteor. So Julius teenth centuries " meteors " and " ex- 
 Casar, 11. i. 44: "The exhalations halations" were terms loosely used 
 whizzing in the air " ; and 1 Henry and imperfectly understood. 
 
 IV. 11. iv. 352 : " My lord, do you see 158. Abortives] We may either 
 
 these meteors ? Do you behold these take this to mean abortions of 
 
 exhalations ?" See "meteor," line nature, or dreadful happenings that 
 
 157 infra. would bring about abortion in those 
 
 154. scope of nature] anything witnessing them.
 
 sc. iv] KING JOHN 85 
 
 Lew. May be he will not touch young Arthur's life, 160 
 But hold himself safe in his prisonment. 
 
 Pand. O, sir, when he shall hear of your approach, 
 If that young Arthur be not gone already, 
 Even at that news he dies; and then the hearts 
 Of all his people shall revolt from him, 165 
 
 And kiss the lips of unacquainted change, 
 And pick strong matter of revolt and wrath 
 Out of the bloody fingers' ends of John. 
 Methinks I see this hurly all on foot: 
 And, O, what better matter breeds for you 170 
 
 Than I have named ! The bastard Faulconbridge 
 Is now in England, ransacking the church, 
 Offending charity : if but a dozen French 
 Were there in arms, they would be as a call 
 To train ten thousand English to their side, 175 
 
 Or as a little snow, tumbled about, 
 Anon becomes a mountain. O noble Dauphin, 
 Go with me to the king: 'tis wonderful 
 
 164. that] this F 4. 
 
 166-168. And kiss the lips . . . translate the Latin tumultus. The 
 
 John] will greet change as a welcome commoner form is "hurly-burly," 
 
 stranger, and find good cause for which is still in use. 
 
 revolt and wrath in those crimes in 173. charity] in the wider sense of 
 
 which John has dabbled. Compare " good-will," as in the phrase 
 
 this unpleasant metaphor with " Faith, Hope, and Charity." 
 
 Gammer Gurton's Needle (1563), ed. 174. a call] a decoy bird. Compare 
 
 Gayley, line 153 : Lodge's Alarum against Usury : 
 
 " I picke not this geare, hearst " It is enough for silly birds to be led 
 
 thou, out of my fingers endes ; by the call of the fowler." 
 
 But he that hard (sic) it told 175. train] to draw, attract. Fr. 
 
 me." trainer. If a dozen French were 
 
 169. hurly] tumult. Compare The there they would act as a decoy to 
 
 Taming of the Shrew, iv. i. 206 : entice ten thousand English to their 
 
 "amid this hurly." In Holland's side. 
 Livy (1600), " hurly " is used to
 
 86 KING JOHN [act hi. 
 
 What may be wrought out of their discontent, 
 Now that their souls are topful of offence. 180 
 
 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. [Exeunt. 
 
 182. make] Capell ; makes Ff. strong] Ff 2, 3, 4 ; strange F 1. 
 
 180. topful] brimful. Compare Macbeth, 1. v. 44 : " topfull of direst cruelty."
 
 ACT IV 
 
 SCENE I. A room in a castle. 
 
 Enter HUBERT and Executioners. 
 
 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. 5 
 
 First Exec. I hope your warrant will bear out the deed. 
 
 Hub. Uncleanly scruples ! fear not you : look to 't. 
 
 [Exeunt Executioners. 
 Young lad, come forth; I have to say with you. 
 
 Enter ARTHUR. 
 Arth. Good morrow, Hubert. 
 Hub. Good morrow, little prince. 
 
 1. thou] you Rowe. 
 
 2. arras] tapestry, so called from scruples frighten you," giving "fear" 
 its having been first manufactured at the same meaning as it bears in 11. i. 
 Arras. It was evidently hung at some 383. This is rather forcing the con- 
 distance from the walls, for we often struction, and Rowe's reading is much 
 hear of people hiding behind it, as to be preferred, especially as the fourth 
 did Polonius in Hamlet. Folio supports it. 
 
 7. Uncleanly . . . you] The first 8. Young lad] Arthur is not to be 
 three Folios read" Uncleanly scruples classed with the children of Shake- 
 fear not you " ; the fourth Folio inserts speare young Macduff, little Ed- 
 a comma after " scruples." The read- mund of England, little Coriolanus. 
 ing in the text is that of Rowe. Mr. Shakespeare deliberately calls him a 
 Moore-Smith, following Schmidt and lad, and he is more like the sons of 
 the first three Folios, would take the Cymbeline. 
 meaning as " Let no unbecoming 
 
 87
 
 88 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Arth, As little prince, having so great a title 10 
 
 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, 15 
 
 Only for wantonness. By my Christendom, 
 So I were out of prison and kept sheep, 
 I should be as merry as the day is long ; 
 And so I would be here, but that I doubt 
 My uncle practises more harm to me: 20 
 
 He is afraid of me and I of him : 
 Is it my fault that I was Geffrey's son? 
 No, indeed, is 't not ; and I would to heaven 
 I were your son, so you would love me, Hubert. 
 
 Hub. [Aside.] If I talk to him, with his innocent 
 prate 25 
 
 He will awake my mercy which lies dead : 
 Therefore I will be sudden and dispatch. 
 
 Arth. Are you sick, Hubert? you look pale to-day: 
 In sooth, I would you were a little sick, 
 
 10. As little prince, etc.] consider- 19. doubt] fear, 
 
 ing my great title, heir to the crown 20. practises] plots. Compare Cot- 
 
 of England, I am at present as little grave, " manigance : secret practising 
 
 a prince as may be. or packing in a matter." 
 
 16. wantonness] out of mere affecta- 23. is't] The Folios are here at 
 
 tion. It was a fashion of the time cross purposes. Folios 1 and 4 read 
 
 to affect melancholy. See Jaques' "is't," 2 and 3 "it's." Pope reads 
 
 description of the various kinds of " it is." Mr. Moore-Smith says that 
 
 melancholy in As You Like It, iv. i. 10. there ought to be no comma after 
 
 16. Christendom] christening, bap- " indeed," in order to explain the 
 
 tism, Christianity therefore " by my inversion " is' t " on the model of the 
 
 Christendom" means "by the fact German G cwiss ist es so. 
 that I am a Christian."
 
 sc. i.] KING JOHN 89 
 
 That I might sit all night and watch with you : 30 
 I warrant I love you more than you do me. 
 
 Hub. [Aside.] His words do take possession of my bosom. 
 Read here, young Arthur. [Showing a paper. 
 
 [Aside.] How now, foolish rheum ! 
 Turning dispiteous torture out of door ! 
 I must be brief, lest resolution drop 35 
 
 Out at mine eyes in tender womanish tears. 
 Can you not read it ? is it not fair writ ? 
 
 Arth. Too fairly, Hubert, for so foul effect: 
 
 Must you with hot irons burn out both mine eyes ? 
 
 Hub. Young boy, I must. 
 
 Arth. And will you? 
 
 Hub. And I will. 40 
 
 Arth. Have you the heart? When your head did but 
 ache, 
 I knit my handkercher about your brows, 
 The best I had, a princess wrought it me, 
 And I did never ask it you again ; 
 And with my hand at midnight held your head, 45 
 And like the watchful minutes to the hour, 
 Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time, 
 
 34. dispiteous] dispitious Ff. 35. lest] F 4 ; least Ff i, 2, 3. 46. 
 
 minutes to] Rowe; minutes, to Ff. 
 
 34. dispiteous] merciless. rected into" handkerchief " by Rowe. 
 
 38. Too fairly . . . foul effect] too The form "handkercher" still sur- 
 
 well written, Hubert, to convey such vives in vulgar speech, 
 
 a horrible meaning. Malone suggests 46. watchful minutes to the hour] 
 
 " a fact" for "effect." But compare i.e. minutes which watch the hour. 
 
 Hamlet, m. iv. 129: A common Elizabethan inversion. 
 
 " Do not look upon me ; 47. Still and anon] continually, 
 
 Lest with this piteous action you ever and again. For this use of " still " 
 
 convert see note on 11. i. 522 supra. Compare 
 
 My stern effects" also Dekker, King's Entertainment 
 
 42. handkercher] needlessly cor- (1604), ed. Pearson, 1318: "Envy
 
 90 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Saying, "What lack you?" and "Where lies your 
 
 grief?" 
 Or " What good love may I perform for you ? " 
 Many a poor man's son would have lien still 50 
 
 And ne'er have spoke a loving word to you; 
 But you at your sick service had a prince. 
 Nay, you may think my love was crafty love, 
 And call it cunning: do, an if you will: 
 If heaven be pleased that you must use me ill, 55 
 Why then you must. Will you put out mine eyes? 
 These eyes that never did nor never shall 
 So much as frown on you. 
 
 Hub. I have sworn to do it; 
 
 And with hot irons must I burn them out. 
 
 Arth. Ah, none but in this iron age would do it! 60 
 
 The iron of itself, though heat red-hot, 
 Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears 
 And quench his fiery indignation 
 Even in the matter of mine innocence ; 
 
 63. his] Capell ; this Ff. 
 
 . . . stood . . . neere unto Vertue, "lien" ("I heard of an Egyptian 
 but making a shew of fearfulnesse to That had nine hours lien dead "). 
 approach her and the light: yet still 52. at your sick service] An abbre- 
 and anon casting her eyes sometimes viation for " at your service when 
 to the one side beneath." Perhaps you were sick." Compare "true 
 this phrase has some connection with defence " in iv. iii. 84 infra. Perhaps 
 the curious '* still-an-end" of Two we ought to read ' sick-service " 
 Gentlemen of Verona, iv. iv. 67. (service to a sick man in his bed- 
 Schmidt calls this latter a corruption chamber). 
 
 of " still and anon." 57. nor] Pope reads " and," for, by 
 
 50. lien] A form of the participle his time, the double negative had 
 
 of " lie," which survived right into become incorrect, 
 
 the nineteenth century (see New Eng. 61. heat] heated. Shakespeare 
 
 Diet.) ; now superseded by the form often used abbreviated past participles 
 
 " lain." The first three Folios have in." t " in this way. 
 
 " lyen," the fourth " lain." In 64. the matter of mine innocence] 
 
 Pericles, hi. ii. 85, we again read Let us hope that Shakespeare here
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 91 
 
 Nay, after that, consume away in rust, 65 
 
 But for containing fire to harm mine eye. 
 Are you more stubborn-hard than hammer'd iron ? 
 An if an angel should have come to me 
 And told me Hubert should put out mine eyes, 
 I would not have believed him, no tongue but 
 Hubert's. 70 
 
 Hub. Come forth. [Stamps. 
 
 Re-enter Executioners, with a cord, irons, etc. 
 
 Do as I bid you do. 
 Arth. O, save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are out 
 
 Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men. 
 Hub. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here. 75 
 Arth. Alas, what need you be so boisterous-rough? 
 
 I will not struggle, I will stand stone-still. 
 
 For heaven sake, Hubert, let me not be bound ! 
 
 Nay, hear me, Hubert, drive these men away, 
 
 And I will sit as quiet as a lamb; 80 
 
 67. stubborn-hard] first hyphened by Theobald (1740) (ed. 2). 71. 
 Stamps] omitted Ff. 76. boisterous -rough] hyphened by Theobald. 
 
 meant " the substance which be- attempt to regularise this line is to 
 
 tokens my innocence (the water of my spoil it. 
 
 tears) " (Moore-Smith), rather than 77. stone-still] Common in 
 
 the "secretion," "exudation," of Elizabethan English, and found more 
 
 Schmidt. But compare iv. ii. 79-81 than once in Chaucer. Compare 
 
 supra. Florio's Montaigne (ed. Waller, p. 
 
 70. I would . . . Hubert's] This 12): "She stood afraid, stonestill at 
 
 line, with the exception of the sub- the strange sight " ; and Lucrece, 
 
 stitution of a comma and a dash for 1730 : " Stone still, astonished with 
 
 the colon after "him " is the reading this deadly deed." 
 
 of the Folios, and gives excellent 78. heaven sake] Another instance 
 
 sense if we will only be good enough of the omission of the mark of the 
 
 to allow Shakespeare to use an possessive when clashing with 
 
 ellipsis. " I would not have believed another sibilant. Compare " Alcides 
 
 him, (I will believe) no tongue but shows," 11. i. 144 supra. 
 
 Hubert's." There are many emenda- 80. quiet as a lamb] Proverbial; 
 
 tions. found in Heywood's Pericles (1546). 
 
 73. O, save me, Hubert, etc.] To
 
 92 KING JOHN [act v 
 
 I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word, 
 
 Nor look upon the iron angerly: 
 
 Thrust but these men away, and I '11 forgive you, 
 
 Whatever torment you do put me to. 
 Hub. Go, stand within ; let me alone with him. 85 
 
 First Exec. I am best pleased to be from such a deed. 
 
 [Exeunt Executioners. 
 Arth. Alas, I then have chid away my friend ! 
 
 He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart : 
 
 Let him come back, that his compassion may 
 
 Give life to yours. 
 Hub. Come, boy, prepare yourself. 90 
 
 Arth. Is there no remedy? 
 
 Hub. None, but to lose your eyes. 
 
 Arth. O heaven, that there were but a mote in yours, 
 
 A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair, 
 
 Any annoyance in that precious sense! 
 
 Then, feeling what small things are boisterous there, 95 
 
 Your vile intent must needs seem horrible. 
 Hub. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue. 
 
 81. wince] The first Folio reads 91. None, but to lose your eyes] This 
 
 winch, evidently a form of " wince." answer seems to imply that losing 
 
 All the Quartos and Folios of Ham- the eyes was a remedy. We may 
 
 let, except the 1603 Quarto, print construe "remedy" as alternative, 
 
 in. ii. 252 as " Let the galled jade and then we have to ask alternative 
 
 winch." to what ? Vaughan omits " to," and 
 
 85. let me alone with him] trust explains " None, but lose your eyes " 
 
 me to deal with him. So Twelfth as " no remedy against losing your 
 
 Night, 11. iii. 145: "For Monsieur eyes." Perhaps Hubert is thinking 
 
 Malvolio, let me alone with him." of John's command to put Arthur to 
 
 Compare also Twelfth Night, in. iv. death, and this putting out of the 
 
 201 : " Let me alone for swearing" ; eyes is a remedy against that, 
 
 and Middleton, A Trick, i. 1 (Mer- 92. mote] So Steevens (1793), after 
 
 maid ed. p. 8): " if his nephew be Long MS. and a conjecture of Upton's, 
 
 poor indeed he lets God alone with The Folios have moth, and mote and 
 
 him." moth are the same words.
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 93 
 
 Arth. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues 
 Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes : 
 Let me not hold my tongue, let me not, Hubert ; ioo 
 Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue, 
 So I may keep mine eyes : O, spare mine eyes, 
 Though to no use but still to look on you ! 
 Lo, by my troth, the instrument is cold 
 And would not harm me. 
 
 Hub. I can heat it, boy. 105 
 
 Arth. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief, 
 Being create for comfort, to be used 
 In undeserved extremes : see else yourself ; 
 There is no malice in this burning coal ; 
 The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out no 
 And strew'd repentant ashes on his head. 
 
 Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy. 
 
 Arth. An if you do, you will but make it blush 
 
 And glow with shame of youi proceedings, Hubert : 
 Nay, it perchance will sparkle in your eyes; 115 
 
 And like a dog that is compell'd to fight, 
 
 101. will, cut] Rowe ; will cut Ff. 
 
 98, 99. the utterance of a brace of our comfort) at being wrongly used 
 tongues, etc.] Two tongues would be for cruel purposes. Create = created, 
 unable to plead sufficiently for two Compare heat = heated, line 61 supra. 
 eyes. Vaughan's inversion of 109. in this burning coal] Hudson, 
 " the pleading for a pair of eyes upon a conjecture of Grey's, prints 
 Must needs want utterance of a " burning in this coal,' 1 a most logical 
 brace of tongues " and practical emendation, for there 
 is unnecessary if we give " want " its would be malice in a burning coal, 
 proper force of "fall short in," as in The next few lines however rather 
 iv. iii. 138 infra : " Let hell want take away the point of the new read- 
 pains enough to torture me." ing, for it becomes evident that the 
 106-108. No, in good sooth . . . coal was still alight although covered 
 extremes] no, in truth ; the fire is with ashes, and could be revived by 
 dead with grief (for it was created for blowing upon it.
 
 94 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 [act IV. 
 
 Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on. 
 All things that you should use to do me wrong 
 Deny their office : only you do lack 
 That mercy which fierce fire and iron extends, 
 Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses. 
 
 Hub. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eye 
 For all the treasure that thine uncle owes : 
 Yet am I sworn and I did purpose, boy, 
 With this same very iron to burn them out 
 
 Arth. O, now you look like Hubert ! all this while 
 You were disguised. 
 
 Hub. Peace; no more. Adieu. 
 
 Your uncle must not know but you are dead ; 
 I '11 fill these dogged spies with false reports : 
 122. eye] Ff ; eyes Steevens (1793) (Capell conj.). 
 
 120 
 
 125 
 
 117. Snatch] snap, bite. 
 117. tarre] urge. Mid. Eng. terren, 
 or terien, to incite. Compare Hamlet, 
 11. ii. 370: "The nation holds it no 
 sin to tarre them to controversy." 
 The word still exists in dialect (see 
 Eng. Dialect Diet.). Halliwell's 
 Diet, quotes Wilbraham (p. 112) 
 under Tarr-on : " To excite to anger 
 or violence ; is still used in Cheshire. 
 It is a good old word, used by Wicliffe 
 in his Path Waye to Perfect Know- 
 ledg ; and also in a MS. translation 
 of the Psalms by Wicliffe, penes me : 
 ' They have terrid thee to ire.' " 
 
 119-121. only you do lack . . . 
 mercy-lacking uses] you alone lack 
 that mercy which even fire and iron 
 exhibit, fire and iron, things notably 
 used in affairs where no mercy is 
 required. The number of the verb 
 " extends " may be explained by 
 supposing that fire and iron really 
 conveyed but one idea to the mind. 
 
 122. see to live] EIze {Athen. 1867) 
 conjectures either "live to see" or 
 
 " live and see." Roderick conjectures 
 " see and live." The meaning is 
 evidently " live and keep thy sight " ; 
 but I cannot help thinking that here 
 we have another clue to the thoughts 
 of Hubert as in line 91 note, supra. 
 He has promised John that Arthur 
 shall not "live," and continually has 
 the death of Arthur in his mind. In 
 putting out Arthur's eyes it seems 
 to me that he originally intended to 
 kill the prince, and that in the phrase 
 "see to live" we have an admission 
 of that What would make Hubert 
 choose the peculiar punishment of 
 putting out Arthur's eyes when he 
 had promised the king to kill him, 
 unless, in so doing, he meant to 
 kill? 
 
 122. touch] injure. Connected 
 with Scan, tac, a wound [?] (Skeat). 
 Compare Cymbeline, v. iii. 10 : 
 " Some mortally, some slightly 
 touched" ; also the modern " touchy." 
 
 123. owes] See 11. i. 109, 248 supra, 
 and iv. ii. 99 infra.
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 95 
 
 And, pretty child, sleep doubtless and secure, 130 
 
 That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world, 
 
 Will not offend thee. 
 Arth. O heaven! I thank you, Hubert. 
 
 Hub. Silence ; no more : go closely in with me : 
 
 Much danger do I undergo for thee. {Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE U.King John's Palace. 
 
 Enter King John, Pembroke, Salisbury, and other 
 
 Lords. 
 
 K. John. Here once again we sit, once again crown 'd, 
 And look'd upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes. 
 
 Pern. This "once again," but that your highness pleased, 
 Was once superfluous : you were crown'd before, 
 And that high royalty was ne'er pluck 'd off, 5 
 
 The faiths of men ne'er stained with revolt; 
 Fresh expectation troubled not the land 
 With any long'd-for change or better state. 
 
 Sal. Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp, 
 
 To guard a title that was rich before, 10 
 
 To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 
 To throw a perfume on the violet, 
 To smooth the ice, or add another hue 
 
 1. against crown'd] Ff i, 2. 
 
 130. doubtless and secure] without jectures " to," for we may take 
 
 doubt and without care. See supra, " better state " as alternative with 
 
 11. i. 27, 374. " change," while " long'd-for " quali- 
 
 133. closely] secretly. Compare nes both. 
 Hamlet, m. 1. 29 : " We have closely 10. guard] to ornament, to put 
 
 sent lor Hamlet hither." lacings on. Compare The Merchant 
 
 of Venice, 11. ii. 164 : " a livery more 
 
 bcene 11, guarded than his fellows " ; also the 
 
 8. or] Vaughan needlessly con- modern " w&tch-guard."
 
 96 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light 
 
 To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, 15 
 
 Is wasteful and ridiculous excess. 
 
 Pern. But that your royal pleasure must be done, 
 This act is as an ancient tale new told, 
 And in the last repeating troublesome, 
 Being urged at a time unseasonable. 20 
 
 Sal. In this the antique and well noted face 
 Of plain old form is much disfigured ; 
 And, like a shifted wind unto a sail, 
 It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about, 
 Startles and frights consideration, 25 
 
 Makes sound opinion sick and truth suspected, 
 For putting on so new a fashion'd robe. 
 
 Pern. When workmen strive to do better than well, 
 They do confound their skill in covetousness ; 
 And oftentimes excusing of a fault 30 
 
 Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse, 
 As patches set upon a little breach 
 Discredit more in hiding of the fault 
 Than did the fault before it was so patch'd. 
 
 ai. antique] Pope ; Anticke, Ff i, 2 ; Antick, Ff 3, 4. 
 
 18, 19. This act . . . troublesome] pardonable sin of splitting the infini- 
 
 Exactly the same simile has been tive. 
 
 used by the Dauphin in 111. iv. 29. They do confound . . . covetous- 
 
 108. ness] they spoil everything by aiming 
 
 24. to fetch about] to take a cir- at too much a case of vaulting 
 
 cuitous course. ambition o'erleaping itself and fall- 
 
 27. 50 new a fashion'd robe] a robe ing on the other. Compare v. vii. 20 
 of so new a fashion, "jo new a infra. There is no need to read 
 fashion'd" being treated like a big " curiousness " for u covetousness," as 
 
 compound adjective. Daniel would, as this does not 
 
 28. to do better] Staunton would improve the meaning, while scanning 
 read to better do, much improving " cov'tousness " makes Capell's con- 
 the rhythm, but committing the un- jecture of " covetize " needless.
 
 sc. 
 
 ir.] KING JOHN 97 
 
 Sal. To this effect, before you were new crown'd, 35 
 
 We breathed our counsel : but it pleased your highness 
 To overbear it, and we are all well pleased, 
 Since all and every part of what we would 
 Doth make a stand at what your highness will. 
 
 K. John. Some reasons of this double coronation 40 
 
 I have possess'd you with and think them strong ; 
 And more, more strong, then lesser is my fear, 
 I shall indue you with : meantime but ask 
 What you would have reform'd that is not well, 
 And well shall you perceive how willingly 45 
 
 I will both hear and grant you your requests. 
 
 Pern. Then I, as one that am the tongue of these, 
 To sound the purposes of all their hearts, 
 Both for myself and them, but, chief of all, 
 Your safety, for the which myself and them 50 
 
 Bend their best studies, heartily request 
 The enfranchisement of Arthur; whose restraint 
 
 42. then lesser] F 1 ; then lesse Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 38, 39. Since all . . . will] every- which is not at all probable. The 
 
 thing we wish is subservient to your true reading must be one in which 
 
 wishes. John makes little of his fear ; and 
 
 42. And more . . . my fear] If we none of the proposed readings (Collier 
 
 keep the reading of the first Folio, we MS. " thus lessening," Keightley 
 
 must take " then " as equivalent to " than lesser, in," Fletcher [N. and 
 
 "than," understanding the line to Q. 1889] " than lesser, is ") make this 
 
 mean " More reasons, more strong point. 
 
 in proportion as my fear is less." 50. myself and them] Thisungram- 
 Although Shakespeare in King John matical construction may be ex- 
 seems to have written several pas- plained (i.) by supposing that 
 sages where the meaning is not "myself" in suggesting " them- 
 obvious at first glance, he has not selves" attracted "they" into 
 set such another puzzle as this, "them"; (ii.) that the printer's eye 
 Tyrwhitt's conjecture of " when " for caught the " myself and them " of the 
 "then," adopted by Steevens, is, as preceding line and repeated it; (iii.) 
 Dr. Herford has said, very plausible, that Shakespeare repeated his own 
 but has the great objection of making phrase without being sensible of the 
 John admit that he was in great fear, grammatical error.
 
 98 KING JOHN [act if. 
 
 Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent 
 
 To break into this dangerous argument, 
 
 If what in rest you have in right you hold, 55 
 
 Why then your fears, which as they say, attend 
 
 The steps of wrong, should move you to mew up 
 
 Your tender kinsman, and to choke his days 
 
 With barbarous ignorance, and deny his youth 
 
 The rich advantage of good exercise. 60 
 
 That the time's enemies may not have this 
 
 To grace occasions, let it be our suit 
 
 That you have bid us ask his liberty; 
 
 Which for our goods we do no further ask 
 
 Than whereupon our weal, on you depending, 65 
 
 Counts it your weal he have his liberty. 
 
 Enter HUBERT. 
 
 K. John. Let it be so : I do commit his youth 
 
 To your direction. Hubert, what news with you? 
 
 {Taking him apart. 
 
 Pern. This is the man should do the bloody deed ; 
 
 He show'd his warrant to a friend of mine : 70 
 
 55. If what in rest, etc.] This line mentofthe popular point of view and 
 
 presents two difficulties; we cannot be not an indirect question in a state of 
 
 sure of the exact meaning of the term un-English contortion, as some editors 
 
 "in rest," and the line as a whole is would take it. 
 
 meaningless in view of lines 56-60. 59. deny] refuse. Compare Middle- 
 
 " Rest " can have nothing to do with ton, Michaelmas Term, 1. ii. 35: 
 
 the game of primero, where it stood " Deny a satin gown and you dare 
 
 for the limiting stake, and it seems now." 
 
 best to take it, with Mr. Wright, as 61,62. That the time's enemies, etc.] 
 
 meaning " peace, security." To that the enemies of the present state 
 
 make any meaning out of the whole of things may not have this argument 
 
 passage we must either adopt Ma- to use when opportunity offers, etc. 
 
 lone's suggestion of " hold not," or 64. goods] This plural form of the 
 
 Vaughan's of "unright" for "in abstract is common in Shakespeare, 
 
 fight " ; line 57 then becomes a state- Compare " faiths," line 6 supra.
 
 sc. 
 
 ii] KING JOHN 99 
 
 The image of a wicked heinous fault 
 
 Lives in his eye ; that close aspect of his 
 
 Does show the mood of a much troubled breast ; 
 
 And I do fearfully believe 'tis done, 
 
 What we so fear'd he had a charge to do. 75 
 
 Sal. The colour of the king doth come and go 
 Between his purpose and his conscience, 
 Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set : 
 His passion is so ripe, it needs must break. 
 
 Pern. And when it breaks, 1 fear will issue thence 80 
 The foul corruption of a sweet child's death. 
 
 K. John. We cannot hold mortality's strong hand : 
 Good lords, although my will to give is living, 
 The suit which you demand is gone and dead : 
 He tells us Arthur is deceased to-night. 85 
 
 Sal. Indeed we fear'd his sickness was past cure. 
 
 Pern. Indeed we heard how near his death he was, 
 Before the child himself felt he was sick : 
 This must be answer'd either here or hence. 
 
 K. John. Why do you bend such solemn brows on me ? 90 
 Think you I bear the shears of destiny? 
 Have I commandment on the pulse of life? 
 
 Sal. It is apparent foul-play; and 'tis shame 
 
 73. Does] F 4; Doe F 2 ; Do Ff 1, 3 ; Doth Dyce and Staunton. 
 
 72. close] secretive, suspiciously re- " If it were so, it was a grievous 
 
 served. Here the word implies that fault, 
 
 Hubert looked as if he were hiding a And grievously hath Caesar 
 
 guilty secret. Compare " closely," answer'd it" 
 
 iv. i. 133 supra. 93. apparent] plainly evident. The 
 
 77. Between . . . conscie?tce] be- modern word is often used for what 
 
 tween the thoughts of his accom- appears to be so, but may not be, 
 
 plished design on Arthur's life and and probably is not so. 
 
 his conscience as a murderer. gyg<y. It is apparent foul-play, etc.] 
 
 89. answer'd] atoned for. So it is manifest foul play, and it is a 
 
 Julius Ccesar, m. ii. 85 : shame that those in high places should
 
 100 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 That greatness should so grossly offer it : 
 
 So thrive it in your game! and so, farewell. 95 
 
 Pern. Stay yet, Lord Salisbury; I'll go with thee, 
 And find the inheritance of this poor child, 
 His little kingdom of a forced grave. 
 That blood which owed the breadth of all this isle, 
 Three foot of it doth hold : bad world the while ! 100 
 This must not be thus borne: this will break out 
 To all our sorrows, and ere long I doubt 
 
 [Exeunt Lords. 
 
 K. John. They burn in indignation. I repent: 
 There is no sure foundation set on blood, 
 No certain life achieved by others' death. 105 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 A fearful eye thou hast: where is that blood 
 That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks? 
 So foul a sky clears not without a storm : 
 Pour down thy weather: how goes all in France? 
 Mess. From France to England. Never such a power no 
 For any foreign preparation 
 Was levied in the body of a land. 
 The copy of your speed is learn'd by them ; 
 
 99. breadth] breath Rowe. no. England. Never] Johnson (Roderick 
 conj.) ; England, nevir Ff. 
 
 accomplish things so clumsily. May 102. doubt] Compare iv. i. 19 
 
 the rest of your policy thrive in the supra. 
 
 same manner. 107. inhabit) intransitive. So 
 
 100. bad world the while] it is a commonly in Shakespeare. 
 
 bad world when such things happen. 109. weather] Here equivalent to 
 
 See Richard III. in. vi. 10 : " Here 's bad weather, storm. So The Winter's 
 
 a good world the while I " ; and iv. iii. Tale, in. iii. 104 : " Both roaring 
 
 116 infra. louder than the sea or weather."
 
 sc. ii.] KING JOHN 101 
 
 For when you should be told they do prepare, 
 
 The tidings comes that they are all arrived. 115 
 
 K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk ? 
 Where hath it slept? Where is my mother's care, 
 That such an army could be drawn in France, 
 And she not hear of it? 
 
 Mess. My liege, her ear 
 
 Is stopp'd with dust; the first of April died 120 
 
 Your noble mother : and, as I hear, my lord, 
 The Lady Constance in a frenzy died 
 Three days* before : but this from rumour's tongue 
 I idly heard ; if true or false I know not. 
 
 K. John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion ! 125 
 
 O, make a league with me, till I have pleased 
 My discontented peers ! What ! mother dead ! 
 How wildly then walks my estate in France ! 
 Under whose conduct came those powers of France 
 That thou for truth givest out are landed here? 130 
 
 Mess. Under the Dauphin. 
 
 K. John. Thou hast made me giddy 
 
 With these ill tidings. 
 
 Enter the BASTARD and PETER oj Pomjret. 
 
 Now, what says the world 
 
 115. comes] Ff i, 2, 3 ; come F 4. 118. could] Ff 1, 2, 3 ; should F 4. 
 129. came] come Hanmer. 
 
 116. 117. O, where hath our intelli- The other three read care. Ear in 
 gence, etc.] We are reminded of Mac- line 119 does not necessarily show 
 betk, 1. vii. 35, 36: " Was the hope that eare was the proper reading, for 
 drunk wherein you dress'd yourself ? it may have been suggested by " hear " 
 hath it slept since ? " in line 119. 
 
 117. care] It is impossible to say 125. occasion] Perhaps we may best 
 whether the first Folio reads eare or render this by " hour of trial." 
 
 care as the first letter has been broken.
 
 102 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 To your proceedings? do not seek to stuff 
 My head with more ill news, for it is full. 
 
 Bast. But if you be afeard to hear the worst, 135 
 
 Then let the worst unheard fall on your head. 
 
 K. John. Bear with me, cousin ; for I was amazed 
 Under the tide: but now I breathe again 
 Aloft the flood, and can give audience 
 To any tongue, speak it of what it will. 140 
 
 Bast. How I have sped among the clergy-men, 
 The sums I have collected shall express. 
 But as I travell'd hither through the land, 
 I find the people strangely fantasied ; 
 Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams, 145 
 
 Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear: 
 And here's a prophet, that I brought with me 
 From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found 
 With many hundreds treading on his heels ; 
 To whom he sung, in rude harsh-sounding rhymes, 1 50 
 That, ere the next Ascension-day at noon, 
 Your highness should deliver up your crown. 
 
 K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so ? 
 
 Peter. Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so. 
 
 K. John. Hubert, away with him ; imprison him ; 155 
 
 And on that day at noon, whereon he says 
 
 135. afeard] afraid F 4. 
 
 137. amazed] bewildered. Compare 146. Not knowing ... full of fear] 
 
 the Somerset "mazed" which has We have the same idea in Macbeth, 
 
 exactly the same meaning ; and see iv. ii. 19, 20 : 
 
 iv. iii. 140 infra, also Troublesome "And do not know ourselves, 
 
 Raigne, p. 16, line 169: "Nor mad, when we hold rumour 
 
 nor tnazde, but well advised." From what we fear, yet know 
 
 139. Aloft] This is the only use of not what we fear." 
 this word by Shakespeare as a pre- 
 position.
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 103 
 
 I shall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd. 
 
 Deliver him to safety; and return, 
 
 For I must use thee. [Exit Hubert with Peter. 
 
 O my gentle cousin, 
 
 Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arrived ? 160 
 Bast. The French, my lord ; men's mouths are full of it : 
 
 Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury, 
 
 With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire, 
 
 And others more, going to seek the grave 
 
 Of Arthur, whom they say is kill'd to-night 165 
 
 On your suggestion. 
 K. John. Gentle kinsman, go, 
 
 And thrust thyself into their companies: 
 
 I have a way to win their loves again; 
 
 Bring them before me. 
 Bast. I will seek them out. 
 
 K. John. Nay, but make haste; the better foot before. 170 
 
 O, let me have no subject enemies, 
 
 When adverse foreigners affright my towns 
 
 With dreadful pomp of stout invasion! 
 
 Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels, 
 
 And fly like thought from them to me again. 175 
 Bast. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. [Exit. 
 K. John. Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman. 
 
 Go after him ; for he perhaps shall need 
 
 165, 166. Of . . . suggestion] Rowe (ed. 2) ; one line in Ff. 171. sub- 
 ject] F 1 ; subjects Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 158. safety] safe custody. referring to the proverbial expression 
 
 167. companies] See iv. ii. 6 and " the best foot foremost." 
 64 for "faiths" and " goods," similar 177. sprightful] = spiritful = spir- 
 
 abstract plurals. ited. *' Spright " and " spirit " were 
 
 170. the better foot before] Probably equivalent in Elizabethan English.
 
 104 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Some messenger betwixt me and the peers; 
 
 And be thou he. 
 Mess. With all my heart, my liege. [Exit. 180 
 
 K. John. My mother dead ! 
 
 Re-enter HUBERT. 
 
 Hub. My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night; 
 Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about 
 The other four in wondrous motion. 
 
 K. John. Five moons ! 
 
 Hub. Old men and beldams in the streets 185 
 
 Do prophesy upon it dangerously: 
 Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths: 
 And when they talk of him, they shake their heads 
 And whisper one another in the ear; 
 And he that speaks doth gripe the hearer's wrist, 190 
 Whilst he that hears makes fearful action, 
 With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes. 
 I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus, 
 The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, 
 With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news; 195 
 Who, with his shears and measure in his hand, 
 Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste 
 Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet, 
 Told of a many thousand warlike French 
 
 185. beldams] belle dame meant (i.) so much trash as may be grasped 
 
 a grandmother compare Lucrece, thus." 
 
 953, " To show the beldam daughters 198. Had falsely . . . contrary feet] 
 
 of her daughter " ; (ii.) an aged Johnson's curious note that ' either 
 
 woman ; (iii.) a hag. Here it may shoe will equally admit either foot " 
 
 be used in sense (ii.) or (iii.). would never have been written if he 
 
 193. thus] The actor was left had tried to suggest a reason why 
 
 to illustrate the word. Compare Shakespeare should have alluded to 
 
 Julius Casar, iv. iii. 26 : " For an obvious impossibility.
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 105 
 
 That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent: 200 
 
 Another lean unwash'd artificer 
 
 Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death. 
 
 K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears! 
 
 Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death? 
 
 Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had a mighty 
 
 cause 205 
 
 To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him. 
 
 Hub. No had, my lord ! why, did you not provoke me ? 
 
 K. John. It is the curse of kings to be attended 
 
 By slaves that take their humours for a warrant 
 
 To break within the bloody house of life, 210 
 
 And on the winking of authority 
 
 To understand a law, to know the meaning 
 
 Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns 
 
 More upon humour than advised respect. 
 
 Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did. 215 
 
 K. John. O, when the last account 'ovixt heaven and earth 
 Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal 
 Witness against us to damnation ! 
 
 210. within] F i ; omitted Ff 2, 3, 4 ; into Pope. 
 
 200. That . . . Kent] Scan " That Mr. Wright considers the use of 
 
 w6re I em-bat- | tail-^d | and rank'd "bloody" here as proleptic "the 
 
 I in K6nt." house of life which thereby becomes 
 
 200. embattailed] drawn up in battle bloody." It may also be taken 
 array. in the ordinary way, as merely de- 
 
 201. artificer] artisan. The term scriptive of the composition of the 
 is still kept in the Navy. " house." 
 
 207. No had, my lord I] had not, 211-214. And on the winking of 
 
 my lord I This peculiar form of re- authority, etc.] when one in authority 
 
 peating interrogatively a negative winks to interpret it as a command, 
 
 assertion was common in Shake- to know what a king means in a 
 
 speare's time. Compare Ralph moment of anger when he frowns 
 
 Roister Doister, 1. iv. 34 : " No is ? " capriciously and not as a consequence 
 
 and 11. iv. 17 : " No did ? " of deliberation. Some quite unneces- 
 
 207. provoke] incite. sary alterations of this passage have 
 
 210. To break . . . house of life] been suggested.
 
 106 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds 
 Make deeds ill done ! Hadst not thou been by, 220 
 A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd, 
 Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame, 
 This murder had not come into my mind : 
 But taking note of thy abhori^d aspect, 
 Finding thee fit for bloody villany, 225 
 
 Apt, liable to be employ'd in danger, 
 I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death; 
 And thou, to be endeared to a king, 
 Made it no conscience to destroy a prince. 
 Hub. My lord, 230 
 
 K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause 
 When I spake darkly what I purposed, 
 Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face, 
 As bid me tell my tale in express words, 
 Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break 
 off, 235 
 
 And those thy fears might have wrought fears in 
 me: 
 
 229. Made] Mad'st Pope. 
 
 220. Make] Plural in number owing marked, noted in the mar gent " ; and 
 
 to influence of " deeds." It is tempt- " Quote : a quote or quoting, a mark 
 
 ing to read " Make ill deeds done " or note upon an article." 
 
 with Knight, after a conjecture of 226. liable to] capable of. See 
 
 Capell's. But the Folios are unani- Julius Ccrsar, 1. ii. 199 : " If my 
 
 mous, and it seems to me that their name were liable to fear." 
 
 reading is undoubtedly right, mean- 227. broke with thee] communicated 
 
 ing " How oft the sight of means with thee, mentioned to thee, 
 
 to do ill deeds makes deeds done 233, 234. Or turn'd an eye, etc.] or 
 
 which it were ill to do" in fact hadst thou turned such an eye of 
 
 " ill " is another proleptic adjective, doubt upon me as would have bid 
 
 See line 210 tuf>ra. me tell, etc. John, of course, had 
 
 222. Quoted] specially marked out. told Hubert his tale "in express 
 
 See Cotgrave, " Quote ; quoted, words."
 
 sc ii] KING JOHN 107 
 
 But thou didst understand rae by my signs 
 
 And didst in signs again parley with sin; 
 
 Y l. without stop, didst let thy heart consent, 
 
 A nd consequently thy rude hand to act 240 
 
 The deed, which both our tongues held vile to name. 
 
 Out of my sight, and never see me more ! 
 
 My nobles leave me; and my state is braved, 
 
 Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers : 
 
 Nay, in the body of this fleshly land, 245 
 
 This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath, 
 
 Hostility and civil tumult reigns 
 
 Between my conscience and my cousin's death. 
 
 Hub. Arm you against your other enemies, 
 
 I'll make a peace between your soul and you. 250 
 
 Young Arthur is alive : this hand of mine 
 
 Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand, 
 
 Not painted with the crimson spots of blood. 
 
 Within this bosom never enterVl yet 
 
 The dreadful motion of a murderous thought ; 255 
 
 And you have slander'd nature in my form, 
 
 Which, howsoever rude exteriorly, 
 
 Is yet the cover of a fairer mind 
 
 Than to be butcher of an innocent child. 
 
 K. Jokn. Doth Arthur live ? O, haste thee to the peers, 26b 
 Throw this report on their incensed rage, 
 And make them tame to their obedience! 
 
 H3 "V st*t*] my authority as 347. rtifns) Singular number owing 
 
 ttftf to the nominatives both conveying a 
 
 *45, Here the Long MS. gives a similar idea. Compare iv. i. xaonr/r*. 
 
 stagVdirection, "Laying his hand Hanmer corrected it to " rttgn." 
 
 upon his breast.''* John is evidently 853, mk>on] impulse. Compare 1. 
 
 referring to his own body. i. ats tmfrm.
 
 108 KING JOHN [act iv 
 
 Forgive the comment that my passion made 
 
 Upon thy feature ; for my rage was blind, 
 
 And foul imaginary eyes of blood 265 
 
 Presented thee more hideous than thou art. 
 
 O, answer not, but to my closet bring 
 
 The angry lords with all expedient haste. 
 
 I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast. [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE III. Before the castle. 
 
 Enter ARTHUR, on the walls. 
 
 Arth. The wall is high, and yet will I leap down: 
 Good ground, be pitiful and hurt me not ! 
 There's few or none do know me: if they did, 
 This ship-boy's semblance hath disguised me quite. 
 I am afraid ; and yet I '11 venture it. 5 
 
 If I get down, and do not break my limbs, 
 I '11 find a thousand shifts to get away : 
 As good to die and go, as die and stay. {Leaps down. 
 O me ! my uncle's spirit is in these stones : 
 Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones ! 10 
 
 [Dies. 
 
 Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BlGOT. 
 
 Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury: 
 
 It is our safety, and we must embrace 
 
 This gentle offer of the perilous time. 
 Pern. Who brought that letter from the cardinal? 
 
 11. Saint] Fa; S. F 1 ; St. Ff 3, 4. 
 265. imaginary] imaginative.
 
 sc. in] KING JOHN 109 
 
 Sal. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France; 15 
 
 Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love 
 Is much more general than these lines import. 
 
 Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then. 
 
 Sal. Or rather then set forward ; for 'twill be 
 
 Two long days' journey, lords, or ere we meet. 20 
 
 Enter the BASTARD. 
 
 Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords! 
 The king by me requests your presence straight. 
 
 Sal. The king hath dispossess'd himself of us : 
 We will not line his thin bestained cloak 
 With our pure honours, nor attend the foot 25 
 
 That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks. 
 Return and tell him so: we know the worst 
 
 Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best. 
 
 15. Melun] Rowe; Meloone F 1 ; Melloone Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 15. Melun] We have here followed hensive in its terms than the formal 
 the generally accepted modernisation and more guarded letter ; a rendering 
 of the spelling. The Folios indicate which makes " private " = private 
 the pronunciation of the time and conversation, more likely. 
 
 the accentuation necessary to make 21. distemper'd] ill-tempered. Com- 
 
 the line scan. pare Hamlet, 111. ii. 312: "The king 
 
 16. private] Here equivalent to ... is in his retirement marvellous 
 private communication either by distempered." 
 
 letter from the Dauphin or in con- 24. thin bestained] These words 
 
 versation with Melun, more probably are hyphened in the Folios, and as a 
 
 the latter. Compare Twelfth Night, consequence we have the following 
 
 in. iv. 100 : " Let me enjoy my private : emendations. Singer (ed. 2), follow - 
 
 go off." For "with me" Collier ing Collier MS., " sin-bestained" 
 
 substitutes " missive," and Spedding Cartwright (conj.) " thick-bestained," 
 
 conjectures "witness." Gould (conj.) " kin-bestained." But 
 
 17. Is much more general, etc.] The surely it is better to drop the hyphen 
 meaning of" general" here is rather and leave the words untouched when 
 obscure. Hanmer cleverly gets over they give such an obvious meaning, 
 the difficulty by reading " Is much for the hyphens of the Folios are 
 more than these general lines impart." quite unreliable. "T/t"and "be- 
 As it stands we must take it to mean stained " offer two distinct ideas, and 
 that the private communication of " thin " is absolutely necessary be- 
 the Count was much more compre- cause it carries out the idea of " line."
 
 110 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason now. 
 
 Bast. But there is little reason in your grief; 30 
 
 Therefore 'twere reason you had manners now. 
 
 Pern. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege. 
 
 Bast. Tis true, to hurt his master, no man else. 
 
 Sal. This is the prison. What is he lies here? 
 
 [Seeing Arthur. 
 
 Pent. O death, made proud with pure and princely 
 beauty! 35 
 
 The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. 
 
 Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, 
 Doth lay it open to urge on revenge. 
 
 Big. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave, 
 
 Found it too precious-princely for a grave. 40 
 
 Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? have you beheld, 
 Or have you read or heard? or could you think? 
 Or do you almost think, although you see, 
 That you do see? could thought, without this object, 
 Form such another? This is the very top, 45 
 
 The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, 
 Of murder's arms : this is the bloodiest shame, 
 The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke, 
 That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage 
 Presented to the tears of soft remorse. 50 
 
 41. have you beheld] Ff 3, 4 ; you have beheld Ff 1, 2. 
 
 33. man] This is printed mans in chevre : a whall, or over-white eye ; an 
 
 some copies of the first Folio, but eye full of white spots, or whose apple 
 
 seems to have been corrected in the seems divided by a streak of white." 
 
 press, for Collier says that the Duke 49. staring] In Elizabethan English 
 
 of Devonshire's copy reads " man." "staring" meant to glare fiercely. 
 
 49. wall-eyed] having eyes which Compare Julius Casar, iv. iii. 40 : 
 from some defect appear to stare " Shall I be frighted when a mad- 
 fiercely. Compare Cotgrave, "Oeil de man stares ? "
 
 sc. in] KING JOHN 111 
 
 Pern. All murders past do stand excused in this : 
 
 And this, so sole and so unmatchable, 
 
 Shall give a holiness, a purity, 
 
 To the yet unbegotten sin of times ; 
 
 And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest, 55 
 
 Exampled by this heinous spectacle. 
 Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work ; 
 
 The graceless action of a heavy hand, 
 
 If that it be the work of any hand. 
 Sal. If that it be the work of any hand ! 60 
 
 We had a kind of light what would ensue : 
 
 It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand ; 
 
 The practice and the purpose of the king: 
 
 From whose obedience I forbid my soul, 
 
 Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life, 65 
 
 And breathing to his breathless excellence 
 
 The incense of a vow, a holy vow, 
 
 Never to taste the pleasures of the world, 
 
 Never to be infected with delight, 
 
 Nor conversant with ease and idleness, 70 
 
 Till I have set a glory to this hand, 
 
 By giving it the worship of revenge. 
 
 ' \ Our souls religiously confirm thy words. 
 Big. J 
 
 60. hand I] hand ? Ff. 
 
 54. times) i.e. times to come, 67. The incense of a vow, etc.] By 
 
 future ages. Compare Lucrece, 717: reading " head " for " hand " in line 
 
 'For now against himself he 71, Pope manufactured what Staunton 
 
 sounds this doom, called a more elegant sense. What 
 
 That through the length of times happens is that Salisbury raises his 
 
 he stands disgraced." own hand to Heaven as he makes his 
 
 62, 63. It is the shameful, etc.] vow in the customary manner. There 
 
 Hubert's hand did the deed to suit is no reason for taking the hand of the 
 
 the king's plots and purposes, dead prince as Mason suggests.
 
 112 KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Enter HUBERT. 
 
 Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you : 
 
 Arthur doth live ; the king hath sent for you. 75 
 
 Sal. O, he is bold and blushes not at death. 
 A vaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone ! 
 
 Hub. I am no villain. 
 
 Sal. Must I rob the law? 
 
 [Drawing his sword. 
 
 Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again. 
 
 Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin. 80 
 
 Hub. Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand back, I say; 
 By heaven, I think my sword 's as sharp as yours : 
 I would not have you, lord, forget yourself, 
 Nor tempt the danger of my true defence ; 
 Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget 85 
 
 Your worth, your greatness and nobility. 
 
 Big. Out, dunghill ! darest thou brave a nobleman ? 
 
 Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend 
 My innocent life against an emperor. 
 
 Sal. Thou art a murderer. 
 
 Hub. Do not prove me so; 90 
 
 Yet I am none: whose tongue soe'er speaks false, 
 Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. 
 
 77. Avaunt] a contemptuous 84. Nor tempt . . . defence] nor 
 
 method of driving a person away, run the risk of attacking my defence 
 
 Compare Cotgrave, " Devant (inter- as a just man. " True " may have 
 
 ject.) : used, as our Avaunt, in the the double meaning here of Hubert's 
 
 driving away of a dog." defence of himself in justice and of 
 
 79. Your sword is bright, etc.] It his good defence as a swordsman, 
 
 is somewhat strange to see the Bastard 90. Do not prove me so] do not make 
 
 acting as peacemaker. He is however me one by causing me to murder you. 
 
 commissioned to do so by John, to 91. whose tongue . . . false] 
 
 whom he owes everything. Still on Hubert is calling Salisbury a liar in 
 
 the least genuine excuse he is ready a manner befitting his humbler posi- 
 
 for mischief (see line 95, etc. infra). tion.
 
 sc. in] KING JOHN 113 
 
 Pern. Cut him to pieces. 
 
 Bast. Keep the peace, I say. 
 
 Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. 
 
 Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: 95 
 
 If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, 
 Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame, 
 I '11 strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime ; 
 Or I '11 so maul you and your toasting-iron, 
 That you shall think the devil is come from hell. 100 
 
 Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge ? 
 Second a villain and a murderer? 
 
 Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. 
 
 Big. Who kill'd this prince? 
 
 Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well : 
 
 I honour'd him, I loved him, and will weep 105 
 
 My date of life out for his sweet life's loss. 
 
 Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, 
 For villany is not without such rheum ; 
 And he, long traded in it, makes it seem 
 Like rivers of remorse and innocency. no 
 
 Away with me, all you whose souls abhor 
 The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house ; 
 For I am stifled with this smell of sin. 
 
 Big. Away toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! 
 
 94> 95- gall] gaul Ff. 110. innocency] innocence Pope. 112. savours] 
 F 1 ; savour Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 94. gall] wound. Compare Henry Elizabethan meaning. Compare 
 
 VIII. in. ii. 207 : Daniel, Civil Warres (1595), bk. i. 
 
 " So looks the chafed lion stanza 15 (ed. Grosart) : 
 
 Upon the daring huntsman that " False John usurpes his Nephew 
 
 hath galled him." Arthur's right . . . 
 
 97. spleen] anger. Compare 11. i. Murders the lawfull heire with- 
 
 448 supra, and v. vii. 50 infra. out remorse." 
 no. remorse] pity, the general 
 8
 
 Ill KING JOHN [act iv. 
 
 Pern. There tell the king he may inquire us out. 1 1 5 
 
 [Exeunt Lords. 
 
 Bast. Here 's a good world ! Knew you of this fair work ? 
 Beyond the infinite and boundless reach 
 Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, 
 Art thou damn'd, Hubert. 
 
 Hub. Do but hear me, sir. 
 
 Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what; 120 
 
 Thou'rt damn'd as black nay, nothing is so black ; 
 Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer: 
 There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell 
 As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child. 
 
 Hub. Upon my soul 
 
 Bast. If thou didst but consent 125 
 
 To this most cruel act, do but despair; 
 And if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread 
 That ever spider twisted from her womb 
 Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be a beam 
 To hang thee on ; or wouldst thou drown thyself, 1 30 
 Put but a little water in a spoon, 
 And it shall be as all the ocean, 
 Enough to stifle such a villain up. 
 I do suspect thee very grievously. 
 
 117-119. Beyond . . . Hubert] Pope's arrangement; Ff make two lines, 
 first ending at mercy. 119. Art thou] Thou art F 4. 
 
 116. Here's a good world I] Com- Item, paid to three black souls, 
 
 pare iv. ii. 100 supra. 5s. 
 
 121. damn'd as blac k] The souls of Item, for making and mending 
 
 the damned were in Mystery plays of the black souls' hose, 6d. 
 
 represented by actors who were Paid for blacking of the souls' 
 
 blacked. Compare the queer bill faces, 6d." 
 
 quoted by Staunton for the Coventry 126. do but despair] only despair 
 
 plays : is left for you. 
 
 " Item, paid to three white souls, 5s. 132. ocean] A trisyllable.
 
 sc in] KING JOHN 115 
 
 Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought, 135 
 
 Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath 
 Which was embounded in this beauteous clay, 
 Let hell want pains enough to torture me. 
 I left him well. 
 
 Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms. 
 
 I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way 140 
 
 Among the thorns and dangers of this world. 
 
 How easy dost thou take all England up ! 
 
 From forth this morsel of dead royalty, 
 
 The life, the right and truth of all this realm 
 
 Is fled to heaven; and England now is left 145 
 
 To tug and scamble and to part by the teeth 
 
 The unowed interest of proud-swelling state. 
 
 Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty 
 
 Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest 
 
 And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace: 150 
 
 Now powers from home and discontents at home 
 
 Meet in one line; and vast confusion waits, 
 
 As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast, 
 
 The imminent decay of wrested pomp. 
 
 1 36, 137. Be guilty of the stealing, catch may." Rowe emended to 
 etc.] Compare m. iv. 19 and iv. ii. "scramble." 
 
 246 supra. 147. unowed] unowned, for the 
 
 137. embounded in] enclosed with- ownership was being scrambled for. 
 in. Compare " owe," iv. i. 123, etc. supra. 
 
 140. amazed] stupefied, struck 151. powers from home, etc.] foreign 
 
 dumb with astonishment. Compare armies and internal rebels. Abstract 
 
 iv. ii. 137 supra. for concrete. 
 
 146. scamble] scramble for, get by 152. waits] = awaits; transitive, 
 
 rough means. Compare Henry V. the direct object being " decay." 
 
 1. i. 4 : "the scambling and unquiet 154. wrested pomp] One is tempted 
 
 times." Cotgrave has " Griffe graffe : to paraphrase this as " Usurpyd 
 
 by hook or by crook, squimble Power," one of the "characters" in 
 
 squamble, scamblingly, catch that Bale's Kynge Johan.
 
 11C KING JOHN [act iv 
 
 Now happy he whose cloak and cincture can 155 
 Hold out this tempest. Bear away that child 
 And follow me with speed : I '11 to the king : 
 A thousand businesses are brief in hand, 
 And heaven itself doth frown upon the land. 
 
 {Exeunt. 
 
 155. cincture] So Pope ; center Ff. 158. in] at Rowe. 
 
 158. brief in hand] call for immediate attention or dispatch.
 
 ACT V 
 
 SCENE I. King Johns palace. 
 
 Enter KING JOHN, PANDULPH, and Attendants. 
 
 K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand 
 
 The circle of my glory. [Giving the crown. 
 
 Pand. Take again 
 
 From this my hand, as holding of the pope 
 Your sovereign greatness and authority. 
 
 K. John. Now keep your holy word : go meet the French, 5 
 And from his holiness use all your power 
 To stop their marches 'fore we are inflamed. 
 Our discontented counties do revolt ; 
 Our people quarrel with obedience, 
 Swearing allegiance and the love of soul 10 
 
 2. Take again] Lettsom con- this as " nobles " (county = count, as 
 jectured " Take 't again," which Dyce in Romeo and Juliet), with Steevens 
 printed in his second edition. An and Delius, or as " shires," with 
 object is thus supplied to " take." Schmidt and Wright ? I think the 
 Heath conjectures that " From this " fact that there is no mention of the 
 should read " This from," which rebellion of the nobles (which at that 
 very ingeniously achieves the same time was the real danger, as Shake- 
 end. By inserting a comma after speare knew), if this is supposed not 
 "pope," "sovereign greatness and to refer to them, decides the matter, 
 authority " may be made object to John would never have omitted them 
 " take " : the meaning is thus pre- from his list of troubles. This 
 served and the grammatical con- reason overweighs the negative 
 struction saved. It is so printed in evidence that " counties " is used by 
 the 1821 Boswell-Malone. The Folios Shakespeare in other places only for 
 have no comma. Italian nobles. 
 
 8. counties] Are we to interpret 10. love of soul] the sincerest love. 
 
 117
 
 118 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 To stranger blood, to foreign royalty. 
 
 This inundation of mistempered humour 
 
 Rests by you only to be qualified : 
 
 Then pause not ; for the present time 's so sick, 
 
 That present medicine must be minister'd, 15 
 
 Or overthrow incurable ensues. 
 
 Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest up, 
 Upon your stubborn usage of the pope; 
 But since you are a gentle convertite, 
 My tongue shall hush again this storm of war, 20 
 And make fair weather in your blustering land. 
 On this Ascension-day, remember well, 
 Upon your oath of service to the pope, 
 Go I to make the French lay down their arms. [Exit. 
 
 K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the prophet 25 
 Say that before Ascension-day at noon 
 My crown I should give off? Even so I have : 
 I did suppose it should be on constraint ; 
 But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary. 
 
 Enter the BASTARD. 
 
 Bast. All Kent hath yielded ; nothing there holds out 30 
 But Dover Castle : London hath received, 
 Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers: 
 Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone 
 
 16. incurable] incurably F 4. 
 
 Mr. Moore-Smith quotes Measure qualifie, mitigate." So Two Gentle- 
 
 for Measure, 1. i. 18 : " we have with men of Verona, 11. vii. 22 : " But 
 
 special soul elected him," and qualify the fire's extreme rage." 
 
 Schmidt's dictum that the soul is re- 19. convertite] An old form of 
 
 presented as "the seat of real, not "convert." Compare Lucrece, 743: 
 
 only professed, sentiments." " He thence departs a heavy con- 
 
 13. qualified] stemmed. Cotgrave vertite." 
 has "Seder: to still, quiet, asswage,
 
 sc. i] KING JOHN 119 
 
 To offer service to your enemy, 
 
 And wild amazement hurries up and down 35 
 
 The little number of your doubtful friends. 
 
 K. John. Would not my lords return to me again, 
 After they heard young Arthur was alive? 
 
 Bast. They found him dead and cast into the streets, 
 
 An empty casket, where the jewel of life 40 
 
 By some damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away. 
 
 K. John. That villain Hubert told me he did live. 
 
 Bast. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew. 
 
 But wherefore do you droop ? why look you sad ? 
 
 Be great in act, as you have been in thought; 45 
 
 Let not the world see fear and sad distrust 
 
 Govern the motion of a kingly eye: 
 
 Be stirring as the time ; be fire with fire ; 
 
 Threaten the threatener, and outface the brow 
 
 Of bragging horror: so shall inferior eyes, 50 
 
 That borrow their behaviours from the great, 
 
 Grow great by your example and put on 
 
 The dauntless spirit of resolution. 
 
 Away, and glister like the god of war, 
 
 When he intendeth to become the field : 5 5 
 
 Show boldness and aspiring confidence. 
 
 What, shall they seek the lion in his den, 
 
 36. your] F 1 ; omitted Ff 2, 3, 4. 40. where] whence Keightley conj.. 
 
 49. out/ace] stare down. Compare " Should we contest I can 
 
 2 Henry VI. iv. x. 49 : Outface the proudest." 
 
 '* Oppose thy steadfast-gazing eyes 55. to become] to adorn. Compare 
 
 to mine, Henry V. iv. ii. 40 : 
 
 See if thou canst outface me with * Yon island carrions, desperate of 
 
 thy looks " ; their bones, 
 
 also Heywood's Fair Maide of the 111 favouredly become the morning 
 
 West (ed. Pearson, ii. 287): field."
 
 ttO KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 And fright him there? and make him tremble there? 
 O, let it not be said: forage, and run 
 To meet displeasure farther from the doors, 60 
 
 And grapple with him ere he come so nigh. 
 
 K. John. The legate of the pope hath been with me, 
 And I have made a happy peace with him ; 
 And he hath promised to dismiss the powers 
 Led by the Dauphin. 
 
 Bast. O inglorious league! 65 
 
 Shall we, upon the footing of our land, 
 Send fair-play orders and make compromise, 
 Insinuation, parley and base truce 
 To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy, 
 A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields, 70 
 
 And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil, 
 Mocking the air with colours idly spread, 
 And find no check ? Let us, my liege, to arms : 
 Perchance the cardinal cannot make your peace; 
 
 67. compromise] comprimise Ff. 72. idly] idlely Ff 1, 2 ; idely 
 
 Ff3,4- 
 
 59. forage] range abroad, or, per- 70. cocker'd . . . wanton] Very com- 
 haps, seize supplies by force. Com- mon in Elizabethan English. Cot- 
 pare Edward III. iv. iii. 81 : " And grave throws light on this expression 
 forage their country as they have " To cocker : . . . mignarder " ; 
 done ours." Shakespeare uses the " Mignarder : to lull, feddle, dandle, 
 word several times. Compare Henry cherish, wantonnize, make much or 
 V. 1. ii. no: make a wanton of." Compare Gos- 
 
 *' Stood smiling to behold his lion's son's Schoole of Abuse (Aiber): " They 
 
 whelp are cockered continually in those 
 
 Forage in blood." islandes, where they see nothing but 
 
 Cotgrave has " Fourrager : ... to Foxes, and Hares, wil never be per- 
 
 forrage, ... to ransack, ravage, boot suaded that there are huger beastes." 
 
 hale it." 71. flesh] to make an animal savage 
 
 66-69. Shall we . . . invasive ?] by foretaste of flesh. Compare Hak- 
 
 shall we, with our feet upon our own luyt (1577), ed. Maclehose, x. 498 : 
 
 soil, make overtures of peace to in- " The tigers being fleshed on those 
 
 vading forces? dead carkeisse."
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 121 
 
 Or if he do, let it at least be said 75 
 
 They saw we had a purpose of defence. 
 
 K. John. Have thou the ordering of this present time. 
 
 Bast. Away, then, with good courage ! yet, I know, 
 
 Our party may well meet a prouder foe. \Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE II. The Dauphiris camp at St. Edmundsbury. 
 
 Enter, in amis, LEWIS, SALISBURY, MELUN, PEMBROKE, 
 BIGOT, and Soldiers. 
 
 Lew. My Lord Melun, let this be copied out, 
 And keep it safe for our remembrance: 
 Return the precedent to these lords again ; 
 That, having our fair order written down, 
 Both they and we, perusing o'er these notes, 5 
 
 May know wherefore we took the sacrament 
 And keep our faiths firm and inviolable. 
 
 Sal. Upon our sides it never shall be broken. 
 And, noble Dauphin, albeit we swear 
 A voluntary zeal and an unurged faith 10 
 
 To your proceedings ; yet believe me, prince, 
 I am not glad that such a sore of time 
 
 3. precedent] Johnson ; president Ff. 
 
 78, 79. Away, then, . . . prouder I am confident that our party could 
 
 foe] We can hardly agree with beat a stronger foe." 
 Johnson that the Bastard is here 
 
 showing the white feather by mean- Scene //. 
 ing " Yet I so well know the faintness 
 
 of our party, that I think it may i. this] the compact with the 
 
 easily happen that they shall en- English lords. As an actual document 
 
 counter enemies who have more it is evidently the same as the " pre- 
 
 spirit than themselves." Quite the cedent," the original draft which was 
 
 contrary meaning is more in keeping to be returned to the Englishmen, 
 
 with the Bastard's character and while " it " in line 2 must have 
 
 with the continual appeal to English meant the copy that Philip ordered 
 
 patriotism in the play " Even now to be made.
 
 122 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Should seek a plaster by contemn'd revolt, 
 
 And heal the inveterate canker of one wound 
 
 By making many. O, it grieves my soul, 15 
 
 That I must draw this metal from my side 
 
 To be a widow-maker! O, and there 
 
 Where honourable rescue and defence 
 
 Cries out upon the name of Salisbury! 
 
 But such is the infection of the time, 20 
 
 That, for the health and physic of our right, 
 
 We cannot deal but with the very hand 
 
 Of stern injustice and confused wrong. 
 
 And is 't not pity, O my grieved friends, 
 
 That we, the sons and children of this isle, 25 
 
 Were born to see so sad an hour as this; 
 
 Wherein we step after a stranger, march 
 
 Upon her gentle bosom, and fill up 
 
 Her enemies' ranks, I must withdraw and weep 
 
 Upon the spot of this enforced cause, 30 
 
 To grace the gentry of a land remote, 
 
 16. metal] Rowe (ed. 2) ; mettle Ff. 27. stranger, march] Ff ; stranger 
 march Theobald ; stranger's march Long MS. ; stranger monarch Herr conj. 
 
 14. And heal] We may take the " And cried, in fainting, upon Rosa- 
 construction to be either " such a lind." I incline to the second inter- 
 sore of time . . . (should) heal " or pretation, because it has more 
 " (I am not glad to) heal." connection with what goes before. 
 
 17-19. O, and there . . . Salisbury] " It grieves my soul to draw my 
 
 Two explanations of the meaning of sword in order to become a widow 
 
 these lines are offered, (i.) The maker, and that among those whom 
 
 English honourably engaged in fight- I ought to rescue and protect." 
 
 ing on their country's side would 27. stranger, march] Theobald and 
 
 exclaim against Salisbury as a traitor, some others would omit the comma 
 
 Compare 1 Henry IV. iv. iii. 81 : after *' stranger," thus making it an 
 
 "Cries out upon abuses." (ii.) The adjective = foreign, and qualifying 
 
 English would call upon Salisbury " march " = martial music, 
 
 to rescue and defend them, where 30. spot] stain, dishonour. I must 
 
 " cry out upon" = cry upon. Com- withdraw and weep over this dis- 
 
 pare As You Like It, iv. iii. 150 : honour into which I am forced.
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 123 
 
 And follow unacquainted colours here? 
 What, here ? O nation, that thou couldst remove ! 
 That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about, 
 Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself, 35 
 And grapple thee unto a pagan shore; 
 Where these two Christian armies might combine 
 The blood of malice in a vein of league, 
 And not to spend it so unneighbourly ! 
 Lew. A noble temper dost thou show in this; 40 
 
 And great affections wrestling in thy bosom 
 Doth make an earthquake of nobility. 
 O, what a noble combat hast thou fought 
 Between compulsion and a brave respect! 
 Let me wipe off this honourable dew, 45 
 
 That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks : 
 My heart hath melted at a lady's tears, 
 Being an ordinary inundation ; 
 But this effusion of such manly drops, 
 This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul, 50 
 Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed 
 Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven 
 Figured quite o'er with burning meteors. 
 
 36. grapple] Pope ; cripple Ff ; gripple Steevens conj. ; couple Gould conj. 
 43. thou] omitted in Ff i, 2, 3. 
 
 34. clippeth] embraceth, as often the distaste for this course into which 
 
 in Shakespeare. you are compelled by force of circum- 
 
 39. to spend] This insertion of the stances, and a consideration of the 
 
 mark of the infinitive is common in woes of your country which make you 
 
 the case of the second of two infini- bravely take this course. Hanmer 
 
 tives following an auxiliary verb. printed " compassion " for " com- 
 
 42. Doth] Attracted into the singu- pulsion," while Capell conjectured 
 
 lar by the influence of " bosom." " compunction." 
 
 Hanmer printed "Do," while Pope 51. amazed] See iv. ii. 137 and iv. 
 
 corrected "affections" in the previous iii. 1 40 supra. Here the word more 
 
 line to " affection." nearly means " astonished." 
 
 44. Between . . . respect] between
 
 124 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury, 
 
 And with a great heart heave away this storm : 55 
 
 Commend these waters to those baby eyes 
 
 That never saw the giant world enraged; 
 
 Nor met with fortune other than at feasts, 
 
 Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping. 
 
 Come, come ; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep 60 
 
 Into the purse of rich prosperity 
 
 As Lewis himself: so, nobles, shall you all, 
 
 That knit your sinews to the strength of mine. 
 
 And even there, methinks, an angel spake : 
 
 Enter PANDULPH. 
 
 Look, where the holy legate comes apace, 65 
 
 To give us warrant from the hand of heaven, 
 And on our actions set the name of right 
 With holy breath. 
 Pand. Hail, noble prince of France ! 
 
 The next is this, King John hath reconciled 
 Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in, 70 
 
 56. waters] F 1 ; warres F 2 ; warrs F 3 ; wars F 4. 59. Full of warm] 
 Cambridge ed. (Heath conj.) ; Full warm o/Ff. 
 
 64. And even . . . spake] The only "shapes," i.e. = shapes itself, ap- 
 
 satisfactory explanation of this line pears; Herr "shakes." in the Two 
 
 is that of the Cambridge Editors, Angry Women of Abingdon the last 
 
 who consider it a contemptuous aside part of scene vi. between Mistress 
 
 of Lewis', with a play upon the word Goursey and Coomes turns upon 
 
 "angel," suggested by "purse" and exactly the same pun upon the word 
 
 "nobles." There is also a reference "angel." 
 
 to the entrance of Pandulph. Even 69. next] I can find no Shake- 
 
 these explanations are not entirely spearian warrant for this peculiar use 
 
 satisfactory. The Folios place the of "next." Did Shakespeare write 
 
 stage-direction "Enter Pandulpho " "news," as he did in scores of 
 
 after line 63. Hanmer read " speeds " similar situations ? 
 for "spake"; Vaughan suggests
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 125 
 
 That so stood out against the holy church, 
 The great metropolis and see of Rome: 
 Therefore thy threatening colours now wind up ; 
 And tame the savage spirit of wild war, 
 That, like a lion foster'd up at hand, 75 
 
 It may lie gently at the foot of peace, 
 And be no further harmful than in show. 
 Lew. Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back : 
 I am too high-born to be propertied, 
 To be a secondary at control, 80 
 
 Or useful serving-man and instrument 
 To any sovereign state throughout the world. 
 Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars 
 Between this chastised kingdom and myself, 
 And brought in matter that should feed this fire; 85 
 And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out 
 With that same weak wind which enkindled it. 
 You taught me how to know the face of right, 
 Acquainted me with interest to this land, 
 Yea, thrust this enterprise into my heart; 90 
 
 And come ye now to tell me John hath made 
 His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me? 
 I, by the honour of my marriage-bed, 
 After young Arthur, claim this land for mine ; 
 And, now it is half-conquer'd, must I back 95 
 
 Because that John hath made his peace with Rome? 
 
 72. see] F 4 ; Seu Ff 1, 2, 3. 
 
 78, 80. Your grace . . . control] Night, iv. ii. 99: "They have here 
 your grace must excuse me, but I propertied me." 
 
 will not draw back. I am too high- 8g. Acquainted . . . land] ac- 
 born to be made a tool of, etc. quainted me with my claim upon the 
 
 79. propertied] Compare Twelfth land.
 
 126 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne, 
 
 What men provided, what munition sent, 
 
 To underprop this action? Is't not I 
 
 That undergo this charge? who else but I, ioo 
 
 And such as to my claim are liable 
 
 Sweat in this business and maintain this war? 
 
 Have I not heard these islanders shout out 
 
 "Vive le roi!" as I have bank'd their towns? 
 
 Have I not here the best cards for the game, 105 
 
 To win this easy match play'd for a crown? 
 
 And shall I now give o'er the yielded set? 
 
 No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said. 
 
 Pand. You look but on the outside of this work. 
 
 Lew. Outside or inside, I will not return no 
 
 Till my attempt so much be glorified 
 As to my ample hope was promised 
 Before I drew this gallant head of war, 
 And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world, 
 To outlook conquest and to win renown 115 
 
 108. No, no,] No, Pope. 
 
 101. stick . . . liable] such as are some Raigne refers to sailing up the 
 
 willing to admit my claim. Compare Thames. Vaughan takes " bank'd " 
 
 11. i. 490, iv. ii. 226 supra. to mean " set up banks around." 
 
 104. " Vive le roi I "] Shakespeare Gould conjectured " pass'd." We 
 
 gives this phrase four syllables, in the might suggest " hail'd." 
 
 ultra-correct French manner Vi-ve 107. set] A term generally applied 
 
 le roi. to the winning number of games in 
 
 104. bank'd] " formed on the ana- any kind of match. Here, of course, 
 
 logy of ' coasted ' " I Mr. Wright), cards are referred to. Cotgrave has 
 
 and meaning "sailed along their " Par tie : ... a match, or set, at 
 
 banks." I know of no similar use game." Compare Titus Andronicus, 
 
 in Elizabethan English ; I am inclined v. i. 100 : " As sure a card as ever 
 
 to suspect the text, the more so be- won a set." 
 
 cause it does not seem likely that the in. glorified] Compare iv. iii. 71 
 
 French went to attack many towns supra. 
 
 by sailing up rivers, although the cor- 115. To outlook conquest] to defy 
 
 responding passage of the Trouble- conquest.
 
 sc. ii ] KING JOHN 127 
 
 Even in the jaws of danger and of death. 
 
 [Trumpet sounds. 
 What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us? 
 
 Enter the BASTARD, attended. 
 
 Bast. According to the fair-play of the world, 
 Let me have audience ; I am sent to speak, 
 My holy lord of Milan, from the king : 1 20 
 
 I come to learn how you have dealt for him ; 
 And, as you answer, I do know the scope 
 And warrant limited unto my tongue. 
 
 Pand. The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite, 
 
 And will not temporize with my entreaties; 125 
 
 He flatly says he'll not lay down his arms. 
 
 Bast. By all the blood that ever fury breathed, 
 
 The youth says well. Now hear our English king; 
 
 For thus his royalty doth speak in me. 
 
 He is prepared, and reason too he should: 130 
 
 This apish and unmannerly approach, 
 
 This harness'd masque and unadvised revel, 
 
 This unhair'd sauciness and boyish troops, 
 
 124. wilful-opposite] Theobald ; wilful opposite F 1 ; wilfull opposite Ff 2, 
 3 ; wilful, opposite F 4. 125. entreaties ;] entreates. S. Walker conj. 
 
 119-121. speak, . . . king: I come] tionof "un-heard" of F i, " unheard" 
 
 I have here altered the generally ac- of Ff 2-4. As Mr. Wright points 
 
 cepted punctuation, keeping it nearer out, this is supported by the spell- 
 
 the Folios, which have " speak : . . . ing of "haires" as " heares " in 
 
 king I come". Theobald reads the Faerie Queene, 11. ix. 13. The 
 
 " speak, ... King : I come,". There meaning "unbearded" (Keightley 
 
 is no need of compunction in altering conjectured "unbeard") is obvious 
 
 the stopping of the Folios, and Theo- when taken in connection with 
 
 bald's comma after " come," which is " boyish troops." For " unhair'd . . . 
 
 the only difference between his read- and" the Collier MS. reads " un- 
 
 ing and mine, seems to me unneces- heard . . . of." Collier's second edition 
 
 sary. gives " unhair'd . . . of" ; while Vaug- 
 
 133. unhair'd] Theobald's emenda- han conjectures " unfear'd . . . in."
 
 128 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 The king doth smile at; and is well prepared 
 
 To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms, 135 
 
 From out the circle of his territories. 
 
 That hand which had the strength, even at your door, 
 
 To cudgel you and make you take the hatch, 
 
 To dive like buckets in concealed wells, 
 
 To crouch in litter of your stable planks, 140 
 
 To lie like pawns lock'd up in chests and trunks, 
 
 To hug with swine, to seek sweet safety out 
 
 In vaults and prisons, and to thrill and shake 
 
 Even at the crying of your nation's crow, 
 
 Thinking his voice an armed Englishman ; 145 
 
 Shall that victorious hand be feebled here, 
 
 That in your chambers gave you chastisement? 
 
 No: know the gallant monarch is in arms 
 
 And like an eagle o'er his aery towers, 
 
 To souse annoyance that comes near his nest. 150 
 
 145. his] Rowe ; this Ff. 148. No : know] No, no, Lettsom conj. 
 
 149. towers] tower F 4. 150. souse] F 4 ; sowsse Ff 1, 2, 3. 
 
 J 35- these pigmy arms] Rowe'sread- p. 251), a reference to the flight of 
 
 ing. The Folios have this pigmy ravens which was said to have struck 
 
 Armes, defended by Mr. Moore- terror into the French before the 
 
 Smith, who treats " pigmy arms " as battle of Poitiers. There are many 
 
 singular. Vaughan suggests " this needless emendations of the passage, 
 
 pigmy swarm." 149. And like an eagle, etc.] soars 
 
 138. take the hatch] leap over the high above his young ones to swoop 
 
 lower half of the door without wait- down upon anything that comes 
 
 ing to open it. Compare King Lear, near to annoy his nest. "Aery "really 
 
 in. vi. 76 : " Dogs leap the hatch and means nest, but Shakespeare uses it 
 
 all are fled " ; and see 1. i. 171 supra, for the young brood. Compare 
 
 141. pawns] things that are lying Richard III. 1. iii. 270 : " Your aery 
 
 in pawn. buildeth in our aery's nest." " To 
 
 144. your nation's crow] The tower " is to soar into a position for 
 
 obvious reference is to the cock striking. Compare Lucrece, 506 : 
 
 (gallus) ; there is a contemptuous " Which, like a falcon towering in 
 
 side reference and play upon words the skies, 
 
 in calling it a crow, and there may Coucheth the fowl below." 
 
 be, as Dr. Nicholson pointed out in 150. souse] to swoop down upon ; 
 
 Notes and Queries (Series iii. No. xi. like " towering," another term from
 
 sc. ii] KING JOHN 129 
 
 And you degenerate, you ingrate revolts, 
 
 You bloody Neroes, ripping up the womb 
 
 Of your dear mother England, blush for shame ; 
 
 For your own ladies and pale-visaged maids 
 
 Like Amazons come tripping after drums, 155 
 
 Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change, 
 
 Their needles to lances, and their gentle hearts 
 
 To fierce and bloody inclination. 
 
 Lew. There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace; 
 We grant thou canst outscold us : fare thee well ; 1 60 
 We hold our time too precious to be spent 
 With such a brabbler. 
 
 Pand. Give me leave to speak. 
 
 Bast. No, I will speak. 
 
 Lew. We will attend to neither. 
 
 Strike up the drums ; and let the tongue of war 
 Plead for our interest and our being here. 165 
 
 Bast. Indeed, your drums, being beaten, will cry out ; 
 And so shall you, being beaten : do but start 
 
 156. change] changed Dyce (Lettsom conj. and Collier MS.). 
 
 falconry. Compare Ford's Fancies "needles." Steevens (1778) gives the 
 
 Chaste and Noble, iii. 2: "And (I) old form, "neelds." 
 
 therefore mean to give the sowse 159. brave] thy braving of us, 
 
 whenever I find the game on wing." bravado. So Taming of the Shrew, 
 
 152, 153. You bloody Neroes, etc.] in. i. 15 : " Sirrah, I will not bear 
 
 Nothing was too awful to be believed these braves of thine." 
 
 of Nero. This special piece of 162. brabbler] prater, babbler 
 
 atrocity is to be found in full in Hig- (Rowe read " babler "). So Troilus 
 
 den's Polychronicon (Rolls Series, iv. and Cressida, v. i. 99 : " He will 
 
 395) ; it is also referred to in the spend his mouth and promise, like 
 
 Troublesome Raigne, p. 34, line 389, Brabbler the hound." Cotgrave has 
 
 and again by Shakespeare in Hamlet, " Breteleur : a brabler, chider, brawler 
 
 in. ii. 412. or wrangler : a litigious or vain 
 
 154. maids] daughters. talker." Cotgrave's gloss shows 
 
 157. Their needles] Pope omitted clearly that Shakespeare had chosen 
 " Their " ; Folios 1 and 2 read the word, a word, however, quite 
 " needl's," evidently indicating the common in Elizabethan English, 
 pronunciation ; Folios 3 and 4 read
 
 180 KING JOHN [act r. 
 
 An echo with the clamour of thy drum, 
 And even at hand a drum is ready braced 
 That shall reverberate all as loud as thine ; 170 
 
 Sound but another, and another shall 
 As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear 
 And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder: for at hand, 
 Not trusting to this halting legate here, 
 Whom he hath used rather for sport than need, 175 
 Is warlike John ; and in his forehead sits 
 A bare-ribb'd death, whose office is this day 
 To feast upon whole thousands of the French. 
 Lew. Strike up your drums, to find this danger out 
 Bast. And thou shalt find it, Dauphin, do not doubt. 180 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE III. The field of battle. 
 
 Alarums. Enter King John and Hubert. 
 
 K. John. How goes the day with us ? O, tell me, Hubert. 
 Hub. Badly, I fear. How fares your majesty? 
 K. John. This fever, that hath troubled me so long, 
 Lies heavy on me ; O, my heart is sick ! 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 Mess. My lord, your valiant kinsman, Faulcon bridge, 5 
 Desires your majesty to leave the field 
 And send him word by me which way you go. 
 
 170. all as] Pope ; all, as Ff. 
 
 169. ready braced] ready tightened Compare J Henry VI. 11. iv. 12 : " Be- 
 up for playing. The leathern sliding tween two dogs which hath the 
 loops which are used for tightening deeper mouth." 
 
 the membranes of military or side- 177. A bare-ribb'd death] Compare 
 
 drums are called " braces." this image with that used by the 
 
 173. deep-mouth'd] deep -voiced. Bastard in 11. i. 352.
 
 sc. iv] KING JOHN 131 
 
 K. John. Tell him, toward Swinstead, to the abbey 
 there. 
 
 Mess. Be of good comfort; for the great supply- 
 That was expected by the Dauphin here, 10 
 Are wrack'd three nights ago on Goodwin Sands. 
 This news was brought to Richard but even now: 
 The French fight coldly, and retire themselves. 
 
 K. John. Ay me ! this tyrant fever burns me up, 
 
 And will not let me welcome this good news. 15 
 
 Set on toward Swinstead : to my litter straight ; 
 Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint. [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE IV. Another part of the field. 
 
 Enter SALISBURY, PEMBROKE, and BlGOT. 
 
 Sal. I did not think the king so stored with friends. 
 Pent. Up once again ; put spirit in the French : 
 
 If they miscarry, we miscarry too. 
 Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge, 
 
 In spite of spite, alone upholds the day. 5 
 
 Pern. They say King John sore sick hath left the 
 field. 
 
 14. Ay me] Aye me Ff ; Ah me Pope. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 2, 3. French : . . . miscarry,] Rowe ; French, . . . miscarry, Ff 3, 4 ; 
 French, . . . miscarry; Ff i, 2. 
 
 11. Are] Capell printed Was and Scene iv. 
 
 Lettsom supposes a lost line ; but 
 
 "supply" here is treated as plural, 5. In spite of spite] against all odds, 
 as again in v. v. 12 infra. Compare 3 Henry VI. 11. iii. 5 : " And 
 
 spite of spite needs must I rest awhile."
 
 132 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Enter MELUN, wounded. 
 
 Mel. Lead me to the revolts of England here. 
 
 Sal. When we were happy we had other names. 
 
 Pern. It is the Count Melun. 
 
 Sal. Wounded to death. 
 
 Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold ; 10 
 Unthread the rude eye of rebellion 
 And welcome home again discarded faith. 
 Seek out King John and fall before his feet ; 
 For if the French be lords of this loud day, 
 He means to recompense the pains you take 15 
 
 By cutting off your heads : thus hath he sworn 
 And I with him, and many moe with me, 
 Upon the altar at Saint Edmundsbury; 
 Even on that altar where we swore to you 
 Dear amity and everlasting love. 20 
 
 Sal. May this be possible? may this be true? 
 
 Mel. Have I not hideous death within my view, 
 Retaining but a quantity of life, 
 
 7. revolts] the revolted nobles, as its correctness is proved by the next 
 
 in v. ii. 151 supra. lines. We must therefore suspect 
 
 11. Unthread . . . rebellion] Mr. line 14. Mr. Wright suggests that 
 
 Wright has conclusively proved in " French " is singular, as in Henry V. 
 
 the Clarendon Press edition that iv. iv. 80 : " The French might have 
 
 the long series of emendations sue- a good prey of us if he knew it" 
 
 ceeding Theobald's rejection of the This necessitates reading '* lord " for 
 
 Folios' reading as too homely are " lords," and, unless we accept the 
 
 quite unnecessary. Compare Richard conjecture made independently by 
 
 //. v. v. 17 : Sidney Walker and Keightley that a 
 
 "It is as hard to come as for a line has been lost between 14 and 15.it 
 
 camel seems the only way out of the difficulty. 
 
 To thread the postern of a small 17. moe] Anglo-Saxon ma. This 
 
 needle's eye " ; form often occurs in place of " more." 
 
 and Coriolanus, m. i. 124: "They 23. quantity] small portion. So 
 
 would not thread the gates." Taming 0/ the Shrew, iv. iii. 112: 
 
 14, 15. For if the French, etc.] " Thou rag, thou quantity, thou rem- 
 
 " He " comes in too abruptly, but nant."
 
 sc. iv.] KING JOHN 133 
 
 Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax 
 
 Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire? 25 
 
 What in the world should make me now deceive, 
 
 Since I must lose the use of all deceit? 
 
 Why should I then be false, since it is true 
 
 That I must die here and live hence by truth? 
 
 I say again, if Lewis do win the day, 30 
 
 He is forsworn if e'er those eyes of yours 
 
 Behold another day break in the east: 
 
 But even this night, whose black contagious breath 
 
 Already smokes about the burning crest 
 
 Of the old, feeble and day-wearied sun, 35 
 
 Even this ill night, your breathing shall expire, 
 
 Paying the fine of rated treachery 
 
 Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives, 
 
 If Lewis by your assistance win the day. 
 
 Commend me to one Hubert with your king: 40 
 
 The love of him, and this respect besides, 
 
 For that my grandsire was an Englishman, 
 
 Awakes my conscience to confess all this. 
 
 In lieu whereof, I pray you, bear me hence 
 
 From forth the noise and rumour of the field, 45 
 
 30. do] omitted by Pope. 31. forsworn] I omit the comma of the Folios. 
 42. (For . . . Englishman.)] Ff. 
 
 24,25. even as a form of wax, etc.] 34. crest] The anonymous sug- 
 
 It seems to have been a common prac- gestion of "cresset "is most tempt- 
 
 tice to place waxen images of enemies ing. 
 
 before a fire in the belief that as the 37. rated] properly appreciated or 
 
 wax melted the person represented recompensed. 
 
 wasted away. Hence the simile, 37, 38. fine . . . fine] A play upon 
 
 although not directly referring to the meanings of "penalty" and 
 
 the above practice, would be more "end." Compare Hamlet, v. i. 115: 
 
 familiar to an Elizabethan audience " Is this thefne of his fines?' 1 
 
 than to us. 41. respect] consideration. Com- 
 
 25. Resolveth] almost = dissolveth. pare m. i. 318 supra.
 
 134 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts 
 In peace, and part this body and my soul 
 With contemplation and devout desires. 
 SaJ. We do believe thee ; and beshrew my soul 
 
 But I do love the favour and the form 50 
 
 Of this most fair occasion, by the which 
 
 We will untread the steps of damned flight, 
 
 And like a bated and retired flood, 
 
 Leaving our rankness and irregular course, 
 
 Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd, 55 
 
 And calmly run on in obedience 
 
 Even to our ocean, to our great King John. 
 
 My arm shall give thee help to bear thee hence ; 
 
 For I do see the cruel pangs of death 
 
 Right in thine eye. Away, my friends ! New 
 
 flight ; 60 
 
 And happy newness, that intends old right. 
 
 [Exeunt, leading off Melun. 
 
 53. retired] retiring Hanmer. 59. pangs] fangs Heath. 
 
 49. beshrew] " a mild form of im- the reading of the Folios, and so 
 
 precation " (Dyce-Littledale). So would Schmidt. Still it has perhaps 
 
 Twelfth Night, iv. i. 62: "Beshrew a sufficiently suspicious look to justify 
 
 his soul for me " ; and see v. v. 14 the various emendations and sug- 
 
 infra. gestions " Right in thine eyes," 
 
 54. rankness] Capell conjectures Pope ; " Pight in thine eyes," Han- 
 "bankless"; but "rankness"' in the mer ; Pight in thine eye," Warbur- 
 sense of immoderate growth or ton ; " Fight in thine eye," Capell ; 
 pressing beyond bounds is supported " Bright in thine eye," Collier, ed. 2 
 by many passages in the other plays, (Collier MS.) ; " Fright in thine eye," 
 and this special use is found in Venus Anon. (ap. Collier conj.) ; " Riot in 
 and Adonis, 71 : " Rain added to a thine eye," Brae (conj.) ; " Writhing 
 river that is rank."" Compare also thine eye," Elze (conj. Athen. 1867); 
 E.E. Psalter (1300): "He turned " Light on thine eye," Moberly(conj.). 
 into blood the stremes ranke." 60. New flight] Pope, in defiance 
 
 55. we have o'erlook'd] Compare of the final couplet, read " And fly I " 
 Hamlet, iv. v. 99 : " The ocean, over- and omitted the next line. 
 
 peering of his list." 61. And happy newness . . . right] 
 
 60. Right in thine eye] Vaughan, happy be the new course which we 
 
 withdrawing his conjecture of take to establish the right we had 
 
 " Brighten thine eye," would retain forsaken.
 
 sc. v.] KING JOHN 135 
 
 SCENE V. The French camp. 
 
 Enter LEWIS and his train. 
 
 Lew. The sun of heaven methought was loath to set, 
 But stay'd and made the western welkin blush, 
 When English measure backward their own ground 
 In faint retire. O, bravely came we off, 
 When with a volley of our needless shot, 5 
 
 After such bloody toil, we bid good-night ; 
 And wound our tottering colours clearly up, 
 Last in the field, and almost lords of it ! 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Mess. Where is my prince, the Dauphin? 
 
 Lew. Here: what news? 
 
 Mess. The Count Melun is slain ; the English lords 10 
 
 3. When English measure] Pope ofter spelt " totter " in Shakespeare's 
 read "th' English measur'd." But time. Fleay also points out that 
 the sudden change of tense is not " totter " was used for swinging in the 
 without warrant elsewhere. Mr. air e.g. Spanish Tragedy, in. xii. 
 Wright quotes The Winter's Tale, v. 152: "behold a man hanging and 
 ii. 83 : " She lifted the princess from tottering, and tottering as you know 
 the earth, and so locks her in embrac- the wind will wave a man." " Totter- 
 ing as if she would pin her to her ing " here may mean waving in the 
 heart." We might conceivably under- breeze. 
 
 stand some such elliptical construction 7. clearly] Capell conjectured 
 
 as " When the English (should so for- " chearly," the Collier MS. " closely," 
 
 get themselves as to) measure," etc. an utterly un-Shakespearian use of 
 
 4. retire] Compare 11. i. 253, 326 the word. The Cambridge Editors 
 supra. suggest " cleanly," as " equivalent to 
 
 5. a volley of our needless shot] = ' neatly '" and " antithetical to ' totter- 
 a needless volley of our shot. For ing ' or ' tattering.' " '* Clean " or 
 this transference of adj. compare "cleanly" in the sense of "com- 
 " bleeding ground," 11. i. 304 supra, pletely " is an English idiom traceable 
 
 7. tottering] The Folios have " tott'r- as far back as Alfred the Great 
 ing," Pope" tatter'd,"Malone" tatter- " Swae claenehiowas opfeallenu," so 
 ing," Collier MS. "totter'd." Mr. completely had it fallen away (Preface 
 Wright explains it as flying in tatters, to Alfred's version of the Cura Pas- 
 It is quite certain that "tatter" was toralis).
 
 18G KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 By his persuasion are again fall'n off, 
 
 And your supply, which you have wish'd so long, 
 
 Are cast away and sunk on Goodwin Sands. 
 
 Lew. Ah, foul shrewd news ! beshrew thy very heart ! 
 
 I did not think to be so sad to-night 15 
 
 As this hath made me. Who was he that said 
 King John did fly an hour or two before 
 The stumbling night did part our weary powers? 
 
 Mess, Whoever spoke it, it is true, my lord. 
 
 Lew. Well ; keep good quarter and good care to-night : 20 
 The day shall not be up so soon as I, 
 To try the fair adventure of to-morrow. {Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE VI. An open place in the neighbourhood of 
 Swinstead Abbey. 
 
 Enter the BASTARD and HUBERT, severally. 
 
 Hub. Who's there? speak, ho! speak quickly, or I shoot. 
 
 Bast. A friend. What art thou? 
 
 Hub. Of the part of England. 
 
 11. again] F 1 ; at length Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 12. supply] taken as plural. Com- perly posted. Scene iii. in Act iv. of 
 pare v. iii. g-n supra. Capell read Antony and Cleopatra explains this 
 "supplies " for the same reason as he phrase, and in line 22, " Follow the 
 printed " was" in v. iii. 11. noise so far as we have quarter," 
 
 14. shrewd] originally meant evidently means " Follow the noise 
 
 " cursed " = Mid. Eng. schretved, p. to the limit of the post v/e have to 
 
 part, of schreawen, to curse. The guard." 
 play upon the words "shrewd" and 
 
 " beshrew " is now evident. For " be- Scene vi. 
 shrew" compare line 49 in the last 
 
 scene ; for the Elizabethan meaning, 2-6. A friend . . . Hubert, I 
 
 compare Cotgrave, " Mai : ill, bad, think] Few critics have been con- 
 
 naughtie, lewd, . . . harmefull, tent with the arrangement of these 
 
 shrewd." lines, Hubert's expostulation (lines 4, 
 
 20. keep good quarter] Keep careful 5) "why . . . mine?" being mean- 
 watch, see that the sentries are pro- ingless. Vaughan's suggestion is
 
 ac. vi.] KING JOHN 137 
 
 Bast. Whither dost thou go? 
 
 Hub. What's that to thee? why may not I demand 
 
 Of thine affairs, as well as thou of mine? 5 
 
 Bast. Hubert, I think. 
 Hub. Thou hast a perfect thought: 
 
 I will upon all hazards well believe 
 
 Thou art my friend, that know'st my tongue so well. 
 
 Who art thou? 
 Bast. Who thou wilt: and if thou please, 
 
 Thou mayst befriend me so much as to think 10 
 
 I come one way of the Plantagenets. 
 Hub. Unkind remembrance ! thou and eyeless night 
 
 Have done me shame: brave soldier, pardon me, 
 
 That any accent breaking from thy tongue 
 
 Should 'scape the true acquaintance of mine ear. 15 
 Bast. Come, come; sans compliment, what news abroad? 
 
 3-6. Whither . . . thought] Arranged by Capell ; six lines in Ff ending 
 go ? . . . thee ? . . . affaires. . . . mine ? . . . thinke . . . thought : 
 
 perhaps the most ingenious and most V. in. i. 88 : " King Richard might 
 
 plausible : " Hub. Of the part of create a perfect guess." 
 
 England. Whither dost thou go? 11. one way] by one line of descent. 
 
 Bast. What is that to thee? Hub. 12. Unkind remembrance] i.e. really 
 
 What's that to thee. Why may," "unkind want of remembrance." 
 
 etc. This different apportioning of Hubert reproaches his memory for 
 
 the speeches and insertion of the failing him. 
 
 repeated half line, at once straightens 12. eyeless] The Folios read " end- 
 out the sense and corrects the metre, less " (with variations of spelling), for 
 Watkiss Lloyd distributes the which Theobald reads " eyeless," a 
 speeches as follows : " Bast. A friend, reading suggested by Warburton. 
 Hub. What art thou ? Bast. Of the Daniel conjectured "cand'less" a 
 part of England. Whither dost thou hideous word. Is there a remini- 
 go ? Hub. What is that to thee ? scence on anyone's part (Shake- 
 Bast. Why . . . mine ? Hubert, I speare, copyist, or printer) of the 
 think." This suggestion would be "endless night" of Gaunt's speech 
 convincing were it not for " Hubert, in Richard II. 1. iii. 22 ? 
 I think " being tacked on unnaturally 16. sans] Shakespeare was very 
 to the Bastard's speech. fond of this French form of" without." 
 6. Thou . . . thought] You have It is also used by the anonymous 
 guessed exactly right. So 2 Henry writer of the Troublesome Raigne.
 
 138 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Hub. Why, here walk I in the black brow of night, 
 
 To find you out. 
 Bast. Brief, then ; and what 's the news ? 
 
 Hub. O, my sweet sir, news fitting to the night, 
 
 Black, fearful, comfortless and horrible. 20 
 
 Bast. Show me the very wound of this ill news : 
 
 I am no woman, I '11 not swoon at it 
 Hub. The king, I fear, is poison 'd by a monk: 
 
 I left him almost speechless; and broke out 
 
 To acquaint you with this evil, that you might 25 
 
 The better arm you to the sudden time, 
 
 Than if you had at leisure known of this. 
 Bast. How did he take it? who did taste to him? 
 Hub. A monk, I tell you ; a resolved villain, 
 
 Whose bowels suddenly burst out: the king 30 
 
 Yet speaks and peradventure may recover. 
 Bast. Who didst thou leave to tend his majesty? 
 Hub. Why, know you not? the lords are all come back, 
 
 And brought Prince Henry in their company ; 
 
 At whose request the king hath pardon 'd them, 35 
 
 And they are all about his majesty. 
 Bast. Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven, 
 
 And tempt us not to bear above our power! 
 
 22. swoon] F 4 ; swound Ff i, 2, 3. 33. not?] Ff ; not, Malone conj. 
 
 24-27. and broke out . . . known of The monk had willingly sacrificed 
 
 this] I made my escape (from the his life in performing this duty, thus 
 
 Abbey) to tell you this evil news making sure of the death of the king, 
 
 that you might prepare yourself better 32. Who] Hanmer corrects to 
 
 for the emergency than you could Whom. So Henry V. iv. vii. 154 : 
 
 have done had you heard in a more " Who servest thou under ? " This 
 
 leisurely manner. form for the accusative of the inter- 
 
 28. who did taste to him] It was rogative is not infrequent in lax 
 
 the duty of a "taster" to eat part English. 
 
 of every dish set before the king 38. And tempt . . . power] do not 
 
 with the object of detecting poison, try us beyond our power.
 
 sc. vii] KING JOHN 139 
 
 I '11* tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night, 
 
 Passing these flats, are taken by the tide; 40 
 
 These Lincoln Washes have devoured them ; 
 
 Myself, well mounted, hardly have escaped. 
 
 Away before : conduct me to the king ; 
 
 I doubt he will be dead or ere I come. [Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE VII. The orchard at Swinstead Abbey. 
 
 Enter PRINCE HENRY, SALISBURY, and BlGOT. 
 
 P. Hen. It is too late: the life of all his blood 
 Is touch'd corruptibly, and his pure brain, 
 Which some suppose the soul's frail dwelling-house, 
 Doth by the idle comments that it makes 
 Foretell the ending of mortality. 5 
 
 Enter PEMBROKE. 
 
 Pern. His highness yet doth speak, and holds belief 
 
 That, being brought into the open air, 
 
 It would allay the burning quality 
 
 Of that fell poison which assaileth him. 
 P. Hen. Let him be brought into the orchard here. 10 
 
 Doth he still rage? {Exit Bigot. 
 
 40. are] Compare this use of 50, where " defensible " in " For we 
 
 "power" as plural with that of no longer are defensible" means 
 
 "supply" in the same way in v. iii. capable of making defence ; therefore 
 
 9-1 1 and v. v. 12 supra. we must take the meaning of " cor- 
 
 43. Away before] lead the way on. ruptibly " as "so as to cause it to 
 
 corrupt." 
 
 Scene vii. 2 - pure] We must understand 
 "pure" as "naturally," "usually," 
 
 2. corruptibly] Capell read " cor- or " otherwise clear." Grant White 
 
 ruptedly " ; Rann conjectured " cor- read " poor " ; Vaughan suggests 
 
 ruptively." Mr. Wright points out "hurt," but thinks "pure" quite 
 
 that Shakespeare uses adjectives in possible; Herr conjectures "sore." 
 
 -ible actively e.g. Henry V. m. iii. XI. rage] rave deliriously.
 
 140 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Pern. He is more patient 
 
 Than when you left him ; even now he sung. 
 
 P. Hen. O vanity of sick ness ! fierce extremes 
 In their continuance will not feel themselves. 
 Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts, 15 
 Leaves them invisible, and his siege is now 
 Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds 
 With many legions of strange fantasies, 
 Which, in their throng and press to that last hold, 
 Confound themselves. Tis strange that death should 
 sing. 20 
 
 I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan, 
 Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death, 
 And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings 
 His soul and body to their lasting rest 
 
 Sal. Be of good comfort, prince; for you are born 25 
 To set a form upon that indigest 
 Which he hath left so shapeless and so rude. 
 
 16. his] F 1 ; hir Ff 2, 4 ; her F 3. 17. mind] Rowe (ed. 2) ; winde 
 
 F 1 ; wind Ff 2, 1, 4. 21. cygnet] Rowe (ed. 2) ; Symet Ff. 24. to] 
 
 F 1 ; omitted in Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 16. invisible] If we take this to found their skill in covetousness," iv. 
 
 refer to Death, the passage yields a ii. 29 supra. 
 
 good meaning "Death, after prey- 21,22. I am the cygnet . . . death] 
 
 ing upon the outward parts, leaves It was a popular belief that the swa 
 
 them without being seen and lays " fluted a wild carol ere her death." 
 
 siege to the mind." There is a large So The Merchant of Venice, in. ii. 
 
 number of unsatisfactory readings 44 : " He makes a swan-like end, 
 
 and conjectures. Fleay reads " leaves fading in music." 
 
 them, invisible ; and his siege " ; 26. indigest] chaotic confusion, 
 
 this throws up the necessary mean- This appears to be a reminiscence of 
 
 ing by the punctuation and seems Ovid's " rudis indigestaque moles." 
 
 quite worth adopting. So 3 Henry VI. v. vi. 51 : "An in- 
 
 20. Confound themselves] "non- digested and deformed lump." 
 plus" themselves. Compare "con-
 
 sc. vii] KING JOHN 141 
 
 Enter Attendants, and BlGOT, carrying KING JOHN 
 in a chair. 
 
 K. John. Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room ; 
 It would not out at windows nor at doors. 
 There is so hot a summer in my bosom, 30 
 
 That all my bowels crumble up to dust : 
 I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen 
 Upon a parchment, and against this fire 
 Do I shrink up. 
 
 P. Hen. How fares your majesty? 
 
 K. John. Poison'd, ill fare dead, forsook, cast off: 35 
 And none of you will bid the winter come 
 To thrust his icy fingers in my maw, 
 Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course 
 Through my burn'd bosom, nor entreat the north 
 To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips 40 
 And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much, 
 I beg cold comfort ; and you are so strait, 
 And so ingrateful, you deny me that. 
 
 P. Hen. O that there were some virtue in my tears, 
 That might relieve you ! 
 
 K. John. The salt in them is hot. 45 
 
 Within me is a hell ; and there the poison 
 
 33> 34- Upon . . . up] one line in Ff. 35. ill /are] ill fair F 4. 
 
 43- ingrateful] ungrateful F 4. 45. in them] F 1 ; of them Ff 2, 3, 4. 
 
 35. ill fare] I fare ill, poisoned by words has a parallel in the death 
 
 ill fare. Mr. Worrall points out scene of Gaunt in Richard II. 
 
 kindred " clenches " in Hamlet, in. ii. 42. strait] niggardly, mean. We 
 
 97, 98, and Edward III. iv. vi. 53, 54. have a somewhat similar use in Timon 
 
 37. maw] stomach, generally of of Athens, 1. i. 96: " His means most 
 
 animals. A.S. maga. short, his creditors most strait." 
 
 42. cold comfort] As Mr. Wright The Folios have "straight," which 
 
 points out, this death-bed trifling with was corrected by Pope.
 
 142 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Is as a fiend confined to tyrannise 
 On unreprievable condemned blood. 
 
 Enter the BASTARD. 
 
 Bast. O, I am scalded with my violent motion, 
 
 And spleen of speed to see your majesty ! 50 
 
 K. John. O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye : 
 The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd, 
 And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail 
 Are turned to one thread, one little hair: 
 My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, 55 
 
 Which holds but till thy news be uttered ; 
 And then all this thou seest is but a clod 
 And module of confounded royalty. 
 
 Bast. The Dauphin is preparing hitherward, 
 
 Where heaven He knows how we shall answer him ; 60 
 
 For in a night the best part of my power, 
 
 As I upon advantage did remove, 
 
 Were in the Washes all unwarily 
 
 Devoured by the unexpected flood. [The King dies. 
 
 Sal. You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear. 65 
 My liege ! my lord ! but now a king, now thus. 
 
 51. art] are F 4. 
 
 48. On . . . blood] on blood con- " Module : a model or module." 
 
 demned beyond reprieve, i.e. John Compare A IV s Well that Ends Well, 
 
 felt that his death was certain. iv. iii. 114 : " Bring forth this coun- 
 
 50. spleen of speed] See 11. i. 448 terfeit module." Hanmer printed 
 supra. " model." 
 
 51. to set mine eye] to close my 58. confounded] worsted, destroyed. 
 eyes after death. Compare iv. ii. 29 and v. vii. 20 supra. 
 
 55. to stay it by] Keeping up the 60. heaven He knows] The "he "is 
 
 nautical metaphor, referring to the a common pleonasm. For heaven = 
 
 stay of a mast. God = He. Compare m. i. 155 supra. 
 
 58. module] m model, pattern, 62. upon advantage] seeing a 
 
 mould, form. Cotgrave has favourable opportunity.
 
 sc. vii] KING JOHN 143 
 
 P. Hen. Even so must I run on, and even so stop. 
 What surety of the world, what hope, what stay, 
 When this was now a king, and now is clay? 
 
 Bast. Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind 70 
 
 To do the office for thee of revenge, 
 And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven, 
 As it on earth hath been thy servant still. 
 Now, now, you stars that move in your right spheres, 
 Where be your powers? show now your mended 
 faiths, 75 
 
 And instantly return with me again, 
 To push destruction and perpetual shame 
 Out of the weak door of our fainting land. 
 Straight let us seek, or straight we shall be sought; 
 The Dauphin rages at our very heels. 80 
 
 Sal. It seems you know not, then, so much as we: 
 The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest, 
 Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin, 
 And brings from him such offers of our peace 
 As we with honour and respect may take, 85 
 
 With purpose presently to leave this war. 
 
 Bast. He will the rather do it when he sees 
 Ourselves well sinewed to our defence. 
 
 74. right] bright Pope. 84. our] fair Roderick conj. 
 
 75. Where be . . . mended faiths] legiance by marching with me upon 
 I cannot agree with Mr. Wright's the foe at once." Pope also misunder- 
 note upon "mended" "John's for- stood the passage, or he could never 
 tune had broken faith with him" have read "bright" for "right." 
 implying that the Bastard was really 86. presently] immediately, 
 addressing the stars. It seems to me 88. sinewed] The Folios have 
 quite evident that " Plantagenet" is " sinew'd," which makes the line de- 
 talking to the nobles " stars that fective, leading to Rowe's reading of 
 now move in your right spheres " sinewed " in the text, and the sug- 
 (which you had left awhile) where are gestion of the Collier MS., " sinew'd 
 your men ? Show your returned al- to our own."
 
 144 KING JOHN [act v. 
 
 Sat. Nay, it is in a manner done already ; 
 
 For many carriages he hath dispatch'd 90 
 
 To the sea-side, and put his cause and quarrel 
 
 To the disposing of the cardinal : 
 
 With whom yourself, myself and other lords, 
 
 If you think meet, this afternoon will post 
 
 To consummate this business happily. 95 
 
 Bast. Let it be so : and you, my noble prince, 
 
 With other princes that may best be spared, 
 
 Shall wait upon your father's funeral. 
 P. Hen. At Worcester must his body be interr'd ; 
 
 For so he will'd it 
 Bast. Thither shall it then: 100 
 
 And happily may your sweet self put on 
 
 The lineal state and glory of the land ! 
 
 To whom, with all submission, on my knee 
 
 I do bequeath my faithful services 
 
 And true subjection everlastingly. 105 
 
 Sal. And the like tender of our love we make, 
 
 To rest without a spot for evermore. 
 P. Hen. I have a kind soul that would give you thanks 
 
 And knows not how to do it but with tears. 
 
 8g. it is] Pope ; 'tis Ff. 99. Worcester] Ff 3, 4 ; Worster Ff 1, 2. 
 
 97. princes'] Sidney Walker sus- the dying king said " To God and St. 
 
 pects " princes," believing it to be a Wulstan I commend my body and 
 
 printer's error, owing to his eye soul." St. Wulstan was Bishop of 
 
 catching the " prince " of the previous Worcester, 1062 to 1095-6 (Mr. 
 
 line. Mr. Wright points out that Wright). 
 
 "princes" is used of the nobles in 108. give you thanks] The Folios 
 
 line 115, and that a preferable change read " give thanks" ; the reading in 
 
 would be " prince " into " king " in the text is Rowe's. The Cambridge 
 
 line 96. Editors conjecture " fain give 
 
 99, 100. At Worcester . . . will'd thanks" a far finer reading. 
 it] According to Roger of Wendover
 
 SC. VII.] 
 
 KING JOHN 
 
 145 
 
 Bast. O, let us pay the time but needful woe, 1 10 
 
 Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs. 
 This England never did, nor never shall, 
 Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, 
 But when it first did help to wound itself. 
 Now these her princes are come home again, 115 
 Come the three corners of the world in arms, 
 And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us 
 
 rue, 
 If England to itself do rest but true. [Exeunt. 
 
 no. time but] Rowe ; time : but Ff. 
 
 no. let us pay . . . woe] let us 
 not give way to needless grief. 
 
 115. princes] "princes" evidently 
 refers to the nobles returning to their 
 allegiance. The Cambridge edition 
 prints Mr. Lloyd's suggestion that 
 the line is spurious " A compliment 
 
 to Steenie and Baby Charles, who 
 came back from Madrid in the year 
 that the first edition of King John 
 was published, and thrust in by the 
 editors, or perhaps by the actors, in 
 place of a line of similar purport, 
 but less applicable." 
 
 10
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 King John, Act ill. sc. i. 1. 242: "Play fast and 
 loose .. . ." Various differing accounts of the "cheat- 
 ing game" known as "fast and loose" have been given. 
 In the New English Dictionary we find Halliwell (1847) 
 quoted : " a cheating game played with a stick and a belt 
 or string so arranged that a spectator would think that 
 he could make the latter fast by placing a stick through 
 its intricate folds, whereas the operator could detach it at 
 once." 
 
 Reginald Scot in his Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584) 
 (Nicholson's Reprint, p. 276) describes two sleight-of- 
 hand tricks which differ entirely from that described by 
 Halliwell. They consist in making the looker-on believe 
 that a knot in a handkerchief in the one case, and a 
 bead on a string in the other, are "fast" when they are 
 really "loose." 
 
 Sir John Hawkins (quoted in Phin's Shakespeare 
 Cyclopcedia, p. 112) speaks of the game as follows: "A 
 leathern belt was made up into a number of intricate 
 folds and placed edgewise upon a table. One of the folds 
 was made to resemble the middle of the girdle, so that 
 whoever could thrust a skewer into it would think he 
 held it fast to the table; whereas when he had so done, 
 the person with whom he plays may take hold of both 
 ends, and draw it away." This is also quoted in the 
 
 147
 
 148 APPENDIX 
 
 Dyce-Littledale Glossary sub voce, with the addition, 
 " This trick is now known to the common people by the 
 name of pricking at the belt or girdle, and perhaps was 
 practised by gypsies in the time of Shakespeare." 
 
 This evidently is the kind of game alluded to in 
 Drayton's Mooncalf : 
 
 He like a gypsy oftentimes would go, 
 All kinds of gibberish he hath learned to know : 
 And with a stick, a short string, and a noose 
 Would show the people tricks at fast and loose. 
 
 This game is still played at country fairs and on race- 
 courses, and the trick is worked as follows ; 
 
 A doubled belt is wound up upon itself with the 
 middle, i.e. the doubled end, in the centre. It is then 
 laid edgewise on a flat surface and the gull is asked to 
 
 thrust a skewer or a knife through the central fold. 
 This in the diagram is obviously A. If now the holder 
 of the belt slips the end D round into the position D I, 
 and then pulls at C and D together, B becomes the 
 central fold and the skewer or knife does not hold the 
 belt "fast" as the gull expects. If the gull next time
 
 APPENDIX 149 
 
 chooses B as the central fold, C and D are of course 
 pulled off at once together. Hence the belt can be made 
 "fast" or "loose" at the will of the player of the game. 
 This trick was evidently well known in Elizabethan 
 times, for we find many mentions of it, e.g. Antony 
 and Cleopatra, IV. x. 41, 42: "Like a right gipsy, hath, 
 at fast and loose, Beguil'd me " ; and the first part of 
 Promos and Cassandra, ii. 5 : "At fast and loose, my 
 gyptian, I mean to have a cast."
 
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