For him, and in his right, we hold this town.

K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me i n. 1 Cit. That can we not; but he that proves the king, 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. Phil. As many, and as well-born bloods as those,Bast. Some bastards too.

K. Phil.-Stand in his face, to contradict his claim. 1 Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest, We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both.

K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls, That to their everlasting residence,

Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,

In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!

K.Phil. Amen, Amen!-Mount, chevaliers to arms! Bast. St. George, that swing'd the dragon, and e'er since,

Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door,

Teach us some fence !-Sirrah, were I at home,
At your den, sirrah, [To Aus.] with your lioness,
I'd set an ox-head to your lion's hide,

And make a monster of you.

Aust. Peace; no more..

Bast. O, tremble; for you hear the lion roar.

K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth, In best appointment, all our regiments.

Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.

K. Phil. It shall be so;-[To LEW.] and at the other

hill

Command the rest to stand.-God, and our right!

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

The same.

Alarums and Excursions: then a Retreat. Enter at French Herald, with trumpets, to the gates.

F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates, And let young Arthur, duke of Bretagne, in ; Who, by the hand of France, this day hath made Much work for tears in many an English mother, 3* VOL. 1V.

Whose sons lie scatter'd on the bleeding ground:
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,
Coldly embracing the discolour'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 proclaim
Arthur of Bretagne, England's king, and your's.'
Enter an English Herald, with trumpets.

E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells; King John, your king and England's, doth approach, Commander of this hot, malicious day!

Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright,
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood.
There stuck no plume in any English crest,

That is removed by a staff of France;

Our colours do return in those same hands

That did display them when we first march'd forth;
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes :2
Open your gates, and give the victors way.s

Cit. 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 eyes cannot be censured :4

Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd blows; Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power:

Both are alike; and both alike we like.

One must prove greatest while they weigh so even, We hold our town for neither; yet for both.

Enter, at one side, King JOHN, with his Power; ELINOR, BLANCH, and the Bastard; at the other, King PHILIP, LewIS, AUSTRIA, and Forces.

K.John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away? Say, shall the current of our right run on?

This speech is very poetical and smooth, and except the conceit of the widow's husband embracing the earth, is just and beautiful. JOHNSON. [2] it was, I think. one of the savage practices of the chase, for all to stain their hands in the blood of the deer, as a trophy. JOHNS

[3] The English Herald falls somewhat below his antagonist. Silver ar mour gilt with blood is a poor image JOHNSON.

[4] i. e. cannot be estimated. MAL.

Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel, and o'erswell
With course disturb'd even thy confining shores ;
Unless thou let his silver water keep

A peaceful progress to the ocean.

K.Phil. England, thou hast not sav'd 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 arms 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.

Rast. Ha, majesty ! how high thy glory towers,
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire !
O, how doth death line his dead chaps with steel;
The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs ;
And now he feasts, mouthing the flesh of men,
In undetermin'd differences of kings.-

Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus ?
Cry, havock, kings 5 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 townsmen yet admit ? K. Phil. Speak, citizens for, England; who's your king?

Cit. The king of England, when we know the king. K. Phil. 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 you.

1 Cit. A greater power than we, denies all this; And, till it be undoubted, we do lock

Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates:
King'd of our fears; until our fears, resolv'd,
Be by some certain king purg'd and depos'd.

Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers? flout
you, kings;

[5] That is, command slaughter to proceed. So, in Julius Cæsar : "Cry, havock, and let slip the dogs of war." JOHNS.

[6] i. e. our fears are the kings which at present rule us. [7] Escroulles, Fr. i.e. scabby, scrophulous fellows.

WARB.

STEEV.

And stand securely on their battlements,
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
At your industrious scenes and acts of death.
Your royal presences be rul'd by me;
Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,

Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend
Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town:
By east and west let France and England mount
Their battering cannon, charged to the mouths;
Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:
I'd play incessantly upon these jades,

Even tili unfenced desolation

Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, dissever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point :
Then, in a moment, fortune shall cull forth
Out of one side her happy minion;

To whom, in favour, she shall give the day,
And kiss him with a glorious victory.

How like you this wild counsel, mighty states?

Smacks it not something of the policy?

K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,

I like it well;-France, shall we knit our powers,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground;

Then, after, fight who shall be king of it?

Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,-
Being wrong'd, as we are, by this peevish town,-
Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,

As we will ours, against these saucy walls :
And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,
Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell,

Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell.

K. Phil. Let it be so :-Say, where will you assault ? K. John. We from the west will send destruction

Into this city's bosom.

Aust. I from the north.

K. Phil. Our thunder from the south,

Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.

Bast. O prudent discipline! From north to south ; Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth; [Aside. I'll stir them to it :-Come, away, away!

1 Cit Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe a while to stay, And I shall show you peace, and fair-faced league ;

Win you this city, without stroke, or wound;
Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come sacrifices for the field :
Perséver not, but hear me, mighty kings.

K. John. Speak on, with favour; we are bent to hear. 1 Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch, Is near to England; Look upon the years

Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid:
If lusty love should go in quest of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?
If zealous love should go in search of virtue, &
Where should he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love ambitious sought a match of birth,
Whose veins bound richer blood than lady Blanch ?
Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth,

Is the young Dauphin every way complete :
If not complete, O say, he is not she;
And she again wants nothing, to name want,
If want it be not, that she is not he :
He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such a she;
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.

O, two such silver currents, when they join,

Do glorify the banks that bound them in :

And two such shores to two such streams made one,

Two such controling bounds shall you be, kings,
To these two princes, if you marry them.
This union shall do more than battery can,
To our fast-closed gates; for, at this match,
With swifter spleen than powder can enforce,
The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance; but, without this match,
The sea enraged is not half so deaf,

Lions more confident, mountains and rocks
More free from motion; no, not death himself
In mortal fury half so peremptory,

As we to keep this city.

Bast. Here's a stay, 9

[8] Zealous seems here to signify pious, or influenced by motives of religion.

JOHNS. [9] Stay, I apprehend, here signifies a supporter of a cause. Here's an extraordinary partizan, that shakes &c. It is observable, that partizan, in like manner, though now generally used to signify an adherent to a party, originally meant a pike or halberd. MAL.