Are led so grossly by this meddling priest, Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself: Against the pope, and count his friends my foes. 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. O, lawful let it be, Const. To my keen curses; for, without my wrong, Let it be lawful, that law bar no wrong: Eli. Look'st thou pale, France? do not let go 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. So newly join'd in love, so strong in both 17, My reverend father, let it not be so: Pand. All form is formless, order orderless, Save what is opposite to England's love. Therefore, to arms! be champion of our church! Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse, A mother's curse, on her revolting son. France, thou may'st hold a serpent by the tongue, A cased 19 lion by the mortal paw; A fasting tiger safer by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. 17 i. e. so strong both in hatred and love; in deeds of amity or deeds of blood. 18 A regreet is an exchange of salutation. 19 A cased lion is a lion irritated by confinement. So in King Henry VI. Part III. Act i. Sc. 3: 'So looks the pent up lion o'er the wretch For that, which thou hast sworn to do amiss, And being not done, where doing tends to ill, And falsehood falsehood cures; as fire cools fire, By what thou swear'st, against the thing thou swear'st; And better conquest never canst thou make, So heavy, as thou shalt not shake them off, 20 Where doing tends to ill,' where an intended act is criminal, the truth is most done by not doing the act. The criminal act therefore, which thou hast sworn to do, is not amiss, will not he imputed to you as a crime, if it be done truly, in the sense I have now affixed to truth; that is, if you do not do it. 21 By what thou swear'st, &c. In swearing by religion against religion, thou hast sworn by what thou swearest; i. e. in that which thou hast sworn, against the thing thou swearest by; i.e. religion.' |