King JOHN: 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.1 ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk. HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King. ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert Faulconbridge: PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, bastard Son to King Richard the First. JAMES GURNEY, Servant to Lady Faulconbridge. PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet. PHILIP, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin. Archduke of Austria. Cardinal PANDULPH, the Pope's Legate. MELUN, a French Lord. CHATILLON, Ambassador from France to King 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. 1 Salisbury.] Son to King Henry II. by Rosamond Clifford. KING JOHN. ACT I. SCENE I. Northampton. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter King JOHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and Others, with CHATILLON. King John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us? Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of France, my behaviour 1, to the majesty, In The borrow'd majesty of England here. Eli. A strange beginning; - borrow'd majesty ! To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine: Which sways usurpingly these several titles; K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this? In my behaviour,] In my behaviour means, I think, in the words and action that I am now going to use. MALONE. 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. Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, The furthest 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, The thunder of my cannon shall be heard: [Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE. This might have been prevented, and made whole, Which now the manage 2 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 I, shall hear. Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers Essex. Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy, 2 - the manage—] i. e. conduct, administration. Come from the country to be judged by you, Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay [Exit Sheriff. Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, and This expedition's charge.- What men are you? 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: 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: 3 But whe'r I be as true begot, or no, 3 But whe'r -] Whe'r for whether. That still I lay upon my mother's head; And were our father, and this son like him; I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee. K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here! 4 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? Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father; Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land; 4 He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face,] By a trick, in this place, is meant some peculiarity of look or motion. 5 With that half-face-] The poet sneers at the meagre sharp visage of the elder brother, by comparing him to a silver groat, that bore the king's face in profile, so showed but half the face: the groats of all our kings of England, and indeed all their other coins of silver, one or two only excepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time above-mentioned, coined groats, and halfgroats, as also some shillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. |