Preach some philosophy to make me mad,
And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal;
For, being not mad but sensible of grief,
My reasonable part produces reason
How I may be deliver'd of these woes,
And teaches me to kill or hang myself:
If I were mad, I should forget my son,
Or madly think a babe of clouts were he:
I am not mad; too well, too well I feel
The different plague of each calamity.

K. Phi. Bind up those tresses. O, what love I note
In the fair multitude of those her hairs!

55

60

Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen,

65

Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends
Do glue themselves in sociable grief,
Like true, inseparable, faithful loves,
Sticking together in calamity.

Const. To England, if you will.

K. Phi.

Bind up your hairs.

Const. Yes, that I will; and wherefore will I do it?
I tore them from their bonds and cried aloud,
"O that these hands could so redeem my son,
As they have given these hairs their liberty!"
But now I envy at their liberty,

And will again commit them to their bonds,
Because my poor child is a prisoner.

52. canonized] pronounced canón-
iz'd. See III. i. 177 supra.
58. babe of clouts] rag doll.
64. friends] Rowe's reading. The
Folios have " "fiends' -a queer error.
68. To England] Constance's reply
to Philip's invitation, line 20. Mr.

70

75

Wright suggests that lines 21-67 may have been added to the original draft of the play. His alternative suggestion that Constance is sinking into apathy after her first outburst is not convincing, because, in the next line, she resumes her lamentations.

And, father cardinal, I have heard you say

That we shall see and know our friends in heaven :
If that be true, I shall see my boy again;

For since the birth of Cain, the first male child,

To him that did but yesterday suspire,

80

There was not such a gracious creature born.

But now will canker sorrow eat my bud

And chase the native beauty from his cheek

And he will look as hollow as a ghost,

As dim and meagre as an ague's fit,

85

And so he'll die; and, rising so again,

When I shall meet him in the court of heaven

I shall not know him: therefore never, never
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.
Pand. You hold too heinous a respect of grief.
Const. He talks to me that never had a son.
K. Phi. You are as fond of grief as of your child.
Const. Grief fills the room up of my absent child,

90

66

Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form;

78. If that... boy again] The slight irregularity of this line has led to its being suspected, and its contradiction of lines 88, 89 appears to confirm the suspicion. Pope omits true," Vaughan omits "see," Fleay, following Sidney Walker's conjecture, prints "shall," while Seymour conjectures "I'll." All these merely set the rhythm right. Kinnear conjectures "If that be true, then never shall I see my boy again." But this is not warranted by the real meaning of the speech. Constance first takes

66

95

comfort from the thought that she will see and know her son in heaven. But then comes the thought sorrow will so alter him that I may meet him in the court of heaven and not know him, therefore I shall never see him more."

90. You hold . of grief] You look upon your grief too hatefully.

92. You are as fond . . . child] One may suspect a play upon "fond' here. You are as fond of (or you as foolish owing to) grief as you are fond of your child. Constance, of course, only sees one meaning.

Then have I reason to be fond of grief.
Fare you well: had you such a loss as I,
I could give better comfort than you do.
I will not keep this form upon my head,
When there is such disorder in my wit.

O Lord! my boy, my Arthur, my fair son!
My life, my joy, my food, my all the world!

100

My widow-comfort, and my sorrows' cure! [Exit. 105 K. Phi. I fear some outrage, and I'll follow her. [Exit. Lew. There's nothing in this world can make me joy: Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man;

And bitter shame hath spoil'd the sweet world's taste,
That it yields nought but shame and bitterness. III

Pand. Before the curing of a strong disease,

Even in the instant of repair and health, The fit is strongest; evils that take leave, On their departure most of all show evil: What have you lost by losing of this day? Lew. All days of glory, joy and happiness. Pand. If you had won it, certainly you had.

IOI. Most editors print a stagedirection here. 66 Tearing off her Head-cloaths," Pope; "Looses her hair again," Dent MS.; "Tearing her hair" Collier, ed. 2 (Collier MS.). It is evident that Constance does again fall to tearing her hair, and we must understand "form" as merely order or arrangement in opposition to "disorder" in the next line without going into the concrete "Headcloaths" of Pope.

107. joy] rejoice. So Much Ado About Nothing, 1. i. 28: "How much better it is to weep at joy than to joy at weeping!"

115

110. world's] Pope's almost certain emendation of the "words" of the Folios. Delius suggests a meaning by allowing "word's" to refer to life, and reading "that sweet word's taste." jackson conjectures 66 word, state."

66

III. shame] The repetition of "shame" has led Sidney Walker to conjecture 'gall" in the second place, while Cartwright suggests "grief." There is no pressing need for this painting of the lily.

118. If you had won it, etc.] Pandulph rises through sophistry into prophecy.

120

No, no; when fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.
'Tis strange to think how much King John hath
lost

125

In this which he accounts so clearly won : Are not you grieved that Arthur is his prisoner? Lew. As heartily as he is glad he hath him. Pand. Your mind is all as youthful as your blood. Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit; For even the breath of what I mean to speak Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little rub, Out of the path which shall directly lead Thy foot to England's throne; and therefore mark. John hath seized Arthur; and it cannot be That, whiles warm life plays in that infant's veins, The misplaced John should entertain an hour, One minute, nay, one quiet breath of rest. A sceptre snatch'd with an unruly hand Must be as boisterously maintain'd as gain'd; And he that stands upon a slippery place Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up:

131

135

That John may stand, then Arthur needs must fall;

So be it, for it cannot be but so.

Lew. But what shall I gain by young Arthur's fall?

132. whiles] whilst Rowe.

139. stand, then] stand then, Hanmer.

128. rub] "Any obstruction to the bowl's course from inequalities of the ground or natural obstacles; also used of a running bowl sideling from another" (Encyc. of Sport, i. 129). "Each dust, each straw," is hardly any exaggeration, for a good bowling

140

green is supposed to be as absolutely true as a billiard-table. Bowls was a favourite Elizabethan game, and from Shakespeare's frequent references to it we may guess that it was a favourite game of his.

Pand. You, in the right of Lady Blanch your wife,

May then make all the claim that Arthur did.

Lew. And lose it, life and all, as Arthur did.

150

Pand. How green you are and fresh in this old world! 145 John lays you plots; the times conspire with you; For he that steeps his safety in true blood Shall find but bloody safety and untrue. This act so evilly born shall cool the hearts Of all his people and freeze up their zeal, That none so small advantage shall step forth To check his reign, but they will cherish it; No natural exhalation in the sky, No scope of nature, no distemper'd day, No common wind, no customed event, But they will pluck away his natural cause And call them meteors, prodigies and signs, Abortives, presages and tongues of heaven, Plainly denouncing vengeance upon John. 152. reign] F 4; reigne Ff 1, 2, 3; rein Capell conj. 146. John lays you plots] John lays plots by which you and not he will benefit. Malone conjectures 66 'your plots," where the meaning would necessarily be the same; hence we gain nothing by the alteration.

151, 152. none so small. . . but] no circumstance, however trifling, that may give them any weapon against him will they omit to make the most of.

153. exhalation] meteor. So Julius Cæsar, II. i. 44: "The exhalations whizzing in the air"; and 1 Henry IV. II. iv. 352: "My lord, do you see these meteors? Do you behold these exhalations?" See "meteor," line 157 infra.

154. scope of nature] anything

66

155

within the range of natural phenomena. Pope reads scape as equivalent to "freak," but this is unsupported by any example of the same use in Shakespeare.

157. meteors] supernatural phenomena. See Coles," Meteors: apparitions on high, or bodies imperfectly mixt of vapours drawn up in the air, as comets, clouds, wind, rain, etc." Evidently in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries "meteors" and halations" were terms loosely used and imperfectly understood.

"'ex

158. Abortives] We may either take this to mean abortions of nature, or dreadful happenings that would bring about abortion in those witnessing them.