With very easy arguments of love, Which now the manage of two kingdoms must K. John. Our strong possession and our right Eli. Your strong possession much more than your right, Or else it must go wrong with you and me : So much my conscience whispers in your ear, Enter a Sheriff. Essex. My liege, here is the strangest con- Come from the country to be judged by you This expedition's charge. Enter ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, and PHILIP his bastard brother. What men are you? Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman Born in Northamptonshire and eldest son, K. John. What art thou? Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir ? 37. manage, procedure, administration. 54. Cordelion. The Ff have, VOL. VI 17 40 50 here and throughout, this, the common Elizabethan form of Coeur-de-lion. C You came not of one mother then, it seems. Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king; I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother: Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame And wound her honour with this diffidence. 60 Bast. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it; That is my brother's plea and none of mine; The which if he can prove, a' pops me out At least from fair five hundred pound a year: Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land! 70 K. John. A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born, Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance? Bast. I know not why, except to get the land. But whether I be as true begot or no, But that I am as well begot, my liege,— Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me !— And were our father and this son like him, I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee! Eli. He hath a trick of Cordelion's face; The accent of his tongue affecteth him. In the large composition of this man? 62. put you o'er, refer you. 68. a', he. 85. trick, trait. 86. affecteth, resembles. 80 K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak, With half that face would he have all my land: Your brother did employ my father much, Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land: As I have heard my father speak himself, 94. half-faced groat; the groat (first issued by Henry VII.) bore the profile or half- face' of the king on one side. IIO. took it on his death, swore, as surely as he expected to die, that, etc. This phrase is not exactly parallel with 'took it on his salvation,' where it is the strength of desire, not of assurance, that gives the oath its force. It was commonly used by men who made solemn asseverations on their death-beds or before execution. 112. An if, if. followed by Delius. So Hanmer, The Ff and used indiscriminately both for 'and' and 'an'; but an 'and' sentence is here clearly out of place. Full fourteen weeks before the course of time. K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; This calf bred from his cow from all the world; 120 Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force 130 To dispossess that child which is not his? Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulcon bridge And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land, Or the reputed son of Cordelion, Lord of thy presence and no land beside? Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape, And I had his, sir Robert's 127. concludes, proves decisively. 134. Whether (monosyllabic). 137. of thy presence, of thy goodly person. 139. sir Robert's his, Sir Robert's shape. This is, I think, rightly explained by Mr. Gollancz: 'Surely "his" is used his, like him; substantively with that rollicking effect which is so characteristic of Faulconbridge .. his emphasising substantively the previous pronominal use of the word.' The line might be paraphrased: 'And I had his shape, in other words a his of Sir Robert's.' And if my legs were two such riding-rods, Lest men should say 'Look, where three-farthings And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, Eli. I like thee well: wilt thou forsake thy Bequeath thy land to him and follow me? I am a soldier and now bound to France. Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my Your face hath got five hundred pound a year, Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me Bast. Our country manners give our betters way. Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name begun ; whose form thou bear'st: Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great, name Bast. Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand: 143. three-farthings; the thin silver piece of this value (coined from 1561 to 1582) had on one side a profile-head of Elizabeth, with a rose at the back. It was a court fashion to put a rose in the ear. 144. to, in addition to. 140 150 160 153. sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear; carrying on the jest of v. 94, where it was valued at a groat (i.e. 4d.). |