Exton. Have I no friend?' quoth he: he Had not an ear to hear my true time broke. spake it twice, I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; And urged it twice together, did he not ? For now hath time made me his numbering Seri. He did. clock : 50 Exton. And speaking it, he wistly look'd on My thoughts are minutes ; and with sighs they jar And who should say, 'I would thou wert the Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch, That would divorce this terror from my heart;' Whereto my finger, like a dial's point, Meaning the king at Pomfret. Come, let's go: Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears. I ara the king's friend, and will rid his foe. 11 Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is [Exeunt. Are clamorous grouns, which strike upon my heart, SCENE V. Pomfret castle. Which is the bell : so sighs and tears and Enter KING RICHARD. groans Show minutes, times, and hours : but my time K. Rich. I have been studying how I may Runs posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy, compare While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the This prison where I live unto the world : clock. 60 And for because the world is populons This music mads me; let it sound no more; And here is not a creature but myself, For though it have holp madmen to their wits, I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out. In me it seems it will make wise men mad. Enter a Groom of the Stable. Thanks, noble peer ; Where no man never comes but that sad dog As thus, Come, little ones,' and then again, That brings me food to make misfortune live? 'It is as hard to come as for a camel Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.' king, Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot When thon wert king ; who, travelling towards Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails York, May tear a passage through the flinty ribs 20 With much'ado at length have gotten leave of this hard world, my ragged prison walls, To look upon my sometimes royal master's And, for they cannot, die in their own pride. face. Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves o, how it yearn'd my heart when I beheld That they are not the first of fortune's slaves, In London streets, that coronation-day, Koz shall not be the last ; like silly beggars When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary, Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame, That horse that thou so often hast bestrid, That many have and others must sit there ; That horse that I so carefully have dress'd ! 80 And in this thought they find a kind of ease, K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, Bearing their own misfortunes on the back gentle friend, Of such as have before endured the like. How went he under him ? Thos play I in one person many people, Groom. So proudly as if he disdain'd the And none contented : sometinies am I king; ground. Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar, K. Rich. So proud that Bolingbroke was And so I am : then crushing penury on his back! Persuades me I was better when a king ; That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand; Then am I king'd again : and by and by This hand hath made him proud with clapping Think that I am unking'd by Belingbroke, him. And straight am nothing : but whate'er I be, Would he not stumble ? would he not fall Nor I nor any man that but man is down, With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased Since pride must have a fall, and break the With being nothing. Music do I hear ? 41 [Music. Of that proud man that did usurp his back! Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is, Forgiveness, horse ! why do I rail on thee, 90. When time is broke and no proportion kept ! Since thou, created to be awed by man, So is it in the music of men's lives. Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse; And here have I the daintiness of ear And yet I bear a burthen like an ass, To check time broke in a disorder'd string ; Spurr'd, gall’d and tired by jauncing BolingBut for the concord of my state and time broke. ing him life ; Enter Keeper, with a dish. Keep. Fellow, give place ; here is no longer stay. K. Rich. If thou love me, tis time thou wert away. Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say. [Exit. Keep. My lord, will’t please you to fall to ? K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. 99 Koep. My lord, I dare not : Sir Pierce of Exton, who lately came from the king, cominands the contrary. K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancas ter and thee ! Patience is stale, and I am weary of it. [Beats the keeper. Keep. Help, help, help! Enter Exton and Servants, armed. K. Rich How now ! what means death in this rude assault ? Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instru ment. [Snatching an axe from a Servant and killGo thou, and fill another room in hell. [lle kills another. Then Ecton strikes him doucn. That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire That staggers thus iny person. Exton, thy fierce hand 110 Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land. Mount, mount, my soul ! thy seat is up on high ; Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die. (Dies. Exton. As full of valor as of royal blood : Both have I spill'd ; O would the deed were good! For now the devil, that told me I did well, Says that this deed is chronicled in hell. This dead king to the living king I'll bear : Take hence the rest, and give them burial here. [Exeunt. SCENE VI. Windsor castle. Flourish. Enter BOLINGBROKE, YORK, with other Lords, and Attendants. Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear Is that the rebels have consumed with fire Our town of Cicester in Gloucestershire ; But whether they be ta'en or slain we hear not. Enter NORTHUMBERLAND, Welcome, my lord : what is the news? North. First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness. The next news is, I have to London sent The heads of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent ; The manner of their taking may appear 10 Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains ; And to thy worth will add right worthy gains. Enter FitZWATER, London forgot ; Right noble is thy merit, well I wot. Enter PERCY, and the BISHOP OF CARLISLE, Percy. The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster, With clog of conscience and sour melancholy Hath yielded up his body to the grave; 21 But here is Carlisle living, to abide Thy kingly doom and sentence of his pride. Boling. Carlisle, this is your doom: Choose out some secret place, some reverend room, More than thou hast, and with it joy thy So as thou livest in peace, die free from strife : For though mine enemy thou hast ever been, High sparks of honor in thee have I seen. Enter Exton, with persons bearing a coffin. Exton. Great king, within this coffin I present 30 Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies The mightiest of thy greatest enemies, Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought. Boling. Exton, I thank thee not ; for thou hast wrought A deed of slander with thy fatal hand Upon my head and all this famous land. Exton. From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed. Boling. They love not poison that do poison need, Nor do I thee : though I did wish him dead, I hate the murderer, love him murdered. 40 The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labor, But neither my good word nor princely favor With Cain go wander through shades of night, And never show thy head by day nor light. Lor's, i protest, my soul is full of woe, Tha blood should sprinkle me to make me 8 ᎫᎳ ; Comw, mourn with me for that I do lament, And put on sullen black incontinent : I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land, To wash this blood off from my guilty hand March sadly after ; grace my mournings here In weeping after this untimely bier. (Ezeum DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. LEWIS, the Dauphin. PRINCE HENRY, son to the king. LYMOGES, Duke of AUSTRIA. ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, nephew to the CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate. king. MELUN, a French Lord. The Earl of PEMBROKE. CHATILLON, ambassador from France to King "The Earl of Essex. John. QUEEN ELINOR, mother to King John. CONSTANCE, mother to Arthur. LADY FAULCONBRIDGE. Attendants. Peter of Pomfret, a prophet. SCENE : Partly in England, and partly in Peilie, King of France. France. answer it ; Eli. A strange beginning : ‘borrow'd ma- Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman jesty!' Born in Northamptonshire and eldest son, 51 K. John. Silence, good mother ; hear the As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge, embassy. A soldier, by the honor-giving hand Chat Philip of France, ir right and true Of Ceur-de-lion knighted in the field. behalf K. John. What art thou ? Df thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, Rob. The son and heir to that same FaulArthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim conbridge. To this fair island and the territories, 10 K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, heir ? Desiring thee to lay aside the sword You came not of one mother then, it seems. Which sways usurpingly these several titles, Bast. Most certain of one mother, nighty And put the same into young Arthur's hand, king ; Thy nephew and right royal sovereign. That is well known; and, as I think, one K. John. What follows if we disallow of this? father : 60 Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody But for the certain knowledge of that truth war, I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother : To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld. of that I doubt, as all men's children nay K. John. Here have we war for war and Eli. Out on thee, rude man ! thou dost blood for blood, shame thy mother Controlment for controlment ; SO And wound her honor with this diffidence. France. 20 Bast. I, madam ? no, I have no reason for Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, That is iny brother's plea and none of mine ; The farthest limit of my embassy. The which if he can prove, a' pops me out K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart At least from fair five hundred pound a year: in peace : Heaven guard my mother's honor and my Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France ; land ! 70 For ere thou canst report I will be there, K. John. A good blunt fellow. Why, being The thunder of my cannon shall be heard : younger born, So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance ? And sullen presage of your own decay. Bast. I know not why, except to get the An honorable conduct let him hare : land. Pembroke, look to 't. Farewell, Chatillon. 30 But once he slander'd me with bastardy : [Ereunt Chatillon and Pembroke. But whether I be as true begot or no, Eli. What now, my son ! have I not ever That still I lay upon my mother's head, said But that I am as well begot, my liege, How that ambitious Constance would not Fair fall the bones that took the pains for cease me ! Till she had kindled France and all the world, Compare our faces and be judge yonrself. Upon the right and party of her son ? If old sir Robert did beget us both 80 This might have been prevented and made And were our father and this s. lite him, whole O old sir Robert, father, on my keee With very easy arguments of love, I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee! Which now the manage of two kingdoms must K, John, Why, what a madcap hath heaven With fearful bloody issue arbitrate. lent us here ! K. John. Our strong possession and our Eli. He hath a trick of Caur-de-lion's right for us. face ; Eli. Your strong possession much more The accent of his tongue affecteth him. than your right, Do you not read some tokens of nx.y son Or else it must go wrong with you and me : In the large composition of this man ? So much my conscience whispers in your ear, K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his Which none but heaven and you and I shall parts hear. And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, Enter a Sheriff. speak, Essex. My liege, here is the strangest con What doth move you to claim your brother's land ? troversy Come from the country to be judged by you Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my That e'er I heard : shall I produce the men ? father. K. John. Let them approach. With half that face would he have all my land: Our abbeys and our priories shall pay This expedition's charge. A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year! Enter ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE and PHILIP Rob. My, gracious liege, when that my his bastard brother, father lived, What men are you? Your brother did employ my father much, Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land : Yoar tale must be how he employ'd my mother. Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an em bassy To Germany, there with the emperor 100 To treat of high affairs touching that time. The advantage of his absence took the king And in the mean time sojourn'd at my fath er's; Where how he did prevail I shame to speak, Bat truth is truth : large lengths of seas and shores Between my father and my mother lay, As I have heard my father speak himself, When this same lusty gentleman was got, Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd His lands to me, and took it on his death 110 That this my mother's son was none of his ; And if he were, he came into the world Fall fourteen weeks before the course of time. Then, good my liege, let me have wbat is mine, My father's land, as was my father's will. K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legiti mate; Your father's wife did after wedlock bear bim, And if she did play false, the fault was hers; Which fault lies on the hazards of all hus bands That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother, 120 Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, Hail of your father claim'd this son for his ? In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept This cali bred from his cow from all the world; In sooth he might; then, if he were my brother's, My brother might not claim him ; nor your father, Being none of his, refuse him: this concludes; My mother's son did get your father's heir ; Your father's heir must have your father's land. Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force 130 To dispossess that child which is not his ? Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faul conbridge And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land, Or the reputed son of Cour-de-lion, Lord of thy presence and no land beside ? Bust. Madam, an if my brother had my shape, And I had his, sir Robert's his, like him ; And if my legs were two such riding-rods, 140 My arm such eel-skins stuff'd, my face so thin That in mine ear 1 durst not stick a rose Lest men should say 'Look, where three farthings goes!' And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, Would I might never stir from off this place, I would give it every foot to have this face ; I would not be sir Nob in any case. Eli. I like thee well : wilt thou forsake thy fortune, Bequeath thy land to him and follow me ? I ain a soldier and now bound to France. 150 Bast. Brother, take yon my land, I'll take my chance. Your face hath got five hundred pound a year, Yet sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear. Madam, I'll follow you unto the death. Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither, Bast. Our country manners give our betters way. K. John. What is thy name ? Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name be gun ; Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son. K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose forin thou bear'st : 160 me your hand : Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet ! what though ? Something about, a little from the right, 170 lu at the window, or else o'er the hatch : Who dares not stir by day must walk by night, 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! 180 For thou wast got i' the way of honesty. [Ereunt all but Bastard. A foot of honor better than I was ; But many a many 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'm call him Peter ; For new-mnade honor doth forget men's names ; 'Tis too respective and too sociable For your conversiou, Now your traveller, 189 |