91. Lines 247, 248: To pay that duty which you truly owe To him that owes it, namely, this young prince. Note here the verb owe used in two different senses in two consecutive lines. Compare above in Constance's speech (lines 187, 188) the double use of injury in the passive and active sense respectively. 92. Line 259: roundure.-Spelt in Ff. rounder; but in Sonnet xxi. 8 it is printed rondure. It is from the French rondure, which is used in the same sense of "round," ** circle." 93 Line 268: For him, and in his right, we hold this town-Taken almost verbatim from a prose speech in the old play "and for him, and in his right, we hold our Towne" (Troublesome Raigne, p. 244). 94. Line 272: Have we RAMM'D UP our gates.-This seems a peculiar use of the verb to ram, which none of the critics appear to have noticed. The meaning probably is that by the use of rams they had driven wedges between the gates to prevent them opening. 95. Line 293: And make a MONSTER of you. --Compare Othello, iv. 1. 63: "A horned man's a monster." 96. Lines 315, 316: Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright, Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood. Compare Macbeth, ii. 3. 117, 118: Here lay Duncan, His silver skin lac'd with his golden blood. And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come This refers to one of the customs of the chase in Shakespeare's time, by which those who hunted the deer stained their hands in the blood of the animal when killed; just as nowadays in fox-hunting, when the fox is killed, any novice in the hunting field, who may be in at the death, is smeared with the blood of the fox after the brush has been cut off. I am informed, however, that the custom is rapidly dying out. Compare Julius Cæsar, iii. 1. 204 206: Here wast thou bay'd, brave heart; Here didst thou fall; and here thy hunters stand, There is an obvious pun in line 323 which seems to have been rather a favourite one with authors of that period. Halliwell quotes Heywood's Epigrams, 1562: Dyers be ever dying but never dead." 98. Lines 325-333.-This speech-as well as all the remaining ones of the First Citizen-is given in the Folio to Hub. i.e. Hubert; perhaps, as Collier suggested, because the same player who played Hubert doubled the part of the First Citizen. Censured is generally explained as="estimated," "determined." But does it not rather mean here "questioned?" The sense seems to be, that the two armies have shown themselves to be so equally matched that the citizens cannot say which is the superior; as the speaker says below (line 331): Both are alike; and both alike we like. 100. Line 335: Say, shall the current of our right RUN on? So F. 2, F. 3, F. 4: the reading of F. 1 is roam, to which Malone adhered; but as Steevens aptly remarks: "The King would rather describe his right as running on in a direct than in an irregular course, such as would be implied by the word roam" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 242). And compare below, v. 4. 56, 57: And calmly run on in obedience Even to our ocean, to our great King John. 101. Line 354: MOUSING the flesh of men.-Pope proposed to read mouthing; but there is no need to alter the text. Malone says: "Mousing is, I suppose, mamocking, and devouring eagerly, as a cat devours a mouse" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 243). He quotes Mids. Night's Dream, v. 1. 274: "Well moused lion!" and Thomas Decker's Wonderful Year, 1603: "Whilst Troy was swilling sack and sugar, and mousing fat venison, the mad Greekes made bonfires of their houses" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 243). 102. Line 357: Cry “havoc," kings!-Compare Julius Cæsar, iii. 1. 273: Cry, "havoc," and let slip the dogs of war. 103. Line 358: You equal POTENTS, fiery kindled spirits! -Walker proposed to read equal-potent; but the fact that potent has a capital P in F. 1 points to the conclusion that it was meant to be a separate word = potentates. Steevens quotes: "Ane verie excellent and delectabill Treatise intitulit Philotus, &c. 1603: Ane of the potentes of the town"" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 244). 104. Line 368: A greater power than we.--This speech is given by Ff. to the King of France. Theobald altered we to ye; the meaning is rather doubtful whether the speaker refers to Providence who has left the issue undecided by battle, or to their fears (see below line 371). 105. Line 371: KING'D of our fears.-Ff. read: “Kings of our fear;" but as Malone says: "It is manifest that the passage in the old copy is corrupt, and that it must have been so worded, that their fears should be styled their kings or masters, and not they, kings or masters of their fears; because in the next line mention is made of these fears being deposed" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 245). We find the participle king'd used in the same sense in Henry V. ii. 4. 26: For, my good liege, she (i.e. England) is so idly king'd. 106. Line 373: these SCROYLES of Angiers.-Scroyle is from French Escrouelles, ie. "scabby, scrophulous fellows." It was a term of great contempt. Ben Jonson uses it in Every Man in his Humour, i. 1: "hang them, scroyles" (Works, vol. i. p. 10); and again in the Poetaster, iv. 1: "I cry thee mercy, my good scroyle, was 't thou?" (Works, vol. ii. p. 471). 107. Lines 378-380: Do like the mutines of Jerusalem, Be friends awhile, and both conjointly bend Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town. For mutines-mutineers, rebels, Malone quotes a passage in A Compendious and Most Marvellous History of the Latter Times of the Jewes Common-Weale, &c. Written in Hebrew, by Joseph Ben Gorion,-translated into English, by Peter Morwyn, 1575, which may have been read by Shakespeare and have suggested the allusion, which is not in the old play. The passage is too long to quote in its entirety; but it describes how the people of Jerusalem were divided into three parties, and how when Titus "encamped upon mount Olivet, the captaines of the seditious assembled together, and fell at argument, every man with another, intending to turne their cruelty upon the Romaines, confirming and ratifying the same atonement and purpose, by swearing one to another; and so became peace amongst them" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 247). The corresponding speech of the Bastard in the old play is very bald, and will serve as a specimen to show how Shakespeare improved on his original: was Bast. Might Philip counsell two so mightie kings, As are the Kings of England and of Fraunce, He would aduise your Graces to vnite And knit your forces gainst these Citizens, Pulling their battered wals about their ears. The Towne once wonne, then striue about the claim, For they are minded to delude you both. -Troublesome Raigne, p. 247. In 108. Line 424: Is NIECE to England.-F. 1, F. 2 have neere; F. 3, F. 4 near. The emendation is Collier's. line 64 above of this same scene we have: With her (i.e. Queen Elinor), her NIECE, the Lady Blanch of Spain. And again below (line 469): Give with our NIECE a dowry large enough. And again (line 521), "What say you, my niece?" In this latter passage the spelling of F. 1 is neece. The two words neece, neere, may easily be mistaken for one another. Compare Two Gent. of Verona, iv. 1. 49, where F. 1, F. 2 have neece, which Theobald altered to near, an emendation generally adopted, but unnecessarily. (See Two Gent. of Verona, note 91.) 109. Line 434: If not complete, OH! say he is not she.Ff. read "complete of," which is explained: "complete thereof," "full of those qualities." But the emendation of Hanmer, which we have adopted, is certainly most plausible, and gets rid of a very awkward phrase for which there appears to be no necessity. Compare line 441 below: O, two such silver currents, when they join. 110. Line 436: If want it be, BUT that she is not he.-We have adopted the independent conjecture of Mr. Swynfen Jervis and Mr. Lettsom, in place of the reading of Ff. not. If want it be NOT that she is not he seems to make very poor sense, and fails entirely to provide the natural antithesis to line 434 above. 111. Line 438: Left to be finished by such a she.-Ff. read as she." The correction is Theobald's. " There is no doubt that zeal is compared here to melted ice which freezes again, and not, as Steevens thought, to "metal in a state of fusion. Compare iii. 4. 149, 150This act, so evilly born, shall COOL the hearts Of all his people, and FREEZE UP their zeal. 116. Line 500: Becomes a SUN, and makes your son a shadow.-F. 1, F. 2 have sonne, F. 3, F. 4 son. Rowe first substituted sun. It is clear that the wretched pun was intended. 117. Lines 501-503: I do protest I never lov'd myself, Till now infixed I beheld myself Drawn in the flattering table of her eye. Allusions to the miniature reflection of one's face, as seen in the pupil of another's eye, are very numerous in the poets of Shakespeare's time. Compare with this passage the following one from Beaumont's Salmacis and Hermaphroditus: "How should I love thee, when I do espy A far more beauteous nymph hid in thy eye! Or hide her beauty in a darker place." By this the nymph perceived he did espy None but himself reflected in her eye. -Works, vol. ii. p. 699. 118 Lines 527-530.-Shakespeare has-perhaps in order to condense the scene somewhat, it being very long in the old play-made an alteration in the details of this scene, the effect of which is to set John's character in a more unfavourable light. In The Troublesome Raigne John offers, in addition to "her dowrie out of Spaine," thirty thousand marks; but King Philip demands the provinces as well. John hesitates at first, but Queen Eleanor advises him to yield, which he does in these words: And here in mariage 1 doo giue with her Volquesson, Poiters, Anjou, Torain, Main, And thirtie thousand markes of stipend coyne. -Troublesome Raigne, p. 250. 119. Line 532: Command thy son and daughter to join hands. This was the old ceremony of betrothal, and was formerly celebrated in church according to a proper ritual, as it is now in the Greek Church. In the services of the Church of Rome and the Church of England the ceremonies, formerly observed at the betrothal, are absorbed into the marriage service; for instance, the holding of the right hand of each other in turn by the bride and bridegroom while repeating the words: "I take thee to my wedded wife," or "husband," &c. In the Roman Church the bridegroom gives the bride gold and silver, a custom which existed in the ceremony of betrothal among the Franks before their conversion to Christianity. 120. Lines 551-553.-In the old play the corresponding passage stands thus: Arthur, although thou troublest Englands peace -Troublesome Raigne, p. 250. 121. Line 563: Hath willingly DEPARTED with a part.— See Love's Labour's Lost, note 43. 122 Line 566: rounded in the ear.-Compare Winter's Tale, i. 2 217, 218: whispering, rounding "Sicilia is a so-forth." And in Middleton's A Mad World my Masters, iii. 3: Then is your grandsire rounded i̇ th' ear" (Works, vol. ii p. 381). 123 Line 584: Hath drawn him from his own determin'd AID.-Mason has the following note: "The word eye in the line preceding, and the word own, which can ill agree with aid, induces me to think that we ought to read-'his own determined aim' instead of aid. His own aid is little better than nonsense" (Var. Ed. vol. xv. p. 259). But as Rolfe suggests: his own determined aid may on his breast, and, he might have added, the lamentable rheum in his eyes mentioned just above. Warburton, quite unnecessarily, substituted sighs for signs. Compare Venus and Adonis (lines 929, 930): So she at these sad signs draws up her breath, 125. Line 42: I do beseech you, madam, be content.-I do not think that, on the strength of this line one can, as Clarke does (vol. ii. p. 20, note 7), build any theory that Arthur was lacking in affection towards his mother. The boy was naturally alarmed at her vehemence; gently, and respectfully, he seeks to calm her agitation. Dramatic exigencies forbid any long speech on his part. For a similar use of the word content compare Richard II. v. 2. 80-82: I will instruct my sorrows to be proud; The meaning of this passage is tolerably plain, in spite of the various efforts that have been made to amend it. Hanmer would substitute stout for stoop; but no alteration is required. Constance says she will instruct her sorrows to be proud; and adds that grief or sorrow is proud, and makes his owner, i.e. the person who owns the grief or sorrow, stoop beneath its weight. Before that grief, sitting in state as it were, she would make kings assemble; and before her and her sorrow they should bow down. The metaphor and the various ideas expressed are alike rather confused; but this is not unnatural, considering the agitation of the speaker, and is quite in keeping with the style of Shakespeare's earlier plays. 129. Line 73: here 1 and SORROW sit.-Ff. read sorrows. The emendation is Pope's. Probably the 8 of sorrows was caught from the next word sit. Certainly the plural number seems out of place, and spoils the force of the line. 130. Lines 77, 78: To solemnize this day the glorious sun Compare Sonnet xxxiii. 1-4: Full many a glorious morning have I seen It is always interesting to mark any similarity of expression between the sonnets and the earlier plays, in view of the theory that the sonnets were written by Shakespeare when young; this is, certainly, a remarkable one. 131. Lines 87, 88: Nay, rather turn this day out of the week, The allusion in line 87 is, perhaps, as Upton pointed out, to Job iii. 3: "Let the day perish wherein I was born," and again (verse 6) "let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months." There is a resemblance to this speech of Constance in one of Hippolito's, in the first part of The Honest Whore (by Dekker and Middleton), i. 1: Curs'd be that day for ever that robb'd her Of breath and me of bliss! henceforth let it stand -Middleton's Works, vol. iii. p. 9. 132. Line 91: Lest that their hopes PRODIGIOUSLY be cross'd; i.e. be disappointed by the production of a monster, a prodigy. Compare note 127 above. 133. Line 99: You have beguil'd me with a COUNTERFEIT. Though counterfeit in Shakespeare generally means a picture, here it undoubtedly means a false coin; for in the next line Constance speaks of it as being touch'd and tried, though the word may be intended to bear here the double meaning. 134. Lines 102, 103: You came IN ARMS to spill mine enemies' blood, But now IN ARMS you strengthen it with yours. Johnson was probably right in pointing out that a pun is intended here; as, in the second line, in arms means "in friendly embraces." 135. Line 105: Is cold in amity and PAINTED peace.-Collier's MS. substituted faint in for painted; but Constance means to imply that the friendship and peace between her former allies and her enemies was unreal. 136. Line 110: ere SUN SET.-Ff. "ere sunset." I had altered sunset to sun set before I saw that Mr. Fleay had made the same suggestion. Shakespeare accentuates sunset on the first syllable in Sonnet lxxiii. 6: As after sunset fadeth in the west. And again in Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5. 127, 128; There we have sun sets and the noun sunset coming close This passage is, however, not generally attributed to Shakespeare, and in the old play (The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke) the line is printed: And ere sunne set lle make thee curse the deed. (See Hazlitt's Shak. Lib. pt. 2, vol. ii. p. 42.) 137. Line 129: And hang a CALF'S-SKIN on those recreant limbs.-Though there is no doubt a great contrast between a lion and a calf, and the skin of the latter may be held to typify cowardice just as that of the former would typify courage; yet it may be doubted whether the allusion is not, primarily, to the "calf's-skin coat" worn by the fools in old time. In Wily Beguiled (1606) we have in the Prologue: His calf-skin jests from hence are clean exil'd. -Dodsley, vol. ix. p. 223. And again Robin Goodfellow says in the play itself: "I'll rather put on my flashing red nose and my flaming face, and come wrapped in a calf's skin, and cry Bo bo" (Dodsley, vol. ix. p. 256). From these, and several other passages, in which the expression calf-skin or calf's skin occurs, it is evident that it was the distinctive dress of the fool, or one of the "clowns," as the comic characters are frequently described in old plays. The latter would frequently play mischievous tricks in different disguises, and were generally cowards as well as fools. 138. Lines 142-144: and, force perforce, Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop The dispute between King John and the pope, on the subject of the election of Stephen Langton, may be thus briefly summarized. A contest had for a long time been going on between the king and the bishops, on the one side, and the monks of Christ Church, on the other, who both claimed the right to elect the Archbishop of Canterbury. On the death of Archbishop Hubert in July, 1205, the monks assembled secretly by night, and elected their sub-prior Reginald to be archbishop. He left at once for Rome to procure the confirmation of his election by the pope. On his way he assumed the title of Archbishop Elect. A deputation was promptly sent by the bishops of the province of Canterbury to protest against his election; and the king, meanwhile, had already determined to confer the primacy on his favourite John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich. The bishops signed an instrument withdrawing their claims to any share in the election of the archbishop. The king went to Canterbury and ordered the monks to proceed at once to the election. They elected the Bishop of Norwich; and a deputation of six monks, with authority to act in the name of the whole body, was sent to Rome. The pope, Innocent III., pronounced both elections null and void, and recommended Stephen Langton, an Englishman, rector of the University of Paris, who was then in Rome, to the monks, who duly elected him. The pope wrote to ask the king's assent, but received no answer; and Langton was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury at Viterbo, in June, 1207. John was furious; he drove the monks out of their convent by violence, and vowed that Langton should never set foot in England as primate. The pope had now recourse to the very strong measure of an interdict. The dispute raged till 15th May, 1213, when John made his submission to the pope, and accepted Stephen Langton as archbishop. 139. Lines 147, 148: What EARTHLY name to interrogatories Can TASK the free BREATH of a sacred king? Ff. read earthie. Earthly is Pope's emendation. F. 1, F 2 have tast instead of task, which is Theobald's ingenious correction. Compare Henry V. i. 2. 5, 6: some things of weight That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. Breath is used = "speech" not unfrequently in Shakespeare. Compare Merchant of Venice, ii. 9. 90: besides commends and courteous breath. The meaning of these two lines is: "What earthly name appended to interrogatories can force a king, whose office is sacred, and whose speech is free, to answer them?" In the old play the speech runs thus: "And what hast thou or the Pope thy maister to doo to demaund of me, how I employ mine own? Know Sir Priest, as 1 honour the Church and holy Churchmen, so I scorne to be subiect to the greatest Prelate in the world. Tell thy Maister so from me, and say, John of England said it, that neuer an Italian Priest of them all, shal either haue tythe, tole, or polling penie out of England; but as I am King, so will I raigne next vnder God, supreame head both ouer spiritual and temrall: and hee that contradicts me in this, Ile make him hoppe headlesse" (Troublesome Raigne, pp. 254, 255). That gentle-minded and immaculate reformer, Henry VIII, might certainly have spoken that speech. 140. Lines 174-179: And blessed shall he be that doth recolt And meritorious shall that hand be call'd, In the old play the sentence of excommunication is given thus: "Then I Pandulph of Padoa, legate from the Apostolike sea, doe in the name of Saint Peter and his successor our holy Father Pope Innocent, pronounce thee accursed, discharging every one of thy subjectes of all dutie and fealtie that they do owe to thee, and pardon and forgivenesse of sinne to those or them whatever which shall carrie armes against thee or murder thee: This I pronounce, and charge all good men to abhorre thee as an excommunicate person" (Troublesome Raigne, p. 255). Probably, there is an allusion to the Bull of Pius V., 1569, which was signed by the pope on 25th February, 1570; on 8th August, in the same year, Felton was executed for the publication of it. Johnson thought that these lines might refer to the Gunpowder Plot, in which case they must have been added long after the first production of the play. 141. Line 209: In likeness of a new UNTRIMMED bride.— Dyce proposed new UP-TRIMMED in the sense of "newlydressed-up," quoting Romeo and Juliet, iv. 4. 24: Go waken Juliet, go and trim her up. There is no doubt that to trim meant "to dress more or less finely" and not simply "to clothe;" so that those commentators who maintain that the meaning of untrimmed is undrest have gone, probably, a little too far. At the most it would mean only in déshabille; but the epithet here might refer to the fact that Blanch was not fully dressed as a bride should be. I cannot see any reason for Grant White's statement that here is an allusion to the temptation of St. Anthony. For the use of trimmed" smartly dressed," compare Two Gent. of Verona, iv. 4. 166: And I was trimm'd in Madam Julia's gown, and in III. Henry VI. ii. 1. 24: Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love. That Blanch could not have been trimm'd, in this sense, is evident from the haste with which the marriage was celebrated. See above, ii. 1. 559, 560: Go we, as well as haste will suffer us, To this unlook'd for, unprepared pomp. But another meaning has been assigned to untrimmed with much plausibility, namely, that it refers to the custom of brides going with their hair dishevelled. Fleay, who is of this opinion, quotes Tancred and Gismunda, V. 2: So let thy tresses, flaring in the wind, -Dodsley, vol. vii. p. 86. 142. Lines 211-216.-This speech of Constance is very characteristic of Shakespeare's earlier style; in its elaborate antithesis and play upon words it rivals some of the most affected speeches in Richard II. Compare Gaunt's speeches in act ii. scene 1 of that play. 143. Line 235: To CLAP this royal bargain UP of peace. To clap up="to clap hands," as used in Henry V. v. 2. 133: "and so clap hands and a bargain." The reference is undoubtedly to the formal pledging by lovers of their troth before marriage, one party putting his or her hand in that of the other. Compare Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. 327: Was ever match clapp'd up so suddenly? 144. Line 242: Play FAST AND LOOSE with faith. - This very common expression had its origin, apparently, from a cheating game played by gypsies and other vagrants, of which the following description is found in Nares: "It is said to be still used by low sharpers, and is called pricking at the belt or girdle. It is thus described: 'A leathern belt is made up into a number of intricate folds, and placed edgewise upon a table. One of the folds is made to resemble the middle of the girdle, so that whoever should thrust a skewer into it would think he held it fast to the table; whereas, when he has so done, the person with whom he plays may take hold of both ends and draw it away. Sir J. Hawkins.' The drift of it was, to encourage wagers whether it was fast or loose, which the juggler could make it at his option." Compare Antony and Cleopatra, iv. 12. 28, 29: Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose, From the following passage (quoted by Nares) it would seem that the game was sometimes played with other stock in trade than a girdle: |