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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.

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LEWIS.

EFORE Angiers well met, brave Auftria.
Arthur! that great fore-runner of thy blood
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Paleftine,
By this brave Duke came early to his
And for amends to his pofterity,
At our importance hither is he come,
To fpread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John.

grave:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God fhall forgive you Coeur-de- lion's death
The rather, that you give his off-fpring life;
Shadowing their right under your wings of war.
I give you welcome with a pow'rless hand,
But with a heart full of unftained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, Duke.

Lewis. A noble boy! who would not do thee 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

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 ;
Ev'n till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, ftill fecure
And confident from foreign purposes,

Ev'n till that outmoft corner of the west,
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, 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
bent

Against the brows of this refifting town;
Call for our chiefeft 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 Frenchmens' blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

Conft. Stay for an answer to your Embassie,
Left unadvis'd you stain your swords with blood.
My lord Chatilion may from England bring
That right in peace, which here we urge in war;
And then we fhall repent each drop of blood,
That hot rash hafte fo indirectly fhed.

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.
His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces ftrong, his foldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-Queen;
An Até, ftirring him to blood and ftrife.
With her, her neice, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the King deceas'd,
And all th' unfettled humours of the land;
Rash, inconfid'rate, fiery voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' fpleens,
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 scathe in christendom.
The interruption of their churlifh drums [Drums beat.
Cuts off more circumftance; they are at hand.
To parly, or to fight, therefore prepare.

K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Auft. 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 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.
Whilft we, God's wrathful agent, do correct

Their proud contempt that beats his peace to heav'n.
K. Philip. Peace be to England, if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace!
England we love; and for that England s fake
With burthen of our armour here we fweat;
This toil of ours fhould be a work of thine.
But thou from loving England art fo far,
That thou haft under-wrought its lawful King;

Cus

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, these brows, were moulded out of his;
This little abftra&t doth contain that large,
Which dy'd in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as large 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,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which own the crown that thou o'er-maftereft ?
K. John. From whom haft thou this great commiffion,
France,

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.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy;
Under whofe warrant I impeach thy wrong,
And by whofe help I mean to chastise it.

K. John. Alack, thou doft ufurp authority.
K. Philip. Excufe it, 'tis to beat ufurping down.
Eli. Who is't, that thou doft call ufurper, France?
Conft. Let me make answer: thy ufurping fon.
Eli. Out, infolent! thy bastard fhall be King,
That thou may'st 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 so true-begot;
It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

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)
As great Alcides' fhews upon an afs;

But, afs, I'll take that burthen from your back,
Or lay on that, shall make your shoulders crack.

Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our ears
With this abundance of fuperfluous breath?
King Philip, determine what we fhall do ftrait.

K. Philip. Women and fools, break off your conference. King John, this is the very fum of all;

England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur I do claim of thee:
Wilt thou refign them, and lay down thy arms?

(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.

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