To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John.

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God fhall forgive your Coeur-de-lion's death,
The rather that you give his offspring life;
Shadowing their right under your wings of war.
1 give you welcome with a pow'rless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, Duke.
Lewis. A noble boy! who would not do thee right?
Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs,
As feal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,
Till Angiers and the right thou haft in France,
Together with that pale, that white-face'd shore,
Whofe foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her iflanders;
Ev'n till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, ftill fecure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Ev'n till that utmost corner of the weft,
Salute thee for her King. Till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

Conft. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, Till your ftrong hand shall help to give him strength, To make a more requital to your love.

Auft. The peace of Heav'n is theirs who lift their
In fuch a juft and charitable war.
[fwords
K. Phil. Well then, to work; our engines fhall be

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

[bent

Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it fubject to this boy.

Conft. Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Left unadvis'd you ftain your fwords with blood.
My Lord Chatilion 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 hafte fo indirectly fhed.

Enter

Enter Chatilion.

K. Phil. A wonder, Lady lo, upon thy wish
Our meffenger Chatilion is arriv'd,

What England fays, fay briefly, gentle Lord;
We coldly paufe for thee. Chatilion, speak.

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paultry fiege,
And ftir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whofe leifure I have staid, have giv'n him time
To land his legions all as foon as I.

His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother Queen;
An Até, ftirring him to blood and ftrife.
With her, her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the King deceas'd,
And all th' unfettled humours of the land;
Rafh, inconfid'rate, fiery voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' fpleens,
Have fold 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 fwelling tide,

To do offence and fcathe in Chriftendom.

The interruption of their churlifh drums [Drums beat. Cuts off more circumftance; they are at hand.

To parly, or to fight, therefore prepare.

K. Phil. How much unlook'd for is this expedition! Auft. By how much unexpected, by fo much We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounteth with occafion :

Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd.

SCENE

Enter King of England, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch, Pembroke, and others.

K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace perOur juft and lineal entrance to our own:

Imit
If not, bleed France, and peace afcend to heav'n!
Whilft we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beats his peace to heav'n,
K.Phil. 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 fake,
With burthen of our armour here we fweat;
This toil of ours should be a work of thine.
But thou from loving England are fo far,
That thou haft underwrought its lawful King;
Cut off the fequence of pofterity;

Out-faced infant ftate; and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face.

Thefe eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his ;
This little abstract doth contain that large
Which dy'd in Geffrey; and the hand of Time
Shall draw this brief into as large a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his fon; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's; in the name of God,
How comes it then that thou are call'd a King,
When living blood doth in thefe temples beat,
Which own the crown that thou o'ermasterest?

K. John. From whom haft thou this great commiffion, To draw my answer to thy articles?

[France,

K. Phil. From that fupernal judge, that ftirs good

In any breast of strong authority,

[thoughts

To look into the blots and ftains of right.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy;
Under whofe warrant I impeach thy wrong,

And by whofe help I mean to chastise it *.

chaftife it.

K. John. Alack, th. u deft ufurp authority.

K. Fbil. Excufe it, 'tis to beat ufurping down.

King

B

King John, this is the very fum of all;

England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur I do 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 *.

Eli. Who is't that thou doft call ufurper, France.
Conft. Let me make anfwer: thy uiurping fon.
Eli. Out, infolent! thy baftard fhall be King,
That thou may't be a Queen, and check the world!
Conft. My bed was ever to thy fon as true,

As thine was to thy hufband; 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 fo true begot;

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

K. Phil.

Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.
Gonft. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.
Auf. Peace

Faulc. Hear the crier.

Auft. What the devil art thou?

Faulc. One that will play the devil, Sir, with you.

And 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.

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

Faule. It lies as fightly on the back of him,

As great Alcides' fhews upon an afs;

But, afs, I'll take that burthen from your back,

Or lay on that fhall make your shoulders crack.

Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our ears

With this abundance of fuperfluous breath?

King Philip, determine what we fhall do ftrait.

K. Phil. Women and fools, break off your conference. King John, &c.

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

2

Give

K. Phil. Some trumpet fummon hither to the walls Thefe men of Angiers; let us hear them fpeak, Whofe title they admit, Arthur's or John's.

[Trumpet founds.

SCENE III. Enter a Citizen upon the walls.
Cit. Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?
K. Phil. 'Tis France, for England.

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, that's made for me.

Eli. His mother shames him fo, poor boy, he weeps.
Conft. Now thame upon you, whe`r fhe does or no!
His grandam's wrong, and not his mother's fhames,
Draws thofe heav'n-moving pearls from his poor eyes,
Which heav'n fhall take in nature of a fee:
Ay, with thefe crystal beads heav'n shall be brib'd,
To do him juftice, and revenge on you,

Eli. Thou monftrous flanderer of heav'n and earth!
Conft. Thou monftrous injurer of heav'n and earth!
Call me no flanderer; thou and thine ufurp

The domination, royalties, and rights

Of this oppreffed boy; this is thy eldeft 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 fecond generation
Removed from thy fin conceiving womb.
K. Jbn. Bedlam, have done.
Conft. I have but this to fay,

That he is not only plagued for her fin,
But God hath made her fin and her the plague
On this removed iffue, plague'd for her,
And with her plague 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 unadvifed fcold, I can produce

A will that bars the title of thy fon.

Conf. Ay, who doubts that? a will!-a wicked will;

A woman's will, a canker'd grandam's will.

K. Phil. Peace, Lady; paufe, or be more temperate ?

It ill befeems this prefence to cry Aim

To thefe ill-tuned repetitions.

Some trumpet, &C. *

VOL. III.

K. John.

Q q