William Shakespeare

“ No, no; when Fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.120
'Tis strange to think how much King John hath lost
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. ”

“ We have not followed Capell and the more recent editors in attempting to define the precise spot at which each scene took place, where none is mentioned in the body of the play or in the stage directions of the Folio. Nothing is gained by an attempt to harmonize the plot with historical facts gathered from Holinshed and elsewhere, when it is plain that Shakespeare was either ignorant of them or indifferent to minute accuracy. ”

“ Let's choose executors and talk of wills:
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?150
Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth [1375]
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones. ”

“ My dear dear lord, [758]
The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation: that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay. [759]
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest [760]
Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.180
Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
[Pg 116] Take honour from me, and my life is done:
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live and for that will I die.185
K. ”

“ I am not mad: this hair I tear is mine;45
My name is Constance; I was Geffrey's wife;
Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost:
I am not mad: I would to heaven I were!
For then, 'tis like I should forget myself:
O, if I could, what grief should I forget!50
Preach some philosophy to make me mad, [374]
And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal; ”

“ If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face
is not worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for
love of any thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook.145
I speak to thee plain soldier: if thou canst love me for this, [5375]
take me; if not, to say to thee that I shall die, is true; but
for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And [5376]
while thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined [5377]
constancy ”

“ This day is call'd the feast of Crispian:40
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age, [5142]
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, [5143] 45
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.' [5144]
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, [5145]
But he'll remember with advantages [5145] 50
What feats he did that day: then shall our names, [5146]
Familiar in his mouth as household words, ”

“ More are men's ends mark'd than their lives before: [978]
The setting sun, and music at the close, [978] [980]
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, [978] [981]
Writ in remembrance more than things long past: [978]
Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear, [978] [982] 15
My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear. ”

“ If thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear [2801] 30
by thy face; my oath should be, 'By this fire, that's God's [2802]
angel:' but thou art altogether given over; and wert indeed, [2802]
but for the light in thy face, the son of utter darkness. ”

“ Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, Sir Walter Blunt, and Falstaff. [3033]
King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale [3034]
At his distemperature.
Prince. The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes,
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves [3035] 5
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.
King. Then with the losers let it sympathise,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win.
[Pg 329] [The trumpet sounds.
Enter Worcester and Vernon. [3036]
How now, my Lord of Worcester! ”

“ Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me: the
brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to [3333]
invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent [3334]
or is invented on me: I am not only witty in myself, but
the cause that wit is in other men. I do here walk before10
thee like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. [3335]
If the prince put thee into my service for any other reason
than to set me off, why then I have no judgement. Thou
whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap
than to wait at my heels. ”

“ And in that very line, Harry, standest thou; [2752] 85
For thou hast lost thy princely privilege
With vile participation: not an eye
But is a-weary of thy common sight,
Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;
Which now doth that I would not have it do, [2753] 90
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.
Prince. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord,
Be more myself.
King. For all the world [2754]
As thou art to this hour was Richard then [2755]
When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh, [2756] 95
[Pg 303] And even as I was then is Percy now. ”

“ No certain life achieved by others' death. [481] 105
Enter a Messenger. [482]
A fearful eye thou hast: where is that blood
That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks?
So foul a sky clears not without a storm:
Pour down thy weather: how goes all in France?
Mess. From France to England. Never such a power [483] 110
For any foreign preparation
Was levied in the body of a land.
The copy of your speed is learn'd by them;
For when you should be told they do prepare,
The tidings comes that they are all arrived. [484] 115
K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk? ”

“ V. 2. 101. The stage direction of the first Quarto is literally as follows: Here they embrace the trumpets sound, the King enters with his power, alarme to the battel, then enter Douglas, and Sir Walter Blunt. The Folios have substantially the same, omitting the word 'Here.' They indicate no change of scene in this place. The Quartos do not, either here or elsewhere, mark any division into act or scene.
Note XXIV.
V. 4. 136, sqq. Pope reads thus:
'I did, I saw him dead
And breathless on the ground: art thou alive,
Or is it Fancy plays upon our eye-sight? ”

“ In at the window, or else o'er the hatch:
Who dares not stir by day must walk by night,
And have is have, however men do catch:
Near or far off, well won is still well shot,
And I am I, howe'er I was begot.175
K. John. Go, Faulconbridge: now hast thou thy desire;
A landless knight makes thee a landed squire.
Come, madam, and come, Richard, we must speed
For France, for France, for it is more than need.
Bast. Brother, adieu: good fortune come to thee!180
For thou wast got i' the way of honesty. [41]
[Exeunt all but Bastard. [42]
A foot of honour better than I was ”

“ And when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt,20
The organs, though defunct and dead before,
Break up their drowsy grave and newly move,
With casted slough and fresh legerity. ”

“ Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:
I stay too long by thee, I weary thee. ”

“ thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!115
Thou little valiant, great in villany!
Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
Thou Fortune's champion that dost never fight
But when her humorous ladyship is by
To teach thee safety! ”

“ And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,205
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off. ”

“ Fal. What beast! why, an otter.
Prince. An otter, Sir John! why an otter?
Fal. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh; a man knows120
not where to have her.
Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so: thou or [2839]
any man knows where to have me, thou knave, thou!
Prince. Thou sayest true, hostess; and he slanders
thee most grossly.125
Host. So he doth you, my lord; and said this other
day you ought him a thousand pound. [2840]
Prince. Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound?
Fal. A thousand pound, Hal! a million: thy love is
worth a million: thou owest me thy love.130
Host. ”

“ Blood hath bought blood and blows have answer'd blows;
Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power:330
Both are alike; and both alike we like.
[Pg 25] One must prove greatest: while they weigh so even,
We hold our town for neither, yet for both.
Re-enter the two Kings, with their powers, severally. [169]
K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away? ”

“ Poins. The reason? [3572]
Prince. What wouldst thou think of me, if I should
weep?
Poins. I would think thee a most princely hypocrite.50
Prince. It would be every man's thought; and thou art
a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks: never a man's
thought in the world keeps the road-way better than thine:
every man would think me an hypocrite indeed. And what
accites your most worshipful thought to think so? [3573] 55
Poins. ”

“ I do defy him, and I spit at him; [716] 60
Call him a slanderous coward and a villain:
Which to maintain I would allow him odds,
And meet him, were I tied to run afoot [717]
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable, [718] 65
Where ever Englishman durst set his foot. ”

“ I., p. xii, retain the reading of the Folios. 'Scope of Nature' may mean anything which lies within the limits of Nature's power.
Note XXII.
IV. 1. 70. Warburton, after quoting Pope's reading, which he adopts, remarks: "Thus Mr Pope found the line in the old editions.... Mr Theobald, by what authority I don't know, reads:
'I would not have believ'd him: no tongue, but Hubert's,'
which is spoiling the measure without much mending the sense." ”

“ Consideration, like an angel, came
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise,30
To envelope and contain celestial spirits. ”

“ Ritson, in his Remarks, p. 108, says, 'In the Folio, it is the duke of Exeter and not Fluellen, who enters and to whom Pistol addresses himself. Shakespeare had made the alteration and the player editors inserted it in the text, but inadvertently, left Fluellen in possession of the margin.' No copy of any Folio with which we are acquainted bears out Ritson's assertion. All have Enter Fluellen, as well as Flu. in the margin. It seems to us that there is some comic humour in making Pistol, almost beside himself with fright, endeavour to propitiate the captain by giving him high sounding titles. ”

“ Gain, be] Theobald. Gaine be Ff (Gain F3 F4) .
ACT III. Scene I. The French King's Pavilion. [248] 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 [249]
Is but the vain breath of a common man:
Believe me, I do not believe thee, man ”

“ Since thou, created to be awed by man,
Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse;
And yet I bear a burthen like an ass,
Spurr'd, gall'd and tired by jauncing Bolingbroke.
Enter Keeper, with a dish. [1925]
Keep. Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay. [1926] 95
K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away.
Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say.
[Pg 219]
[Exit. [1927]
Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to? [1928]
K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. [1929]
Keep. ”

“ My father hath a power; inquire of him, [1388]
And learn to make a body of a limb. [1388]
K. Rich. Thou chidest me well: proud Bolingbroke, I come
To change blows with thee for our day of doom. [1391]
This ague fit of fear is over-blown; [1391] 190
An easy task it is to win our own. ”

“ Poins there?
Poins. 'Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, [2441] 135
by the Lord, I'll stab thee. [2442]
Fal. I call thee coward! I'll see thee damned ere I
call thee coward: but I would give a thousand pound I
could run as fast as thou canst. You are straight enough
in the shoulders, you care not who sees your back: call you140
[Pg 275] that backing of your friends? A plague upon such backing!
give me them that will face me. Give me a cup of
sack: I am a rogue, if I drunk to-day.
Prince. O villain! thy lips are scarce wiped since thou
drunkest last.145
Fal. ”

“ Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
[Pg 53] Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,95
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form;
Then, have I reason to be fond of grief? ”

“ For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground [1376] 155
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been deposed; ”

“ Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff [3150] 40
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are yet unrevenged: I prithee, lend me thy sword. [3151]
Fal. O Hal, I prithee, give me leave to breathe awhile.
Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done
this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure. [3152] 45
Prince. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. I [3153]
prithee, lend me thy sword. [3154]
Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou [3155]
get'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. [3156]
Prince. ”

“ Swearest thou, ungracious boy? henceforth
ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from
grace: there is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an old [2553]
fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou [2553]
converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of [2554] 430
[Pg 285] beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard
of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted
Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that [2555]
reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that [2556]
vanity in years? ”

“ K. John. Hubert, away with him; imprison him;155
And on that day at noon, whereon he says
I shall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd.
Deliver him to safety; and return,
For I must use thee. [Exit Hubert with Peter. [492]
O my gentle cousin,
Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arrived?160
[Pg 67]
Bast. The French, my lord; men's mouths are full of it:
Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury,
With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,
And others more, going to seek the grave
Of Arthur, whom they say is kill'd to-night [493] [494] 165
On your suggestion. [494]
K. John. ”

“ Enter Gower and Williams.
Will. I warrant it is to knight you, captain.
Enter Fluellen.
Flu. God's will and his pleasure, captain, I beseech you
now, come apace to the king: there is more good toward
you peradventure than is in your knowledge to dream of.
Will. Sir, know you this glove?5
Flu. Know the glove! I know the glove is a glove.
Will. I know this; and thus I challenge it.
[Strikes him.
Flu. 'Sblood! an arrant traitor as any is in the universal [5260]
world, or in France, or in England! [5261]
Gow. How now, sir! you villain!10
Will. ”

“ But, sirrah, there's no room for faith, truth,
nor honesty in this bosom of thine; it is all filled up with [2845]
guts and midriff. Charge an honest woman with picking [2846]
thy pocket! why, thou whoreson, impudent, embossed
rascal, if there were anything in thy pocket but150
tavern-reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houses, and one poor
penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long-winded, if
thy pocket were enriched with any other injuries but
these, I am a villain: and yet you will stand to it; you will
not pocket up wrong: art thou not ashamed?155
Fal. ”

“ The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon;
and a man that I love and honour with my soul,
and my heart, and my duty, and my life, and my living, [4958]
and my uttermost power: he is not—God be praised and [4959]
blessed!—any hurt in the world; but keeps the bridge most [4960] 10
valiantly, with excellent discipline. There is an aunchient [4961]
lieutenant there at the pridge, I think in my very conscience [4961]
he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is
a man of no estimation in the world; but I did see him do
as gallant service. [4962] 15
Gow. ”

“ Blanch. That she is bound in honour still to do
What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say. [223]
K. John. Speak then, prince Dauphin; can you love this lady?
Lew. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love;525
For I do love her most unfeignedly.
K. John. Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine,
Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces, [224]
With her to thee; and this addition more,
Full thirty thousand marks of English coin.530
Philip of France, if thou be pleased withal,
Command thy son and daughter to join hands.
K. Phi. It likes us well; young princes, close your hands. ”

“ III. 3. 52. Capell seems to have printed 'the castle's' by mistake for 'this castle's'—the reading of all the old copies. The mistake was copied in several subsequent editions.
Note XXI.
III. 4. 22. 'And I could sing, would weeping do me good,
And never borrow any tear of thee.'
Although most editors have acquiesced in Pope's conjecture 'weep' for 'sing,' we retain 'sing,' which all the Quartos and Folios agree in. ”

“ Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave, [1015]
Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones. [1015]
K. Rich. Can sick men play so nicely with their names? [1015]
Gaunt. No, misery makes sport to mock itself: [1015] 85
Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me, [1015]
I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee. [1015] [1017]
K. Rich. Should dying men flatter with those that live? [1015] [1018]
Gaunt. No, no, men living flatter those that die. [1015]
K. Rich. Thou, now a-dying, say'st thou flatterest me. [1015] [1019] 90
Gaunt. ”

“ But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool; [3196]
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. ”

“ Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay; [1352]
The worst is death, and death will have his day. ”