some "commodity" to offer which shall draw sustain this laceration, and that the effects them should pass away when Constance quits the "To a most base and vile-concluded peace." stage? The remembrance of Constance can With what skill has Shakspere, whilst he never be separated from the after-scenes in thus painted the spirit of the chivalrous which Arthur appears; and at the very last, times,-lofty in words, but sordid in acts, when the poison has done its work upon the given us a running commentary which in- guilty king, we can scarcely help believing terprets the whole in the sarcasms of the Bas- that the spirit of Constance hovers over him, tard! But amidst all the clatter of conven- and that the echo of the mother's cries is tional dignity which we find in the speeches even more insupportable than the "burn'd of John, and Philip, and Lewis, and Austria, bosom" and the "parch'd lips," which neithe real dignity of strong natural affections ther his "kingdom's rivers" nor the "bleak rises over the pomp and circumstance of winds" of the north "can comfort with regal ambition with a force of contrast which cold." By the magic of the poet, the interis little less than sublime. The maternal val of fourteen years between the death of terror and anguish of Constance soon be- Arthur and the death of John is annihilated. come the prominent objects; and the rival | Causes and consequences, separated in the kings, the haughty prelate, the fierce knights, proper history by long digressions and tethe yielding citizens, appear but as puppets dious episodes, are brought together. The moved by destiny to force on the most bitter death of Arthur and the events which marked sorrows of that broken-hearted mother. the last days of John were separated in their Matchless as is the art of the poet in these cause and effect by time only, over which scenes;-matchless as an exhibition of ma- the poet leaps. In the chroniclers we have ternal sorrow only, apart from the whirlwind manifold changes of fortune in the life of of conflicting passions that are mixed up John after Arthur of Brittany has fallen. In with that sorrow;-are we to believe that Shakspere, Arthur of Brittany is at once Shakspere intended that our hearts should revenged. KING JOHN. PERSONS REPRESENTED. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2. PRINCE HENRY, son to King John; afterwards King Henry III. Appears, Act V. sc. 7. ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne, the elder brother of King John. Appears, Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4. GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, chief justiciary of England. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk. Appears, Act IV. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 7. HUBERT DE BURGH, chamberlain to the King. Appears, Act II. sc. 2. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 2; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 3; sc. 6. ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, son of Sir Robert Faulconbridge. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, half-brother to Robert Faulconbridge, bastard son to King Richard I. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2. JAMES GURNEY, servant to Lady Faulcon bridge. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. PETER OF POMFRET, a Prophet. Appears, Act IV. sc. 2. PHILIP, King of France. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act III. sc. 1. CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate. Appears, Act III. sc. 1; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1. ELINOR, the widow of King Henry II., and mother of King John. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1; sc. 2. CONSTANCE, mother to Arthur. Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriffs, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE, SOMETIMES IN ENGLAND; SOMETIMES IN FRANCE. In the original edition we have no 'Names of the Actors.' Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON. KING JOHN. Now say, Chatillon, what would France with us? In my behaviour", to the majesty, The borrow'd majesty of England here. ELI. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty! K. JOHN. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy. a Behaviour. Haviour, behaviour, is the manner of having, the conduct. CHAT. Philip of France, in right and true behalf Which sways usurpingly these several titles; K. JOHN. What follows if we disallow of this? To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld. K. JOHN. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, K. JOHN. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace; For ere thou canst report I will be there, [Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE. ELI. What now, my son? have I not ever said, Which now the managea of two kingdoms must K. JOHN. Our strong possession, and our right, for us. So much my conscience whispers in your ear; Which none but Heaven, and you, and I, shall hear. Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers ESSEX. ESSEX. My liege, here is the strangest controversy, a Manage has, in Shakspere, the same meaning as management and managery,-which, applied to a state is equivalent to government. Prospero says of Antonio: "He whom, next thyself, Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put The manage of my state." Come from the country to be judg'd by you, That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men? K. JOHN. Let them approach. Our abbeys, and our priories, shall pay [Exit Sheriff. Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, and PHILIP, his bastard Brother. This expedition's charge.-What men are you? BAST. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman, K. JOHN. What art thou? ROB. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge. BAST. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it; That is my brother's plea, and none of mine; BAST. I know not why, except to get the land. But once he slander'd me with bastardy: But whera I be as true begot, or no, (Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!) And were our father, and this son like him ; O old sir Robert, father, on my knee I give Heaven thanks I was not like to thee. a Wher. This in the original is where; it is sometimes wher. The word, however spelt, has the meaning of whether, but does not appear to have been written as a contraction either by Shakspere or his contemporaries. |