Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king,
That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world!
Const. My bed was ever to thy son 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 soul, I think
His father never was so true begot:

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.
Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.

Aust. Peace!

What the devil art thou?

Bast. 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,
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard:
I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch
Sirrah, look to 't; i' faith, I will, i' faith.
you right;

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

As

Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him

great Alcides' shows upon an ass :

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

Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack.

Aust. What cracker is this same that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath?

K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.
Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference.
King John, this is the very sum of all;

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

Wilt thou resign them and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as soon: 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 :
Submit thee, boy.

Eli.

Const. Do, child, go to it grandam, child;
Come to thy grandam, child.

130

140

150

160

131 if thou wert his mother. Elinor had given good cause for her divorce from her first

husband, Louis VII. of France.

your hide. Austria is supposed to wear the lion's skin which he was supposed to

have taken from Richard.

147 cracker one who cracks, boasts, gasconades.

it grandamits, etc.; as in Winter's Tale, Act II. Sc. 8, line 178.

Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will
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 shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.
Const. Now shame upon you, whe'er she does or no!
His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames,
Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,
Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;
Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be brib'd
To do him justice and revenge on you.

Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth!
Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth!
Call not me slanderer; thou and thine usurp

The dominations, royalties and rights

Of this oppressed boy: this is thy eld'st son's son,

Infortunate in nothing but in thee:

Thy sins are visited in this poor child;
The canon of the law is laid on him,
Being but the second generation
Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb.
K. John. Bedlam, have done.
Const.

I have but this to say,

That he is not only plagued for her sin,
But God hath made her sin and her the plague
On this removed issue, plagued for her
And with her plague; her sin his injury,

Her injury the beadle to her sin,

All punish'd in the person of this child,

And all for her; a plague upon her!

Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce

A will that bars the title of thy son.

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

A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will!

K. Phi. Peace, lady! pause, or be more temperate : It ill beseems this presence to cry aim

To these ill-tuned repetitions.

Some trumpet summon hither to the walls

These men of Angiers: let us hear them speak

Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.

Trumpet sounds. Enter certain Citizens upon the walls.

First Cit. Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?

179 in

upon.

=

183 Bedlam possibly, lunatic; but not improbably we should read beldam.
196 to cry aim to encourage.

170

180

190

200

K. Phi. T is France, for England.

K. John.

England, for itself.
You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,-

K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,
Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle

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

And merciless proceeding by these French
Confronts your city's eyes, your winking gates;
And but for our approach those sleeping stones,
That as a waist doth girdle you about,
By the compulsion of their ordinance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But on the sight of us your lawful king,
Who painfully with much expedient march
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threatened cheeks,
Behold, the French amaz'd vouchsafe a parle;
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shoot but calm words folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears:
Which trust accordingly kind citizens,

And let us in, your king, whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.

K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both.
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands 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 these
greens before

Being no further enemy to you
Than the constraint of hospitable zcal
In the relief of this oppressed child

your town,

223 expedient hasty, as before in this play.

210

220

230

240

Religiously provokes. Be pleased then

To pay that duty which you truly owe

To him that owes it, namely this young prince :
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruis'd,
We will bear home that lusty blood again
Which here we came to spout against your town,
And leave your children, wives, and you in peace.
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced walls
Can hide you from our messengers of war,
Though all these English and their discipline
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then tell us, shall your city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challeng'd it?
Or shall we give the signal to our rage
And stalk in blood to our possession?

250

260

First Cit. In brief, we are the King of England's subjects: For him, and in his right, we hold this town.

K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.

First 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.

271

K. John. Doth not the crown of England prove the king? And if not that, I bring you witnesses,

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,

Bast. Bastards, and else.

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

K. Phi. As many and as well-born bloods as those,
Bast. Some bastards too.

K. Phi. Stand in his face to contradict his claim.
First Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,

We for the worthiest hold the right for both.

K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls That to their everlasting residence,

Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,

In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!

K. Phi. Amen, amen! Mount, chevaliers! to arms!

280

Bast. Saint George, that swing'd the dragon, and e'er since

Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door,

248 owes it

359 roundure 289 horse back

289

horse's back: the possessive inflection es was sometimes omitted.

owns it. Ore was used to express both duty and possession.
circle, or encirclement.

Teach us some fence! [To Aust.] Sirrah, were I at home,
At your den, sirrah, with
your lioness,

I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,

And make a monster of you.

Aust.

Peace! no more.

Bast. O, tremble, for you hear the lion roar.

K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth
In best appointment all our regiments.

Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.
K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill

Command the rest to stand. God and our right!

[Exeunt.

300

Here after excursions, 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,
Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground;
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,
Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth;
And victory, with little loss, doth play
Upon the dancing banners of the French,
Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,
To enter conquerors and to proclaim

Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.

Enter English Herald, with trumpet.

E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells; King John, your king and England's, doth approach,

Commander of this hot malicious day:

Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright,
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;
There stuck no plume in any English crest

That is removed by a staff of France;
Our colours do return in those same hands

That did display them when we first march'd forth;
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dy'd in the dying slaughter of their foes:
Open your gates and give the victors way.

First Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might behold,
From first to last, the onset and retire
Of both your armies; whose equality
By our best eyes cannot be censured:

310

320

329

Blood hath bought blood and blows have answer'd blows; Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power: Both are alike; and both alike we like.

set an ox-head: one of the constant allusions to the horns of deceived husbands.