Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.-
But who comes in such haste, in riding robes?
What woman-post is this? hath she no husband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her?

Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES GURNEY. O me! it is my mother:-How now, good lady? What brings you here to court so hastily?

Lady Faulconbridge. Where is that slave, thy brother? where is he?

That holds in chase mine honour up and down?
Bastard. My brother Robert? old sir Robert's son?
Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man?
Is it sir Robert's son, that you seek so?

Lady Faulconbridge. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend 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 a while?

Gurney. Good leave, good Philip.

Bastard.

Philip?-sparrow!-James,

There's toys abroad; anon I'll tell thee more.

[Exit GURNEY.

Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son.
Lady Faulconbridge. Hast thou conspired with thy

brother too,

That for thine own gain should'st defend mine honour?
What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?
Bastard. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-
like:7

What! I am dubb'd; I have it on my shoulder
But, mother, I am not sir Robert's son;

I have disclaim'd sir Robert, and my land;
Legitimation, name, and all is gone:

• Idle reports.

A character in an old drama called Soliman and Persoda.

Then, good my mother, let me know my father;
Some proper man, I hope, Who was it, mother?
Lady Faulconbridge. Hast thou denied thyself a
Faulconbridge?

Bastard. As faithfully as I deny the devil.

Lady Faulconbridge. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father;

By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed:-
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my great offence,

Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence.

Bastard. Madam, I would not wish a better father. Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,

And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,—
Subjected tribute to commanding love,—
Against whose fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-FRANCE. Before the Walls of ANGIERS.

Enter, on one side, the Archduke of AUSTRIA, and Forces; on the other, PHILIP, King of FRANCE, and Forces; LEWIS, CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and ATTENDANTS.

Lewis. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.-
Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart,
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave:
And, for amends to his posterity,

8

At our importance, hither is he come,
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;

8
* Importunity.

And to rebuke the usurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:

Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arthur. Heaven will forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death
The rather, that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained 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 kiss,
As seal to this indenture 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-fac'd shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops
from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
The water-walled bulwark, still secure

And confident from foreign purposes,

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.

Constance. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanka, Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength, To make a more requital to 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

Against the brows of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages:-
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 this boy.

Constance. Stay for an answer to your embassy,

Best stations to over awe the town.

Lest unadvis'd 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 shed.

Enter CHATILLON.

King Philip. A wonder, lady!-lo, upon thy wish, Our messenger Chatillon is arriv'd.

What England says, say briefly, gentle lord,

We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.

Chatillon. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege, And stir them up against a mightier task.

England, impatient of your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms; the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have staid, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as [:
His marches are expedient2 to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Até, stirring him to blood and strife;
With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd:
And all the unsettled humours of the land,-
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens,-
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.

In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,
Did never float upon the swelling tide,

To do offence and scath in Christendom.

The interruption of their churlish drums [Drums beat. Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,

To parley, or to fight; therefore, prepare.

King Philip. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!

2 Immediate, expeditious.

• Mischief.

3 The Goddess of Revenge.

Austria. By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence;

For courage mounted with occasion:

Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd.

Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the BASTARD, PEMBROKE, and Forces.

King John. Peace be to France; if France in

permit

Our just and lineal entrance to our own!

peace

If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven.
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct
Their proud contempt that beat his peace to heaven.
King Philip. Peace be to England: if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace!
England we love: and, for that England's sake,
With burden of our armour here we sweat:
This toil of ours should be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king,
Cut off the sequence of posterity,

Outfac'd infant state, and done a rape

Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.

Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face ;-
These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his :
This little abstract doth contain that large,
Which died in Geffrey; and the hand of time
Shall draw this briefs into as huge a volume.
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his son; England was Geffrey's right,
And this is Geffrey's: In the name of God,
How comes it then, that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?
King John. From whom hast thou this great com-
mission, France,

To draw my answer from thy articles?