And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John.

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God fhall forgive you Coeur-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 pow'rlefs 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 with that pale, that white-fac'd shore,
Whofe foot fpurn's 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 purpofes,

Ev'n 'till that outmoft corner of the Weft,
Salute thee for her King. Till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.

Conft. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, Till your ftrong hand fhall help to give him ftrength, 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 Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it fubject to this boy.

Conft. Stay for an anfwer to your embaffy,
Left unadvis'd you ftain your fwords with blood.
My Lord Chatilion may from England bring
That right in peace, which here we urge in war;

And

And then we shall repent each drop of blood,
That hot rash hafte fo indirectly fhed.

Enter Chatilion.

K. Philip. A wonder, Lady! lo, upon thy wish
Our meffenger Chatilion is arriv'd;

What England fays, fay briefly, gentle Lord,
We coldly paufe for thee. Chatilion, fpeak.

Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry fiege, And stir them up against a mightier task.

England, impatient of your juft demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whofe leifure I have ftaid, have giv❜n him time
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 niece, 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 fcathe in Chriftendom.
The interruption of their churlifh drums.
Cuts off more circumftance; they are at hand.

To parly, or to fight, therefore prepare.

[Drums beat.

K. Philip. How much unlook'd for is this expedition! Auft. By how much unexpected, by fo much.

We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounteth with occafion :
Let them be welcome then, we are prepar❜d.

Enter

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 burden 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;
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 abftract 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-masterest ?

K. John. From whom haft thou this great commiffion, To draw my anfwer to thy articles?

[France,

K. Philip. From that fupernal judge, that ftirs good

In any breaft of ftrong authority,

To look into the blots and ftains of right.

[thoughts

That judge hath made me guardian to this boy;
Under whose 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.
Ek. Who is't, that thou doft call ufurper, France?

Conft.

Conft. Let me make anfwer: thy ufurping fon.
Eli. Out, infolent! thy baftard 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 fo true-begot ;

It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.

Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father. Conft. There's a good grandam, boy, that wouldft 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, Whofe 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.

Faule. It lies as fightly on the back of him, (8) As great Alcides' fhews upon an afs;

But, afs, I'll take that burden from your back, Or lay on that, shall make your fhoulders crack. (8) It lies as fightly on the back of him,

As great Alcides' fhoes upon an afs.] But why his foes, in the name of propriety? For let Hercules and his foes have been really as big as they were ever fuppos'd to be, yet they (I mean the shoes) would not have been an overload for an afs. I am perfuaded, I have retrieved the true reading; and let us obferve the juftness of the comparifon now. Faulconbridge in his refentment would fay this to Auftria.

That lion's fkin, 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 fkin: then Richard I. is finely fet in competition with Alcides; as Auftria is fatyrically coupled with the ass.

Auft.

Auft. What cracker is this fame, that deafs our ears
With this abundance of fuperfluous breath?
King Philip, determine what we shall do ftreight.
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?
K. John. My life as foon.-I do defy thee, France.
Arthur of Britain, 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. Come to thy grandam, child.

Conft. Do, child, go to it grandam, child.
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 fhames him fo, poor boy, he weeps. Conft. Now fhame upon you, whe're the does or ne! His grandam's wrong, and not his mother's fhames, Draws thofe heav'n-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heav'n fhall take in nature of a fee:

Ay, with thefe crystal beads heav'n fhall be brib'd
To do him juftice, and revenge on you.

Eli. Thou monftrous flanderer of heav'n and earth!
Conft. Thou monftrous injurer of heav'n and earth,
Call me not flanderer; thou, and thine, ufurp
The domination, royalties and rights

Of this oppreffed boy; this is thy eldest fon's fon,
Infortunate in nothing but in thee:

Thy fins are visited in this poor child;
The canon of the law is laid on him;
Being but the fecond generation
Removed from thy fin-conceiving womb.
K. John. Bedlam, have done.
Conft. I have but this to fay,

That