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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!

214

K. John. The king is moved, and answers not to this.
Const. O, be removed 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. 220
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 cursed ?

K. Phi. Good reverend father, make my person yours,
And tell me how you would bestow yourself.
This royal hand and mine are newly knit,
And the conjunction of our inward souls
Married in league, coupled and link'd together
With all religious strength of sacred vows;

225

The latest breath that gave the sound of words 230
Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love

Between our kingdoms and our royal selves,
And even before this truce, but new before,
No longer than we well could wash our hands
To clap this royal bargain up of peace,

233. but new before,] but new-before- Seymour conj.

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235

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Heaven knows, they were besmear'd and overstain'd
With slaughter's pencil, where revenge did paint
The fearful difference of incensed kings:

And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood,

So newly join'd in love, so strong in both,
Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet?

240

Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven,
Make such inconstant children of ourselves,

As now again to snatch our palm from palm,
Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed
Of smiling peace to march a bloody host,

And make a riot on the gentle brow

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Of true sincerity? O, holy sir,

My reverend father, let it not be so!

245

Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose

250

Some gentle order; and then we shall be blest

To do your pleasure and continue friends.

Pand. All form is formless, order orderless,

Save what is opposite to England's love.

Therefore to arms! be champion of our church, 255
Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse,

A mother's curse, on her revolting son.
France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,

Arber, p. 59): "and the match (is) made, ere you strike hands "; and Middleton, A Trick, iii. 1 (Mermaid ed. p. 39): "Come, clap hands, a match."

240. so strong in both] i.e. hands strong in fight and strong in friendship.

241. regreet] greeting once again, therefore re-agreement, not merely greeting or salutation as most editors

give. Compare Richard II. 1. iii. 142: "Shall not regreet our fair dominions."

242. Play fast and loose] originally to play at a cheating game in which the gull had no chance (see Appendix); then to deal dishonourably.

253, 254. All form. . . England's love] Everything is null and void except what is directly opposed to love towards England.

A chafed lion by the mortal paw,

A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,

260

Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.

K. Phi. I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
Pand. So makest thou faith an enemy to faith;

And like a civil war set'st oath to oath,

Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow 265
First made to heaven, first be to heaven perform'd,
That is, to be the champion of our church.
What since thou sworest is sworn against thyself
And may not be performed by thyself,

For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss
Is not amiss when it is truly done,
And being not done, where doing tends to ill,
The truth is then most done not doing it:
The better act of purposes mistook

Is to mistake again; though indirect,

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270

275

the paw. If we retain "chafed" we must of course assume it to mean "enraged."

268. What since thou sworest, etc.] "What you have sworn since then is sworn against yourself and cannot be performed by you, for what wrong you have sworn to do is not wrong if truly performed, and if you do it not, because the doing of it would be wrong, then you are most truly performing it by not doing it." An excellent bit of sophistry, quite in the early Shakespearian vein.

275-278. though indirect . . newburn'd] though in not keeping your vow you are turning from the straight, yet since you are already on the wrong path this very turning will bring you back to the right path.

Yet indirection thereby grows direct,

And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire
Within the scorched veins of one new-burn'd.

It is religion that doth make vows kept;
But thou hast sworn against religion,

280

By what thou swear'st against the thing thou
swear'st,

And makest an oath the surety for thy truth
Against an oath the truth thou art unsure
To swear, swears only not to be forsworn;
Else what a mockery should it be to swear!
But thou dost swear only to be forsworn;
And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.
Therefore thy later vows against thy first

Is in thyself rebellion to thyself;

285

And better conquest never canst thou make

290

288.

278. scorched] Ff 1, 2; scorching Ff 3, 4. 282, 283. truth, Against an oath the truth,] Ff 1, 2; truth: Against an oath the truth, Ff 3, 4. later] Ff 1, 2; latter Ff 3, 4. Compare The Merchant of Venice, IV. i. 216: "To do a great right, do a little wrong."

281. But what thou swear'st, etc.] Mr. Wright says that the language is made intentionally obscure. Although this passage is undoubtedly obscure, I cannot admit that Shakespeare ever deliberately made a serious character speak obscurely. Besides, the general argument here is plain enough-Of two oaths the greater, that taken to God and the Church, absolves Philip from the consequences of breaking à lesser, that plighted to John, if the lesser oath is contrary to the first. Most editors and critics have attempted to better the passage, but the alterations seem so violent that, as Mr. Wright says about Staunton and Hudson's readings, they may

give a meaning which Shakespeare never intended. Lines 280, 281 are awkward, but can be taken to mean

"The

"You have sworn against religion by calling in religion to witness an oath which will do her harm." truth... forsworn" is the phrase that offers most difficulty. It yields sense by supposing it to be a slight digression from the main argument, meaning-" and when you are asked to take an oath of which you are not sure of the consequences (such as, Pandulph would imply, the oath you took with John), you only swear not to be forsworn, i.e. on condition that it is not contrary to some greater oath."

289. Is] Explained as agreeing in number with rebellion and not with vows,

Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts
Against these giddy loose suggestions:
Upon which better part our prayers come in,

If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know
The peril of our curses light on thee

So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,
But in despair die under their black weight.
Aust. Rebellion, flat rebellion!

Bast.

Will't not be?

Will not a calf's-skin stop that mouth of thine? Lew. Father, to arms!

Blanch.

Upon thy wedding-day?

Against the blood that thou hast married?

295

300

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men?
Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,

Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp?

O husband, hear me! ay, alack, how new

305

Is husband in my mouth! even for that name,
Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce,
Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms

Against mine uncle.

Const.

O, upon my knee,

Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,
Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom
Forethought by heaven!

305. ay,] Ff; ah! Theobald.
arrangement; Folios end the lines kneeling.

295. peril . . . light] Note confusion of number; peril grammatical subj. to light, but them showing that curses was treated as subj. in meaning.

303. churlish] This expressive epi

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310

309-312. Against . . heaven!] Pope's Dauphin heaven.

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thet was applied to the drum once before (see iï. i. 76 supra).

304. measures] The accompanying music to our wedding festivities.

312. Forethought] foreseen, and therefore, since "foreseen by heaven,"

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