KING JOHN.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

KING JOHN.

345

Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, | Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
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?

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.

Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulcon-
bridge.

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
K. John. A good blunt fellow :-Why, being

land!

younger born,

Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?
But once he slander'd me with bastardy:
Best. I know not why, except to get the land.
But whe'r I be as true-bégot, or no,
That still I lay upon my mother's head;
But, that I am as well begot, my liege,

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
Who, as you say, took pains to get this son,
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother
Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
In sooth, good friend, your father might have
kept
[world;
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the
In sooth, he might: then, if he were my bro-
ther's,
[father,
Being none of his, refuse him: This con-
My brother might not claim him; nor your
cludes,-

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;

Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!) And if my legs were two such riding-rods,

Compare

If old Sir Robert did beget us both,
our faces, and be judge yourself.
And were our father, and this son like him;
O old Sir Robert, father, on my
I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.
K.

lent us here!

knee

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,

And finds them perfect Richard.Sirrah, [speak, What doth move you to claim your brother's

land?

Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my

father;
With that half-face would he have all my land:
A half-faced groat five hundred pounds 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,
And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak:
But truth is truth; large lengths of seas and

shores

(As I have heard my father speak himself,)
Between my father and my mother lay,
When this same lusty gentleman was got.

. Whether.

+ Trace, outline.

My arms such eel-skins stuff'd; my face sa thin,

Lest men should say, Look, where three-farThat in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, things goes!

And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,

I would not be Sir Nobt in any case.
'Would I might never stir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face;

Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy
fortune,

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
your face hath got five hundred pounds a
my chance:
[year;
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Yet sell your face for fivepence, and 'tis dear.-

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me
thither.

Bast. Our country manners give our betters
way.

K. John. What is thy name?

Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;

K. John. From henceforth bear his name
Kneel thou down Philip, but arise more great:
whose form thou bear'st:
Arise Sir Richard and Plantagenet.

Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me
My father gave me honour, yours gave land:-
your hand;
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?
*Dignity of appearance.

U u

+ Robert.

346

KING

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
['squire.
thy desire,
A landless knight makes, thee a landed
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must
[need.
speed
For France, for France; for it is more than
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 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, and too sociable,
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 dear Sir,
My picked man of countries :-
(Thus leaning on mine 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, Sir:-
No, Sir, says question, 1, 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,
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 hus-

band,

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?

Ludy 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 unre-
[Robert?
verend boy,
Sir Robert's son: Why scorn'st thou at Sir
He is Sir Robert's son; and so art thou.

Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave

a while?

Gur. Good leave, good Philip.

* Good evening.

Change of condition.
Catechism.

+ Respectable.
My travelled fop.

JOHN.

Bast. Philip?-sparrow!-James,
There's toy's abroad; 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
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:+

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, mo-

ther?

Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?

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:

Need 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.

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.

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 wi-
dow'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:t
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.

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,
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 ex-
pedition!

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 líneal 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

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 has 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;~
These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of
This little abstract doth contain that large,
Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this briefs into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,

his:

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

MACBETH.

Heaven pre

[Exit MESSENGER.
L. Macd. Whither should I fly?
I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthy world; where, to do harm,
Is often laudable: to do good, sometime,
Accounted dangerous folly: Why then, alas!
Do I put up that womanly defence,
To say I have done no harm?-
these faces?

Enter MURDerers.

Mur. Where is your husband?

-What are

L. Macd. I hope, in no place so unsanctified,
Where such as thou may'st find him.

Mur. He's a traitor.

Son. Thou ly'st, thou shag-ear'd villain.
Mur. What, you egg?

Young fry of treachery?

[Stabbing him.

Son. He has killed me, mother;
Run away, I pray you.

[Dies.
[Exit Lady MACDUFF, crying murder,
and pursued by the MURDERERS.

SCENE III-England.-A Room in the
King's Palace.

Enter MALCOLM and MACDUFf.

Mal. Let us seek out some desolate shade,
and there

Weep our sad bosoms empty.
Macd. Let us rather
Hold fast the mortal sword; and,
Bestride our downfall'n birthdom:

morn,

Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country!
Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure,
For goodness dares not check thee! wear thou
thy wrongs,
Thy title is affeerd!*-Fare thee well, lord:
I would not be the villain that thou think'st
For the whole space that's in the tyrant's
[grasp,
And the rich east to boot.

Mal. Be not offended:

I speak not as in an absolute fear of you.
I think, our country sinks beneath the yoke;
It weeps, it bleeds; and each new day a gash
Is added to her wounds: I think, withal,
There would be hands uplifted in my right;
And here, from gracious England, have I offer
Of goodly thousands: But, for all this,
When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head,
Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country
Shall have more vices than it had before;
More suffer, and more sundry ways than ever,
By him that shall succeed.

Macd. What should he be?

Mal. It is myself I mean: in whom I know
All the particulars of vice so grafted, [beth
That, when they shall be open'd, black Mac-
Will seem as pure as snow; and the
Esteem him as a lamb, being compar'd
With my confineless harms.

Macd. Not in the legions

poor state

Of horrid hell, can come a devil more damn'd
In evils, to top Macbeth.

Mal. I grant him bloody,

Luxurious,t avaricious, false, deceitful, [men, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin like good That has a name: But there's no bottom, none, [up Each new In my voluptuousness: your wives, your [sorrows daughters, New widows' howl; new orphans cry; new Your matrons, and your maids, could not fill The cistern of my lust; and my desire All continent impediments would o'er-bear, That did oppose my will: Better Macbeth, Than such a one to reign.

Strike heaven on the face, that it resounds
As if it felt with Scotland, and yell'd out
Like syllable of dolour.

tongues,

Mal. What I believe, I'll wail
What know, believe; and, what I can redress,
As I shall find the time to friend, I will.
What you have spoke, it may be so, perchance,
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our
[well;
Was once thought honest: you have lov'd him
He hath not touch'd you yet. I am young;
[dom
but something
You may deserve of him through me; and wis-
To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb,
To appease an angry god.

Macd. I am not treacherous.
Mal. But Macbeth is.

A good and virtuous nature may recoil, [don;
In an imperial charge. But crave your par-
That which you are, my thoughts cannot trans-
[fell:
Angels are bright still, though the brightest
Though all things foul would wear the brows

pose:

of grace,
Yet grace must still look so.
Macd. I have lost my hopes.

Mal. Perchance, even there, where I did
find my doubts.

Macd. Boundless intemperance
In nature is a tyranny; it hath been
The untimely emptying of the happy throne,
And fall of many kings. But fear not yet
To take upon you what is yours: you may
Convey your pleasures in a spacious plenty,
[be
And yet seem cold, the time you may so hood-

wink.

We have willing dames enough; there cannot
That vulture in you, to devour so many.
As will to greatness dedicate themselves,
Finding it so inclin'd.

Mal. With this, there grows,
In my most ill-compos'd affection, such
A stanchless avarice, that, were I king,
I should cut off the nobles for their lands;
Desire his jewels, and this other's house:
And my more-having would be as a sauce
To make me hunger more; that I should

forge

Quarrels unjust against the good, and loyal, [root Destroying them for wealth. Macd. This avarice Sticks deeper; grows with more pernicious (Those precious motives, those strong knots of The sword of our slain kings: Yet do not fear; Why in that rawness left you wife, and child, Than summer-seeding lust: and it hath been