Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side,
Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend
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.

125

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.
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, ramping, running upwards"; and "grimper: to ramp.' "Lion rampant" in heraldry ought therefore to mean a lion climbing, and this is just the attitude of the lions "rampant given in Woodward and Burnett's Heraldry, i. plate xxi. It would require little imagination however to deem this the representation of a lion seeking whom he might devour, and there is no doubt that in this speech of Constance "ramping" bears the meaning of rushing wildly about. As Mr. Wright suggests, the lion's skin had something to do with the choice of epithet. Mr. Craig tells me

135

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.

145

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,

150

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,
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.

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

155

160

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

term for questions which a witness was bound to answer faithfully. "A question in legal examinations" (Coles' Dict.). John asks "whose name can sanction questions put to a sacred king?”

154. tithe or toll] Used as verbs = to exact tithe or toll.

155. heaven] Here must be equivalent to God; see "Him" next line. Collier suggests reading "God."

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,
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,

164. Dreading out] Compare Chaucer's Prologue to Canterbury Tales, lines 654-60:

"He wolde techen him to have non awe,

165

170

175

173. excommunicate] excommunicated. English words from a Latin past participle in -atus are often used without the -ed in the past.

177. Canonised... saint] Seymour

In swich cas, of the erchedeknes would read "Worshipp'd and canoncurs,

But-if a mannes soule were in his

purs.

izéd as a saint." But we may read
"canónized and worshipp'd as a
saint," which is the accentuation in

For in his purs he sholde y-pun- Hamlet, 1. iv. 47:-
isshed be.

'Purs is the erchedeknes helle,'

"But tell

Why thy canóniz'd bones hearsed
in death."
Compare also Troilus and Cressidą,
II. ii. 202:-

"And fame in time to come canón-
ize us";

and III. iv. 52 infra, where Seymour again would needlessly invert the line for the same reason.

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.

185. right,] right. Ff.

"room

196. that, devil;] Pope; that devil; Ff.

180. room Rome] It seems righted then let no wrongdoing at evident that here and all be hindered. Law cannot give "Rome" were to be pronounced Arthur his kingdom, for John is alike. That "Rome" was pronounced master of the law; therefore since "room" is shown by rhymes in the law itself is "perfect wrong," how Lucrece, 715 and 717, 1644 and 1645. can I be rightfully restrained from Compare also Julius Cæsar, I. ii. 156: cursing. This mixture of quibbling "Now is it Rome indeed and room with passionate argument is characenough." teristic of this play.

185. when law can do no right, etc.] when the law cannot see people

193. raise the power... head] lead the French forces against him.

Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs.
Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs,
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,
Or the light loss of England for a friend:
Forgo the easier.

Blanch.

That's the curse of Rome.

200

205

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.

207. That's] That s Ff1; That is 199. And hang. . . recreant limbs] The Bastard takes little interest in the wrongs of either party. He seems only too delighted that mischief is afoot and takes the opportunity to worry Austria.

Ff 2, 3, 4.

211

aside the trimmings in which she had
been married. Schmidt drew atten-
tion in this connection to Sonnet
xviii. :—

"And every fair from fair some-
times declines,

By chance or nature's changing
course untrimmed."

White says

"untrimmed = in des

203. What... cardinal?] what should he say, except what the Cardinal has already said? 207. 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. 1): "Let them dangle loose as a bride's hair." The emendations are new and trimmed" (Theobald, who also conjectured

209. new untrimmed] "Trim" in Elizabethan English means gaily decked. Compare the use as a verb in Romeo and Juliet, IV. iv. 24: “Go waken Juliet, go and trim her up." Taking the passage as it stands, we may explain it by supposing Constance to mean that Blanch was a new-made bride having just laid

new untamed " or "new be-
trimmed"), "new uptrimmed
(Dyce), "new entrimmed" (Richard-
son conj.), "new untamed" (Vaug-
han, agreeing with Theobald's conj.),
new-intervened" (Herr conj.).

66