So the words of the speakers in the play, stand for
more than the speakers mean. They are _Shakspere's_ in their relation to
his whole. To Achilles, his spear is but his spear: to the painter and
his company, the spear of Achilles stands for Achilles himself.
Coleridge remarks upon _James Gurney_, in "King John:" "How individual
and comical he is with the four words allowed to his dramatic life!"
These words are those with which he answers the Bastard's request to
leave the room. He has been lingering with all the inquisitiveness and
privilege of an old servant; when Faulconbridge says: "James Gurney,
wilt thou give us leave a while?" with strained politeness. With marked
condescension to the request of the second son, whom he has known and
served from infancy, James Gurney replies: "Good leave, good Philip;"
giving occasion to Faulconbridge to show his ambition, and scorn of his
present standing, in the contempt with which he treats even the
Christian name he is so soon to exchange with his surname for _Sir
Richard_ and _Plantagenet; Philip_ being the name for a sparrow in those
days, when ladies made pets of them. Surely in these words of the
serving-man, we have an outcome of the same art by which
"A hand, a foot, a face, a leg, a head,
Stood for the whole to be imagined.
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