Then let confusion of one part confirm The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death! 360 K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit? And bear possession of our person here, Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you. First Cit. A greater power than we denies all this; 365 Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates; 370 Be by some certain king purged and deposed. Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout you, kings, And stand securely on their battlements, 375 As in a theatre, whence they gape and point At your industrious scenes and acts of death. 362. who's] Ff 2, 3, 4; whose F 1. 367. Lord of our presence] See 1. i. 137 supra. Vaughan's explanation of the use in Act I. would not hold here. Mr. Wright says "presence" here means "personal dignity"; but it seems difficult to think that John means "I am here master of my personal dignity, of Angiers, and of you." I should imagine "Lord of our presence" to mean "Lord of the title by which I am generally known, i.e. King of England, and also Lord of Angiers and of you." 367. of you] Ff 1, 4; if you Ff 2, 3. feare," and 3 and 4, Kings of our fear"-having our fears for king. Various other readings have been suggested, but none seem worth comparing with Tyrwhitt's suggestion. 371. King'd of our fears] So Rann, after a conjecture of Tyrwhitt's. Folios 1 and 2 read "Kings of our 373. scroyles] scabby fellows, a term of utmost contempt. Compare Cotgrave, "âme escrouellée, an infected traiterous or depraved spirit"; "Les escrouelles, the King's evil." Steevens quotes Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, 1. i.: "hang 'em scroyles." 376. At your . . . death] at the scenes and acts of death which you industriously perform. For the trans Your royal presences be ruled by me: Be friends awhile and both conjointly bend By east and west let France and England mount Leave them as naked as the vulgar air. To whom in favour she shall give the day, 379. awhile] a-while Ff 1, 2; a while Ff 3, 4. ous." 378. mutines] Spedding needlessly conjectures mutiners. Compare Hamlet, v. ii. 6: "Methought I lay worse than the mutines in the bilboes." The reference is to the leaders of the factions in Jerusalem, John of Giscela and Simon bar Gioras, who stopped their internecine strife in order to fight against the Romans (see Josephus, Jewish Wars, bk. v. chs. 2 and 6). Since Josephus was not translated until 1602, Mr. Wright believes Shakespeare's source to have been Peter Morwyng's translation of the spurious narrative of Joseph ben Gorion. 380 385 390 383. soul-fearing] causing the soul to fear. Compare The Merchant of Venice, II. i. 9: "I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine Hath fear'd the valiant." Compare Ralph Roister Doister, Induction (ed. Dent, p. 13, line 85): "We'll fear our children with him; if they be never so unruly do but cry, Ralph comes. and they'll be as quiet as lambs." 392. minion] Cotgrave has " Mignon: a minion, favourite, wanton, dilling, darling." Compare 1 Henry IV. I. i. 83: "Who is sweet Fortunes minion and her pride." Used often as a slighting term in Shakespeare. How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? 395 K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads, Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king, 400 Being wrong'd as we are by this peevish town, As we will ours, against these saucy walls; 404 And when that we have dash'd them to the ground, Make work upon ourselves, for heaven or hell. K. Phi. Let it be so. Say, where will you assault? K. John. We from the west will send destruction Into this city's bosom. Aust. I from the north. K. Phi. 410 Our thunder from the south Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. (Capell conj.). 66 Elizabethan plays the word denotes crafty dealings. Compare Middleton's Roaring Girl, ii. 2: By opposite policies, courses indirect"; ibid. iv. I: "I'll make her policy the art to trap her "; and Webster's Vittoria Corombona (ed. Dyce, p. 11, col. 2) :"So who knows policy and her true aspect, Shall find her ways winding and indirect." 406. pell-mell] Cotgrave has " Peslemesle: pell-mell, confusedly, hand over head, all on a heap, one with another." 412. drift] the shower of bullets compared to snow driven by the wind. Bast. O prudent discipline! From north to south. I'll stir them to it. Come, away, away! 415 First Cit. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe awhile to stay, 420 425 K. John. Speak on with favour; we are bent to hear. Is the young Dauphin every way complete: 421. Persever] Ff 1, 2; Persevere Ff 3, 4. we] Speak on with favour, we Ff; Speak on; niece] So Singer, ed. 2 (Collier MS.); neere should] omitted in Ff 2, 3, 4. 418, 419. Win you Rescue] I shall win you I shall rescue. 422. Speak on .. to hear] we grant you leave to speak on; we are listening. 424. niece] The reading of the Folios is an obvious misprint. Compare Troublesome Raigne: "The beauteous daughter of the King of Spaine, 430 422. Speak on with favour; with favour we Rowe. Ff 1, 2; neer Ff 3, 4. 424. 428. Neece to K. Iohn, the lovely 434. complete of] There seems to And she again wants nothing, to name want, 435 Whose fulness of perfection lies in him. 440 O, two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bound them in; And two such shores to two such streams made one 445 Bast. To our fast-closed gates; for at this match, The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope, Lions more confident, mountains and rocks More free from motion, no, not Death himself In mortal fury half so peremptory, As we to keep this city. 438. such as she] Theobald reads, after a conjecture of Thurlby's, "such a she," a very probable reading. 447. match] A play upon the double meaning, the match between the Dauphin and Blanch, and the match to fire the mine. In the next line Pope reads "speed" for "spleen," while Becket conjectures "Swifter than powder can in spleen enforce." We must either take " spleen to mean "haste (see v. vii. 50 infra) or suspect the text, for it cannot here |