85The best-known example of raiding is found in the Induction to the third edition of Marston’s The Malcontent (a scene written by John Webster, partly as an apology for the illegitimate appropriation of the play by the King’s Men). The dialogue runs as follows: ‘Sly: I would know how you came by this play? / Cun: Faith sir the booke was lost, and because twas pittie so good a play should be lost, we found it and play it. / Sly: I wonder you would play it, another company having interest in it? / Cun: Why not Malevole in folio with us, as Jeronimo in Decimo sexto with them. They taught us a name for our play, wee call it One for another’ (‘The Malcontent. Augmented by Marston. With the Additions played by the Kings Maiesties servants. Written by Ihon Webster’ (1604), A4r. ‘Cun:’ is for Condell, one of the sharers in the King’s Men, who was later, with Heminge, the principal agent in the printing of the First Folio. The implication of the dialogue is that a children’s company performed Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (called here after its leading character, Hieronimo) without permission, and the King’s Men are taking this as a precedent for performing The Malcontent (likewise called after its leading character) without authority: the key point, perhaps, is the phrase ‘the booke was lost’.

  86Quite a few such Books survive from the Jacobean period: the fullest study of them is still to be found in Sir Walter Greg’s Dramatic Documents from the Elizabethan Playhouses, 2 vols (Oxford, 1931), though there have been discoveries and revisions since then. A list of play manuscripts can be found in the Annals of English Drama 975–1700 (3rd edn, rev. Sylvia Wagonheim (1989), 358–75), but has largely been superseded by Martin Wiggins in association with Catherine Richardson, British Drama, 1533–1642: A Catalogue, 10 vols (Oxford, 2012–).

  87The bookholder is sometimes still anachronistically called the ‘prompter’; his manifold duties included maintaining the company’s stock of Books.

  88Someone is sent to call Lady Constance at 553, and since the next scene opens with her haranguing Salisbury, it would seem logical that Salisbury was indeed the messenger sent.

  89John Klause, ‘New sources for Shakespeare’s King John: the writings of Robert Southwell’, SP, 98 (2001), 401–27.

  90The Comedy of Errors is anomalous.

  91Each scribe had certain spelling preferences that survived the compositors: see Taylor in Taylor & Jowett, 252 and table on 253. I do not find convincing Taylor’s startling hypothesis that the MS was composite: foul papers for the first (X) part, and Y’s scribal transcript for the second.

  92That some plays were censored during printing is true enough. Greg notes that there existed what he calls ‘a purely literary tradition of expurgation’ in the Caroline period (152). ‘Tradition’ is something of an exaggeration: between 1628 and 1630 Richard Hawkins purged the profanities from some plays which he reprinted. But this may have been no more than a personal idiosyncrasy on his part.

  93See Antony Hammond, ‘The noisy comma: searching for the signal in Renaissance dramatic texts’, in Randall McLeod (ed.), Crisis in Editing: Texts of the English Renaissance (Papers given at the twenty-fourth annual Conference on Editorial Problems, University of Toronto, 4–5 November 1988) (New York, 1994), 203–49.

  94Besides cuts, it is becoming increasingly common for directors to translate what they regard as Shakespeare’s archaic language: Michael Langham, in a production of Measure for Measure at Stratford, Ontario, in 1992, made over a hundred such verbal modifications.

  95Randall McLeod as Random Cloud, ‘“The very names of the persons”: editing and the invention of dramatick character’, in David Kastan and Peter Stallybrass (eds), Staging the Renaissance (1991), 88–96.

  96It should perhaps be added that no edition has ever appeared which in its layout, punctuation and spelling comes even close to reconstructing something that might resemble Shakespeare’s manuscript.

  97In fact, there are four separate dramatic sequences recognizable in the Act: (1) the embassy of Chatillon (1–43); (2) the legal dispute about the inheritance of the Faulconbridge estate and name (44–181); (3) the Bastard’s soliloquy on status (182–216); (4) the discussion between the Bastard and his mother (217–76).

  98These are (1) the French introduction and debate (1–83); (2) the arrival of the English and the flyting between Constance and Eleanor (84–200); (3) the appearance of the Citizen(s) of Angiers, and the debate as to who is the English king (201–99); (4) the first battle; (5) the renewed debate leading to the proposal that the Dauphin marry Blanche (300–560); (6) the Bastard’s soliloquy on Commodity (561–98).

  99Except for Jonson’s.

  100Except John a Kent, an authorial MS.

  101F conflates Acts 1 and 2 by overlooking the chorus that begins the second act; Act 4 (called ‘Actus Tertius’) is divided in the middle by introducing an ‘Actus Quartus’ where editions since Pope have marked Act 4, scene 7; Act 5 is marked in the correct place. We can be sure of the placing of the divisions because, uniquely in Shakespeare, Henry V is divided into five obvious acts by the speeches of the Chorus. Whoever was preparing Folio copy simply missed the second Chorus.

  102Sitting on the ground as an expression of royal grief is found also in Richard II (3.2.155–6), and Henry VI’s sitting out the battle on a molehill is a similar expression of royal failure (3H6 2.5.14). It may have been a conventional visual trope.

  103This is where F prints ‘Actus Tertius, Scæna prima’.

  104This account deliberately over-simplifies a very complex and elaborate real-life situation. Hinman gives complete details.

  105The pages which give some indication that the compositor was trying to save space are a2v, second column, b24, and b34, perhaps the tightest, and from which an example may be drawn: 4.3.115, in F, reads, ‘P. There tel the king,he may inquire vs out.Ex.Lords.’ Here the SP is abbreviated to a single letter, ‘tel’ is probably a ‘justification spelling’, and there is no space between the last word of dialogue and the SD, which is also abbreviated. There are other very tight lines in the Folio.

  106See Hinman, 1.180–226, for the methods of identifying compositors.

  107The actual order of printing is not always that of the published volume, and the work on the Folio was interrupted for work on other books (a perfectly normal procedure). King John was set after quire X (containing part of All’s Well), and before Twelfth Night and The Winter’s Tale. There is nothing irregular about this; Hinman gives a ‘tabular synopsis’ of the printing of the Folio in 2.513–18.

  108This means that the last two pages of gathering b (b6r-v) contain the first two pages of Richard II. So the compositor working on b1r, the end of Act 3 and beginning of Act 4 of King John, would also be setting the end of the first scene of Richard II on the same forme. It sounds confusing, but experienced compositors had little trouble with the system.

  KING JOHN

  LIST OF ROLES

  * * *

  THE ENGLISH

  KING JOHN of England

  Queen ELEANOR Queen Mother of England, mother to King John

  PRINCE HENRY son to King John, afterwards successor to his father as Henry III

  BLANCHE of Castile niece to King John 5

  Robert FAULCONBRIDGE son to the late Sir Robert Faulconbridge 10

  PHILIP the BASTARD (also known as Sir Richard Plantagenet)

  half-brother to Robert Faulconbridge

  HUBERT imperfectly obedient intimate of King John

  LADY FAULCONBRIDGE widow to the late Sir Robert Faulconbridge,

  mother to Philip and Robert

  James GURNEY servant to Lady Faulconbridge

  PETER of Pomfret a prophet 15

  Two EXECUTIONERS agents of John

  SHERIFF

  ENGLISH HERALD

  English MESSENGER

  THE FRENCH 20

  KING PHILIP of France

  Lewis the DAUPHIN son to King Philip

  CHATILLON ambassador from France to King John

  MELUN a French lord, with some English blood

  FRENCH HERALD 25

  French MESSENGER

  THIRD PARTIES

  ARTHUR Duke of Brittany, nephew to King John and

  rival to the English throne

  CONSTANCE mother to Arthur

  Limoges, Duke of AUSTRIA an ally of France 30

  Cardinal PANDULPH a papal legate

  CITIZENS of Angiers

  Lords, Officers, Soldiers, Trumpeters, Attendants

  THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN

  1.1 [Flourish.] Enter KING JOHN, Queen ELEANOR, [the Earls of] PEMBROKE, ESSEX and SALISBURY, [attended,] with CHATILLON[, Ambassador] of France[, attended].

  KING JOHN

  Now say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

  CHATILLON

  Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France

  In my behaviour, to the majesty,

  The borrowed majesty of England here.

  ELEANOR

  5 A strange beginning: borrowed majesty?

  KING JOHN

  Silence, good mother, hear the embassy.

  CHATILLON

  Philip of France, in right and true behalf

  Of thy deceased brother, Geoffrey’s son,

  Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim

  10 To this fair island, and the territories –

  To Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine –

  Desiring thee to lay aside the sword

  Which sways usurpingly these several titles,

  And put the same into young Arthur’s hand,

  15 Thy nephew, and right royal sovereign.

  KING JOHN

  What follows if we disallow of this?

  CHATILLON

  The proud control of fierce and bloody war

  To enforce these rights, so forcibly withheld.

  KING JOHN

  Here have we war for war, and blood for blood,

  20 Controlment for controlment: so answer France.

  CHATILLON

  Then take my king’s defiance from my mouth,

  The farthest limit of my embassy.

  KING JOHN

  Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace.

  Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France,

  25 For ere thou canst report I will be there,

  The thunder of my cannon shall be heard.

  So hence: be thou the trumpet of our wrath

  And sullen presage of your own decay.

  An honourable conduct let him have:

  30 Pembroke, look to’t. Farewell, Chatillon.

  Ex[eunt] Chatillon and Pembroke[, attended].

  ELEANOR

  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?

  35 This might have been prevented, and made whole

  With very easy arguments of love,

  Which now the manage of two kingdoms must

  With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

  KING JOHN

  Our strong possession, and our right for us.

  ELEANOR

  40 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 God, and you, and I, shall hear. [alrb]

  Enter a Sheriff [and whispers to Essex].

  ESSEX

  My liege, here is the strangest controversy

  45 Come from the country to be judged by you

  That e’er I heard: shall I produce the men?

  KING JOHN

  Let them approach. [Exit Sheriff.]

  Our abbeys and our priories shall pay

  This expedition’s charge.

  Enter ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE and PHILIP [the BASTARD].

  What men are you?

  PHILIP

  50 Your faithful subject, I, a gentleman

  Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest son,

  As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge,

  A soldier by the honour-giving hand

  Of Cordelion, knighted in the field.

  KING JOHN

  55 What art thou?

  ROBERT

  The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.

  KING JOHN

  Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?

  You came not of one mother then it seems.

  PHILIP

  Most certain of one mother, mighty king:

  60 That is well known; and, as I think, one father.

  But for the certain knowledge of that truth

  I put you o’er to God and to my mother;

  Of that I doubt, as all men’s children may.

  ELEANOR

  Out on thee, rude man, thou dost shame thy mother,

  65 And wound her honour with this diffidence.

  PHILIP

  I, madam? No, I have no reason for it,

  That is my brother’s plea, and none of mine,

  The which if he can prove, ’a pops me out

  At least from fair five hundred pound a year.

  70 God guard my mother’s honour, and my land.

  KING JOHN

  A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born,

  Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

  PHILIP

  I know not why, except to get the land;

  But once he slandered me with bastardy.

  75 But whe’er I be as true begot or no,

  That still I lay upon my mother’s head,

  But that I am as well begot, my liege –

  Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me –

  Compare our faces, and be judge yourself

  80 If old Sir Robert did beget us both

  And were our father, and this son like him –

  O, old Sir Robert, father, on my knee [kneeling]

  I give God thanks I was not like to thee.

  KING JOHN

  Why what a madcap hath heaven lent us here?

  ELEANOR

  85 He hath a trick of Cordelion’s face,

  The accent of his tongue affecteth him.

  Do you not read some tokens of my son

  In the large composition of this man?

  KING JOHN

  Mine eye hath well examined his parts, [a1va]

  90 And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak:

  What doth move you to claim your brother’s land?

  PHILIP

  Because he hath a half-face like my father!

  With half that face would he have all my land,

  A half-faced groat, five hundred pound a year?

  ROBERT

  95 My gracious liege, when that my father lived,

  Your brother did employ my father much –

  PHILIP

  Well sir, by this you cannot get my land.

  Your tale must be how he employed my mother.

  ROBERT

  And once dispatched him in an embassy

  100 To Germany, there with the Emperor

  To treat of high affairs touching that time.

  Th’advantage of his absence took the King,

  And in the mean time sojourned at my father’s,

  Where how he did prevail I shame to speak.

  105 But truth is truth, large lengths of seas and shores

  Between my father and my mother lay,

  As I have heard my father speak himself,

  When this same lusty gentleman was got.

  Upon his deathbed he by will bequeathed

  110 His lands to me, and took it on his death

  That this my mother’s son was none of his;

  And if he were, he came into the world

  Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.

  Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,

  115 My father’s land, as was my father’s will.

  KING JOHN

  Sirrah, your brother is legitimate:

  Your father’s wife did after wedlock bear him,

  And if she did play false, the fault was hers –

  Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands

  120 That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother –

  Who, as you say, took pains to get this son –

  Had of your father claimed this son for his?

  In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept

  This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world,

  125 In sooth he might. Then if he were my brother’s,

  My brother might not claim him, nor your father,

  Being none of his, refuse him. This concludes:

  My mother’s son did get your father’s heir,

  Your father’s heir must have your father’s land.

  ROBERT

  130 Shall then my father’s will be of no force

  To dispossess that child which is not his?

  PHILIP

  Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,

  Than was his will to get me, as I think.

  ELEANOR

  Whether hadst thou rather be: a Faulconbridge,

  135 And like thy brother to enjoy thy land,

  Or the reputed son of Cordelion,

  Lord of thy presence, and no land beside?

  PHILIP

  Madam, an if my brother had my shape

  And I had his, Sir Robert’s his like him,

  140 And if my legs were two such riding-rods,

  My arms, such eel-skins stuffed, my face so thin,

  That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose

  Lest men should say, ‘Look where three farthings goes’,

  And to his shape were heir to all this land,

  145 Would I might never stir from off this place.

  I would give it, every foot, to have this face:

  I would not be Sir Nob in any case.

  ELEANOR

  I like thee well. Wilt thou forsake thy fortune,

  Bequeath thy land to him and follow me?

  150 I am a soldier, and now bound to France.

  PHILIP

  Brother, take you my land, I’ll take my chance.

  Your face hath got five hundred pound a year,

  Yet sell your face for fivepence and ’tis dear.