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Citizens of Angiers, Heralds, Executioners, Meffengers, Soldiers, and other Attendants.
The SCENE, Sometimes in England, and Sometimes in France.

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SCENE

Northampton.

A room of flate in the palace.

And put the fame into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew, and right royal fovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we difallow of this? Chat. The proud controul 7 of fierce and bloody Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Effex, Toinforce these rights fo forcibly withheld. [war,

and Salisbury, with Chatillon.

K. John. N

OW, fay, Chatillon, what would
France with us?
[France,
Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of
In my behaviour, to the majefty,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty!
K. Jobu. Silence, good mother; hear the embaffy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's fon,
Arthur Plantagenet, lays moft lawful claim
To this fair ifland, and the territories;
To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine:
Defiring thee to lay afide the sword,

Which sways ufurpingly these several titles';

K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood

for blood,
Controulment for controulment; so answer France.
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my
The fartheft limit of my embaffy.
[mouth,

K. Jobn. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France: [peace:
For ere thou canft report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard :
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And fullen prefage of your own decay.-
An honourable conduct let him have ;-
Pembroke, look to't :-Farewell, Chatillon.

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Mr. Theobald remarks, that though this play hath the title of The Life and Death of King John, yet the action of it begins at the thirty-fourth year of his life; and takes in only fome tranfačtions of his reign at the time of his demife, being an interval of about seventeen years. Mr. Steevens obferves, that Hall, Holinshed, Stowe, &c. are closely followed not only in the conduct, but fometimes in the expreffions throughout the following historical dramas; viz. Macbeth, this play, Richard II. Henry IV. & parts, Henry V. Henry VI. 3 parts, Richard III. and Henry VIII. 2 William Marefhall. 3 Jeffrey Fitzpeter, Ch. J. of England. 4 William Longsword, fon to Hen. II. by Rofamond Clifford. 5 Roger, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk. i. e. in my character. 7 i. c. oppofition.

Cc2

How How that ambitious Constance would not ceafe, "Till the had kindled France, and all the world, Upon the right and party of her fon?

This might have been prevented, and made whole,

With very easy arguments of love;

O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee
I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.

K. Jobn. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven
lent us here!

Fli. He hath a trick 2 of Coeur-de-lion's face,

Which now the manage of two kingdoms must The accent of his tongue affecteth him:
With fearful bloody ifiue arbitrate.

[us.
K. Yohn. Our (trong potleition, and our right for
Eli. Your strong pofieffion, much more than your
Or elfe it must go wrong with you, and me: [right;
So much my confcience whifpers in your ear:
Wnich none but heaven, and you, and I, thall hear.
Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers
Effix.

Effex. My liege, here is the strangeft controversy,
Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men ?

K. Jobn. Let them approach.
Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay
Re-enter Sheriff

[Exit Sheriff.

with Robert Faulcmbridge, and Pbi-
lip, his brother.

This expedition's charge. What men are you?
Phil. Your faithful fubiect I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest fon,
As I fuppofe, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A foldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cour-de-hon knighted in the field.

K. John. What art thou

Rob. The fon and beir to that fame Faulconbridge.

Do you not read fome tokens of my fon
In the large compofition of this man?

A. Jobn. Mine eye hath well examined his parts,
And finds them perfect Richard.-Sirrah, peak,
What doth move you to claim your brother's land?

Phil. Because he hath a half-face, like my father;
With that half-face would he have all my iand:
A half-fac'd groat 3 five hundred pound a year!

Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd,
Your brother did employ my father much;-
Phil. Well, fir, by this you cannot get my land;
Your tale muit be, how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once difpatch'd him in an embaily
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
The advantage of his abfence took the king,
And in the mean time fojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did preveil, I shame to speak;
Put truth is truth; large lengths of feas and thores
Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father speak himfelf)
When this fame lufty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd

K. Joba. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir His lands to me; and took it on his death,

You came not of one mother then, it feems.

P6%. Moit 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.

That this, ny mother's fon, 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.

K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;

Eh. Out on thee, rude man! thou doft shame Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:

thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.

And, if she did play false, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazard of all husbands

Pbil. I, madam ? no, I have no reason for it; That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,

That is my brother's plea, and none of mine;
The which if he can prove, a' pops me out

At leaft from fair five hundred pound a-year :
Heaven guard my mother's honour, and my land!
K. Jobn. A good blunt fellow:-Why, being
younger born,

Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

Who, as you fay, took pains to get this fon,
Had of your father claim'd this fon for his?
In footh, good friend, your father might have kept
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world;
In footh, he might then, if he were my brother's,
My brother might not claim him; nor your father,
Being none of his, refuse him: This concludes-

Phil. I know not why, except to get the land. My mother's fon did get your father's heir;

But once he flander'd me with baftardy:

But whe'r I be as true begot, or no,

That ftill I lay upon my mother's head;

But that I am as well begot, my liege,

(Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!)
Compare our faces, and be judge yourfelf.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,

And were our father, and this son like him ;

Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force,
To difpoffefs that child which is not his?

Pbil. Of no more force to difpoffefs me, fir,

Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether hadit thou rather, be a Faulconbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;

That is, conduct, administration. 2 Meaning, that peculiarity of face which may be sufficiently shewn by the flighteft outline. 3 Our author is here knowingly guilty of an anachronifm, as he alludes to a coin not ftruck till the year 1504, in the reign of king Henry VII. viz. a groat, which, as well as the half groat, bare but half faces impressed. The groats of all our kings of England, and indeed all their other coins of filver, one or two only excepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time above mentioned, coined groats and half groats, as alfo fome shillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. The firit groats of king Henry VIII. were like those of his father, though afterwards he returned to the broad faces again. In the time of King John there were no groats at all, they being first, as far as appears, coined in the reign of King Edward III.

Or

Or the reputed fon of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy prefence, and no land befide ?

Pbil. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, fir Robert's his, like him 2;
And if my legs were two fuch riding-rods,
My arms fuch eel-skins fluft; my face to thin,
That in mine ear I durit not stick a rose 3, [goes!
Left men should fay, Look, where three-farthings
And, to his fhape, were heir to all this land,
'Would I might never ftir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face;

[tune,

Pbil. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee,
For thou wait got i' the way of honesty!
[Exeunt all but Philip.
A foot of honour better than I was;
But many a many foot of land the worfe.
Well, now can I make any Joan a Lady :-
Good den, Sir Richard, God-a-mercy, fellow7;
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter:
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
Tis too refpective, and too fociable,
For your converfing. Now your traveller,-
He and his tooth-pick 9 at my worthip's meis;

I would not be Sir Nob in any cafe.
Fli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forfake thy for- And when my knightly ftomach is fufic'd,
Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?
I am a foldier, and now bound to France.

Why then I fuck my teeth, and catechife

My piked 10 man of countries-My dear fir,

Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my (Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin)

chance:

Your face hath got five hundred pound a-year ;
Yet fell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear.
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Fli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
Phil. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. Wixat is thy name ?

Phil. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;

Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldett fon.

K. Joba. From henceforth bear his name whose

I fhail befeach you-That is question now; And then comes anfwer like an ABC-bookO fir, fays anfwer, at your best command; No, fir, fays question; I, sweet fir, at your's : It your employment; at your service, fir And fo, e'er anfwer knows what question would, (Saving in dialogue of compliment; And talking of the Alps, and Apennines, The Pyrenean, and the river Po) It draws toward fupper in conclufion fo. But this is worthipful fociety, And fits the mounting spirit, like myself: For he is but a bartard to the time, That doth not fmack of obfervation; (And fo 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, fweet, fweet poifon for the age's tooth: Pbil. Madam, by chance, bat not by truth: Which 12 though I will not practise to deceive,

form thou bear'ft:

Kneel thou down Philip, but arife more great;
Arife Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.

[haud;

Phil. Brother by the mother's fide, give me your
My father gave me honour, yours gave land :-
Now bieffed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.
Eli. The very fpirit of Plantagenet!
I am thy grandame, Richard; call me fo.

What though +

Something about, a little from the right,

In at the window, or elte o'er the hatch 5: W'ho dares not ftir by day, muft walk by night; And have is have, however men do catch : Near or far off, well won is still well shot; And I am 1, howe'er I was begot.

K. Jobu. Go, Faulconbridge; now haft thou thy
defire,

A landless knight makes thee a landed 'fquire -
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we mutt fpeed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.

Yot, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it fhall ftrew the footsteps of my rifing.-
But who comes in fuch hatte, in riding robes?
What woman-poft is this? hath the no husband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her 13?

Enter Lady Fautconbridge and James Gurney.
O me! it is my mother:--How now, good lady?
What brings you here to court fo hattily ?
[he,
Lady. Where is that flave, thy brother? where is
That holds in chate mine honour up and down?
Phit. My brother Robert? old Sir Robert's fon?
Colbrand the giant, that farme mighty man ?

Ii. e. mafter of thy majestic figure and dignified appearance. Shape- Sn Robert's-as he has." Sir Robert his, tot Sir Robert's, is agrecable to the practice of that 2 The meaning is, "If I had his tiine, when the 's added to the nominative was believed, I think erroneoufly, to be a contraction of his. 3 Theobald fays, that in this very obfcure paffage our poet is anticipating the date of another coin; humouroufly to rally a thin face, eclipted, as it were, by a full-blown rofe. We must obierve, to explain this allufion, that queen Elizabeth was the first, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England three-half-pence, and three-farthing pieces. She at one and the fame time coined shillings, fixpences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, three-half-ponce, pence, three-farthings, and half-pence; and these pieces all had her head, and were alternately with the rafi behind, and without the rofe. The shilling, groat, two-pence, penny, and half-penny had it not the other intermediate coins, uz. the fix-pence, three-pence, three-half-pence, and three-farthings had the rose. But Dr. Warburton obferves, that the sticking roses about them was then all the court-fashion. 4 What then? 5 Thefe expreflions mean, fays Mr. Steevens, to be born out of wedlock. i.e. a step. tertains himfelf with ideas of greatness. - Good den, Sir Richard, he supposes to be the falutation of a 7 Faulconbridge here envalfal. God-a-mercy, fellow, his own fupercilious reply to it. aud wear a piqued beard, were, in that time, marks of a travelier, or man aflecting foreign fashions. 8 i. e, respectful. 9 To pick the teeth, 10 See note 8. p. 164. 111. e. as they then spoke and wrote it, an abfey-book, meaning a catechism. 12 Which for tis. 13 Dr. Johnfon fays, our author means, that a woman who travelled about like a pet, was likely to horn her husband.

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Is

Is it Sir Robert's fon that you feek fo?

Lady. Sir Robert's fon! Ay, thou unreverend boy,
Sir Robert's fon: Why fcorn'st thou at Sir Robert?
He is Sir Robert's fon, and fo art thou. [while?
Phil. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.
Pbil. Philip?-fparrow! - James,

There's toys abroad 2; anon I'll tell thee more,
[Exit James.
Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's fou;
Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
Upon Good-friday, and ne'er broke his faft :
Sir Robert could do well; Marry, to confefs !
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it;
We know his handy-work:-Therefore, good mo-
To whom am I beholden for these limbs? (ther,
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.

Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother?
Lady. Haft thou deny'd thyself a Faulconbridge?
Pbil. As faithfully as I deny the devil.

Lady. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father;
By long and vehement fuit I was feduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed :---
Heaven lay not my tranfgreffion to my charge!
Thou art the itsue of my dear offence,
Which was fo strongly urg'd, patt my defence.

Phil. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not with a better father.
Some fins do bear their privilege on earth,
And fo doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Needs must you lay your heart at his difpofe,
Subjected tribute to commanding love,
Against whose fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,

Lady. Haft thou confpired with thy brother too, Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand 4, That for thine own gain should'it defend mine honour?

What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?
Phil. Knight, knight, good mother, Bafilifco

like 3:

What! I am dub'd; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's fon;
I have difclaim'd Sir Robert, and my land;
Legitimation, name, and all is gone :
Then, good my mother, let me know my father;

He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May eafily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father !
Who lives and dares but say, thou did'it not well
When I was got, I'll fend his foul to hell.
Come, lady, I will shew thee to my kin;

And they shall fay, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadft faid him nay, it had been fin:
Who fays, it was, he lyes; 1 fay, 'twas not.
[Excunt,

SCENE

ACT

I.

Before the walls of Angiers in France.
Enter Philip King of France, Lewis the Dauphin, the
Archduke of Auftriz, Conftance, and Arthur.
Lewis. DEFORE Angiers well met, brave Au-

B

ftria.

Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Paleftine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave:
And, for amends to his pofterity,
At our importance 5 hither is he come,
To fpread 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.

Arthur. God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion's
The rather, that you give his offspring life, [death,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,

II.

But with a heart full of unftained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lewis. A noble boy! Who would not do the
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 bast in France,
| Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,
Whofe foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her iflanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still fecure
And contident from foreign purposes,
Even 'till that utmoft 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,
[ttrength,
Till your ftrong hand shall help to give him
To make a more requital to your love.

I Good leave means a ready affent. 2 i. e. rumours, idle reports. 3 Faulconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of fatire on a stupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perfeda. In this piece there is the character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Bafilifco. His pretenfion to valour is fo blown, and feen through, that Pifton, a buffoon-fervant in the play, jumps upon his back, and will not difengage him, till he makes Bafilisco swear upon his dudgeon dagger that he was a knave, knave, knave, and no knight, knight, knight, as Bafilifco arrogantly ftiled himself. In the fame manner Philip, when his mother calls him knave, throws off that reproach by humouronfly laving claim to his new dignity of knighthood. 4 Shakspeare here alludes to the old metrical romance of Richard Caur de lion, wherein this once celebrated monarch is related to have acquired his diftinguishing appellation, by having plucked out a lion's heart to whose fury he was exposed by the duke of Austria, for having lain his fon with a blow of his fift. si. c. importunity. 1. c. greater,

Aust.

Auft. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift, England we love; and for that England's fake, In fuch a juft and charitable war.

[their fwords K. Philip. Well then, to work; our cannon shall be bent

Against the brows of this refifting town.
Call for our chiefett men of difcipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages :-
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.

Conft. Stay for an anfwer to your embaffy,
Left unadvis'd you ftain 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 rath haste so indirectly shed.

Enter Chatillon.

With burthen of our armour here we sweat:
This toil of ours thould be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art fo far,
That thou haft under-wrought 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;-
These 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 huge 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 art call'd a king,

K. Philip. A wonder, lady !-lo, upon thy wish, When living blood doth in these temples beat,

Our messenger Chatillon is arriv'd.-
What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly paufe for thee; Chatillon, fpeak. [fiege,

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry
And ftir them up againtt a mightier tafk.
England, impatient of your jutt demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whose leifure I have ftaid, have given 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 Ate, ftirring him to blood and firife;
With her, her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd:
And all the unfettled humours of the land, -
Rath, inconfiderate, 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 feath 2 in Chrittendom.
The interruption of their churlith drums

[Drums beat. Cuts off more circumftance: They are at hand, To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this ex-
pedition!

Auft. By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence;
For courage mounteth with occafion:

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

Enter King John, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch,
Pembroke, and others.

K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace
Our juft and lineal entrance to our own! [permit
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. Philip. Peace be to England; if that warreturn
From France to England, there to live in peace!

Which owe the crown that thou o'er-mastereft?

K. John. From whom haft thou this great com-
miffion, France,

To draw my answer from thy articles ? [thoughts
K. Phil. From that fupernal judge, that stirs good
In any breast of strong authority,
To look into the blots and ftains 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 chaftife it.

K. John. Alack, thou doft ufurp authority.
K. Philip. 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 baftard shall be king;
That thou may it be a queen, and check the world!

Confl. 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 baftard! By my foul, I think,
His father never was fo true begot;

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother. [father.
Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy
Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that would

blot thee.

Auft. Peace!

Faule. Hear the crier.

Auft. What the devil art thou ?

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

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

Fauls. It lies as fightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' shoes upon an ats :-
But, afs, I'll take that burden from your back;
Or lay on that, thall make your thoulders crack.

Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our
With this abundance of fuperfluous breath? [ears
King Lewis, determine what we shall do ftrait.

• That is, expeditious. 2 i, e. destruction, harm, 3 i. c. undermined.

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