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tyrant

Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure
Our setting down befor't.

Mal. 'Tis his main hope:

For where there is advantage to be given, Both more and less have given him the revolt; And none serve with him, but constrained [things,

Whose hearts are absent too.

Macd. Let our just censures
Attend the true event, and put we on
Industrious soldiership.

Siw. The time approaches,

That will with due decision make us know What we shall say we have, and what we owe, Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate; But certain issue strokes must arbitrate:+ Towards which, advance the war.

[Exeunt, marching.

SCENE V.-Dunsinane. Within the Castle. Enter, with Drums and Colours, MACBETH, SEYTON, and Soldiers.

Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls; [strength The cry is still, They come: Our castle's Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie, Till famine, and the ague, eat them up: Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, [beard, We might have met them dareful, beard to And beat them backward home. What is that noise? [A cry within, of Women. Sey. It is the cry of women, my good lord. Macb. I have almost forgot the taste of fears: The time has been, my senses would have cool'd

To hear a night-shriek; and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse, and stir
As life were in't: I have supp'd full with
horrors;

Direness, familiar to my slaught'rous thoughts, Cannot once start me.-Wherefore was that cry?

Sey. The queen, my lord, is dead. Macb. She should have died hereafter; There would have been a time for such a word.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief

candle!

Life's but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.-

* I. e. Greater and less † Petermine. Skin.

Enter a MESSENGER.

Thou com'st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly.

Mess. Gracious my lord,

I shall report that which I say I saw,
But know not how to do it.
Macb. Well, say, Sir.

Mess. As I did 'stand my watch upon the hill,

I look'd toward Birnam, and anon, methought,
The wood began to move.
Macb. Liar, and slave!

[Striking him. Mess. Let me endure your wrath, if't be not Within this three mile may you see it coming; I say, a moving grove.

so:

Macb. If thou speak'st false, Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, Till famine cling* thee: if thy speech be sooth, I care not if thou dost for me as much.I pull in resolution; and begin

out!

To doubt the equivocation of the fiend,
That lies like truth: Fear not, till Birnam wood
Do come to Dunsinane-and now a wood
Comes toward Dunsinane.—Arm, arm, and
If this, which he avouches, does appear,
There is nor flying hence, nor tarrying here.
I'gin to be a-weary of the sun, [undone.-
And wish the estate o'the world were now
Ring the alarum bell:-Blow, wind! come,
At least we'll die with harnesst on our back.
wrack!

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.-The same.-A plain before the Castle. Enter, with Drums and Colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, MACDUFF, &c. and their Army, with Boughs.

Mal. Now near enough; your leavy screens

throw down, [uncle, And show like those you are:-You, worthy Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son. Lead our first battle: worthy Macduff, and we, Shall take upon us what else remains to do, According to our order.

Siw. Fare you well.

Do we but find the tyrant's power to-night,
Let us be beaten, if we cannot fight.
Macd. Make all our trumpets speak; give
them all breath,

Those

clamorous harbingers of blood and death. [Exeunt. Alarums continued. SCENE VII.-The same.-Another Part of the Plain.

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Yo. Sue. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with Painted upon a pole; and underwrit, my sword

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Re-enter MACDUFF.

Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn.

Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee: But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd With blood of thine already.

Macd. I have no words,

My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out!
Macb. Thou losest labour:

[They fight.

As easy may'st thou the intrenchant airț
With thy keen sword impress, as make me
bleed:

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd. Despair thy charm;

And let the angel, whom thou still hast serv'd, Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripp'd.

Macb. Accursed be that tongue that tells me For it hath cow'd my better part of man! [so, And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, That paltert with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with

thee.

Maed. Than yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze o'the time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
+ Reported with clamour.
Shuffle.

* Soldiers.
The air which cannot be cut.

Here may you see the tyrant. Macb. I'll not yield,

[feet, To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's And to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last: Before my body I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff'; And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough. [Exeunt, fighting.

Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with Drum and Colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTÉTH, and Soldiers.

Mal. I would, the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.

So great a day as this is cheaply bought. [see, Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these I Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's He only liv'd but till he was a man ; [debt: The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died.

Siw. Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow

Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Siw. Had he his hurts before?

Rosse. Ay, on the front.

Siw. Why then, God's soldier be he!
Had I as many sons as I have hairs,
I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so his knell is knoll'd.

And that I'll spend for him.

Mul. He's worth more sorrow,

They say, he parted well, and paid his score:
Siw. He's worth no more;
So, God be with him!-Here comes newer
comfort.

Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH'S Head on a
Pole.

Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold,

where stands

I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,* The usurper's cursed head: the time is free: That speak my salutation in their minds; Whose yoices I desire aloud with mine,Hail, king of Scotland!

[Flourish.

All. King of Scotland, hail!
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of

time,

Before we reckon with your several loves, And make us even with you. My thanes and

kinsmen,

Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad;
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;-This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.
[Flourish. Exeunt.

* The kingdom's wealth or ornament.

KING JOHN.

KING JOHN.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards King Henry III.

ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne, the elder Brother of King John.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.
GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, Chief
Justiciary of England.

WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury.
ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.

HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King.
ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert
Faulconbridge.

PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, bastard Son to King Richard the First. JAMES GURNEY, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge.

PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet.
PHILIP, King of France.

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ACT I.

K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace:

SCENE I-Northampton.-A Room of State Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;

in the Palace.

For ere thou canst report I will be there, The thunder of my canon shall be heard:

Enter King JOHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMPROZE,
ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATIL- So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,

· 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 embassy.

Chat. Philip of France, in right and true beOf thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, [half 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,

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
With very easy arguments of love; [whole,
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, and me : So much my conscience whispers in your ear; Which none but heaven, and you, and 1, shall

hear.

Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whis

pers EssEx.

Esser. My liege, here is the strangest con-
troversy,

To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
K. John. Here have we war for war, and
blood for blood,
[France.
Controlment for controlment: SO answer
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my
The furthest limit of my embassy. [mouth, | Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay

Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That ere I heard: Shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach.-

* In the manner I now do.

[Exit Sheriff.

* Conduct, administration,

Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, | Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
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 Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. John. What art thou?

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.

Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.

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

heir?

Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king, [father: That is well known; and, as I think, one 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. Out 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!

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 slander'd me with bastardy :
But whe'r I be as true-bégot, or no,
That still I lay upon my mother's head;
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 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 mad-cap hath heaven

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 some tokens of my son In the large composition of this man? K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, [speak, And finds them perfect Richard.-Sirrah, What doth move you to claim your brother's

land?

Bust. 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 pounds 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

land;

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;
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. + Trace, outline.

. Whether.

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 Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, 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 [world; This calf, bred from his cow, from all the In sooth, he might: then, if he were my brother's, [father, My brother might not claim him; nor your Being none of his, refuse him: This concludes,

My mother's son 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 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 Faulconbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;
Or the reputed son of Coeur-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,

Lest men should say, Look, where three-farThat in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, things goes!

And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,
'Would I might never stir from off this place,
I would not be Sir Nobt in any case.
I'd give it every foot to have this face;

Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy fortune,

Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?
I am a soldier, and now bound to France.
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take
Your face hath got five hundred pounds a
my chance:
[year;
Yet sell your face for fivepence, and 'tis dear.-
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me

thither.

Bast. Our country manners give our betters way.

K. John. What is thy name?

Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest sou. Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;

K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st:

Kneel thou down Philip, but arise more great: Arise Sir Richard and Plantagenet.

Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me

your hand;

My father gave me honour, yours gave land:Now blessed be the hour, by night or day, When I was got, Sir Robert was away.

Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so. Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth: What though?

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Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch:
Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night;
And have is have, however men do catch:
Near or far off, well won is still well shot;
And I am I, howe'er I was begot.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire, ['squire.A landless knight makes thee a landed Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed [need. For France, for France; for it is more than Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to For thou wast got i'the way of honesty. [thee! [Exeunt all but the BASTARD. A foot of honour better than I was; But many a foot of land the worse. Well, now can I make any Joan a lady :Good den, Sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fellow;

And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter: For new-made honour doth forget men's names; "Tis too respective, and too sociable,

For your conversion. Now your traveller,-
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd,
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise
My picked man of countries:§- -My dear Sir,
(Thus leaning on mine elbows, I begin,)
I shall beseech you-That is question now;
And then comes answer like an ABC-book :||-
O Sir, says answer, at your best command;
At your employment; at your service, Sir :-
No, Sir, says question, I, sweet Sir, at yours:
And so, ere answer knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment;
And talking of the Alps, and Appenines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws toward supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation;
(And so am I, whether I smack, or no ;)
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.-
But who comes in such haste, in riding robes!
What woman-post is this? hath she no hus-
band,

That will take pains to blow a horn before her?

Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES,
GURNEY.

O me! it is my mother :-How now, good lady!
What brings you here to court so hastily?
Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother!

where is he?

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Bast. Philip?-sparrow!-James, There's toy's abroad;* anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit GURNEY. Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son; Sir Robert might have eat his part in me Upon Good-friday, and ne'er broke his fast: Sir Robert could do well; Marry, (to confess!) Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it; We know his handy-work:-Therefore, good mother,

To whom am I beholden for these limbs ? Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too, [honour? That for thine own gain should'st defend mine What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?

Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,—Basi

liscolike:t

What! I am dubb'd; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's son;
I have disclaim'd Sir Robert, and my land;
Legitimation, name, and all is gone :
Then, good my mother, let me know my father;
Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mo-
ther?

Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?

Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was

thy father;

By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed :—
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence.
Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father.
Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
And so doth yours; your fault was not your
folly:

Need must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
Against whose fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's
hand.

He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but say, thou didst not
well

When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin;

And they shall say, when Richard me begot, If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin: Who says it was, he lies; say, 'twas not. [Exeunt.

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+ Bespectable.

My travelled fop.

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