Bast. O prudent discipline! from north to south, Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth. I'll stir them to't.-Come, away, away! [Aside. 1 Cit. Hear us, great kings! vouchsafe a while to stay, And I shall show you peace, and fair-faced league; K. John. Speak on, with favor; we are bent to hear. 1 Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch,1 Is near to England; look upon the years If not complete, O say, he is not she; And she again wants nothing, to name want, O, two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bound them in; And two such shores to two such streams made one, 1 The lady Blanch was daughter to Alphonso, the ninth king of Castile, and was niece to king John by his sister Eleanor. 2 Zealous for pious. This union shall do more than battery can, Lions more confident, mountains and rocks As we to keep this city. Bast. Here's a stay,2 That shakes the rotten carcass 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! He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and Bounce; But buffets better than a fist of France. Zounds! I was never so bethumped with words, Since I first called my brother's father, dad. Eli. Son, list to this conjunction; make this match. Give with our niece a dowry large enough; For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie Thy now unsured assurance to the crown, Mark, how they whisper. Urge them, while their souls Are capable of this ambition! Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath 1 Spleen is used by Shakspeare for any violent hurry or tumultuous speed. In a Midsummer Night's Dream he applies spleen to the lightning. 2 A stay here seems to mean a supporter of a cause. "Here's an extraordinary partisan or maintainer that shakes," &c. It has been proposed to read, "Here's a say,” i. e. a speech; Johnson and Mason read flaw. Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse, 1 Cit. Why answer not the double majesties This friendly treaty of our threatened town? K. Phi. 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; As she in beauty, education, blood, Holds hand with any princess of the world. K. Phi. 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 formed in her eye; Till now infixed I beheld myself 1 Drawn in the flattering table of her eye. [Whispers with BLANCH. Bast. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye!Hanged in the frowning wrinkle of her brow!And quartered in her heart!-He doth espy Himself love's traitor. This is pity now, That hanged, and drawn, and quartered, there should be, In such a love, so vile a lout as he. 1 The table is the plain surface on which any thing is depicted or written (tablette, Fr.). Blanch. My uncle's will, in this respect, is mine. Or, if you will, (to speak more properly,) (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 honor 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, Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces, Aust. And your lips, too; for I am well assured K. Phi. Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates; Let in that amity which you have made; For, at Saint Mary's chapel, presently, The rites of marriage shall be solemnized. 1 This is the ancient name for the country now called the Verin, in Latin, Pagus Velocassinus. That part of it called the Norman Vexin was in dispute between Philip and John. This and the subsequent line (except the words "do I give") are taken from the old play. 2 Affianced, contracted. Is not the lady Constance in this troop?— I know she is not; for this match, made up, tent. 1 K. Phi. And, by my faith, this league, hat we have made, Will give her sadness very little cure.— Which we, God knows, have turned another way, K. John. We will heal up all; For we'll create young Arthur duke of Bretagne, [Exeunt all but the Bastard.-The Citizens Bast. Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole, Hath willingly departed 2 with a part; And France, (whose armor conscience buckled on; As God's own soldier,) rounded in the ear 1 Passionate here means agitated, perturbed, a prey to mournful sensations, not moved or disposed to anger. Thus in the old play, entitled, The true Tragedie of Richard, Duke of York, 1600 :— -Tell me, good madam, Why is your grace so passionate of late?" 2 To part and depart were formerly synonymous. 3 To round or rown in the ear is to whisper; from the Saxon ruman, susurrare. The word and its etymology is fully illustrated by Casaubon, in his Treatise de Ling. Saxonica, and in a Letter by Sir II. Spelman, published in Wormius, Literatura Runica. Hafniæ, 1651, p. 4. |