That, hang'd and drawn and quarter'd, there should be In such a love so vile a lout as he. Blanch. My uncle's will in this respect is mine: 510 That I can find should merit any hate. 520 K. John. What say these young ones? What say you, my niece? Blanch. That she is bound in honor still to do What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say. K. John. Speak then, prince Dauphin; can you love this lady? Lew. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love; K. John. Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces, Full thirty thousand marks of English coin. 530 Philip of France, if thou be pleased withal, Command thy son and daughter to join hands. 527. "Volquessen," Vexin, the district round Rouen (occupied by the Velocasses in ancient Gaul).-C. H. H. K. Phi. It likes us well; young princes, close your hands. Aust. And your lips too; for I am well assured That I did so when I was first assured. K. Phi. Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates, tent. K. Phi. And, by my faith, this league that we have made Will give her sadness very little cure. Brother of England, how may we content K. John. We will heal up all; 550 533. "Close your hands"; this marriage treaty is thus narrated by Holinshed: "So King John returned from York, and sailed again into Normandy, because the variance still depended between him and the King of France. Finally, upon the Ascension-day in this second year of his reign, they came eftsoons to a communication betwixt the towns of Vernon and Lisle Dandelie, where they concluded an agreement, with marriage to be had betwixt Lewis, the son of King Philip, and the lady Blanch, daughter to Alfonso King of Castile, the eighth of that name, and niece to King John by his sister Eleanor." It was further stipulated that "the foresaid Blanch should be conveyed into France to her husband, with all speed"; which infers that she was not personally consenting to the treaty.H. N. K For we'll create young Arthur Duke of Bre tagne And Earl of Richmond; and this rich fair town Some speedy messenger bid her repair 560 [Exeunt all but the Bastard. Bast. Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole, Hath willingly departed with a part: And France, whose armor conscience buckled on, Whom zeal and charity brought to the field Who, having no external thing to lose 571 But the word 'maid,' cheats the poor maid of that, That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling Commodity, Commodity, the bias of the world, 4. "the bias of the world"; the influence which causes all mer The world, who of itself is peised well. This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word, To a most base and vile-concluded peace. Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee. [Exit. to swerve from their normal course. Technically the bias was, in the game of bowls, a piece of lead introduced into one side of the bowl, causing it to swerve from the direct line. The globe of the earth is here conceived as a bowl thus "biassed."-C. H. H. 583. "Clapp'd on the outward eye." The figure of the biassed bowl is still kept up. The "eye" of a bowl was “the aperture on one side which contained the bias."-C. H. H. 584. "aid"; Collier (ed. 2, Mason's conjecture) “aim.”—I. G. ACT THIRD SCENE I The French King's Pavilion. Enter Constance, Arthur, and Salisbury. Const. Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood join'd! gone to be friends! Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard; I trust I may not trust thee; for thy word 10 Oppress'd with wrongs and therefore full of fears, A widow, husbandless, subject to fears, A woman, naturally born to fears; And though thou now confess thou didst but jest, With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce, 16-17. “thou didst but jest, With my vex'd spirits," etc.; Rowe's |