ther too, He and his toothpick at my worship's mess, To whom am I beholding for these limbs ? And when my knightly stomach is sufficed, Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. 240 Why then I suck my teeth and catechize, Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy broMy picked man of countries : My dear sir,' Thus, leaning on mine elbow, I begin, That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine 'I shall beseech you’-that is question now ; honor ? And then comes answer like an Absey book : What means this scorn, thou most untoward O sir,' says answer, ‘at your best command; knave? At your employment ; at your service, sir ; ' Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, BasilNo, sir,' says question, 'I, sweet sir, at isco-like. yours : What! I am dubb’d ! I have it on my shoulAnd so, ere answer knows what question der. would, 200 But, mother, I am not sir Robert's son ; Saving in dialogue of compliment, I have disclaim'd sir Robert and my land ; And talking of the Alps and Apennines, Legitimation, name and all is gone : The Pyrenean and the river Po, Then, good my mother, let me know my It draws toward supper in conclusion so, father ; But this is worshipful society. Some proper man, I hope : who was it, And fits the mounting spirit like myself, mother ? 250 For he is but a bastard to the time Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a FaulThat doth not smack of observation ; conbridge ? And so am I, whether I smack or no; Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. And not alone in habit and device, 210 Lady F. King Richard Caur-de-lion was Exterior form, outward accoutrement, thy father : But from the inward motion to deliver By long and vehement suit I was seduced Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's To make room for him in my husband's bed : tooth : Heaven lay not my transgression to my Which, though I will not practise to deceive, charge ! Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn ; Thou art the issue of my dear offence, For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising. Which was so strongly urged past my deBut who comes in such haste in riding-robes ? fence. What woman-post is this ? hath she no hus- Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get band again, That will take pains to blow a horn before Madam. I would not wish a better father. 260 her ? Some sins do bear their privilege on earth, Enter LADY FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES Aud so doth yours; your fault was not your folly : GURNEY. Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose, 0 me! it is my mother. How now, good Subjected tribute to commanding love, lady! 220 Against whose fury and unmatched force What brings you here to court so hastily ? The aweless lion could not wage the fight, Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother ? Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's where is he, hand. That holds in chase mine honor up and He that perforce robs lions of their learts down? [son ? May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother, Bast. My brother Robert ? old sir Robert's With all my heart I thank thee for my fathColbrand the giant, that same mighty man? er ! 270 Is it sir Robert's son that you seek so ? Who lives and dares but say thou didst not Lady F. Sir Robert's son ! Ay, thou un well reverend boy, When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell. Sir Robert's son: why scorn'st thou at sir Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin ; Robert ? And they shall say, when Richard me beHe is sir Robert's son, and so art thou. got, Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin : leave awhile ? 230 Who says it was, he lies ; I say 'twas not. Gur. Good leave, good Philip. (Eseunt Bast. Philip! sparrow : James, There's toys abroad : anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit Gurney. Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son : ACT IL. Sir Robert might have eat his part in me SCENE I. France. Before Angiers. Upon Good-Friday and ne'er broke his fast : Sir Robert could do well : marry, to confess, Enter AUSTRIA and forces, drums, etc. on one Could he get me ? Sir Robert could not do it: side : on the other KING PHILIP of France We know his handiwork : therefore, good and his power; LEWIS, ARTHUR, CONmother, STANCE and attendants. Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack. Aust. What craker is this same that denis our ears These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his : 100 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 callid a king, When living blood doth in these temples beat, Which owe the crown that thou o'ermaster est ? K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France, 110 To draw my answer from thy articles ? K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughts In any breast of strong anthority, To look into the biots and stins 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. A. 1. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down. 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 mayst 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 sow, I think His father never was so true begot : 130 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 thon ? Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, Ari a' may catch your hide and you alone : You are the hare of whom the proverb) goes, Whose valor 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. 140 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' shows in on an ass : But, ass. I'll take that burthen from your back, With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight. Lew. Women and fools, break off yort conference. 156 King John, this is the very sum of all ; England and Ireland, Anjón, Touraine, Maine, In right of Arthur do I claim of thee : Wilt thion resign them and lay down thy arm? K. John. My life as soon : I do deiy titt, France. Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand : And out of my dear Jove I'll give tliee more Than e'er the coward hand of France can win: Submit thee, bos. Eli. Come to thy grandam, child Const. Do, child, go to it grandam, child : Give grandain kingdom, and it graudam wil Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig: There's a good grundam. 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, por bey, he weeps. Const. Now shame upon you, whether she does or no ! (shares His grandani's wrongs, and not his mother's Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee : Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall ! bribed 171 To do him justice and revenge on yon. Eli. Thou monstrous slauderer of bearen and earth! [and earth son, 1 Being but the second generation Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb. K. John. Bedlam, have done. I hare but this to say Eli. Thon unadvised scold, I can produce A will that bars the title of the son. Const. Av, who doubts that ? a will ! : wicked will ; A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will K. Phi. Peace, lady! pause, or be mot temperate ; with you, 833 KING JOHN. SCENE 1.] It ill beseems this presence to cry aim the walls. 201 England, for itself. jects, Arthur's subjects, hear us first. gates; stones, gates, cheeks, to us both. 1241 king o'er him and all that he enjoys : 240 town, Ihan the constraint of hospitable zeal To him that owes it, namely this young prince: bruised, town, peace. land's subjects : let me in. First Cit. That can we not; but he that proves the king, 270 To him will we prove loyal : till that time Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world. 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. 280 First Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest, those souls liers ! to arms ! on, and e'er since 296 Peace ! no more. roar. K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth In best appointment all our regiinents. Bast, Speed then, to take advantage of the field. K. Phi. It shall be so ; and at the other hill Command the rest to stand. God and our right! [Eceunt. Il re after excursions, enter the Herald of France, with trumpets, to the gates. F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates, 300 And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in, Who by the hand of France this day hath made Mich work for tears in many an English mother, Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground : Many a widow's husband grovelling lies, Coldly embracing the discolor'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 proclain 310 Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours. Enter English Herald, with trumpet, E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells : King Jolin, your king and England's doth ap proach, Commander of this hot malicious day : 'Their armors, that march'd hence so silver bright, Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood ; There stuck vo plume in any English crest That is removed by a staff of France ; Our colors do return in those same hands That did display them when we first march'd forth ; 320 And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come Dirilisty English, all with purpled hands, Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes : Open your giltes and give the vitors way. First Clt. 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 eves cannot be censured : Bood hath bonght blood and blows have an swer'd blows; Strength match'd with strength, and power confrouted power : 330 Both are alike ; and both alike we liku. One must prove greatest : while they weigh We hold our town for neither, yet for both. Re-enter the troo Kings, with their powers, sererally, K. John. France, hast thon yet more blood to cast awar? Gay, shall the current of our right run on ? Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment, Shall leave his native channel and o'erswe! With course disturb'd even thy confinin, shores, Unless thori let his silver water keep A peaceful progress to the ocean. 340 K. Phi. England, thou hast not saved 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 arins 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 towers, When the rich blood of kings is set on fire! 0, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel ; The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men, In undetermined differences of kings. Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus ? Cry, havoc !' kings; back to the stained field, You equal potents, fiery 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 townsmei vet admit ? K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king? First 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 yon. First Cit. A greater power than we deuier all this ; And till it be undoubted, we do lock Our form r scruple in our stron:-barr'd gates King'd of our fears, until our fears, resolved Be by some certain king purged and deputed Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angien 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 roral presenies be ruled by me : Do like the mutines of Jerusalem, Be friends awhile and botii conjointly bend Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town! By east and west let Frince and Eng!400 mount 361 Their battering cannon charged to the months Till their soul-fearing clamors have brawid down So even, |