His Respect for the Clergy.

143

The author of the old play had done more than this; he had introduced a scene illustrative of the depravity of the monastic orders, in which merry nuns and friars are made to figure in a farcical manner, when Faulconbridge makes the tour of the kingdom to extort money from the clergy. This view of the matter, as I have just said, Shakspere had no wish to take; and preferred dealing with the Pope in his more dignified position as arbitrator in national disputes, or as claiming tithe and toll in other realms than his own. It is evident that the poet was inclined to treat the clergy with respect; and that his aim in refashioning the tragedy was exclusively political. This aim has become the central idea of the subject, and in his hands regulates its treatment. The dispute between the brother of the late king and the nephew of the latter to the throne, originates the action of the play. Shakspere, however, does not touch on the fact that in the thirteenth century hereditary right was not uniformly regarded, or that without the consent of parliament no king could reign, and that, in fact, parliament did confer the crown on John, preferring him to the young Arthur, then only eleven years of age. On the other hand, history records that, notwithstanding the said fact, John was jealous of his nephew's pretensions, and having succeeded in securing him as a prisoner, took care that nothing more should be heard of him. Young Arthur was imprisoned, according to Holinshed, first in Falais and subsequently at Rouen, where he was supposed to have been murdered. The old play confines him some

where in England; and, as it was convenient to the conduct of the plot, Shakspere unhesitatingly adopted the suggestion. Indeed, in its story and stage-arrangements he copies almost implicitly the old play; portraying John as an usurper, and Arthur as the rightful heir,--a view which lends a pathos to the story not intrinsically belonging to it, but fitting it better for a dramatic purpose.

In other respects, Shakspere has done more justice to John than history. The latter describes this monarch as weak and cowardly, taking the circumstances in which the man was placed for his character. Shakspere regards him more properly as the representative of the country, and the exponent of her policy. Those epithets belong as much to England as to him. In truth, they are strictly inapplicable to either, but are crude substitutes for terms more philosophical descriptive of the time and people. John's troubles are England's troubles, and both have to meet them with what means they can extemporise. The state is internally unsettled and externally endangered. We have to wait for the inter-action of the inward and outward forces, which in the end conducts by a painful process to their reconciliation. Only by being faithful to herself can England withstand a foreign foe; and this fidelity of all parties to a common national interest may only be secured by a series of trials showing the bitter evils of civil contention. This notion of interest, then, is the idea embodied in the tragedy and in its characters. The national interest receives its incarnation in the person of John,

The Character of Salisbury.

145

who stands accordingly for the Policy of England. It is not either as a good or bad man individually that John is painted; but simply as a politician. Even to the end of the tragedy, notwithstanding his crimes, John is spoken of with respect. respect. Thus says the noble Salisbury, returning to his allegiance, in act v. sc. 4:

"Beshrew my soul,

But I do love the favour and the form
Of this most fair occasion, by the which
We will untread the steps of damned flight;
And like a hated and retired flood,

Leaving our rankness and irregular course,

Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlooked,
And calmly run on in obedience,

Even to our ocean, to our great King John."

Yes; "great," just as England was then; no greater, but no less. England's Policy was impersonated in John; in Salisbury no policy at all. In the latter, we have merely the natural man, noble of mind, strong in love, an excellent friend and neighbour, but no politician. His good feelings lead him into political errors, and so much at last he practically acknowledges. The poet shows in this, that, in his idea and mode of treating the historical transactions, he transcended the pettier moralities of private life, and fixed his attention exclusively on their political and national issues.

Salisbury attracts no attention until the fourth act, and then contributes rather to the poetry than the action of the drama. He is recusant against the second coronation of John, for which he cannot appreciate the subtle reason that led to the monarch's

submission to it as a desirable expediency. In his

opinion,

"to be possessed with double pomp,

To guard a title that was rich before,
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,

To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess."

He takes the most obvious, not a recondite, view of affairs; he stands also on the ancient ways, and dislikes novelties. Understanding that Arthur is dead, he affects no reticence, puts no restraint on his feelings, but goes all lengths in disaffection :

"It is apparent foul-play; and 'tis shame
That greatness should so grossly offer it.

So thrive it in your game; and so farewell."

Faulconbridge tells him and Pembroke plainly afterwards that "there is little reason in his grief," and that "impatience has only privilege to hurt his master, no man else." But there is no chance of his listening to reason or argument; for the sight of the mangled body of the prince, fallen from the castlewalls, transports him into an ecstasy of passion. He will accept no explanation, but gives his fancy free wing, and allows his "hasty spleen" to follow suggestion into the wildest suspicions.

We next meet with Salisbury at the French court. He is still the same man. His feelings outrun his He has combined with the stranger against his country, upon what he considers good grounds,

reason.

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147

yet he cannot restrain his patriotic lamentations.

For

"such is the infection of the time,

That, for the health and physic of our right,

We cannot deal but with the very hand

Of stern injustice and confused wrong."

Most remarkable is Lewis's reply to this manifestation of an insupportable sorrow-an irrepressible

remorse:

"A noble temper dost thou show in this;

And great affections struggling in thy bosom
Do make an earthquake of nobility.

O! what a noble combat hast thou fought,
Between compulsion and a brave respect!
Let me wipe off this honourable dew,
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks.
My heart hath melted at a lady's tears,
Being an ordinary inundation;
But this effusion of such manly drops,

This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul,
Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed,
Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven
Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.
Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,

And with a great heart heave away this storm :
Commend these waters to those baby eyes,
That never saw the giant-world enraged;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping."

But Lewis himself anon has to yield to passionate impulse, when Pandulph enters with the news that John has reconciled himself to the pontiff. France, as little as England, will be "propertied," or consent merely to underplay the game of crafty Rome. The name of "holy Church" sinks before that of the dearer State, nor will Lewis sacrifice the latter to the policy of the former. To Pandulph's remark that "you look but on the outside of this work," Lewis replies:

L