Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave':
And, for amends to his posterity,

At our importance hither is he come2,
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the usurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death,
The rather, that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war.
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?
Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As seal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,
Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utmost corner of the west
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

1 By this brave duke came early to his grave:] In the old "King John," the King of France tells Arthur,

"Brave Austria, cause of Cordelion's death,

Is also come to aid thee in thy wars."

This, as Steevens observes, is an historical error; Richard I. having lost his life at the siege of Chaluz, long after he had been ransomed out of Austria's power. Leopold, duke of Austria, who threw Richard I. into prison, was killed by a fall from his horse, in 1195, four years before John ascended the throne.

2 At our IMPORTANCE hither is he come,] i. e. at our importunity. Shakespeare many times uses "important" for importunate. See Vol. ii. pp. 169. 203. 348. Vol. iii. p. 273, &c.

Const. O take his mother's thanks, a widow's

thanks,

Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength, To make a more requital to your love.

Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their swords

In such a just and charitable war.

K. Phi. Well then, to work. Our cannon shall be bent

Against the brows of this resisting town :-
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages.
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Lest unadvis'd you stain your swords with blood.
My lord Chatillon may from England bring
That right in peace, which here we urge in war;
And then we shall repent each drop of blood,
That hot rash haste so indirectly shed.

Enter CHATILLON.

K. Phi. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, Our messenger, Chatillon, is arriv'd.

What England says, say briefly, gentle lord;

We coldly pause for thee: Chatillon, speak.

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege,
And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as I.

His marches are expedient to this town;
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.

With him along is come the mother-queen,

expedient-] i. e. expeditious. See Vol. iii. p. 46, note 6.

An Até stirring him to blood and strife:

With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king's deceas'd',
And all th' unsettled humours of the land:
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens,
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath in Christendom.

[Drums heard within.

The interruption of their churlish drums

Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,
To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence,

For courage mounteth with occasion:

Let them be welcome, then; we are prepar'd.

Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Bastard, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace permit

Our just and lineal entrance to our own:

If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven;
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beats his peace to heaven.
K. Phi. Peace be to England; if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace.
England we love; and, for that England's sake,

4 With them a bastard of the king's deceas'd,] So in the old "King John,” "Next them a bastard of the king's deceas'd,

A hardy wild-head, tough and venturous."

With burden of our armour here we sweat.
This toil of ours should be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,

That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,

Outfaced infant state, and done a rape

Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face:
These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his :
This little abstract doth contain that large,
Which died in Geffrey, and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume®.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his son: England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's. In the name of God,
How comes it, then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?

K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France,

To draw my answer from thy articles"?

K. Phi. From that supernal Judge, that stirs good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,

To look into the blots and stains of right.

That Judge hath made me guardian to this boy;
Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong,

And by whose help I mean to chastise it.

K. John. Alack! thou dost usurp authority.
K. Phi. Excuse: it is to beat usurping down.

* That thou hast UNDER-WROUGHT his lawful king,] i. e. under-mined: the opposite to over-reached.

6 Shall draw this BRIEF into as huge a volume.] The word "brief" meant, in the time of Shakespeare, an abstract, or a short statement. We still use it in the same manner when we speak of a brief delivered to counsel in a cause.

7 To draw my answer FROM thy articles ?] It has been suggested that we ought to read, " To draw my answer to thy articles;" but the old wording is very intelligible: the answer of John was to be drawn from the articles of the King of France, just before propounded.

Eli. Who is it, thou dost call usurper, France?
Const. Let me make answer :-thy usurping son.
Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king,
That thou may'st be a queen, and check the world!
Const. My bed was ever to thy son as true,
As thine was to thy husband, and this boy
Liker in feature to his father Geffrey,
Than thou and John, in manners being as like,
As rain to water, or devil to his dam.
My boy a bastard! By my soul, I think,
His father never was so true begot :

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.

Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot

Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you,
An 'a may catch your hide and you alone.
You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard.
I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right:
Sirrah, look to't; i' faith, I will, i̇' faith.

Blanch. O! well did he become that lion's robe,
That did disrobe the lion of that robe.

Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him,

As great Alcides' shoes upon an ass.

But, ass, I'll take that burden from your back,
Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack.

Aust. What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears

With this abundance of superfluous breath?

K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.

8 Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.] This line, in the folios, is made part of what is said by Austria, and it stands thus :

"King Lewis, determine," &c.

Lewis was not king, but Philip. The error may have arisen merely from not