!

KING JOHN.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

Northampton. A Room of State in the Palace.

Enter King John, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE,

Essex, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATIL

LON.

K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would

France with us ?
Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of

France,
In my behaviour', to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning ;- borrow'd majesty!
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the em-

bassy. Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim To this fair island, and the territories ; To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine : Desiring thee to lay aside the sword, Which sways usurpingly these several titles ;

And
put
the same into

young

Arthur's hand, Thy nephew, and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this? Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody

war, To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld. K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood

for blood, Controlment for controlment : so answer France. Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my

mouth, The furthest limit of my embassy. K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in

peace :
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France ?
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 sullen presage of your own decay. -
An honourable conduct let him have :
Pembroke, look to't: Farewell, Chatillon.

[Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE.
Eli. What now, my son? have I not ever said,
How that ambitious Constance would not cease,
Till she had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son ?
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 issue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong possession, and our right,

for us.

Eli. Your strong possession, much more than

your right; Or else it must go wrong

with

you, So much my conscience whispers in your ear; Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall hear,

and me:

2 Conduct, administration.

Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers

Essex.

Essex. My liege, here is the strangest contro

versy, Come from the country to be judg'd by you, That e'er I heard : Shall I produce the men ?

K. John. Let them approach. [Exit Sheriff, Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay

.

Re-enter Sheriff, with Robert FAULCONBRIDGE,

and PHILIP, his Bastard Brother. This expedition's charge. - What men are you?

.
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge ;
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cæur-de-lion knighted in the field.

K, John. What art thou ?
Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulcon-

bridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir ? You came not of one mother then, it seems.

Bast. Most 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. Qut on thee, rude man! thou dost shame

thy mother, And wound her honour with this diffidence.

Bast. 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 ! VOL. IV.

2

K. John. A good blunt fellow :- Why, being

younger born, Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance ?

Bast. I know not why, except to get the land. But once he slanderd me with bastardy : But whe'r 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, Compare our faces, and be judge yourself. If old sir Robert did beget us both, And were our father, and this son like him

; O old sir Robert, father, on my

knee I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee. K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent

us here!
Eli. He hath a trick 3 of Caur-de-lion's face,
The accent of his tongue affecteth him :
Do you not read some tokens of my son
In the large composition of this man?

K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, And finds them perfect Richard.

—Sirrah, speak, What doth move you to claim your brother's land ? Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my

father : With that half-face would he have all

my

land : A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year! Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father

liv’d, Your brother did employ my father much ;

- Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother.

Rob. And once despatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
The advantage of his absence took the king,
And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's ;

land;

Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak :
But truth is truth; large lengths of seas and shores
Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father speak himself,)
When this same lusty 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 son, 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;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:
And, if she did play false, the fault was hers ;
Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands
That
marry
wives. Tell me, how if my

brother Had of your father claim'd this son for his? In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept

him;

a

In sooth, 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, Your father's heir must have your father's land.

Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force, To dispossess that child which is not his ?

Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.
Eli. Whether hadst thou rather, -- be a Faulcon-

bridge,
And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;
Or the reputed son of Caur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence, and no land beside ?

Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, sir Robert his, like him;
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,
My arms such eel-skins stuff'd; my face so thin,
That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,