HISTORICAL NOTICE OF KING JOHN. The materials of the present play are to be found in the Chronicles of Holinshed: Shakspeare, however, has closely followed the incidents of a former drama, intitled 'The troublesome Raigne of John king of England, with the Discoverie of King Richard Cordelion's base Son, vulgarly named the Bastard Fawconbridge also the Death of King John at Swinstead Abbey: as it was sundry times publikely acted by the Queenes Majesties Players in the honourable Cittie of London.' This piece was printed anonymously in the year 1591: ou its republication in 1611, the bookseller, for whom it was printed, fraudulently inserted the letters W. Sh.' in the title-page; and in a third edition in 1622, the name of William Shakspeare' is inserted at full length. Pope attributes the composition of this crude performance to the joint pens of Shakspeare and Rowley, though without stating his authority. This tragedy is supposed by Malone to have been written in 1596, though it was not printed till 1623. It is the only one of our poet's uncontested plays that is not entered in the books of the Stationers' Company. The tragedy of King John,' says Dr. Jchusou, ⚫ though not written with the utmost power of Shakspeare, is varied with a very pleasing interchange of incidents and characters. The lady's grief is very affecting; and the character of the Bastard contains that mixture of greatness and levity, which this author delighted to exhibit.' ARGUMENT. At the death of Richard Cœur de Lion, the English crown is seised by John from the feeble hands of his nephew Arthur, the rightful heir, whose claims are supported by Philip, king of France: the prospect of uniting the English territories with his own kingdom, by the marriage of the Dauphin with a niece of John, induces the French monarch to withdraw his protection from Arthur, when the arrival of a legate from the pope prevents the completion of the treaty, and rekindles the flames of war. Philip is defeated in a general engagement; and Arthur, now a captive, is committed by his uncle to the custody of one Hubert, with secret orders to put him to death. Softened by the innocence and entreaties of the youth, Hubert ventures to disobey the cruel mandate; Arthur loses his life in an endeavor to effect his escape from the castle in which he is confined: and his lifeless body is discovered by some discontented nobles, who are resolved to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of the tyrant by the desperate measure of inviting the Dauphin to assume the crown, under the sanction of the papal court. On the arrival of the young prince, John is compelled to purchase a disgraceful peace by a pusillanimous surrender of his regal dignity into the hands of the cardinal legate, who now hastens to arrest the progress of the Dauphin. The mediation proves ineffectual, and hostilities are about to recommence, when the intelligence of the loss of a large supply of French troops on the Goodwin Sands, together with the defection of the English auxiliaries, damps the ardor of the French prince, and disposes him to terms of peace. In the mean time John is poisoned by a monk, and is succeeded in his government by his son, Henry the Third. 118 PERSONS REPRESENTED. KING JOHN. PRINCE HENRY, his son; afterwards King Henry III. WILLIAM MARESHALL, earl of Pembroke. GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, earl of Essex, chief justiciary of England. WILLIAM LONGSWORD, earl of Salisbury. ROBERT BIGOT, earl of Norfolk. HUBERT DE BURGH, chamberlain to the king. ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, son of Sir Robert Faulconbridge. PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his half-brother; bastard son to King Richard the First. JAMES GURNEY, servant to lady Faulconbridge. PETER OF POMFRET, a prophet. PHILIP, king of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin. ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA. CARDINAL PANDULPH, the pope's legate. MELUN, a French lord. CHATILLON, ambassador from France to King John. ELINOR, widow of King Henry II. and mother of King John. CONSTANCE, mother to Arthur. BLANCH, daughter to Alphonso king of Castile, and niece to King John. LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, mother to the Bastard, and Robert Faulconbridge. Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants. SCENE, Sometimes in England, and sometimes in France. |