To enter conquerors; and to proclaim
Arthur of Bretagne, England's King, and yours.
Enter English Herald with trumpets.
E. Her. 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 fo filver-bright,
Hither return all gilt in Frenchmens' blood.
There ftuck no plume in any English creft,
That is removed by a staff of France.
Our colours do return in those fame hands,
That did difplay them when we first march'd forth;
And, like a jolly troop of huntfmen, come
Our lufty English, all with purpled hands,
Dy'd in the dying flaughter of their foes..
Open your gates, and give the victors way.
Cit. Heralds, from off our tow'rs we might behold, From first to laft, the onset and retire
Of both your armies, whofe equality
By our beft eyes cannot be cenfured;
Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answer'd blows;
Strength match'd with ftrength, and power confronted
Both are alike, and both alike we like;
One must prove greateft. While they weigh fo even, We hold our town for neither; yet for both.
Enter the two Kings with their powers, at feveral doors.
K. John. France, haft thou yet more blood to caft
away?
Say, fhall the current of our right run on?
Whofe paffage, vex'd with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel, and o'erfwell
With course disturb'd ev'n thy confining shores;
Unless thou let his filver water keep
A peaceful progrefs to the ocean.
K. Phil. England, thou haft not fav'd one drop of
In this hot trial, more than we of France;
Rather loft more. And by this hand I swear,
That fways the earth this climate overlooks,
Before we will lay by our juft-borne arms,
We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear;
Or add a royal number to the dead;
Gracing the fcroul that tells of this war's lofs,
With flaughter coupled to the name of Kings.
Faulc. Ha! Majefty, how high thy glory towers,
When the rich blood of Kings is fet on fire!
Oh, now doth Death line his dead chaps with fteel;
The fwords of foldiers are his teeth, his phangs;
And now he feafts, mouthing the flesh of men
In undetermin'd differences of Kings.
Why ftand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry havock, Kings; back to the stained field,
You equal potents, fiery-kindled fpirits!
Then let confufion of one part confirm
The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death.
K. John. Whofe party do the townsmen yet admit ?
K. Phil. Speak, Citizens, for England, who's your
King?
Cit. The King of England, when we know the
K. Phil. Know him in us, that here hold
K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy,
And bear poffeffion of our perfon here;
Lord of our prefence, Angiers, and of you.
Cit. A greater pow'r than ye denies all this;
And till it be undoubted, we do lock
Our former fcruple in our ftrong-barr'd gates
Faulc. By heav'n, the fcroyles of Angiers flout you,
Kings,
And ftand fecurely on their battlements,
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
Kings are our fears until our fears refolv'd
Be by fome certain King purg'd and depos'd.
Faulc. By heav'n, c.
At your induftrious fcenes and acts of death.
You royal prefences, be rul'd by me;
Do like the Mutines of Jerufalem ;
Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend
Your fharpeft deeds of malice on this town.
By east and weft let France and England mount
Their batt'ring cannon charged to the mouths;
Till their foul-fearing clamours have braul'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city.
I'd play inceffantly upon thefe jades;
Even till unfenced defolation
Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, diffever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face, and bloody point to point.
Then in a moment Fortune fhall cull forth
Out of one fide her happy minion;
To whom in favour fhe fhall give the day,
And kifs him with a glorious victory.
How like you this wild counfel, mighty ftates?
Smacks it not fomething of the policy?
K. John. Now by the fky that hangs above our
heads,
I like it well. France, fhall we knit our pow'rs,
And lay this Angiers even with the ground,
Then, after, fight who fhall be King of it?
Faulc. And if thou haft 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 faucy walls;
And when that we have dafh'd them to the ground,
Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell,
Make work upon ourselves for heav'n or hell.
K. Phil. Let it be fo; fay, where will you affault? K. John. We from the weft will fend deftruction Into this city's bofom.
Auft. I from the north.
K. Phil. Our thunder from the fouth
Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town *,
Faulc. O prudent discipline! from north to south;
Cit. Hear us, great Kings; vouchfafe a while to
And I shall shew you peace, and fair-fac'd league;
Win you this city without ftroke or wound;
Refcue thofe breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come facrifices for the field:
Perfever not, but hear me, mighty Kings.
K. John. Speak on; with favour we are bent to
hear.
Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch,
Is near to England; look upon the years
Of Lewis the Dauphin, and that lovely maid.
If lufty love should go in queft of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch ?
If zealous love fhould go in fearch of virtue,
Where thould he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love, ambitious, fought a match of birth,
Whofe veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch?
Such as he is, in beauty, virtue, birth,
Is the young Dauphin every way compleat :
If not compleat, oh fay, he is not the;
And he again wants nothing, (to name want),
If want it be not, that he is not he.
He is the half-part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by fuch a fhe:
And fhe a fair divided excellence,
Whofe fulness of perfection lies in him.
Oh! two fuch filver currents, when they join,
Do glorify the banks that bound them in.
And two fuch fhores, to two fuch ftreams made one,
Two fuch controlling bounds fhall you be, Kings,
To thefe two princes, if you marry them.
This union fhall do more than battery can,
To our faft-clofed gates: for at this match,
With fwifter spleen than powder can enforce,
The mouth of paffage fhall we fling wide ope,
And give you entrance; but without this match,
The fea enraged is not half fo deaf,
Lions fo confident, mountains and rocks
Auftria and France fhoot in each other's mouth.
I'll ftir them to 't; come, away, away!
Cit. Heat us, great Kings, &c.
So free from motion; no, not Death himself
In mortal fury half fo peremptory,
As we to keep this city.
That shakes the rotten carcafe of old Death
Out of his rags. Here's a large mouth, indeed, That fpits forth death, and mountains, rocks and feas; Talks as familiarly of roaring lions,
As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs.
What cannoneer begot this lufty blood?
He fpeaks plain cannon-fire, and fmoak and bounce;
He gives the bastinado with his tongue.
Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of his,
But buffets better than a fift of France.
Zounds! I was never fo bethump'd with words,
Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.
Eli. Son, lift to this conjunction, make this match,
Give with our niece a dowry large enough;
For by this knot thou fhalt so surely tie
Thy now unfur'd affurance to the crown,
That yon green boy fhall have no fun to ripe
The bloom, that promifeth a mighty fruit.
I fee a yielding in the looks of France.
Mark, how they whifper; urge them, while their fouls Are capable of this ambition;
Left zeal, now melted by the windy breath
Of foft petitions, pity and remorfe,
Cool and congeal again to what it was.
Cit. Why anfwer not the double Majefties
This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?
K. Phil. Speak, England, first, that hath been forward first
To speak unto this city. What fay you ?
K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely fon, Can in this book of beauty read, I love,
Her dowry fhall weigh equal with a Queen.
For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poitiers,
And all that we upon this fide the sea,
Except this city now by us befieg'd,
Find liable to our crown and dignity,
Shall gild her bridal bed; and make her rich
In titles, honours, and promotions;
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