If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still.
I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms
Are hir'd to bear their staves; either thou, Macbeth,
Or elfe my fword, with an unbatter'd edge,
I fheath again undeeded. There thou should'st be;
By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited: Let me find him, fortune! and
More I beg not.
[Exit. Alarum.
Enter Malcolm and Old Siward.
Siw. This way, my lord; the castle's gently
render'd:
The tyrant's people on both fides do fight,
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.
Mal. We have met with foes
That strike beside us.
Siw. Enter, fir, the castle. [Exeunt. Alarum.
Re-enter Macbeth.
Mach. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die
On mine own fword? whiles I fee lives, the gashes
Do better upon them.
Re-enter Macduff.
Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn.
Mach. Of all men elfe I have avoided thee: But get thee back, my foul is too much charg'd With blood of thine already.
Maed. I have no words,
My voice is in my fword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out! [Fight. Alarum.
Mach. Thou losest labour:
As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air 2
With thy keen sword impress, as make me bleed :
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable creits;
I bear a charmed life, which muft not yield
To one of woman born.
Macd. Defpair thy charm;
And let the angel, whom thou still haft ferv'd,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.
Mach. Accursed be that tongue that tells me fo,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd,
That palter 3 with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promife to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I'll not fight with thee.
Moed. Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the shew and gaze o' the time."
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole; and under-writ,
Here may you fee the tyrant.
Mach. I will not yield,
To kifs the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
And to be baited with the rabble's curfe.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunfinane,
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the laft: Before my body
1 To bruit is to report with clamour; to noise. with ambiguous expressions. 4 See note, p. 367.
I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff; And damn'd be him that firft cries, Hold, enough. [Excunt, fighting. Alarums.
Re-enter fighting, and Macbeth is flain. Retreat and flourish. Enter with drum and colours, Malcolm, Old Siward, Roffe, Thanes, and Soldiers.
Mal. I would the friends we mifs, were fafe
Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these 1 fee,
So great a day as this is cheaply bought.
Mal. Macduff is miffing, and your noble fon.
Roffe. Your fon, my lord, has paid a foldier's
[debt:
He only liv'd but 'till he was a man;
The which no fooner had his prowefs confirm'd
In the unshrinking station where he fought,
But like a man he dy'd.
Roffe. Ay, and brought off the field: your caufe
Muft not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.
Siw. Had he his hurts before?
Reffe. Ay, on the front.
Siw. Why then, God's foldier be he!
Had I as many fons as I have hairs,
I would not with them to a fairer death:
And to his knell is knoll'd.
Mal. He's worth more forrow,
And that I'll fpend for him.
Siw. He's worth no more;
They fay, he parted well, and paid his fcore:
And fo, God be with him!-Here comes newer
Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth's Head. Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold,
The ufurper's curfed head: the time is free:
I fee thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl 5,
That fpeak my falutation in their minds;
Whofe voices I defire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!
All. Hail, king of Scotland!
Mal. We shall not spend a large expence of time,
Before we reckon with your feveral loves, [men,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinf-
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In fuch an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel minitters
Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by felf and violent hands
Took off her life; -This, and what needful elfe
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in meafure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to fee us crown'd at Scone.
i. e. air which cannot be cut. 3 i. e. that shuffle 5 i. c. thy kingdom's wealth.
Citizens of Angiers, Heralds, Executioners, Meffingers, Soldiers, and other Attendants.
The SCENE, fometimes in England, and fometimes in France.
SCENE
Northampton.
A room of state in the palace.
And put the fame into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew, and right royal fovereign.
K. Joln. What follows, if we difallow of this? Chat. The proud controul 7 of fierce and bloody Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Effex, To inforce these rights so forcibly withheld. [war, and Salisbury, with Chatillon. K. John. NOW, fay, Chatillon,
France with us? [France,
Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of
In my behaviour, to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.
Eli. A ftrange beginning; borrow'd majesty!
K. Jobn. Silence, good mother; hear the embaffy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceated 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; fo anfwer France.
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my
The farthest limit of my embatfy.
[mouth,
K. Jobn. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France: [peace:
For ere thou canst report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard :
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And fullen presage of your own decay.-
An honourable conduct let him have ;-
Pembroke, look to't :-Farewell, Chatillon.
[Exeunt Chat. and Pem.
Eli. What now, my fon? have I not ever faid,
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 tranfactions of his reign at the time of his demise, being an interval of about seventeen years. Mr. Steevens obferves, that Hall, Holinshed, Stowe, &c. are clofely followed not only in the conduct, but fometimes in the expreffions throughout the following historical dramas; viz. Macbeth, this play, Rietard 11. Henry IV. & parts, Henry V. Henry VI. 8 parts, Richard III. and Henry VIII. 2 William Mareshall. 3 Jeffrey Fitzpeter, Ch. J. of England. 4 William Longsword, fon to Hen. II. by Rofamond Clifford. 5 Roger, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk. 6 i. e. in my character. 1 i. e. op
How that ambitious Conftance would not ceafe,
'Till the had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her ton?
This might have been prevented, and made whole,
With very easy arguments of love;
Which now the manage of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody iffue arbitrate.
K. Yabe. Our trong pofieffion, and our right for
Eli. Your strong potfeffion, much more than your
Or elfe it must go wrong with you, and me: right;
So much my confcience whispers in your ear:
Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall hear.
Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers
Fifex.
Effex. My liege, here is the strangest controverfy,
Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: Shail I produce the men ?
K. John. Let them approach.- (Exit Sheriff.
Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay
Re-enter Sheriff with Robert Fautconbridge, and Phi-
This expedition's charge-What men are you?
Phil. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest fon,
As I fuppofe, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A foldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cœur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. Joln. What art thou?
Rab. The fon and heir to that fame Faulconbridge.
K. Jobn. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it feems.
Pbil. Moft 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.
Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dott frame
thy mother,
And wound her honour with this diffidence.
Phil. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it;
That is my brother's plea, and none of mine;
The which if he can prove, a' pops me out
At least 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?
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!
Eli.. He hath a trick 2 of Cœur-de-lion's face,
The accent of his tongue affecteth him:
Do you not read fome tokens of my fon
In the large compofition of this man?
K. Jobn. Mine eye hath well examined his parts,
And finds them perfect Richard.--Sirrab, speak,
What doth move you to claim your brother's land?
Pbil. Because he hath a half-face, like my father;
With that half-face would he have all my land:
A half-fac'd groat 3 five hundred pound a year !
Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father livid,
Your brother did employ my father much;-
Phil. Well, fir, by this you cannot get my land;
Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embally
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 prevail, I shame to speak;
But truth is truth; large lengths of feas and shores
Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father speak himself)
When this fame lufty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
His lands to me; and took it on his death,
That this, my mother's fon, was none of his ;
And, if he wore, 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. Jobn. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:
And, if the did play false, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazard of all hufbands
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,
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 bastardy:
But whe't I be as true begot, or no,
That still 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 yourself.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,
And were our father, and this ton like him ;
Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force,
To difpoffess that child which is not his ?
Phil. Of no more force to dispotsess me, fir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.
Eli. Whether hadft thou rather, be a Faul-
conbridge,
And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;
That is, conduct, adminiftration. 2 Meaning, that peculiarity of face which may be sufficiently shewn by the flightest outline. 3 Our author is here knowingly guilty of an anachronifm, as he alludes to a coin not truck 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 also some shillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. The frit groats of king Henry VIII. were like thofe of his father; though afterwards he returned to the broad faces again. In the tame 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 the reputed fon of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy prefence 1, and no land beside ?
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 stuft; my face so thin,
That in mine ear I durft not stick a rofe 3, [goes!
Left men should fay, Look, where three-farthings
And, to his shape, 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;
Phil. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee,
For thou wait got i' the way of honesty!
[Exeunt all but Philip.
A foot of honour 6 better than I was;
But many a many foot of land the worse.
Well, now can I make any Joan a Lady :-
Good den, Sir Richard, God-a-merty, fellow7
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
Tis too respective, and too fociable,
For your converfing. Now your traveller,-
He and his tooth-pick 9 at my worship's meis;
I would not be Sir Nob in any cafe.
Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forfake thy for- And when my knightly stomach is fuffic'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 catechise
My piked 10 man of countries:
Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my (Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin)
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.
Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
Pbil. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. Jobn. What is thy name?
Phil. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest fon.
K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose
Kneel thou down Philip, but arife more great;
Arife Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.
Pbil. Brother by the mother's fide, give me your
My father gave me honour, yours gave land :ï
Now bletsed 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.
I shall befecth you-That is question now;
And then comes answer like an ABC-book:-
O fir, fays answer, at your best command;
At your employment; at your fervice, fir:
No, fir, fays question; I, frweet fir, at your's :
And fo, e'er answer 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 worshiprul fociety,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not fmack of observation;
(And fo am I, whether I imack, or no)
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Pbil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth: Which 12 thongh I will not practise to deceive,
Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch 5: Who 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. Jobn. Go, Faulconbridge; now haft thou thy
defire,
A landless knight makes thee a landed 'fquire -
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footiteps of my rifing.
But who comes in fuch hafte, in riding robes ?
What woman-post is this? hath the no huiband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her 43?
Enter Lady Faulconbridge and James Gurney.
O me! it is my mother: -How now, good lady?
What brings you here to court so hastily?
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 fame mighty man?
Ii. e. master of thy majestic figure and dignified appearance. 2 The meaning is, "If I had his shape-Sir Robert's-as he has." Sir Robert his, for Sir Robert's, is agreeable to the practice of that time, when the 's added to the nominative was believed, I think erroneoufly, to be a contraction of his. 3 Theobald says, that in this very obfcure passage our poet is anticipating the date of another coin; humouroufly to rally a thin face, eclipfed, as it were, by a full-blown refe. We must obferve, to explain this allusion, 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 chillings, fixpences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, three-half-pence, pence, three-farthings, and half-pence; and these pieces all had her head, and were alternately with the refe behind, and without the refe. The shilling. groat, two-pence, penny, and halt-penny had it not: the other intermediate coins, viz. the fix-pence, three-pence, three-half-pence, and three-farthings had the rofe. But Dr. Warburton obferves, that the sticking roses about them was then all the court-fashion. What then? 5 These expreflions mean, fays Mr. Steevens, to be born out of wedlock. 6 i. e. a step. 7 Faulconbridge here entertains himself with ideas of greatnefs. - Good den, Sir Richard, he supposes to be the falutation of a vallal. God-a-mercy, fellow, his own fupercilious reply to it. & i. e, respectful. 9 To pick the teeth, and wear a piqued beard, were, in that time, marks of a traveller, or man ariecting foreign fashions. 3. p. 164. i. 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 polt, was likely to horn her husband.
Is it Sir Robert's fon that you seek fo?
Lady. Sir Robert's fon! Ay, thou unreverend boy,
Sir Robert's fon: Why scorn'st thou at Sir Robert?
He is Sir Robert's fon, and fo art thou.
Phil. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a
[while
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.
Pbil. Philip-fparrow!-James,
There's toys abroad?; anon I'll tell thee more.
[Exit James.
Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's fon;
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 ?
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg..
Lady. Haft thou deny'd thyfelf a Faulconbridge?
Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother?
Phil. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
By long and vehement fuit I was feduc'd
Lady. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father;
To make room for him in my husband's bed:-
Heaven lay not my tranfgreffion to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urg'd, paft 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:
Subjected tribute to commanding love,
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Againft whose fury and unmatched force
The awlefs 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'ft 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,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father !
May eafily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
Who lives and dares but say, thou did'st 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 begat,
If thou hadft faid him nay, it had been fin :
Who fays, it was, he lyes; I say, 'twas not.
[Exeunt
Before the walls of Angiers in France.
Enter Philip King of France, Lewis the Dauphin, the
Archduke of Auftria, Conftance, and Arthur.
But with a heart full of unftained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lewis. A noble boy! Who would not do thee
right?
Lewis DEFORE Angiers well met, brave Au- As feal to this indenture of my love;
Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs,
Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave:
And, for amends to his pofterity,
At our importance 5 bither is he come,
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.
Arthur. God fhall forgive you Coeur-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,
That to my home I will no more return,
'Till Angiers, and the right thou haft in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,
Whose foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands heriflanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still fecure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even 'till that utmost corner of the west,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms,
Salute thee for her king: 'till then, fair boy,
Conft. 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 Good leave means a ready affent. 2 i. e. rumours, idļe reports. carry a concealed piece of fatire on a stupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman 3 Faulconbridge's words here 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 Piston, a buffoon-servant in the play, jurups upon his back, and will not disengage 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 stiled himicht. In the fame manner Philip, when his mother calls him knave, throws off that reproach by humouroully 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 flain his fon with a blow of his fint. Si, c. importunity.
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