At your

industrious scenes and acts of death.

You royal prefences, be rul'd by me;
Do like the Mutines of Jerufalem;

Be friends a while, and both conjunctly bend
Your fharpest deeds of malice on this town.
By east and weft let France and England mount
Their batt'ring cannon charged to the mouths;
Till their foul-fearing clamours have braul'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city.
I'd play incessantly upon thefe jades ;

Even till unfenced defolation

Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, diffever, your united ftrengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point.
Then in a moment Fortune fhall cull forth
Out of one fide her happy minion;

To whom in favour she shall give the day,
And kifs him with a glorious victory.

How like you this wild counfel, mighty states?
Smacks it not fomething of the policy?

K. John. Now by the fky that hangs above our
heads,

I like it well. France, fhall we knit our pow'rs,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground,
Then, after, fight who fhall be King of it?

Faulc. And if thou haft the mettle of a King,
Being wrong'd as we are by this peevish town,
Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,
As we will ours, against these faucy walls;
And when that we have dafh'd them to the ground,
Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell,
Make work upon ourselves for heav'n or hell.

affault?

K. Phil. Let it be fo; fay, where will you
K. John. We from the weft will fend destruction

Into this city's bofom.

K. Phil. Our thunder from the fouth

Auft. I from the north.

Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town*.

Cit.

bullets on this town.

Faulc. O prudent difcipline! from north to fouth;

Auftria

Cit. Hear us, great Kings; vouchfafe a while to

ftay,

And I fhall thew you peace, and fair-face'd league;
Win you this city without ftroke or wound;
Refcue thofe breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come facrifices for the field:
Perfever not, but hear me, mighty Kings.

K. John. Speak on; with favour we are bent to

hear.

Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch, Is near to England; look upon the years

Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid.
If lufty love fhould go in quest of beauty,
Where fhould he find it fairer than in Blanch?
If zealous love fhould go in fearch of virtue,
Where fhould he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love, ambitious, fought a match of birth,
Whofe veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch?
Such as fhe is, in beauty, virtue, birth,

Is the young Dauphin every way compleat :
If not compleat, oh fay, he is not fhe;

And the again wants nothing, (to name want),
If want it be not, that fhe is not he.

He is the half-part of a bleffed man,
Left to be finifhed by fuch a fhe:
And the a fair divided excellence,
Whofe fulness of perfection lies in him.

Oh! two fuch filver currents, when they join,

Do glorify the banks that bound them in.

And two fuch fhores, to two fuch ftreams made one,
Two fuch controlling bounds fhall you be, Kings,
To these two princes, if you marry them.
This union fhall do more than battery can,
To our faft-clofed gates: for at this match,
With fwifter fpleen than powder can enforce,
The mouth of paffage fhall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance; but without this match,
The fea enraged is not half fo deaf,
Lions fo confident, mountains and rocks

Auftria and France fhoot in each other's mouth.
I'll ftir them to't; come, away, away!

Cit. Hear us great Kings, &c.

So free from motion; no, not Death himself
In mortal fury half fo peremptory,

As we to keep this city.

Faulc. Here's a stay,

That shakes the rotten carcafe of old Death

Out of his rags. Here's a large mouth, indeed, That fpits forth death, and mountains, rocks and feas; Talks as familiarly of roaring lions,

As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs.

What cannoneer begot this lusty blood?

He speaks plain cannon-fire, and fmoak and bounce;
He gives the bastinado with his tongue.
Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of his,
But buffets better than a fist of France.
Zounds! I was never fo bethump'd with words,
Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.

Eli. Son, lift to this conjunction, make this match,
Give with our niece a dow'ry large enough;
For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie
Thy now unfur'd affurance to the crown,
That yon green boy fhall have no fun to ripe
The bloom, that promifeth a mighty fruit.
I fee a yielding in the looks of France.

Mark, how they whisper; urge them, while their fouls Are capable of this ambition;

Left zeal, now melted by the windy breath

Of foft petitions, pity and remorse,

Cool and congeal again to what it was.

Cit. Why answer not the double Majesties

This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?

King Phil. Speak, England, first, that hath been forward first

To fpeak unto this city. What fay you?

K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely fon, Can in this book of beauty read, I love,

Her dowry fhall weigh equal with a Queen.

For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poitiers,
And all that we upon this fide the fea,
Except this city now by us befiege'd,
Find liable to our crown and dignity,

Shall gild her bridal bed; and make her rich
In titles, honours, and promotions;

VOL. III.

Rr

A

As fhe in beauty, education, blood,

Holds hand with any princefs of the world.

K. Phil. What fay't thou, boy? Look in the Lady's face.

Lewis. I do, my Lord; and in her eye I find
A wonder, or a wond'rous miracle *.
I do protest I never lov'd myself,
Till now, infixed, I beheld myself
Drawn in the flatt'ring table of her eye.

[Whispering with Blanch. Faulc. Drawn in the flatt'ring table of her eye! Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow!

And quarter'd in her heart! he doth efpy

[be,

Himself love's traitor. This is pity now, That hang'd, and drawn, and quarter'd there should

In fuch a love, fo vile a lout as he.

Blanch. My uncle's will in this refpect is mine.
If he fee aught in you, that makes him like,

That any thing he fees, which moves his liking,
I can with ease translate it to my will:

Or if you will, to speak more properly,
I will inforce it eafily to my love.
Further I will not flatter you, my Lord,
That all I fee in you is worthy love,
Than this; that nothing do I fee in you

(Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your That I can find should merit any hate.

[judge) K. John. What fay thefe young ones? what fay you,

my niece?

Blanch. That fhe is bound in honour still to do

What you in wisdom ftill vouchfafe to fay.

K. John. Speak then, Prince Dauphin, can you love this Lady?

Lewis. Nay, afk me, if I can refrain from love; For I do love her moft unfeignedly.

K. John. Then do I give Volqueffen, Touraine, Maine, Poitiers, and Anjou, thefe five provinces,

With her to thee; and this addition more,
Full thirty thousand marks of English coin.
Philip of France, if thou be pleas'd withal,
Command thy son and daughter to join hands.
K. Phil. It likes us well; young princes, close your
hands*

Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates,
Let in that amity which you have made;
For at Saint Mary's chapel presently
The rites of marriage fhall be folemniz'd.
Is not the Lady Conftance in this troop?
I know she is not; for this match made up
Her prefence would have interrupted much.
Where is the and her fon, tell me, who knows?
Lewis. She's fad and paffionate at your Highness

tent.

K.Phil. And, by my faith, this league that we have Will give her sadness very little cure.

Brother of England, how may we content
This widow-lady? in her right we came;

[made,

Which we, God knows, have turn'd another way
To our own 'vantage.

K. John. We will heal up all,

For we'll create young Arthur Duke of Bretagne,
And Earl of Richmond; and this rich fair town
We make him lord of. Call the Lady Conftance;
Some speedy meffenger bid her repair
To our folemnity. I truft we shall,
If not fill up the measure of her will,
Yet in fome measure fatisfy her fo,
That we shall stop her exclamation.
Go we, as well as hafte will fuffer us,
To this unlook'd for, unprepared pomp.

[Exeunt all but Faulconbridge.

SCENE

VI.

Faul. Mad world, mad Kings, mad compofition! John, to ftop Arthur's title in the whole,

Auft. And your lips too; for, I am well affur'd, That I did fo, when I was firit aflur'd.

K. Phil. Now, citizens, Ge