Page images
PDF
EPUB

And she again wants nothing, to name want,
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 aa she;
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.
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.
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,
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 b,

That shakes the rotten carcase 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 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:
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
Thy now unsur'd assurance to the crown,

That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe
The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit.

A. The original reads as he-evidently a misprint.

Here's a stay. This litttle word has produced large criticism. Johnson would read flaw; another emendator, Beckett, would give us say. Malone and Steevens have two pages to prove, what requires no proof, that stay means interruption.

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

Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse,

Cool and congeal again to what it was.

HUBERT. Why answer not the double majesties

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,

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 besieg'd)
Find liable to our crown and dignity,

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.

K. PHI. What sayst 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;
Which being but the shadow of your son,

Becomes a sun, and makes your son a shadow:
I do protest, I never lov'd myself,

Till now infixed I beheld myself,

Drawn in the flattering table of her eye.

BAST. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye!—
Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow!-

And quarter'd in her heart!-he doth espy
Himself love's traitor: This is pity now,

[Whispers with BLANCH.

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.

If he see aught in you, that makes him like,

That anything he sees, which moves his liking,

Zeal, now melted. The "zeal" of the King of France and of Lewis is "now melted"-whether that melting represent metal in a state of fusion, or dissolving ice: it has lost its compactness, its cohesion; but

"the windy breath

Of soft petitions,"—

the pleading of Constance and Arthur,-the pity and remorse of Philip for their lot,-may "cool and congeal" it "again to what it was;"-may make it again solid and entire.

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 honour still to do

What you

in wisdom stilla 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 pleas'd 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 assur'd

That I did so, when I was first assur’d'.

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 solemniz'd.
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 passionate 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 turn'd another way,

To our own vantage.

K. JOHN.

We will heal up all,

For we 'll create young Arthur duke of Bretagne,

And earl of Richmond; and this rich fair town

• Still vouchsafe to say. This is the reading of the original. In modern editions we have shall instead of still, which reading is certainly not called for.

[blocks in formation]

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 unlook'd-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,
Hath willingly departed with a part:

And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field
As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear

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-fac'd 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,
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid,
From a resolv'd and honourable war,
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:

• We. So the original. Some editions incorrectly read We'll. Commodity-interest.

• Bias of the world. The allusion to the bias in a bowl is very happily kept up. The world is of itself well-balanced-fit to run even; but the bias interest, the sway of motion,

"Makes it take head from all indifferency."

In 'Cupid's Whirligig' (1607) we have, “O, the world is like a bias bowl, and it runs all on the rich men's sides.

a Peised-poised.

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!

[blocks in formation]

[Exit.

[graphic]
« PreviousContinue »