Effex. My Liege, here is the ftrangest controverfie,
Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: fhall I produce the men?
K. John Let them approach.

Our abbies and our priories fhall pay

This expedition's charge-What men are you?
Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip, bis Brother.
Phil, Your faithful fubject, I, a gentleman
Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest fon,
As I fuppofe, to Robert Faulconbridge,
A foldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Gaur de lion knighted in the field.
K John. What art thou?

Rob. The fon and heir to that fame Faulconbridge.
K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it seems?

Phil. Moft certain of one mother, mighty King,
That is well known; and, as I think, one father:
But for the certain knowledge of that truth,
I put you o'er to heav'n, and to my mother;
Of that I doubt, as all mens' children may.

Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou doft fhame thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.

Phil. I, Madam? no, I have no reason for it; That is my brother's plea, and none of mine ; The which if he can prove, he pops me out At least from fair five hundred pound a year: Heav'n guard my mother's honour, and my land! K. John. A good blunt fellow: why, being younger born,

Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance ?

Phil. I know not why, except to get the land;
But once, he flander'd me with bastardy:

But whether I be true begot or no,
That ftill I lay upon my mother's head;
But that I am as well begot, my Liege,
(Fair fall the bones, that took the pains for me!)
Compare our faces, and be judge yourself.
P 3.

If

If old Sir Robert did beget us both,
And were our father, and this fon like him;
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heav'n thanks, I was not like to thee.

K. John. Why, what a mad cap hath heav'n lent us

here?

Eli. He hath a trick of Coeur-de lion's face,
The accent of his tongue affecteth him :
Do

you not read fome tokens of my fon In the large compofition of this man?

K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts,
And finds them perfect Richard: Sirrah, fpeak,
What doth move you to claim your brother's land?
Phil. Becaufe he hath a half face like my father,
With that half-face would he have all my land? (2)
A half fac'd groat, five hundred pound a year!

Rob. My gracious Liege, when that my father liv'd, Your brother did imploy my father much ;

(2) With half that Face] But why with half that Face? There is no Queftion but the Poet wrote, as I have restor'd the Text, With that half-face-Mr. Pope, perhaps, will be angry with me for difcovering an Anachronism of our Poet's, in the next Line; where he alludes to a Coin not ftruck 'till the Year 1504, in the Reign of King Henry VII. viz. a Groat, which, as well as the half-Groat, bare but half-faces imprefs'd. Vide Stow's Survey of London, p. 47. Holingfhed, Cambden's Remains, &c. The Poet fneers at the meagre sharp Vifage of the elder Brother, by comparing him to a Silver Groat, that bore the King's Face in Profile, fo fhew'd but half the Face. The Groats of all our Kings of England, and, indeed, all their other Coins of Silver, one or two only excepted, had a full Face crown'd; 'till Henry VII. at the Time above-mention'd, coin'd Groats and half Groats, as alfo fome Shillings, with half Faces, that is, Faces in Profile, as all our Coin has now. The firft Groats of King Henry VIII. were like those of his Father; tho' afterwards he return'd to the broad Faces again. Thefe Groats with the Impreffion in Profile, are undoubtedly here alluded to tho', as I faid, the Poet is knowingly guilty of an Anachronism in it: for, in the Time of King Jebn there were no Groats at all: they being firft, as far as appears, coin'd in the Reign of King Edward III.

Phil. Well, Sir, by this you cannot get my land..
Your tale must be, how he imploy'd my mother.
Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassie
To Germany; there with the Emperor
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
Th' advantage of his abfence took the King,
And in the mean time fojourn'd at my father's;
Where, how he did prevail, I fhame to speak:
But truth is truth; large lengths of feas and fhores
Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father fpeak himself).
When this fame lufty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd,
His lands to me; and took it on his death,
That this, my mother's fon, was none of his;
And if he were, he came into the world
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time:
Then, good my Liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.

K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:
And if he did play falfe, the fault was hers;
Which fault lyes on the hazard of all husbands,
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,
Who, as you fay, took pains to get this fon,
Had of your father claim'd this fon for his?
In footh, good friend, your father might have kept
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world.
In footh, he might; then, if he were my brother's,
My brother might not claim him; nor your father,
Being none of his, refufe him; this concludes,
My mother's fon did get your father's heir,
Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's Will be of no force

To difpoffefs that child, which is not his ?
Phil. Of no more force to difpoffefs me, Sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether, hadft thou rather be a Faulconbridge, And, like thy brother, to enjoy thy land:

Or the reputed fon of Caur-de lion,

P4

Lord

Lord of thy prefence, and no land befide?'
Phil. Madam, and if my brother had my fhape,
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him *
And if my legs were two fuch riding rods,
My arms fuch eel-skins ftuft; my face fo thin, (3)
That in mine ear I durft not flick a rose,

Left men fhould fay, "Look, where three farthings goes!

And to his shape were heir to all this land;"
"Would, I might never ftir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face:

I would not be Sir Nobbe in any cafe.

Eli. I like thee well; wilt thou forfake thy fortune, Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me ? I am a foldier, and now bound to France..

Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance
Your face hath got five hundred pound a year,
Yet fell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear.
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
Phil. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. What is thy name?

Phil. Philip, my Liege, fo is my name begun ;
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldeft fon.

(3)

My Face fo thin,
That in mine Ear I durft not frick a Rofe,

Left Men fhould fay, Look, where three-farthings goes!} In this very obfcure Paffage our Poet is anticipating the Date of another Coin; humouroufly to rally a thin Face, eclipsed,. as it were, by a full-blown Rofe. We muft obferve, to explain this Allufion, that Queen Elizabeth was the firft, and indeed the only, Prince who coin'd in England three-half-pence, and three-farthing Pieces. She at one and the fame Time, coin'd Shillings, Six-pences, Groats, Three-pences, Two-pences, Threehalf pence, Pence, Three-farthings, and Half-pence: And these Pieces all had her Head, and were alternately with the Rofe behind, and without the Rofe. The Shilling, Groat, Two-pence, Penny, and Half-penny had it not: The other intermediate Coins, viz. the Six-pence, Three-pence, Three-half-pence, and› Three-farthings had the Rofe.

K. Johns

K. John. From henceforth bear his name, whofe form :thou bear'st:

Kneel thou down Philip, but rise up more great;
Arife Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.

Phil. Brother by th' mother's fide, give me your hand;

My father gave me honour, yours gave land.
Now bleffed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away!
Eli. The very fpirit of Plantagenet!
Fam thy grandam; Richard, call me fo.

Phil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what though?

Something about, a little from the right,

In at the window, or else o'er the hatch:
Who dares not ftir by day, muft walk by night,
And have is have, however men do catch;

Near or far off, well won is ftill well fhot;
And I am I, howe'er I was begot.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge, now haft thou thy defire;

A landlefs Knight makes thee a landed "Squire:
Come, Madam; and come, Richard; we must speed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.
Phil. Brother, adieu; good fortune come to thee,
For thou was got i' th' way of honesty.

[Exeunt all but Philip,'

A foot of honour better than I was,
foot of land the worse!

But many a many.

Well, now can I make any Joan a lady.

Good den, Sir Richard,

Godamercy, fellow;

And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget mens' names:
'Tis too refpective and unfociable

For your converfing. Now your traveller,
He and his tooth pick at my worship's mefs;
And when my knightly ftomach is fuffic'd,
Why then I fuck my teeth, and catechife
My picqued man of countries; My dear Sir,
(Thus leaning on mine elbow, I begin)