Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again,

Madam, I would not wish a better father. 260
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,
Subjected 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. Aye, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but say thou didst not
well
When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin;

271

And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin:

Who says it was, he lies; I say 'twas not.
[Exeunt.

268. "Robs lions of their hearts"; Rastell's Chronicle yields a good explanation of this: "It is sayd that a lyon was put to Kynge Richarde, beynge in prison, to have devoured him, and when the lyon was gapynge, he put his arm in his mouthe, and pulled the lyon by the harte so hard, that he slew the lyon, and therefore some say he is called Rycharde Cure de Lyon; but some say he is called Cure de Lyon, because of his boldnesse and hardy stomake." See, also, Percy's Reliques, introductory Essay on the Ancient Metrical Romances.-H. N. H.

ACT SECOND

SCENE I

France. Before Angiers.

Enter Austria and forces, drums, etc., on one side: on the other King Philip of France and his power; Lewis, Arthur, Constance and attendants.

Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.
Arthur, that great forerunner 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 hither is he come,

2. "that great forerunner of thy blood"; Shakespeare, by some oversight, here makes Arthur directly descended from Richard.I. G.

5. "by this brave duke," so the old play. Richard was, however, slain by an arrow at the siege of Chaluz, some years after the Duke's death.-I. G.

Richard I fell by the hand of one of his own vassals, the Viscount of Lymoges. Shakespeare followed the old play in making Lymoges and Austria the same person. Thus in Act iii. Constance says to the Archduke,-"O, Lymoges! O, Austria! thou dost shame that bloody spoil.' And in the old play: "The bastard chaseth Lymoges the Austrich duke, and maketh him leave the lyon's skin." In point of fact, Leopold, the duke of Austria, who imprisoned Richard I, died by a fall from his horse in 1195, four years before John came to the throne.-H. N. H.

To spread his colors, boy, in thy behalf,
And to rebuke the usurpation

10

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John: Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.

Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death The rather that you give his offspring life, 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?

20

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-faced shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring
tides

And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedged in with the
main,

That 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, 30
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

27. "secure and confident from foreign purposes," fearless of invasion.-C. H. H.

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.

K. Phi. Well, then, to work: our cannon shall be bent

40

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 unadvised 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.

Enter Chatillon.

K. Phi. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish,
Our messenger Chatillon is arrived!

What England says, say briefly, gentle lord;
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.

50

40. "Best advantages"; that is, to select the most advantageous places.-H. N. H.

Chat. 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 stay'd, have given him time

60

To land his legions all as soon as I;
His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife;
With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king's deceased;
And all the unsettled humors 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 offense and scath in Christendom.

71

[Drum beats.

60. Shakespeare uses "expedient" in the classical sense of expeditious; literally free-footed. From expedire, to hasten.-H. N. H. 63. "Ate"; the Goddess of Discord.-H. N. H.

64. “her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain,” i. e. her granddaughter; Blanch was the daughter of John's sister Eleanor and Alphonso VIII King of Castile.-I. G.

65. "of the king's deceased," i. e. "of the deceased king"; Folios 2, 3, 4, "king"; but Folio 1, "kings”—“king's” is idiomatically correct.— I. G.

73. "Waft" for wafted.-H. N. H.