The Plays and Poems of Shakespeare, Vol 6 of 15 According to the Improved Text of Edmund Malone, Including the Latest Revisions, With a Life, Illustration, From Designs by English Artists

Excerpt from The Plays and Poems of Shakespeare, Vol. 6 of 15: According to the Improved Text of Edmund Malone, Including the Latest Revisions, With a Life, Glossarial Notes, an Index, and One Hundred and Seventy Illustration, From Designs by English Artists

The reign of King John seems to have had considerable attraction for English dramatic writers. Some time before 1563, and probably not earlier than 1548, John Bale, Bishop of Ossory (b. 1495, a'. Had seized upon the subject as a weapon with which to attack the Papists. While still preserving the form and methods of the Moral ity play, the zealous bishop introduced into his Kynge jokan a certain amount of the historical element; for we find King John represented as the champion of Protes tantism endeavouring to aid Ynglond in shaking off the chains of Papacy. For this he is excommunicated and the country is laid under an interdict, while invasion is threatened by the F rench, Spaniards and N orthmen in aid of the Papal cause. To save his country from these accumulated horrors John submits to the Pope, but is poisoned by Dyssymulacyon, otherwise Simon of Swin sett, and dies a Protestant martyr.

With the exception of the King the characters of this play are little better than the personified abstractions of the Morality, who occupy their time in religious and pol itical discussions while the action is at a standstill. Dra matic propriety of any kind is entirely wanting throughout.

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