III

"KING JOHN” (A.D. 1199)

HAKESPEARE'S earliest yet slight allusion to English history is in Macbeth, when mentioning Edward the Confessor, and rather more than a hundred and fifty years of his country's history had elapsed before the great poet again describes it. During this interval, the Norman rule over England and part of Ireland had commenced and was thoroughly confirmed. Six French or Norman Kings had reigned and disappeared, and the seventh, King John, was now ruling over England-his mother, Elinor, assisting him with her counsel, favour, and experience. She was, from all accounts, a woman of uncommon spirit and resolution, and her fierce temper instantly resents the haughty language of the French envoy Chatillon when terming her favourite son's regal power "borrowed majesty."

Macaulay writes of this unfortunate King: "Had John inherited the great qualities of his father . . . and had the King of France at the same time been as incapable as all the other successors of Hugh Capet had been, the House of Plantagenet must have risen

to unrivalled ascendancy in Europe. But just at this conjuncture France for the first time since the death of Charlemagne was governed by a prince of great firmness and ability. On the other hand, England, which since the battle of Hastings had been ruled generally by wise statesmen, always by brave soldiers, fell under the dominion of a trifler and a coward" ("History of England," chap. i.).

John, who, amid all his evil qualities, always loved his mother as much as he was capable of loving any one, begs her to be silent, while he returns a defiant answer to the equally defiant words of King Philip of France. After Chatillon departs, Elinor lays all the blame of Philip's hostility on the ambition of her hated daughter-in-law, Constance, now with her son Arthur at the Court of France.

QUEEN ELINOR. What now, my son? have I not ever said, How that ambitious Constance would not cease,

Till she had kindled France, and all the world,

Upon the right and party of her son?

KING JOHN. Our strong possession, and our right, for us. ELINOR. Your strong possession much more than your right; Or else it must go wrong with you and me :

So much my conscience whispers in your ear;

Which none but Heaven, and you, and I, shall hear."

John, while contemplating an attack on France, reveals his plan for plundering the priories and abbeys of England, exclaiming :

"Our abbeys and our priories shall pay
This expedition's charge."

This scheme, despite great opposition, he strove to accomplish, with the fatal obstinacy of his character.

In the next scene there occurs a curious dispute between two half-brothers, which is brought before King John and his mother, who, somewhat like modern judges, hear and decide the case. The disputants bear the name of Faulconbridge. The elder was disinherited by his supposed father, Sir Robert, who declared his belief to the younger that his brother was a son of the late King Richard Coeur-de-Lion. This case greatly interests Elinor and John, for they recognise in the gallant bearing, noble figure, and frank manner of Philip Faulconbridge their late son and brother, to whom John had every reason to be grateful for unmerited generosity. They well know that no danger to their power could arise from an illegitimate relative; that the bar sinister prevents the least chance of rivalry more than perhaps anything else could do; and yet Richard I. in many ways again stands before them-young, respectful, and completely devoted to their interests. Such a valuable friend and adherent is, indeed, precious at this time, when they are threatened by the chivalrous French King espousing the rightful cause of the injured Prince Arthur. Accordingly, John knights Philip Faulconbridge by the name of Sir Richard Plantagenet, while Elinor, greeting him yet more eagerly, calls herself his grandmother, and asks him to call her so.

"QUEEN ELINOR. I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so. BASTARD. Madam, by chance, but not by truth: what though? Something about, a little from the right,

In at the window, or else o'er the hatch."

The young knight thus respectfully demurs, with the

singular modesty and frankness which mark his peculiarly interesting character, and prepares to accompany the King and Queen-mother to France, while cheerfully congratulating his younger brother on obtaining his father's lands, which was the cause of their dispute; for the bastard is now a "landless knight," while his brother is a "landed squire.”

The newly-made knight when alone amusingly mentions his new dignity:

"A foot of honour better than I was,

But many a foot of land the worse.

Well now can I make any Joan a lady."

Then, imitating some future greeting to himself, and his own proud answer :

"Gooa-den, Sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fellow !
And if his name be George I'll call him Peter,
For new made honour doth forget men's names,
'Tis too respective and too sociable
For your conversion."

He then announces this change to his mother, Lady Faulconbridge, who, on hearing it, admits that he is her son by the late King.

When she hears that he has "denied himself a Falconbridge" before Queen Elinor and King John, she confesses what may have been her misfortune more than her fault, considering the arbitrary power of Richard I. and the semi-barbarism of the time:

• Considerate."-Staunton's notes.

"King Richard Coeur-de-Lion was thy father.
By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd. . . .
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,

Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence."

He replies, doubtless full of new ambitions, hopes, and thoughts:

"Madam, I would not wish a better father,
Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,

And so doth yours: your fault was not your folly;
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Subjected tribute to commanding love,

Against whose fury and unmatched force
The aweless lion would not wage the fight,

Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.
He that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's."

Act II. changes to France, where King Philip II., allied with the Archduke of Austria, and accompanied by his son, the Dauphin Lewis, are assembled, together with the Princess Constance and her son Arthur. These three foreign Princes now unite in hatred to King John, and in the wish to obtain for Arthur his royal rights. It is certain, however, that Philip's own interests chiefly incline him to this policy; for then John ruled several French provinces, some-perhaps all-of which the former would probably claim and receive from Arthur, in return for his assistance in case of success. Philip is

1 Bishop Wordsworth, in his notes to "Shakespeare's Historical Plays," says that King John was not considered a usurper of his nephew's rights at this period; and adds, "John was bad enough, without having to bear the blame of faults which were not his."