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'er-masterest ?
K. John. From whom haft thou this great commiffion,
France,

To draw my answer from thy articles?

K. Phil. From that fupernal judge, that stirs good thoughts

In any breast of ftrong 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 whofe help, I mean to chastise it.

K John. Alack, thou doft ufurp authority.
K. Phil. Excufe it; 'tis to beat ufurping down.
Eli. Who is it, thou doft call ufurper, France ?
Conft. Let me make answer;-thy ufurping fon.
Eli. Out, infolent! thy bastard shall be king;
That thou may'st be a queen, and check the world!
Conft. My bed was ever to thy fon 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 foul, 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. Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot

thee.

Auft. Peace!

Faulc, Hear the crier,

Auft. What the devil art thou?

Pope have a juft claim to.

Faulc.

Faulc. One that will play the devil, fir, with
An a' may catch your hide and you alone.
You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,
Whofe valour plucks dead lions by the beard;
I'll fmoak your skin-coat, an I catch you right;
Sirrah, look to't, i'faith, I will, i'faith.

you,

Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe, That did difrobe the lion of that robe!

Faulc. It lies as fightly on the back of him, As great Alcides' fhoes upon an ass :But, afs, I'll take that burden from your back; Or lay on that, shall make your fhoulders crack. Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our ears With this abundance of fuperfluous breath?

K. Phil. Lewis, determine what we fhall do ftrait. Lewis. Women, and fools, break off your conference.→ King John, this is the very fum of all,

England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur do I claim of thee:

Wilt thou refign them, and lay down thy arms?

K. John. My life as foon:-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.

Conft. 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!

9 upon an ass:]-upon the hoofs of an afshetos upon an afs—As the robes of Hercules would fhewalluding to the fable of the Afs in the Lion's fkin.

I would,

I would, that I were low laid in my grave;

I am not worth this 'coil, that's made for me.

Eli. His mother fhames him fo, poor boy, he weeps. Conft. Now fhame upon you, whe'r fhe does, or no! His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's fhames, Draw thofe heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven fhall take in nature of a fee;

Ay, with these cryftal beads heaven shall be brib'd
To do him juftice, and revenge on you.

Eli. Thou monftrous flanderer of heaven and earth!
Conft. Thou monftrous injurer of heaven and earth!
Call not me flanderer; thou, and thine, ufurp
The dominations, royalties, and rights,

Of this oppreffed boy: This is thy eldest fon's fon,
Infortunate in nothing but in thee;

Thy fins are vifited in this poor child,
The canon of the law is laid on him,
Being but the second generation
Removed from thy fin-conceiving womb.
K. John. Beldam, have done.

t

Conft. I have but this to fay,

That he's not only plagued for her fin,

But God hath made her fin and her the plague

On this removed iffue, plagu'd for her,

That be's not only plagu'd for her fin,]-The obfcurity of this speech arifes from the ambiguous ufe of the term Sin, which stands, fometimes, for crime, and, at other, for offspring, Conftance obferves, that be (king John) is not only plagued (with the prefent war) for his mother's fin, but God bath made her fin and her, the plague also on this removed ifjue (Arthur) plagu'd for ber, and with. ber plagu'd; on her account, and by means of her finful offspring-ber fin, bis injury; } whofe injury (the ufurpation of Arthur's rights) may be confidered as the injury of her fin-conceiving womb;-her injury, the beadle to her fin; her injuftice may alfo be confidered as the officer of correction employed by her crimes, to inflict all these punishments, both on herfelf and us; centring indeed in the troubles of Arthur, but extending in their confequence to all parties.

And

And with her plagu'd; her fin, his injury ;
Her injury, the beadle to her fin;
All punish'd in the perfon 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 fon.

Conft. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will ? A woman's will; a cankred grandam's will!

K. Phil. Peace, lady; paufe, or be more temperate › It ill befeems this prefence, " to cry aim

To these ill-tuned repetitions.

Some trumpet fummon hither to the walls

These men of Angiers; let us hear them speak,
Whose title they admit, Arthur's, or John's.

[Trumpets found.

Enter Citizens upon the walls.

1 Cit. Who is it, that hath warn'd us to the walls? K. Phil. 'Tis France, for England.

K. John. England, for itself:

You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,—

K. Phil. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's fubjects, 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 profpect 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:

to cry aim]-to give a fanction.

MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Vol. I. p. 213. Ford.

▾ For our advantage ;]—(as I trust.)

All

All preparation for a bloody fiege,

W

And merciless proceeding by thefe French,
Confronts 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 compulfion of their ordinance
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 fight of us, your lawful king,-
Who, painfully, with much expedient march,
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To fave unfcratch'd your city's threaten'd cheeks,
Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchsafe a parle :
And now, instead of bullets wrap'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shoot but calm words, folded up in fi.oke,
To make a faithlefs error in your ears:
Which truft accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits,
'Fore-weary'd in, this action of fwift fpeed,

Crave harbourage within your city walls.

K. Pbil. When I have said, make answer to us both.
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
Is moft divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, ftands 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 thefe greens before your town;
Being no further enemy to you,

winking gates;]-that fear, or are averfe to opening; in the ftate of an eye, that dreads annoyance.

* a countercbeck]-preventive, obftruction.

! Fore-weary'd]-over-fatigued, quite spent.

Than