conquest of her foes. Whether we read _The Famous Victories of Henry the
Fifth_ (acted before 1588) or _The Troublesome Reign of King John_
(printed 1591) we find the same joyous presentment of courageous
victory. Unfortunately for the author of the latter play, his royal
subject fell away sadly in his submission to the Pope; yet the writer
would not entirely concede the victory to Rome, and having made the very
most of his king's campaign in France and his defiant rejection of the
Papal demands, he attempts to redeem the situation, even in the dreadful
moment of John's kneeling supplication to Pandulph, by putting into the
former's mouth 'asides' expressing a heart completely at variance with
the formal penitence; in fact this scene might be understood as a clever
hoodwinking of the enemy to circumvent the Dauphin. With true artistic
and patriotic instinct the author creates the redoubtable Faulconbridge
to demonstrate that Englishmen were stout of heart and loyal to the
throne in its worst perils, whatever might be the temporary failings of
the king and a few nobles. In _The Famous Victories_ the earlier author
had for his central figure a type of character that will always appeal
to an English audience. Here we find in fullest expression that free
introduction of the comic by the side of the serious, and that love for
jovial intercourse between royalty and subjects which are so frequent in
our History Plays. The roistering of Prince Hal among his boon
companions in the tavern, his boxing of the Judge's ears, and his
consequent arrest; these hold the stage for the first six scenes (there
are no acts, in this play or in the other), and contain several touches
and incidents borrowed afterwards by Shakespeare for his _Falstaff_.
Indeed it is surprising to observe how extensively that great genius
appropriated the work of other men. While commonly refining the
language, he was not above borrowing thought as well as incident--even
for the famous lines by the Bastard, Faulconbridge, closing _King John_.