ACT I.

Scene I. King John's palace.

Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Essex, Salisbury, and others, with Chatillon.[1]

K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with
 us?
Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France
 In my behaviour to the majesty,
 The borrowed majesty, of England here.[2]
Eli. A strange beginning: 'borrowed majesty!'[2]5
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
 Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,[3]
 Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim[4]
 To this fair island and the territories,10
 To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,[5]
 Desiring thee to lay aside the sword
 Which sways usurpingly these several titles,
 And put the same into young Arthur's hand,
 Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.15
K. John. What follows if we disallow of this?
Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war,
 To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
K. John. Here have we war for war and blood for blood,
 Controlment for controlment: so answer France.[6]20
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,
 The farthest limit of my embassy.
K. 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,[7]25
 The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:
 So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath
 And sullen presage of your own decay.[8]
 An honourable conduct let him have:
 Pembroke, look to't. Farewell, Chatillon.[9]30

[Exeunt Chatillon and Pembroke.

Eli. What now, my son! have I not ever said
 How that ambitious Constance would not cease
 Till she had kindled France and all the world,
 Upon the right and party of her son?
 This might have been prevented and made whole35
 With very easy arguments of love,
 Which now the manage of two kingdoms must[10]
 With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.
K. John. Our strong possession and our right for us.
Eli. Your strong possession much more than your right,40
 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.[11]

Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy
 Come from the country to be judged by you,45
 That e'er I heard: shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach.
 Our abbeys and our priories shall pay
 This expedition's charge.

Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip his bastard brother.[12]

What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman[13]50
 Born in Northamptonshire and eldest son,
 As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge,[14]
 A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
 Of Cœur-de-lion knighted in the field.[15]
K. John. What art thou?[16]55
Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.
K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
 You came not of one mother then, it seems.
Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king;
 That is well known; and, as I think, one father:60
 But for the certain knowledge of that truth
 I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother:
 Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.
Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame thy mother
 And wound her honour with this diffidence.65
Bast. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it;
 That is my brother's plea and none of mine;
 The which if he can prove, a' pops me out[17]
 At least from fair five hundred pound a year:
 Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land!70
K. John. A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born,
 Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?
Bast. I know not why, except to get the land.
 But once he slander'd me with bastardy:
 But whether I be as true begot or no,[18]75
 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.[19]
 If old Sir Robert did beget us both80
 And were our father and this son like him,[20]
 O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee
 I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee!
K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here![21]
Eli. He hath a trick of Cœur-de-lion's face;[22]85
 The accent of his tongue affecteth him.
 Do you not read some tokens of my son
 In the large composition of this man?
K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts
 And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak,90
 What doth move you to claim your brother's land?
Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father.[23]
 With half that face would he have all my land:[23][24]
 A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year![23]
Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father lived,95
 Your brother did employ my father much,—
Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land:
 Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassy
 To Germany, there with the emperor100
 To treat of high affairs touching that time.
 The advantage of his absence took the king
 And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
 Where how he did prevail I shame to speak,
 But truth is truth: large lengths of seas and shores[25]105
 Between 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'd
 His lands to me, and took it on his death[26]110
 That this my mother's son was none of his;
 And if he were, he came into the world[27]
 Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
 Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
 My father's land, as was my father's will.115
K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
 Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him,
 And if she did play false, the fault was hers;
 Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands[28]
 That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,120
 Who, as you say, took pains to get this son,
 Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
 In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept
 This calf bred from his cow from all the world;
 In sooth he might; then, if he were my brother's,125
 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.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force130
 To dispossess that child which is not his?
Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,
 Than was his will to get me, as I think.
Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge[29]
 And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land,135
 Or the reputed son of Cœur-de-lion,
 Lord of thy presence and no land beside?[30]
Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,[31]
 And I had his, sir Robert's his, like him;[32]
 And if my legs were two such riding-rods,[33]140
 My arms such eel-skins stuff'd, my face so thin
 That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose
 Lest men should say 'Look, where three-farthings goes!'
 And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,[34]
 Would I might never stir from off this place,145
 I would give it every foot to have this face;[35]
 I would not be sir Nob in any case.[36]
Eli. I like thee well: wilt thou forsake thy fortune,
 Bequeath thy land to him and follow me?
 I am a soldier and now bound to France.150
Bast. 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.
Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.155
Bast. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. What is thy name?
Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name begun;
 Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st:[37]160
 Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great,[38]
 Arise sir Richard and Plantagenet.
Bast. Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand:
 My father gave me honour, yours gave land.
 Now blessed be the hour, by night or day,165
 When I was got, sir Robert was away!
Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!
 I am thy grandam, Richard; call me so.[39]
Bast. Madam, by chance but not by truth; what though?[40]
 Something about, a little from the right,170
 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.175
K. John. Go, Faulconbridge: now hast thou thy desire;
 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 thee!180
 For thou wast got i' the way of honesty.[41]

[Exeunt all but Bastard.[42]

A foot of honour better than I was;
 But many a many foot of land the worse.[43]
 Well, now can I make any Joan a lady.
 'Good den, sir Richard!'—'God-a-mercy, fellow!'—185
 And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter;
 For new-made honour doth forget men's names:
 'Tis too respective and too sociable[44]
 For your conversion. Now your traveller,[45]
 He and his toothpick at my worship's mess,190
 And when my knightly stomach is sufficed,
 Why then I suck my teeth and catechize
 My picked man of countries: 'My dear sir,'[46]
 Thus, leaning on mine elbow, I begin,
 'I shall beseech you'—that is question now;[47]195
 And then comes answer like an Absey book:[48]
 '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,200
 Saving in dialogue of compliment,[49]
 And talking of the Alps and Apennines,
 The Pyrenean and the river Po,[50]
 It draws toward supper in conclusion so.[51]
 But this is worshipful society205
 And fits the mounting spirit like myself,[52]
 For he is but a bastard to the time
 That doth not smack of observation;[53]
 And so am I, whether I smack or no;[53][54]
 And not alone in habit and device,210
 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,[55]
 Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;215
 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.

O me! it is my mother. How now, good lady![56]220
 What brings you here to court so hastily?
Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother? where is he,[57]
 That holds in chase mine honour up and down?
Bast. My brother Robert? old sir Robert's son?
 Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man?225
 Is it sir Robert's son that you seek so?
Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend boy,
 Sir Robert's son: why scorn'st thou at sir Robert?[58]
 He is sir Robert's son, and so art thou.
Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile?[59]230
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.
Bast. Philip! sparrow: James,[60]
 There's toys abroad: anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit Gurney.[61]
 Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son:
 Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
 Upon Good-Friday and ne'er broke his fast:235
 Sir Robert could do well: marry, to confess,[62]
 Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it:[63]
 We know his handiwork: therefore, good mother,
 To whom am I beholding for these limbs?[64]
 Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.[65]240
Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too,[66]
 That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour?
 What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?
Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.[67]
 What! I am dubb'd! I have it on my shoulder.[68]245
 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?250
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?
Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
Lady F. King Richard Cœur-de-lion was thy father:
 By long and vehement suit I was seduced
 To make room for him in my husband's bed:255
 Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge![69]
 Thou art the issue of my dear offence,[70]
 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.260
 Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
 And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly:[71]
 Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose.
 Subjected tribute to commanding love,
 Against whose fury and unmatched force265
 The aweless lion could not wage the fight,
 Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.[72]
 He that perforce robs lions of their hearts
 May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,[73]
 With all my heart I thank thee for my father!270
 Who lives and dares but say thou didst not well
 When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
 Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin;[74]
 And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
 If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin:275
 Who says it was, he lies; I say 'twas not. [Exeunt.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Scene I King John's palace] The court of England. Pope. Northampton ... palace. Capell.

Salisbury, and others] Capell and Salisbury. Ff.

Chatillon] Johnson. Chattilon Rowe. the Chattylion of France. Ff.

[2] borrowed] Ff. borrow'd Rowe.

[3] brother] F4. brother, F1 F2 F3.

[4] most] om. Pope.

[5] Anjou] Rowe. Anjowe Ff.

Touraine] Rowe (ed. 2). Torayne F1. Lorayne F2. Loraine F3 F4. Touaine Rowe (ed. 1).

[6] Controlment ... controlment] F4. Controlement ... controlement F1 F2 F3. See note (III).

[7] For ere] Or, ere Seymour conj.

report I ... there,] Capell. report, I ... there: Ff. (there; F3 F4).

[8] sullen] sudden Becket conj.

[9] Exeunt ...] Exit Chat. and Pem. Ff.

[10] manage] mannage Ff.

[11] Enter a Sheriff.] Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire and whispers Essex. Capell. See note (IV).

[12] expedition's] expeditious F1.]

Enter ...] Enter R. F. and Philip. Ff. Exit Sheriff; and Re-enters with R. F. and P., his bastard brother. Capell (after line 47).

[13] Scene II. Pope.

Bast.] Philip. Ff. (and to line 132; afterwards Bast.).

[14] Robert] om. F2 F3 F4.

[15] Cœur-de-lion] Cordelion Ff. (and passim).

[16] What] And what Capell.

[17] a'] a Ff. he Pope.

[18] whether] F4. where F1 F2 F3. See note (V).

as true] true Pope.

[19] yourself.] Rowe. your selfe F1 F2. your self F3 F4.

[20] him,] him: Ff.

[21] lent] sent Heath conj.

[22] trick] See note (VI).

[23] father. With ... land: ... year!] father? With ... land, ... year? F1 F2. father, With ... land, ... year? F3 F4.

[24] half that face] that half-face Theobald. half the face Anon. conj.

[25] lengths] length Capell conj.

[26] death] oath Anon. conj.

[27] And if] An if Hanmer.

[28] hazards] hazard Pope.

[29] Whether] Say Pope.

[30] thy] the Warburton.

[31] an if] Hanmer. and if Ff.

[32] Robert's] Robert Theobald. Robert's, Hanmer.

[33] And if] An if S. Walker conj.

[34] to his] with his Hanmer.

his ... this] this ... his Mason conj.

[35] I would] I'd Pope.

[36] I] F2 F3 F4. It F1. See note (VII).

sir Nob] Capell. sir nobbe F1 F2 F3. Sir Nobbe F4. sir Rob Lloyd conj.

[37] From ... bear'st] Pope. From ... bearest As two lines, the first ending name, in Ff.

[38] rise] Ff. rise up Pope. arise Steevens. to rise Keightley conj.

[39] grandam, Richard:] grandame Richard, F1 F2 F3. grandam, Richard, F4. grandam; Richard, Pope.

[40] what though?] what tho'? Theobald. what tho; Ff.

[41] wast] as Pope.

Exeunt ... Bastard.] Ff. Exeunt. Capell.

[42] Scene III. Pope. Scene II. The same. Anti-room of the same. Enter Bastard. Capell.

[43] many a many] many, many a Hanmer. many, ah, many a Collier (Collier MS.).

[44] too ... too] two ... too F1.

too sociable] unsociable Pope.

[45] your conversion.] Capell. your conversion, Ff. your conversing. Pope. conversation. Lloyd conj.

[46] picked] piked Pope. picqued Theobald.

man of] man, of Steevens conj.

countries] courtesies Jackson conj.

[47] I ... now] Misplaced in Singer (ed. 2).

[48] Absey book] ABC-book Pope.

[49] Saving] Serving Theobald (Warburton conj.).

[50] Pyrenean] Perennean F1. Pyrennean F2 F3 F4. Pyreneans Collier (ed. 2, Collier MS.).

[51] toward] F1 F2. towards F3 F4.

[52] the mounting] a mounting Collier MS.

spirit] spirits Delius.

[53] smack ... smack] Theobald. smoake ... smacke F1 F2. smoak ... smack F3 F4. smack ... smoak Pope.

[54] And ... no] Put in brackets, as spurious, by Warburton.

[55] Which] This Johnson conj.

[56] Enter ...] Capell. Ff. after line 221.

it is] Pope. 'tis Ff.

How now] now Pope.

[57] Scene IV. Pope.

[58] scorn'st] scornest F4.

[59] Gurney] F4. Gournie F1. Gourney F2 F3.

[60] Philip! sparrow:] Capell. Philip, sparrow, Ff. Philip,—spare me, Theobald (Warburton). Philip—spare oh! Grey conj.

[61] Exit Gurney] Exit James. Ff.

[62] to confess] confess Pope. to confess the truth Keightley conj.

[63] Could he get me?] Pope. Could get me Ff. Could not get me; Dyce (Collier MS.).

[64] beholding] beholden Pope.

[65] holp] help'd Pope.

[66] conspired] conspir'd Rowe.

[67] Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.] F3 F4. Knight, knight good mother, Basilisco-like: F1 F2. Omitted by Rowe (ed. 2). Knight—Knight, good mother, Basilisco like Pope. Knight, knight, good mother—Basilisco like. Theobald. Knight, knight,—good mother, Basilisco like. Id. conj. Knight—knight—good mother—Basilisco;—'slight! Id. conj. (withdrawn).

[68] What!] Theobald. What, Ff. Why Pope. Why, Hanmer.

[69] my charge!] my charge, Ff. thy charge, Long MS.

[70] Thou] F4. That F1 F2 F3.

[71] your folly] you folly F2.

[72] hand] hands F4.

[73] Ay] aye Ff.

[74] thee] the F4.