The SCENE, fometimes in England, and fometimes in

France.

The court of England.

Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Effex, and Salisbury, with Chatilion.

OW, fay, Chatilion, what would
France with us?

Chat. Thus, after greeting, fpeaks the King of France,

In my behaviour, to the Majefty,

*The troublesome reign of King John was written in two parts by W. Shakespear and W. Rowley, and printed 1611.

is entirely different, and infinitely fuperior to it.

The borrow'd Majefty of England here.

Eli. A ftrange beginning; borrow'd Majesty!
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embaffy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceafed brother Geffrey's fon,

Arthur Plantagenet, lays lawful claim
To this fair ifland and the territories;
To Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine;
Defiring thee to lay aside the sword,

Which fways ufurpingly these feveral titles,
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 of fierce and bloody war, T' inforce thefe rights fo forcibly with-held.

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

blood,

my mouth,

Controulment for controulment; fo anfwer France.
Chat. Then take my King's defiance from
The fartheft limit of my embassy.

K. John. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in peace
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou cant report, I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon fhall 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; farewel Chatilion.

[Exeunt Chat. and Pem.

Eli. What now, my fon, have I not ever faid, How that ambitious Canftance would not cease, Till fhe 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 eafy arguments of love;

Which now the manage of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody iffue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong poffeffion, and our right for us-
Eli. Your ftrong poffeffion much more than your

right,

Or elfe it must go wrong with you

and me

Se

3

So much my confcience whispers in your ear,
Which none but heav'n, and you, and I fhall hear.
Effex. My Liege, here is the ftrangest controversy
Come from the country to be judge'd by you,
That e'er I heard: thall I produce the men?'
K. John. Let them approach.

Our abbies and our priories fhall pay

This expedition's charge.What men are you?

SCENE

II.

Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip his brother the

baftard.

Phil. Your faithful fubject, I, a gentleman
Born in Northamptonfhire, 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. John. What art thou?

Rob. The fon and heir to that fame Faulconbridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir? You came not of one mother, then, it feems.

Phil. 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 heav'n, and to my mother ; Of that I doubt, as all mens' children may.

Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame 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, he pops me out At least from fair five hundred pound a-year. Heav'n guard my mother's honour, and my land! K. John. A good blunt fellow; why, being younger born,

Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

Phil know not why, except to get the land;
But once he flander'd me with bastardy:
But whether i be true begot or no,
That ftill I lay upon my mother's head;

But

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 fon like him ;
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heav'n thanks I was not like to thee.

K. John. Why, what a mad-cap hath heav'n lent us here?

Eli. He hath a trick of Coeur-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. 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?
Phil. Becaufe he hath a half-face like
my father,
With that half-face would he have all my land?
A half-face'd groat, five hundred pound a-year!
Rob. My gracious Liege, when that my father liv'd,
Your brother did employ my father much?

Phil. Well, Sir, by this you cannot get my land. A Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother. Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassy To Germany; there with the Emperor To treat of high affairs touching that time: Th' advantage of his abfence took the King, And in the mean time fojourn'd at my father's; Where, how he did prevail, I fhame to fpeak: But truth is truth; large lengths of feas and fhores Between my father and my mother lay, (As I have heard my father fpeak himself), When this fame lufty gentleman was got. Upon his deathbed 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 were, he came into the world Full fourteen weeks before the courfe 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

And if he did play falfe, the fault was her's;
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, refufe him. This concludes,
My mother's fon did get your father's heir,
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 ?

Phil. Of no more force to difpoffefs me, Sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.

A

A

Eli. Whether hadft thou rather be a Faulconbridge, And, like thy brother, to enjoy thy land; SA Or the reputed fon of Coeur-de-lion,

Lord of the prefence *, and no land befide?

Phil. Madam, and if my brother had my fhape,
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him;
And if my legs were two fuch riding rods,
My arms fuch eel-skins stuff'd ; my face fo thin,
That in mine ear I durft not stick a rofe,

Left men fhould fay, Look, where three farthings goes +!

"And to his fhape were heir to all this land ;”, 'Would I might never ftir from off this place, I'd give it ev'ry foot to have this face.

i. e. Prince of the blood.

The ticking rofes about them, was then all the court fashion. +We must obferve, to explain this allufion, that, Q Elifabeth was the first, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England three-halfpence and three farthing pieces. She at one and the fame time coined hillings, fix-pences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, three halfpence, pence, three-farthings, and halfpence. And these pieces all had her head, and were alte nately with the role benind, and without the rofe. The filling, groat, two-pence, penny, and halfpenny, had it not. The other intermediate coins, viz. the fixpence, threepence, threehalf pence, and threefarthings, had the rofe." Mr. Theobald.

would