With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but say, thou didst not well
When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
Come, ady, I will show thee to my kin;

And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin:
Who says it was, he lies; I say, 'twas not.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.....SCENE I.

France. Before the Walls of Angiers.

Enter, on one side, the Archduke of Austria, and Forces; on the other, PHILIP, King of France, and Forces; LEWIS, CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and Attendants.

Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.→→→
Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,8
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,

By this brave duke came early to his grave:9

8 Richard, that robb'd &c.] So Rastal, in his Chronicle: "It is sayd that a lyon was put to kynge Richard, beynge in prison, to have devoured him, and when the lyon was gapynge he put his arme in his mouth, and pulled the lyon by the harte so hard that he slewe the lyon, and therefore some say he is called Rycharde Cure de Lyon; but some say he is called Cure de Lyon, because of his boldness and hardy stomake." Grey.

I have an old black-lettered History of Lord Faulconbridge, whence Shakspeare might pick up this circumstance. Farmer.

9 By this brave duke came early to his grave:] The old play led Shakspeare into this error of ascribing to the duke of Austria the death of Richard, who lost his life at the siege of Chaluz, long after he had been ransomed out of Austria's power. Steevens.

The producing Austria on the scene is also contrary to the truth of history, into which anachronism our author was led by the old play. Leopold, Duke of Austria, by whom Richard I had been thrown in prison in 1193, died, in consequence of a fall from his horse, in 1195, some years before the commencement of the present play.

The original cause of the enmity between Richard the First and the Duke of Austria, was, according to Fabian, that Richard "tooke from a knighte of the Duke of Ostriche the said Duke's

And, for amends to his posterity,

At our importance1 hither is he come,
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the usurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion's death,
The rather, that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.

Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right? Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,. As seal to this indenture of my love; That to my home I will no more return, Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France, Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore," Whose foot spurns 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, still secure And confident from foreign purposes,

banner, and in despite of the said duke, trade it under foote, and did unto it all the spite he might." Harding says, in his Chronicle, that the cause of quarrel was Richard's taking down the Duke of Austria's arms and banner, which he had set up above those of the King of France and the King of Jerusalem. The affront was given, when they lay before Acre in Palestine. This circumstance is alluded to in the old King John, where the Bastard, after killing Austria, says

"And as my father triumph'd in thy spoils,

"And trod thine ensigns underneath his feet," &c.

Other historians say, that the duke suspected Richard to have been concerned in the assassination of his kinsman, the Marquis of Montferrat, who was stabbed in Tyre, soon after he had been elected King of Jerusalem; but this was a calumny, propagated by Richard's enemies, for political purposes. Malone.

1 At our importance] At our importunity. Johnson. So, in Twelfth Night:

-2

66.

Maria writ

"The letter at Sir Toby's great importance." Steevens.

that pale, that white-fac'd shore,] England is supposed to be called Albion from the white rocks facing France. Johnson.

Even till that utmost corner of the west,

Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength, To make a more requital to your love.3

Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their swords

In such a just and charitable war.

K. Phi. Well then, to work; our cannon shall be bent
Against the brows of this resisting town.-
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages:-
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.

Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Lest unadvis'd you stain your swords 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 rash haste so indirectly shed.

Enter CHATILLON.

K. Phi. A wonder, lady!5-lo, upon thy wish, Our messenger Chatillon is arriv'd.

What England says, say briefly, gentle lord,

We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege, And stir them up against a mightier task. England, impatient of your just demands, Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds, Whose leisure I have staid, have given him time

3 To make a more requital &c.] I believe it has been already observed, that more signified, in our author's time, greater.

Steevens.

4 To cull the plots of best advantages:] i. e. to mark such stations as might most over-awe the town. Henley.

5 A wonder, lady!] The wonder is only that Chatillon happened to arrive at the moment when Constance mentioned him; which the French king, according to a superstition which prevails, more or less, in every mind agitated by great affairs, turns inte a miraculous interposition, or omen of good. Johnson.

To land his legions all as soon as I:
His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Até, stirring him to blood and strife;7
With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd:3
And all the unsettled humours of the land,-
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,

9

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens,-
Have sold 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,1
Did never float upon the swelling tide,

To do offence and scath2 in Christendom.

6

expedient

Immediate, expeditious. Johnson.

So, in King Henry VI, P. II:

"A breach, that craves a quick, expedient stop." Steevens. 7 An Até, stirring him &c.] Até was the Goddess of Revenge. The player-editors read-an Ace. Steevens.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

8 With them a bastard of the king deceas'd:] The old copy erroneously reads-king's. Steevens.

This line, except the word with, is borrowed from the old play of King John, already mentioned. Our author should have written-king, and so the modern editors read. But there is certainly no corruption, for we have the same phraseology elsewhere. Malone.

It may as justly be said, that the same error has been else-. where repeated by the same illiterate compositors. Steevens. 9 Bearing their birthrights &c.] So, in King Henry VIII:

66

O, many

"Have broke their backs with laying manors on them."

Johnson.

1 Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er.] Waft for wafted. So again in this play:

"The iron of itself, though heat red hot —.”

i. e. heated. Steevens.

2

scath] Destruction, harm. Johnson.

So, in How to chuse a good Wife from a bad, 1602:

"For these accounts, 'faith it shall scath thee something.” Again:

"And it shall scath him somewhat of my purse." Steevens.

The interruption of their churlish drums [Drums beat.
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,
To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

K. Phi How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounteth with occasion:

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

Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Bastard, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace permit Our just and lineal entrance to our own!

If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven!
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to heaven.
K. Phi. 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 sake,
With burden of our armour here we sweat:
This toil of ours should be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast under-wrought3 his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,

Outfaced infant state, and done a rape

Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face;-
These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his:
This little abstract doth contain that large,
Which died 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 son; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,

3 · under-wrought -] i. e. underworked, undermined.

Steevens. this brief-] A brief is a short writing, abstract, or de

scription. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

“Here is a brief how many sports are ripe." Steevens.

5 England was Geffrey's right,

And this is Geffrey's:] I have no doubt but we should read— "and his is Geffey's." The meaning is, "England was Geffrey's right, and whatever was Geffrey's, is now his," pointing to Arthur. M. Mason.