Their neelds to lances, and their gentle hearts Lew. There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace; We grant, thou canst outscold us: fare thee well; We hold our time too precious to be spent With such a brabbler. Pand. Give me leave to speak. We will attend to neither: Bast. No, I will speak. Strike up the drums; and let the tongue of war Bast. Indeed, your drums, being beaten, will cry out; And so shall you, being beaten: Do but start A bare-ribb'd death, whose office is this day out. Bast. And thou shalt find it, Dauphin, do not doubt. [Exeunt. • Their neelds to lances,] i. e. needles. SCENE III. The same. A Field of Battle. Alarums. Enter King JOHN and HUBERT. K. John. How goes the day with us? O, tell me, Hubert. Hub. Badly, I fear: How fares your majesty ? K. John. This fever, that hath troubled me so long, Lies heavy on me; O, my heart is sick! Enter a Messenger. Mess. My lord, your valiant kinsman, Faulconbridge, Desires your majesty to leave the field; And send him word by me, which way you go. K. John. Tell him, toward Swinstead, to the abbey there. Mess. Be of good comfort; for the great supply, That was expected by the Dauphin here, Are wreck'd three nights ago on Goodwin sands. This news was brought to Richard but even now: The French fight coldly, and retire themselves. K. John. Ah me! this tyrant fever burns me up, And will not let me welcome this good news. Set on toward Swinstead: to my litter straight; Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint. [Exeunt. 7 8 Swinstead,] i. e. Swineshead. Richard Sir Richard Faulconbridge;-and yet the King, a little before, (Act III. sc. ii.) calls him by his original name of Philip. STEEVENS. The same. SCENE IV. Another Part of the same. Enter SALISBURY, PEMBROKE, BIGOT, and Others. Sal. I did not think the king so stor❜d with friends. Pem. Up once again; put spirit in the French; If they miscarry, we miscarry too. Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge, In spite of spite, alone upholds the day. Pem. They say, king John, sore sick, hath left the field. Enter MELUN wounded, and led by Soldiers. Mel. Lead me to the revolts of England here. Sal. When we were happy we had other names. Pem. It is the count Melun. Sal. Wounded to death. Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold; Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, 8 And welcome home again discarded faith. Sal. May this be possible? may this be true? He means-] The Frenchman, i. e. Lewis, means, &c. Retaining but a quantity of life; Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax I say again, if Lewis do win the day, He is forsworn, if e'er those eyes of yours Behold another day break in the east: But even this night,-whose black contagious breath Already smokes about the burning crest Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives, Sal. We do believe thee,-And beshrew my soul But I do love the favour and the form Resolveth, &c.] This is said in allusion to the images made by witches. Holinshed observes, that it was alledged against dame Eleanor Cobham and her confederates, "that they had devised an image of war, representing the king, which, by their sorcerie, by little and little consumed, intending thereby, in conclusion, to waste and destroy the king's person." rated treachery,] i. e. The Dauphin has rated your treachery, and set upon it a fine, which your lives must pay. Of this most fair occasion, by the which Leaving our rankness and irregular course, Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd, Even to our ocean, to our great king John. Right in thine eye.-Away, my friends! New flight; And happy newness,2 that intends old right. [Exeunt, leading off MELUN. Enter LEWIS and his Train. Lew. The sun of heaven, methought, was loath to set; But stay'd, and made the western welkin blush, When the English measur'd backward their own ground, In faint retire: O, bravely came we off, Enter a Messenger. Mess. Where is my prince, the Dauphin? happy newness, &c.] Happy innovation, that purposed the restoration of the ancient rightful government. |