K. John. We like not this; thou doft forget thyself. Enter Pandulph. K. Phil. 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, Why thou against the church, our holy mother, any reason for it. But the ftory is, that Auftria, who killed king Richard Coeur-de-lion, wore as the fpoil of that prince, a lion's hide which had belonged to him. This circumftance renders the anger of the Baftard very natural, and ought not to have been omitted. In the first sketch of this play (which Shakespeare is said to have had a hand in, jointly with William Rowley) we accordingly find this infifted upon, and I have ventured to place a few of thofe verfes here."- Here Dr. Johnson adds : "To the infertion of these lines I have nothing to object. There are many other paffages in the old play of great value. The omiffion of this incident, in the fecond draught, was natural. Shakespeare, having familiarized the story to his own imagination, forgot that it was obfcure to his audience; or, what is equally probable, the ftory was then fo popular, that a hint was fufficient at that time to bring it to mind, and thofe plays were written with very little care for the approbation of pofterity." STEEVENS. Auft. Methinks, &c.] I cannot by any means approve of the infertion of these lines from the other play. If they were neceffary to explain the ground of the Baftard's quarrel to Arfiria, as Mr. Pope fuppofes, they fhould rather be inferted in the first fcene of the fecond act, at the time of the firft altercation between the Baftard and Austria. But indeed the ground of their quarrel feems to be as clearly exprefled in that firft fcene as in thefe lines; fo that they are unneceffary in either place; and therefore, I think, fhould be thrown out of the text, as well as the three other lines, which have been inferted with as little reafon in aft III. fc. ii. Thus hath king Richard's &c. TYRWHITT. K. John. K. John. What carthly name to interrogatories Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England, But as we under heaven are fupreme head, K. Phil. Brother of England, you blafpheme in this, K. John. Though you, and all the kings of Chrif tendom, Are led fo grofsly by this meddling prieft, Who, in that fale, fells pardon from himself: What earthly name to interrogatories] This must have been at the time when it was written, in our struggles with popery, a very captivating scene. So many paffages remain in which Shakespeare evidently takes his advantage of the facts then recent, and of the paffions then in motion, that I cannot but fufpect that time has obfcured much of his art, and that many allufions yet remain undifcovered, which perhaps may be gradually retrieved by fucceeding commentators. JOHNSON. The speech stands thus in the old fpurious play: "And what haft thou or the pope thy mafter to do to demand of me how I employ mine own? Know, fir prieft, as I honour the church and holy churchmen, fo I fcorne to be fubject to the greatest prelate in the world. Tell thy mafter fo from me; and fay John of England faid it, that never an Italian priest of them all, fhall either have tythe, toll or polling penny out of England; but as I am king, so will I reign next under God, fupreme head both over spiritual and temporal: and he that contradicts me in this, I'll make him hop headlefs." STEEVENS. Though Though you, and all the reft, fo grofsly led, Against the pope, and count his friends my foes, Conft. O, lawful let it be, That I have room with Rome to curfe a while! To my keen curfes; for, without my wrong, And raise the power of France upon his head, Eli. Look'ft thou pale, France? do not let go thy hand. Conft. Look to that, devil! left that France repent, And, by disjoining hands, hell lofe a foul. That takes away by any fecret courfe &c.] This may allude to the bull published against queen Elizabeth. Or we may fuppofe, fince we have no proof that this play appeared in its present state before the reign of king James, that it was exhibited foon after the popish plot. I have feen a Spanish book in which Garnet, Faux, and their accomplices are registered as faints. JoHNSON. Auft. Auft. King Philip, liften to the cardinal. Faule. And hang a calf's-fkin on his recreant limbs. Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, Becaufe Faulc. Your breeches beft may carry them. K. John. Philip, what fay'ft thou to the cardinal? Conft. What fhould he fay, but as the cardinal? Lewis. Bethink you, father; for the difference Is, purchase of a heavy curfe from Rome 3, Or the light lofs of England for a friend : Forgo the eafier. Blanch. That's the curfe of Rome. Conft. O Lewis, ftand faft; the devil tempts thee here 4, In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.. Blanch. Is, purchase of a heavy curfe from Rome,] It is a political maxim, that kingdoms are never married. Lewis, upon the wedding, is for making war upon his new relations. JOHNSON. -the devil tempts thee here In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.] Though all the copies concur in this reading, yet as untrimmed cannot bear any fignification to fquare with the fenfe required, cannot help thinking it a corrupted reading. I have ventured to throw out the negative, and read: In likeness of a new and trimmed bride. i. e. of a new bride, and one decked and adorned as well by art as nature. THEOBALD. a new untrimmed bride.] Mr. Theobald fays, " that as untrimmed cannot bear any fignification to fquare with the fenfe required," it must be corrupt; therefore he will cafhier it, and read, and trimmed; in which he is followed by the Oxford editor; but they are both too hafty. It fquares very well with the fenfe, and fignifies unfteady. The term is taken from navigation. We say too, in a fimilar way of speaking, not well manned. WARBURTON. I think Mr. Theobald's correction more plaufible than Dr. Warburton's explanation. A commentator fhould be grave, and therefore I can read these notes with proper feverity of attention; but the idea of trimming a lady to keep her fteady, would be too rifible for any common power of face. JOHNSON. Trim is drefs. An untrimmed bride is a bride undreft. Could the tempter of mankind affume a semblance in which he was more Blanch. The lady Conftance fpeaks not from her faith, But from her need. Conft. Oh, if thou grant my need, Which only lives but by the death of faith, K. John. The king is mov'd, and anfwers not to this. K. Phil. I am perplex'd, and know not what to say. likely to be fuccefsful? The devil (fays Conftance) raifes to your imagination your bride difencumber'd of the fo bidding forms of dreis, and the memory of my wrongs is loft in the anticipation of future enjoyment. Ben Jonton, in his New Inn, fays: "Tip. A well-trimm'd lady!” Again, in the Two Gentlemen of Verona: "And I was trimm'd in madam Julia's gown." Again, in K. Henry VI. P. III. act II: "Trimm'd like a younker prancing to his love." Again, in Reginald Scott's Difcovery of Witchcraft, 1584: a good hufwife and alfo well trimmed up in apparel." Mr. Collins inclines to a colder interpretation, and is willing to fuppofe that by an untrimmed bride is meant a bride unadorned with the ufual pomp and formality of a nuptial habit. The propriety of this epithet he infers from the hafte in which the match was made, and further juftifies it from K. John's preceding words: "Go we, as well as hafte will fuffer us, "To this unlook'd for, unprepared pomp." Mr. Tollet is of the fame opinion, and offers two inftances in which untrimmed indicates a defhabille or a frugal vefture. In Minther's Dictionary, it fignifies one not finely dreft or attired. Again, in Vives's inftruction of a Chriftian Woman, 1592, p. 98, and 99: "Let her [the mistress of the houfe] bee content with a maide not faire and wanton, that can fing a ballat with a clere voice, but fad, pale, and untrimmed." STEEVENS. Pand. |