That in my ear I durst not stick a rose, Lest men should say, Look, where three-far- things goes!
And, to his shape, were heir to all this laud, 'Would I might never stir from off this place, I'd give it every foot to have this face; I would not be Sir Nob in any case.
Exterior form, outward accoutrement; But from the inward motion to deliver Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tootn: Which, though I will not practise to deceive, Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.— But who comes in such haste, in riding robes ?
Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy What woman-post is this? hath she no hus
Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me!
I am a soldier and now bound to France.
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance:
Your face hath got five hundred pounds a year; Yet sell your face for fivepence, and 'tis dear. Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. [way. Bast. Our country manners give our betters K. John. What is thy name? Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun; Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son. K. John. from henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st:
Kneel thon down Philip, but arise more great: Arise Sir Richard and Plantagenet !—
Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me your hand;
My father gave me honour, your's gave land: Now blessed be the hour, by night or day, When I was got, Sir Robert was away.
Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet !— I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so. Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth: What though?
Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch: Who dares not stir by day, must walk by nignt; And have is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is still well shot; And I am I, howe er I was begot.
K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire,
A landless knight makes thee a landed squire. Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.
Bast. Brother, adieu; good fortune come to thee !
For thou wast get i'the way of honesty. [Exeunt all but the BASTARD. A foot of honour better than I was; But many a foot of land the worse. Well, now can I make any Joan a lady :--Good den Sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fel low;
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter; For new-made honour doth forget men's names; 'Tis too respective, and too sociable,
For your conversion. Now, your traveller,- He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess; And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd, Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise My picked man of countries: --My dear Sir, (Thus leaning on mine elbows, I begin,) Y shall beseech you-That is question now; And then comes answer like an ABC-book: O Sir, says answer, at your best command; At your employment; at your service, Sir :- No, Sir, say's question, I, sweet Sir, at your's: And so, ere answer knows what question would, (Saving in dialogue of compliment; And talking of the Alps and Appenines, The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws toward supper in conclusion so. But this is worshipful society, And fits the mounting spirit, like myself: For he is but a bastard to the time, That doth not smack of observation; (And so am I, whether I smack, or no ;) And not alone in habit and device,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her? Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES GURNEY.
O me ! it is my mother :-How now, good lady? What brings you here to court so hastily?
Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother ? where is he?
That holds in chase mine honour up and down? Bast. My brother Robert? old Sir Robert's son?
Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man ↑ Is it Sir Robert's son, that you seek so? Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Aye, thou unre- verend boy, Robert?
Sir Robert's son: Why scorn'st thou at Sir He is Sir Robert's son; and so art thou.
Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a while?
Gur. Good leave, good Philip. Bast. Philip ?-sparrow !-James, There's toy's abroad; anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit GURNEY. Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son; Sir Robert might have eat his part in me Upon Good-friday, and ne'er broke his fast : Sir Robert could do well: Marry, (to confess !) Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it; We know his handy-work; -Therefore, good mother,
To whom am I beholden for these limbs ? Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too, [honour t That for thine own gain should'st defend mine What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave ?
Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,-Basiliscolike: +
What! I am dubb'd; I have it ou my shoulder. But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's son ; I have disclaim'd Sir Robert and my land; Legitimation, name, and all is gone : Then, good my mother, let me know my father; Some proper man, I hope: Who was it, mo-
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself to Faulconbridge ?
Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. Lady F. King Richard Cœur-de-lion was thy father;
By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd To make room for him in my husband's bed :- Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge! Thou art the issue of my dear offence, Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence. Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again, Madam, I would not wish a better father, Some sins do bear their privilege on earth, And so doth your's; your fault was not your folly :
Need must you lay your heart at his dispose, Subjected tribute to commanding love,- Against whose fury and unmatched force The aweless lion, could not wage the fight, Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin; And they shall say, when Richard me begot, If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin: Who says it was, he lies; I say, 'twas not.
K. Phi. A wonder, lady l-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,
SCENE I.-France.-Before the Walls of Whose leisure I have staid, have given him
Enter, on one side, the ARCHDUKE of Austria, and Forces; on the other, PHILIP, King of France, and Forces; LEWIS, CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and Attendants.
Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Aus- tria.-
Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood, 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 come, 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
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
Aud 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. Const. O take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks,
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, An Até, stirring him to blood and strite; With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain; With them a bastard of the king deceas'd; And all the unsettled humours of the laud,— 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 made 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. The interruption of their churlish drums
[Drums beat. Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand, To parly or to fight; therefore, prepare.
K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this ex
From France to England, there to live in peace! England we love; and, for that England's sake, With burden of our armour here we sweat : This toil of our's should be a work of thine; But thou from loving England art so far, That thou has 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 ;Aust. The peace of heaven is their's, that lift These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of
Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength,
To make a more requital to your love.
This little abstract doth contain that large, Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time Shall draw this brief into as buge a volume. That Geffrey was thy elder brother boru, 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.
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 thee.
Aust. Peace!
Bast. Hear the crier.
Aust. What the devil art thou?
Bast. One that will play the devil, Sir, with you,
An 'a may catch your hide and you alone. You are the bare 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, i'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
With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.
Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference. -
King John, this is the very sum of all,- England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, In right of Arthur do I claim of thee: Wilt thou resign them, and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as soon:-I do defy thee,
Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand; And, out of my dear love, I'll give thee more Than e'er the coward hand of France can win : Submit thee, boy.
Eli. Come to thy grandam, child; Const. Do, child, go to it' grandam, child; Give graudain kingdom, and it' grandam will Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig: 'There's a good grandam.
Arth. Good my mother, peace!
I would that I were low laid in my grave; I am not worth this coil that's made for me. Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.
Const. Now shame upon you, whe'r † she does, or no !
His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames,
Draw those heaven-moving pearls from his poor
Call not me slanderer; thou, and thine usurp The dominations, royalties, and rights, Of this oppressed boy: This is thy eldest son's
Infortunate in nothing but in thee; Thy sins are visited in this poor child; The canon of the law is laid on him, Being but the second generation Removed from thy siu-conceiving womb. K. John. Bedlam, have done. Const. I have but this to say,- That he's not only plagued for her sin, But God hath made her sin and her the plague On this removed issue, plagu'd for her, And with her plague, her sin; his injury Her injury, the beadle to her sin; All punish'd in the person of this child, And all for her; A plague upon her!
Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce A will, that bars the title of thy son. Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will;
A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will! K. Phi. Peace, lady; pause, or be more tem- perate :
It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim To these ill-tuned repetitions.-
Some trumpet summon hither to the walls These men of Angiers; let us hear them speak,
Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's. Trumpets sound. Enter CITIZENS upon the walls.
1 Cit. Who is it, that hath warned us to the walls?
K. Phi. lis France, for England. K. John. England, for itself: You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's
These flags of France, that are advanced here Before the eye and prospect of your town, Have hither march'd to your endamagement: The cannons have their bowels full of wrath; And ready mounted are they, to spit forth Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls: All preparation for a bloody siege, And merciless proceeding by these French, Confront your city's eyes, your winking gates ; Aud, but for our approach, those sleeping stones,
That as a waist do girdle you about, By the compulsion of their ordnance, By this time from their fixed beds of lime Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made For bloody power to rush upon your peace. But, on the sight of us, your lawful king,- Who painfully, with much expedient march, Have brought a countercheck before your gates, save unscratch'd your city's threaten'd cheeks,- Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchsafe a parle : And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire, To make a shaking fever in your walls, They shoot but calm words, folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears: Which trust accordingly, kind citizens, And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits, Forwearied in this action of swift speed, Crave harbourage within your city walls. K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both.
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection Is most divinely vow'd upon the right Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet Son to the elder brother of this man, And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys:
For this down-trodden equity, we tread
In warlike march these greens before your Alarums and Excursions; then a Retreat.
But if you foudly pass our proffer'd offer, 'Tis not the roundure + of your old fac❜d walls Can hide you from our messengers of war; Though all these English, and their discipline, Were harbour'd in their rude circumference. Then, tell us, shall your city call us lord, In that behalf which we have challeng'd it? Or shall we give the signal to our rage, And stalk in blood to our possession?
1 Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects;
For him, and in his right, we hold this town. K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.
1 Cit. That can we not: but he that proves the king,
To him will we prove loyal; till that time, Have we ramm'd up our gates against the
K. John. Doth not the crown of England prove the king?
And, if not that, I bring you witnesses, Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,-
Bast. Bastards, and else.
K. John. To verify our title with their lives.
K. Phi. As many, and as well born bloods as those,
Bast. Some bastards too.
K. Phi. Stand in his face, to contradict his claim.
1 Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,
We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both.
K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls,
That to their everlasting residence, Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet, In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!
K. Phi. Amen, Amen!-Mount, chevaliers! to arms!
Bast. St. George,-that swing'd the dragon, and e'er since,
Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door, Teach us some fence !-Sirrah, were I at home, At your den, sirrah, [To AUSTRIA.] with your lioness,
I'd set an ox-head to your lion's hide, And make a monster of you.
Aust. Peace; no more.
Bast. O tremble; for you hear the lion roar. K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth,
In best appointment, all our regiments. Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.
K. Phi. It shall be so :-[To LEWIS.] and at the other hill
Command the rest to stand.-God and our right! [Exeunt.
Enter a French HERALD, with trumpets, to the gates.
F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates,
And let young Arthur, duke of Bretagne, in: Who, by the hand of France, this day hath made Much work for tears in many an English mo- ther,
Whose sons lie scatter'd on the bleeding ground: Many a widow's husband grovelling lies, Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth; And victory, with little loss, doth play Upon the dancing banners of the French; Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd, To enter conquerors, and to proclaim Arthur of Bretagne, England's king, and your's. Enter an English HERALD, with trumpets. E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells!
King John, your king and England's doth ap- proach,
Commander of this hot malicious day! Their armours, that march'd hence so silver- bright,
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood; There stuck no plume in any English crest, That is removed by a staff of France; Our colours do return in those same hands That did display them when we first march'd forth;
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come Our lusty English, all with purpled hands, Died in the dying slaughter of their foes: Open your gates, and give the victors way. Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might behold,
From first to last, the onset and retire Of both your armies; whose equality By our best eyes cannot be censured:* Blood hath bought blood, and blows have an- swer'd blows;
Strength match'd with strength, and power con- fronted power:
Both are alike: and both alike we like. One must prove greatest; while they weigh so even,
We hold our town for neither; yet for both. Enter, at one side, King JOHN, with his power, ELINOR, BLANCH, and the BASTARD; at the other, King PHILIP, LEWIS, AUSTRIA, and Forces.
K. John. France hast thou yet more blood to cast away?
Say, shall the current of our right run on ? Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment, Shall leave his native channel, and o'er-swell With course disturb'd even thy confining shores; Unless thou let his silver water keep A peaceful progress in the ocean.
K. Phi. England, thou hast not sav'd one drop of blood,
In this hot trial, more than we of France; Rather, lost more: And by this hand I swear, That sways the earth this climate overlooks.-- Before we will lay down our just-borne arms We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear,
Or add a royal number to the dead; Gracing the scroll, that tells of this war's loss, With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.
Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire! O now doth death line his dead chaps with steel;
The swords of soldiers are bis teeth, his fangs ; And now he feasts, mounting the flesh of meu, In undetermin'd differences of kings.-
Why staid these royal fronts amazed thus ? Cry, havoc, kings! back to the stained field, You equal potents, flery-kindled spirits! Then let confusion of one part confirm
The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death!
K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit ?
K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?
1 Cit. The king of England, when we know the king.
K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right.
K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy, And bear possession of our person here; Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.
That here come sacrifices for the field: Perséver not, but hear me, mighty kings. K. John. Speak on, with lavour; we are bent to hear.
1 Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch,
Is near to England; Look upon the years Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid : If lusty love should go in quest of beauty, Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch ? If zealous love should go in search of virtue, Where should he find it purer than in Blanch? If love ambitious sought a match of birth, Whose veins bound richer blood than lady Blanch?
Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth, Is the young Dauphin every way complete:
1 Cit. A greater power than we, denies all If not complete, O say, he is not she;
And, till it be undoubted, we do lock
Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates: King'd of our fears; until our fears, resolv'd, Be by some certain king purg'd and depos'd." Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout you, kings;
And stand securely on their battlements, As in a theatre, whence they gape and point At your industrious scenes and acts of death. Your royal presences be rul'd by me; Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,
Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town: By east and west let France and England mount
Their battering cannon, charged to the months; Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city: I'd play incessantly upon these jades, Even till unfenced desolation
Leave them as naked as the vulgar air. That done, dissover your united strengths, And part your mingled colours once again; Turn face to face, and bloody point to point: Then, in a moment, fortune shall cull forth Out of one side her happy minion;
To whom in favour she shall give the day, And kiss him with a glorious victory. How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? Smacks it not something of the policy?
K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,
I like it well;-France, shall we knit our powers,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground; Then, after, fight who shall be king of it?
Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,Being wrong'd, as we are, by this peevish town,
Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,
As we will our's, against these saucy walls : And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,
Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell, Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell. K. Phi. Let it be so:-Say, where will you assault?
K. John. We from the west will send struction
Into this city's bosom.
Aust. 1 from the north.
And she again wants nothing, to name want, If want it be not, that she is not he: He is the half part of a blessed man, Left to be finished by such a she; And she a fair divided excellence, Whose fulness of perfection lies in him. Oh! two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bound them in: And two such shores to two such streams made one,
Two such controlling bounds shall you be, kings,
To these two princes, if you marry them. This union shall do more than battery can, To our fast-closed gates; for, at this match, With swifter spleen than powder can enforce, The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope, And give you entrance; but, without this match,
The sea enraged is not half so deaf,
Lious more confident, mountains and rocks More free from motion; no, not death himself In mortal fury half so peremptory,
As we to keep this city.
Bast. Here's a stay,
That shakes the rotten carcass of old death Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed, That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas:
Talks as familiarly of roaring lions, As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs! What cannoneer begot this lusty blood? He speaks plain cannon, fire, and sinoke, and bounce;
He gives the bastinado with his tongue; Our ears are cudgel'd; not a word of his, But buffets better than a fist of France : Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words, Since I first call'd my brother's father, dad. Eli. Son, list to this conjunction, make this
Give with our niece a dowry large enough: For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie Thy now unsur'd assurance to the crown That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit.
I see a yielding in the looks of France; Mark, how they whisper: urge them, while thei souls
Are capable of this ambition;
Lest zeal, now melted, by the windy breath Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse,
Cool and congeal again to what it was.
1 Cit. Why answer not the double majesties This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town? K. Phi. Speak England first, that hath been
To speak unto this city: What say you? K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son,
Can in this book of beauty read, I love, Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen : For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poic
And all that we upon this side the sea ((Except this city now by us besieg'd) Find liable to our crown and dignity,
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