In likeness of a new uptrimmed bride *. Blanch. The lady Constance speaks not from her faith, But from her need. Const. K. John. The king is mov'd, and answers not to this. K. Phi. Good reverend father, make my person your's, 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. 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 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 purg'd of blood, So newly join'd in love, so strong in both, Unyoke this seizure, and this kind regreet ? Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven, Make such unconstant children of ourselves, 4 In likeness of a new UPTRIMMED bride.] "Untrimmed bride" say the folios, and Theobald altered untrimmed to and trimmed; but the proper change is made in the corr. fo. 1632, viz. "uptrimmed." The conjecture of the Rev. Mr. Dyce was thus long anticipated, and there could be no reasonable doubt about it. Mr. Dyce himself, as late as 1844, contended, with considerable emphasis, that untrimmed was equivalent to virgin (Remarks, 91), but he changed his opinion afterwards. We never said more than that untrimmed was probably a misprint; and so it turns out to be, viz. untrimmed for "uptrimmed." As now again to snatch our palm from palm; Pand. All form is formless, order orderless, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. * A CAGED lion] It is "cased lion" in the original editions, and obviously a misprint for "caged," the compositor having mistaken the g for a long s. The Rev. Mr. Dyce says peremptorily that "the right reading is undoubtedly chaf'd." He must at all events mean chafed, for chaf'd would ruin the verse; but people were accustomed to see "caged lions," and Shakespeare used an epithet which all his auditors could appreciate. Moreover, chafed could not be misprinted cased without a double blunder, whereas "caged" might easily be misread cased. We do not think that any future editor of Shakespeare is likely to adopt chafed-not even Mr. Dyce himself, unless in a struggle to maintain the consistency of opinions too strongly expressed. 6 IS BUT amiss when it is truly done ;) Here a great difficulty is entirely swept away by the simple change of not to "but," as we find it in the corr. fo. 1632 : what a person swears to do amiss "is but amiss," or is still amiss "when it is truly done." Nothing more can be required to clear the whole passage, and it would be mere waste of time and space to advert to what has been written by all editors on the original and absurd line "Is not amiss when it is truly done." The whole passage is struck out in the corr. fo. 1632, but the emendation of VOL. III. M And being not done, where doing tends to ill, Is to mistake again: though indirect, It is religion that doth make vows kept, By what thou swear'st, against the thing thou swear'st, So heavy, as thou shalt not shake them off, Aust. Rebellion, flat rebellion! 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? Shall braying trumpets, and loud churlish drums, "but" for not is nevertheless inserted in the margin. No misprint could well be more common, and we have already had several instances of it. 7 swears only not to be forsworn ;) We leave the words of this much vexed passage precisely as they stand in the folio, 1623, no alteration having been made in the folios of 1632, 1664, or 1685. The same remark will apply to the corr. fo. 1632; and sure we are, that the original text is quite as intelligible as any of the changes that have been made or recommended in it. It was certainly intended as an exhibition of refined and jesuitical subtlety, and that it was not understood by the copyist or by the printer we may well believe. As we have before stated, the whole is erased by the old annotator. Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp? Is husband in my mouth!-even for that name, Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms Against mine uncle. Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee, Blanch. Now shall I see thy love. What motive may Const. That which upholdeth him that thee upholds, K. Phi. Thou shalt not need. -England, I'll fall from thee. Const. O, fair return of banish'd majesty! Eli. O, foul revolt of French inconstancy! K. John. France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour. Bast. Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time, Is it as he will? well then, France shall rue. Blanch. The sun's o'ercast with blood: fair day, adieu! Lew. Lady, with me; with me thy fortune lies. France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath; [Exit Bastard, The blood, and dearest-valued blood of France. K. Phi. Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire. Look to thyself: thou art in jeopardy. K. John. No more than he that threats. - To arms let's hie! [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. Plains near Angiers. Alarums, Excursions. Enter the Bastard with AUSTRIA'S Head. 8 Bast. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot; Enter King JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT. K. John. Hubert, keep this boy.-Philip, make up: My mother is assailed in our tent, And ta'en, I fear. Bast. My lord, I rescued her; Her highness is in safety, fear you not: Will bring this labour to an happy end. [Exeunt. 8 Some FIERY devil hovers in the sky,] And made the "day grow wondrous hot." It stands "airy devil" in the old copies, but naturally and properly amended to "fiery devil" in the corr. fo. 1632. An airy devil" was not likely to be the Bastard's word, in the midst of the heat and fury of the conflict. While Philip breathes.) The old "King John," 1591, partakes more of the barbarism of the time when it was written, and Philip, as he still calls himself, spurns and tramples on Austria's head : "Lie there, a prey to every ravening fowl, So do I tread upon thy cursed self." |