That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!
All. King of Scotland, hail! [Flourish.
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time,
Before we reckon with your several loves, [men,
Why then, God's soldier be he! And make us even with you. Mythanes and kinsHad I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so his knell is knoll'd.
He's worth more sorrow,
And that I'll spend for him.
Siw.
He's worth no more;
They say he parted well, and paid his score:
So God be with him.--Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth's head on a pole.
Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold,
where stands
The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland,
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life:-This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
[Flourish. Exeunt
PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards K. 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
Faulconbridge.
PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-Brother, Bas-
tard Son to King Richard the First.
JAMES GURNEY, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge.
PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet.
PHILIP, King of France.
LEWIS, the Dauphin.
ARCHDUKE 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,
LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, Mother to the Bastard,
and Niece to King John.
and Robert Faulconbridge.
Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff,
Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and
other Attendants.
SCENE.-Sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.
Act First.
SCENE I.-NORTHAMPTON.
A ROOM OF STATE IN THE PALACE.
Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke,
Essex, Salisbury, and others, with Chatillon.
K. 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;
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?
C. 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
The furthest limit of my embassy. [mouth,
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
With very easy arguments of love; [whole,
Which now the manage1 of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.
K. John. Our strong possession, and our right,
for us.
[your right;
Eli. Your strong possession, much more than
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.
Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers Essex.
Essex. My liege, here is the strangest con-
troversy,
Come from the country to be judged by you,
That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach,-[Exit Sheriff.
Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay
Re-enter Sheriff, with Robert Faulconbridge,
and Philip, his bastard Brother.
This expedition's charge.-What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. John. What art thou?
[bridge.
Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulcon-
K. J. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it seems.
Bast. Most certain of one mother,mighty king,
That is well known; and, as I think, one father:
But, for the certain knowledge of that truth,
I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother;
Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.
Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame
thy mother,
And wound her honour with this diffidence.
Bast. 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 least 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?
Bast. I know not why, except to get the land.
But once he slander'd me with bastardy:
But whe'r I be as true-begot, or no,
That still I lay upon my mother's head;
But, that I am as well begot, my liege,
Compare our faces, and be judge yourself.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,
And were our father, and this son like him;-
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee,
I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.
K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven
lent us here!
Eli. He hath a trick1 of Coeur-de-lion's face,
The accent of his tongue affecteth him:
Do you not read some tokens of my son
In the large composition of this man? [parts,
K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his
And finds them perfect Richard. -Sirrah,
speak,
[land?
What doth move you to claim your brother's
B. Because he hath a half-face, like my father:
With that half-face would he have all my land:
A half-faced groat2 five hundred pound a year!
R.My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd,
Your brother did employ my father much;
And once despatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
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 father's;
Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak;
But truth is truth; large lengths of seas and
Between my father and my mother lay, [shores
(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,
That this my mother's son, was none of his;
And, if he were, he came into the world
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.
K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:
And, if she did play false, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother
Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
In sooth, good friend, your father might have
kept him;
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,-
Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force,
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;
1 Tracing.
2 Sneeringly comparing his meagre visage to the
half profile on the silver groat.
Y
Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence and no land beside?
Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him:
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,
My arms such eel-skins stuffed; my face so thin,
That in mine 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 land,
'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.
Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy fortune,
Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?
I am a soldier, and now bound to France.
Bast. Brother, take you my hand, I'll take my chance:
Your face hath got five hundred pounds 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 K. John. What is thy name? [way. 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 thou down Philip, but arise more great: Arise Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.
Bast. Brother, by my mother's side, give me
your hand;
My father gave me honour, yours gave land.-
Eli. The very spirit of Flantagenet!-
I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so.
Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
What though?
[thy desire,
K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou
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
For thou was got i' the way of honesty. [thee!
[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,1 Sir Richard,-
![[ocr errors]](https://books.google.pt/books/content?id=Iq9RAAAAcAAJ&hl=pt-PT&output=html_text&pg=PA338&img=1&zoom=3&q=bear&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U2Sn9oxCWZh3vFNCg9BTh5WyUOJBw&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=319,1049,8,7)
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 2:My dear sir,
Thus, leaning on mine elbow, I begin,)
I 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, says question, I, sweet sir, at yours:
And so, ere answer knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment;
And talking of the Alps, and Apennines,
1 Good evening.
2 My travelled fop.
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws towards supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society.
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
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?
What woman-post is this? hath she no husband,
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? [boy, Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend Sir Robert's son: Why scorn'st thou at Sir Robert?
He is Sir Robert's son; and so art thou.
Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave Gur. Good leave,1 good Philip. [awhile? Bast. Philip?-sparrow!-James, There's toys2 abroad; añon I'll tell thee more. [Exit Gurney.
Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son. Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too,
That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour? [knave? What means this scorn, thou most untoward Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,—Basil
What! I am dubb'd; I have it on 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, mother?
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulcon-
bridge?
Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy
father;
By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd:
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my great offence,
Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence.
Bast. Madam, I would not wish a better father.
Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,-
Subjècted 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 hand.
He that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's.
8 A character in an old drama.
FRANCE, BEFORE THE WALLS OF ANGIERS.
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 Austria.-
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,1 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 hither.
Arth. Heaven will forgive you Coeur-de-lion's
The rather, that you give his offspring life,[death,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lew. A noble boy!Who would not do thee right?
Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As seal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,
Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
The 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,
Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength,
To make a more requital to your love. Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their swords
In such a just and charitable war.
[be bent K. Phi. Well then, to work; our cannon shall Against the brows of this resisting town. Call for our chiefest men of discipline, To cull the plots of best advantages:We'll lay before this town our royal bones, Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood, But we will make it subject to this boy.
Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy, Lest unadvis'd you stain your swords with blood: My lord Chatillon may from England bring That right in peace, which here we urge in war; And then we shall repent each drop of blood, That hot rash haste so indirectly shed.
K. Phi. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, Our messenger Chatillon is arriv'd.What England says, say briefly, gentle lord, 1 Importunity.
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.
Ch. 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,
Whose leisure I have staid, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as I:
His marches are expedient1 to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Até,2 stirring him to blood and strife;
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 land,-
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 make 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 3 in Christendom.
The interruption of their churlish drums
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand, To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.
K.P.How much unlook'd for is this expedition! Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence; For courage mounted with occasion: Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd. Enter King John, Elinor, Blanch, the Bastard, Pembroke, and Forces.
K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace permit
Our just and lineal entrance to our own!
If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven.
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to
[return
K. Phi. Peace be to England: if that war From France to England, there to live in peace! England we love: and, for that England's sake, With burden of our armour hear we sweat: This toil of ours should be a work of thine; But thou from loving England art so far, That thou hast 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 ;These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his: 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 call'd a king, When living blood doth in these temples beat, Which owes the crown that thou o'ermasterest? K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France,
To draw my answer from thy articles?
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.pt/books/content?id=Iq9RAAAAcAAJ&hl=pt-PT&output=html_text&pg=PA339&img=1&zoom=3&q=bear&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U1X4LMIqXdDkLHTmAidwt7c06P_CA&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=494,1345,400,40)
K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs Draw those heaven-moving pearls from his poor good thoughts Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;[eyes, Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be brib'd
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.
K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.
Eli. Who is it, thou dost call usurper, France?
Con. 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; By my soul, I
His father never was so true begot; [think,
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.
Bast. Aust. What art thou? Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with An 'a may catch your hide and you alone. [you, You are the hare of whom the proverb goes, Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard; I'll smoke your skin-coat, as 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 our ears
With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.
L. Women and fools, break off your conferKing John, this is the very sum of all,-[ence. 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, France.
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.
Come to thy grandam, child. Const. Do, child, go to it' grandam, child; Give grandam kingdom, and it' grandam will Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig: There's a good grandam.
Good my mother, peace! I would, that I were low laid in my grave; I am not worth this coil1 that's made for me. Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.
[no! Co. Now shame upon me, whe'er she does, or His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames,
To do him justice, and revenge on you. [earth!
Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and
Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and
earth!
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; [son,
Thy sins are visited in this poor child.
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.
Co. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will; A woman's will; a canker'd grandan's will!
K. P. Peace, lady; pause, or be more temperIt ill beseems this presence, to cry aim1 [ate: 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 warn'd us to the K. Phi. "Tis France, for England. [walls? K. John. England, for itself: You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,— K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's
Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.2 K. John. For our advantage ;-Therefore
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;
And, 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 havock 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,
To 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,
1 Encouragement.
|