King John

 
  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 here
    Before the eye and prospect of your town,
    Have hither march'd to your endamagement;
    The cannons have their bowels full of wrath,
    And ready mounted are they to spit forth
    Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls;
    All preparation for a bloody siege
    And merciless proceeding by these French
    Confront your city's eyes, your winking gates;
    And but for our approach those sleeping stones
    That as a waist doth girdle you about
    By the compulsion of their ordinance
    By this time from their fixed beds of lime
    Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made
    For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
    But on the sight of us your lawful king,
    Who painfully with much expedient march
    Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
    To save unscratch'd your city's threat'ned cheeks-
    Behold, the French amaz'd 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 cars;
    Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
    And let us in-your King, whose labour'd spirits,
    Forwearied in this action of swift speed,
    Craves harbourage within your city walls.
  KING PHILIP. When I have said, make answer to us both.
    Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
    Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
    Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet,
    Son to the elder brother of this man,
    And king o'er him and all that he enjoys;
    For this down-trodden equity we tread
    In warlike march these greens before your town,
    Being no further enemy to you
    Than the constraint of hospitable zeal
    In the relief of this oppressed child
    Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
    To pay that duty which you truly owe
    To him that owes it, namely, this young prince;
    And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
    Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up;
    Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
    Against th' invulnerable clouds of heaven;
    And with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
    With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruis'd,
    We will bear home that lusty blood again
    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,
    'Tis not the roundure of your old-fac'd walls
    Can hide you from our messengers of war,
    Though all these English and their discipline
    Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.
    Then tell us, shall your city call us lord
    In that behalf which we have challeng'd it;
    Or shall we give the signal to our rage,
    And stalk in blood to our possession?
  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.
  CITIZEN. That can we not; but he that proves the King,
    To him will we prove loyal. Till that time
    Have 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.
  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 souls
    That 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 swing'd the dragon, and e'er since
    Sits on's horse back at mine hostess' door,
    Teach us some fence! [To AUSTRIA] Sirrah, were I at home,
    At your den, sirrah, with your lioness,
    I 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 forth
    In best appointment all our regiments.
  BASTARD. Speed then to take advantage of the field.
  KING PHILIP. It shall be so; and at the other hill
    Command 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 Britaine, in,
    Who by the hand of France this day hath made
    Much 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 discoloured earth;
    And victory with little loss doth play
    Upon the dancing banners of the French,
    Who are at hand, triumphantly displayed,
    To enter conquerors, and to proclaim
    Arthur of Britaine 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 crest
    That is removed by a staff of France;
    Our colours do return in those same hands
    That did display them when we first march'd forth;
    And like a jolly troop of huntsmen come
    Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
    Dy'd in the dying slaughter of their foes.
    Open your gates and give the victors way.
  CITIZEN. Heralds, from off our tow'rs we might behold
    From first to last the onset and retire
    Of both your armies, whose equality
    By our best eyes cannot be censured.
    Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd 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.
 

Enter the two KINGS, with their powers, at several doors

 
  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'erswell
    With course disturb'd even thy confining shores,
    Unless thou let his silver water keep
    A peaceful progress to the ocean.
  KING PHILIP. England, thou hast not sav'd 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 loss
    With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.
  BASTARD. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory tow'rs
    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 undetermin'd differences of kings.
    Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
    Cry 'havoc!' kings; back to the stained field,
    You equal potents, fiery kindled spirits!
    Then let confusion of one part confirm
    The 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?
  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 deputy
    And bear possession of our person here,
    Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.
  CITIZEN. A greater pow'r than we denies all this;
    And till it be undoubted, we do lock
    Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates;
    King'd of our fears, until our fears, resolv'd,
    Be by some certain king purg'd and depos'd.
  BASTARD. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout you, kings,
    And stand securely on their battlements
    As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
    At your industrious scenes and acts of death.
    Your royal presences be rul'd by me:
    Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,
    Be friends awhile, and both conjointly bend
    Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town.
    By east and west let France and England mount
    Their battering cannon, charged to the mouths,
    Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down
    The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city.
    I'd play incessantly upon these jades,
    Even till unfenced desolation
    Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
    That done, dissever your united strengths
    And part your mingled colours once again,
    Turn face to face and bloody point to point;
    Then in a moment Fortune shall cull forth
    Out of one side her happy minion,
    To whom in favour she shall give the day,
    And kiss him with a glorious victory.
    How like you this wild counsel, mighty states?
    Smacks it not something of the policy?
  KING JOHN. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,
    I like it well. France, shall we knit our pow'rs
    And lay this Angiers even with the ground;
    Then after fight who shall be king of it?
  BASTARD. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,
    Being wrong'd 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-mell
    Make 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 destruction
    Into this city's bosom.
  AUSTRIA. I from the north.
  KING PHILIP. Our thunder from the south
    Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.
  BASTARD. [Aside] 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!
  CITIZEN. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe awhile to stay,
    And I shall show you peace and fair-fac'd 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.
  CITIZEN. That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch,
    Is niece to England; look upon the years
    Of 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 can
    To 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 rocks
    More free from motion-no, not Death himself
    In mortal fury half so peremptory
    As we to keep this city.
  BASTARD. Here's a stay
    That shakes the rotten carcass of old Death
    Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed,
    That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas;
    Talks as familiarly of roaring lions
    As 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 his
    But buffets better than a fist of France.
    Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words
    Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.
  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 tie
    Thy now unsur'd assurance to the crown
    That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe
    The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit.
    I see a yielding in the looks of France;
    Mark how they whisper. Urge them while their souls
    Are capable of this ambition,
    Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath
    Of soft petitions, pity, and remorse,
    Cool and congeal again to what it was.
  CITIZEN. Why answer not the double majesties
    This friendly treaty of our threat'ned town?
  KING PHILIP. Speak England first, that hath been forward first
    To 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 besieg'd-
    Find liable to our crown and dignity,
    Shall gild her bridal bed, and make her rich
    In 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 find
    A 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 lov'd myself
    Till now infixed I beheld myself
    Drawn in the flattering table of her eye.
                                               [Whispers with
BLANCH]
  BASTARD. [Aside] 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 espy
    Himself love's traitor. This is pity now,
    That hang'd and drawn and quarter'd there should be
    In 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 anything 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 eas'ly 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 do
    What 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 pleas'd 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 assur'd
    That I did so when I was first assur'd.
  KING PHILIP. Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates,
    Let in that amity which you have made;
    For at Saint Mary's chapel presently
    The rites of marriage shall be solemniz'd.
    Is not the Lady Constance in this troop?
    I know she is not; for this match made up
    Her 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 made
    Will give her sadness very little cure.
    Brother of England, how may we content
    This 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 Britaine,
    And Earl of Richmond; and this rich fair town
    We make him lord of. Call the Lady Constance;
    Some speedy messenger bid her repair
    To our solemnity. I trust we shall,
    If not fill up the measure of her will,
    Yet in some measure satisfy her so
    That 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 tide in the whole,
    Hath willingly departed with a part;
    And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,
    Whom zeal and charity brought to the field
    As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear
    With 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 lose
    But the word 'maid,' cheats the poor maid of that;
    That smooth-fac'd 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 determin'd aid,
    From a resolv'd 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 rail
    And say there is no sin but to be rich;
    And being rich, my virtue then shall be
    To say there is no vice but beggary.
    Since kings break faith upon commodity,
    Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.
 

Exit