Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry, havoc, kings! back to the stained field, ",
You equal-potents, 12 fiery-kindled spirits!

Then let confusion of one part confirm A

The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death!

K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit?
K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who 's your king?
Cit. The king of England, when we know the king.
K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right.
K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy,

And bear possession of our person here,
Lord of our presence, 13 Angiers, and of you.

Cit. A greater power than we denies all this;

And, till it be undoubted, we do lock

Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates,

Kings, of our fear; 14 until our fears, resolv'd,

Be by some certain king purg'd and depos'd.

Bast. By heaven, these scroyles 15 of Angiers flout you, kings,

And stand securely on their battlements,

As in a theatre, whence they gape and point

At your industrious 16 scenes and acts of death.

Your royal presences be rul'd by me:

Do like the mutines of Jerusalem, 17

11) to mouse = zerreissen, zerfetzen, von Raubvögeln gebraucht.

gleichmächtig, ist gewiss als Compositum zu fassen, obwohl die Hgg.,

der Fol. folgend, die Worte trennen.

13) Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 1, Anm. 30. Die folgende Antwort des Bürgers ertheilt die Fol. irrthümlich dem König von Frankreich zu.

14 So die Fol., nur dass sie hinter gates ein Colon, hinter Kings kein Comma setzt. Kings ist Vocativ, die häufig wiederkehrende Anrede an beide Könige, welche eingeschoben ist in das zusammengehörige our strong-barr'd gates of our fear, d. h. our gates strong-barred of our fear unsere von oder vermöge unsrer Furcht stark verrammelten Thore. Die meisten Hgg. lesen mit Tyrwhitt King'd of our fears. Vielleicht ist auch in der Fol. fear aus Verwechslung mit dem gleich darauf folgenden fears an die Stelle eines andern Wortes getreten, und Sh. schrieb vielleicht: Kings of ourselves.

-

15) scroyle, eigentlich Skrophel, wird hier als Schimpfwort auf Personen ebenso angewandt, wie bei Sh. anderswo scab = Lump. - scroyle, das bei Sh. sonst nicht vorkommt, hat Ben Jonson in seinem Every Man in his Humour in demselben Sinne. 16) industrious mit Eifer betrieben, geflissentlich.

=

17) mutine Meuterer, Aufrührer.

Sh. hat dasselbe seltene Substantiv in Hamlet (A. 5, Sc. 2). Die Meuterer in dem von Titus belagerten Jerusalem vereinigten sich, obwohl in drei Parteien einander befehdend, doch zu einem gemeinschaftlichen Ausfalle gegen die römischen Belagerer.

Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend
Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town.

By east and west let France and England mount
Their battering cannon charged to the mouths,
Till their soul-fearing 18 clamours have brawl'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:
I'd play incessantly upon these jades,
Even till unfenced desolation

Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, dissever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point; 19
Then, in a moment, fortune shall cull forth
Out of one side her happy minion,

To whom in favour she shall give the day,

And kiss him with a glorious victory.

How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? 20

Smacks it not something of the policy? (

K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,
I like it well. France, shall we knit our powers,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground,
Then, after, fight who shall be king of it?

Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,
Being wrong'd as we are by this peevish 21 town,
Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,

As we will ours, against these saucy walls;

And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,
Why, then defy each other, and, pell-mell,

Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell. 22

K. Phi. Let it be so.

Say, where will you assault?
K. John. We from the west will send destruction

Into this city's bosom.

Aust. I from the north.

K. Phi.

Our thunder from the south

Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.

Bast. 0, prudent discipline! From north to south,
Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth:
I'll stir them to it. Come, away, away!

18) soul-fearing die Seele erschreckend, von to fear

3,

[Aside.

in Furcht oder Schrecken versetzen.

19) Schwert- oder Lanzenspitze, wie in Macbeth (A. 1, Sc. 2) Point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm.

20) states Regierende, Staatenlenker.

21) peevish

=

unlenksam, widerwillig, in Sh.'s Sprachgebrauch.

22) so dass wir fallen und so in den Himmel oder in die Hölle kommen. So in Macbeth (A. 2, Sc. 1) it is a knell | That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

Cit. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe a while to stay,
And I shall show you peace, and fair-fac'd league;
Win you this city without stroke, or wound;
Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come sacrifices for the field.
Persever 23 not, but hear me, mighty kings.

K. John. Speak on, with favour: we are bent to hear.
Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch,
Is niece to England. 24 Look upon the years
Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid.
If lusty love should go in quest of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?
If zealous love 25 should go in search of virtue,
Where should he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love ambitious sought a match of birth,
Whose veins bound richer blood than lady Blanch?
Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth,
Is the young Dauphin every way complete:
If not complete of, 26 say, he is not she;
And she again wants nothing, to name want, 27
If want it be not, that she is not he:
He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she, 28
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.
O! two such silver currents, when they join,
Do glorify the banks that bound them in;

23) to persever, mit betonter zweiter Sylbe, ist das Sh.'sche Wort für das moderne to

persevere.

---

Die meisten Hgg. Der alte K. John hat an

24) neere in der Fol., was leicht aus neece verdruckt werden konnte. lesen near; niece ist eine Emendation von Perkins. der entsprechenden Stelle: let him take to wife | The beauteous daughter of the king of Spain | Niece to King John, the lovely Lady Blanch.

25) Dem lusty love sinnliche Liebe, wird zealous love ernste, von frommem Eifer getragene Liebe, entgegengestellt. So kommt zealous contemplation in K. Richard III.

(A. 3, Sc. 7) vor, und vielleicht ist zealous kiss in A. 2, Sc. 1 in demselben Sinne zu fassen.

Die

26) of ist hier zur Ergänzung statt des vorhergehenden in hinzugefügt, da sich sowohl complete of, wie complete in vollkommen in oder an Etwas, sagen lässt. meisten Hgg. lesen mit Hanmer: If not complete, O say, etc. Der Sinn ist: Wenn der Dauphin nicht daran, d. h. an den genannten Eigenschaften, vollkommen ist, so nehmt an, dass er nicht sie ist, dass er also zu grösserer Vollkommenheit der Vereinigung mit der Lady Blanch bedarf.

27) Ihr fehlt Nichts, was man als Mangel namhaft machen könnte, wenn es nicht ein Mangel ist, dass sie nicht er ist.

28) durch eine Solche wie sie ist.

Die meisten Hgg. lesen mit Thirlby such a she.

And two such shores to two such streams made one,
Two such controlling bounds shall you be, kings,

To these two princes, if you marry them.
This union shall do more than battery can
To our fast-closed gates; for, at this match,
With swifter spleen 29 than powder can enforce,
The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance; but, without this match,
The sea enraged is not half so deaf,

Lions more confident, mountains and rocks

More free from motion: no, not death himself
In mortal fury half so peremptory,

As we to keep this city.

That shakes the rotten carcase of old, death

Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed,

That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas;

Talks as familiarly of roaring lions,

As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs. 2

What cannoneer begot this lusty blood?

He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and bounce;

He gives the bastinado with his tongue;

Our ears are cudgell'd: not a word of his,

But buffets better than a fist of France.

Give with our niece a dowry large enough;

For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie

Thy now unsur'd assurance to the crown,

That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe

The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit.

I see a yielding in the looks of France;

Mark, how they whisper: urge them, while their souls
Are capable of this ambition,

Lest zeal, now melted, by the windy breath

=

29) spleen stürmischer Eifer, Befeuerung, hat Sh. in diesem Sinne auch sonst; z. B. in K. Richard III. (A. 5, Sc. 3) inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons. 30 stay, eigentlich Hemmniss, Unterbrechung, wird hier

=

Unterbrecher, gebraucht, insofern der Bürger von Angers mit seinen Vorschlägen den eben gefassten Beschlüssen der Könige entgegentritt. Sieben Zeilen weiter hat die Fol. kein Comma zwischen cannon und flre.

31) So wird sure und assurance verbunden in Macbeth (A. 4, Sc. 1) I'll make assurance double sure.

Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse, 32
Cool and congeal again to what it was.

Cit. Why answer not the double majesties
This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?

K. Phi. Speak England first, that hath been forward first ; ?

To speak unto this city: What say you?

K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son,

Can in this book of beauty read, I love,

Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen:

For Anjou, 38 and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers,

And all that we upon this side the sea (Except this city now by us besieg'd)

Find liable to our crown and dignity,

Shall gild her bridal bed, and make her rich

In titles, honours, and promotions,

As she in beauty, education, blood,

Holds hand with any princess of the world.

K. Phi. What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face.
Lew. I do, my lord; and in her eye I find

A wonder, or a wondrous miracle,

The shadow of myself form'd in her eye,

Which, being but the shadow of your son,
Becomes a sun,

34 and makes your son a shadow.

I do protest, I never lov'd myself,

Till now infixed I beheld myself,

Drawn in the flattering table 35 of her eye.

Bast. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye,

Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow, A

[Whispers with BLANCH.

And quarter'd in her heart, he doth espy-izin

Himself love's traitor: This is pity now,

32) remorse = Erbarmen, Zartgefühl. Die Königin versteht darunter den Einfluss, den Constanzens und Arthurs Bitten zur Kräftigung des Eifers bei König Philipp wiedergewinnen möchten, nachdem dieser Eifer für den Augenblick geschwächt, zerschmolzen ist. by the windy breath ist nicht mit melted, sondern mit dem folgenden cool and congeal zu verbinden.

33) Auch hier hat die Fol. Angiers, wofür Theobald Anjou setzte.

Anm. 35.

Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 1,

34) Vielleicht ist ein Wortspiel zwischen sun und son beabsichtigt, das auch sonst bei Sh. vorkommt.

-

Der Dauphin findet dann diesen Vergleich hängen, to quarter

35 Table ist die Tafel, auf die ein Gemälde aufgetragen wird. sein Bild in dem Auge der Lady Blanch; der Bastard führt ironisch weiter aus, und fasst to draw zeichnen, to hang einquartieren, zugleich doppelsinnig, indem er die Strafe des Hängens, zur Richtstätte Schleifens und Viertheilens auf den Dauphin als Hochverräther (love's traitor) bezieht. Im alten K. John spricht der Bastard seine Liebe zur Lady Blanch und seine Verachtung gegen den Dauphin noch deutlicher aus.