This union shall do more than battery can,
To our fast-closed gates; for, at this match,
With swifter spleen1 than powder can enforce,
The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance; but, without this match,
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,2

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!
What cannonier begot this lusty blood?

He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and bounce;
He gives the bastinado with his tongue;
Our ears are cudgeled; not a word of his,

But buffets better than a fist of France.

Zounds! I was never so bethumped with words,

Since I first called 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

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

Are capable of this ambition!

Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath

1 Spleen is used by Shakspeare for any violent hurry or tumultuous speed. In a Midsummer Night's Dream he applies spleen to the lightning. 2 A stay here seems to mean a supporter of a cause. "Here's an extraordinary partisan or maintainer that shakes," &c. It has been proposed to read, "Here's a say," i. e. a speech; Johnson and Mason read flaw.

Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse,
Cool and congeal again to what it was.

1 Cit. Why answer not the double majesties This friendly treaty of our threatened 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,
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,
Shall gild her bridal bed, and make her rich
In titles, honors, and promotions,

As she in beauty, education, blood,

Holds hand with any princess of the world.

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 formed in her eye;
Which, being but the shadow of your son,
Becomes a sun, and makes your son a shadow.
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!— Hanged in the frowning wrinkle of her brow!And quartered in her heart!-He doth espy Himself love's traitor. This is pity now,

That hanged, and drawn, and quartered, there should be,

In such a love, so vile a lout as he.

1 The table is the plain surface on which any thing is depicted or written (tablette, Fr.).

Blanch. My uncle's will, in this respect, is mine. 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 love.
Further I will not flatter you, my lord,
That all I see in you is worthy love,
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.

K. John. What say these young ones? What say you, my niece?

Blanch. That she is bound in honor still to do What you in wisdom shall vouchsafe to say.

K. John. Speak, then, prince Dauphin; can you love this lady?

Lew. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love; 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.-
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.

Aust. And your lips, too; for I am well assured That I did so, when I was first assured.2

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.

1 This is the ancient name for the country now called the Verin, in Latin, Pagus Velocassinus. That part of it called the Norman Verin was in dispute between Philip and John. This and the subsequent line (except the words "do I give ") are taken from the old play.

Affianced, contracted.

Is not the lady Constance in this troop?—

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 passionate1 at your highness'

tent.

K. Phi. And, by my faith, this league, that we have made,

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 turned another way,
To our own vantage.

We will heal up all;

K. John.
For we'll create young Arthur duke of Bretagne,
And earl of Richmond; and this rich, fair town
We make him lord of.-Call the lady Constance;
Some speedy messenger bid her repair
To our solemnity.-I trust we shall,
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 unlooked-for, unprepared pomp.

[Exeunt all but the Bastard.-The Citizens
retire from the walls.

Bast. Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole,

2

Hath willingly departed with a part;

And France, (whose armor conscience buckled on;
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field,

As God's own soldier,) rounded 3 in the ear

1 Passionate here means agitated, perturbed, a prey to mournful sensations, not moved or disposed to anger. Thus in the old play, entitled, The true Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York, 1600 :—

66

-Tell me, good madam,

Why is your grace so passionate of late?”

2 To part and depart were formerly synonymous.

3 To round or rown in the ear is to whisper; from the Saxon runian, susurrare. The word and its etymology is fully illustrated by Casaubon, in his Treatise de Ling. Saxonica, and in a Letter by Sir H. Spelman, published in Wormius, Literatura Runica. Hafniæ, 1651, p. 4.

With that same 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,Who having no external thing to lose

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,
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 ;-
And this same bias, this commodity,

This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapped on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determined aid,
From a resolved and honorable war,
To a most base and vile-concluded peace.-
And why rail I on this commodity?

2

But for because he hath not wooed me yet.
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,
When his fair angels would salute my palm;
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail,
And say,—there is no sin, but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be,
To say, there is no vice, but beggary.
Since kings break faith upon commodity,
Gain, be my lord! for I will worship thee!

[Exit.

1 Commodity is interest, advantage. So Baret:-"What fruite or commoditie had he by this his friendship?"

2 Coin.

3 i. e. but cause.

4 In the old copy, the Second Act extends to the end of the speech of lady Constance, in the next scene, at the conclusion of which, she throws herself on the ground. The present division, which was made by Theobald, is certainly right.