England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,
In right of Arthur do I claim of thee:

Wilt thou resign them, and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as soon:-I do defy thee,
France.

Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand;
And, out of my dear love, I'll give thee more
Than e'er the coward hand of France can win:
Submit thee, boy.

Eli.

Come to thy grandam, child. Const. Do, child, go to it' grandam, child; Give grandam kingdom, and it' grandam will Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig:

There's a good grandam.

Arth.

Good my mother, peace! I would, that I were low laid in my grave;

I am not worth this coil 19 that's made for me.
Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he

weeps.

Const. Now shame upon you, whe'r 20 she does or no!

His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames, Draw those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;

Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be brib'd To do him justice, and revenge on you.

Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth! Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth; Call not me slanderer; thou, and thine, usurp The dominations, royalties, and rights,

Of this oppressed boy: This is thy eldest son's son, Infortunate in nothing but in thee;

child;

Thy sins are visited in this poor
The canon of the law is laid on him,

19 Bustle.

VOL. IV.

20 Whether.

H H

Being but the second generation

Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb.
K. John. Bedlam, have done.
Const.

I have but this to say,—

That he's not only plagued for her sin,

But God hath made her sin and her the plague
On this removed issue, plagu'd for her,
And with her plague, her sin; his injury
Her injury, the beadle to her sin 21;
All punish'd in the person of this child,
And all for her; A plague upon her!

Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce
A will, that bars the title of thy son.

Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked
will;

A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will!
K. Phi. Peace, lady; pause, or be more tem-

perate:

It ill beseems this

presence, to cry aim To these ill tuned repetitions.

22

Some trumpet summon hither to the walls
These men of Angiers; let us hear them speak,
Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.

21 The key to this obscure passage is contained in the last speech of Constance, where she alludes to the denunciation of the second commandment of visiting the iniquities of the parents upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.' Young Arthur is here represented as not only suffering from the guilt of his grandmother, but also by her in person, she being made the very instrument of his sufferings. So that he is plagued on her account, and with her plague, which is her sin, i. e. (taking by a common figure the cause for the consequence) the penalty entailed upon it. His injury, or the evil he suffers, her sin brings upon him, and her injury or the evil she inflicts he suffers from her, as the beadle to her sin, or executioner of the punishment annexed to it.

22 i. e. to encourage. It is a term taken from Archery. See note on the Merry Wives of Windsor, Act iii. Sc. 2, vol. i. p. 176.

Trumpets sound. Enter Citizens upon the Walls. 1 Cit. Who is it, that hath warn'd us to the walls? K. Phi. "Tis France, for England.

K. John. England, for itself: You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,— K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,

Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle 23.

K. 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 do girdle you about,
By the compulsion of their ordnance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havock 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 threaten'd 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 ears:

23 Conference.

Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,

And let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits,
Forwearied 24 in this action of swift speed,
Crave harbourage within your city walls.

K.Phi. 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
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,

your town,

To him that owes 25 it; namely, this young prince:
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspect, have all offence seal'd up;
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the 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 26 of your old-fac❜d walls
Can hide you from our messengers of war;
Though all these English, and their discipline,

26 Roundure, from rondare, Fr. ; circle. Thus in Shakspeare's twenty-first Sonnet:

all things rare,

That heaven's air in this huge rondure hems.'

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?

1 Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's sub-
jects;

For him, and in his right, we hold this town.

K.John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in. 1 Cit. 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. K. 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,Bast. Bastards, and else.

K. John. To verify our title with their lives.

K. Phi. As many, and as well born bloods as those,

Bast. Some bastards too.

K. Phi. Stand in his face, to contradict his claim. 1 Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest, We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both. K. 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!

K. Phi. Amen, Amen!-Mount, chevaliers! to arms!

Bast. St. George, that swing'd the dragon, and e'er since,

Sits on his horseback at mine hostess' door,

Teach us some fence;-Sirrah, were I at home,
At your den, sirrah [To Austria], with your lioness,