Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch:
Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night;
And have his have, however men do catch;
Near or far off, well won is still well shot;
And I, am I, how'er I was begot.
K John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou
thy desire,
['squire.
A landless knight makes thee a landed
Come madam, and come, Richard; we must
speed
[need.
For France, for France; for it is more than
Bast. Brother adieu; Good fortune come to
For thou wast got i'the of way 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, Sir Richard,—God-a-mercy, fel-
low;
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter:
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
'Tis too respective,t and too sociable,
For your conversion. Now your traveller,
fle 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 :——My dear Sir,
(Thus leaning on my elbows, 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, Dir:
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 Appenines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws toward supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
Bast. Philip-sparrow!-James,
There's toy's abroad;" anon I'll tell the more.
[Exit. GURNEY.
Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son:
Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
Upon Good-friday, and ne'er broke his fast:
Sir Robert could do well; Marry, (to confess!)
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it;
We know his handy-work :-Therefore, good
mother,
To whom am I beholden for these limbs ?
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.
Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother
too,
[honour?
That for thine own gain should'st defend mine
What means this scorn, thou most untoward
knave?
Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,-Basi-
liscolike :t
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 his gone:
Then, good my mother let me know my father;
Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mo-
ther?
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faul-
conbridge?
Bast. As faithful as I deny the devil.
Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was
By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed :--
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence.
Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
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:
Need must you lay your heart at his dispose,--
Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
Against whose furry and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's
He that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but say, thou didst not
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the tine,
That doth not smack of observation;
(And so am I, whether I smack, or no;
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 hus-When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin;
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.
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
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 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 crops from other lands her islanders, Even till that England, hedg'd 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,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
Const. O, take his mother's thank's, a wi-
dow's thank's,
[strength,
Till your strong hand shall help to give him
To make a more requital to your love.
Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that left
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With 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 dragon's 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 dauntlass spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft oe'r,
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath* in Christendom.
The interruption of their churlish drums.
[Drums beat.
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,
To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.
K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence; For courage mounteth 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
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 here we sweat:
This toil of ours should be a work of thine:
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast under-wroughtt his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,
Outfaced infant state, and done a rape
Upon the maided virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face :-
eyes, these brows, were moulded out of
his:
Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time
This little abstract doth contain that large,
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,
And this his son; England was Geffrey's right,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France,
To draw my answer from thy articles? K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stir good thoughts
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?
Const. Let me make answer :-thy usurping
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: being as like,
As rain to water, or devil to his dam.
My boy a bastard! By my soul, 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.
Const. 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,
An 'a may catch your hide and you alone.
You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard;
I'll smoke 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
That did disrobe the lion of that robe! [robe,
Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' shews 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
With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.
Lew. Women and fools, break off your con-
ference.-
King John, this is the very sum of all,-
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.
Eli. 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.
Arth. Good my mother, peace!
I would, that I were low laid in my grave;
I am not worth this coilt that's made for me.
Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he
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Being but the second generation
Removed from thy sin-covering womb.
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, plague'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.
Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will:
A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will!
K. Phi. Peace, lady; pause, or be more tem-
perate:
It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim*
To this 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 warned us to the
walls?
K. Phi. 'Tis France, for England.
K. John. England, for itself:
You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,-
K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's
subjects,
Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.t
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
That as a waist do gridle you about, [stones,
By the compulsion of their ordnance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havoc 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
checks,-
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,
To make a faithless error in your ears:
Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.
K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to
us both.
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet ;
Son to the elder brother of this man,
And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys:
For this down-troden equity, we tread
In warlike march these greens before your
Being no further enemy to you,
[town;
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,
† Conference.
In the relief of this oppressed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
To pay that duty, which you truly owe,
To him that owes it; namely, this young
prince :
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspect, have all offence seal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And, with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
With unhack'd swords, and helmets all un-
bruis'd,
We will bear home that lusty blood again,
Which here we came to spout against your
[peace.
And leave your children, wives, and you, in
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the rounduret of your old-fac'd'walls
Can hide you from our messengers of war;
Though all these English, and their discipline,
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then, tell us, shall your city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challeng'd it?
Or shall we give the signal to our rage,
And stalk in blood to our possession?
1 Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects;
For him, and in his right, we hold this town, K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and
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. Deth 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. Phi. As many, and as well-born bloods as those,
Bast. Some bastards too.
K. Phi. Stand in his face, to contradict his claim.
1 Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest. [both. We, for the worth est, hold the right from 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 dreadfui trial of our kingdom's king!
K. Phi. Amen, Amen!-Mount, chevaliers!
to arms!
Bast. St. George, that swing'd the dragon,
Alarums and Excursions; then a R treat. Enter a French HERALD, with trumpets to the gates.
F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide
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 mo-
[ther,
Whose sons lie scatter'd on the bleeding
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,
ground:
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
Arthur of Bretagne, Eugland's king,and yours.
To enter conquerors, an to proclaim
Enter an English HERALD, with trumpets. E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells; [approach, King John, your king and England's, doth Commander of this hot malicious day! Their armours, that march'd hence so silver
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,
Died in the dying slaughter of their foes:
Open your gates, and give the victors way.
Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might
behold,
From first to last, the onest and retire
Of both your armies; whose equality
By our best eyes cannot be censured:*
Blood hath brought blood, and blows have an-
swer'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
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
Say, shall the current of our right run on?
to cast away?
Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel, and o'er-swell
Unless thou let his silver water keep [shores;
With course disturb'd even thy confining
A peaceful progress in the ocean.
K. Phi. 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,
Gracing the scroll, that tells of this war's loss,
Or add a royal number of the dead;
With slaughter coupled to the name of Kings.
Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire!
O, now 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 difference of kings.-
Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry, havoc, kings! back to the stained field,
You equal potents,* firey-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. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?
1 Cit. The king of England, when we know the king.
K. Phi. 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
And, till it be undoubted, we do lock [this;
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 dispos'd.
Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers
flout you, kings;
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 mutinest of Jerusalem,
Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend
Your sharpest deeds of malace on this town;
By east and west let France and England
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 till 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, migty states?
Smacks it not something of the policy?
K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above
our heads,
[powers,
I like it well;-France, shall we knit our
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 Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery, [town,As we will ours, against these saucy walls: And when that we have dash'd them to the
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Bast. O prudent discipline! From north to south; [mouth: Austria and France shoot in each other's
I'll stir them to it :-Come, away, away!
1 Cut. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe a
while to stay,
[league;
And I shall show you peace, and fair-faced
Win you this city without stroke, or wound;
Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come sacrifices for the field:
Persevere 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 fullness of perfection lies in him.
O, two such silver currants, when they join,
Do glorify the banks that bound them in:
And two such shores to two such streams
made one,
[kings,
Two such controlling bounds shall you be,
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 spleent 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.
That shakes the rotton carcass of old death Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed, That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks,
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