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England we love; and for that England's sake
With burden of our armour here we sweat.
This toil of ours should be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,

Out-faced infant state, and done a rape

Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face;

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These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his :
This little abstract doth contain that large
Which died in Geffrey, and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.

That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,

And this his son; England was Geffrey's right, 105
And this is Geffrey's in the name of God;

106. Geffrey's... God;] Geffreyes in the name of God: Ff 1, 2, 3 (Geffreys F 3); Geffreys, in the name of God, F 4; Geffrey's: in the name of God Cambridge Editors.

95. That... king] that thou hast undermined the lawful king of England. His is the neuter possessive pronoun. Collier MS. reads her, to agree with the personification of England.

97. Out-faced infant state] Gould conjectures "Out-raced infant right." Mr. Wright explains the line as "browbeaten, put down by intimidation or bravado, the state that belongs to an infant." " Out-faced" is simple enough, but "infant state" offers some difficulty. How can the state or majesty that belongs to an infant be browbeaten ? And can John's conduct be described in this way? Can "out-raced" mean outrooted"? Compare race of ginger = a root of ginger.

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ΙΟΙ. This little abstract, etc.] Philip calls Arthur a small copy of

the larger volume, Geffrey. Compare Edward III. II. i. 82:

"Whose body is an abstract or a brief

Contains each general virtue in the world."

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106. And this is Geffrey's God] Apart from the variations in the punctuation of the Folios this reading has much exercised the critics. The difficulty lies in the phrase "And this is Geffrey's." We cannot add " because of the previous line. Vaughan suggests “And is this Geffrey's," i.e. Arthur's, as opposed to "that " Geffrey's-the dead father's. Failing that, and following out the same idea, he would read "And this is Geffrey." In default of better, Vaughan's suggestion is preferable to the others.

How comes it then that thou art call'd a king, When living blood doth in these temples beat, Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest? K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France,

To draw my answer from thy articles?

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K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,

To look into the blots and stains of right:

That judge hath made me guardian to this boy: 115
Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong,

And by whose help I mean to chastise it.
K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.
Eli. Who is it thou dost call usurper, France ?
Const. Let me make answer; thy usurping son.
Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king,

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That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world! Const. My bed was ever to thy son as true

113. breast] beast F 1. 119. Excuse ;] so Malone; Excuse it is Ff. 109. owe] own. Frequent in Shakespeare. Compare Comedy of Errors, III. i. 42:—

"What art thou that keepest me

out from the house I owe?" III. from thy articles] Hanmer prints "to." "Articles" are the sections of a formal document, and the idea conveyed here is that Philip has been taxing John as if he were reading a formal indictment.

112. supernal] This is the sole use of the word by Shakespeare, but it is found in contemporaries. See Cotgrave, Sir Thomas More, Milton. Formed by analogy with infernal (Mr. Wright).

123. That thou

world]

Staunton, with great probability, claims this as a metaphor taken from chess.

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124, 125. My bed husband] It seems strange that Constance should compare her own fidelity with that of the person whom she accuses of infidelity a moment later (line 130). Elinor too had been divorced from Louis VII. for infidelity. To avoid the difficulty Vaughan proposes to read: "As to me was my husband." It may be that Shakespeare was content to make Constance femininely illogical in her passion. Mr. Craig's suggestion that Constance meant My bed was at least as true as yours" avoids the difficulty.

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As thine was to thy husband; and this boy
Liker in feature to his father Geffrey
Than thou and John in manners; being as like
As rain to water, or devil to his dam.

My boy a bastard! By my soul, I think

His father never was so true begot:

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130

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother. Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father. Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot

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135

Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you,
An a' may catch your hide and you alone:
You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard:
I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right;
Sirrah, look to 't; i' faith, I will, i' faith.

140

127. John in manners; being] Capell; John, in manners being Ff. 133. There's . . . thee] Pope; two lines in Ff, ending boy,

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127. John in manners; being] Vaughan suggests manners,being," for the comparison of devil and his dam is, of course, more closely connected with John and his mother than with Arthur and Constance. The "devil and his dam" are evidently two personages from the Morality plays. Compare Ralph Roister Doister, II. iv. 38: "the devil's dam was ne'er so bang'd in hell." "Play the devil" (line 135) would mean 'play as violent a part as the devil of the Moralities."

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132. blots] impute dishonour to. Continually used as noun and verb

thee.

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Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe

That did disrobe the lion of that robe!

Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him

As great Alcides shows upon an ass:

But, ass, I'll take that burthen from your back, 145 Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack. Aust. What cracker is this same that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath?

King Philip, determine what we shall do straight.
K. Phi. Women and fools, break off your conference. 150
King John, this is the very sum of all;

England and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur do I claim of thee:

Wilt thou resign them and lay down thy arms? 152. Anjou] Theobald; Angiers Ff.

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144. Alcides shows] The Folios read "Alcides shooes ("shoos," F 4). Editors quote a proverb from Gosson's Schoole of Abuse: "Too draw the Lyon's skin upon Aesop's Asse, Hercules shoes on a childes feete." It may therefore be possible that Shakespeare had a confused recollection of Gosson's lines in his mind and that the reading of the Folios is correct. Fleay prints "shoes ape," and suggests "dwarf" or "child" to take the place of " ass. Rejecting "shows" and "shoes," Keightley reads "shew'd," and suggests "should." Hudson, following a conjecture of Vaughan's, reads "does." Kinnear conjectures spoil," and Gould "robes." Mr. Worrall (see Warwick ed.) suggests that if "shows" is right, it is a verb. The reading in the text is that of Theobald, followed by most modern editors. It is in any case preferable to the Folios' reading, which can only be defended by sup

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posing that Shakespeare was guilty of a most senseless confusion. There is no possible point in speaking of an ass wearing the shoes of Hercules, and as Vaughan pointed out, the question concerns something worn or borne upon the back.

Cotgrave

147. cracker] boaster. has 66 se vanter, to crack." Compare Ralph Roister Doister, 1. i. 35:

"All the day long is he facing and cracking

Of his great acts in fighting and fraymaking."

And compare the modern "a thing much cracked-up," i.e. boasted about, and "a crack player."

149. King Philip] The Folios read "King Lewis." The emendation is Theobald's. Lewis was not king, and Austria was not likely to appeal to him for a final decision in anything of moment. We must, therefore, suppose a mistaken substitution of Lewis for Philip.

K. John. My life as soon: I do defy thee, France.
Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand;
And out of my dear love I'll give thee more
Than e'er the coward hand of France can win:
Submit thee, boy.

Eli.
Come to thy grandam, child.'
Const. Do, child, go to it grandam, child;

Arth.

Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will
Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig:
There's a good grandam.

155

160

Good my mother, peace!

I would that I were low laid in my grave:

I am not worth this coil that's made for me. 165 Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps. Const. Now shame upon you, whether she does or no!

His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames
Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,
Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;

170

156. Bretagne] Hanmer; Britaine Ff 1, 2; Britain F 3; Brittain F 4. 168. wrongs] Ff 1, 2, 3; wrong F 4.

156. Bretagne] This spelling of Hanmer's, in spite of its suggestion of French pronunciation, is adopted by most modern editors to avoid confusion with Britain. Shakespeare spelt Britanny and Britain in the same way.

160, etc. it] Baby talk. Capell could not suffer "it" to remain and reads "it's "! Pope put the whole passage down as spurious, from "Submit thee" to "repetitions," in spite of such lines as 165, 168172.

165. coil] Cotgrave has " vacarme, ... a tumultuous garboil, hurlyburly, stir, coil." Once thought to

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