Citizens of Angiers, Heralds, Executioners, Messengers, Soldiers, and other Attendants. SCENE I Northampton. ACT I. A room of flate in the palace. Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Effex, and Salisbury, with Chatillon. K. John. N WOW, fay, Chatillon, what would Chat. Thus, after greeting, fpeaks the king of Eli. A strange beginning ;——borrow'd majesty! Which fways ufurpingly thefe feveral titles; And put the fame into young Arthur's hand, K. John. What follows, if we difallow of this? Controulment for controulment; fo answer France. K. John. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in 1 Mr. Theobald remarks, that though this play hath the title of The Life and Death of King John, yet the action of it begins at the thirty-fourth year of his life; and takes in only fome tranfactions of his reign at the time of his demife, being an interval of about feventeen years. Mr. Steevens obferves, that Hall, Holinfhed, Stowe, &c. are clofely foliowed not only in the conduct, but fometimes in the expreffions throughout the following hiftorical dramas; viz. Macbeth, this play, Richard II. Henry IV. 2 parts, Henry V. Henry VI. 3 parts, Richard III. and Henry VIII. 2 William Marefhall. 3 Jeffrey Fitzpeter, Ch. J. of England. 4 William Longfword, fon to Hen. 11. by Rofamond Clifford. 5 Roger, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk. i. e. in my character. polition. Cc2 7 i. c. op How How that ambitious Conftance would not ceafe, Till the had kindled France, and all the world, Upon the right and party of her fon? This might have been prevented, and made whole, With very eafy arguments of love; Which now the manage of two kingdoms muft With fearful bloody ifiue arbitrate. [us. K. John. Our strong poflection, and our right for Eli. Your strong poffeffion, much more than your Or elfe it muft go wrong with you, and me: :[right; So much my confcience whifper, in your ear: Which none but heaven, and you, and I, thall hear. Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers Effex. My liege, here is the strangeft controversy, This expedition's charge.-What men are you? Rob. The fon and beir to that fame Faulconbridge. K. Joba. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir? You came not of one mother then, it seems, Pb. Moit certain of one mother, mighty king, That is well known; and, as I think, one father: But, for the certain knowledge of that trutli, I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother; O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee. lent us here! Fli. He hath a trick 2 of Coeur-de-lion's face, The accent of his tongue affecteth him: Do you not read fome tokens of my fon In the large compofition of this man ? K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, And finds them perfect Richard.—Sirrah, speak, What doth move you to claim your brother's land? Phil. Because he hath a half-face, like my father; With that half-face would he have all my land : A half-fac'd groat 3 five hundred pound a year! Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd, Your brother did employ my father much ;—— Phil. Well, fir, by this you cannot get my land; As I have heard my father fpeak himself) K. John. Sirah, your brother is legitimate; Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou doft fhame Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him : thy mother, And wound her honour with this diffidence. Pbil. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it; That is my brother's plea, and none of mine; The which if he can prove, a' pops me out At left from fair five hundred pound a-year: Heaven guard my mother's honour, and my land! K. John. A good blunt fellow:-Why, being younger born, Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance? And, if the did play falfe, the fault was hers; Phil. I know not why, except to get the land. My mother's fon did get your father's heir ; But once he flander'd me with baftardy: But whe'r I be as true begot, or no, That fill I lay upon my mother's head; (Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!) Your father's heir must have your father's land. Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force, To difpoffefs that child which is not his ? Phil. Of no more force to difpoffefs me, fir, Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadit thou rather, be a Faulconbridge, And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land; 1 That is, conduct, administration. 2 Meaning, that peculiarity of face which may be fuff ciently fhewn by the flighteft outline. 3 Our author is here knowingly guilty of an anachronism, as he alludes to a coin not ftruck till the year 1504, in the reign of king Henry VII. viz. a groat, which, as well as the half groat, bare but half faces impreffed. The groats of all our kings of England, and indeed all their other coins of filver, one or two only excepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time above mentioned, coined groats and half groats, as alfo fome fhillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. The firit groats of king Henry VIII. were like thofe of his father; though afterwards he returned to the broad faces again. In the time of King John there were no groats at all, they being firft, as far as appears, coined in the reign of King Edward III. Or Or the reputed fon of Cœur-de-lion, Phil. Madam, an if my brother had my thape, [tune, Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forfake thy for- Phil. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee, A foot of honour better than I was; For your converting. Now your traveller,- -My dear fir, Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my (Thus, leaning on my elbow, 1 begin) chance : Your face hath got five hundred pound a-year ; Fli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. Phil. Philip, my liege; fo is my name begun; Kneel thou down Philip, but arife more great; [hand; Phil. Brother by the mother's fide, give me your I fhail befeech you-That is queftion now ; No, fir, tays question; I, sweet fir, at yours : And fits the mounting fpirit, like myself: For he is but a battard to the time, That doth not fmack of obfervation; (And so am I, whether I fmack, or no) And not alone in habit and device, Exterior form, outward accoutrement; But from the inward motion to deliver Sweet, fweet, fweet poifon for the age's tooth: Which 12 though i will not practife to deceive, Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn; For it fhall strew the footsteps of my rifing.In at the window, or elfe o'er the hatch 5: Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night; But who comes in fuch hafte, in riding robes? What woman-poft is this? hath the no hufband, And have is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is ftill well fhot; That will take pains to blow a horn before her 13? Enter Lady Faulconbridge and James Gurney. And am 1, howe'er I was begot. O me! it is my mother :-K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now haft thou thy What brings you here to court fo haftily? -How now, good lady? [lie, Something about, a little from the right, defire, A landless knight makes thee a landed 'fquire - Lady. Where is that flave, thy brother? where is That holds in chafe mine honour up and down? Phil. My brother Robert ? old Sir Robert's fon? Colbrand the giant, that fame mighty man? 1. e. mafter of thy majeftic figure and dignified appearance. fhape- Su Robert's as he has." 2 The meaning is, "If I had his Sir Robert his, for Sir Robert's, is agreeable to the practice of that time, when the 's added to the nominative was believed, I think erroneously, to be a contraction of his. 3 Theobald fays, that in this very obfcure paffage our poet is anticipating the date of another coin; humouroufly to rally a thin face, eclipted, as it were, by a full-blown rofe. We muit obierve, to explain this allution, that queen Elizabeth was the firit, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England three-ball-pence, and three-farthing pieces. She at one and the fame time coined shillings, fixpences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, three-half-ponce, pence, three-farthings, and half-pence; and thefe picces all had her head, and were alternately with the reft behind, and without the rofe. The fhilling, groat, two-pence, penny, and half-penny had it not: the other intermediate coins, vz. the fix-pence, three-pence, three-half-pence, and three-farthings had the rofe. But Dr. Warburton obferves, that the fucking rufes about them was then all the court-fafhion. 4 What then? 5 Thele expreflions mean, fays Mr. Steevens, to be born out of wedlock.i. c. a ftep. 7 Faulconbridge here entertains himfelf with ideas of greatnefs. - Good den, Sir Richard, he fuppofes to be the falutation of a valfal. God-a-mercy, fellow, his own fupercilious reply to it. 8 and wear a piqued beard, were, in that time, marks of a travelier, or man aficcting foreign fashions. 1. c. refpe&ful. 9 To pick the teeth, 10 See note 8. p. 164. 1 i. e. «s they then spoke and wrote it, an abfey-book, meaning a catechifm. 12 Which for this. 13 Dr. Johnfon fays, our author means, that a woman who travelled about like a pet, was likely to horn her husband. Cc3 Is Is it Sir Robert's fon that you feek fo? Lady. Sir Robert's fon! Ay, thou unreverend boy, Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother Lady. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father; Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's fon; Phil. Now, by this light, were I to get again, Lady. Haft thou conspired with thy brother too, That for thine own gain fhould'it defend mine honour? What means this fcorn, thou moft untoward knave? What! I am dub'd; I have it on my shoulder. Then, good my mother, let me know my father; Against whofe fury and unmatched force And they fhall fay, when Richard me begot, ACT Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood, Of thy unnatural uncle, English John: Arthur. God fhall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's II. But with a heart full of unstained love: Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs, 6 1 Goed lewe means a ready affent. 2 i. e. rumours, idle reports. 3 Faulconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of fatire on a ftupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perfeda. In this picce there is the character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Bafilifco, His pretention to valour is fo blown, and feen through, that Pifton, a buffoon-fervant in the play, jumps upon his back, and will not difengage him, till he makes Bafilifco fwear upon his dudgeon dagger that he was a knave, knave, knave, and no knight, knight, knight, as Babilifco arrogantly tiled himfelt. In the fame manner Philip, when his mother calls him knave, throws off that reproach by humouronfly laving claim to his new dignity of knighthood. 4 Shak speare here alludes to the old metrical romance of Richard Caur de lion, wherein this once celebrated monarch is related to have acquired his diftinguishing appellation, by having plucked out a lion's heart to whofe fury he was expofed by the duke of Austria, for having flain his fan with a blow of his fift. si, e. importunity. i. e. greater. Auft. Auft. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift, England we love; and for that England's fake, In fuch a juft and charitable war. [their fwords With burthen of our armour here we sweat : This toil of ours thould be a work of thine; But thou from loving England art so far, K. Philip. Well then, to work; fhall be bent our cannon Against the brows of this refifting town.- Conft. Stay for an antwer to your embaffy, Enter Chatillon. ; That thou haft under-wrought 3 its lawful king, K. Philip. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, When living blood doth in thefe temples beat, Our metfenger Chatillon is arriv'd. What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord, His marches are expedient to this town, [Drums beat. Cuts off more circumftance: They are at hand, K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this ex- Aft. By how much unexpected, by so much Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd. Enter King John, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch, K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace Which owe the crown that thou o'er-mastereft? To draw my antwer from thy articles? [thoughts To look into the blots and stains of right. K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority. [father. Faule. One that will play the devil, fir, with you, Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe, Fauls. It lies as fightly on the back of him, Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deaf's our That is, expeditious. 2 i, e. deftru&tion, harm, 3 i. e. undermined. |