But1 on this day, let seamen fear no wreck ;
No bargains break, that are not this day made:
This day, all things begun, come to ill end;
Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change!

K. Phi. By Heaven, lady, you shall have no cause To curse the fair proceedings of this day. Have I not pawned to you my majesty?

Const. You have beguiled me with a counterfeit,
Resembling majesty; which, being touched, and tried,
Proves valueless. You are forsworn, forsworn;
You came in arms to spill mine enemies' blood,
But now in arms you strengthen it with yours.
The grappling vigor and rough frown of war
Is cold in amity and painted peace,

And our oppression hath made up this league.-
Arm, arm, you Heavens, against these perjured kings!
A widow cries; be husband to me, Heavens!
Let not the hours of this ungodly day

Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,
Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings!
Hear me, O, hear me !

Aust.

Lady Constance, peace. Const. War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war. O Lymoges! O Austria ! thou dost shame

That bloody spoil. Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward,

Thou little valiant, great in villany!

Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!

Thou fortune's champion, that dost never fight
But when her humorous ladyship is by

1 But for unless; its exceptive sense of be out. In the ancient almanacs, the days supposed to be favorable or unfavorable to bargains, are distinguished, among a number of particulars of the like importance.

2 Shakspeare, in the person of Austria, has conjoined the two wellknown enemies of Richard Coeur-de-lion. Leopold, duke of Austria, threw him into prison in a former expedition (in 1193); but the castle of Chaluz, before which he fell (in 1199), belonged to Vidomar, viscount of Limoges. The archer who pierced his shoulder with an arrow (of which wound he died) was Bertrand de Gourdon. Austria, in the old play, is called Lymoges, the Austrich duke. Holinshed says, "The same year Philip, bastard sonne to King Richard, to whom his father had given the castell and honour of Coniacke, killed the viscount of Lymoges in revenge of his father's death," &c.

To teach thee safety! Thou art perjured, too,
And sooth'st up greatness. What a fool art thou,
A ramping fool; to brag, and stamp, and swear,
Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side?
Been sworn my soldier? bidding me depend
Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength?
And dost thou now fall over to my foes?
Thou wear a lion's hide! Doff it for shame,
And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
Aust. O, that a man should speak those words to
me!

Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
Aust. Thou dar'st not say so, villain, for thy life.
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant
limbs.1

K. John. We like not this; thou dost forget thyself.

Enter PANDUlph.

K. Phi. Here comes the holy legate of the pope. Pand. Hail, you anointed deputies of Heaven.To thee, king John, my holy errand is.

I, Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,

And from pope Innocent the legate here,

Do, in his name, religiously demand,

Why thou against the church, our holy mother,

So wilfully dost spurn; and, force perforce,

1 Pope inserted the following lines from the old play here, which he thought necessary "to explain the ground of the Bastard's quarrel with Austria: "

"Aust. Methinks that Richard's pride, and Richard's fall, Should be a precedent to fright you all.

Faulc. What words are these? How do my sinews shake.
My father's foe clad in my father's spoil;
How doth Alecto whisper in my ears,
Delay not, Richard; kill the villain straight;
Disrobe him of the matchless monument,
Thy father's triumph o'er the savages!
Now by his soul I swear, my father's soul,
Twice will I not review the morning's rise,
Till I have torn that trophy from thy back,
And split thy heart for wearing it so long."

Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop
Of Canterbury, from that holy see?
This, in our 'foresaid holy father's name,
Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

K. John. What earthly name to interrogatories,'
Can task the free breath of a sacred king?
Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,

To charge me to an answer, as the pope.

Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England,
Add this much more,-that no Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;
But as we under Heaven are supreme head,
So under him, that great supremacy,
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the assistance of a mortal hand.
So tell the pope: all reverence set apart,
To him and his usurped authority.

K. Phi. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this. K. John. Though you, and all the kings of Christendom,

Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
And, by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,

Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself;
Though you, and all the rest, so grossly led,
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish;
Yet I, alone, alone do me oppose

Against the pope, and count his friends my foes.
Pand. Then, by the lawful power that I have,
Thou shalt stand cursed, and excommunicate;
And blessed shall he be, that doth revolt
From his allegiance to an heretic;
And meritorious shall that hand be called,
Canonized, and worshipped as a saint,

1 What earthly name subjoined to interrogatories, can force a king to speak and answer them? The old copy reads earthy. The emendation was Pope's. It has also tash instead of task in the next line, which was substituted by Theobald.

That takes away by any secret course
Thy hateful life.

That I have room with Rome to curse a while!
Good father cardinal, cry thou, amen,

To my keen curses; for, without my wrong,
There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
Pand. There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
Const. And for mine too; when law can do no
right,

Let it be lawful, that law bar no wrong.
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here;
For he that holds his kingdom, holds the law:
Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
Pand. Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
Let go the hand of that arch-heretic;

And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do submit himself to Rome.

Eli. Look'st thou pale, France? Do not let go thy hand.

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. 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.

Forego 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' bride.

1 Trim is dress.

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 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.

K. Phi. I am perplexed, 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 linked together
With all religious strength of sacred vows;
The latest breath that gave the sound of words,
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,

Heaven knows, they were besmeared and overstained
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 joined in love, so strong in both,1

1 i. e. so strong both in hatred and love; in deeds of amity or deeds of blood.