The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare

KING JOHN

KING JOHN.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards King Henry III.

ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne, the elder Brother of King John.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.
GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, Chief
Justiciary of England.

WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury.
ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.

HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King.
ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert
Faulconbridge.

PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, bastard Son to King Richard the First. JAMES GURNEY, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge.

PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet.
PHILIP, King of France.

LEWIS, the Dauphin.
ARCH-DUKE of Austria.
CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate.
MELUN, a French Lord.
CHATILLON, Ambassador from France to Kin
John.

ELINOR, the Widow of King Henry II. and
Mother of King John.

CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur. BLANCH, Daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile, and Niece to King John. LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, Mother to the Bastard and Robert Faulconbridge.

Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, Sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Northampton.-A Room of State in the Palace.

Enter King JOHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATIL

LON.

K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would| France with us?

Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of France,

In my behaviour, to the majesty,
The borrow'd majesty of England here.
Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd ma-
jesty!

K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.

Chat. Philip of France, in right and true beOf thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, [half Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim To this fair island, and the territories; To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine: Desiring thee to lay aside the sword, Which sways usurpingly these several titles; And put the same into young Arthur's hand, Thy nephew, and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this?

Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody

K. John. Bear mine to him, and ɔ departi peace:

Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,
he thunder of my canon shall be heard:
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage of your own decay.--
An honourable conduct let him have
Pembroke, look to't: Farewell, Chatillon.
[Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE.
Eli. What now, my son? have I not ever
said,

How that ambitious Constance would not cease
Till she had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son?
This might have been prevented, and made
With very easy arguments of love; [whole,
Which now the manage* of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong possession, and our right, for us.

Eli. Your strong possession, much more than your right;

Or else it must go wrong with you, and me: So much my conscience whispers in your ear; Which none but heaven, and you, and 1, shall

hear.

Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers ESSEX.

Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy,

Come from the country to be judg'd by you, That ere I heard: Shall I produce the men? K. John. Let them approach.[Exit Sheriff. Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay * Conduct, administration,

Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, | Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'a
and PHILIP, his bastard Brother.
This expedition's charge. What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. John. What art thou?

His lands to me; and took it, on his death,
That this, my mother's son, was none of his ;
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time
And, if he were, he came into the world
Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.

Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.

K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the

heir?

You came not of one mother then, it seems.
Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty
king,
[father:
That is well known; and, as I think, one
But, for the certain knowledge of that truth,
I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother;
Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.
Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame
thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.
Bast. 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, 'a pops me out
At least from fair five hundred pound a year:
Heaven 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?
Bast. I know not why, except to get the land.
But once he slander'd me with bastardy:
But whe'r I be as true-bégot, or no,
That still 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.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,
And were our father, and this son like him ;--
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee
I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.
K. John. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven

lent us here!

Eli. He hath a trickt of Coeur-de-lion's face, The accent of his tongue affecteth him: Do you not read some tokens of my son In the large composition of this man? K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, [speak, And finds them perfect Richard.-Sirrah, What doth move you to claim your brother's land?

Bust. Because he hath a half-face, like my

father;

With that half-face would he have all my land:
A half-faced groat five hundred pounds a year!
Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father
liv'd,

Your brother did employ my father much;-
Bast. Well, Sir, by this you cannot get my
land;

Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once despatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
The advantage of his absence took the king,
And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak:
But truth is truth; large lengths of seas and

shores

Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father speak himself,)
When this same lusty gentleman was got.
+ Trace, outline.

* Whether.

K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate,
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:
And, if she did play false, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands

That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother
Who, as you say, took pains to get this son,
Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
In sooth, good friend, your father might have
kept
[world;
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the
In sooth, he might: then, if he were my bro-
ther's,
[father,
My brother might not claim him; nor your
Being none of his, refuse him: This con-
cludes,-

My mother's son 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 dispossess that child which is not his?
Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, Sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether hadst thou rather, be a Faul-
conbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;
Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence, and no land beside?
Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him;
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,
My arms such eel-skins stuff'd; my face so
thin,

Lest men should say, Look, where three-far-
That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,
things goes!

And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,
'Would I might never stir from off this place,
I would not be Sir Nobt in any case.
I'd give it every foot to have this face;

Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy
fortune,

Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?
I am a soldier, and now bound to France.
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take

my chance:

[year;
Your face hath got five hundred pounds a
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Yet sell your face for fivepence, and 'tis dear.-

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me
thither.

Bast. Our country manners give our betters way.

K. John. What is thy name?

Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;
K. John. From henceforth bear his name
whose form thou bear'st:

Kneel thou down Philip, but arise more greatı
Arise Sir Richard and Plantagenet.

Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me

your hand;

My father gave me honour, yours gave land:-
Now blessed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.

Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!-
I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so.
Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
What though?
Dignity of appearance.

+ Robert

Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch:
Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night;
And have is have, however men do catch:
Near or far off, weil won is still well shot;
And I am I, howe'er I was begot.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire, ['squire. A landless knight makes thee a landed Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed [need. For France, for France; for it is more than Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to For thou was got i'the way of honesty. [thee! [Exeunt all but the BASTARD. A foot of honour better than I was; But many a foot of land the worse. Well, now can I make any Joan a lady :Good den, Sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fellow

And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter:
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
"Tis too respective,† and too sociable,
For your conversion. Now your traveller,
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd,
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise
My picked man of countries :My dear Sir,
(Thus leaning on mine elbows, I begin,)
I shall beseech you-That is question now;
And then comes answer like an ABC-book:||—
O Sir, says answer at your best command;
At your employment, at your service, Sir :-
No, Sir, says question, 1, sweet Sir, at yours:
And so, ere ans er knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment;
And talking of the Alps, and Appenines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws toward supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation;
(And so am I, whether I smack, or no ;)
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.
But who comes in such haste, in riding robes!
What woman-post is this? hath she no hus-
band,

That will take pains to blow a horn before her?

Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES,

GURNEY.

Bast. Philip?-sparrow !-James, There's toy's abroad;* anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit GURNEY. Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son; Sir Robert might have eat his part in me Upon Good-friday, and ne'er broke his fast: Sir Robert could do well; Marry, (to confess!) Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it; We know his handy-work:-Therefore, good mother,

To whom am I beholden for these limbs? Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too, [honour! That for thine own gafn should'st defend mine What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?

Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,-Basiliscolike:+

What! I am dubb'd; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's son;
I have disclaim'd Sir Robert, and my land;
Legitimation, name, and all is gone:
Then, good my mother, let me know my father;
Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mo-
ther?

Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?

Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was

thy father;

By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed:-
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence.

Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again, Madam, I would not wish a better father. Some sins do bear their privilege on earth, And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly:

Need must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
Against whose fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's
hand.

He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
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, lady, 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.

And, for amends to his posterity,
At our importance,* 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 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 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,
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 wi-
dow's thanks,
[strength,
Till your strong hand shall help to give him
To make a more requital to your love.
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

K. Phi. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish,
Our messenger Cha illon is arriv'd.-
What England says, say briefly, gentle lord,
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.
Chut. Then turn your forces from this paltry
siege,

And stir them up against a mightier task.
England, impatient of your jus' demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have staid, aave given him
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 Ate, stirring him to blood and strife;

* Importunity.

[time

Best stations to over-awe the town. 1mediate, expeditions. The Goddess of Revenge.

With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd:
And all the unsettled humours of the land,-
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,
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,
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath* in Christendom.
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 ex-

pedition!

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 has under-wrought his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence; of posterity,
Qutfaced 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 briefs 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,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great
commission, France,

To draw my answer from thy articles?
K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs
good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,
To look into the blots and stains of right.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:
Under whose warrant, I impeach thy wrong;
And, by whose help, I mean to chastise it.

K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.
Eli. Who is it, thou dost call usurper, France?
Const. Let me make answer;-thy usurping

Const. My bed was ever to thy son 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 bastard! By my soul, 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.

Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.

Aust. Peace!

Bast. Hear the crier.

Aust. What the devil art thou?

Bust. 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 smoke 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
That did disrobe the lion of that robe! [robe,
Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' shoes upon an ass :-
But, ass, I'll take that burden from your back;
Or lay on that, shall make your shoulders
crack.

Aust. What cracker is this same, that deafs

our ears

With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.

Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference.-

King John, this is the very sum of all,—
England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine,
Maine,

In right of Arthur do I claim of thee:
Wilt thou resign them, and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as soon:-I do defy thee,
France.

Arthur of Bretagne, 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.

Const. 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 coilt that's made for me.
Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he

Being but the second generation
Removed from thy sin-conceiving wom.
K. John. Bedlam, have done.
Const. I have but this to say,-
That he's not only plagued for her sin
But God hath made her sin and her th plague
On this removed issue, plagu'd for her,
And with her plague, her sin; his injury
Her injury, the beadle to her sin;
All punish'd in the person of this child,
And all for her; A plague upon her!

Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce A will, that bars the title of thy son.

Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will;

A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's wil!! K. Phi. Peace, lady; pause, or be more temperate:

It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim
To these ill-tuned repetitions.—
Some trumpet summon hither to the walls
These men of Angiers; let us hear them speak,
Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.
Trumpets sound. Enter CITIZENS upon the walls.
1 Cit. Who is it, that hath warned us to the
walls?

K. Phi. 'Tis France, for England.
K. John. England, for itself:
You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,-
K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's

subjects,

Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.t K. John. For our advantage;-Therefore,

hear us first.-

These flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and prospect of your town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement:
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath;
And ready mounted are they, to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparation for a bloody siege,
And merciless proceeding by these French,
Confront your city's eyes, your winking gates;
And, but for our approach, those sleeping
That as a waist do girdle you about, [stones,
By the compulsion of their ordnance

By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But, on the sight of us, your lawful king,-
Who painfully, with much expedient march,
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threaten'd
cheeks,-

Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchsafe a parle:
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shoot but calm words, folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears:
Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.
K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to
us both.

Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet;
Son to the elder brother of this man,
And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys:
For this down-trodden equity, we tread
In warlike march these greens before your
Being no further enemy to you, [towa:
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,

To encourage. † Conference.

2 Worn out

« Zurück Weiter »

Books

The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: From the Text of Johnson ..., Band 2