For he that holds his kingdom holds the law : And raise the power of France upon his head, 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 Because wrongs, Bast. Your breeches best may carry them. Is, purchase of a heavy curse from Rome, Blanch. That's 2 the curse of Rome. Const. O Lewis, stand fast; the devil tempts thee here, In likeness of a new uptrimmed 3 bride. 3 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,* 'As the cardinal.] As the cardinal says; in agreement with the cardinal. 2 That is.] The easier is. s Uptrimmed.] The old text has untrimmed. We adopt Dyce's emendation. Which only lives, &c.] Which is occasioned only by the viola That need must needs infer this principle, That faith would live again by death of need: 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.1 This royal hand and mine are newly knit, And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood, tion of faith on the part of those who were sworn to support my cause. But, only, is emphatic, though pleonastic. = 1 How you would bestow yourself.] How you would dispose of yourself. So in 2 K. Henry IV. ii. 2, 'See Falstaff bestow himself in his true colours,' and in As you Like It, iv. 3, Bestows himself like a ripe sister.' 2 But new before.] But newly, or almost immediately before. So newly joined in love, so strong in both, Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven, My reverend father, let it not be so • Some gentle order; and then we shall be blessed A fasting tiger, safer, by the tooth, Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold. 1 Unyoke this seizure.] Let go this hold or grasp. 2 Faith an enemy to faith.] Thy faith to John at enmity with thy faith towards the church. Is not amiss when it is truly done;1 And being not done, where doing tends to ill, And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st; And better conquest never canst thou make, Upon which better part 7 our prayers come in, 1 For that which, &c.] Here Shakspeare's habit of inverting arrangement has, as in many other instances, puzzled his commentators. I believe he meant, For to do amiss that which thou hast sworn,' &c.; that is, to act against what thou hast sworn, when such acting is done according to the truth, is not really amiss. 2 Indirect.] Not straightforward. The truth thou art, &c.] The asserted truth which thou art not fully warranted to swear, swears only against thy being forsworn. 4 And most forsworn, &c.] And thou wilt be most forsworn in keepi &c. In thyself, &c.] Rebellion in thyself against thyself. • Constant.] Stedfast; that cannot change. 7 Upon which better part, &c.] And then, on this worthier side, If thou vouchsafe them; but, if not, then know, So heavy, as thou shalt not shake them off, 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? What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men ? O husband, hear me !—ay, alack, how new Against mine uncle. Const. O, upon my knee, Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee, Blanch. Now shall I see thy love. What motive may Be stronger with thee than the name of wife? Const. That which upholdeth him that thee upholds, His honour: O, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour! 3 Lew. I muse your majesty doth seem so cold, When such profound respects do pull you on. thou wilt have the advantage of our prayers, if thou wilt accept them. As.] That. Formerly very often used in this way. 2 Measures to our pomp.] For keeping time to our wedding procession. Measures were dancing paces. Pomp denoted processions. 3 I muse.] I wonder. |