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Citizens of Angiers, Heralds, Executioners, Messengers, Soldiers, and other Attendants.
The SCENE, fometimes in England, and fometimes in France.

SCENE I

Northampton.

ACT I.

A room of flate in the palace.

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

K. John. N

WOW, fay, Chatillon, what would
France with us? [France,

Chat. Thus, after greeting, fpeaks the king of
In my behaviour, to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning ;——borrow'd majesty!
K.Jobu. Silence, good mother; hear the embally.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's fon,
Arthur Plantagenet, lays moft lawful claim
To this fair ifland, and the territories;
To Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine:
Defiring thee to lay afide the fword,

Which fways ufurpingly thefe 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 7 of fierce and bloody
To inforce thefe rights fo forcibly withheld. [war,
K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood
for blood,

Controulment for controulment; fo answer France.
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my
The fartheft limit of my embally. [mouth,

K. John. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France: [peace:
For ere thou canft 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 :-Farewell, Chatillon.
[Exeunt Chat. and Pem.
Eli. What now, my fon? have I not ever faid,

1 Mr. Theobald remarks, that though this play hath the title of The Life and Death of King John, yet the action of it begins at the thirty-fourth year of his life; and takes in only fome tranfactions of his reign at the time of his demife, being an interval of about feventeen years. Mr. Steevens obferves, that Hall, Holinfhed, Stowe, &c. are clofely foliowed not only in the conduct, but fometimes in the expreffions throughout the following hiftorical dramas; viz. Macbeth, this play, Richard II. Henry IV. 2 parts, Henry V. Henry VI. 3 parts, Richard III. and Henry VIII. 2 William Marefhall. 3 Jeffrey Fitzpeter, Ch. J. of England. 4 William Longfword, fon to Hen. 11. by Rofamond Clifford. 5 Roger, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk. i. e. in my character.

polition.

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How

How that ambitious Conftance would not ceafe, Till the 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 muft With fearful bloody ifiue arbitrate.

[us. K. John. Our strong poflection, and our right for Eli. Your strong poffeffion, much more than your Or elfe it muft go wrong with you, and me: :[right; So much my confcience whifper, in your ear: Which none but heaven, and you, and I, thall hear. Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers

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Effex. My liege, here is the strangeft controversy,
Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach. [Exit Sherif].
Our abbies, and cer priories, fhail pay
Re-enter Sheriff with Robert Foulembridge, and Phi-
lip, his brother.

This expedition's charge.-What men are you?
Phil. Your faithful fubiect I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I fuppofe, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A foldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cœur-de-hon knighted in the field.
K. Jeln. What art thou ›

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

Pb. Moit certain of one mother, mighty king, That is well known; and, as I think, one father: But, for the certain knowledge of that trutli,

I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother;
Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.

O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.
K. Jobn. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven

lent us here!

Fli. He hath a trick 2 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. Because he hath a half-face, like my father; With that half-face would he have all my land : A half-fac'd groat 3 five hundred pound a year!

Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd, Your brother did employ my father much ;——

Phil. Well, fir, by this you cannot get my land;
Your tale muit be, how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once difpatch'd him in an embally
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
The 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 speak;
Por truth is truth; large lengths of fees and thores
Between my father and my mother lay,

As I have heard my father fpeak himself)
When this fame lufty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bcd 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. Sirah, your brother is legitimate;

Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou doft fhame Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him :

thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.

Pbil. 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 left 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?

And, if the did play falfe, the fault was hers;
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-

Phil. I know not why, except to get the land. My mother's fon did get your father's heir ;

But once he flander'd me with baftardy:

But whe'r I be as true begot, or no,

That fill 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 fon like him

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, fir,

Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether hadit thou rather, be a Faulconbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;

1 That is, conduct, administration. 2 Meaning, that peculiarity of face which may be fuff ciently fhewn by the flighteft outline. 3 Our author is here knowingly guilty of an anachronism, as he alludes to a coin not ftruck till the year 1504, in the reign of king Henry VII. viz. a groat, which, as well as the half groat, bare but half faces impreffed. The groats of all our kings of England, and indeed all their other coins of filver, one or two only excepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time above mentioned, coined groats and half groats, as alfo fome fhillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. The firit groats of king Henry VIII. were like thofe of his father; though afterwards he returned to the broad faces again. In the time of King John there were no groats at all, they being firft, as far as appears, coined in the reign of King Edward III.

Or

Or the reputed fon of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy prefence, and no land befide ?

Phil. Madam, an if my brother had my thape,
And I had his, fir Robert's his, like him 2;
And if my legs were two fuch riding-rods,
My aims fuch eel-íkins fluft; my face to thin,
That in mine ear I durft not stick a rofe 3, [goes!
Left men should say, Look, where three-farthings
And, to his fhape, were heir to all this land,
'Would I might never ftir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face;
I would not be Sir Nob in any cafe.

[tune,

Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forfake thy for-
Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me ?
I am a foldier, and now bound to France.

Phil. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee,
For thou wait got 'the way of honeity!
[Exeunt all but Philip.

A foot of honour better than I was;
But many a many foot of land the worfe.
Well, now can I make any Joan a Lady :--
Good den, Sir Richard,—God-a-mercy, fellow 7
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter :
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
Tis too refpective, and too fuciable,

For your converting. Now your traveller,-
He and his tooth-pick 9 at my worship's meis;
And when my knightly ftomach is fufic'd,
Why then I fuck my teeth, and catechife
My piked 10 man of countries :-—-—-—

-My dear fir,

Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my (Thus, leaning on my elbow, 1 begin)

chance :

Your face hath got five hundred pound a-year ;
Yet fell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Fli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
Phil. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. What is thy name?

Phil. Philip, my liege; fo is my name begun;
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldett fon.
K. Joba. From henceforth bear his name whofe
form thou bear'it :

Kneel thou down Philip, but arife more great;
Arite S. Richard, and Plantagenet.

[hand;

Phil. Brother by the mother's fide, give me your
My father gave me honour, yours gave land :—
Now bietied 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 fo.
Pbil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
What though+?

I fhail befeech you-That is queftion now ;
And then comes anfwer like an AEC-book !!:-
fir, fays answer, at your best command;

No, fir, tays question; I, sweet fir, at yours :
it your employment; at your service, fir :———-
And fo, e'er answer knows what queffion would,
Saving in dialogue of compliment;
And talking of the Alps, and Apennines,
It draws toward fupper in conclufion fo.
The Pyrenean, and the river Po)
But this is worthipful fociety,

And fits the mounting fpirit, like myself: For he is but a battard to the time, That doth not fmack of obfervation; (And so am I, whether I fmack, or no) And not alone in habit and device, Exterior form, outward accoutrement; But from the inward motion to deliver Sweet, fweet, fweet poifon for the age's tooth: Which 12 though i will not practife to deceive, Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn; For it fhall strew the footsteps of my rifing.In at the window, or elfe o'er the hatch 5: Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night; But who comes in fuch hafte, in riding robes? What woman-poft is this? hath the no hufband, And have is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is ftill well fhot; That will take pains to blow a horn before her 13? Enter Lady Faulconbridge and James Gurney. And am 1, howe'er I was begot. O me! it is my mother :-K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now haft thou thy What brings you here to court fo haftily? -How now, good lady? [lie,

Something about, a little from the right,

defire,

A landless knight makes thee a landed 'fquire -
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we muit fpeed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.

Lady. Where is that flave, thy brother? where is That holds in chafe mine honour up and down? Phil. My brother Robert ? old Sir Robert's fon? Colbrand the giant, that fame mighty man?

1. e. mafter of thy majeftic figure and dignified appearance. fhape- Su Robert's as he has." 2 The meaning is, "If I had his Sir Robert his, for Sir Robert's, is agreeable to the practice of that time, when the 's added to the nominative was believed, I think erroneously, to be a contraction of his. 3 Theobald fays, that in this very obfcure paffage our poet is anticipating the date of another coin; humouroufly to rally a thin face, eclipted, as it were, by a full-blown rofe. We muit obierve, to explain this allution, that queen Elizabeth was the firit, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England three-ball-pence, and three-farthing pieces. She at one and the fame time coined shillings, fixpences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, three-half-ponce, pence, three-farthings, and half-pence; and thefe picces all had her head, and were alternately with the reft behind, and without the rofe. The fhilling, groat, two-pence, penny, and half-penny had it not: the other intermediate coins, vz. the fix-pence, three-pence, three-half-pence, and three-farthings had the rofe. But Dr. Warburton obferves, that the fucking rufes about them was then all the court-fafhion. 4 What then? 5 Thele expreflions mean, fays Mr. Steevens, to be born out of wedlock.i. c. a ftep. 7 Faulconbridge here entertains himfelf with ideas of greatnefs. - Good den, Sir Richard, he fuppofes to be the falutation of a valfal. God-a-mercy, fellow, his own fupercilious reply to it. 8 and wear a piqued beard, were, in that time, marks of a travelier, or man aficcting foreign fashions. 1. c. refpe&ful. 9 To pick the teeth, 10 See note 8. p. 164. 1 i. e. «s they then spoke and wrote it, an abfey-book, meaning a catechifm. 12 Which for this. 13 Dr. Johnfon fays, our author means, that a woman who travelled about like a pet, was likely to horn her husband.

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Is

Is it Sir Robert's fon that you feek fo?

Lady. Sir Robert's fon! Ay, thou unreverend boy,
Sir Robert's fon: Why scorn'ft thou at Sir Robert ?
He is Sir Robert's fon, and fo art thou. [while?
Phil. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.
Phil. Philip ?-fparrow !-James,
There's toys abroad 2; anon I'll tell thee more.
[Exit James.

Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother
Lady. Haft thou deny'd thyfelf a Faulconbridge?
Phil. As faithfully as I deny the devil.

Lady. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father;
By long and vehement fuit I was feduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed :--
Heaven lay not my tranfgreffion to my charge!-
Thou art the itiue of my dear offence,
Which was fo ftrongly urg'd, paft my defence.

Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's fon;
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 confefs!
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it;
We know his handy-work :—Therefore, good mo- | Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
To whom am I beholden for thefe limbs ? [ther,
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.

Phil. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not with a better father.
Some fins do bear their privilege on earth,
And fo doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Needs muft you lay your heart at his difpofe,-

Lady. Haft thou conspired with thy brother too, That for thine own gain fhould'it defend mine honour?

What means this fcorn, thou moft untoward knave?
Phil. Knight, knight, good mother,-Bafilifco
like 3:

What! I am dub'd; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's fon;
I have difclaim'd Sir Robert, and my land;
Legitimation, name, and all is gone :

Then, good my mother, let me know my father;

Against whofe fury and unmatched force
The awlefs lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand 4,
He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May eafily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but fay, thou did'st not well
When I was got, I'll fend his foul to hell.
Come, lady, I will fhew thee to my kin;

And they fhall fay, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadit faid him nay, it had been fin:
Who fays, it was, he lyes; 1 fay, 'twas not.
[Excunt.

ACT

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Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Palcftine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave:
And, for amends to his pofterity,
At our importance 5 hither is he come,
To fpread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.

Arthur. God fhall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's
The rather, that you give his offspring life, [death,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,

II.

But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lewis. A noble boy! Who would not do the
right?

Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs,
As feal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,
"Till Angiers, and the right thou haft in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,
Whofe foot fpurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, ftill fecure
And confident from foreign purpofes,
Even 'till that utmoft corner of the weft,
Salute thee for her king: 'till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
Conf. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's
thanks,
[trength,
Till your ftrong hand fhall help to give him
To make a more requital to your love.

6

1 Goed lewe means a ready affent. 2 i. e. rumours, idle reports. 3 Faulconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of fatire on a ftupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perfeda. In this picce there is the character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Bafilifco, His pretention to valour is fo blown, and feen through, that Pifton, a buffoon-fervant in the play, jumps upon his back, and will not difengage him, till he makes Bafilifco fwear upon his dudgeon dagger that he was a knave, knave, knave, and no knight, knight, knight, as Babilifco arrogantly tiled himfelt. In the fame manner Philip, when his mother calls him knave, throws off that reproach by humouronfly laving claim to his new dignity of knighthood. 4 Shak speare here alludes to the old metrical romance of Richard Caur de lion, wherein this once celebrated monarch is related to have acquired his diftinguishing appellation, by having plucked out a lion's heart to whofe fury he was expofed by the duke of Austria, for having flain his fan with a blow of his fift. si, e. importunity. i. e. greater.

Auft.

Auft. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift, England we love; and for that England's fake, In fuch a juft and charitable war. [their fwords With burthen of our armour here we sweat : This toil of ours thould be a work of thine; But thou from loving England art so far,

K. Philip. Well then, to work;

fhall be bent

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our cannon

Against the brows of this refifting town.-
Call for our chiefert men of difcipline,
To cull the plots of beft advantages:-
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it fubject to this boy.

Conft. Stay for an antwer to your embaffy,
Left unadvis'd you ftain your fwords with blood:
My lord Chatillon may from England bring
That right in peace, which here we urge in war;
And then we shall repent each drop of blood,
That hot rath hafte fo indirectly shed.

Enter Chatillon.

;

That thou haft under-wrought 3 its lawful king,
Cut off the fequence of pofterity,
Out-faced infant ftate, and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face ;-
Thefe eyes, thefe brows, were moulded out of his :
This little abitract doth contain that large,
Which dy'd in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his fon; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,

K. Philip. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, When living blood doth in thefe temples beat, Our metfenger Chatillon is arriv'd.

What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly paufe for thee; Chatillon, speak. [fiege,
Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry
And ftir them up againtt a mightier task.
England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himielf in arms; the adverfe winds,
Whofe leifure I have ftaid, have given him time
To land his legions all as foon as I :

His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Ate, ftirring him to blood and furife;
With her, her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a battard of the king deceas'd:
And all the unfettled humours of the land,-
Rath, inconfiderate, fiery voluntaries,
With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' ipleens,-
Have fold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,
Did never float upon the fwelling tide,
To do offence and feath 2 in Christendom.
The interruption of their churlith drums

[Drums beat.

Cuts off more circumftance: They are at hand,
To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this ex-
pedition!

Aft. By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence;
For courage mounteth with occafion:

Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd.

Enter King John, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch,
Pembroke, and others.

K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace
Our just and lineal entrance to our own! [permit
If not; bleed France, and peace afcend to heaven!
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to heaven.
K. Philip. Peace be to England; if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace!

Which owe the crown that thou o'er-mastereft?
K. John. From whom haft thou this great com
miffion, France,

To draw my antwer from thy articles? [thoughts
K. Phil. From that fupernal judge, that itirs good
In any breast of strong authority,

To look into the blots and stains of right.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:
Under whofe warrant, I impeach thy wrong;
And by whofe help, I mean to chaftife it.

K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
K. Philip. Excufe it; 'tis to beat ufurping down.
Eli. Who is it, thou doft call ufurper, France ?
Conft. Let me make anfwer;-thy ufurping fon.
Eli. Out, infolent! thy baftard shall be king;
That thou may it 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 baftard! 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
Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that would

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[father.

Faule. One that will play the devil, fir, 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 ikin-coat, an I catch you right;
Sirrah, look to't; i'faith, I will, i'faith.

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

Fauls. It lies as fightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' fhoes upon an als :--
But, afs, I'll take that burden from your back;
Or lay on that, thall make your thoulders crack.

Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deaf's our
With this abundance of fuperfluous breath? [ears
King Lewis, determine what we thall do ftrait.

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That is, expeditious. 2 i, e. deftru&tion, harm, 3 i. e. undermined.

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