Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

8

And France, (whofe armour confcience buckled on
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field,
As God's own foldier) rounded in the ear
With that fame purpofe-changer, that fly devil;
That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith;
That daily break-vow; he that wins of all,
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,
(Who having no external thing to lofe

But the word maid, cheats the poor maid of that)
That smooth-fac'd gentleman, tickling commodity,
Commodity, the bias of the world;

The world, who of itself is peised well,
Made to run even, upon even ground;
'Till this advantage, this vile drawing bias,
This fway of motion, this commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent :
And this fame bias, this commodity,

This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapt on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid,
From a refolv'd and honourable war,

Again, in the Downfal of Robert E. of Huntington, 1601:

"The world shall not depart us 'till we die." STEEVens. 8 -rounded in the ear] i. e. Whispered in the ear. The word is frequently used by Chaucer, as well as later writers. So, in Lingua, or A Combat of the Tongue, &c. 1607:

"I help'd Herodotus to pen fome part of his Mufes; lent Pliny ink to write his hiftory, and rounded Rabelais in the car when he hiftorified Pantagruel.

Again, in The Spanish Tragedy:

"Forthwith Revenge, he rounded me i th' ear."

STEEVENS.

• Commodity, the bias of the world;] Commodity is intereft. So, in Damon and Pythias, 1582:

Again:

66

for vertue's fake only,

"They would honour friendship, and not for commoditie.”

"I will use his friendship to mine own commoditie.”

STEEVENS.

Το

To a most base and vile-concluded peace.-
And why rail I on this commodity?

I

But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:
Not that I have the power to clutch ' my hand,
When his fair angels would falute my palm;
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail,
And fay, there is no fin, but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be,
To fay, there is no vice, but beggary:
Since kings break faith upon commodity,

Gain, be iny lord; for I will worship thee! [Exit.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

-The French king's pavilion.

Enter Conftance, Arthur, and Salisbury.

Conft. Gone to be marry'd! gone to fwear a peace! Falfe blood to falfe blood join'd! Gone to be friends! Shall Lewis have Blanch? and Blanch thofe provinces ?

It is not fo; thou haft mif-fpoke, mif-heard;
Be well advis'd, tell o'er thy tale again:
It cannot be; thou doft but say, 'tis fo;
I truft, I may not truft thee; for thy word
Is but the vain breath of a common man :
Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;
I have a king's oath to the contrary.

1

-clutch my hand,] To clutch my hand, is to clafp it close. So, in Antonio's Revenge, 1602:

"The fist of strenuous vengeance is clutch'd." STEEVENS.

VOL. V.

E

Thou

Thou shalt be punifh'd for thus frighting me,
For I am fick, and capable of fears;

Opprefs'd with wrongs, and therefore full of fears;
A widow, husbandlefs, fubject to fears;
A woman, naturally born to fears:

And though thou now confefs, thou didst but jeft,
With my vext spirits I cannot take a truće,
But they will quake and tremble all this day.
What dost thou mean by fhaking of thy head?
Why doft thou look fo fadly on my fon?
What means that hand upon that breaft of thine?
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?
Be thefe fad fighs confirmers of thy words?
Then fpeak again; not all thy former tale,
But this one word, whether thy tale be true.

Sal. As true, as, I believe, you think them false, That give you caufe to prove my faying true.

Conft. Oh, if thou teach me to believe this forrow, Teach thou this forrow how to make me die; And let belief and life encounter fo,

As doth the fury of two defperate men,

Which, in the very meeting, fall, and die.—
Lewis marry Blanch! Oh, boy, then where art thou?
France friend with England! what becomes of me?
Fellow, be gone; I cannot brook thy fight;
This news hath made thee a moft ugly man.
Sal. What other harm have I, good lady, done,
Eut fpoke the harm that is by others done?
Conft. Which harm within itself fo heinous is,
As it makes harmful all that speak of it.

Arth. I do befeech you, madam, be content.
Conft. If thou, that bidft me be content, wert grim,

Ugly,

If thou, &c.] Maffinger appears to have copied this paffage in The Unnatural Combat:

"If thou hadst been born

"Deform'd and crooked in the features of

Thy

Ugly, and fland'rous to thy mother's womb,
Full of unpleafing blots, and fightless ftains,
Lame, foolish, crooked, fwart, prodigious,
Patch'd with foul moles, and eye-offending marks,
I would not care, I then would be content;
For then I fhould not love thee; no, nor thou
Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown.
But thou art fair; and at thy birth, dear boy!
Nature and fortune join'd to make thee'great:
Of nature's gifts thou may'ft with lilies boaft,
And with the half-blown rofe: but fortune, oh!
She is corrupted, chang'd, and won from thee;
She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John;
And with her golden hand hath pluck'd on France
To tread down fair refpect of fovereignty,
And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.
France is a bawd to fortune, and king John;
That ftrumpet fortune, that ufurping John :--
Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forfworn?
Envenom him with words; or get thee gone,
And leave those woes alone, which I alone
Am bound to under-bear.

3

"Thy body, as the manners of thy mind,
"Moor-lip'd, flat-nos'd, &c. &c.

"I had been bleft." STEEVENS.

fightless] The poet ufes fightlefs for that which we now exprefs by unfightly, difagreeable to the eyes. JOHNSON. 4 -prodigious,] That is, portentous, fo deformed as to be ta ken for a foretoken of evil. JOHNSON.

In this fenfe it is used by Decker in the first part of the Honeft Whore, 1635:

yon comet fhews his head again;

"Twice hath he thus at crofs-turns thrown on us
"Prodigious looks."

Again, in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1607:

"Over whofe roof hangs this prodigious comet."

Again, in the English Arcadia, by Jarvis Markham, 1607:

yes, I was prodigious to thy birth-right, and as a blazing ftar at thine unlook'd for funeral." STEEVENS.

[blocks in formation]

Sal. Pardon me, madam,

I may not go without you to the kings.
Conft. Thou may'ft, thou fhalt, I will not go with
thee:

I will inftruct my forrows to be proud;
For grief is proud, and makes his owner ftouts.
To me, and to the ftate of my great grief,
Let kings affemble; for my grief's fo great,
That no fupporter but the huge firm earth
Can hold it up: here I and forrows fit;
Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it".
[Throws her felf on the ground.

[ocr errors]

Enter

makes its owner stout.] The old editions have :-makes its owner toop: the emendation is Hanmer's. JOHNSON. So, in Daniel's Civil Wars, b. vi:

"Full with fout grief and with disdainful woe.”

To me, and to the ftate of my great grief,

Let kings affemble;

STEEVENS.

In Much ado about Nothing, the father of Hero, depreffed by her difgrace, declares himself fo fubdued by grief that a thread may lead him. How is it that grief in Leonato and lady Constance produces effects directly oppofite, and yet both agreeable to nature? Sorrow foftens the mind while it is yet warmed by hope, but hardens it when it is congealed by despair. Diftrefs, while there remains any profpect of relief, is weak and flexible, but when no fuccour remains, is fearless and stubborn; angry alike at those that injure, and at those that do not help; careless to please where nothing can be gained, and fearlefs to offend when there is nothing further to be dreaded. Such was this writer's knowledge of the paffions. JOHNSON.

7

-bid kings come bow to it.] I must here account for the liberty I have taken to make a change in the divifion of the ad and 3d acts. In the old editions, the 2d act was made to end here; though it is evident, lady Conftance here, in her defpair, feats herself on the floor: and the muft be fuppofed, as I formerly obferved, immediately to rife again, only to go off and end the act decently; or the fat fcene muft fhut her in from the fight of the audience, an abfurdity I cannot accuse Shakespeare of. Mr. Gildon and fome other criticks fancied, that a confiderable part of the 2d act was loft; and that the chaẩm began here. I had joined in

« ForrigeFortsett »