K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him, In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion, Lord of thy presence and no land beside? Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape, 130 135 134. rather ... Faulconbridge] rather,—be Capell; be? a Vaughan conj. 138. an iƒ] The Folios read and if for an if continually. 119. lies on the hazards, etc.] is among the risks all husbands must run. 137. Lord of thy presence]" continuing to possess precisely the same figure and face which you now have " (Vaughan). As Vaughan points out, "whether" proposes two alternatives -to be like the legitimate son and possess land, or to be reputed the son of Coeur-de-lion, keeping his present appearance, and having no land. The phrase will also bear the meaning of "Lord from thy very appearance," that is, "your mere appearance would tell people that you were nobly born." But compare II. i. 367 infra. And I had his, sir Robert's his, like him; 140 And if my legs were two such riding-rods, And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, Would I might never stir from off this place, 145 I would give it every foot to have this face; Eli. I like thee well: wilt thou forsake thy fortune, 139. sir Robert's his] This is treated by Schmidt and Mr. Moore-Smith as a double genitive. It may be so explained, and be quite in keeping with the Bastard's colloquial roughness of speech. Vaughan would read “just Sir Robert's shape," or "just Sir Robert his." The meaning is obvious -"if my brother had my shape and I had his." Again, we may suppose the Bastard to be literally pointing the finger of scorn at his brother at the words "his, like him." 140. riding-rods] switches. Compare Cotgrave," Houssine: a switch, ... a riding rod of holly; an holly wand." Compare Two Angry Women (1597), ii. 53: "And if he give her [a horse] but a nod, She thinks it is a riding rod." 141. eel-skins] Compare 2 Henry IV. II. ii. 351: "You might have thrust him and all his apparel into an eel skin." 143. three farthings] Pieces of this value were coined in Elizabeth's reign for the first and last time in the history of English coinage. As the smaller coins were of values closely approximating to one another, the odd and alternate pieces were dis 150 tinguished by a rose or rosette behind the head of the queen. The threefarthings was so marked (see Hawkins, Silver Coins of England, 2nd ed., under "Elizabeth"), hence the point of the allusion in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, ш. ii. :— 'He had a bastard, his own Whipp'd and then cropp'd, .. land] To make 'em pence." 144. And, to his shape, and in addition to having his appearance were heir to all this land that is in question. The "this," which Vaughan would alter, with great probability, to "his," may be a colloquialism. 145. Would stir] Compare The Merry Wives of Windsor, v. v. 199: "If I did not think it had been Anne Page, would I might never stir." 147. I would not] The first Folio reads It would not, which Delius retains, believing that it refers to "face." 147. Nob] diminutive of Robert, used contemptuously by the Bastard. Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance. Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name begun; Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son. 155 K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st: Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great, Arise sir Richard and Plantagenet. 160 Bast. Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand : My father gave me honour, yours gave land. Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet! I am thy grandam, Richard; call me so. 165 Bast. Madam, by chance but not by truth; what though? Something about, a little from the right, In at the window, or else o'er the hatch: 170 161. Kneel... great] The line is defective. Pope, rise up; Steevens, arise; Keightley, to rise. Who dares not stir by day must walk by night, 175 K. John. Go, Faulconbridge: now hast thou thy desire; 180 [Exeunt all but Bastard. 184 A foot of honour better than I was; 183. many a many] Hanmer reads many, many a," and Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.), many, ah ! many a.' The emendations are needless, for a many was often used where we use many a, e.g. Massinger's Virgin Martyr, ii. 2: Honesty is some fiend, and frights him hence; A many courtiers love it not"; Edward III. III. 66 iii. 162 (Temple ed.): "As 'twere a many over-ridden jades"; ibid. iii. 4 (stage-direction); "Enter a many Frenchmen flying." This passage, like so many others, is quite in keeping with the Bastard's character and needs no emendation. 184. Joan] Used as a common noun. "A generic name for a female rustic" (New Eng. Dict.). It was a common peasant name. Compare Gosson's Schoole of Abuse (Arber's Reprints, No. iii. p. 35): "Every John and his Joan"; and Love's 185. Good den] good-evening, good-even, good-e'en, good-den, and sometimes "god-den,' e.g. Henry V. III. ii. 89: "God-den to your worship, good captain James.' 185. God-a-mercy] This was the salutation of a superior to an inferior. This perhaps is most plainly seen in Arden of Feversham, where there are many examples. 187. For new-made honour, etc.] new-made honour doth forget men's names; to remember them is to do them too much honour, and is too sociable for one who has suddenly been promoted to a high position. The Bastard then goes on to suppose himself seated at dinner with a tra 190 'Tis too respective and too sociable And talking of the Alps and Apennines, The Pyrenean and the river Po, 195 203. Pyrenean] Perennean F 1; Pyrennèan Ff 2, 3, 4; Pyreneans Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.). velled man. Holt White, followed 201. Saving] Theobald, after a conjecture of Warburton's, reads Serving. Vaughan, in Notes and Queries (1882) suggests Sharing or Halving or Salving; while in his 1886 edition he says: "The line should certainly run: Salving in dialogue of compliment'"; the idea being that the two speakers were merely soothing one another by bandying compliments. If we take the line as it stands-" Before the answering man knows what the questioner would, except in so far as customary complimentary retorts are concerned". we leave "And so" in the air; but having regard to the looseness of structure of the whole speech, this may not be impossible. We may shuffle out of the difficulty by suspecting a dropped line. |