Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side,
Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend 125
Upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength,
And dost thou now fall over to my foes ?
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,

And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
Aust. O, that a man should speak those words to me! 130
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
Aust. Thou darest not say so, villain, for thy life.
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
K. John. We like not this; thou dost forget thyself.

Enter PANDULPH.

K. Phi. Here comes the holy legate of the pope. 135
Pand. Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!

To thee, King John, my holy errand is.
I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,

And from Pope Innocent the legate here, 131. calf's skin] Capell; Calves skin Ff 1, 2, 3; Calves-skin F 4. climbing, crawling, creeping, ramp- of a Kentish inn called the “ Ramping ing, running upwards”; and “grim- Cat"! per : to ramp." “Lion rampant" in 127. fall over] revolt. Compare heraldry ought therefore to mean a 1 Henry IV. 1. iii. 93 :lion climbing, and this is just the “Revolted Mortimer! attitude of the lions "rampant" He never did fall off my sovegiven in Woodward and Burnett's reign liege, Heraldry, i. plate xxi. It would re- But by the chance of war." quire little imagination however to 129. calf's-skin] There may be a deem this the representation of a lion reference here to the fact mentioned seeking whom he might devour, and by Sir John Hawkins that domestic there is no doubt that in this speech fools were clothed in a coat of calf's. of Constance "ramping" bears the skin. “Calf” in Shakespeare often meaning of rushing wildly about. means “ fool.” As Mr. Wright suggests, the lion's 129. recreant] cowardly. See note skin had something to do with the on " recreant” and “miscreant" in choice of epithet. Mr. Craig tells me Arden edition of Richard II.

145

Do in his name religiously demand

140
Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
So wilfully doth spurn; and force perforce
Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop
Of Canterbury, from that holy see:
This, in our foresaid holy father's name,

Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.
K. John. What earthy name to interrogatories

Can task the free breath of a sacred king?
Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
So slight, unworthy and ridiculous,
To charge me to an answer, as the pope.
Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England
Add thus much more, that no Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions ;
But as we, under heaven, are supreme head, 155
So under Him that great supremacy,
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the assistance of a mortal hand :
So tell the pope, all reverence set apart
To him and his usurp'd authority.

160

150

144. see] F 4; Sea Ff 1, 2, 3. taste Ff 3, 4; tax Rowe (ed. 2).

148. task] Theobald; tast Ff 1, 2;

K. Phi. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
K. John. Though you and all the kings of Christendom

Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust, 165
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
Who in that sale sells pardon from himself,
Though you and all the rest so grossly led
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,
Yet I alone, alone do me oppose

Against the pope and count his friends my foes.
Pand. Then, by the lawful power that I have,

Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate:
And blessed shall be he that doth revolt
From his allegiance to an heretic;
And meritorious shall that hand be call'd,
Canonised and worshipp'd as a saint,

170

175

164. Dreading ... out] Compare 173. excommunicate] excommuniChaucer's Prologue to Canterbury cated. English words from a Latin Tales, lines 654-60:

past participle in -atus are often used “He wolde techen him to have non without the -ed in the past. awe,

177. Canonised ... saint] Seymour In swich cas, of the erchedeknes would read “ Worshipp'd and canoncurs,

izéd as a saint." But we may read But-if a mannes soule were in his “canonizéd and worshipp'd as a purs.

saint,” which is the accentuation in For in his purs he sholde y-pun- Hamlet, 1. iv. 47:isshed be.

"But tell *Purs is the erchedeknes helle, Why thy canoniz'd bones hearsed seyde he.”

in death." 165. vile] Nearly always spelt Compare also Troilus and Cressida, “ vilde” or “ vild” in plays of this II. ii. 202 :period.

“And fame in time to come canón168, 169. Though you ... cherish] ize us"; though you and all the rest who are and 111. iv. 52 infra, where Seymour so foolishly led, help to keep up this again would needlessly invert the line juggling witchcraft (i.e. Popery) by for the same reason. contributing monies towards it.

That takes away by any secret course

Thy hateful life.
Const.

O, lawful let it be
That I have room with Rome to curse awhile! 180
Good father cardinal, cry thou amen
To my keen curses; for without my wrong

There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
Pand. There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
Const. And for mine too: when law can do no right, 185

Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law;
Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,

How can the law forbid my tongue to curse? 190 Pand. Philip of France, on peril of a curse,

Let go the hand of that arch-heretic;
And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do submit himself to Rome.

194 Eli. Look'st thou, pale, France ? do not let go thy hand. Const. Look to that, devil; lest that France repent,

And by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul.. Aust. King Philip, listen to the cardinal.

Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs.
Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, 200

Because—
Bast.

Your breeches best may carry them.
K. John. Philip, what say'st thou to the cardinal ?
Const. What should he say, but as the cardinal ?
Lew. Bethink you, father; for the difference

Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome, 205
Or the light loss of England for a friend :

Forgo the easier.
Blanch.

That's the curse of Rome. Const. O Lewis, stand fast! the devil tempts thee here

In likeness of a new untrimmed bride. Blanch. The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith, But from her need.

211 207. That's] Thats Ff 1; That is Ff 2, 3, 4.

199. And hang ... recreant limbs] aside the trimmings in which she had The Bastard takes little interest in been married. Schmidt drew atten. the wrongs of either party. He seems tion in this connection to Sonnet only too delighted that mischief is xviii. :afoot and takes the opportunity to “And every fair from fair someworry Austria.

times declines, 203. What ... cardinal ?] what By chance or nature's changing should he say, except what the course untrimmed." Cardinal has already said ?

White says “untrimmed = in des207. the curse of Rome] To Blanch habille,” which is hardly likely, even the curse of Rome would be the lesser though the marriage was suddenly of two evils, for if John and Philip clapped up. Others see an allusion fell out she would have to oppose her to the bride's going to church with friends to her husband and his friends. her hair dishevelled. Compare This course she has to take ulti. Webster, Vittoria Corrombona (ed. mately.

Dyce, p. 27, col. I): “Let them 209. new untrimmed] “ Trim " in dangle loose as a bride's hair.” The Elizabethan English means gaily emendations are “new and trimmed ” decked. Compare the use as a verb (Theobald, who also conjectured in Romeo and Juliet, iv. iv. 24 : “Go "new untamed” or “new bewaken Juliet, go and trim her up." trimmed”), “new uptrimmed” Taking the passage as it stands, we (Dyce), “new entrimmed" (Richardmay explain it by supposing Con- son conj.), “new untamed" (Vaug. stance to mean that Blanch was a han, agreeing with Theobald's conj.), new-made bride having just laid “new-intervened” (Herr conj.).