Const. Let me make answer;-thy usurping son. Than thou and John in manners; being as like, It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother." Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father. Con. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee. Aust. Peace! Bast. Hear the crier. Aust. What the devil art thou? Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you, 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, But, ass, I'll take that burden from your back; Aust. What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phil. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight. Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference.King John, this is the very sum of all,— [3] Constance alludes to Elinor's infidelity to her husband, Lewis the Seventh, when they were in the Holy Land; on account of which he was divorced from her She afterwards (1151) married our King Henry II. MALONE. [4] The ground of the quarrel of the Bastard to Austria is no where specified in the present play. But the story is, that Austria, who killed King Richard Caurde-lion, wore, as the spoil of that prince, a lion's hide which had belonged to him. This circumstance renders the anger of the Bastard very natural, and ought not to have been omitted. POPE. The omission of this incident was natural. Shakespeare having familiarized the story to his own imagination, forgot that it was obscure to his audience; or, what is equally probable, the story was then so popular, that a hint was sufficient, at that time, to bring it to mind; and these plays were written with very little care for the approbation of posterity. JOHNSON. England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, Wilt thou resign them, and lay down thy arms? K. John. My life as soon:-I do defy thee, France. And, out of my dear love, I'll give thee more Eli. Come to thy grandam, child. Const. Do, child, go 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; Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps. Const. Now shame upon you, whe'r she does, or no !* His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames, Draw those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee; Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be brib'd Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth! Of this oppressed boy: This is thy eldest son's son, Thy sins are visited in this poor child; That he's not only plagued for her sin, But God hath made her sin and her the plague 6 Constance, [5] Read whe'r he does, or no !-i. e. whether he weeps, or not. so far from admitting, expressly denies that she shames him. RITSON. [6] The key to these words is contained in the last speech of Constance, where she alludes to the denunciation of the second commandment, of "visiting the iniquities of the parents upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation." &c. HENLEY. And with her plague, her sin; his injury Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will ; A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will! K. Phil. Peace, lady; pause, or be more temperate : It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim To these ill-tuned repetitions. Some trumpet summon hither to the walls Trumpets sound. Enter Citizens upon the walls. 1 Cit. Who is it, that hath warn'd us to the walls? K. Phil. 'Tis France, for England. K. John. England, for itself: You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects, K. Phil. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects, Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle. K. John. For our advantage ;-Therefore, hear us first. -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, [7] i. e. gates hastily closed from an apprehension of danger. MALONE. B VOL. V. And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire, And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits, K. Phil. When I have said, make answer to us. And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys : In warlike march these greens before your town; Than the constraint of hospitable zeal, 1 Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects, [8] i. e. oms it. See our author and his contemporaries, passin. STEEVENS. [9] Roundure means the same as tire Fr. rondeur, i. e. the circle. STEEVENS. For him, and in his right, we hold this town. K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in. 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,- 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, 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! The same. SCENE II. [Exeunt. Alarums and Excursions: then a retreat. Enter a 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, |