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 did'st 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 II.

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 fore-runner 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, To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf; And to rebuke the usurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither. Arth. God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion's death,

• At our importance-] At our importunity.

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?

Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealeus 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 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

Against the brows of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages:7-
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,

"To cull the plots of best advantages:] i. e. to mark such sta tions as might over-awe the town.

VOL. V.

C

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 Até, stirring him to blood and strife;
With her 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 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,

expedient-] Immediate, expeditious.

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 expedi-
tion!

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
heaven.

K. Phi. Peace be to England; if that war re

turn

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-wrought' his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,

Outfaced infant state, and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face ;

scath] Destruction, harm.

under-wrought] i. e. underworked, undermined.

These mes, these brows, were moulded out of his :
This little abstract ioth contain at large.
Which died in Geffer; and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into is huge a clume.
That Geffrey was hy eider bromer bom,
And this his son: England was Geffrer's right,
And this is Geffrer's: In the name of God,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood foth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'er-masterest?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great com-
mission, France,

To draw my answer from the articles?

K. Phi. From that supermal 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 may'st 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,

scription.

this brief-] A brief is a short writing, abstract, or de