Thou fortune's champion, that dost never fight To teach thee safety! thou art perjur'd too, 9 doff it for shame,] To doff is to do off, to put off. in Fuimus Troes, 1633: "Sorrow must doff her sable weeds." Steevens. So, 1 And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.] When fools were kept for diversion in great families, they were distinguished by a calf's-skin coat, which had the buttons down the back; and this they wore that they might be known for fools, and escape the resentment of those whom they provoked with their waggeries. In a little penny book, entitled The Birth, Life, and Death of John Franks, with the Pranks he played though a meer Fool, mention is made in several places of a calf's-skin. In chap. x, of this book, Jack is said to have made his appearance at his lord's table, having then a new calf-skin, red and white spotted. This fact will explain the sarcasm of Constance and Faulconbridge, who mean to call Austria a fool. Sir J. Hawkins. I may add, that the custom is still preserved in Ireland; and the fool, in any of the legends which the mummers act at Christmas, always appears in a calf's or cow's skin. In the prologue to Wily Beguiled, are the two following passages: Again: "I'll make him do penance upon the stage in a calf'sskin." "His calf's-skin jests from hence are clean exil'd." Again, in the play: "I'll come wrapp'd in a calf's-skin, and cry bo, bo.”Again: "I'll wrap me in a rousing calf-skin suit, and come like some Hobgoblin.”- "I mean my Christmas calf's-skin suit.” Steevens. It does not appear that Constance means to call Austria a fool, as Sir John Hawkins would have it; but she certainly means to call him coward, and to tell him that a calf's-skin would suit his recreant limbs better than a lion's. They still say of a dastardly person, that he is a calf-hearted fellow; and a run-away school boy is usually called a great calf. Ritson. Aust. O, that a man should speak those words to me! Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs. Aust. Thou dar'st not say so, villain, for thy life. Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.2 K. John. We like not this; thou dost forget thyself. Enter PANDULPH. K. Phi. 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, And from pope Innocent the legate here, Why thou against the church, our holy mother, The speaker in the play [Wily Beguiled] is Robin Goodfellow. Perhaps, as has been suggested, Constance, by clothing Austria in a calf's-skin, means only to insinuate that he is a coward. The word recreant seems to favour such a supposition. Malone. 2 Here Mr. Pope inserts the following speeches from the old play of King John, printed in 1591, before Shakspeare appears to have commenced a writer: "Aust. Methinks, that Richard's pride, and Richard's fall, "Should be a precedent to fright you all. "Faulc. What words are these? how do my sinews shake! Steevens. "My father's foe clad in my father's spoil! "How doth Alecto whisper in my ears, "Delay not, Richard, kill the villain straight; "Disrobe him of the matchless monument, "Thy father's triumph o'er the savages! "Now by his soul I swear, my father's soul, "Twice will I not review the morning's rise, "Till I have torn that trophy from thy back, "And split thy heart for wearing it so long." I cannot, by any means, approve of the insertion of these lines from the other play. If they were necessary to explain the ground of the bastard's quarrel to Austria, as Mr. Pope supposes, they should rather be inserted in the first scene of the second Act, at the time of the first altercation between the Bastard and Austria. But indeed the ground of their quarrel seems to be as clearly expressed in the first scene as in these lines; so that they are unnecessary in either place; and therefore, I think, should be thrown out of the text, as well as the three other lines, which have been inserted, with as little reason, in Act III, sc. ii: Thus hath King Richard's, &c. Tyrwhitt. Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop K. John. What earthly name to interrogatories,3 To charge me to an answer, as the pope. Shall tithe or toll in our dominions; But as we under heaven are supreme head, 3 What earthly &c.] This must have been, at the time when it was written, in our struggles with popery, a very captivating scene. So many passages remain in which Shakspeare evidently takes his advantage of the facts then recent, and of the passions then in motion, that I cannot but suspect that time has obscured much of his art, and that many allusions yet remain undiscovered, which perhaps may be gradually retrieved by succeeding commentators. Johnson. The speech stands thus in the old spurious play: "And what hast thou, or the pope thy master, to do, to demand of me how I employ mine own? Know, sir priest, as I honour the church and holy churchmen, so I scorne to be subject to the greatest prelate in the world. Tell thy master so from me; and say, John of England said it, that never an Italian priest of them all, shall either have tythe, toll, or polling penny out of England; but as I am king, so will I reign next under God, supreme head both over spiritual and temporal: and he that contradicts me in this, I'll make him hop headless." Steevens. What earthly name to interrogatories, Can task the free breath &c.] i. e. What earthly name subjoined to interrogatories, can force a king to speak and answer them? The old copy reads-earthy. The emendation was made by Mr. Pope. It has also tast instead of task, which was substituted by Mr. Theobald. Breath for speech is common with our author. So, in a subsequent part of this scene: "The latest breath that gave the sound of words." Again, in The Merchant of Venice, "breathing courtesy," for verbal courtesy. Malone. The emendation [task] may be justified by the following passage in King Henry IV, P. I: "How show'd his tasking? seem'd it in contempt?" Again, in King Henry V: “That task our thoughts concerning us and France." Steevens. " Heav'n So, under him, that great supremacy, K. Phi. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this. Who, in that sale, sells pardon from himself: Against the pope, and count his friends my foes. That I have room with Rome to curse a while! 4 That takes away by any secret course Thy hateful life.] This may allude to the bull published against Queen Elizabeth. Or we may suppose, since we have no proof that this play appeared in its present state before the reign of King James, that it was exhibited soon after the popish plot. I have seen a Spanish book in which Garnet, Faux, and their accomplices, are registered as saints. Johnson. If any allusion to his own times was intended by the author of the old play, (for this speech is formed on one in King John, 1591) it must have been to the bull of Pope Pius the Fifth, 1569: "Then I Pandulph of Padua, legate from the Apostolike sea, doe in the name of Saint Peter, and his successor, our holy father Pope Innocent, pronounce thee accursed, discharging every of thy subjects of all dutie and fealtie that they do owe to thee, and pardon and forgivenesse of sinne to those or them whatsoever which shall carrie armes against thee or murder thee. This I pronounce, and charge all good men to abhorre thee as an excommunicate person.” Malone. To my keen curses; for, without my wrong, Law cannot give my child his kingdom here; 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 wrongs, Because Bast. Is, purchase of a heavy curse from Rome," Blanch. That's the curse of Rome. Const. O Lewis, stand fast; the devil tempts thee here, In likeness of a new untrimmed bride." 5 Your breeches best may carry them.] Perhaps there is somewhat proverbial in this sarcasm. So, in the old play of King Leir, 1605: "Mum. Well I have a payre of slops for the nonce, 6 Is, purchase of a heavy curse 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. 7 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 signification to square with the sense required, I cannot help thinking it a corrupted reading. I have ventured to throw out the negative, and read: |