After young Arthur, claim this land for mine;
And, now it is half-conquer'd, must I back,
Because that John hath made his peace with Rome?
Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne,
What men provided, what munition sent,
To underprop this action? is't not I,
That undergo this charge? who else but I,
And such as to my claim are liable,
Sweat in this business, and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out,
Vive le roy! as I have bank'd their towns 12?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,
To win this easy match play'd for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.

Pand. You look but on the outside of this work.
Lew. Outside or inside, I will not return
Till my attempt so much be glorified
As to my ample hope was promised
Before I drew this gallant head of war
And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world,
To outlook 14 conquest, and to win renown
Even in the jaws of danger and of death.-

13

[Trumpet sounds. What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?

12 i. e. passed along the banks of the river. Thus in the old

play:

from the hollow holes of Thamesis

Echo apace replied, Vive le roi!

From thence along the wanton rolling glade

To Troynovant, your fair metropolis.'

We still say to coast' and to flank; and to bank has no less propriety, though not reconciled to us by modern usage.

13 i. e. assembled it, drew it out of the field. So in King Henry IV. Part I. —

‹ And that his friends by deputation could not

So soon be drawn.'

14 Face down, bear down by a show of magnanimity. So be

outface the brow

Of bragging horror.'

Enter the Bastard, attended.

Bast. According to the fair play of the world,
Let me have audience; I am sent to speak;
My holy lord of Milan, from the king

I come to learn how you have dealt for him;
And, as you answer, I do know the scope
And warrant limited unto my tongue.

Pand. The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite,
And will not temporize with my entreaties;
He flatly says, he'll not lay down his arms.

Bast. By all the blood that ever fury breath'd,
The youth says well :-Now hear our English king;
For thus his royalty doth speak in me.
He is prepar'd; and reason too, he should:
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This harness'd masque, and unadvised revel,
This unhair'd 15 sauciness, and boyish troops,
The king doth smile at; and is well prepar'd
To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms,
From out the circle of his territories.

That hand, which had the strength, even at your door,
To cudgel you, and make you take the hatch 16;
To dive, like buckets, in concealed wells;
To crouch in litter of your stable planks;

To lie, like pawns, lock'd up in chests and trunks;
To hug with swine; to seek sweet safety out
In vaults and prisons; and to thrill, and shake,
Even at the crying of your nation's crow 17,
Thinking his voice an armed Englishman;-
Shall that victorious hand be feebled here,

15 The old copies read unheard: the emendation is Theobald's. It should be remarked that hair was often spelt hear.

16 To take, for to leap. Hunters still say to take a hedge or gate, meaning to leap over them. Baret has to take horse, to leap on horseback.'

17 i. e. the crowing of a cock; Gallus being both a cock and a Frenchman.

That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No: Know, the gallant monarch is in arms;
And like an eagle o'er his aiery 18 towers,
To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.-
And you degenerate, you ingrate revolts,
You bloody Neroes, ripping up the womb
Of your dear mother England, blush for shame:
For your own ladies, and pale-visag'd maids,
Like Amazons, come tripping after drums;
Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change,
Their neelds 19 to lances, and their gentle hearts
To fierce and bloody inclination.

Lew. There end thy brave 20, and turn thy face in
peace:

We grant, thou canst outscold us: fare thee well; We hold our time too precious to be spent

With such a brabbler.

Pand.

Give me leave to speak.

Bast. No, I will speak.

Lew. We will attend to neither:Strike up the drums; and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest; and our being here.

Bast. Indeed, your drums, being beaten, will cry
out;

And so shall you, being beaten: Do but start
An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd,
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine;
Sound but another, and another shall,
As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's ear,
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder: for at hand
(Not trusting to this halting legate here,
Whom he hath us'd rather for sport than need),
Is warlike John; and in his forehead sits

A bare-ribb'd death, whose office is this day

18 Nest.

19 Needles.

20 Boast.

To feast upon whole thousands of the French.
Lew. Strike up our drums, to find this danger out.
Bast. And thou shalt find it, Dauphin, do not
[Exeunt.

doubt.

SCENE III. The same. A Field of Battle.

Alarums. Enter KING JOHN and HUBERT.
K. John. How goes the day with us? O, tell me,
Hubert.

Hub. Badly, I fear: How fares your majesty? K.John. This fever, that hath troubled me so long, Lies heavy on me: O, my heart is sick!

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My lord, your valiant kinsman, Faulconbridge,

Desires your majesty to leave the field;

And send him word by me, which way you go. K. John. Tell him, toward Swinstead, to the abbey there.

Mess. Be of good comfort; for the great supply1, That was expected by the Dauphin here, Are wreck'd three nights ago on Goodwin Sands. This news was brought to Richard 2 but even now: The French fight coldly, and retire themselves.

K. John. Ah me! this tyrant fever burns me up, And will not let me welcome this good news.Set on toward Swinstead: to my litter straight; Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint. [Exeunt.

1 Supply is here used as a noun of multitude, as it is again in Scene v. P. 428.

2 The king had not long since called him by his original name of Philip, but the messenger could not take the same liberty.

SCENE IV. The same. Another Part of the same.

Enter SALISBURY, PEMBROKE, BIGOT, and
Others.

Sal. I did not think the king so stor❜d with friends. Pem. Up once again; put spirit in the French; If they miscarry, we miscarry too.

Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge, In spite of spite, alone upholds the day.

Pem. They say, King John, sore sick, hath left the field.

Enter MELUN wounded, and led by Soldiers.
Mel. Lead me to the revolts of England here.
Sal. When we were happy, we had other names.
Pem. It is the Count Melun.

Sal.

Wounded to death. Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold1; Unthread the rude eye of rebellion,

2

And welcome home again discarded faith.
Seek out King John, and fall before his feet:
For, if the French be lords of this loud day,
He2 means to recompense the pains you take,
By cutting off your heads: Thus hath he sworn,
And I with him, and many more with me,
Upon the altar at Saint Edmund's Bury;
Even on that altar, where we swore to you
Dear amity and everlasting love.

Sal. May this be possible? may this be true? Mel. Have I not hideous death within my view, Retaining but a quantity of life;

Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax

A proverbial expression intimating treachery. See King Henry VI. Part I. Act iv. Sc. 4.

2 The Frenchman, i. e. Lewis means, &c.