We make him lord of. Call the Lady Constance; Some speedy messenger bid her repair 555 To our solemnity: I trust we shall, 560 Bast. Mad world! mad kings! mad composition! John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole, And France, whose armour conscience buckled on, As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear 565 Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids, 570 555. solemnity] the marriage of the Dauphin and Blanch. 561. composition] agreement. Compare 'compound," line 281 supra. 563. departed with] parted with. 566. God's own soldier] Compare Macbeth, v. viii. 45: "Siw. Had he his hurts before? Siw. Why then, God's soldier 566. rounded] whispered. Compare The Winter's Tale, 1. ii. 217: "They're here with me already, whispering, rounding 'Sicilia is a so forth." Mr. Wright points out that the proper form of the word is "rouned," from A.S. rúnian, and quotes Piers Plowman (B text), iv. 13: "And ritt rizte to resoun, and rowneth in his ere.' Compare also Gosson's Apology of the Schoole of Abuse (ed. Arber, p. 74): "for his Pypers were ready too rounde him in the eare, what he should speake." 568. broker] agent. The Bastard harps upon the connection of breaking with the sound of "broker." 571, 572. Who obvious anacoluthon. cheats] An But the word "maid," cheats the poor maid of that, The world, who of itself is peised well, 575 580 This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word, Hath drawn him from his own determined aid, From a resolved and honourable war, 585 To a most base and vile-concluded peace. And why rail I on this Commodity ? But for because he hath not woo'd me yet: Not that I have the power to clutch my hand, When his fair angels would salute my palm; But for my hand, as unattempted yet, Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich. Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail 573. tickling] flattering. We still speak of tickling a man's pride. Compare Coriolanus, 1. i. 263 :— 66 Such a nature, Tickled with good success, disdains the shadow Which he treads on at noon." Vaughan would read "tickling as a trisyllable. 574-580. Commodity intent] The Bastard compares Commodity, i.e. Expediency or Self-interest, to the leaden weight inserted in the side of a bowl to give it "bias," the power 590 of running out of the straight. Peised: poised, balanced. To "take head from all indifferency" is to leave impartiality, to become biased. The " 'eye," according to Staunton, was the aperture in the bowl where the leaden weight, also called the "bias," was fixed. 590. angels] the angel was a gold coin worth ten shillings in Elizabeth's time. 591. But yet] because my hand has been untempted as yet. And say there is no sin but to be rich; ACT III SCENE I.-The French King's Pavilion. Enter CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and SALISBURY. Const. Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace! False blood to false blood join'd! gone to be friends! Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those provinces ? It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard; Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again: 5 It cannot be; thou dost but say 'tis so: I trust I may not trust thee; for thy word For I am sick and capable of fears, Oppress'd with wrongs and therefore full of fears, Act III.] Actus Secundus in the 12. capable of fears] susceptible to fears. Compare II. i. 476 supra, and Greene's Never Too Late (1600), p. 95: "Mirimadas eares were not capable of any amorous persuasion." 15 14. widow] This is not historically correct. At this time Constance was married to a third husband, Guido, brother to the Viscount of Touars. She had been divorced from her second husband, Ranulph, Earl of Chester. And though thou now confess thou didst but jest, 20 Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds? Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words? That give you cause to prove my saying true. 25 30 Lewis marry Blanch! O boy, then where art thou? This news hath made thee a most ugly man. 16, 17. And . . . truce] So Rowe; And . truce Ff. 24. signs] sighs Warburton. 17. cannot] Pope printed "can't " in order to regularise the line. But "spirits" is often a monosyllable, and the accentuation of the line indicates that it is so here. jest with spirits, 27. you] you'll Keightley. "Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents". exactly the continenti ripa of Horace. 27, 28. As true . . . saying true] Rather a roundabout asseveration, but quite in the vein of early Shakespeare. 36, 37. Fellow, be gone. ugly man] Compare this with Cleopatra's reception of bad news about Antony (Antony and Cleopatra, II. v.). ... |