Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment, Shall leave his native channel, and o'erswell With course disturb'd even thy confining shores ; A peaceful progress to the ocean. K. Phil. England, thou hast not sav'd one drop of blood, In this hot trial, more than we of France; Rather, lost more: And by this hand I swear, We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear, Gracing the scroll, that tells of this war's loss, Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death! 1. Cit. The king of England, when we know the king. K. Phil. Know him in us, that here hold up his right. K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy, And bear possession of our person here; Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you. 1. Cit. A greater power than we, denies all this ; And, till it be undoubted, we do lock Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates: Be by some certain king purg'd and depos'd. Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers? flout you, kings; [5] That is, command slaughter to proceed. So, in Julius Cæsar: "Cry, havoc, and let slip the dogs of war." JOHNSON. [6] i. e. our fears are the kings which at present rule us. WARBURTON. Escroulles, Fr. i. e. scabby, scrophulous fellows. STEEVENS. And stand securely on their battlements, Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend Even till unfenced desolation Leave them as naked as the vulgar air. To whom, in favour, she shall give the day, How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? Smacks it not something of the policy? K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads, I like it well;-France, shall we knit our powers, And lay this Angiers even with the ground; Then, after, fight who shall be king of it? Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,- As we will ours, against these saucy walls : Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell. K. Phil. Let it be so :-Say, where will you assault? K. John. We from the west will send destruction Into this city's bosom. Aus. I from the north. K. Phil. Our thunder from the south, Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. Bast. O prudent discipline! From north to south; Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth : [Aside. I'll stir them to it :-Come, away, away! 1 Cit. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe a while to stay, And I shall show you peace, and fair-fac'd league ; K. John. Speak on, with favour; we are bent to hear. 1 Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch, Is near to England; Look upon the years Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid: Do glorify the banks that bound them in: And two such shores to two such streams made one, Lions more confident, mountains and rocks As we to keep this city. [8] Zealous seems here to signify pious, or influenced by motives of religion. JOHNSON. [9] Stay, I apprehend, here signifies a supporter of a cause. Here's an extraordinary partizan, that shakes, &c. It is observable, that partizan, in like manner, though now generally used to signify an adherent to a party, originally meant a pike or halberd. MALONE. Bast. Here's a stay,' That shakes the rotten carcase of old death Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed, That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas; Talks as familiarly of roaring lions, As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs! What cannoneer begot this lusty blood? He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and bounce; Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words, Eli. Son, list to this conjunction, make this match; For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie Thy now unsur'd assurance to the crown, That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit. I see a yielding in the looks of France; Mark, how they whisper: urge them, while their souls Are capable of this ambition : Lest zeal, now melted, by the windy breath Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse, Cool and congeal again to what it was.' 1 Cit. Why answer not the double majesties This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town? K. Phil. Speak England first, that hath been forward first To speak unto this city: What say you? K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son, Can in this book of beauty read, I love, Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen: For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers, And all that we upon this side the sea (Except this city now by us besieg'd,) Shall gild her bridal bed; and make her rich [1] We have here a very unusual, and, I think, not very just image of zeal, which, in its highest degree, is represented by others as a fame, but by Shakespeare as a frost. To repress seal, in the language of others, is to cool, in Shakespeare's to melt it; when it exerts its utmost power it is commonly said to flame, but by Shakespeare.to be congealed. JOHNSON. The poet means to compare zeal to metal in a state of fusion, and not to dissolv. ing ice. STEEVENS. As she in beauty, education, blood, Holds hand with any princess of the world. K. Phil. What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face Lew. I do, my lord, and in her eye I find A wonder, or a wondrous miracle, The shadow of myself form'd in her eye; Till now infixed I beheld myself, Drawn in the flattering table of her eye. [Whispers with BLANCH. Bast. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye!— Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow! And quarter'd in her heart!—he doth espy Himself love's traitor: This is pity now, 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 : That any thing he sees, which moves his liking, Or, if you will, (to speak more properly,) I will enforce it easily to my love. Further I will not flatter you, my lord, That all I see in you is worthy love, (Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your judge,) That I can find should merit any hate. K. John. What say these young ones? What say you, my niece? Blanch. That she is bound in honour still to do What you in wisdom shall vouchsafe to say. K. John. Speak then, prince Dauphin; can you love this lady? Lew. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love; For I do love her most unfeignedly. K. John. Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine, Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces, With her to thee; and this addition more, Full thirty thousand marks of English coin. Philip of France, if thou be pleas'd withal, VOL. V. 3 B 2 |