King John & Henry VIII (6 page)
Read King John & Henry VIII Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
Enter Lady Falconbridge and James Gurney
But who comes in such haste in
riding-robes
218
?
What
woman-post
219
is this? Hath she no husband
That will take pains to
blow a horn
220
before her?
O me, ’tis my mother.— How now, good lady?
What brings you here to court so hastily?
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Where is that
slave
223
thy brother? Where is he
That
holds in chase
mine honour
up and down
224
?
BASTARD
My brother Robert, old Sir Robert’s son,
Colbrand the Giant
226
, that same mighty man,
Is it Sir Robert’s son that you seek so?
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Sir Robert’s son, ay, thou
unreverend
228
boy,
Sir Robert’s son. Why scorn’st thou at Sir Robert?
He is Sir Robert’s son, and so art thou.
BASTARD
James Gurney, wilt thou
give us leave
231
a while?
GURNEY
Good leave, good Philip.
BASTARD
Philip Sparrow
233
, James,
Exit James
[
Gurney
]
Madam, I was not old Sir Robert’s son:
Sir Robert might have
eat
his part
in
236
me
Upon Good Friday, and ne’er broke his fast:
Sir Robert could
do
well,
marry
, to
confess
238
:
Could get
239
me, Sir Robert could not do it;
We know his
handiwork
240
: therefore, good mother,
To whom am I
beholding
241
for these limbs?
Sir Robert never
holp
242
to make this leg.
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Hast thou conspirèd with thy brother too,
That
244
for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour?
BASTARD
Knight, knight, good mother,
Basilisco
246
-like!
What! I am
dubbed
247
, I have it on my shoulder:
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert’s son:
I have disclaimed Sir Robert and my land,
Legitimation
250
, name, and all is gone;
Then, good my mother, let me know my father:
Some
proper
252
man, I hope: who was it, mother?
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Hast thou denied thyself a Falconbridge?
BASTARD
As faithfully as I
deny
254
the devil.
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father:
By long and vehement
suit
256
I was seduced
To make room for him in my husband’s bed:
Heaven
lay not my transgression to my
charge
258
,
That art the
issue
of my
dear
259
offence
Which was so strongly urged past my
defence
260
.
BASTARD
Now by this light, were I to
get
261
again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father:
Some sins do bear their
privilege
263
on earth,
And so doth yours: your fault was not your
folly
264
:
Needs must you lay your heart at his
dispose
265
,
Subjected
266
tribute to commanding love,
Against whose fury and unmatchèd force
The
aweless
lion could not wage the fight
268
,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard’s hand:
He that
perforce
270
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
273
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
275
,
And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadst
said him nay
277
, it had been sin;
Who says it
was
278
, he lies: I say ’twas not.
Exeunt
running scene 2
Enter
before Angiers
, [
on one side
]
Philip King of France, Lewis
[
the
]
Dauphin
, Constance
, [
and
]
Arthur
, [
on the other side
]
Austria
With their forces
KING PHILIP
Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.—
Arthur,
that great forerunner of thy blood
2
,
Richard that robbed the lion of his heart
And fought the
holy wars in Palestine
4
,
By
5
this brave duke came early to his grave:
And for amends to his
posterity
6
,
At our
importance
7
hither is he come,
To
spread
his
colours
8
, boy, in thy behalf,
And to
rebuke
9
the usurpation
Of thy
unnatural
10
uncle, English John:
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
To Austria
ARTHUR
God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion’s death
The rather that you give his
offspring
13
life,
Shadowing
14
their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a
powerless
15
hand,
But with a heart full of
unstainèd
16
love:
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, Duke.
LEWIS
A noble boy: who would not do thee right?
AUSTRIA
Upon thy cheek lay I this
zealous
19
kiss,
As
seal to this indenture
20
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-faced shore
23
,
Whose foot
spurns
24
back the ocean’s roaring tides
And
coops
25
from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedged in with the
main
26
,
That water-wallèd
bulwark
,
still
27
secure
And
confident from
foreign
purposes
28
,
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
31
.
CONSTANCE
O, take his mother’s thanks, a widow’s thanks,
Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength
To make a
more requital to
34
your love.
AUSTRIA
The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords
In such a just and charitable war.
KING PHILIP
Well then, to work: our cannon shall be
bent
37
Against the
brows
38
of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of
discipline
39
,
To
cull
the
plots
of best
advantages
40
:
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
43
this boy.
Lest
unadvised
45
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
49
shed.
Enter Chatillon
KING PHILIP
A wonder, lady:
lo
50
, upon thy wish,
Our messenger Chatillon is arrived.—
What
England
says, say briefly,
gentle
52
lord:
We
coldly
53
pause for thee: Chatillon, speak.
CHATILLON
Then turn your forces from this paltry siege,
And stir them up
against
55
a mightier task:
England,
impatient of
56
your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds,
Whose
leisure
I have
stayed
58
, have given him time
To land his
legions
59
all as soon as I:
His marches are
expedient
60
to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident:
With him along is come the
Mother-Queen
62
,
An
Ate
63
stirring him to blood and strife:
With her her
niece
, the lady
Blanche of Spain
64
:
With them a bastard of the
king’s deceased
65
,
And all th’
unsettled humours
66
of the land,
Rash,
inconsiderate
, fiery
voluntaries
67
,
With
ladies’ faces
and fierce dragons’
spleens
68
,
Have
sold their fortunes at their native homes
69
,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,
To
make a hazard of
71
new fortunes here:
In brief, a
braver
choice
72
of dauntless spirits
Than now the English
bottoms
have
waft
73
o’er
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
Drum beats
To do offence and
scathe
75
in Christendom.
The interruption of their
churlish
76
drums
Cuts off more
circumstance
77
: they are at hand:
To
parley
78
or to fight therefore prepare.
KING PHILIP
How much unlooked-for is this
expedition
79
!
AUSTRIA
By how much unexpected, by so much
We must awake endeavour for defence,
For courage mounteth with
occasion
82
:
Let them be welcome then: we are prepared.
Enter King
[
John
]
of England
, [
the
]
Bastard, Queen
[
Elinor
]
, Blanche, Pembroke and
others
KING JOHN
Peace be to France, if France in peace permit
Our just and
lineal
entrance to our
own
85
;
If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven,
Whiles we, God’s wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that
beats
88
his peace to heaven.
KING PHILIP
Peace be to England,
if that
89
war return
From France to England, there to live in peace:
England we love, and for that
England’s
91
sake
With burden of our armour here we sweat:
This
toil
of ours should be a
work
93
of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast
underwrought
his
95
lawful king,
Cut off the
sequence of posterity
96
,
Outfacèd
infant state
97
, and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown:
