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ACT II

SCENE I.-France. Before Angiers.

Enter AUSTRIA and forces, drums, etc., on one side: on the other KING PHILIP of France and his power; LEWIS, ARTHUR, CONSTANCE, and attendants.

Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.
Arthur, that great forerunner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart

And fought the holy wars in Palestine,

By this brave Duke came early to his grave:
And for amends to his posterity,

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At our importance hither is he come,

To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf,

And to rebuke the usurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death
The rather that you give his offspring life,

Act II. Scene 1.] This is the second scene of Act 1. in the Folios.

2. great forerunner] Shakespeare is here in error if "forerunner" is taken to mean direct ancestor. Coeurde-lion and King John were both uncles of Arthur.

7. At our importance] upon our importuning him. Compare Twelfth Night, v. i. 371 :—

"Maria writ

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The letter at Sir Toby's great importance."

13. The rather that] all the more because. Compare Hamlet, IV. vii. 70:

"My lord, I will be ruled; The rather, if you could devise it

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That I might be the organ."

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Shadowing their right under your wings of war:

I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?
Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,

As seal to this indenture of my love,
That to my home I will no more return,
Till Angiers and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-faced shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedged in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure

And confident from foreign purposes,

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Even till that utmost corner of the west

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Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy, Will I not think of home, but follow arms. Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength To make a more requital to your love!

29. utmost] Ff 1, 2, 3; outmost F 4.

18. do thee right] take thy part. A common Shakespearian usage.

25. coops] protects by shutting in. So 3 Henry VI. v. I. 109: "Alas! I am not coop'd here for defence." This speech recalls Gaunt's dying words in Richard II., and may have some bearing on the question of the dating of King John and Richard II. See Introduction.

26. main] Hakluyt generally used this word for mainland. We have "a main of waters" in The Mer

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Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords

In such a just and charitable war.

K. Phi. Well then, to work: our cannon shall be bent
Against the brows of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages:

We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy,

36

40

Lest unadvised you stain your swords with blood: 45
My Lord Chatillon may from England bring
That right in peace which here we urge in war,
And then we shall repent each drop of blood
That hot rash haste so indirectly shed.

Enter CHATILLON.

K. Phi. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish,
Our messenger Chatillon is arrived!
What England says, say briefly, gentle lord;
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.

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37. work: our] work, our F 4; work our F 3; worke our Ff 1, 2. 37. cannon] To avoid the anach- Compare The Merchant of Venice, ronism Pope substituted "engines IV. i. 359:for 66 'cannon," with needless pre

cision.

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40. To cull, etc.] "either to select positions which will be most favour. able to us" (Steevens, Mr. Wright), or to take counsel together, to discuss the most profitable plans. The latter explanation seems to fall in more with calling upon the "chiefest men of discipline."

45. unadvised] unadvisedly, hastily. 49. indirectly] generally means underhandedly in Shakespeare.

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'Indirectly and directly too Thou hast contrived against the

very life."

The meaning here is nearer to "indiscreetly" than to "underhandedly," although precipitating a fight before the return of a possibly peaceful answer from the opponent might be called "indirection" by an honourable soldier. Cotgrave has "Indirectement: in-directly, .. by unfit

means."

53. coldly] dispassionately.

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Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege
And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your just demands,

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Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds,

Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as I;

60

His marches are expedient to this town,

His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife;

With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king's deceased;

65

And all the unsettled humours of the land,

Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,

With ladies' faces and fierce dragons' spleens,
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs, 70
70. birthrights] Ff 1, 2; birthright Ff 3, 4.

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60. His marches town] he is
marching to this town with all ex-
pedition. See line 223 infra :-
"Who painfully with much ex-
pedient march

Have brought a countercheck
before your gates";
and iv. ii. 268 infra :-

"to my closet bring
The angry lords with all ex-
pedient haste."

63. Ate] Rowe's famous emendation
of the Ace of the Folios. Compare
Julius Cæsar, III. i. 271: "Cæsar's
spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate
by his side come hot from hell." See
also Friar Bacon (1594), ed. Gayley,
1. X. 137:-

"Fond Atæ, doomer of bad boad-
ing fates,

That wrappes proud fortune in
thy snaky locks."

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65. a bastard deceased] We should now say "a bastard of the deceased king's." This inversion was common in Elizabethan writings, yet it was apparently corrected in Folios 2-4, which read "King." The line is almost verbally the same in Troublesome Raigne: "Next them a bastard of the King's deceast." 67. voluntaries] volunteers. pare Cotgrave, "volontaire : a voluntarie, one that serves or does anything without pay or compulsion."

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68. dragons' spleens] Compare Richard III. v. iii. 350: "Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons." The dragon was the most fearful wild fowl of Bartholomew and the Hortus Sanitatis of Topsell.

70. Bearing their birthrights, etc.] Compare Henry VIII. 1. i. 84 :

To make a hazard of new fortunes here:

In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath in Christendom.

75

[Drum beats.

The interruption of their churlish drums
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,
To parley or to fight; therefore prepare.

K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much

We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounteth with occasion:

Let them be welcome then; we are prepared.

Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the BASTARD, Lords, and Forces.

K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit Our just and lineal entrance to our own;

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85

If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven, Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct Their proud contempt that beats His peace to heaven. K. Phi. Peace be to England, if that war return

From France to England, there to live in peace. 90

"O, many Have broke their backs with laying manors on them." 73. bottoms] vessels. Used technically in this sense at the present day.

77. circumstance] detailed description, attendant detail. Compare Othello, III. iii. 355: "Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."

82. with occasion] when the emergency demands.

87. Whiles] the genitive form of while (A.S. hwil) used adverbially. Common in Shakespeare. Rowe reads Whilst.

88. beats] Hanmer reads beat, making that refer to the plural pronoun contained in their and not to contempt -a needless alteration.

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