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Enter the two Kings with their Powers, at feveral Doors.

K. John. France, haft thou yet more blood to caft away?

Say, fhall the current of our Right run on?
Whofe paffage, vext with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel, and o'er-fwell
With course disturb'd ev'n thy confining shores;
Unless thou let his filver water keep

A peaceful progrefs to the ocean.

K. Philip. England, thou haft not fav'd one drop of blood

In this hot tryal, more than we of France;
Rather loft more. And by this hand I swear,
That sways the earth this climate overlooks,
Before we will lay by our juft-borne arms,
We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom thefe arms we bear;
Or add a royal number to the dead;

Gracing the fcroul, that tells of this war's lofs,
With flaughter coupled to the name of Kings.

Faulc. Ha! Majefty,-how high thy glory towers, When the rich blood of Kings is fet on fire!

Oh, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel;
The fwords of foldiers are his teeth, his phangs;
And now he feafts, mouthing the flesh of men
In undetermin'd diff'rences of Kings.
Why ftand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry havock, Kings; back to the stained field,
You equal Potents, fiery-kindled fpirits!
Then let Confufion of one part confirm

The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death.
K. John. Whofe party do the townsmen yet admit ?
K. Philip. Speak, Citizens, for England, who's your
King?

his

Cit. The King of England, when we know the King.
K. Philip. Know him in us, that here hold up
Right.

K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy,
And bear poffeffion of our perfon here;

Lord of our prefence, Angiers, and of you.

Cit. A greater pow'r, than ye, denies all this; (7) And till it be undoubted, we do lock

Our former fcruple in our ftrong-barr'd gates.
Kings of our fears,- -until our fears refolv'd

Be by fome certain King purg'd and depos'd.
Faule. By heav'n, the Scroyles of Angiers flout you,
Kings,

And ftand fecurely on their battlements,

As in a Theatre, whence they gape and point
At your induftrious Scenes and Acts of death.
You royal prefences, be rul'd by me;
Do like the Mutines of Jerufalem,

Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend
Your fharpeft deeds of malice on this town.
By east and weft let France and England mount
Their batt'ring cannon charged to the mouths;
Till their foul-fearing clamours have braul'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous City.
I'd play inceffantly upon thefe jades;
Even till unfenced defolation

Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, diffever your united strengths,
And part your mingled Colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point.
Then in a moment fortune fhall cull forth
Out of one fide her happy minion;
To whom in favour fhe fhall give the day,
And kifs him with a glorious Victory.
How like you this wild counfel, mighty States?

Smacks it not something of the Policy?

K. John. Now by the sky, that hangs above our heads,

I like it well. France, fhall we knit our Pow'rs,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground,

(7) A greater Pow'r than We denies all this ;] We must cer tainly read, as Mr. Warburton acutely obferv'd to Me;

A greater Pow'r, than Ye, denies all this:

i. e. Tho' each of You pretend to be our rightful Kings, you are as yet only fo in fwaying over our Fears, in the Terrors we have of you; not acknowledg'd Kings in our Obedience.

Then,

Then, after, fight who shall be King of it?
Faulc. And if thou haft 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 fawcy walls;
And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,
Why, then defie each other; and, pell-mell,
Make work upon our selves for heav'n or hell.
K. Philip. Let it be fo; fay, where will you affault ?
K. John. We from the weft will fend deftruction
Into this City's bofom.

Auft. I from the north.

K. Philip. Our thunder from the fouth Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.

Faulc. O prudent difcipline! from North to South; Auftria and France fhoot in each other's mouth. I'll ftir them to it; come, away, away!

Cit. Hear us, great Kings; vouchfafe a while to stay,

And I fhall fhew you peace, and fair-fac'd league;
Win you
this city without ftroak or wound;
Rescue thofe breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come facrifices for the field;

Perfever not, but hear me, mighty Kings.

K. John. Speak on, with favour; we are bent to

hear.

Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch,
Is near to England; look upon the years
Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid.
If lufty love fhould go in queft of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?
If zealous love fhould go in fearch of virtue,
Where fhould he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love, ambitious, fought a match of Birth,
Whofe veins bound richer blood than lady Blanch?
Such as fhe is, in beauty, virtue, birth,
Is the young Dauphin every way compleat :
If not compleat offay, he is not fhe;

And he again wants nothing, (to name Want,)
If Want it be not, that she is not he.
VOL. III.

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He is the half part of a bleffed man, (8)
Left to be finished by fuch a She:
And the a fair divided Excellence,
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.
Oh! two fuch filver currents, when they join,
Do glorifie the banks that bound them in:
And two fuch fhores, to two fuch ftreams made one,
Two fuch controlling bounds fhall you be, Kings,
To these two Princes, if you marry them.
This union fhall do more than battery can,
To our faft-clofed gates: for at this match,
With fwifter Spleen than Powder can enforce,
The mouth of paffage fhall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance; but without this match,
The fea enraged is not half so deaf,

Lions fo confident, mountains and rocks

So free from motion; no, not death himself
In mortal fury half fo peremptory,

As we to keep this City.

Faule. Here's a stay,

That shakes the rotten carcafs of old Death

Out of his rags. Here's a large mouth, indeed,
That fpits forth death, and mountains, rocks and feas;
Talks as familiarly of roaring Lions,

As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs.

What Cannoneer begot this lufty blood?

He fpeaks plain cannon-fire, and smoak and bounce,

He gives the baftonado with his tongue :

Our ears are cudgel'd; not a word of his,
But buffets better than a fift of France;

Zounds! I was never fo bethumpt with words,

Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.

Eli. Son, lift to this conjunction, make this match, Give with our Neice a dowry large enough;For by this knot thou fhalt fo furely tie

(8) He is the half Part of a blessed Man,

Left to be finished by fuch as She:] The ingenious Dr. Thira prefcrib'd that Reading, which I have here reftor'd to the Texti and which is abfolutely requifite to the Sense of the Passage.

Thy

Thy now unfur'd affurance to the Crown,
That yon green boy fhall have no Sun to ripe
The bloom, that promiseth a mighty fruit.
I fee a Yielding in the looks of France;

Mark, how they whisper; urge them, while their fouls Are capable of this ambition;

Left zeal now melted by the windy breath

Of foft petitions, pity and remorse,

Cool and congeal again to what it was.

Cit. Why anfwer not the double Majesties

This friendly Treaty of our threaten'd town?

K. Philip. Speak, England, firft, that hath been forward first

To speak unto this City: what fay you?

K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy Princely fon,
Can in this book of beauty read, I love ;*
Her dowry fhall weigh equal with a Queen.
For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poitiers, (9)
And all that we upon this fide the fea,

Except this City now by us befieg'd,
Find liable to our Crown and Dignity,
Shall gild her bridal bed; and make her rich
In titles, honours, and promotions;

(9) For ANGIERS and fair Touraine, Maine, Poi&iers,
And all that We upon this Side the Sea,

Except this City now by us befieg'd,

Find liable, &c.] This is a remarkable Inftance of Careleffnefs in a Point that ftares common Senfe full in the Face: and yet thus all the Editors in their profound Sagacity. What was the City befieg'd, but Angiers? King John, confenting to match the Lady Blanch with the Dauphin, agrees, in Part of her Dow ry, to give up all he held in France, except the City of Angiers which he now befieg'd and laid Claim to.. But could it be thought, that he should at one and the fame time give up all except Angiers, and give up That too? Anjou was one of the Provinces, which the English held in France; and which the French King by Chatilion claim'd of K. John in Right of Duke Arthur, at the very Opening of the Play. Angiers, instead of Anjou, has been falfely printed in feveral other Paffages of this Hiftory.

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