The dramatic works of Shakspeare, from the text of Johnson and Stevens [sic. Wanting pp

Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give | What brings you here to court so hastily?

me your hand;

My father gave me honour, your's gave land :—
Now blessed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, sir Robert was away.

Ell. The very spirit of Plantagenet!
I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so.
Bast. 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 stir by day, must walk by night;
And have is have, however men do catch:
Near or far off, well won is still well shot;
And I am I, howe'er I was begot. [thy desire,
K.John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou
A landless knight makes thee a landed squire.
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must
speed

For France, for France; for it is more than need.
Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to
For thou wast 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 I can make any Joan a lady:-
Good den*, sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fel-
low-

And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter:
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
'Tis too respectivet, and too sociable,
For your conversiont. Now your traveller,-
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is sufficed,
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechize
My picked man of countries:-My dear sir,
(Thus, leaning on mine elbow, 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, I, sweet sir, at yours:
And, so, ere answer knows what question
(Saving in dialogue of compliment; [would,
And talking of the Alps and Apennines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws towards 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 husband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her?
Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES
GURNEY.

Ome! it is my mother:-How now, good lady? |

Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother!

where is he?

That holds in chase mine honour up and down?
Bas.My brother Robert? old sir Robert's son?
Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man?
Is it sir Robert's son, that you seek so?
Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unre-
verend boy,
[Robert?
Sir Robert's son! Why scorn'st thou at sir
He is sir Robert's son; and so art thou.

Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave
Gur. Good leave, good Philip. [awhile?
Bast.
Philip? sparrow!-James,
There's toys 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
Upou Good-Friday, and ne'er broke his fast:
Sir Robert could do well; inarry, (to confess!)
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it;
We know his handy-work:-Therefore,good mo
To whom am I beholden for these limbs? [ther,
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.
Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy bro-
ther too,
[honour?
That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine
What means this scorn, thou most untoward
knave?
[lisco-like**:

Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basi-
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, mother?
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulcon-
bridge?

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 seduced
To make room for him in my husbaad's bed :—
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urged, 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:
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,-
Subjected tribute to commanding love,→
Against whose fury and unmatched force,
The aweless lion could not wage the fight,[hand
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's
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 wel,
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.

Good evening. Respectable. Change of condition. My travelled fop. | Catechism. Idle reports. ** A character in an old Drama called Soliman and Persetta.

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 forerunner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave:
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 uunatural uncle, English John;
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome
hither.
[death,
Arth. God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion's
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 Angiere, 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-faced shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring
tides,

And coops from other lands her islanders,
Eventill that England, hedged in with the inain,
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 has mother's thanks, a widow'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 unadvised you stain your swords with
blood:

My lord Chatillon may from England bring

• Importunity.

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.

Our messenger Chatillon is arrived.-
K. Phi. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish,
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
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,
And Atés, stirring him to blood and strife:
With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceased:
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 inuch 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 prepared. Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Bastard, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

K. John. Peace be tó 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 peacel 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-wrought his lawful king, Cut off the sequence** of posterity, Outfaced infant state, and done a rape

+ Best stations to over-awe the town. Mischief.

ý The Goddess of Revenge.

Immediate, expeditions, Undermined. **Succession.

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,
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 supernalt judge, that stirs good thoughts

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, Í 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. [would blot thee. Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that Aust. Peace! Bast.

Hear the crier.

Aust.
What the devil art thon?
Bast. 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
Sirrah, look to't.; i'faith, I will, i'faith. [right;
Blanch. Owell did he become that lion's robe,
That did disrobe the lion of that robe!

Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him,
As great Alcides' shows 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. [ference.

Lew. Women and fools, break off your conKing 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 mor
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 motner, 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 shames him so, poor boy,

he weeps. [or no! Const. Now shame upon you, whe'r she does His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames, [poor eyes, Draw those heaven-moving pearls from his Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee; Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be bribed

To do him justice, and revenge on you.
Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven
and earth!
[and earth;
Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven
Call not me slanderer; thou, and thine, usurp
The dominations, royalties, and rights, [son,
Of this oppressed boy: This is thy eldest son's
Infortunate in nothing but in thee;
Thy sins are visited in this poor child;
The canon of the law is laid on him,
Being but the second generation
Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb.
K. John. Beldam, 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 the plague
On this removed issue, plagued 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!

[will;

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

It ill beseems this presence, to cry aim T
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 warn'd' us to the walls?

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

Austria wears a lion's skin.

To encourage.

Bustle.

K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's | In that behalf which we have challenged it 3 subjects,

Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle*.
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 indiguation '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 stones,
That as a waist do girdle you about,
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 threatened
cheeks,-

Behold, the French, amazed, 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,
Forweariedt 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,
[town,
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,
In the relief of this oppressed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
To pay that duty, which you truly owe,
To him that owes it ; namely, this young prince:
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspéct, have all offence seal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And, with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
With unhack'd swords, and helmets all un-
bruised,

We will bear home that lusty blood again,
Which here we came to spout against your
town,
[peace.
And leave your children, wives, and you, in
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
*Tis not the roundures of your old-faced walls,
Can hide you from our messengers of war;
Though all these English, and their discipline,
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
Then, tell us, shall your city call us lord,

Or shall we give the signal to our rage,
And stalk in blood to our possession?

1 Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's
subjects;

For him, and in his right, we hold this town. K. John, Acknowledge then the king, and [the king,

let me in.

1 Cit. That can we not: but he that proves
To him will we prove loyal; till that time,
Have we ramm'd up our gates against the
world.
[prove the king?

K. John. Doth not the crown of England
And, if not that, I bring you witnesses,
Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's
Bast. Bastards, and else. [breed,
K. John. To verify our title with their lives.
K. Phi. As many, and as well-born bloods
Bast. Some bastards too. [as those,-
K. Phi. Stand in his face, to contradict his
claim.
[worthiest,

1 Cit. Till you compound whose right is We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both. K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls,

That to their everlasting residence,
Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,
In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!
K. Phi. Amen, Amen!-Mount, chevaliers!
to arms!
[and e'er since,

Bast. St. George,-that swinged the dragon,
Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door,
Teach us some fence!-Sirrah, were I at home,
At your den, sirrab, [To AUSTRIA] with your
lioness,

I'd set an ox-head to your lion's hide,
And make a monster of you.

Aust.
Peace; no more.
Bast. O, tremble; for you hear the lion roar.
K. John. Up higher to the plain; where
we'll set forth,

In best appointment, all our regiments.
Bast. Speed, then, to take advantage of the
field.
[the other hill
K.Phi. It shall be so;-[To LEWIS] and at
Command the rest to stand.-God, and our
right!
[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The same.
Alarums and Excursions; then a Retreat.
Enter a French Herald, with trumpets, to
the gates.

F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide

your gates,

And let young Arthur, duke of Bretagne, in;
Who, by the hand of France, this day hath made
Much work for tears in many an English mother,
Whose sons lie scatter'd on the bleeding
ground:

Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,
Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth;
And victory, with little loss, doth_play
Upon the dancing banners of the French
Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,
To enter conquerors, and to proclaim
Arthur of Bretagne, England's king, and yours.
Circle.

* Owns.

Enter an English Herald, with trumpets. E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells; [proach, King John, your king and England's, doth apCommander of this hot malicious day! Their armours, that march'd hence so silverbright,

Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;
There stuck no plume in any English crest,
That is removed by a staff of France;
Our colours do return in those same hands
That did display them, when we first march'd
forth;

And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes;
Open your gates, and give the victors way.
Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might
From first to last, the onset and retire [behold,
Of both your armies; whose equality,
By our best eyes cannot be censured⚫:
Blood hath bought blood, and blows have an-
swer'd blows; [confronted power:
Strength match'd with strength, and power
Both are alike; and both alike we like. [even,
One must prove greatest: while they weigh so
We hold our town for neither; yet for both.
Enter, at one side, King JOHN, with his
power; ELINOR, BLANCH, and the Bas-
tard; at the other, King PHILIP, LEWIS,
AUSTRIA, and Forces.

K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away?

Say, shall the current of our right run on ?
Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel, and o'er-swell
With course disturb'd even thy confining shores;
Unless thou let his silver water keep
A peaceful progress to the ocean.

K. Phi. England, thou hast not saved one drop of blood,

K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right.

K.John. In as,that are our own great deputy,
And bear possession of our person here;"
Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.
1Cit. A greater power than we, denies all this;
And, till it be undoubted, we do lock
Our former scruple in our strong barr'd gates:
King'd of our fears; until our fears, resolved,
Be by some certain king purged and deposed.
Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers
flout you, kings;

And stand securely on their battlements,
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
At your industrious scenes and acts of death.
Your royal presences be ruled by me;
Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,
Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend
Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town:
By east and west let France and England mount
Their battering cannon, charged to the mouths;
Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd
down

The finty ribs of this contemptuous city:
I'd play incessantly upon these jades,
Even till unfenced desolation
Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, dissever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point:
Then, in a moment, fortune shall cull forth
Out of one side her happy minion;

To whom in favour she shall give the day,
And kiss him with a glorious victory.
How like you this wild counsel, mighty states?
Smacks it not something of the policy?

K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads, [powers, I like it well;-France, shall we kuit our And lay this Angiers even with the ground; Then, after, fight who shall be king of it?

In this hot trial, more than we of France; Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,-
Rather, lost more: And by this hand I swear, Being wrong'd, as we are, by this peevish
That sways the earth this climate overlooks,-Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery, [town,-
Before we will lay down our just-borne arms, As we will our's, against these saucy walls:
We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms And when that we have dash'd them to the
Or add a royal number to the dead; [we bear, ground,
Gracing the scroll, that tells of this war's loss,
With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.
Bast.Ha, majesty how high thy glory towers,
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire!
O, now doth death line his dead chaps with
steel;

The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs;
And now he feasts, mouthing the flesh of men,
In undetermined differences of kings.-
Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry, havoc, kings! back to the stained field,
You equal potents †, fiery-kindled spirits!
Then let confusion of one part confirm [death!
The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and
K.John. Whose party do the townsmen yet
admit?
[your king?
K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's
1 Cit. The king of England, when we know
the king.

• Judged, determined. + Potentates.

Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell, Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell. K. Phi. Let it be so:-Say, where will you

assault?

K. John. We from the west will send Into this city's bosom. [destruction

Aust. I, from the north. K. Phi. Our thunder from the south, Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. Bast. O prudent discipline! From north to

south,

Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth: [Aside.

I'll stir them to't: Come, away, away! 1 Cit. Hear us, great kings! vouchsafe a while to stay, [league; And I shall shew you peace, and fair-faced Win you this city without stroke or wound; Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds,

Scabby fellows. < Mutineers.

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The dramatic works of Shakspeare, from the text of Johnson and Stevens [sic ...