Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

And that I'll spend for him.
Siw.
He's worth no more;
They say, he parted well, and paid his score:
So, God be with him!-Here comes newer
comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's Head on a Pole.
Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold,
where stands

The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:
I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!
All.

Before we reckon with your several loves,
And make us even with you. My thanes and
kinsmen,

Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiendlike queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life:-This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
time,

King of Scotland, hail!
[Flourish.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

KING JOHN.

King John.

Persons Represented.

PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards King Henry

III.

ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, late
Duke of Bretagne, the elder Brother of King
John.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.
GEFFRY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, chief Jus-
ticiary of England.

WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury.
ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.

HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King.
ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert

Faulconbridge:

PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, Bastard
Son to King Richard the First.

JAMES GURNEY, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge.|
PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet.

PHILIP, King of France.
LEWIS, the Dauphin.
ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA.

CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's Legate.
Melun, a French Lord.

CHATILLON, Ambassador from France to King
John.

ELINOR, the Widow of King Henry II. and Mo-
ther of King John.

CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur.

BLANCH, Daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile,
and Niece to King John.

LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, Mother to the Bastard and
Robert Faulconbridge.

Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, He-
ralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other
Attendants.

SCENE,-sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.

Act First.

SCENE I. Northampton.

A Room of State in the Palace.
Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE,
ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others with CHATILLON.
K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would
France with us?

Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of
In my behaviour to the majesty, [France,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty!
K. John. Silence, good mother: hear the em-
bassy.

Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,
Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim
To this fair island, and the territories;
To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine:
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword,
Which sways usurpingly these several titles;
And put the same into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew, and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this?
Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody
war,

To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood
for blood,

Controlment for controlment: so answer France.
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my
The furthest limit of my embassy. [mouth,
K. John, Bear mine to him, and so depart in

peace:

Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage of your own decay.-
An honourable conduct let him have:
Pembroke, look to't; Farewell, Chatillon.

[Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE.
Eli. What now, my son? have I not ever said,
How that ambitious Constance would not cease,
Till she had kindled France and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son?
This might have been prevented and made
With very easy arguments of love! [whole.
Which now the manage of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.
K. John. Our strong possession, and our right,
[your right;
Eli. Your strong possession, much more than

for us.

Or else it must go wrong with you, and me:
So much my conscience whispers in your ear;
Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall
hear.

Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whis-
pers ESSEX.

Essex. My liege, here is the strangest contro-
versy,

Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach.--[Exit Sheriff.
Our abbies, and our priories shall pay
Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE,
and PHILIP, his bastard Brother.

This expedition's charge.-What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. John. What art thou?
[bridge.
Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulcon-
K.John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it seems.

Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king,
That is well known; and, as I think, one father:
But, for the certain knowledge of that truth,
I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother;
Of that I doubt, as all men's children may
Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame
thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.
Bast. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it;
That is my brother's plea, and none of mine;
The which if he can prove, 'a pops me out
At least from fair five hundred pound a year;
Heaven guard my mother's honour, and my
land!
[younger born,
K. John. A good blunt fellow :-Why, being
Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

Bast. I know not why, except to get the land.
But once he slander'd me with bastardy;
But whe'r I be as true begot, or no,
That still I lay upon my mother's head;
But, that I am as well begot, my liege,
(Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!)
Compare our faces, and be judge yourself.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,

And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak:
But truth istruth; large lengths of seasandshores
Between my father and my mother lay
(As I have heard my father speak himself),
When this same lusty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
His lands to me; and took it, on his death,
That this my mother's son was none of his;
And, if he were, he came into the world
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.

K.John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:
And, if she did play false, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother
Who, as you say, took pains to get this son,
Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
In sooth,good friend, your father might have kept
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world;
In sooth, he might: then, if he were my brother's,
My brother might not claim him: nor yourfather,
Being none of his, refuse him: This concludes,
My mother's son did get your father's heir;
Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force,
To dispossess that child which is not his?
Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.
Eli. Whether hadst thou rather, be a Faul-
conbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;
Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence, and no land beside?

Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him:
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,
My arms such eel-skins stuff 'd; my face so thin
That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,
Lest men should say, Look, where three far-
things goes!

And to his shape, were heir to all this land,
'Would, I might never stir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face;
I would not be sir Nob in any case.
Eli. I like thee well; wilt thou forsake thy
fortune,

And were our father, and this son like him!-Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me;

O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee. K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here!

Eli. He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face,
The accent of his tongue affecteth him:
Do you not read some tokens of my son
In the large composition of this man?
K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his
parts,
[speak,
And finds them perfect Richard.-Sirrah,
What doth move you to claim your brother's
land?
[father;
Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my
With that half face would he have all my land:
A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year!
Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father
liv'd,

Your brother did employ my father much;—
Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land;
Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once despatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there with the emperor,
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
The advantage of his absence took the king,

I am a soldier, and now bound to France.
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my

chance:

Your face hath got five hundred pounds a year;
Yet sell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear.-
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me
thither.
[way.
Bast. Our country manners give our betters
K. John. What is thy name?

Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
K.John. From henceforth bear his name whose

form thou bear'st:

Kneel thou down, Philip, but arise more great:
Arise Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.

Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me

your hand;

My father gave me honour, yours gave land:
Now blessed be the hour by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.

Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!

I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so.
Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
What though?

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 is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is still well shot; And I am I, howe'er I was begot.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire,

A landless knight makes thee a landed squire.
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must
speed

For France, for France; for it is more than need.
Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to
For thou wast got i' the way of honesty. [thee,
[Exeunt all but the Bastard.
A foot of honour better than I was;
But many a many foot of land the worse.
Well, now can I make any Joan a lady :-
Good den, Sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fellow ;—
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter:
For new made honour doth forget men's names;
'Tis too respective, and too sociable,

For your conversion. Now your traveller,-
He and his toothpick 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 elbow, I begin),
I shall beseech you-That is question now;
And then comes answer like an A B C-book ;-
O sir, says answer, at your best command;
At your employment; at your service, sir :-
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 Apennines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po),

It draws towards supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
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 husband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before

her?

Enter LADY FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMESGURNEY.
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,

rend boy,

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,

co-like;

To whom am I beholden for these limbs?
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. [too,
Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother
That for thine own gain should'st defend mine
honour?
[knave?
What means this scorn, thou most untoward
Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilis-
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 is gone;
Then, good my mother, let me know my father;
Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother?
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulcon-
bridge?

Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy
father;

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:
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. Ay, 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;

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.

Act Second.

SCENE I. France. Before the walls of Angiers
Enter, on one side, the Archduke of Austria, and
Forces; on the other, PHILIP, King of France,
and Forces; LEWIS, CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, 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, That holds in chase mine honour up and down? And fought the holy wars in Palestine, Bast. My brother Robert? old Sir Robert's son? By this brave duke came early to his grave: Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man? And, for amends to his posterity, Is it Sir Robert's son, that you seek so? At our importance, hither is he come, Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreve-To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf; [bert? And to rebuke the usurpation Sir Robert's son! Why scorn'st thou at Sir Ro-Of thy unnatural uncle, English John: He is Sir Robert's son; and so art thou. Embrace him, love him, give him welcome Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave hither. [death, Gur. Good leave, good Philip. [awhile? Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's Philip?-sparrow!-James, The rather, that you give his offspring life, There's toys abroad; anon I'll tell thee more. Shadowing their right under your wings of war: [Exit GURNEY. I give you welcome with a powerless hand, But with a heart full of unstained love: Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

Bast.

Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son;
Sir Robert might have eat his part in me

Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Bastard, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

right?

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-fac'd shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops 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 thanks, a widow's
thanks,

Till your strong hand shall help to give him
strength,

To make a more requittal to your love.

[ocr errors]

K.John. Peace be to France; if France in

peace permit

Our just and lineal entrance to our own! [ven!
If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to hea-
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to
heaven.

K. Phi. 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 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 underwrought his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,
Qutfaced infant state, and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face:

Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his:

their swords

In such a just and charitable war.

K. Phi. Well then, to work; our cannon shall

be bent

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 unadvis'd 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 arriv'd.-
What England says, say briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak."
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 staid, have given him time
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 deceased:
And all the unsettled humours 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 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 expe-
dition!

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.

This little abstract doth contain that large,
Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his son; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,
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 stirs
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

son.

Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king; That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world!

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.
[would blot thee.
Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that
Aust. Peace!
Bast.
Aust.

Hear the crier.

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 robe,
That did disrobe the lion of that robe!

Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' shoes 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

our ears

With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight. [ference.

Lew. Women and fools, break off your conKing 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 coil that's made for me. Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps. for no! Const. Now shame upon you, whe'r she does His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames, [eyes, Draw those ever moving pearls from his poor Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee; Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be To do him justice and revenge on you. [brib'd Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth! [earth! Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and Call not me slanderer thou and thine, usurp The dominations, royalties, and rights, Of this oppressed boy: This is thy eldest son's Infortunate in nothing but in thee; [son, Thy sins are visited in this poor child; The canon of the law is laid on him, Being but the second generation Removed from thy sin-conceiving 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, plagu'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. [will;
Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked
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 these 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 warn'd us to the
K. Phi. 'Tis France, for England. [walls?
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.
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 canons 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 stones,
That as a waist do girdle you about,
By the compulsion of their ordnance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havock 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
cheeks,-

Behold, the French. amazed; 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
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection [both.
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 trodden equity, we tread
In warlike march these greens before your town,
Being no further enemy to you,
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,
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 town,
And leave your children, wives, and you, in
peace.

But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the roundure 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 let

me in.

[king,

1 Cit. That can we not: but he that proves the 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,

« ÎnapoiContinuă »