Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
Thou fortune's champion, that dost never fight
But when her humorous ladyship is by
To teach thee safety! thou art perjur'd too,
And sooth'st up greatness. What a fool art thou,
A ramping fool; to brag, and stamp, and swear,
Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my
side?
Been sworn my soldier? bidding me depend
Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength?
And dost thou now fall over to my foes?
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs 12,
Aust. O, that a man should speak those words
to me!

Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
Aust. Thou dar'st not say so, villain, for thy life.
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant
limbs 13.

K. John. We like not this; thou dost forget thyself.

12 Sir John Hawkins thought that there was here a sarcastic intention of calling Austria a fool; he says that a calf-skin coat was anciently the dress of a fool. It is more probable, as Ritson observes, that she means to call him a coward; she tells him that a calf's-skin would suit his recreant limbs better than a lion's. A calf-hearted fellow is still used for a dastardly person.

13 Pope inserted the following lines from the old play here, which he thought necessary to explain the ground of the Bastard's quarrel with Austria:'

Aust. Methinks that Richard's pride, and Richard's fall Should be a precedent to fright you all.

Faulc. What words are these? How do my sinews shake! My father's foe clad in my father's spoil! How doth Alecto whisper in my ears, Delay not, Richard, kill the villain straight; Disrobe him of the matchless monument, Thy father's triumph o'er the savages !— Now by his soul I swear, my father's soul, Twice will I not review the morning's rise, Till I have torn that trophy from thy back, And split thy heart for wearing it so long.'

Enter PANDULPH,

K. Phi. Here comes the holy legate of the pope. Pand. Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven :To thee, King John, my holy errand is.

I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,

And from Pope Innocent the legate here,
Do, in his name, religiously demand,

Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
So wilfully dost spurn; and, force perforce,
Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop
Of Canterbury, from that holy see?

This, in our 'foresaid holy father's name,
Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

K. John. What earthly name to interrogatories 14,
Can task the free breath of a sacred king?
Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,

To charge me to an answer, as the pope.

Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England,
Add thus much more,―That no Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;

But as we under heaven are supreme head,
So under him, that great supremacy,
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the assistance of a mortal hand:
So tell the pope all reverence set apart,
To him and his usurp'd authority.

K. Phi. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this. K. John. Though you, and all the kings of Christendom,

14 What earthly name subjoined to interrogatories, can force a king to speak and answer them? The old copy reads earthy. The emendation was Pope's. It has also tash instead of task in the next line, which was substituted by Theobald. Johnson observes that this must have been a very captivating scene at the time of our struggles with popery.

Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
And, by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself:
Though you, and all the rest, so grossly led,
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish;
Yet I, alone, alone do me oppose
Against the

my

foes.

and count his friends pope, Pand. Then, by the lawful power that I have, Thou shalt stand curs'd, and excommunicate: And blessed shall he be, that doth revolt From his allegiance to an heretick; And meritorious shall that hand be call'd, Canonized, and worship'd as a saint, That takes away by any secret course Thy hateful life.

Const. O, lawful let it be, That I have room with Rome to curse a while! Good father cardinal, cry thou, amen,

To my keen curses; for, without my wrong,
There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
Pand. There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
Const. And for mine too; when law can do no
right,

Let it be lawful, that law bar no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here;
For he that holds his kingdom, holds the law:
Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
Pand. Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
Let go
the hand of that arch-heretick;
And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do submit himself to Rome.

Eli. Look'st thou pale, France? do not let go
thy hand.

Const. Look to that, devil! lest that France repent, And, by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul. Aust. King Philip, listen to the cardinal. Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs. Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, Because

Bast. Your breeches best may carry them 15 K. John. Philip, what say'st thou to the cardinal? Const. What should he say, but as the cardinal? Lew. Bethink you, father; for the difference Is, purchase of a heavy curse from Rome, Or the light loss of England for a friend: Forgo the easier.

Blanch.

That's the curse of Rome.

Const. O Lewis, stand fast; the devil tempts thee here,

In likeness of a new untrimmed 16 bride.

15 This may be a proverbial sarcasm; but the allusion is now lost. We have something similar in the old play of King Leir, 1605:

'Mum. We'll have a pair of slops for the nonce

Will hold all your mocks.'

16 Trim is dress. Comptus virgineus is explained by the dictionaries, 'The attyre of maydens, or maidenly trimming.' An untrimmed bride may therefore mean a bride undressed or disencumbered of the forbidding forms of dress. It is however probable that this term may have been used for a virgin bride, as the following passage in The Loyal Subject of Beaumont and Fletcher will show. Theodore, in describing the ravages of the Tartars, says to Boroskie:

'They would not only have abused your buildings,
Your goodly buildings, sir, and have drunk your butteries,
Purloin'd your lordship's plate, the duke bestowed on you,
For turning handsomely o'th' toe, and trimm'd your virgins,
Trimm'd'em of a new cut, an't like your worship,

'Tis ten to one, your wife too.'

The same use of the word is made in The False One, Act ii. Sc. 3. In Titus Andronicus, Act i. Sc. 1; and in the fourth act of Chapman's May Day; to a note on which, in the fourth volume of the Ancient Drama, I owe the suggestion.

Blanch. The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,

But from her need.

Const. O, if thou grant my need, Which only lives but by the death of faith, That need must needs infer this principle,That faith would live again by death of need; O, then, tread down my need, and faith mounts up; Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down.

K. John. The king is mov'd, and answers not to
this.

Const. O, be remov'd from him, and answer well.
Aust. Do so, King Philip; hang no more in doubt.
Bast. Hang nothing but a calf's-skin, most sweet
lout.

K. Phi. I am perplex'd, and know not what to say.
Pand. What canst thou say, but will perplex
thee more,

If thou stand excommunicate, and curs'd?

K. Phi. Good reverend father, make my person

yours,

And tell me, how you would bestow yourself. This royal hand and mine are newly knit; And the conjunction of our inward souls Married in league, coupled and link'd together With all religious strength of sacred vows; The latest breath that gave the sound of words, Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love,. Between our kingdoms, and our royal selves; And even before this truce, but new before,No longer than we well could wash our hands, To clap this royal bargain up of peace, Heaven knows, they were besmear'd and overstain'd With slaughter's pencil; where revenge did paint The fearful difference of incensed kings:And shall these hands, so lately purg'd of blood,