30 For ere thou canft report, I will be there: 30. For] For, Ktly, Fle. Huds. ii. report,] Ff, Rowe,+. report Cap. et cet. 31. heard.] Ff. Rowe,+, Coll. Wh. i, Fle. Craig. heard: Cap. et cet. ... lowing extracts from Batman vpon Bartolome-De Proprietalibus Rerum, 1582, are perhaps of interest in this connection, showing that the thunder and lightning were regarded as two manifestations: 'And with thunder commeth lightning, but lightening is sooner seene, for it is cleere and bright: and thunder commeth later to our eares, for the wit of sight is more subtil then the perseuerance of hearing. . . . Aristotle saith, That thunder is nought else, but quenching of fire in a Clowde. For dry vapour arreareth and setteth it on fire and on flame, with heate of the aire & when it is closed in a clowde it is sodeinly quenched. And of such quenching the noise of Thunder is gendered. As when firie hot yron is quenched in water, it maketh greate boyling and noyse. Oft thunder commeth with lightening: and then he greeveth much, as Beda sayth. And so it scorcheth fruit, & corne, when he commeth without raine. And if he commeth with raine hee doth good, as he sayth. And thunder with his mouing, beateth and smiteth all things, stirreth the braine, and feareth the wit.'-Liber, xi, chap. 13. The next two chapters treat of different kinds of lightning: "The lightening that is called Fulmen, is vapour sette on fire, and is fast and sadde, and falleth downe with great swiftnesse, and is of more strength then the lightening that is called Fulgur. And this lyghtening smiteth, thirleth and burneth things that it toucheth, and multiplyeth, and cleaueth and breaketh, and no bodilye thing withstandeth it.'-Ibid., chap. 15.-ED.] 31. my Cannon] KNIGHT: We have the same anachronism in Hamlet and in Macbeth. It is scarcely necessary to tell our readers that gunpowder was invented about a century later than the time of John, and that the first battle-field in which cannon were used is commonly supposed to have been that of Cressy. And yet the dramatic poet could not have well avoided this literal violation of propriety, both here and in the second Act, when he talks of 'bullets wrapp'd in fire.' He uses terms which were familiar to his audience, to present a particular image to their senses. Had he, instead of cannon, spoken of the mangonell and the petraria, -the stone-flinging machines of the time of John,—he would have addressed himself to the very few who might have appreciated his exactness; but his words would have fallen dead upon the ears of the many.-R. G. WHITE (Sh. Scholar, p. 298) cites with approval Knight's justification of the introduction of this anachronism and adds: 'Shakespeare never, I think, introduces anachronism in the actions of his personages.'-CRIEZENACH (p. 156): Anachronisms play a great part in the dispute over the extent of Shakespeare's education, which aroused so much eager controversy among the English critics during the eighteenth century.... But in most instances these anachronisms appear to have been due to the indifference of genius rather than to intention. This was probably the case with the oft-quoted cannon in King John and Macbeth, for that part of Holinshed's Chronicle which Shakespeare had studied before writing Henry VI. must have already acquainted him with the fact that the bombardment of a town with artillery was still a complete novelty at the seige of La Mans in 1424. In addition to all this, it would have been impossible, even with the best intentions, for a poet to maintain any accuracy So hence be thou the trumpet of our wrath, 32 33. decay:] Ff, Rowe. decay. Pope,+, Cam.+, Craig. decay. Cap. et cet. of historical setting at a period when the arts of scenic mounting and costume were completely inadequate for the purpose. 33. sullen presage] JOHNSON: By the epithet 'sullen,' which cannot be applied to a trumpet, it is plain that our author's imagination had now suggested a new idea. It is as if he had said, be a trumpet to alarm with our invasion, be a bird of ill-omen to croak out the prognostic of your own ruin.-MALONE: I do not see why the epithet 'sullen' may not be applied to a trumpet with as much propriety as to a bell. In 2 Henry IV. we find: 'Sounds ever after as a sullen bell.'-I, i, 102. -BOSWELL: Surely Johnson is right: the epithet sullen may be applied as Milton has applied it to a bell: 'swinging slow with sullen roar,' [Il Penseroso, 1. 76], with more propriety than to the sharp sound of a trumpet.-MONCK MASON (Comments, etc., p. 153): Johnson says that the epithet 'sullen' cannot be applied to a trumpet, and founds upon that principle a very unnatural explanation of this passage; but if he had ever attended to that instrument, as used in an army, and heard a trumpet sound to horse, he would have found the epithet peculiarly proper. Blanche afterwards calls a trumpet 'the braying trumpet,' an epithet that corresponds with that of 'sullen.'-[Mason's Comments upon the notes in Johnson and Steevens's edition of 1778 are, for the most part, included in those of the Variorum of 1821. The foregoing is, however, an exception, and is here repeated not so much as a valuable contribution to the discussion of Shakespeare's proper use of a word, but rather as a curious illustration of association of ideas. 'Braying' applied to the loud, somewhat discordant blast of a trumpet is peculiarly applicable, although it be inseparably connected with the image of a donkey; but is not the first idea suggested by 'sullen,' gloominess, moroseness? How then can the two epithets be said to correspond?-ED.]-STEEVENS: That here are two ideas is evident; but the second of them has not been luckily explained. 'The sullen presage of your own decay' means the dismal passing bell, that announces your own approaching dissolution. [This note, even with a slight condemnation of an explanation by his great partner, Steevens withheld until after Johnson's death. It did not appear until Steevens's own edition in 1793.-ED.]-DELIUS: 'Sullen presage' is evidently in apposition to 'trumpet of our wrath,' whereby Shakespeare had in mind the Trumpet of Doom, and according to his accustomed construction connected this with the principal word of the sentence by the copula 'and.'-COLLIER (ed. ii.): It seems difficult to imagine how the sound of a trumpet could be a 'sullen presage,' although it might give a sudden warning of the approach of the English. Nevertheless, we leave 'sullen' in the text, as the word in all early authorities, and as an epithet not wholly inapplicable, although the corrected Folio, 1632, instructs us to read sudden. One word might be misheard for the other; and 'sullen' is actually misprinted sudden in the Folio, 1623, in Rich. II: I, iii, [p. 27, col. al. The small difference between 'sullen' and sudden in sound is played upon in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, IV, iv, where a servant brings news of the illness of Livia: 'Serv. Is fallen sick o' the sudden. Rowl. How, o' the sullens? Serv. O' the sudden, sir, I say; very sick.' See also Bonduca, V, ii, where Suetonius wishes 'some sullen An honourable conduct let him haue, Exit Chat. and Pem. Ele. What now my fonne, haue I not euer said How that ambitious Constance would not cease Till fhe had kindled France and all the world, Vpon the right and party of her fonne. 35 40 This might haue beene preuented, and made whole Which now the mannage of two kingdomes must 35. Pembroke] Hubert Kemble. too't:] FF. to't: F4, Rowe,+, Cap. Varr. Mal. Steev. Varr. Sing. Knt. to't. Coll. et cet. 35. Chatillion] F2. Chatilion F,, Pope, Theob. Han. Warb. Chattylion F. Chattilion Rowe. Chatillion Cap. Var. '73, Ktly. Chatillion Fl. Chatillon Johns. et cet. 36. Exit] Exeunt Warb. et seq. 44 my son! Dyce, Hal. Ktly, Cam.+, Words. France] Ff, Rowe,+, Dyce, Wh. Cam.+, Fle. Words. France, Cap. et cet. 43. mannage] manage Rowe. 44. fearefull bloudy issue] fearful, bloody issue, Pope. fearful, bloody issue Theob. i, Var. '73. fearful, bloody, issue Theob. ii, Warb. Johns. fearfulbloody issue Craig conj. John. 37. What now my fonne,] What now, plague' to fall on Petillus, and where the epithet certainly ought to be suddensome instant plague. [Although Collier at this period does not advocate a correction of the text, in his third edition he adopts this emendation of the MS. corrector.-ED. SINGER (Sh. Vindicated, p. 82): The Corrector has an unreasonable dislike to this expressive word, for he would again change it as unwarrantably in Othello. [See Coll. Notes, etc., ed. ii, p. 476.] But Shakespeare has also used it for sad, gloomy, in Rich. II. and in 2 Henry VI.—WRIGHT: Although ‘sullen' may not appropriately describe the trumpet's note, it may fitly characterise the mournful and threatening message which it accompanied.-DEIGHTON: It is not necessary to see here any allusion to the 'passing bell,' which was tolled after death, and while the spirit was supposed to be on its way to its new abode. All that seems to be meant is 'the gloomy foreteller of your own (France's) perdition,' in which sense 'decay' is often used by Shakespeare, e. g., Rich. II: III, ii, 102: ‘Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay.' [The excellent interpretation suggested by Steevens, that 'sullen' here qualifies the word 'presage,' and does not necessarily apply to the sound of the trumpet, renders quite unnecessary any change such as that of Collier's MS. corrector.-ED.] 39. kindled] For other examples of 'kindle' in the sense to incite, see SCHMIDT, Lex., s. v. (b.). 40. Vpon the... party] Compare: -and hopes to find you forward Upon his party for the gain thereof.'-Rich. III: III, ii, 47. 43. mannage] STEEVENS: That is, conduct administration. Compare: 'Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland, Expedient manage must be made my liege.'-Rich. II: I, iv, 38.—WRIGHT: For the form of this word, a substantive derived from a verb, see I, ii, 269; III, iii, 119. K. Iohn. Our strong poffeffion, and our right for vs. 45. right] right, Cap. Var. '78, '85, Ran. Mal. Steev. Varr. Hal. Sta. Del. vs.] us. Theob. Warb. Johns. Var. '73. 46. [Aside to K. John. Dyce ii, iii. right,] right F2F3. 47. you and me,] you, and me: Cap. Var. '78, Ran. Mal. Steev. Varr. Sing. Coll. Huds. you and me. Niels. 45 49 49. heauen,] Heav'n, Rowe, Pope, Theob. Han. Warb. Johns. Fleay. you, and I, you and I F3F, Rowe, Dyce, Wh. Cam.+, Huds. iii. you, and I Pope,+. you and I, Hal. Coll. iii. heare.] heare: F.. hear F3. hear. F, et seq. 45. Our strong possession ... for vs] RUSHTON (Sh's Legal Maxims, p. 12): ‘In aequali jure melior est conditio possidentis' (Plowden, 296). Where the right is equal the claim of the party in possession shall prevail. The lowest and most imperfect degree of title consists in the mere naked possession, or actual occupation of the estate; without any apparent right, or any shadow or pretence of right, to hold and continue such possession. This may happen when one man invades the possession of another, and by force or surprise turns him out of the occupation of his lands; which is termed a desseisen, being a deprivation of that actual seisen, or corporal freehold of the lands which the tenant before enjoyed (2 Black. Com., 195; 1 Inst., 345). Or it may happen that after the death of the ancestor and before the entry of the heir, or after the death of a particular tenant and before the entry of him in remainder or reversion, a stranger may contrive to get possession of the vacant land, and hold out him that had a right to enter. In such cases the wrong-doer has only a mere naked possession, which the rightful owner may put an end to by a variety of legal remedies. But until some act be done by the rightful owner to divest this possession and assert his title, such actual possession is prima facie evidence of a legal title in the possessor; and it may by length of time, and negligence of him who hath the right, by degrees ripen into a perfect and indefeasible title (2 Black. Com., 196). King John seems to refer to this maxim when he says: 'Our strong possession, and our right for us,' but Elinor replies: 'Your strong possession, much more than your right,' because John was not in aequali jure with Arthur, but he was a wrong-doer, having merely a naked possession; for after the death of Richard I. John occupied the throne in defiance of the right of his nephew Arthur. [See 1. 18 ante; extract from Wendover and Paris.-ED.]-MOBERLY: Shakespeare here makes hereditary right much more absolute than it was in the time of the Norman sovereigns, as, in fact, it only began to be really lineal in the generations from John to Richard II. John, according to Blackstone (i, 20), claimed as being next of kin to Richard; Arthur, as his brother's son, being one degree more remote. Even in common inheritances it was at that time, as Blackstone remarks (ibid.), a point undetermined whether the child of an elder brother should succeed to the land by right of representation, or the younger surviving brother in right of proximity of blood. Enter a Sheriffe. 50 52 Effex. My Liege, here is the strangest controuerfie Come from the Country to be iudg'd by you 50. Enter a Sheriffe] CAMBRIDGE EDD. (Note IV.): Here Steevens [Var. 1773] gives the same stage-direction as Capell [See Text. Notes], changing merely 'and' to 'who,' and, as usual, ignoring Capell, says in a note that he had taken it from the Old Quarto. He convicts himself of plagiarism, for the 'Old Quarto' has: 'Enter the Shrive and whispers the Earle of Salis. in the eare.' It was Capell who changed 'Salis.' to 'Essex.' The second and third editions of the Old Quarto (1611, 1622) agree in this stage direction literatim. The edition of 1591 has ‘Sals.' for 'Salis.'— MARSHALL: In following Charles Kean's Acting Edition [and placing the entrance of the Sheriff after 1. 44] we only follow the dictates of common sense. There must be some little time allowed for the Sheriff to impart his information to Essex before Essex can impart it to the king. The Sheriff is whispering to Essex during Elinor's speech. [Kean was anticipated in this arrangement by J. P. Kemble. See Text. Notes.-ED.] 51. Essex] FLEAY (Introduction, p. 24): In the old play the Sheriff enters and whispers to Salisbury; but Essex, at the king's request, interrogates the Faulconbridges; in the present play Essex, not Salisbury, announces their approach, and the king interrogates them himself. As Essex speaks only three lines, and never reappears all through this play, and these three lines are taken from the speech of Salisbury in The Troublesome Raigne, I have no doubt that this character was intended to be struck out altogether, and only remained by inadvertence. This would be especially probable in 1596, in which year the Earl of Essex first grew out of favour with Elizabeth, and the name of Essex would consequently be avoided by contemporary dramatists. In fact, the name of Essex never occurs in the text of any play of Shakespeare; while those of Pembroke, Salisbury, and Norfolk (Bigot) are found in many of his histories. Note also that Pembroke does not speak in this scene in the present play. He does in the older play; hence his retention, as a mute, in the later version.-[Fleay's reference to events in the career of Essex during 1596, as a reason for the omission of that name in the present play, is, I think, unfortunate. It will be remembered that it was in June of that year that Essex and Raleigh made their successful expedition against Spain, and captured the city of Cadiz. Essex on his return became the popular idol of the hour. Fleay dates the first production of King John October, 1596; it seems likely then that the name of Essex would be one put prominently forward rather than suppressed. Essex did not actually fall into disfavor until 1599, after the disastrous campaign in Ireland.-ED.] 52. to be judg'd by you] VERPLANCK: The Aula Regis of the first Norman kings was the highest court; followed the person of the king; was composed of his |