Baft. They found him dead, and caft into the streets, An empty Casket, where the lewell of life 43 By some damn'd hand was rob'd, and tane away. 45 But wherefore doe you droope? why looke you fad? 44. Iewell of life] jewel, life, Pope,+. 47. So ... Joule] So, ... soul, Cap. et seq. ought] Ff, Rowe, Pope, Theob. i, Han. Cap. Words. 50 55 57 53. threatner] threatener Coll. Dyce, Del. Wh. Cam.+, Huds. Fle. Words. Dono. Neils. Craig. 56. Grow] Show Herr. 56, 57. and...refolution.] Om. Bell. 57. Spirit of refolution] sprite of resolu tion Fle. spirit of resolutión Words. 50-52. fad...be] blank...meet Coll. MS. speare's play we pass with extraordinary swiftness from John having learnt that Arthur actually lives to John having just resigned his crown to Rome. Between these two scenes Arthur has died; but John does not know of it. John thus submits to Rome still thinking Arthur lives. This is so important and obvious a change that it cannot have been without design. The intention of the dramatist is fairly apparent. The news of Arthur's death smites John down; it paralyses his action; it is now that the intrepid and energetic Bastard comes forward with all the fire of Richard, and steps into John's place as leader; it is now that John begins his decline. The submission of the crown to Rome was but a step on the way, and it is not that step in the main which Shakespeare has in view. What to him is so dramatically important is the final catastrophe. The attempt on Arthur and the consequent secession of nobles drove John to surrender to Rome. Surrender to Rome proved unavailing. But the old John sending back Chatillon 'as lightning in the eyes of France,' and hurling defiance at France and Rome, could yet have risen as the Bastard objurgated him, 'to outface the brow of bragging horror.' To all the Bastard's exclamations of horror at compromise with the 'cock'red silken wanton' of France, John says but this: 'Have thou the ordering of the present time.' The news of the actual death of Arthur is carried over from the dramatically incidental resignation of the crown to the dramatically important death. The change is part of Shakespeare's attempt to reconcile the brave and aggressive John of the play's beginning with the weakling at its end. It links the death of Arthur with the death of John. 56, 57. put on .. of resolution] MALONE: So in Macbeth: 'Let's briefly put on manly readiness.'-II, iii, 139.—[Malone is, I think, quite wrong; there is Away, and glister like the god of warre 58 When he intendeth to become the field: Shew boldnesse and aspiring confidence: 60 What, shall they feeke the Lion in his denne, And fright him there? and make him tremble there? 58. Away,] Away! Coll. Sing. ii, Del. Ktly, Huds. i, Dono. Craig. 60. confidence:] confidence. Rowe et seq. 61. What,] What! Coll. Wh. i, Ktly, Huds. Craig. 61, 62. denne,...there?] den?...there; Cap. Var. '78, '85, Rann, Mal. Steev. Varr. den?...there? Var. '73. 64 63. Oh] O! Coll. Del. Huds. Craig. Jaid:] Ff, Rowe, Cam.+. said. Coll. Del. Wh. i, Huds. i, Fle. Dono. Craig. said! Pope et cet. forrage,] Courage! Coll. ii, iii. (MS.). forward! Long MS. ap. Cam. 64. farther] further Steev. Varr. Sing. i, Knt, Coll. i, ii, Dyce, Del. Hal. Words. no parallelism beyond the fact that the present line is a simile; the line in Macbeth refers to the putting on of actual clothing.—ED.] 59. become] MURRAY (N. E. D., s. v. vb, 9 c.): Of a person: To grace or adorn his surroundings, place or position, to occupy or wear with fitting grace. [Steevens compares: 'Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.'Hamlet, V, ii, 413.] 63. forrage] JOHNSON: To forage is here used in its original sense, for to range abroad.-STAUNTON (Addenda and Corrigenda, p. lxvi.), in corroboration of Johnson's definition, remarks: 'Florio after explaining Foragio to mean fodder, &c., says it had anciently the sense of Fuora, which is out, abroad, forth.'-FLEAY: 'Forage' here means, seek for prey, as always in Shakespeare; and Marlowe, Tamburlaine, III, i: 'Forage up and down.' [Fleay also quotes in illustration: 'And forage their country as they have done ours,' Edward III: IV, iii; and Edward III: II, i. (Shakespeare's part): 'The lion doth become his bloody jaws And grace his foragement by being wild When vassals fear his trembling at his feet '-I do not know from what text Fleay quotes this last; in Collier's ed. p. 31 the lines read: 'And grace his foragement, by being mild When vassal fear lies trembling at his feet '-A trifling point, hardly worth the noting, were it not that Rolfe copies Fleay's misquotation and changes the last two words to 'their feet.' -ED.-HUDSON (ed. ii.): Collier's MS. Corrector substitutes Courage for 'Forage,' and, I suspect rightly, as, at the close of the scene, the speaker says: 'Away, then, with good courage!' The old text seems indeed to be sustained by several quotations showing that lion and forage were apt to be used together. So in Henry V: 'Smiling to behold his lion's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility.'-I, ii, 109. Also in Chapman's Revenge of Bussy d'Ambois: 'And looke how lyons close kept, fed by hand Lose quite th' innative fire of spirit and greatness That lions free breathe, forraging for prey.'-II, i. Still I am not sure that the argument from these passages will fairly cover the case in hand; as it is the spirit of resistance and defence, not of conquest, that Faulconbridge is trying to kindle in John.— MARSHALL, on the other hand, decides that 'these instances are quite sufficient to prove that the text is right, the word 'forage' having been suggested by the comparison of John to a lion in 1. 61. 65 And grapple with him ere he come so nye. Iohn. The Legat of the Pope hath beene with mee, Baft. Oh inglorious league: Shall we vpon the footing of our land, Send fayre-play-orders, and make comprimise, To Armes Inuafiue? Shall a beardlesse boy, 65. come] comes Hal. Cam. i,+, Dono. Craig. nye] nigh F,F4. 69. Dolphin] Ff, Wh. Ktly. Dauphin Rowe et cet. 70. league:] league! Pope et seq. 72. fayre-play-orders] Ff, Rowe,+. fair-play offers Sing. ii, Coll. ii, iii. 70 75 (MS.), Wh. Ktly, Dyce ii, iii, Huds. ii, Words. fair-play orders Cap. et cet. 72. comprimife] compromise Rowe ii. 75. cockred-filken] cockred, silken Pope, Theob. i. cocker'd, silken Theob. ii, Han. Warb. Johns. Var. '73. Ktly. cock'red silken Fle. Neils. cocker'd silken Cap. et cet. 71. vpon the footing of our land] WRIGHT: That is, standing on our own soil. -DEIGHTON: Possibly the meaning is, when an enemy has set foot upon our shores; in Henry V: 'For he is footed in their land already,' II, iv, 143; Richard II: 'Who strongly hath set footing in this land,' II, ii, 48. 72. fayre-play-orders] C. & M. COWDEN CLARKE, referring to the MS. Corrector's change, offers, retain the Folio reading, and suggest that 'orders' is here used in the sense, arrangements, proposed measures, since this word is used apparently with this meaning in 'Achievements, plots, orders, preventions, Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,' Tro. & Cress., I, iii, 181; and in 'The Emperor's coming to the field of France To order peace between them,' Henry V: V, chor., 1. 39. They also call attention to the word 'order' in the next scene, l. 7, where it may be taken in this same sense.—[SCHMIDT (Lex.) quotes both these lines as examples of the word in the sense, condition, stipulation. The N. E. D. does not include this meaning among the several senses of the word 'order.'MARSHALL adopts the meaning given by Schmidt, remarking that ""Fair-play" is here used more in the sense friendly treatment than in its strict sense of fair or just dealing.'-ED.] 75. cockred] SKEAT (Dict.): To pamper, indulge children. Of uncertain origin. Cotgrave says: 'coqueliner un enfant, to dandle, cocker, fondle, pamper, make a wanton of a child.' [The words 'cocker' and 'wanton' seem to be closely allied; besides the present line Skeat quotes: 'Neuer had cockered us, nor made us so wanton.'-Sir T. More's Works, p. 337 d. See also next note by Wright.—ED.] 75. wanton] WRIGHT: That is, a person brought up in luxury and effeminacy. Compare: 'Which he, young wanton and effeminate boy.'-Richard II: V, iii, 10. And Lyly's Euphues: 'I am enforced to thinke that... thy parents made thee a wanton with too much cockering' (ed. Arber), p. 36. 75. braue] WRIGHT: 'Brave' is here used in the ordinary sense of defy, with a side reference to the meaning of the adjective 'brave,' showy, splendid; as if 'to And flesh his spirit in a warre-like foyle, And finde no checke? Let vs my Liege to Armes: They faw we had a purpose of defence. Iohn. Haue thou the ordering of this present time. Baft. Away then with good courage: yet I know Our Partie may well meet a prowder foe. 77. idlely] idely F3F4, Rowe, Pope, Theob. idly Han. et seq. 78. Armes:] arms! Ktly. 79. cannot] can't Pope,+(-Var. '73), Cap. 76 80 Exeunt. 84 82. ordering] ord'ring Pope,+ (-Var. '73), Cap. 83. courage:] courage! Dyce, Hal. Wh. Cam.+, Coll. iii, Huds. ii, Words. Neils. Craig. brave our fields' signified to display his finery in our fields It is quite in Shakespeare's manner to select his words with reference to the other meanings of which they are capable. For example, in Hamlet, III, i, 76, ‘a bare bodkin' is a mere bodkin, but the epithet 'bare' is used in preference because it also might mean 'unsheathed.' 77. Mocking... idlely spred] JOHNSON compares: 'Where the Norweyan banners flout the sky And turn our people cold.'-Macbeth, I, ii, 49.-MALONE: From these two passages Gray seems to have formed the first stanza of his celebrated Ode: 'Ruin seize thee, ruthless king! Confusion on thy banners wait! Though fann'd by conquest's crimson wing They mock the air with idle state.' 77. idlely] WALKER (Vers., p. 14) notes that this word is frequently so spelt in the Folio, 'even when pronounced as a dissyllable,' as here. His other examples of this form are: 'God helpe poor souls, how idlely doe they talke.'-Com. of Errors, IV, iv. (Folio, p. 96, col. 1); and 'Are idlely bent on him that enters next.'Richard II: V, ii. (Folio, p. 42, col. 1). [See, IV, ii, 128: 'I idely heard.'-ED.] 83, 84. Away. ... a prowder foe] JOHNSON: Let us then away with courage; yet I so well know the faintness of our party, that I think it may easily happen that they shall encounter enemies who have more spirit than themselves.— STEEVENS: Dr Johnson is, I believe, mistaken. Faulconbridge means—for all their boasting, I know very well that our party is able to cope with one yet prouder and more confident of its strength than theirs. Faulconbridge would otherwise dispirit the king, whom he means to animate.-BOSWELL: 'Yet I know' is still I know.'-DOUCE (i, 408): It may be doubted whether Steevens has sufficiently simplified the meaning, which is: 'yet I know that our party is fully competent to engage a more valiant foe.' 'Prouder' has in this place the signification of the old French word preux. Scœna Secunda. Enter (in Armes) Dolphin, Salisbury, Meloone, Pem broke, Bigot, Souldiers. Dol. My Lord Melloone, let this be coppied out, And keepe it safe for our remembrance: Sal. Vpon our fides it neuer shall be broken. 1. Scœna Secunda.] SCENE II. Rowe et seq. The Dauphin's Camp. Pope. The Dauphin's Camp, at St Edmundsbury. Theob.+, Var. '78, '85, Rann. Cam.+, Neils. A Plain in Suffolk. Cap. Near St Edmundsbury. The French Camp. Dyce, Hal. Coll. iii, Huds. ii, Words. Craig. Near St Edmundsbury. The Dauphin's Tent. Dono. A Plain near St Edmundsbury. Mal. et cet. 2. Enter...Dolphin,] Drums, &c. Enter Lewis, and Forces marching. Cap. Dolphin,] Ff, Ktly. Louis, Dyce, Hal. Wh. i, Huds. ii. Lewis, Rowe et cet. 2, 4. Meloone (Melloone),] Ktly. Chatillion, Bell, Kemble. Melun, Rowe et cet. 3. Souldiers.] and Others. Cap. 5. remembrance] rememberance Ktly, Fle. 6. prefident] precedent Johns. et seq. 9. wherefore] wherefore Steev. Varr. Knt, Dyce ii, iii, Fle. Huds. ii, Words. 12. And] And, F4. 13. and an] and Pope, Theob. Han. Warb. Johns. Huds. ii, Words. Dono. an Cap. Steev. Varr. Sing. Knt, Dyce, Del. Fle. Craig. 1. Scœna Secunda] THEOBALD, in justification of his placing the locality of this scene as 'A Plain, near St Edmund's-Bury, says: 'In the preceding Act, where Salisbury has fixed to go over to the Dauphin, he says: "Lords, I will meet him at St Edmund's-Bury." And Count Melun, in this Act, says: "Upon the altar at St Edmund's-Bury... where we swore to you Dear amity." And it appears from The Troublesome Raigne that the interchange of vows between the Dauphin and the English barons was at St Edmund's-Bury.' 6. president] M. MASON (Comments, etc., p. 160): That is, the rough draft of the treaty. So in Richard III. the Scrivener employed to engross the indictment of Lord Hastings says that 'it took him eleven hours to write it, and the precedent was full as long a-doing.'-[III, vi, 9, 10]. 9 wherefore] Here accented on the second syllable; for other examples of this change of accent, see Walker (Vers.), ch. xi. 13. A voluntary ... Faith] DAWSON notes that by reading 'unurgèd' this line becomes a regular Alexandrine, and there is thus no need to make any omissions for the sake of the metre. |