Grow great by your example and put on
The dauntless spirit of resolution.
Away, and glister like the god of war,
When he intendeth to become the field:
Show boldness and aspiring confidence.
What, shall they seek the lion in his den,

And fright him there? and make him tremble there?

O let it not be said: forage, and run

To meet displeasure farther from the doors,
And grapple with him ere he come so nigh.

K. John. The legate of the pope hath been

with me,

And I have made a happy peace with him;

And he hath promised to dismiss the powers
Led by the Dauphin.

Bast.

O inglorious league!

Shall we, upon the footing of our land,

Send fair-play orders and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley and base truce

To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy,

A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields,
And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,

Mocking the air with colours idly spread,

And find no check? Let us, my liege, to arms:
Perchance the cardinal cannot make your peace;
Or if he do, let it at least be said

They saw we had a purpose of defence.

K. John. Have thou the ordering of this present time.

55. become, adorn.

59. forage, range abroad.

66. upon the footing of our land, standing upon our native soil.

67. fair-play orders, instructions for courteous treatment rage.

Bast. Away, then, with good courage! yet, I know,

Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The DAUPHIN'S camp at
St. Edmundsbury.

Enter, in arms, Lewis, Salisbury, Melun,
PEMBROKE, BIGOT, and Soldiers.

Lew. My Lord Melun, let this be copied out,
And keep it safe for our remembrance:
Return the precedent to these lords again;
That, having our fair order written down,
Both they and we, perusing o'er these notes,
May know wherefore we took the sacrament
And keep our faiths firm and inviolable.

Sal. Upon our sides it never shall be broken.
And, noble Dauphin, albeit we swear
A voluntary zeal and an unurged faith
To your proceedings; yet believe me, prince,
I am not glad that such a sore of time
Should seek a plaster by contemn'd revolt,
And heal the inveterate canker of one wound
By making many. O, it grieves my soul,
That I must draw this metal from my side
To be a widow-maker! O, and there
Where honourable rescue and defence
Cries out upon the name of Salisbury!
But such is the infection of the time,
That, for the health and physic of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand
Of stern injustice and confused wrong.

78. yet, I know, etc.; we are still a match for a prouder foe.

1. this, sc. the compact with the barons.

3. precedent, draft.

And is 't not pity, O my grieved friends,
That we, the sons and children of this isle,
Were born to see so sad an hour as this;
Wherein we step after a stranger, march
Upon her gentle bosom, and fill up

Her enemies' ranks,—I must withdraw and weep
Upon the spot of this enforced cause,—

To grace the gentry of a land remote,
And follow unacquainted colours here?

What, here? O nation, that thou couldst remove!
That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about,
Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself,

And grapple thee unto a pagan shore;

Where these two Christian armies might combine
The blood of malice in a vein of league,
And not to spend it so unneighbourly!

Lew. A noble temper dost thou show in this;
And great affections wrestling in thy bosom
Doth make an earthquake of nobility.
O, what a noble combat hast thou fought
Between compulsion and a brave respect!
Let me wipe off this honourable dew,
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks:
My heart hath melted at a lady's tears,
Being an ordinary inundation;

30

40

But this effusion of such manly drops,

This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul,

Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed
Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven
Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.
Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,

And with a great heart heave away this storm:

30. Upon the spot, over the

stain.

34. clippeth thee about, girdles thee round.

50

44. brave respect, gallant loyalty and sense of honour. 46. progress, more like a 'progress,' course.

Commend these waters to those baby eyes
That never saw the giant world enraged;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping.
Come, come; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as
deep

Into the purse of rich prosperity

As Lewis himself: so, nobles, shall you all,

That knit your sinews to the strength of mine.
And even there, methinks, an angel spake :

Enter PANDulph.

Look, where the holy legate comes apace,
To give us warrant from the hand of heaven,
And on our actions set the name of right
With holy breath.

Pand.

Hail, noble prince of France!

The next is this, King John hath reconciled
Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in,
That so stood out against the holy church,
The great metropolis and see of Rome :
Therefore thy threatening colours now wind up;
And tame the savage spirit of wild war,
That, like a lion foster'd up at hand,

It may lie gently at the foot of peace,

And be no further harmful than in show.

Lew. Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back :

I am too high-born to be propertied,

To be a secondary at control,

60

70

80

words just spoken are ' of heaven.' But there may be also a quibble upon angel' the coin, with nobles' and 'purse.'

75. at hand, by hand. 79. propertied, treated as a tool.

Or useful serving-man and instrument,

To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars
Between this chastised kingdom and myself,
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
You taught me how to know the face of right,
Acquainted me with interest to this land,
Yea, thrust this enterprise into my heart;
And come ye now to tell me John hath made
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I, by the honour of my marriage-bed,

90

After young Arthur, claim this land for mine;
And, now it is half-conquer'd, must I back

Because that John hath made his peace with Rome? Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne,

What men provided, what munition sent,

To underprop this action? Is 't not I
That undergo this charge? who else but I,
And such as to my claim are liable,
Sweat in this business and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out
'Vive le roi !' as I have bank'd their towns?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,
To win this easy match play'd for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.

Pand. You look but on the outside of this work.
Lew. Outside or inside, I will not return

Till my attempt so much be glorified

89. interest, claim. IOI. liable, subject.

104. bank'd, sailed past (of riverside towns, as 'coasted' of seaports). In the T. R. the

100

ΙΙΟ

description refers explicitly to Lewis's voyage up the Thames: From the hollow holes of Thamesis Eccho apace replide Vive la Roy. 107. set, game (at cards).