John, to stop Arthur's Title in the whole, And France, whofe armour Confcience buckled on, Of Kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids, But the word Maid, cheats the poor maid of that; The world, which of itfelf is poised well, This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word, Ff3 [Exit. ACT A CT III. SCENE I, The French King's Pavilion. Enter Conftance, Arthur, and Salisbury. Gi CONSTANCE. ONE to be marry'd! gone to fwear a peace! Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch thofe provinces ? Oppreft with wrongs, and therefore full of fears; A woman, naturally born to fears, And, tho' thou now confefs thou didst but jeft, 1 That give you caufe to prove my faying true. Conft. Oh, if thou teach me to believe this forrow, As doth the fury of two defp'rate men, Arth. I do befeech you, mother, be content. Conft. If thou, that bidft me be content, wert grim, Ugly, and fland'rous to thy mother's womb, Full of unpleafing blots, and fightlefs ftains, Lame, foolish, crooked, fwart, prodigious 3, Patch'd with foul moles and eye-offending marks; I would not care, I then would be content: For then I fhould not love thee: no, nor thou Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown. But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy! Nature and fortune join'd to make thee great. Of nature's gifts thou may'ft with lilies boaft, And with the half-blown rofe. But fortune, oh! She is corrupted, chang'd, and, won from thee, Adulterates hourly with thine uncle John; And with her golden hand hath pluckt on France To tread down fair respect of fovereignty, And made his majefty the bawd to theirs. France is a bawd to fortune, and to John; That ftrumpet fortune, that ufurping John! 2 fightlefs] The poet ules fightless for that which we now exprefs by unfightly, difagreeable to the eyes. 3 Prodigious; that is, portentous, fo deformed as to be taken for a foretoken of evil. Ff4 Tell Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forfworn? I Sal. Pardon me, Madam, may not go without you to the Kings. Conft. Thou may'ft, thou fhalt, I will not go with thee. I will inftruct my forrows to be proud; For Grief is proud, and makes his owner ftout *. make his owner flout.] 5 To me, ond to the State of my Let Kings affimble:] In SCENE nothing can be gained, and fearlefs to offend when there is nothing further to be dreaded. Such was this writer's knowledge of the paffions. bid Kings come bow to it.] I muft here account for the Liberty I have taken to make a Change in the Divifion of the 2d and 3d Acts. In the old Editions, the 2d A was made to end here; though 'tis evident, Lady Conftance here, in her Defpair, feats herself on the Floor: and the must be fuppofed, as I formerly obferved, immediately to rife again, only to go off and end the Aa decently; or that flat Scene must shut her in from the Sight of the Audience, an Abfurdity I cannot wish to accufe Shakespeare of. Mr. Gilden and fome other Criticks fancied, that a confiderable Part of the 2d Act was loft; and that the Chasm Enter King John, King Philip, Lewis, Blanch, Elinor, Faulconbridge, and Auftria. K. Philip. 'Tis true, fair daughter; and this bleffed Ever in France fhall be kept feflival: Chaẩm began here. I had joined ply it." To deferve this Great Man's Thanks, I'll venture at the Tafk; and hope to convince my Readers, that nothing is loft; but that I have fupplied the fufpected Chafm, only by rectifying the Divifion of the Acts. Upon looking a little more narrowly into the Conflitution of the Play, I am fatisfied that the 3d A ought to begin with that Scene, which has hither.o been accounted the last of the 2d At: and my Reafons for it are thefe. The Match being concluded, in the Scene before that, betwixt the Dauphin and Blanch, a Meffenger is fent for Lady Conftance to K. Philip's Tent. for her to come to St Mary's Church to the Solemnity. The Princes all go out, as to the Marriage; and the Baftard flaying a little behind, to defcant on Intereft and Commodity, very properly ends the a. The next Scene then, in the French King's Tent, brings us Salisbury denvering his Meffage to Conftance, who, refufing to go to the Solemnity, fets herfelf down on the Floor. The whole Train returning from the Church to the French King's Pavilion, Philip expreffes fuch Satisfaction on Occafion of the happy Solemnity of that Day, that Conftance rifes from the Floor, and joins in the Scene by entring her Proteft against their Joy, and curfing the Bulinefs of the Day. Thus, I conceive, the Scenes are fairly continued; and there is no Chafm in the Action: but a proper Interval made both for Safbury's coming to Lady Contance, and for the Solemnization of the Marriage. Befides, as Faulconbridge is evidently the Poet's favourite Character, 'twas very well judg'd to close the Ac with his Soliloquy. THEOBALD. This whole note feems judicious enough; but Mr. Theobald forgets that there were, in ShakeJpeare's time, no moveable scenes. 7 From this paffage Rowe seems to have borrowed the firft lincs of his Fair Penitent. The |