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Yo. Stw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with Painted upon a pole; and underwrit, my sword

I'll prove the lie thou speak'st.

[They fight, and young SIWARD is slain. Macb. Thou wast born of woman.But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Brandish'd by man that's e a woman born. Exit.

Alarums. Enter MACDUFF.

Macd. That way the noise is :-Tyrant, show thy face:

If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children's ghost will haunt me still. [arms

I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose
Are hir'd to bear their staves; either thou,
Macbeth,

Or else my sword, with an unba 'ter'd edge,
I sheathe again undeeded. Thereou should'st

be;

By this great clatter, one of greatest note
Seems bruited: Let me find him, fortune!
And more I beg not.
[Exit. Alurum.
Enter MALCOLM and SIWARD.

Siw. This way, my lord ;-The castle's gently

render'd:

The tyrant's people on both sides do fight;
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itself professes yours,
And little is to do.

Mal. We have met with foes

That strike beside us.

Siw. Enter, Sir, the castle.

Here may you see the tyrant. Macb. I'll not yield,

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[feet,

To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's
And to be baited with the rabble's curse.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last: Before my body
I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff;
And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold. enough.
[Exeunt, fighting.

Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with Drum and
Colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, ROSSE, LE-
NOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Sol-
diers.

Mal. I would, the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.

So great a day as this is cheaply bought. [see, Siw. Some must go off: and yet, by these I Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's He only liv'd but till he was a man ; [debt: The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died.

Siw. Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your

cause of sorrow

Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Siw. Had he his hurts before?

Rosse. Ay, on the front.

Siw. Why then, God's soldier be he!

[Exeunt. Alarum. Had I as many sons as I have hairs,

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Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn. Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee: But get thee back, my soul is too much charg'd With blood of thine already.

Macd. I have no words,

My voice is in my sword; thou bloodier villain Than terms can give thee out!

[They fight.

Macb. Thou losest labour:
As easy may'st thou the intrenchant air
With thy keen sword impress, as make me
bleed:

Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd. Despair thy charm;
And let the angel, whom thou still hast serv'd,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.

Mach. Accursed be that tongue that tells me For it hath cow'd my better part of man! [so, And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd, That paltert with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with

thee.

Macd. Than yield thee, coward,

And live to be the show and gaze o'the time.
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
+ Reported with clamour.
Shuffle.

* Soldiers.
The air which cannot be cut.

I would not wish them to a fairer death:
And so his knell is knoll'd.

And that I'll spend for him.

Mul. He's worth more sorrow,

Siw. He's worth no more; They say, he parted well, and paid his score: So, God be with him!-Here comes newer

comfort.

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time,

Before we reckon with your several loves, And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,

Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad;
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers
Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen;
who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;-This, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone,
[Flourish, Exeunt.
The kingdom's wealth or ornament.

KING JOHN

KING JOHN.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards King Henry III.

ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne, the elder Brother of King John.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.
GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, Chief
Justiciary of England.

WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury.
ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.
HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King.
ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert
Faulconbridge.

PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, Dastard Son to King Richard the First. JAMES GURNEY, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge.

PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet.
PHILIP, King of France.

LEWIS, the Dauphin.
ARCH-DUKE of Austria.

CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate.
MELUN, a French Lord.
CHATILLON, Ambassador from France to Kin,
John.

ELINOR, the Widow of King Henry II. and
Mother of King John.

CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur. BLANCH, Daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile, and Niece to King John. LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, Mother to the Bastard and Robert Faulconbridge. Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.

SCENE, sometimes in England, and sometimes in France.

ACT I.

K. John. Bear mine to him, and ɛɔ depart i peace:

SCENE I.-Northampton.-A Room of State Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;

in the Palace.

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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 borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty!

K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.

Chat. Philip of France, in right and true beOf thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, [half Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim To this fair island, and the territories; To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine: 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.

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, [France. Controlment for controlment: SO answer Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my The furthest limit of my embassy. [mouth,

* In the manner I now do

For ere thou canst report I will be there,
The thunder of my canon shall be heard:
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage of your own decay.--
An honourable conduct let him have
Pembroke, look to't: Farewell, Chatillon.

[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
With very easy arguments of love; [whole,
Which now the manage of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.

K. John. Our strong possession, and our right, for us.

Eli. 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 1, shall

hear.

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KING JOHN.

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His lands to me; and took it, on his death,
That this, my mother's son, was none of his;
And, if he were, he came into the world

Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, | Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
and PHILIP, his bastard Brother.
This expedition's charge. What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. John. What art thou?

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.

king,

Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty
That is well known; and, as I think, one
[father:
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.
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
At least from fair five hundred pound a year:
Heaven guard my mother's honour, and my
land!

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 whe'r I be as true-bégot, 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 both,
And were our father, and this son like him;
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee
I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.
K. John. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven

lent us here!

Eli. 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 son
In the large composition of this man?
K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his
parts,
And finds them perfect Richard.-Sirrah,
[speak,
What doth move you to claim your brother's

land?

Bust. Because he hath a half-face, like my
father;

With that half-face would he have all my land:
A half-faced groat five hundred pounds a year!
Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father

liv'd,

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 despatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there, with the emperor,
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

Between my father and my mother lay,

(As I have heard my father speak himself,)
When this same lusty gentleman was got.
+ Trace, outline.

• Whether.

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.

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
That 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
In sooth, he might: then, if he were my bro-
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the
kept
[world;
[father,
My brother might not claim him; nor your
Being none of his, refuse him: This con-
cludes,-

ther's,

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Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no
force,

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 Faul-
conbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;
Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence, and no land beside?
Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him;
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,
My arms such eel-skins stuff'd; my face so
thin,

Lest men should say, Look, where three-far-
That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,
things goes!

And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,
'Would I might never stir from off this place,
I would not be Sir Nobt in any case.
I'd give it every foot to have this face;

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.
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take
Your face hath got five hundred pounds a
[year;
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Yet sell your face for fivepence, and 'tis dear.-

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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.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire, ['squire. A landless knight makes thee a landed Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed [need. For France, for France; for it is more than Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to For thou was got i'the way of honesty. [thee! [Exeunt all but the BASTARD. A foot of honour better than I was; But many a foot of land the worse. Well, now 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 sociable,
For your conversion. Now your traveller,
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd,
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise
My picked man of countries :———My dear Sir,
(Thus leaning on mine elbows, I begin,)

shall beseech you-That is question now;
And then comes answer like an ABC-book:||—
O Sir, says answer at your best command;
At your employment, ut your service, Sir :-
No, Sir, says question, 1, sweet Sir, at yours:
And so, ere ans er knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment;
And talking of the Alps, and Appenines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)

It draws toward supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation;
(And so am I, whether I smack, or no ;)
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.
But who comes in such haste, in riding robes!
What woman-post is this? hath she no hus-
band,

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!
What brings you here to court so hastily?
Ludy F. Where is that slave, thy brother!

where is he?

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Bast. Philip?-sparrow!-James, There's toy's abroad;* anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit GURNEY. Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son; Sir Robert might have eat his part in me Upon 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 handy-work:-Therefore, good mother,

To whom am I beholden for these limbs ? Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. Lady F. Hast thou onspired with thy brother too, [honour! That for thine own gain should'st defend mine What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?

Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,―Basi

liscolike:

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, mo-
ther?

Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?

Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was
thy father;

By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd
To 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 urg'd, past my defence.
Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father.
Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
And so doth yours; your fault was not your
folly:

Need must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
Against whose fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's

hand.

He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
Who lives and dares but say, thou didst not
well

When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin;

And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin:
Who says it was, he lies; I say, 'twas not.
[Exeunt.

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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: Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.

Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death,

The rather, that you give his offspring life, Shadowing their right under your wings of

war:

I give you welcome with a powerless hand, But with a heart full of unstained love: Welcome before the gates of 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; That to my home I will no more return, Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France, Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore, Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,

And coops from other lands her islanders, Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,

That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utmost corner of the west
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a wi-
dow's thanks,
[strength,
Till your strong hand shall help to give him
To make a more requital to your love.
Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift
their swords

In such a just and charitable war.

K. Phi. Well then, to work; our cannon shall be bent

Against the brows of this resisting town.-
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages:
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's
blood,

But we will make it subject to this boy.
Const Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Lest unadvis'd 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 blood, That hot rash haste so indirectly shed.

Enter CHATILLON.

K. Phi. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish,
Our messenger Cha illon is arriv'd.-
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 migh cier task.
England, impatient of your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have staid, aave given him
To land his legions all as soon as I:
His marches are expedient to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Até, stirring him to blood and strife;

* Importunity.

[time

Best stations to over-awe the town. immediate, expeditions. The Goddess of Revenge.

With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd :
And all the unsettled humours of the land,-
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,
With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens,-
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their
backs,

To make a hazard of new fortunes here.
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath* in Christendom.
The interruption of their churlish drums
[Drums beat.

Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,
To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.
K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this ex-
pedition!

Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence;
For courage mounteth with occasion:
Let them be welcome then, we are prepar❜d.
Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the
BASTARD, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

K. John. Peace be to France: if France in peace permit

Our just and lineal entrance to our own!
If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to
heaven!
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to

heaven.

K. Phi. Peace be to England; if that war

return

From France to England, there to live in peace!
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 has under-wroughtt his lawful king,
Cut off the sequencet of posterity,
Outfaced 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:

This little abstract doth contain that large,
Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this briefs into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his son; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great
commission, France,
To draw my answer from thy articles?
K. Phi. From that supernal|| judge, that stirs
good thoughts

In any breast of strong authority,
To look into the blots and stains of right.
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:
Under whose warrant, I impeach thy wrong;
And, by whose help, I mean to chastise it.

K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.
K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.
Eli. Who is it, thou dost call usurper, France?
Const. Let me make answer;-thy usurping

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