Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy for

tune,

Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?

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.
Bast. Our country manners give our betters

way.

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.3

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 would not be sir Nob -] Sir Nob is used contemptuously for Sir Robert.

3 Arise sir Richard, and Plantagenet.] It is a common opinion, that Plantagenet was the surname of the royal house of England, from the time of King Henry II. but it is, as Camden observes, in his Remaines, 1614, a popular mistake. Plantagenet was not a family name, but a nick-name, by which a grandson of Geffrey, the first Earl of Anjou, was distinguished, from his wearing a broom-stalk in his bonnet. But this name was never borne either by the first Earl of Anjou, or by King Henry II. the son of that Earl by the Empress Maude; he being always called Henry Fitz-Empress; his son, Richard Caur-de-lion; and the prince who is exhibited in the play before us, John sans-terre, or lack-land. MALONE.

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

thee!

For thou wast got i'the way of honesty.

[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,

* Something about, a little from the right, &c.] This speech, composed of allusive and proverbial sentences, is obscure. I am, says the sprightly knight, your grandson, a little irregularly, but every man cannot get what he wishes the legal way. He that dares not go about his designs by day, must make his motions in the night; he, to whom the door is shut, must climb the window, or leap the hatch. This, however, shall not depress me; for the world never enquires how any man got what he is known to possess, but allows that to have is to have, however it was caught, and that he who wins, shot well, whatever was his skill, whether the arrow fell near the mark, or far off it. JOHNSON.

Good den,] i. e. a good evening.

For your conversion. Now your traveller,-
He 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 elbow, 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, 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 toward 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?

6 'Tis too respective, and too sociable,

For your conversion.] Respective, is respectful, formal. Conversion seems to mean, his late change of condition from a private gentleman to a knight. STEEVENS.

7 My picked man of countries:] i. e. my travelled fop.

8

like an ABC-book:] An ABC-book, or, as they spoke and wrote it, an absey-book, is a catechism.

"For he is but a bastard to the time, &c.] He is accounted but a mean man in the present age.

What woman-post is this? hath she no husband,
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 son?
Colbrand' the giant, that same mighty man?
Is it sir Robert's son, that you seek so?

Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend boy,

Sir Robert's son: Why scorn'st thou at sir Robert ? He is sir Robert's son; and so art thou.

Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a while?

Gur. Good leave,

Bast.

There's toys abroad;

4

good Philip.

Philip?-sparrow !3-James, anon I'll tell thee 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 mo

ther,

To whom am I beholden for these limbs?
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.

Colbrand-] Colbrand was a Danish giant, whom Guy of Warwick discomfited in the presence of King Athelstan.

2 Good leave, &c.] Good leave means a ready assent.
Philip?-sparrow!] A sparrow is called Philip.
+ There's toys abroad; &c.] i. e. rumours, idle reports.

Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother

too,

That for thine own gain should'st defend mine ho

nour?

What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave? Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco

like:'

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 awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.

Knight, knight, good mother,-Basilisco-like:] Faulconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of satire on a stupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perseda. In this piece there is a character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Basilisco.