Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf ; K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this? Chat. The proud controul of fierce and bloody war, T' inforce thefe rights fo forcibly with-held. K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, Controulment for controulment; so answer France. Chat. Then take my King's defiance from my mouth, The farthest limit of my embaffie. K. John. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in peace. Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France, For ere thou canft report, I will be there, The thunder of my cannon fhall be heard. So, hence! be thou the trumpet of our wrath, And fullen prefage of your own decay. An honourable conduct let him have, Pembroke, look to't; farewel, Chatilion. [Exeunt Chat. and Pem, This might have been prevented, and made whole Which now the manage of two kingdoms must K. John. Our strong poffeffion, and our right for us.Eli. Your ftrong poffeffion much more, than your right, Or else it muit go wrong with you and me ; Effex. My Liege, here is the ftrangeft 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, his 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 Caur-de-lion knighted in the field. K. John. What art thou? Robert. 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, 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; (Fair fall the bones, that took the pains for me!) If old Sir Robert did beget us both, And were our father, and this fon like him; 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, K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, Phil. Because he hath a half-face, like my father, With that half-face would he have all my land? (z) 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 reftor'd the Text, With that half-face- -Mr. Pope, perhaps, will be angry with me for discovering an Anachronism of our Poet's, in the next Line; where he alludes to a Coin not truck 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, Camden's Remains, &c. The Poet fneers at the meagre sharp Visage 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 these 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 John 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. Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassie (As I have heard my father fpeak himself) K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; To difpoffefs that child, which is not his ? Eli. Whether hadft thou rather be a Faulconbridge, And, like thy brother, to enjoy thy land: Or the reputed fon of Gaur-de-lion, R 4 Lord Lord of thy prefence, and no land befide? Left men should fay, goes! And to his fhape were heir to all this land; 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 eldest fon. That in mine Ear 1 durft not stick a Rose, Left Men fhould say, Look, where three-farthings goes!] In this very obfcure Paffage our Poet is anticipating the Date of another Coin; humourously to rally a thin Face, eclipsed, as it were, by a full-blown Rose. We muft obferve, to explain this Allufion, that Queen Elizabeth was the first, 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 Rose 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 Rose. K. John. |