ACT II.

Scene I. France. Before Angiers.

Enter Austria and forces, drums, etc. on one side: on the other King Philip of France and his Power; Lewis, Arthur, Constance and attendants.[75]

Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.[76]
 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:5
 And for amends to his posterity,
 At our importance hither is he come,
 To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf,
 And to rebuke the usurpation
 Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:10
 Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion's death
 The rather that you give his offspring life,
 Shadowing their right under your wings of war:[77]
 I give you welcome with a powerless hand,15
 But with a heart full of unstained love:[78]
 Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?
Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
 As seal to this indenture of my love,20
 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,25
 Even till that England, hedged in with the main,
 That water-walled bulwark, still secure
 And confident from foreign purposes,
 Even till that utmost corner of the west[79]
 Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,30
 Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks,
 Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength
 To make a more requital to your love!
Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords[80]35
 In such a just and charitable war.
K. Phi. Well then, to work: our cannon shall be bent[81]
 Against the brows of this resisting town.
 Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
 To cull the plots of best advantages:40
 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:45
 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 blood
 That hot rash haste so indirectly shed.[82]

Enter Chatillon.

K. Phi. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish,50
 Our messenger Chatillon is arrived!
 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.55
 England, impatient of your just demands,
 Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds,
 Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time
 To land his legions all as soon as I;
 His marches are expedient to this town,60
 His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
 With him along is come the mother-queen,
 An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife;[83]
 With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;
 With them a bastard of the king's deceased;[84]65
 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,[85]70
 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. [Drum beats.[86]75
 The interruption of their churlish drums
 Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,[87]
 To parley or to fight; therefore prepare.[87]
K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much80
 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, Lords, and Forces.[88]

K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit[89]
 Our just and lineal entrance to our own;85
 If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven,
 Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct[90]
 Their proud contempt that beats His peace to heaven.[91]
K. Phi. Peace be to England, if that war return
 From France to England, there to live in peace.90
 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,[92]95
 Cut off the sequence of posterity,
 Out-faced infant state and done a rape
 Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
 Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face;
 These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his:100
 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.[93]
 That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
 And this his son; England was Geffrey's right105
 And this is Geffrey's: in the name of God[94]
 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,110
 To draw my answer from thy articles?[95]
K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughts
 In any breast of strong authority,[96]
 To look into the blots and stains of right:[97]
 That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:115
 Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong
 And by whose help I mean to chastise it.
K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.[98]
K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.[98][99]
Eli. Who is it thou dost call usurper, France?[98][100]120
Const. Let me make answer; thy usurping son.[98]
Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king,[98]
 That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world![98]
Const. My bed was ever to thy son as true[98]
 As thine was to thy husband; and this boy[98]125
 Liker in feature to his father Geffrey[98]
 Than thou and John in manners; being as like[98][101]
 As rain to water, or devil to his dam.[98]
 My boy a bastard! By my soul, I think[98]
 His father never was so true begot:[98]130
 It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.[98][102]
Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.[98]
Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.[98][103]
Aust. Peace![98]
Bast. Hear the crier.[98]
Aust. What the devil art thou?[98]
Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you,[98]135
 An a' may catch your hide and you alone:[98][104]
 You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,[98]
 Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard:[98]
 I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right;[98][105]
 Sirrah, look to't; i' faith, I will, i' faith.[98]140
Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe[98]
 That did disrobe the lion of that robe![98]
Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him[98]
 As great Alcides' shows upon an ass:[98][106]
 But, ass, I'll take that burthen from your back,[98]145
 Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack.[98]
Aust. What cracker is this same that deafs our ears[98]
 With this abundance of superfluous breath?[98]
K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.[98][107]
Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference.[98][108]150
 King John, this is the very sum of all;
 England and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,[109]
 In right of Arthur do I claim of thee:[110]
 Wilt thou resign them and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as soon: I do defy thee, France.155
 Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand;[111]
 And out of my dear love I'll give thee more
 Than e'er the coward hand of France can win:
 Submit thee, boy.[112]
Eli. Come to thy grandam, child.[112]
Const. Do, child, go to it grandam, child;[112][113][114]160
 Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will[112][114]
 Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig:[112]
 There's a good grandam.[112]
Arth. Good my mother, peace![112]
 I would that I were low laid in my grave:[112]
 I am not worth this coil that's made for me.[112]165
Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.[112]
Const. Now shame upon you, whether she does or no![112][115]
 His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames,[112][116]
 Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,[112][117]
 Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;[112]170
 Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be bribed[112][118]
 To do him justice and revenge on you.[112]
Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth![112]
Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth![112]
 Call not me slanderer; thou and thine usurp[112][119]175
 The dominations, royalties and rights[112][120]
 Of this oppressed boy: this is thy eld'st son's son,[112][121]
 Infortunate in nothing but in thee:[112]
 Thy sins are visited in this poor child;[112][122]
 The canon of the law is laid on him,[112]180
 Being but the second generation[112]
 Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb.[112]
K. John. Bedlam, have done.[112][123]
Const. I have but this to say,[112]
 That he is not only plagued for her sin,[112]
 But God hath made her sin and her the plague[112]185
 On this removed issue, plagued for her[112]
 And with her plague; her sin his injury,[112][124]
 Her injury the beadle to her sin,[112][125]
 All punish'd in the person of this child,[112]
 And all for her; a plague upon her![112][126]190
Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce[112]
 A will that bars the title of thy son.[112]
Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will;[112]
 A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will![112]
K. Phi. Peace, lady! pause, or be more temperate:[112]195
 It ill beseems this presence to cry aim[112][127]
 To these ill-tuned repetitions.[112]
 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.200

Trumpet sounds. Enter certain Citizens upon the walls.[128]

First 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,—
K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,
 Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle,—205
K. John. For our advantage; therefore hear us first.[129]
 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,210
 And ready mounted are they to spit forth
 Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
 All preparation for a bloody siege[130]
 And merciless proceeding by these French[131]
 Confronts your city's eyes, your winking gates;[132]215
 And but for our approach those sleeping stones,
 That as a waist doth girdle you about,[133]
 By the compulsion of their ordinance[134]
 By this time from their fixed beds of lime
 Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made220
 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,[135]225
 Behold, the French amazed vouchsafe a parle;
 And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,[136]
 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:230
 Which trust accordingly kind citizens,
 And let us in, your king, whose labour'd spirits,[137]
 Forwearied in this action of swift speed,[138]
 Crave harbourage within your city walls.[139]
K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both.235
 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:240
 For this down-trodden equity, we tread
 In warlike march these greens before your town,
 Being no further enemy to you
 Than the constraint of hospitable zeal
 In the relief of this oppressed child245
 Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
 To pay that duty which you truly owe
 To him that owes it, namely this young prince:[140]
 And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
 Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up;[141]250
 Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
 Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;[142]
 And with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
 With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruised.
 We will bear home that lusty blood again255
 Which 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,[143]
 'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced walls[144]
 Can hide you from our messengers of war,260
 Though all these English and their discipline
 Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.[145]
 Then tell us, shall your city call us lord,
 In that behalf which we have challenged it?[146]
 Or shall we give the signal to our rage265
 And stalk in blood to our possession?
First Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects:
 For him, and in his right, we hold this town.[147]
K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.
First Cit. That can we not; but he that proves the king,270
 To him will we prove loyal: till that time
 Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.
K. 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,—275
Bast. Bastards, and else.[148]
K. John. To verify our title with their lives.
K. Phi. As many and as well-born bloods as those,—
Bast. Some bastards too.[148]
K. Phi. Stand in his face to contradict his claim.280
First Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,
 We for the worthiest hold the right from both.
K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls[149]
 That to their everlasting residence,
 Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,285
 In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!
K. Phi. Amen, amen! Mount, chevaliers! to arms!
Bast. Saint George, that swinged the dragon, and e'er since[150]
 Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door,[150][151]
 Teach us some fence! [To Aust.] Sirrah, were I at home,[152]290
 At your den, sirrah, with your lioness,
 I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,[153]
 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 forth295
 In best appointment all our regiments.
Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.[154]
K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill[155]
 Command the rest to stand. God and our right! [Exeunt.

Here after excursions, enter the Herald of France, with trumpets, to the gates.[156]