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To him will we prove loyal: till that time

Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.

K. John, Doth not the crown of England prove the king? And if not that, I bring you witnesses,

274

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,

Bast. Bastards, and else.

K. John. To verify our title with their lives.

K. Phi. As many and as well-born bloods as those-
Bast. Some bastards too.

K. Phi. Stand in his face to contradict his claim.
First Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,
We for the worthiest hold the right from both.
K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls
That to their everlasting residence,

Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,

In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!

280

285

K. Phi. Amen, amen! Mount, chevaliers! to arms!
Bast. Saint George, that swinged the dragon, and e'er

since

Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door,

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276. Bastards, and else] Mr. Moore. Smith seems more accurate than Schmidt in taking this to mean "Bastards and otherwise" instead of "Bastards and such-like."

281. Compound] settle among yourselves. Compare The Taming of the Shrew, I. ii. 27: "We will compound this quarrel.'

285. fleet] flit. Compare The Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 135: "Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet."

288, 289. Saint George. door]

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The sign of "St. George and the Dragon "must have been very common in Elizabethan times; indeed it is not uncommon nowadays. Compare Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 47, line 288): "St. George, who is ever on horseback yet never rideth." 288. swinged] thrashed, whipped. A.S. swingan, to beat. Compare 2 Henry IV. v. iv. 21:—

"I will have you swinged soundly for this."

289. horse] Perhaps we ought to read horse' to indicate the possessive.

Aust.

Teach us some fence! [To Aust.] Sirrah, were I at home,

At your den, sirrah, with your lioness,

I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,
And make a monster of you.

Peace! no more.

Bast. O, tremble, for you hear the lion roar.

290

K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth 295
In best appointment all our regiments.

Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.
K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill

Command the rest to stand. God and our right!

[Exeunt.

Here after excursions, enter the Herald of France, with trumpets, to the gates.

F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates, 300
And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in,

Who by the hand of France this day hath made
Much work for tears in many an English mother,

¡ Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground:
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,
Coldly embracing the discoloured earth;
And victory, with little loss, doth play
Upon the dancing banners of the French,

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305

304. bleeding ground] Note the transference of the adjective.

308, 309. Upon the . . . display'd] Vaughan connects "triumphantly display'd" with "French." Why he should prefer this to the far more natural "banners" does not appear. Keightley inverts the line into

Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,

To enter conquerors, and to proclaim

310

Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.

Enter English Herald, with trumpet.

E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells;
King John, your king and England's, doth approach,
Commander of this hot malicious day:

Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright, 315
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;
There stuck no plume in any English crest
That is removed by a staff of France;
Our colours do return in those same hands
That did display when we first march'd forth;
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:
Open your gates and give the victors way.

320

First Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might behold, 325 From first to last, the onset and retire

318. a staff] any staff Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.). "Triumphantly display'd; who are at hand." This seems unnecessary. 316. Hither... blood] Compare Macbeth, II. iii. 118:

"Here lay Duncan His silver skin laced with his golden blood";

and Ford, 'Tis Pity, v. vi.: "gilt with the blood of a fair sister and a hapless father." Compare also the phrase "red gold."

318. staff] Here used as equivalent for the whole spear.

323. Dyed... dying] The play upon words is obvious, and "dying slaughter" may be compared with "bleeding ground," line 304 supra.

To transfer dying to foes would hardly be an improvement, and we are forced to believe that Shakespeare sacrificed sense a little for the sake of playing with the sound.

325. First Cit.] In the Folios the person here called the First Citizen is called Hubert. Mr. Knight retains this,_identifying him with Hubert de Burgh. Mr. Wright suggests that the parts both of Hubert and of the Citizen were played by the same actor. In the Troublesome Raigne Hubert and the Citizen are two distinct persons.

326. retire] See line 253 and note. supra.

Of both your armies; whose equality

By our best eyes cannot be censured:

Blood hath bought blood and blows have answered blows;

Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted

power:

Both are alike; and both alike we like.

330

One must prove greatest: while they weigh so even,
We hold our town for neither, yet for both.

335

Re-enter the two Kings, with their powers, severally. K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away? Say, shall the current of our right run on? Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment, Shall leave his native channel, and o'erswell With course disturb'd even thy confining shores, Unless thou let his silver water keep

A peaceful progress to the ocean.

340

K. Phi. England, thou hast not saved one drop of blood,

In this hot trial, more than we of France;

Rather, lost more.

And by this hand I swear,

335. run] Ff 3, 4; runne F 2; rome F 1; roam Malone; foam Nicholson conj.

cen

or

327, 328. whose equality sured] our best eyes cannot distinguish between the two claimants, so equally matched are you. Malone says, "Our author ought to have written 'whose superiority,' 'whose inequality' cannot be censured." Vaughan explains, "whose equality is so exact that our best eyes can see no flaw in its completeness," and adds that "censure appears to be a term specially applicable to the discrimination of differences." The instance he quotes (Henry VIII. 1.

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That sways the earth this climate overlooks,

Before we will lay down our just-borne arms,

345

We'll put thee down 'gainst whom these arms we bear,

Or add a royal number to the dead,

Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's loss

With slaughter coupled to the name of kings. Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers,

350

When the rich blood of kings is set on fire!
O, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel;
The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs;
And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men,
In undetermined differences of kings.

355

Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus ?

Cry "havoc!" kings; back to the stained field,
You equal potents, fiery kindled spirits!

358. fiery kindled] fiery-kindled Pope; fire-ykindled Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.) ; fire-enkindled Lettsom conj.

in a Christian climate souls refined Should show as heinous .”). Cotgrave has "Climat: a clime, or climate; a division in the skie, or portion of the world, between south and north"; Coles (1696) "Climote (sic): clime, such a space of earth (between two parallel lines) as makes half an hour's difference in the sundials and length of days."

350. towers] soars. See v. ii. 149 infra. A hawking term. A grouse that rises high before dropping after being mortally struck is still said to "tower."

354. mousing] generally given as 66 tearing, as a cat tears a mouse.' A much better sense is given by taking the more obvious meaning of gnawing, nibbling as a mouse does. The "Well moused, Lion!" of A Midsummer-Night's Dream, v. i. 274, will also bear this interpretation. It is perhaps worth noting that Halliwell

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