King John, this is the very fum of all;

England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur I do claim of thee:

Wilt thou refign them, and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as foon.-I do defy thee, France.
Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand;
And out of my dear love I'll give thee more,
Than e'er the coward-hand of France can win *,

Eli. Who is 't that thou doft call ufurper, France ?
Conft. Let me make anfwer: thy ufurping for.
Eli. Out, infolent! thy baftard fhall be King,
That thou may't be a Queen, and check the world!
Conft My bed was ever to thy fon as true!
As thine was to thy husband; and this boy,
Liker in feature to his father Geffrey,

Than thou and John, in manners being as like
As rain to water, or devil to his dam.
My boy a bastard! by my foul, I think
His father never was fo true begot;

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.
Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that wonld blot thee.
Auft. Peace-

Faulc. Hear the crier.

Auft. What the devil art thou?

Faulc. One that will play the devil, Sir, with you,

An a'may catch your hide and you alone.

You are the hare, of whom the proverb goes,
Whofe valour plucks dead lions by the beard;
I'll fmoak your skin-coat, an I catch you right;
Sirrah, look to 't; 'faith, I will, i' faith.

Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe,
That did difrobe the lion of that robe.

Faulc. It lies as fightly on the back of him,

As great Alcides' fhews upon an afs;

But, afs, I'll take that burthen from your back,

Or lay on that fhall make your shoulders crack.

Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our cars

With this abundance of fuperfluous breath?

King Philip, determine what we fhall do ftrait.

K. Phil. Women and fools, break off your conference. King John, &c.

Submit thee, boy.

of France can win.

Eli. Come to thy grandam, child.
Conft. Do, child, go to it grandam, child.
Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will

K. Phil. Some trumpet fummon hither to the walls Thefe men of Angiers; let us hear them fpeak, Whofe title they admit, Arthur's or John's.

[Trumpet founds

SCENE III. Enter a Citizen upon the walls

Cit. Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?
K. Phil. 'Tis France, for England.

Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig.
There's a good grandam.

Arth. Good my mother, peace;

I would that I were low laid in my grave;
I am not worth this coil that's made for me.

Eli. His mother fhames him fo, poor boy, he weeps,
Conft. Now fhame upon you, whe'r fhe does or no!
His grandam's wrong, and not his mother's fhames,
Draws thofe heav'n-moving pearls from his poor eyes.
Which heav'n fhall take in nature of a fee:

Ay, with these cryftal beads heav'n fhall be brib'd,
To do him justice, and revenge on you.

Eli. Thou monftrous flanderer of heav'n and earth!
Conft. Thou monftrous injurer of heav'n and earth!

Call me no flanderer; thou and thine ufurp

The domination, royalties, and rights

Of this oppreffed boy; this is thy eldeft fon's foly
Infortunate in nothing but in thee:

Thy fins are vifited in this poor child;
The canon of the law is laid on him;
Being but the fecond generation

Removed from thy fin-conceiving womb.
K. John. Bedlam, have done.
Conj. I have but this to say,

That he is not only plagued for her fin,
But God hath made her fin and her the plague
On this removed iffure, plagu'd for her,
And with her plague her fin; his injury,
Her injury, the beadle to her fin,
All punish'd in the perfon of this child,

And all for her; a plague upon her!

Eli. Thou unadvifed fcold, I can produce

A will that bars the title of thy fon.

Confi. Ay, who doubts that? a will!—a wicked will;

A woman's will, a canker'd grandam's will.

K. Phil. Peace, Lady; paufe, or be

It ill befeems this prefence to cry Aim
To thefe ill-tuned repetitions.
Some trumpet, &c.

ore temperate

K. John. England for itself;

You men of Angiers and my loving fubjects

K. Phil. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's fubjects,

Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle

K. John. For our advantage; therefore hear us first.
Thefe flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and profpect of your town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement.
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath;
And ready mounted are they to fpit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparations for a bloody fiege

And merciless proceeding, by thefe French,
Confront your cities eyes, your winking * gates;
And, but for our approach, thofe fleeping ftones,
That as a wafte do girdle you about,

By the compulfion of their ordinance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been difhabited, and wide havock made
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But on the fight of us your lawful King,
(Who painfully with much expedient march,
Have brought a counter-check before your gates,
To fave unfcratch'd your city's threat'ned cheeks),
Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchfafe a parle;
And now, inftead of bullets wrapt in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They fhoot but calm words folded up in fmoak,
To make a faithlefs error in your ears;
Which truft accordingly, kind citizens;
And let in us, your King, whofe labour'd fpirits,
Fore-weary'd in this action of fwift speed,

Crave harbourage within your city-walls.

K. Phil. When I have faid, make anfwer to us both, Lo! in this right hand, whofe protection Is moft divinely vow'd upon the right Of him it holds, ftands young Plantagenet; Son to the elder brother of this man, And King o'er him, and all that he enjoys For this down-trodden equity, we tread

In warlike march thefe greens before your town:
Being no further enemy to you,
Than the constraint of hofpitable zeal,
In the relief of this oppreffed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleafed then
To pay that duty, which you truly owe

To him that owns it; namely, this young prince.
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in afpect, hath all offence feal'd up:
Our cannons' malice vainly fhall be spent
Against th' invulnerable clouds of heav'n;
And with a bleffed and unvex'd retire,

With unhack'd fwords, and helmets all unbruis'd,
We will bear home that lufty blood again,
Which here we came to spout against your town;
And leave your children, wives, and you in peace.
But if you fondly pafs our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the rounder * of your olu-fac'd walls
Can hide you from our meffengers of war;
Tho' all these English, and their difcipline,
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then tell us, fhall your city call us Lord,
In that behalf which we have challeng'd it?
Or shall we give the fignal to our rage,
And ftalk in blood to our poffeffion?

Git. In brief, we are the King of England's fubjects; For him, and in his right, we hold this town.

K. John. Acknowledge then the King, and let me in.
Cit. That can we not; but he that proves the King,
To him will we prove loyal; till that time,
Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.

K. John. Doth not the crown of England prove the
King?

And if not that, I bring you witneffes,

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed-
Faulc. (Baftards, and elfe).

K. John. To verify our title with their lives.

K. Phil. As many, and as well-born bloods ag thofe

Faulc. (Some baftards too).

K. Phil. Stand in his face to contradict his claims.

* i. e. circle,

Cit. Till you compound whofe right is worthieft, We for the worthieft hold the right from both.

K. John. Then God forgive the fin of all thofe fouls,

That to their everlasting refidence,

Before the dew of evening fall, fhall fleet,
In dreadful trial of our kingdom's King!

K. Phil. Amen, amen.

arms!

-Mount, Chevaliers, to

Faulc. Saint George that fwing'd the dragon, and e'er fince

Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door,
Teach us fome fence. Sirrah, were I at home
At your den, firrah, with your lioness,

I'd fet an ox-head to your lion's hide *,
And make a monster of you.-

Auft. Peace, no more.

[To Auftria.

Faulc. O, tremble; for you hear the lion roar.
K. John. Up higher to the plain, where we'll fet

forth

In beft appointment all our regiments.

Faulc. Speed then to take th' advantage of the field. K. Phil. It shall be so; and at the other hill Command the reft to ftand. God, and our right!

SCENE

[Exeunt.

IV.

A long charge founded: then, after excurfions, enter the Herald of France with trumpets to the gates.

F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates, And let young Arthur Duke of Bretagne in; Who by the hand of France this day hath made Much work for tears in many an English mother, Whofe fons lie fcatter'd on the bleeding ground; And many a widow's husband groveling lies, Coldly embracing the difcolour'd earth; While victory with little lofs doth play Upon the dancing banners of the French;

Who are at hand triumphantly difplay'd,

*The Archduke wore a lion's hide which had belonged to Richard Coeur-de-lion,