Philip of France, if thou be pleas'd withal,
Command thy son and daughter to join hands.
K. Phi. It likes us well;-Young princes, close
your hands 20

Aust. And your lips too; for, I am well assur'd, That I did so, when I was first assur'd 21.

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 solemniz'd.Is not the Lady Constance in this troop?I know, she is not; for this match, made up, Her presence would have interrupted much :Where is she and her son? tell me, who knows. Lew. She is sad and passionate 22 at your high

ness' tent.

K. Phi. And, by my faith, this league, that we have made,

Will give her sadness very little cure.—
Brother of England, how may we content
This widow lady? In her right we came;
Which we, God knows, have turn'd another way,
To our own vantage 23.

We will heal

up

all;

K. John. For we'll create young Arthur duke of Bretagne, And earl of Richmond; and this rich fair town We make him lord of.-Call the Lady Constance; Some speedy messenger bid her repair

To our solemnity:-I trust we shall,

20 See Winter's Tale, Act i. Sc. 2, p. 8.

21 Affianced, contracted.

22 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.'

23 Advantage.

If not fill up the measure of her will,
Yet in some measure satisfy her so,
That we shall stop her exclamation.
Go we, as well as haste will suffer us,
To this unlook'd for unprepared pomp.

[Exeunt all but the Bastard.-The Citizens
retire from the Walls.

Bast. Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole, Hath willingly departed 4 with a part:

24

And France (whose armour conscience buckled on;
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field,
As God's own soldier), rounded 25 in the ear
With that same purpose-changer, that sly 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 lose

But the word maid,-cheats the poor maid of that; That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity 26;

Commodity, the bias of the world;

24 To part and depart were formerly synonymous. So in Cooper's Dictionary, v. communico, to communicate or departe a thing I have with another.'

25 To round or rown in the ear is to whisper; from the Saxon runian, susurrare. The word and its etymology is fully illustrated by Casaubon in his Treatise de Ling. Saxonica, and in a Letter by Sir H. Spelman, published in Wormius, Literatura Runica. Hafniæ, 1651, p. 4.

26 Commodity is interest, advantage. So Baret:-'What fruite or commoditie had he by this his friendship?' Alvearie, letter C. 867. The construction of this passage, though harsh to modern ears, is-Commodity, he that wins of all,―he that cheats the poor maid of that only external thing she has to lose, namely the word maid, i. e. her chastity.'

Henderson has adduced a passage from Cupid's Whirligig, 1607, which happily illustrates the word bias in this passage:'O, the world is like a byas bowle, and it runs

All on the rich men's sides.'

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

hand,

This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determin'd aid,
From a resolv'd and honourable war,
To a most base and vile-concluded peace.-
And why rail I on this commodity?
But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:
Not that I have the
power to clutch 27
my
When his fair angels 28 would salute my palm:
But for 29 my hand, as unattempted yet,
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail,
And say, there is no sin, but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be,
To say, there is no vice, but beggary:
Since kings break faith upon commodity,
Gain, be
my lord! for I will worship thee!

27 Clasp.

28 Coin.

[Exit 30.

29 i. e. but cause.

30 In the old copy the second Act extends to the end of the speech of Lady Constance, in the next scene, at the conclusion of which she throws herself on the ground. The present division, which was made by Theobald, is certainly right,

ACT III.

SCENE I. The same. The French King's Tent. Enter CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and SALISBURY,

Const. Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood join'd! Gone to be friends! Shall Lewis have Blanch? and Blanch those provinces ?

It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard;
Be well advis'd, tell o'er thy tale again:
It cannot be; thou dost but say, 'tis so:
I trust, I may not trust 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.
Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me,
For I am sick, and capable1 of fears.
Oppress'd with wrongs, and therefore full of fears;
A widow, husbandless, subject to fears;
A woman, naturally born to fears;

And though thou now confess, thou didst but jest,
With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce,
But they will quake and tremble all this day.
What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?
Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?
What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Like a proud river peering2 o'er his bounds?

1 Capable is susceptible. So in Hamlet :

His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to stones,
Would make them capable.'

2 This seems to have been imitated by Marston, in his Insatiate

Countess, 1603 :

Then how much more in me, whose youthful veins
Like a proud river overflow their bounds.'

Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?
Then speak 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 cause to prove my saying true.
Const. O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,
Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die;
And let belief and life encounter so,

As doth the fury of two desperate men,
Which, in the very meeting, fall, and die.—
Lewis marry Blanch! O, boy, then where art thou?
France friend with England! what becomes of me?—
Fellow, be gone; I cannot brook thy sight;
This news hath made thee a most ugly man.
Sal. What other harm have I, good lady, done,
But spoke the harm that is by others done?
Const. Which harm within itself so heinous is,
As it makes harmful all that speak of it.

Arth. I do beseech you, madam, be content. Const. If thou, that bidd'st me be content, wert grim,

3

Ugly, and sland'rous to thy mother's womb,
Full of unpleasing blots, and sightless 3 stains,
Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,
Patch'd with foul moles, and eye-offending marks,
I would not care, I then would be content;
For then I should 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'st with lilies boast,
And with the half-blown rose: but fortune, O!

3 Unsightly.

4 Swart is dark, dusky. See Comedy of Errors, Act iii. Sc. 2, p. 146. Prodigious is portentous, so deformed as to be taken for a foretoken of evil. Thus in The Revenger's Tragedy, 1607 :'Over whose roof hangs this prodigious comet?'