Come, lady, I will fhew thee to my kin, And they fhall fay, when Richard me begot, If thou hadft faid him nay, it had been fin; Who fays, it was, helyes; I fay, 'twas not. [Exeunt. A CT II. SCENE, before the Walls of Angiers in France. Enter Philip King of France, Lewis the Dauphin, the Archduke of Auftria, Conftance, and Arthur. LEWIS. EFORE Angiers well met, brave Auftria. Of thy unnatural uncle, English John. grave: Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither. Lewis. A noble boy! who would not do thee right? As feal to this indenture of my love; That to my home I will no more return, Together Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore, Ev'n till that outmoft corner of the west, Conf. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, Till your ftrong hand fhall help to give him strength, To make a more requital to your love. Auft. The peace of heav'n is theirs, who lift their fwords In fuch a juft and charitable war. K. Philip. Well then, to work; our engines fhall be Against the brows of this refifting town; Conft. Stay for an answer to your Embassie, Enter Chatilion. K. Philip. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy with Our meffenger Chatilion is arrived; What England fays, fay briefly, gentle lord, We coldly paufe for thee. Chatilion, speak. Chat. Then turn your forces from this paultry fiege, And ftir them up against a mightier task. England, impatient of your juft demands, Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds, Whose leifure I have staid, have giv'n him time To To land his legions all as foon as I. With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' fpleens, K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this expedition! For courage mounteth with occafion : Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd. Enter King of England, Faulconbridge, Elinor, Blanch, Pembroke, and others. K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit Our juft and lineal entrance to our own: If not, bleed France, and peace afcend to heav'n. Their proud contempt that beats his peace to heav'n. Cus Cut off the fequence of pofterity; To draw my answer to thy articles? K. Philip. From that fupernal judge, that ftirs good thoughts In any breaft of ftrong authority, To look into the blots and ftains of right. K. John. Alack, thou doft ufurp authority. Than thou and John, in manners being as like Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father. Conf. Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that would 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, Whose valour plucks dead Lions by the beard; I'll fmoak your skin-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. Faulc. It lyes as fightly on the back of him, (6) But, afs, I'll take that burthen from your back, Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our ears K. Philip. Women and fools, break off your conference. King John, this is the very fum of all; England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, (6) It lyes as fightly on the Back of him, As great Alcides' Shoes upon an Afs.] But why his Shoes in the Name of Propriety? For let Hercules and his Shoes have been really as big as they were ever suppos'd to be, yet they (I mean, the Shoes) would not have been an Overload for an Afs. I am perfuaded, I have retriev'd the true Reading; and let us obferve the Juftnefs of the Comparison now. Faulconbridge in his Refentment would fay this to Auftria, "That "Lion's Skin, which my great Father King Richard once wore, "looks as uncouthly on thy Back; as that other noble Hide, "which was borne by Hercules, would look on the Back of an "Afs." A double Allufion was intended; firft, to the Fable of the Afs in the Lion's Skin: then Richard I. is finely fet in Competition with Alcides ; as Austria is fatirically coupled with the Afs. K. John. |