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 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-faced shore, Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides, And coops from other lands her islanders,Even till that England, hedged 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. 1 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. Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy, 1 i. e. greater. 2 To mark the best stations to overawe the town. Enter CHATILLON. K. Phi. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, What England says, say briefly, gentle lord Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege, England, impatient of your just demands, To do offence and scath in Christendom. The interruption of their churlish drums [Drums beat. K. Phi. How much unlooked for is this expedition! Let them be welcome then; we are prepared. 1 Immediate, expeditious, www 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! Their proud contempt that beat his peace to heaven. Outfaced infant state, and done a rape Upon the maiden virtue of the crown. Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face,- 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- 1 Undermined. 2 A short writing, abstract, or description. Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong; K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority. Than thou and John in manners; being as like, It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.2 Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father. Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee. 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.3 You are the hare of whom the proverb goes, Whose valor plucks dead lions by the beard;" 4 1 "Surely (says Holinshed) Queen Eleanor, the king's mother, was sore against her nephew Arthur, rather moved thereto by envye conceyved against his mother, than upon any just occasion, given in behalfe of the childe for that she saw, if he were king, how his mother Constance would looke to beare the most rule within the realme of Englande till her son should come of lawful age to governe of himselfe. So hard a thing it is to bring women to agree in one minde, their natures commonly being so contrary." 2 Constance alludes to Elir r's infidelity to her husband, Louis the VIIth, when they were in the Holy Land; on account of which he was divorced from her. She afterwards, in 1151, married Henry II. of England. 3 Austria, who had imprisoned king Richard Coeur-de-lion, wore, as the spoil of that prince, a lion's hide, which had belonged to him. This was the ground of the Bastard's quarrel. 4 The proverb alluded to is "Mortuo leoni et lepores insultant."-Erasmi Adagia. I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right. 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, 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. Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference.— King John, this is the very sum of all, England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, 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 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 2 that's made for me. Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps. Const. Now shame upon you, whe'r she does or no! His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames, Draw those Heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, 1 Theobald thought that we should read Alcides shows; but Malone has shown that the shoes of Hercules were very frequently introduced in the old comedies on much the same occasions. Theobald supposed that the shoes must be placed on the back of the ass, instead of upon his hoofs, and therefore proposed his alteration. 3 Whether. 2 Bustle. |