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.

First 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. Saint George, that swinged the dragon,
and e'er since

Sits on his horse' back at mine hostess' door,
Teach us some fence! [To Aust.] Sirrah, were

I at home,

At your den, sirrah, with your lioness,

I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,
And make a monster of you.

Aust.

Peace! no more.

Bast. O, tremble, for you hear the lion roar.
K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we 'll
set forth

In best appointment all our regiments.

Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.

K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill Command the rest to stand. God and our right!

278. bloods, men of spirit. 288, 289. St. George and the

[Exeunt.

280

290

dragon was a common ale-house

sign.

Here after excursions, enter the Herald of

France, with trumpets, to the gates.

F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your

gates,

And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in,

Who by the hand of France 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 lies,
Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth;
And victory, with little loss, doth play
Upon the dancing banners of the French,
Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,
To enter conquerors and to proclaim
Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.

Enter English Herald, with trumpet.

E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells;

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

Commander of this hot malicious day :

Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright,
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;
There stuck no plume in any English crest
That is removed by a staff of France;

Our colours do return in those same hands

300

310

That did display them when we first march'd forth; 320
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:
Open your gates and give the victors way.

316. gilt, reddened. 318. staff, lance.

322. with purpled hands (like

those of huntsmen fresh from cutting up the quarry).

First Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we

might behold,

From first to last, the onset and retire
Of both your armies; whose equality

By our best eyes cannot be censured:

Blood hath bought blood and blows have answer'd blows;

Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power:

Both are alike; and both alike we like.

One must prove greatest: while they weigh so

even,

We hold our town for neither, yet for both.

Re-enter the two KINGS, with their powers,
severally.

K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to
cast away?

Say, shall the current of our right run on?
Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel and o'erswell
With course disturb'd even thy confining shores,
Unless thou let his silver water keep

A peaceful progress to the ocean.

K. Phi. 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 overlooks,
Before we will lay down our just-borne arms,

330

340

335. run; SO Ff2-4 for 'rome,' F1; this would be an easy misprint for ronne,' which gives a decidedly better sense.

344. this climate, the region of the sky immediately above us.

We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms

we bear,

Or add a royal number to the dead,

Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's loss
With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.
Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, 350
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire!
O, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel;
The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs;
And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men,
In undetermined differences of kings.

Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus ?
Cry, 'havoc !' kings; back to the stained field,
You equal potents, fiery kindled spirits!
Then let confusion of one part confirm

The other's peace; till then, blows, blood and
death!

K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit?

K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?

First Cit. The king of England, when we know the king.

K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right.

K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy, And bear possession of our person here,

Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.

First Cit. A greater power than we denies all

this;

And till it be undoubted, we do lock

Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates;
King'd of our fears, until our fears, resolved,

347. i.e. the dead shall number a king among them. 358. potents, powers.

360

370

371. King'd of our fears; Theobald's excellent conjecture for kings of our fear' Ff.

·

Be by some certain king purged and deposed.
Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout
you, kings,

And stand securely on their battlements,

As in a theatre, whence they gape and point
At your industrious scenes and acts of death.
Your royal presences be ruled by me:
Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,

Be friends awhile and both conjointly bend
Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town:
By east and west let France and England mount
Their battering cannon charged to the mouths,
Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:
I'ld play incessantly upon these jades,
Even till unfenced desolation

Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, dissever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face and bloody point to point;
Then, in a moment, Fortune shall cull forth
Out of one side her happy minion,

To whom in favour she shall give the day,
And kiss him with a glorious victory.

How like you this wild counsel, mighty states?
Smacks it not something of the policy?

K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above
our heads,

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

373. scroyles, 'scabs,' wretches (properly, the king's evil; Fr. les escrouelles). 376. industrious, busy. 378. mutines, mutineers. ib. like the mutines of Jerusalem; like the two factions in Jerusalem during the Roman

380

390

siege, whose leaders, John of Giscala and Simon bar Gioras, suspended their hostilities to combine in resisting the besiegers.

383. soul-fearing, soul-terrify

ing.

395. states, rulers.