King John (Libretto)
##########ACT I##########
SCENE I KING JOHN'S palace.
[Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX,SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON]
KING JOHN Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?
CHATILLON Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of FranceIn my behavior to the majesty,The borrow'd majesty, of England here.
QUEEN ELINOR A strange beginning: 'borrow'd majesty!'
KING JOHN Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.
CHATILLON Philip of France, in right and true behalfOf thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claimTo this fair island and the territories,To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,Desiring thee to lay aside the swordWhich sways usurpingly these several titles,And put these same into young Arthur's hand,Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.
KING JOHN What follows if we disallow of this?
CHATILLON The proud control of fierce and bloody war,To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
KING JOHN Here have we war for war and blood for blood,Controlment for controlment: so answer France.
CHATILLON Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,The farthest limit of my embassy.
KING JOHN Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace:Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;For ere thou canst report I will be there,The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrathAnd sullen presage of your own decay.An honourable conduct let him have:Pembroke, look to 't. Farewell, Chatillon.
[Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE]
QUEEN ELINOR What now, my son! have I not ever saidHow that ambitious Constance would not ceaseTill she had kindled France and all the world,Upon the right and party of her son?This might have been prevented and made wholeWith very easy arguments of love,Which now the manage of two kingdoms mustWith fearful bloody issue arbitrate.
KING JOHN Our strong possession and our right for us.
QUEEN ELINOR 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 I shall hear.
[Enter a Sheriff]
ESSEX My liege, here is the strangest controversyCome from country to be judged by you,That e'er I heard: shall I produce the men?
KING JOHN Let them approach.Our abbeys and our priories shall payThis expedition's charge.
[Enter ROBERT and the BASTARD]
What men are you?
BASTARD Your faithful subject I, a gentlemanBorn in Northamptonshire and eldest son,As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge,A soldier, by the honour-giving handOf Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
KING JOHN What art thou?
ROBERT The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.
KING JOHN Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?You came not of one mother then, it seems.
BASTARD Most certain of one mother, mighty king;That is well known; and, as I think, one father:But for the certain knowledge of that truthI put you o'er to heaven and to my mother:Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.
QUEEN ELINOR Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame thy motherAnd wound her honour with this diffidence.
BASTARD 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 outAt least from fair five hundred pound a year:Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land!
KING JOHN A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born,Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?
BASTARD I know not why, except to get the land.But once he slander'd me with bastardy:But whether I be as true begot 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 bothAnd were our father and this son like him,O old sir Robert, father, on my kneeI give heaven thanks I was not like to thee!
KING JOHN Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here!
QUEEN ELINOR He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face;The accent of his tongue affecteth him.Do you not read some tokens of my sonIn the large composition of this man?
KING JOHN Mine eye hath well examined his partsAnd finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak,What doth move you to claim your brother's land?
BASTARD Because he hath a half-face, like my father.With half that face would he have all my land:A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year!
ROBERT My gracious liege, when that my father lived,Your brother did employ my father much,--
BASTARD Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land:Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother.
ROBERT And once dispatch'd him in an embassyTo Germany, there with the emperorTo treat of high affairs touching that time.The advantage of his absence took the kingAnd 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 shoresBetween my father and my mother lay,As I have heard my father speak himself,When this same lusty gentleman was got.Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'dHis lands to me, and took it on his deathThat this my mother's son was none of his;And if he were, he came into the worldFull 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.
KING 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 husbandsThat 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 keptThis calf bred from his cow from all the world;In sooth he might; then, if he were my brother's,My brother might not claim him; nor your father,Being none of his, refuse him: this concludes;My mother's son did get your father's heir;Your father's heir must have your father's land.
ROBERT Shall then my father's will be of no forceTo dispossess that child which is not his?
BASTARD Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,Than was his will to get me, as I think.
QUEEN ELINOR Whether hadst thou rather be a FaulconbridgeAnd like thy brother, to enjoy thy land,Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion,Lord of thy presence and no land beside?
BASTARD Madam, an if my brother had my shape,And I had his, sir Robert's his, like him;And if my legs were two such riding-rods,My arms such eel-skins stuff'd, my face so thinThat in mine ear I durst not stick a roseLest men should say 'Look, where three-farthings goes!'And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,Would I might never stir from off this place,I would give it every foot to have this face;I would not be sir Nob in any case.
QUEEN ELINOR 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.
BASTARD Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance.Your face hath got five hundred pound a year,Yet sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear.Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
QUEEN ELINOR Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
BASTARD Our country manners give our betters way.
KING JOHN What is thy name?
BASTARD Philip, my liege, so is my name begun,Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
KING JOHN From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st:Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great,Arise sir Richard and Plantagenet.
BASTARD Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand:My father gave me honour, yours gave land.Now blessed by the hour, by night or day,When I was got, sir Robert was away!
QUEEN ELINOR The very spirit of Plantagenet!I am thy grandam, Richard; call me so.
BASTARD 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.
KING JOHN Go, Faulconbridge: now hast thou thy desire;A landless knight makes thee a landed squire.Come, madam, and come, Richard, we must speedFor France, for France, for it is more than need.
BASTARD Brother, adieu: good fortune come to thee!For thou wast got i' the way of honesty.
[Exeunt all but BASTARD]
A foot of honour better than I was;But many a many 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 sociableFor your conversion. Now your traveller,He and his toothpick at my worship's mess,And when my knightly stomach is sufficed,Why then I suck my teeth and catechiseMy 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 Absey 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 would,Saving in dialogue of compliment,And talking of the Alps and Apennines,The Pyrenean and the river Po,It draws toward supper in conclusion so.But this is worshipful societyAnd fits the mounting spirit like myself,For he is but a bastard to the timeThat 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 deliverSweet, 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 husbandThat will take pains to blow a horn before her?
[Enter LADY FAULCONBRIDGE and GURNEY]
O me! it is my mother. How now, good lady!What brings you here to court so hastily?
LADY FAULCONBRIDGE Where is that slave, thy brother? where is he,That holds in chase mine honour up and down?
BASTARD 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 FAULCONBRIDGE Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend boy,Sir Robert's son: why scorn'st thou at sir Robert?He is sir Robert's son, and so art thou.
BASTARD James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile?
GURNEY Good leave, good Philip.
BASTARD 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 meUpon 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 handiwork: therefore, good mother,To whom am I beholding for these limbs?Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.
LADY FAULCONBRIDGE Hast thou conspired with thy brother too,That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour?What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?
BASTARD Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.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 FAULCONBRIDGE Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?
BASTARD As faithfully as I deny the devil.
LADY FAULCONBRIDGE King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father:By long and vehement suit I was seducedTo 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 urged past my defence.
BASTARD 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 forceThe aweless lion could not wage the fight,Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.He that perforce robs lions of their heartsMay 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 wellWhen 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]
################ACT II################
SCENE I France. Before Angiers.
[Enter AUSTRIA and forces, drums, etc. on one side:on the other KING PHILIP and his power; LEWIS,ARTHUR, CONSTANCE and attendants]
LEWIS Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.Arthur, that great forerunner of thy blood,Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heartAnd 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 usurpationOf thy unnatural uncle, English John:Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
ARTHUR God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's deathThe 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.
LEWIS A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?
AUSTRIA 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 tidesAnd coops from other lands her islanders,Even till that England, hedged in with the main,That water-walled bulwark, still secureAnd confident from foreign purposes,Even till that utmost corner of the westSalute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
CONSTANCE O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks,Till your strong hand shall help to give him strengthTo make a more requital to your love!
AUSTRIA The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swordsIn such a just and charitable war.
KING PHILIP Well then, to work: our cannon shall be bentAgainst 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.
CONSTANCE Stay for an answer to your embassy,Lest unadvised you stain your swords with blood:My Lord Chatillon may from England bring,That right in peace which here we urge in war,And then we shall repent each drop of bloodThat hot rash haste so indirectly shed.
[Enter CHATILLON]
KING PHILIP A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish,Our messenger Chatillon is arrived!What England says, say briefly, gentle lord;We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.
CHATILLON Then turn your forces from this paltry siegeAnd 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 stay'd, have given him timeTo 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;With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;With them a bastard of the king's 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 hazard of new fortunes here:In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spiritsThan now the English bottoms have waft o'erDid nearer float upon the swelling tide,To do offence and scath in Christendom.
[Drum beats]
The interruption of their churlish drumsCuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,To parley or to fight; therefore prepare.
KING PHILIP How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
AUSTRIA By how much unexpected, by so muchWe must awake endavour for defence;For courage mounteth with occasion:Let them be welcome then: we are prepared.
[Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, BLANCH, the BASTARD,Lords, and forces]
KING JOHN Peace be to France, if France in peace permitOur just and lineal entrance to our own;If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven,Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correctTheir proud contempt that beats His peace to heaven.
KING PHILIP Peace be to England, if that war returnFrom France to England, there to live in peace.England we love; and for that England's sakeWith 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 kingCut off the sequence of posterity,Out-faced infant state and done a rapeUpon 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 largeWhich died in Geffrey, and the hand of timeShall draw this brief into as huge a volume.That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,And this his son; England was Geffrey's rightAnd this is Geffrey's: in the name of GodHow 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?
KING JOHN From whom hast thou this great commission, France,To draw my answer from thy articles?
KING PHILIP From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughtsIn 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 wrongAnd by whose help I mean to chastise it.
KING JOHN Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
KING PHILIP Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.
QUEEN ELINOR Who is it thou dost call usurper, France?
CONSTANCE Let me make answer; thy usurping son.
QUEEN ELINOR Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king,That thou mayst be a queen, and cheque the world!
CONSTANCE My bed was ever to thy son as trueAs thine was to thy husband; and this boyLiker in feature to his father GeffreyThan thou and John in manners; being as likeAs rain to water, or devil to his dam.My boy a bastard! By my soul, I thinkHis father never was so true begot:It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.
QUEEN ELINOR There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.
CONSTANCE There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.
AUSTRIA Peace!
BASTARD Hear the crier.
AUSTRIA What the devil art thou?
BASTARD 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 robeThat did disrobe the lion of that robe!
BASTARD It lies as sightly on the back of himAs great Alcides' shows upon an ass:But, ass, I'll take that burthen from your back,Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack.
AUSTRIA What craker is this same that deafs our earsWith this abundance of superfluous breath?
KING PHILIP Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.
LEWIS 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?
KING 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 moreThan e'er the coward hand of France can win:Submit thee, boy.
QUEEN ELINOR Come to thy grandam, child.
CONSTANCE Do, child, go to it grandam, child:Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam willGive it a plum, a cherry, and a fig:There's a good grandam.
ARTHUR 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.
QUEEN ELINOR His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.
CONSTANCE Now shame upon you, whether she does or no!His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames,Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be bribedTo do him justice and revenge on you.
QUEEN ELINOR Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth!
CONSTANCE Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth!Call not me slanderer; thou and thine usurpThe dominations, royalties and rightsOf this oppressed boy: this is thy eld'st son's son,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 generationRemoved from thy sin-conceiving womb.
KING JOHN Bedlam, have done.
CONSTANCE I have but this to say,That he is not only plagued for her sin,But God hath made her sin and her the plagueOn this removed issue, plague for herAnd 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!
QUEEN ELINOR Thou unadvised scold, I can produceA will that bars the title of thy son.
CONSTANCE Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will:A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will!
KING PHILIP Peace, lady! pause, or be more temperate:It ill beseems this presence to cry aimTo these ill-tuned repetitions.Some trumpet summon hither to the wallsThese men of Angiers: let us hear them speakWhose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.
[Trumpet sounds. Enter certain Citizens upon the walls]
First Citizen Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?
KING PHILIP 'Tis France, for England.
KING JOHN England, for itself.You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects--
KING PHILIP You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle--
KING JOHN For our advantage; therefore hear us first.These flags of France, that are advanced hereBefore 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 forthTheir iron indignation 'gainst your walls:All preparation for a bloody siegeAll merciless proceeding by these FrenchConfronts your city's eyes, your winking gates;And but for our approach those sleeping stones,That as a waist doth girdle you about,By the compulsion of their ordinanceBy this time from their fixed beds of limeHad been dishabited, and wide havoc madeFor bloody power to rush upon your peace.But on the sight of us your lawful king,Who painfully with much expedient marchHave brought a countercheque 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,Forwearied in this action of swift speed,Crave harbourage within your city walls.
KING PHILIP When I have said, make answer to us both.Lo, in this right hand, whose protectionIs most divinely vow'd upon the rightOf 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 treadIn warlike march these greens before your town,Being no further enemy to youThan the constraint of hospitable zealIn the relief of this oppressed childReligiously provokes. Be pleased thenTo pay that duty which you truly oweTo that owes it, namely this young prince:And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up;Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spentAgainst the invulnerable clouds of heaven;And with a blessed and unvex'd retire,With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruised,We will bear home that lusty blood againWhich here we came to spout against your town,And leave your children, wives and you in peace.But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced wallsCan hide you from our messengers of war,Though all these English and their disciplineWere harbour'd in their rude circumference.Then tell us, shall your city call us lord,In that behalf which we have challenged it?Or shall we give the signal to our rageAnd stalk in blood to our possession?
First Citizen In brief, we are the king of England's subjects:For him, and in his right, we hold this town.
KING JOHN Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.
First Citizen That can we not; but he that proves the king,To him will we prove loyal: till that timeHave we ramm'd up our gates against the world.
KING JOHN Doth not the crown of England prove the king?And if not that, I bring you witnesses,Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,--
BASTARD Bastards, and else.
KING JOHN To verify our title with their lives.
KING PHILIP As many and as well-born bloods as those,--
BASTARD Some bastards too.
KING PHILIP Stand in his face to contradict his claim.
First Citizen Till you compound whose right is worthiest,We for the worthiest hold the right from both.
KING JOHN Then God forgive the sin of all those soulsThat to their everlasting residence,Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!
KING PHILIP Amen, amen! Mount, chevaliers! to arms!
BASTARD Saint George, that swinged the dragon, and e'er sinceSits on his horseback at mine hostess' door,Teach us some fence!
[To AUSTRIA]
Sirrah, were I at home,At your den, sirrah, with your lionessI would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,And make a monster of you.
AUSTRIA Peace! no more.
BASTARD O tremble, for you hear the lion roar.
KING JOHN Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forthIn best appointment all our regiments.
BASTARD Speed then, to take advantage of the field.
KING PHILIP It shall be so; and at the other hillCommand the rest to stand. God and our right!
[Exeunt]
[Here after excursions, enter the Herald of France,with trumpets, to the gates]
French Herald 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 madeMuch work for tears in many an English mother,Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground;Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth;And victory, with little loss, doth playUpon the dancing banners of the French,Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,To enter conquerors and to proclaimArthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.
[Enter English Herald, with trumpet]
English Herald Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells:King John, your king and England's doth approach,Commander of this hot malicious day:Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright,Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;There stuck no plume in any English crestThat is removed by a staff of France;Our colours do return in those same handsThat did display them when we first march'd forth;And, like a troop of jolly huntsmen, comeOur lusty English, all with purpled hands,Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:Open your gates and gives the victors way.
First Citizen Heralds, from off our towers we might behold,From first to last, the onset and retireOf both your armies; whose equalityBy our best eyes cannot be censured:Blood hath bought blood and blows have answered blows;Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power:Both are alike; and both alike we like.One must prove greatest: while they weigh so even,We hold our town for neither, yet for both.
[Re-enter KING JOHN and KING PHILIP, with theirpowers, severally]
KING 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'erswellWith course disturb'd even thy confining shores,Unless thou let his silver water keepA peaceful progress to the ocean.
KING PHILIP England, thou hast not saved one drop of blood,In this hot trial, more than we of France;Rather, lost more. And by this hand I swear,That sways the earth this climate overlooks,Before we will lay down our just-borne arms,We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear,Or add a royal number to the dead,Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's lossWith slaughter coupled to the name of kings.
BASTARD 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, mousing 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 confirmThe other's peace: till then, blows, blood and death!
KING JOHN Whose party do the townsmen yet admit?
KING PHILIP Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?
First Citizen The king of England; when we know the king.
KING PHILIP Know him in us, that here hold up his right.
KING JOHN In us, that are our own great deputyAnd bear possession of our person here,Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.
First Citizen A greater power then we denies all this;And till it be undoubted, we do lockOur 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.
BASTARD By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout you, kings,And stand securely on their battlements,As in a theatre, whence they gape and pointAt your industrious scenes and acts of death.Your royal presences be ruled by me:Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,Be friends awhile and both conjointly bendYour sharpest deeds of malice on this town:By east and west let France and England mountTheir battering cannon charged to the mouths,Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd downThe flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:I'ld play incessantly upon these jades,Even till unfenced desolationLeave 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 forthOut 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?
KING JOHN Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,I like it well. France, shall we knit our powersAnd lay this Angiers even to the ground;Then after fight who shall be king of it?
BASTARD An if thou hast the mettle of a king,Being wronged as we are by this peevish town,Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,As we will ours, against these saucy walls;And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,Why then defy each other and pell-mellMake work upon ourselves, for heaven or hell.
KING PHILIP Let it be so. Say, where will you assault?
KING JOHN We from the west will send destructionInto this city's bosom.
AUSTRIA I from the north.
KING PHILIP Our thunder from the southShall rain their drift of bullets on this town.
BASTARD O prudent discipline! From north to south:Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth:I'll stir them to it. Come, away, away!
First Citizen Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe awhile to stay,And I shall show you peace and fair-faced league;Win you this city without stroke or wound;Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds,That here come sacrifices for the field:Persever not, but hear me, mighty kings.
KING JOHN Speak on with favour; we are bent to hear.
First Citizen That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch,Is niece to England: look upon the yearsOf Lewis the Dauphin and that lovely maid:If lusty love should go in quest of beauty,Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?If zealous love should go in search of virtue,Where should he find it purer than in Blanch?If love ambitious sought a match of birth,Whose veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch?Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth,Is the young Dauphin every way complete:If not complete of, say he is not she;And she again wants nothing, to name want,If want it be not that she is not he:He is the half part of a blessed man,Left to be finished by such as she;And she a fair divided excellence,Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.O, two such silver currents, when they join,Do glorify the banks that bound them in;And two such shores to two such streams made one,Two such controlling bounds shall you be, kings,To these two princes, if you marry them.This union shall do more than battery canTo our fast-closed gates; for at this match,With swifter spleen than powder can enforce,The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope,And give you entrance: but without this match,The sea enraged is not half so deaf,Lions more confident, mountains and rocksMore free from motion, no, not Death himselfIn moral fury half so peremptory,As we to keep this city.
BASTARD Here's a stayThat shakes the rotten carcass of old DeathOut of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed,That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas,Talks as familiarly of roaring lionsAs maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs!What cannoneer begot this lusty blood?He speaks plain cannon fire, and smoke and bounce;He gives the bastinado with his tongue:Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of hisBut buffets better than a fist of France:Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with wordsSince I first call'd my brother's father dad.
QUEEN ELINOR Son, list to this conjunction, make this match;Give with our niece a dowry large enough:For by this knot thou shalt so surely tieThy now unsured assurance to the crown,That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripeThe bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit.I see a yielding in the looks of France;Mark, how they whisper: urge them while their soulsAre capable of this ambition,Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breathOf soft petitions, pity and remorse,Cool and congeal again to what it was.
First Citizen Why answer not the double majestiesThis friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?
KING PHILIP Speak England first, that hath been forward firstTo speak unto this city: what say you?
KING JOHN If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son,Can in this book of beauty read 'I love,'Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen:For Anjou and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers,And all that we upon this side the sea,Except this city now by us besieged,Find liable to our crown and dignity,Shall gild her bridal bed and make her richIn titles, honours and promotions,As she in beauty, education, blood,Holds hand with any princess of the world.
KING PHILIP What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face.
LEWIS I do, my lord; and in her eye I findA wonder, or a wondrous miracle,The shadow of myself form'd in her eye:Which being but the shadow of your son,Becomes a sun and makes your son a shadow:I do protest I never loved myselfTill now infixed I beheld myselfDrawn in the flattering table of her eye.
[Whispers with BLANCH]
BASTARD Drawn in the flattering table of her eye!Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow!And quarter'd in her heart! he doth espyHimself love's traitor: this is pity now,That hang'd and drawn and quartered, there should beIn such a love so vile a lout as he.
BLANCH My uncle's will in this respect is mine:If he see aught in you that makes him like,That any thing he sees, which moves his liking,I can with ease translate it to my will;Or if you will, to speak more properly,I will enforce it easily to my love.Further I will not flatter you, my lord,That all I see in you is worthy love,Than this; that nothing do I see in you,Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your judge,That I can find should merit any hate.
KING JOHN What say these young ones? What say you my niece?
BLANCH That she is bound in honour still to doWhat you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say.
KING JOHN Speak then, prince Dauphin; can you love this lady?
LEWIS Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love;For I do love her most unfeignedly.
KING JOHN Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine,Poictiers and Anjou, these five provinces,With her to thee; and this addition more,Full thirty thousand marks of English coin.Philip of France, if thou be pleased withal,Command thy son and daughter to join hands.
KING PHILIP It likes us well; young princes, close your hands.
AUSTRIA And your lips too; for I am well assuredThat I did so when I was first assured.
KING PHILIP Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates,Let in that amity which you have made;For at Saint Mary's chapel presentlyThe rites of marriage shall be solemnized.Is not the Lady Constance in this troop?I know she is not, for this match made upHer presence would have interrupted much:Where is she and her son? tell me, who knows.
LEWIS She is sad and passionate at your highness' tent.
KING PHILIP And, by my faith, this league that we have madeWill give her sadness very little cure.Brother of England, how may we contentThis widow lady? In her right we came;Which we, God knows, have turn'd another way,To our own vantage.
KING JOHN We will heal up all;For we'll create young Arthur Duke of BretagneAnd Earl of Richmond; and this rich fair townWe make him lord of. Call the Lady Constance;Some speedy messenger bid her repairTo our solemnity: I trust we shall,If not fill up the measure of her will,Yet in some measure satisfy her soThat we shall stop her exclamation.Go we, as well as haste will suffer us,To this unlook'd for, unprepared pomp.
[Exeunt all but the BASTARD]
BASTARD Mad world! mad kings! mad composition!John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole,Hath willingly departed with a part,And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,Whom zeal and charity brought to the fieldAs God's own soldier, rounded in the earWith that same purpose-changer, that sly devil,That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith,That daily break-vow, he that wins of all,Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,Who, having no external thing to loseBut the word 'maid,' cheats the poor maid of that,That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling Commodity,Commodity, the bias of the world,The world, who of itself is peised well,Made to run even upon even ground,Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias,This sway of motion, this Commodity,Makes it take head from all indifferency,From all direction, purpose, course, intent:And this same bias, this Commodity,This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,Hath drawn him from his own determined aid,From a resolved and honourable war,To a most base and vile-concluded peace.And why rail I on this Commodity?But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,When his fair angels would salute my palm;But for my hand, as unattempted yet,Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will railAnd say there is no sin but to be rich;And being rich, my virtue then shall beTo say there is no vice but beggary.Since kings break faith upon commodity,Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.
[Exit]
#########ACT III#########
SCENE I The French King's pavilion.
[Enter CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and SALISBURY]
CONSTANCE Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace!False blood to false blood join'd! gone to be friends!Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those provinces?It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard:Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again:It cannot be; thou dost but say 'tis so:I trust I may not trust thee; for thy wordIs but the vain breath of a common man:Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;I have a king's oath to the contrary.Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me,For I am sick and capable of fears,Oppress'd with wrongs and therefore full of fears,A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,A woman, naturally born to fears;And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce,But they will quake and tremble all this day.What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?What means that hand upon that breast of thine?Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?Then speak again; not all thy former tale,But this one word, whether thy tale be true.
SALISBURY As true as I believe you think them falseThat give you cause to prove my saying true.
CONSTANCE O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die,And let belief and life encounter soAs doth the fury of two desperate menWhich in the very meeting fall and die.Lewis marry Blanch! O boy, then where art thou?France friend with England, what becomes of me?Fellow, be gone: I cannot brook thy sight:This news hath made thee a most ugly man.
SALISBURY What other harm have I, good lady, done,But spoke the harm that is by others done?
CONSTANCE Which harm within itself so heinous isAs it makes harmful all that speak of it.
ARTHUR I do beseech you, madam, be content.
CONSTANCE If thou, that bid'st me be content, wert grim,Ugly and slanderous to thy mother's womb,Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,Patch'd with foul moles and eye-offending marks,I would not care, I then would be content,For then I should not love thee, no, nor thouBecome thy great birth nor deserve a crown.But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great:Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with lilies boast,And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,She is corrupted, changed and won from thee;She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,And with her golden hand hath pluck'd on FranceTo tread down fair respect of sovereignty,And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.France is a bawd to Fortune and King John,That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John!Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn?Envenom him with words, or get thee goneAnd leave those woes alone which I aloneAm bound to under-bear.
SALISBURY Pardon me, madam,I may not go without you to the kings.
CONSTANCE Thou mayst, thou shalt; I will not go with thee:I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop.To me and to the state of my great griefLet kings assemble; for my grief's so greatThat no supporter but the huge firm earthCan hold it up: here I and sorrows sit;Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.
[Seats herself on the ground]
[Enter KING JOHN, KING PHILLIP, LEWIS, BLANCH,QUEEN ELINOR, the BASTARD, AUSTRIA, and Attendants]
KING PHILIP 'Tis true, fair daughter; and this blessed dayEver in France shall be kept festival:To solemnize this day the glorious sunStays in his course and plays the alchemist,Turning with splendor of his precious eyeThe meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold:The yearly course that brings this day aboutShall never see it but a holiday.
CONSTANCE A wicked day, and not a holy day!
[Rising]
What hath this day deserved? what hath it done,That it in golden letters should be setAmong the high tides in the calendar?Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,This day of shame, oppression, perjury.Or, if it must stand still, let wives with childPray that their burthens may not fall this day,Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross'd:But on this day let seamen fear no wreck;No bargains break that are not this day made:This day, all things begun come to ill end,Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change!
KING PHILIP By heaven, lady, you shall have no causeTo curse the fair proceedings of this day:Have I not pawn'd to you my majesty?
CONSTANCE You have beguiled me with a counterfeitResembling majesty, which, being touch'd and tried,Proves valueless: you are forsworn, forsworn;You came in arms to spill mine enemies' blood,But now in arms you strengthen it with yours:The grappling vigour and rough frown of warIs cold in amity and painted peace,And our oppression hath made up this league.Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjured kings!A widow cries; be husband to me, heavens!Let not the hours of this ungodly dayWear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings!Hear me, O, hear me!
AUSTRIA Lady Constance, peace!
CONSTANCE War! war! no peace! peace is to me a warO Lymoges! O Austria! thou dost shameThat bloody spoil: thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!Thou little valiant, great in villany!Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!Thou Fortune's champion that dost never fightBut when her humorous ladyship is byTo teach thee safety! thou art perjured too,And soothest up greatness. What a fool art thou,A ramping fool, to brag and stamp and swearUpon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side,Been sworn my soldier, bidding me dependUpon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength,And dost thou now fall over to my fores?Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA O, that a man should speak those words to me!
BASTARD And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA Thou darest not say so, villain, for thy life.
BASTARD And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.
KING JOHN We like not this; thou dost forget thyself.
[Enter CARDINAL PANDULPH]
KING PHILIP Here comes the holy legate of the pope.
CARDINAL PANDULPH Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!To thee, King John, my holy errand is.I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,And from Pope Innocent the legate here,Do in his name religiously demandWhy thou against the church, our holy mother,So wilfully dost spurn; and force perforceKeep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishopOf Canterbury, from that holy see?This, in our foresaid holy father's name,Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.
KING JOHN What earthy name to interrogatoriesCan task the free breath of a sacred king?Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a nameSo slight, unworthy and ridiculous,To charge me to an answer, as the pope.Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of EnglandAdd thus much more, that no Italian priestShall tithe or toll in our dominions;But as we, under heaven, are supreme head,So under Him that great supremacy,Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,Without the assistance of a mortal hand:So tell the pope, all reverence set apartTo him and his usurp'd authority.
KING PHILIP Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
KING JOHN Though you and all the kings of ChristendomAre led so grossly by this meddling priest,Dreading the curse that money may buy out;And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,Who in that sale sells pardon from himself,Though you and all the rest so grossly ledThis juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,Yet I alone, alone do me opposeAgainst the pope and count his friends my foes.
CARDINAL PANDULPH Then, by the lawful power that I have,Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate.And blessed shall he be that doth revoltFrom his allegiance to an heretic;And meritorious shall that hand be call'd,Canonized and worshipped as a saint,That takes away by any secret courseThy hateful life.
CONSTANCE O, lawful let it beThat I have room with Rome to curse awhile!Good father cardinal, cry thou amenTo my keen curses; for without my wrongThere is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
CARDINAL PANDULPH There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
CONSTANCE And for mine too: when law can do no right,Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong:Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,For he that holds his kingdom holds the law;Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
CARDINAL PANDULPH Philip of France, on peril of a curse,Let go the hand of that arch-heretic;And raise the power of France upon his head,Unless he do submit himself to Rome.
QUEEN ELINOR Look'st thou pale, France? do not let go thy hand.
CONSTANCE Look to that, devil; lest that France repent,And by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul.
AUSTRIA King Philip, listen to the cardinal.
BASTARD And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs.
AUSTRIA Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs, Because--
BASTARD Your breeches best may carry them.
KING JOHN Philip, what say'st thou to the cardinal?
CONSTANCE What should he say, but as the cardinal?
LEWIS Bethink you, father; for the differenceIs purchase of a heavy curse from Rome,Or the light loss of England for a friend:Forego the easier.
BLANCH That's the curse of Rome.
CONSTANCE O Lewis, stand fast! the devil tempts thee hereIn likeness of a new untrimmed bride.
BLANCH The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,But from her need.
CONSTANCE O, if thou grant my need,Which only lives but by the death of faith,That need must needs infer this principle,That faith would live again by death of need.O then, tread down my need, and faith mounts up;Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down!
KING JOHN The king is moved, and answers not to this.
CONSTANCE O, be removed from him, and answer well!
AUSTRIA Do so, King Philip; hang no more in doubt.
BASTARD Hang nothing but a calf's-skin, most sweet lout.
KING PHILIP I am perplex'd, and know not what to say.
CARDINAL PANDULPH What canst thou say but will perplex thee more,If thou stand excommunicate and cursed?
KING PHILIP Good reverend father, make my person yours,And tell me how you would bestow yourself.This royal hand and mine are newly knit,And the conjunction of our inward soulsMarried in league, coupled and linked togetherWith all religious strength of sacred vows;The latest breath that gave the sound of wordsWas deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true loveBetween our kingdoms and our royal selves,And even before this truce, but new before,No longer than we well could wash our handsTo clap this royal bargain up of peace,Heaven knows, they were besmear'd and over-stain'dWith slaughter's pencil, where revenge did paintThe fearful difference of incensed kings:And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood,So newly join'd in love, so strong in both,Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet?Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven,Make such unconstant children of ourselves,As now again to snatch our palm from palm,Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bedOf smiling peace to march a bloody host,And make a riot on the gentle browOf true sincerity? O, holy sir,My reverend father, let it not be so!Out of your grace, devise, ordain, imposeSome gentle order; and then we shall be blestTo do your pleasure and continue friends.
CARDINAL PANDULPH All form is formless, order orderless,Save what is opposite to England's love.Therefore to arms! be champion of our church,Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse,A mother's curse, on her revolting son.France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,A chafed lion by the mortal paw,A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
KING PHILIP I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
CARDINAL PANDULPH So makest thou faith an enemy to faith;And like a civil war set'st oath to oath,Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vowFirst made to heaven, first be to heaven perform'd,That is, to be the champion of our church!What since thou sworest is sworn against thyselfAnd may not be performed by thyself,For that which thou hast sworn to do amissIs not amiss when it is truly done,And being not done, where doing tends to ill,The truth is then most done not doing it:The better act of purposes mistookIs to mistake again; though indirect,Yet indirection thereby grows direct,And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fireWithin the scorched veins of one new-burn'd.It is religion that doth make vows kept;But thou hast sworn against religion,By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st,And makest an oath the surety for thy truthAgainst an oath: the truth thou art unsureTo swear, swears only not to be forsworn;Else what a mockery should it be to swear!But thou dost swear only to be forsworn;And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.Therefore thy later vows against thy firstIs in thyself rebellion to thyself;And better conquest never canst thou makeThan arm thy constant and thy nobler partsAgainst these giddy loose suggestions:Upon which better part our prayers come in,If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then knowThe peril of our curses light on theeSo heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,But in despair die under their black weight.
AUSTRIA Rebellion, flat rebellion!
BASTARD Will't not be?Will not a calfs-skin stop that mouth of thine?
LEWIS Father, to arms!
BLANCH Upon thy wedding-day?Against the blood that thou hast married?What, shall our feast be kept with slaughter'd men?Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp?O husband, hear me! ay, alack, how newIs husband in my mouth! even for that name,Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce,Upon my knee I beg, go not to armsAgainst mine uncle.
CONSTANCE O, upon my knee,Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doomForethought by heaven!
BLANCH Now shall I see thy love: what motive mayBe stronger with thee than the name of wife?
CONSTANCE That which upholdeth him that thee upholds,His honour: O, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour!
LEWIS I muse your majesty doth seem so cold,When such profound respects do pull you on.
CARDINAL PANDULPH I will denounce a curse upon his head.
KING PHILIP Thou shalt not need. England, I will fall from thee.
CONSTANCE O fair return of banish'd majesty!
QUEEN ELINOR O foul revolt of French inconstancy!
KING JOHN France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour.
BASTARD Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time,Is it as he will? well then, France shall rue.
BLANCH The sun's o'ercast with blood: fair day, adieu!Which is the side that I must go withal?I am with both: each army hath a hand;And in their rage, I having hold of both,They swirl asunder and dismember me.Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win;Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose;Father, I may not wish the fortune thine;Grandam, I will not wish thy fortunes thrive:Whoever wins, on that side shall I loseAssured loss before the match be play'd.
LEWIS Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies.
BLANCH There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.
KING JOHN Cousin, go draw our puissance together.
[Exit BASTARD]
France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath;A rage whose heat hath this condition,That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,The blood, and dearest-valued blood, of France.
KING PHILIP Thy rage sham burn thee up, and thou shalt turnTo ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire:Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.
KING JOHN No more than he that threats. To arms let's hie!
[Exeunt]
KING JOHN
ACT III
SCENE II The same. Plains near Angiers.
[Alarums, excursions. Enter the BASTARD, withAUSTRIA'S head]
BASTARD Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;Some airy devil hovers in the skyAnd pours down mischief. Austria's head lie there,While Philip breathes.
[Enter KING JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT]
KING JOHN Hubert, keep this boy. Philip, make up:My mother is assailed in our tent,And ta'en, I fear.
BASTARD My lord, I rescued her;Her highness is in safety, fear you not:But on, my liege; for very little painsWill bring this labour to an happy end.
[Exeunt]
KING JOHN
ACT III
SCENE III The same.
[Alarums, excursions, retreat. Enter KING JOHN,QUEEN ELINOR, ARTHUR, the BASTARD, HUBERT,and Lords]
KING JOHN [To QUEEN ELINOR] So shall it be; your grace shallstay behindSo strongly guarded.
[To ARTHUR]
Cousin, look not sad:Thy grandam loves thee; and thy uncle willAs dear be to thee as thy father was.
ARTHUR O, this will make my mother die with grief!
KING JOHN [To the BASTARD] Cousin, away for England!haste before:And, ere our coming, see thou shake the bagsOf hoarding abbots; imprisoned angelsSet at liberty: the fat ribs of peaceMust by the hungry now be fed upon:Use our commission in his utmost force.
BASTARD Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back,When gold and silver becks me to come on.I leave your highness. Grandam, I will pray,If ever I remember to be holy,For your fair safety; so, I kiss your hand.
ELINOR Farewell, gentle cousin.
KING JOHN Coz, farewell.
[Exit the BASTARD]
QUEEN ELINOR Come hither, little kinsman; hark, a word.
KING JOHN Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert,We owe thee much! within this wall of fleshThere is a soul counts thee her creditorAnd with advantage means to pay thy love:And my good friend, thy voluntary oathLives in this bosom, dearly cherished.Give me thy hand. I had a thing to say,But I will fit it with some better time.By heaven, Hubert, I am almost ashamedTo say what good respect I have of thee.
HUBERT I am much bounden to your majesty.
KING JOHN Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet,But thou shalt have; and creep time ne'er so slow,Yet it shall come from me to do thee good.I had a thing to say, but let it go:The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day,Attended with the pleasures of the world,Is all too wanton and too full of gawdsTo give me audience: if the midnight bellDid, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth,Sound on into the drowsy race of night;If this same were a churchyard where we stand,And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs,Or if that surly spirit, melancholy,Had baked thy blood and made it heavy-thick,Which else runs tickling up and down the veins,Making that idiot, laughter, keep men's eyesAnd strain their cheeks to idle merriment,A passion hateful to my purposes,Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes,Hear me without thine ears, and make replyWithout a tongue, using conceit alone,Without eyes, ears and harmful sound of words;Then, in despite of brooded watchful day,I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts:But, ah, I will not! yet I love thee well;And, by my troth, I think thou lovest me well.
HUBERT So well, that what you bid me undertake,Though that my death were adjunct to my act,By heaven, I would do it.
KING JOHN Do not I know thou wouldst?Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eyeOn yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,He is a very serpent in my way;And whereso'er this foot of mine doth tread,He lies before me: dost thou understand me?Thou art his keeper.
HUBERT And I'll keep him so,That he shall not offend your majesty.
KING JOHN Death.
HUBERT My lord?
KING JOHN A grave.
HUBERT He shall not live.
KING JOHN Enough.I could be merry now. Hubert, I love thee;Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee:Remember. Madam, fare you well:I'll send those powers o'er to your majesty.
ELINOR My blessing go with thee!
KING JOHN For England, cousin, go:Hubert shall be your man, attend on youWith all true duty. On toward Calais, ho!
[Exeunt]
KING JOHN
ACT III
SCENE IV The same. KING PHILIP'S tent.
[Enter KING PHILIP, LEWIS, CARDINAL PANDULPH,and Attendants]
KING PHILIP So, by a roaring tempest on the flood,A whole armado of convicted sailIs scatter'd and disjoin'd from fellowship.
CARDINAL PANDULPH Courage and comfort! all shall yet go well.
KING PHILIP What can go well, when we have run so ill?Are we not beaten? Is not Angiers lost?Arthur ta'en prisoner? divers dear friends slain?And bloody England into England gone,O'erbearing interruption, spite of France?
LEWIS What he hath won, that hath he fortified:So hot a speed with such advice disposed,Such temperate order in so fierce a cause,Doth want example: who hath read or heardOf any kindred action like to this?
KING PHILIP Well could I bear that England had this praise,So we could find some pattern of our shame.
[Enter CONSTANCE]
Look, who comes here! a grave unto a soul;Holding the eternal spirit against her will,In the vile prison of afflicted breath.I prithee, lady, go away with me.
CONSTANCE Lo, now I now see the issue of your peace.
KING PHILIP Patience, good lady! comfort, gentle Constance!
CONSTANCE No, I defy all counsel, all redress,But that which ends all counsel, true redress,Death, death; O amiable lovely death!Thou odouriferous stench! sound rottenness!Arise forth from the couch of lasting night,Thou hate and terror to prosperity,And I will kiss thy detestable bonesAnd put my eyeballs in thy vaulty browsAnd ring these fingers with thy household wormsAnd stop this gap of breath with fulsome dustAnd be a carrion monster like thyself:Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smilestAnd buss thee as thy wife. Misery's love,O, come to me!
KING PHILIP O fair affliction, peace!
CONSTANCE No, no, I will not, having breath to cry:O, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth!Then with a passion would I shake the world;And rouse from sleep that fell anatomyWhich cannot hear a lady's feeble voice,Which scorns a modern invocation.
CARDINAL PANDULPH Lady, you utter madness, and not sorrow.
CONSTANCE Thou art not holy to belie me so;I am not mad: this hair I tear is mine;My name is Constance; I was Geffrey's wife;Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost:I am not mad: I would to heaven I were!For then, 'tis like I should forget myself:O, if I could, what grief should I forget!Preach some philosophy to make me mad,And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal;For being not mad but sensible of grief,My reasonable part produces reasonHow I may be deliver'd of these woes,And teaches me to kill or hang myself:If I were mad, I should forget my son,Or madly think a babe of clouts were he:I am not mad; too well, too well I feelThe different plague of each calamity.
KING PHILIP Bind up those tresses. O, what love I noteIn the fair multitude of those her hairs!Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen,Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friendsDo glue themselves in sociable grief,Like true, inseparable, faithful loves,Sticking together in calamity.
CONSTANCE To England, if you will.
KING PHILIP Bind up your hairs.
CONSTANCE Yes, that I will; and wherefore will I do it?I tore them from