KING JOHN.

VOL. IV.

B

D 1

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

King John.
Prince Henry, his son; afterwards King Henry III.
Arthur, duke of Bretagne, son of Geffrey, late duke

of Bretagne, the elder brother of King John.
William Mareshall, Earl of Pembroke.
Geffrey Fitz-Peter, Earl of Essex, chief justiciary

of England.

William Longsword, Earl of Salisbury.

Robert Bigot, Earl of Norfolk.

Hubert de Burgh, chamberlain to the king.

Robert Faulconbridge, son of sir Robert Faulcon

bridge.

Philip Faulconbridge, his half-brother, bastard son

to King Richard the First.

James Gurney, servant to Lady Faulconbridge.
Peter of Pomfret, a prophet.

Philip, King of France.

Lewis, the dauphin.

Arch-duke of Austria..

Cardinal Pandulph, the pope's legate.

Melun, a French lord.

Chatillon, ambassador from France to King John.

Elinor, the widow of King Henry II. and mother

of King John. Constance, mother to Arthur.

Blanch, daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile,

and niece to King John.

Lady Faulconbridge, mother to the bastard, and Robert Faulconbridge.

Lords, ladies, citizens of Angiers, sheriff, heralds, officers, soldiers, messengers, and other attendants.

Scene, sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.

KING JOHN.

ACT 1.

SCENE I. Northampton. A room of state in the palace.

Enter King Joın, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Essex, Salisbury, and others, with Chatillon.

King John.

Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of
France,

In my behaviour, to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty!
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the em-

bassy.

Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim To this fair island, and the territories;

* In the manner I now do.

To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine:
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword,
Which sways usurpingly these several titles;
And put the same into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew, and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this?
Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war,
To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.

K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood,

Controlment for controlment: so answer France.

Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,

The furthest limit of my embassy.

K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace:
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:

So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage of your own decay.-
An honourable conduct let him have:-
Pembroke, look to't: Farewell, Chatillon.

[Exeunt Chatillon and Pembroke.

Eli. What now, my son? have I not ever said,
How that ambitious Constance would not cease,
Till she had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son?
This might have been prevented, and made whole,
With very easy arguments of love;
Which now the manage* of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong possession, and our right

for us.

Eli. Your strong possession, much more than

your right;

Or else it must go wrong with you, and me:
So much my conscience whispers in your ear;
Which none but Heaven, and you, and I, shall hear.

* Conduct, administration.