We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear, Or add a royal number to the dead; Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, Then let confusion of one part confirm The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death! K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet ad-' mit? K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king? 1 Cit. The king of England, when we know the king. K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right. K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy, And bear possession of our person here; Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you. 1 Cit. A greater power than we, denies all this; And, till it be undoubted, we do lock Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates: And stand securely on their battlements, 4 Potentates. 5 Scabby fellows. Your royal presences be rul'd by me 6 Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend Even till unfenced desolation Leave them as naked as the vulgar air. To whom in favour she shall give the day, How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads, I like it well;- - France, shall we knit our powers, Bast. An if thou hast 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 saucy walls: And when that we have dash'd them to the ground, Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell, Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell. K. Phi. Let it be so:- Say, where will you assault? K. John. We from the west will send destruction Into this city's bosom. Aust. I from the north. 6 Mutineers. K. Phi. Our thunder from the south, Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. Come, away, away! [Aside Cit. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe a while to stay, And I shall show you peace, and fair-faced league; Win you this city without stroke, or wound; Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds, That here come sacrifices for the field: Perséver not, but hear me, mighty kings. K. John. Speak on, with favour; we are bent to hear. 1 Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Is near to England: Look upon the years Is the young Dauphin every way complete : And two such shores to two such streams made one, 7 Pious. Two such controlling bounds shall you be, kings, Lions more confident, mountains and rocks As we to keep this city. Bast. Here's a stay, That shakes the rotten carcase of old death Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed, That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas; And talks familiarly of roaring lions, He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and bounce; Our ears are cudgel'd; not a word of his, Why! I was never so bethump'd with words, Eli. Son, list to this conjunction, make this match; Give with our niece a dowry large enough: Mark, how they whisper: urge them, while their souls Are capable of this ambition: Lest zeal, now melted, by the windy breath Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse, I Cit. Why answer not the double majesties K. Phi. Speak England first, that hath been forward first To speak unto this city: What say you? K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son, Can in this book of beauty read, I love, As she in beauty, education, blood, Holds hand with any princess of the world. K. Phi. What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face. Lew. I do, my lord, and in her eye I find The shadow of myself form'd in her eye; Till now infixed I beheld myself, Drawn in the flattering table of her eye. [Whispers with BLANCH. Bast. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye! Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow! And quarter'd in her heart! - he doth espy Himself love's traitor: This is pity now, That hang'd, and drawn, and quarter'd, there should be, In such a love, so vile a lout as he. Blanch. My uncle's will, in this respect, is mine: If he see aught in you, that makes him like, |