Philip of France, if thou be pleas'd withal, K.Phi. It likes us well; young Princes,clofe your hands.. Auft. And your lips too; for, I am well affur'd, That I did fo, when I was firft affur'd. K. Philip. Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates, The rites of marriage fhall be folemniz'd. [made, Brother of England, how may we content To our own vantage. K. John. We will heal up all, For we'll create young Arthur Duke of Britain, [Exeunt all but Faulconbridge.. Faule. Mad world, mad Kings, mad compofition 1: John, to ftop Arthur's title in the whole, Hath willingly departed with a part: And France, whofe armour Confcience buckled on,. Thats That daily break-vow, he that wins of all, Of Kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids, Who having no external thing to lofe But the word maid, cheats the poor maid of that ;. The world, which of itself is poised well, But for because he hath not wooed me yet: ACT G A CT III. SCENE, the French King's Pavilion. Enter Conftance, Arthur and Salisbury. CONSTANCE. ONE to be marry'd gone to fwear a peace!. Oppret with wrongs, and therefore full of fears : And tho' thou now confefs thou didst but jeft, Sal. As true, as, I believe, you think them false, Conft. Oh, if thou teach me to believe this for ow, Teach Teach thou this forrow how to make me die ; As doth the fury of two defp'rate men, Sal. What other harm have I, good Lady, done, Arth. I do beseech you, mother, be content. Conft. If thou, that bidft me be content, wert grim, Ugly, and fland'rous to thy mother's womb, Full of unpleafing blots, and fightless ftains, Lame, foolish, crooked, fwart, 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. But thou art fair, and at thy, birth, dear boy! Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great. Of Nature's gifts thou may'ft with lillies boaft, And with the half-blown rofe. But Fortune, oh!: She is corrupted, chang'd, and, won from thee, Adulterates hourly with thine uncle John; And with her golden hand hath pluckt on France, To tread down fair refpect of fovereignty, And made his Majefty the bawd to theirs. France is a bawd to Fortune, and to John, That trumpet Fortune, that ufurping John! Tell me, thou fellow, is not France fo.iworn? Envenom him with words; or get thee gone, And leave thefe woes alone, which I alone Am bound to under-bear. Sal. Pardon me, Madam, I may not go without you to the Kings. Conft. Thou may'ft, thou shalt, I will not go with thee. I will inftru&t my forrows to be proud; For For Grief is proud, and makes his owner ftoop. (13) bid Kings come bow to it.] I muft here account for the liberty I have taken to make a change in the divifion of the fecond and third acts. In the old editions, the fecond act was made to end here; tho' 'tis evident, Lady Conftance here, in her defpair, feats herfelf on the floor: and the must be fuppofed, as I formerly obferv'd, immediately to rife again, only to go off and end the aft decently; or the flat fcene muft shut her in from the fight of the Audience, an abfurdity I cannot wish to accufe Shakespeare of. Mr. Gildon and fome other criticks fancied, that a confiderable part of the fecond aft was loft; and that the chaẩm began here. I had joined in this fufpicion of a fcene or two being loft; and unwittingly drew Mr. Pope into this, error. "It feems to be fo, fays he, and it were to be wished the restorer. "(meaning me,) could fupply it.' "To deferve this great man's thanks, I'll venture at the task; and hope to convince my readers, that nothing is loft, but that I have fupplied the, fufpected chafm, only by rectifying the divifion of the acts. Upon looking a little more narrowly. into the conflitution of the play, I am satisfied that the third a ought to begin with that fcene, which has hitherto been accounted the laft of the fecond act: and my reafons for it are thefe. The match being concluded, in the fcene before that, betwixt the Dauphin and Blanch, a meffenger is fent for Lady Confiance to King Philip's tent, for her to come to St. Mary's church to the folemnity. The Princes all go out, as to the marriage; and the baftard, ftaying a little behind, to defcant on interest and commodity, very properly ends the act. The next, fcene then, in the French King's tent, brings us Salisbury delivering his meffage to Confiance, who, refufing to go to the folemnity, fots herself down on the floor. The whole train returning from the church to the French King's pavilion, Philip expreffes fuch fatisfaction on occafion of the happy.folemnity of that day, that Conftance rifes from the floor, and joins in the fcene by entering her proteft against their joy, and curfing the bufinefs of the day. Thus, I conceive, the fcenes. are fairly continued; and there is no chafm in the action: but a proper interval made both for Salisbury's coming to Lady Conftance, and for the folemn zation of the marriage. Befides, as Faulconbridge is evidently the Poet's favourite character; 'twas very well judg'd to slose the act with his foliloquy. Enier |