King John & Henry VIII (8 page)

CITIZEN
    In brief, we are the King of England’s subjects:

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

KING JOHN
    Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.

CITIZEN
    That can we not: but he that
proves
²⁷⁶
the king,

    To him will we prove loyal: till that time

    Have we rammed up our gates against the world.

KING 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—

BASTARD
    Bastards, and
else
²⁸²
.

KING JOHN
    To verify our title with their lives.

KING PHILIP
    As many and as well-born
bloods
²⁸⁴
as those—

BASTARD
    Some bastards too.

KING PHILIP
    Stand
in his face
²⁸⁶
to contradict his claim.

CITIZEN
    Till you
compound
²⁸⁷
whose right is worthiest,

    We
for
the worthiest
hold
²⁸⁸
the right from both.

KING JOHN
    Then God forgive the sin of all those souls

    That to their
everlasting residence
²⁹⁰
,

    Before the dew of evening fall, shall
fleet
²⁹¹

    In
dreadful
trial
²⁹²
of our kingdom’s king.

KING PHILIP
    Amen, amen. Mount,
chevaliers
²⁹³
: to arms!

BASTARD
    
Saint George
, that
swinged
²⁹⁴
the dragon, and e’er since

    
Sits on’s horseback at mine
hostess
²⁹⁵
’ door,

    Teach us some
fence
²⁹⁶
!— Sirrah, were I at home

    At your den, sirrah, with your
lioness
²⁹⁷
,

    I would
set an ox-head to your lion’s hide
²⁹⁸
,

    And make a
monster
²⁹⁹
of you.

AUSTRIA
    Peace, no more.

BASTARD
    O tremble, for you hear the lion roar.

KING JOHN
    Up higher to the plain, where we’ll set forth

    In best
appointment
³⁰³
all our regiments.

BASTARD
    Speed then, to take
advantage
³⁰⁴
of the field.

KING PHILIP
    It shall be so, and at the other hill

    
Command the rest to stand. God and our right
³⁰⁶
!

FRENCH HERALD
    You men of Angiers, open wide your gates,

    And let young Arthur Duke of Bretagne in,

    Who
by the hand of France
³⁰⁹
this day hath made

    Much work for tears in many an English mother,

    Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground:

    Many a widow’s husband
grovelling
³¹²
lies,

    Coldly embracing the discoloured earth:

    And victory with little loss doth play

    Upon the dancing banners of the French,

    Who are at hand, triumphantly
displayed
³¹⁶
,

    To enter conquerors, and to proclaim

    Arthur of Bretagne England’s king and yours.

ENGLISH HERALD
    Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells:

    King John, your king and England’s, doth approach,

    
Commander
of this hot
malicious
³²¹
day:

    Their armours that marched
hence
³²²
so silver-bright

    Hither return all
gilt
³²³
with Frenchmen’s blood:

    There stuck no plume in any English
crest
³²⁴

    That is removèd by a
staff
³²⁵
of France:

    Our
colours
³²⁶
do return in those same hands

    That did display them when we first marched forth:

    And
like a jolly troop of huntsmen
³²⁸
come

    
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,

    Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:

    Open your gates and give the victors way.

CITIZEN
    Heralds, from off our towers we might behold

    From first to last, the
onset and retire
³³³

    Of both your armies, whose equality

    By our best eyes cannot be
censurèd
³³⁵
:

    Blood hath bought blood, and blows have answered blows:

    Strength matched with strength, and power confronted power:

    Both are
alike
, and both alike we
like
³³⁸
.

    One must prove greatest. While they weigh so even,

    We hold our town for neither, yet for both.

KING JOHN
    France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away?

    Say, shall the current of our right run on,

    Whose
passage
³⁴³
, vexed with thy impediment,

    Shall leave his
native
channel and
o’erswell
³⁴⁴

    With course disturbed even thy confining shores,

    Unless thou let his silver water keep

    A peaceful
progress
³⁴⁷
to the ocean.

KING PHILIP
    England, thou hast not saved one drop of blood

    In this hot trial more than we of France;

    Rather, lost more. And by this hand I swear,

    That
sways
the earth this
climate
³⁵¹
overlooks,

    Before we will lay down our
just-borne
³⁵²
arms,

    We’ll
put thee down
³⁵³
, gainst whom these arms we bear,

    Or add a
royal number
³⁵⁴
to the dead,

    
Gracing the scroll that
tells of
³⁵⁵
this war’s loss

    With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.

BASTARD
    Ha, majesty! How high thy glory
towers
³⁵⁷
,

    When the rich blood of kings is set on fire:

    O, now doth Death line his dead
chaps
³⁵⁹
with steel:

    The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs:

    And now he feasts,
mousing
³⁶¹
the flesh of men

    In
undetermined differences
³⁶²
of kings.

    Why stand these royal
fronts
³⁶³
amazèd thus?

    Cry
havoc
³⁶⁴
, kings: back to the stainèd field

    You equal
potents
³⁶⁵
, fiery kindled spirits!

    Then let
confusion
of one
part
³⁶⁶
confirm

    The other’s
peace
³⁶⁷
: till then, blows, blood and death.

KING JOHN
    Whose party do the townsmen
yet admit
³⁶⁸
?

KING PHILIP
    Speak, citizens, for England. Who’s your king?

CITIZEN
    The King of England, when we know the king.

KING PHILIP
    Know him in us, that here
hold up
³⁷¹
his right.

KING JOHN
    In us,
that are our own great deputy
³⁷²

    And bear possession of our person here,

    Lord of our
presence
³⁷⁴
, Angiers, and of you.

CITIZEN
    A greater power than we denies all this,

    And till it be undoubted, we do lock

    Our former scruple in our strong-barred gates:

    
Kings of
³⁷⁸
our fear, until our fears resolved

    Be by
some certain
king,
purged and deposed
³⁷⁹
.

BASTARD
    By heaven, these
scroyles
of Angiers
flout
³⁸⁰
you, kings,

    And stand securely on their battlements,

    As in a theatre, whence they gape and point

    At your
industrious
scenes and
acts
³⁸³
of death.

    
Your royal presences be ruled by me:

    Do like the
mutines
of Jerusalem
³⁸⁵
,

    Be friends awhile, and both
conjointly bend
³⁸⁶

    Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town.

    By east and west let France and England
mount
³⁸⁸

    Their battering cannon
chargèd
³⁸⁹
to the mouths,

    Till their
soul-fearing
clamours have
brawled down
³⁹⁰

    The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:

    I’d
play
incessantly upon these
jades
³⁹²
,

    Even till
unfencèd
desolation
³⁹³

    Leave them as naked as the
vulgar
³⁹⁴
air:

    That done, dissever your united strengths,

    And part your mingled colours once again:

    Turn face to face, and bloody
point
³⁹⁷
to point:

    Then in a moment Fortune shall
cull forth
³⁹⁸

    Out of one side her
happy minion
³⁹⁹
,

    To whom in favour she shall give the
day
⁴⁰⁰
,

    And kiss him with a glorious victory:

    How like you this
wild
counsel, mighty
states
⁴⁰²
?

    
Smacks it not something
of
the policy
⁴⁰³
?

KING JOHN
    Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,

    I like it well.— France, shall we
knit
⁴⁰⁵
our powers,

    And
lay
⁴⁰⁶
this Angiers even with the ground,

    Then after fight
who
⁴⁰⁷
shall be king of it?

BASTARD
    
An if
thou hast the
mettle
⁴⁰⁸
of a king,

    Being wronged as we are by this
peevish
⁴⁰⁹
town,

    Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,

    As we will ours, against these
saucy
⁴¹¹
walls,

    
And
when that
⁴¹²
we have dashed them to the ground,

    Why then defy each other, and
pell-mell
⁴¹³
,

    Make work upon
ourselves
, for
heaven or hell
⁴¹⁴
.

KING PHILIP
    Let it be so: say, where will you assault?

KING JOHN
    We from the west will send destruction

    Into this city’s bosom.

AUSTRIA
    I from the north.

KING PHILIP
    Our
thunder
⁴¹⁹
from the south

    Shall rain their
drift
⁴²⁰
of bullets on this town.

BASTARD
    O prudent
discipline
⁴²¹
! From north to south:

    Austria and France shoot in each other’s mouth:

    I’ll stir them to it.— Come, away, away!

CITIZEN
    Hear us, great kings:
vouchsafe
⁴²⁴
awhile to stay,

    And I shall show you peace and fair-faced
league
⁴²⁵
:

    Win you this city without stroke or wound:

    Rescue those
breathing lives
⁴²⁷
to die in beds,

    That here come sacrifices for the field.

    
Persever
⁴²⁹
not, but hear me, mighty kings.