Fare you well. Do we but find the tyrant's power to night, SCENE VII.-The same. Another part of the Plain. Macb. They have tied me to a stake; I cannot fly, But, bear-like, I must fight the course.-What's he, That was not born of woman? Such a one Enter young Siward. Yo. Siw. What is thy name? Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a hotter Than any is in hell. [name Macb. My name's Macbeth. Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not pronounce a More hateful to mine ear. [title Macb. No, nor more fearful. Yo. Siw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword I'll prove the lie thou speak'st. [They fight, and young SIWARD is slain. Macb. Thou wast born of woman But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Brandish'd by man that's of a woman born. [Erit. Alarums. Enter MACDUFF Macd That way the noise is: Tyrant, shew thy face: If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of mine, My wife and children's ghosts will haunt me still. I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms Are hir'd to bear their staves; either thou, Macbeth, Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge, I sheathe again undeeded. There thou should'st be; By this great clatter, one of greatest note Seems bruited. Let me find him, fortune! And more I beg not. [Exit. Alarum. Enter MALCOLM and old SIWARD. Siw. This way, my lord; the castle's gently render'd: The tyrant's people on both sides do fight: The noble thanes do bravely in the war; The day almost itself professes yours, And little is to do. We have met with foes Mal. That strike beside us. Siw. Enter, sir, the castle. My voice is in my sword; thou bloodies viilain Macd. Despair thy charm; And let the angel, whom thou still hast serv'd, Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb Untimely ripp'd. Mach. Accursed be that tongue that tells me so. We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, I'll not yield, Macb. To kiss the ground before young Malcolm's feet, And to be baited with the rabble's curse. Though Birnam wood be come to Dunsinane, And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last: Before my body I throw my warlike shield: lay on, Macduff; And damn'd be him that first cries, Hold, enough. [Exeunt, fighting. Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter with drum and colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers. Mal. I would, the friends we miss were safe arriv'd. Siw. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see, So great a day as this is cheaply bought. Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son. The which no sooner had his powers confirm'd Siw. Then he is dead? It hath no end. And that I'll spend for him. Siw. He's worth more sorrow He worth no more, Re-enter MACBETH. Macb. Why should I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own sword? whiles I see lives, the gashes Do better upon them. THIS play appears to have been written in 1596, but was not published till 1623. It was founded on the old play called The troublesome reign of King John, which was printed in 1591, and is attributed by Pope, though he does not state his au thority, to the joint efforts of Shakspeare and Rowley.-The elder play was twice published with the initials of Shakspeare on the title page. Shakspeare has preserved the greatest part of the conduct of it, as well as some of the lines. The num ber of quotations from Horace, and similar scraps of learning scattered over this piece, ascertain it to have been the work of a scholar. It contains likewise a quantity of rhyming Latin, and ballad-metre; and in a scene where the Bastard is repre PERSONS REPRESENTED. KING JOHN. PRINCE HENRY, his son; afterwards King Henry III. WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury. HUBERT DE BURGH, chamberlain to the King. PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his half-brother, bastard son JAMES GURNEY, servant to Lady Faulconbridge PHILIP, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin ARCHDUKE of AUSTRIA. Cardinal PANDULPH, the Pope's legate. CHATILLON, ambassador from France to King John. ELINOR, the widow of King Henry II., and mother of CONSTANCE, mother to Arthur. Lady FAULCONBRIDGE, mother to the Bastard and Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, SCENE,-sometimes in ENGLAND, and sented as plundering a monastery, there are strokes of humour, which seem, from their particular turn, to have been most evidently produced by another hand than that of our author. Of this historical drama there is a subsequent edition in 1611, printed for John Helme, whose name appears before none of the genuine pieces of Shakspeare. Mr. Steevens admitted this play as our author's own, among the twenty which he published from the old editions: he afterwards, perhaps withThe action of the present tragedy occupies a space of about out sufficient grounds, receded from that opinion. seventeen years; beginning at the thirty-fourth year of King John's life. ACT I. SCENE I. Northampton. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter KING John, Queen Elinor, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBUBY, and others, with CHATILLON. King John. Now, say, Chatilion, what would France Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of France, Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty! K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this? Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace Pembroke, look to 't: Farewell, Chatillon. This might have been prevented, and made whole, K.John. Our strong possession, and our right, for us. Eli. Your strong possession, much more than your Or else it must go wrong with you, and me: [right; So much my conscience whispers in your ear; Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall hear. Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers FSSEX. Esser. My liege, here is the strangest controversy, Come from the country to be judged by you, That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men? K. John. Let them approach.— [Exit Sheriff. Our abbies, and our priories, shall pay Your brother did employ my father much; Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land: Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine, K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him: And, if she did play false, the fault was her's; Re-enter Sheriff, with ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, and Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands PHILIP, his bastard Brother. This expedition's charge.-What men are you? Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir? You came not of one inother then, it seems. Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king, That is well known: and, as I think, one father: But, for the certain knowledge of that truth, I put you o'er to heaven, and to my mother; Of that I doubt, as all men's children may Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame thy And wound her honour with this diffidence [mother, Bast. 1, madam? no, I have no reason for it; Bast. I know not why, except to get the land. I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee. K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us Eli. He hath a trick of Coeur-de lion's face, [here! The accent of his tongue affecteth him: Do K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts. That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother, Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force, To dispossess that child which is not his? Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think. [bridge, Eli. Whether hadst thou rather, be a FaulconAnd like thy brother, to enjoy thy land; Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion, Lord of thy presence, and no land beside? Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape, And I had his, sir Robert his, like him; And if my legs were two such riding-rods, My arms such eel-skins stuff'd; my face so thin, That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose, Lest men should say, Look, where three-farthings goes And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, 'Would I might never stir from off this place, I'd give it every foot to have this face; I would not be sir Nob in any case. Eti. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy fortune Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me? I am a soldier, and now bound to France. Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun; Philip, good old sír Robert's wife's eldest son. K.John. From henceforth bear his name whose form Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!- In at the window, or else o'er the hatch; [sire, K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy deA landless knight makes thee a landed 'squire.— Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed For France, for France; for it is more than need. Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee! For thou wast got i' the way of honesty. [Exeunt all but the Bastard. For your conversion. Now your traveller,- It draws toward supper in conclusion so. And fits the mounting spirit, like myself: For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.- Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother? where is Lady F. 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. Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile? Philip!-sparrow!—James, There's toys abroad; anon 1'll tell thee more. [Exit GURNEY. Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son; Sir Robert might have eat his part in me Lady F. 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? Bast. Knight, knight,good mother,-Basilisco-like: 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 : Then, good my mother, let me know my father; Some proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother? Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge? Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. Lady F. King Richard Coeur-de-lion was thy father: By long and vehement suit 1 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 dear offence, Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence. Bast. Now, by this light, were 1 to get again, 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 aweless lion could not wage the fight, Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand. He, that perforce 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 lives and dares but say, thou did'st not well When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell. Come lady, I will shew thee to my kin; And they shall say, when Richard me begot, If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin: Who says it was, he lies; I say, 'twas not. [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. Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.--- Of thy unnatural uncle, English John; Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's death, Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right? Aust. 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, That 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. Const. 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 your love. Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift their In such a just and charitable war. [bent [swords K. Phi. Well then, to work; our cannon shall be 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. Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy, 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. K. Phi. A wonder, lady!--lo, upon thy wish, Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege, K. Phi. How much unlook'd-for is this expedition! Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence; For courage mounteth with occasion: Let them be welcome then, we are prepar'd. Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, BLANCH, the Bastard, PEMBROKE, and Forces. K. John. Peace be to France; if France in peace Our just and lineal entrance to our own! [permit If not; bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven. To draw my answer from thy articles? K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good If any breast of strong authority, [thoughts To look into the blots and stains of right. K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority. father. Aust. Peace! Hear the crier. Bast. Aust. What the devil art thou? Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you. An 'a may catch your hide and you alone. You are the hare of whom the proverb goes, Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard; I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right; Sirrah, look to 't; i'faith, I will, i' faith. Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe That did disrobe the lion of that robe! Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him, As great Alcides' shoes upon an ass :— But, ass, I'll take that burden from your back; Or lay on that, shall make your shoulders crack. Aust. What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath? K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight. Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference,King John, this is the very sum of all,England, and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, In right of Arthur do I claim of thee: |