Lewis. A noble boy! who would not do thee right? Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs, A feal to this indenture of my love ; That to my home I will no more return, Till Angiers and the right thou haft in France, (9) Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore, Whofe foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides, And coops from other lands her islanders ; Ev'n till that England, hedg'd in with the main, That water-walled bulwark, ftill secure And confident from foreign purposes, Ev'n till that utmost corner of the weft, Salute thee for her King. Till then, fair boy, Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

Conft. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks,

Till your ftrong hand fhall help to give him strength,
To make a more requital to your love.

Auft. The peace of heav'n is theirs, who lift their fwords

In fuch a juft and chatitable war.

K. Philip. Well then, to work, our engines shall be

bent

Against the brows of this refifting town;
Call for our chiefeft men of difcipline,
To cull the plots of beft advantages.
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in French-mens' blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

Conf. Stay for an answer to your Embafie,
Left unadvis'd you ftain 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 rafh hafte fo indirectly fhed.

Enter Chatillon...

K. Philip. A wonder, lady!-Lo, upon thy with

Our

(9) That pale, that white fae'd fer,] England is supposed to be called Albion from the white rocks facing France.

* A wonder, lady!] The wonder is only that Chatillon bappened to arrive at the moment when Conftance mentioned him,

Our meffenger Chatillon is arrived.

-What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord, We coldly paufe for thee. Chatillon, speak.

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paultry fiege, And stir them up against a mightier task.

England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whole leifure I have ftaid, have giv'n him time
To land his legions all as foon as I.

His marches are (1) expedient to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.sco Duong
With him along is come the mother-queen;"
An Até, tirring him to blood and strife. of
With her, her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the King deceas'd,redited v
And all th' unfettled humours of the land; 20 lat eld
Rash, inconfid'rate, fiery voluntaries, ivol moil medi am
With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' fpleens, ad
Have fold their fortunes at their native homes,
(2) Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.ism eft nogl
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless fpirits, and deb, 1
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,
Did never float upon the fwelling tide,

To do offence and (3) feathe in christendom. thali
The interruption of their churlish drums

T

Drums beat. Cuts off more circumstance; they are at hand. To parly, or to fight, therefore prepared K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this expedi tion! 2 ho pode tert

Auft. By how much unexpected, by fo much se
We must awake endeavour for defence

For courage mounteth with occafion: moi
Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd.
me then, we are prepar
Cestoing y

which the French king, according to a fuperftition which prevails more or lefs in every mind agitated by great affairs, turns into a miraculous interpofition, or omen of good.

(1) Expedient-] Immediate, expeditious,

(2) Bearing their birth-rights, &c.] So in Herry VIII. Many broke their backs

With bearing manors on them.

(3) Statbe- Destruction: wafte.

N 2

SCENE

SCENE II.

Enter King of England, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch, pung Pembroke, and others."

K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit

Our juft and lineal entrance to our own;

If not, bleed France, and peace afcend to heav'n.
Whilft we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beats his

peace to heav'n.
K. Philip Peace be to England, if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace.
England we love; and for that England's fake
With burthen of our armour here we fweat;
This toil of ours fhould be a work of thine.
But thou from loving England art fo far,
That thou haft under-wrought its lawful King;
Cut off the fequence of pofterity;

Out-faced infant ftate; and done a rape

Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face.

These eyes, thefe brows, were moulded out of his s
This little abftract doth contain that large,
Which dy'd in Geffery; and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as large a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his fon; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's; inthe name of God,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a King,
'When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which own the crown that thou o'er-maftereft ?
K. John. From whom haft thou this great commiffi-
an, France,

To draw my answer to thy articles?

K. Philip. From that fupernal judge, that ftirs good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,

(4) To look into the blots and ftains of right.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy;
Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong,
And by whofe help I mean to chastise it.

K. John. Alack, thou döft ufurp authority.
K. Philip. Excufe it, 'tis to beat ufurping down.
Eli. Who is't, that thou doft call ufurper, France?
Conf. Let me make anfwer: thy ufurping fon.-
Eli. Out, infolent! thy baftard fhall be King,
That thou may'st be a Queen, and check the world!
Conft. My bed was ever to thy fon 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 baftard! by my foul, I think,
His father never was so true begot;

It cannot be, an' if thou wert his mother.

Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.

Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.

Auft. Peace.

Faulc. Hear the crier.

Auft. What the devil art thou?

Faule. One that will play the devil, Sir, with you, An' a' may catch your hide and you alone. You are the hare, of whom the proverb goes, Whofe valour plucks dead Lions by the beard; I'll fmoak your skin-coat, an' 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 difrobe the Lion of that robe...

(4) To look into the blots and flains of right.] Mr. Theobald reads, with the first folio, blots, which being fo early authorised, and fo much better understood, needed not to have been changed by Dr. Warburton to bolts, tho' bolts might be used in that time for Spots: So Shakespeare calls Banquo fpotted with blood, the blood-bolter'd Banquo. The verb to bola is ufed figuratively for to disgrace, a few lines lower. And, perhaps, after all, bolts was only a typographical mistake,

N 3

Faulc

Faule. It lies as fightly on the back of him (5),
As great
Alcides fhows upon an afs;

But, afs, I'll take that burden from your back,
Or lay on that, fhall make your fhoulders crack.
Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our ears
With this abundance of fuperfluous breath?
King Philip, determine what we shall do ftrait.

K. Philip. Women and fools, break off your confe

rence.

King John, this is the very fum of all.

England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur I do claim of thee.

Wilt thou refign them, and lay down thy arms?.
K. John. My life as foon--I do defy thee, France.
-Arthur of Britain, 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.

Eli. Come to thy grandam, child.

Conft. 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.

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 fhames him fo, poor boy, he weeps.

(5) It lies as lightly on the back of him;

As great Alcides' Shoes upon an Af,] But why his Shoes, in the Name of Propriety? For let Hercules and his Sboes have been really as big as they were ever fuppofed to be, yet they (I mean the Shoes would not have been an Overload for an Afs. 1 an perfuaded, I have retrieved the true reading; and let us obferve the juftnefs of the Comparifon now. Faulconbridge in his Refentment would fay this to Auftria, "That Lion's Skin, which my "great Father King Richard once wore, looks as uncoothly on "thy back, as that other noble Hide, which was borne by Hercules, would look on the Back of an Afs." A double Allufion was intended; firft, to the Fable of the Afs in the Lion's Skin; then Richard 1. is finely fet in Competition with Alcides; as Auftria is fatirically coupled with the Afs.

THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald had the art of making the most of his difcove

ries.

Cont