And this is Geffrey's. In the name of God 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. K. JOHN. Alack, thou dost usurp authority. BAST. AUST. Hear the crier. What the devil art thou? BAST. One that will play the devil, sir, with you, An 'a may catch your hide and you alone. You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,d Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard. I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right: Sirrah, look to't; i' faith, I will, i' faith. 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:— —(2) a In any breast-] The first folio has beast; corrected in the edition of 1632. b That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world!] It has been doubted whether Shakespeare, who appears to have had cognizance of nearly every sport and pastime of his age, was acquainted with the ancient game of chess; we believe the present passage may be taken to settle the question decisively. The allusion is obviously to the Queen of the chess-board, which, in this country, was invested with those remarkable powers that render her by far the most powerful piece in the game, somewhere about the second decade of the 16th century. c One that will play the devil, sir, with you, An 'a may catch your hide and you alone.] The circumstance which more particularly awakens the wrath of Faulconbridge against Austria, namely, that after having caused the death of King Richard Coeur-de-lion, he now wore the King John, this is the very sum of all,— Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand, ELI. Come to thy grandame, child. CONST. Do, child, go to it (3) grandame, child; Give grandame kingdom, and it grandame will Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig: There's a good grandame. ARTH. 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. ELI. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he Infortunate in nothing but in thee; I have but this to say,- 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 grandame's will! K. PHI. Peace, lady; pause, or be more temperate: a That he's not only plagued for her sin, &c.] The only departure from the old text in this obscure passage is in the punctuation, and in the addition of a d in the sentence of the second clause "And with her plagued —" which was first suggested by Mr. Roderick. In the original, where it runs as follows, the whole passage is pointed with a ruthless disregard of meaning: The cannons have their bowels full of wrath, And ready mounted are they, to spit forth Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls: All preparation for a bloody siege, a And merciless proceeding, by these French, K. PHI. When I have said, make answer to us Lo, in this right hand, whose protection And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys: In warlike march these greens before your town; To him that owes (4) it,-namely, this young prince: And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear, peace. But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer, "Tis not the roundure of your old-fac'd walls CIT. In brief, we are the king of England's For him, and in his right, we hold this town. K. JOHN. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in. CIT. That can we not: but he that proves the To him will we prove loyal; till that time, And if not that, I bring you witnesses, a Confronts your city's eyes,-] The original has comfort, which was altered by Rowe to confront. Mr. Collier's MS. annotator reads, Come 'fore your city's eyes. b Ordinance,-] The old spelling of this word should be retained here for the measure's sake. c The roundure-] Roundure, or, as the old copies spell it, rounder, means circle, from the French, rondeur. d St. George, &c.] In the old text this passage runs thus,"St. George that swindg'd the dragon, And ere since sits on 's horseback at mine hostess door," &c. ACT II.] your Alarums and Excursions; then a Retreat. Enter Arthur of Bretagne, England's king, and yours! of blood In this hot trial, more than we of France; Or add a royal number to the dead; d BAST. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, 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 undetermin'd differences of kings. Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus? Cry, havoc, kings! back to the stained field, You equal-potents, fiery-kindled spirits! Then let confusion of one part confirm The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death! K. JOHN. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit? the custom of the actor who personated the character of Hubert to "double" with it that of the Angiers' spokesman. c Say, shall the current of our right run on,-] So the second folio; the first has rome, a likely misprint of ronne. d Mousing the flesh of men,-] For mousing Pope substituted a less expressive term, mouthing, which Malone very properly rejected, and restored the old word. Mousing meant gorging, devouring. Thus, in Decker's "Wonderful Year," 1603, "Whilst Troy was swilling sack and sugar, and mousing fat venison," &c. K. PHI. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king? HUBERT. 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, And bear possession of our person here; Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you. HUBERT. A greater power than we denies all this; And, till it be undoubted, we do lock BAST. By heaven, these scroyles" of Angiers flout you, kings, And stand securely on their battlements, To whom in favour she shall give the day, K. JOHN. Now, by the sky that hangs above I like it well;-France, shall we knit our powers, 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: K. JOHN. We from the west will send destruction Into this city's bosom. AUST. I, from the north. K. PHI. Our thunder from the south, Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. BAST. O prudent discipline! From north to south, Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth : [Aside. I'll stir them to it :-Come, away, away! And I shall show you peace, and fair-fac'd league; K. JOHN. Speak on, with favour; we are bent HUBERT. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch, C Is near to England: look upon the years * she; Is the young Dauphin every way complete ; (*) Old copies, as. trust to our strong-barred gates as the protectors, or Kings, of our fear. b These scroyles-] From the French escrouelles, scabby rogues. The lady Blanch,-] This lady was daughter to Alphonso the Ninth, King of Castile, and was niece to King John, by his sister Eleanor. d If not complete, O say,-] The old copy reads:"If not complete of, say,-" Hanmer first suggested the alteration. |