John as his Hero, his great central figure; had he analyzed and built
up before us the mass of power, craft, passion, and devilry which
made up the worst of the Plantagenets; had he dramatized the grand
scene of the signing of the Charter and shown vividly the gloom and
horror which overhung the excommunicated land; had he painted John's
last despairing struggles against rebels and invaders as he has given
us the fiery end of Macbeth's life, we might have had another
Macbeth, another Richard, who would by his terrible personality have
welded the play together and carried us breathless through his scene
of successive victory and defeat. That, by this means, something
would be lost, 'tis true--Falconbridge, for example, would certainly
be lesser," etc. etc.

While regretting Shakespeare's neglect of the great dramatic
possibilities in the reign and the character of King John, Mr. Rose
recognised Shakespeare's evident interest in the character of
Falconbridge. He writes:

"In reconstructing the play the great want that struck Shakespeare
seems to have been that of a strong central figure. He was attracted
by the rough, powerful nature which he could see the Bastard must
have been; almost like a modern dramatist writing up a part for a
star actor, he introduced Falconbridge wherever it was possible, gave
him the end of every act (except the third), and created from a rude
and inconsistent sketch a character as strong as complete and as
original as even he ever drew. Throughout a series of scenes not
otherwise very closely connected, this wonderful real type of faulty
combative, not ignoble manhood, is developed, a support and addition
to the scenes in which he has least to say, a great power where he is
prominent."

Had Mr. Rose endeavoured briefly to describe the character of Sir John
Perrot, he could not have done so more aptly.

Shakespeare in recasting _The Troublesome Raigne of King John_ did not
endeavour to dramatise either the character or reign of that King, but
purposely followed the story of the earlier dramatist, having the same
personal point in view. The author of _The Troublesome Raigne of King
John_ intentionally subordinated or distorted the actual facts of
history in order to match his dramatic characterisation to the
personality of Perrot, and its action to well-known incidents of
Perrot's career in France and England. A palpable in