K. Phi. It shall be so;-[To LEWIS.] and at the other hill Command the rest to stand.-God, and our right! [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. Alarums and Excursions; then a Retreat. Enter a French Herald, 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 groveling lies, Coldly embracing the discolored earth; And victory, with little loss, doth play Upon the dancing banners of the French; Who are at hand, triumphantly displayed, To enter conquerors, and to proclaim Arthur of Bretagne, England's king, and yours. Enter an English Herald, with trumpets. E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells; King John, your king and England's, doth approach, Their armors, that marched hence so silver-bright, That is removed by a staff of France; Our colors do return in those same hands That did display them when we first marched forth; And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen,1 come Our lusty English, all with purpled hands, 1 It was anciently one of the savage practices of the chase for all to stain their hands in the blood of the deer as a trophy. Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes. 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 answered blows; Strength matched 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. Enter, at one side, KING JOHN, with his Power; ELINOR, BLANCH, and the Bastard; at the other, King PHILIP, LEWIS, AUSTRIA, and Forces. K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away? Say, shall the current of our right run1 on? 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; That sways the earth this climate overlooks,— We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear, Gracing the scroll, that tells of this war's loss, Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers, When the rich blood of kings is set on fire! 1 The first folio reads roam: the change was made in the second folio. 1 O, now doth death line his dead chaps with steel; 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? 1 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. 1 Cit. A greater power than we, denies all this; And, till it be undoubted, we do lock Our former scruple in our strong-barred gates; And stand securely on their battlements, 1 Mr. Pope changed this to mouthing, and was followed by subsequent editors. "Mousing," says Malone, "is mammocking and devouring eagerly, as a cat devours a mouse." "Whilst Troy was swilling sack and sugar, and mousing fat venison, the mad Greekes made bonfires of their houses."-The Wonderful Year, by Decker, 1603.-Shakspeare often uses familiar terms in his most serious speeches; and Malone has adduced other instances in this play: but in this very speech "his dead chaps" is surely not more elevated than mousing. 2 Potentates. 3 The old copy reads "Kings of our fear," &c. The emendation is Mr. Tyrwhitt's. "Kinged of our fears," i. e. our fears being our kings or rulers. Be friends a while, and both conjointly bend Leave them as naked as the vulgar air. How like you this wild counsel, mighty states? K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads, I like it well.—France, shall we knit our powers, Bast. An if thou hast the mettle of a king,- As we will ours, against these saucy walls; And when that we have dashed them to the ground, Why, then defy each other; and, pell-mell, Make work upon ourselves, for heaven, or hell. K. Phi. Let it be so.-Say, where will you assault? K. John. We from the west will send destruction Into this city's bosom. Aust. I from the north. K. Phi. Our thunder, from the south, Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town. 1 The mutines are the mutineers, the seditious. 2 i. e. soul-appalling; from the verb to fear, to make afraid. Bast. O prudent discipline! from north to south, Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth. I'll stir them to't.-Come, away, away! [Aside. 1 Cit. Hear us, great kings! vouchsafe a while to stay, And I shall show you peace, and fair-faced league; K. John. Speak on, with favor; we are bent to hear. 1 Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the lady Blanch,1 2 Is near to England; look upon the years Is the young dauphin every way complete. If not complete, O say, he is not she; And she again wants nothing, to name want, O, two such silver currents, when they join, Do glorify the banks that bound them in; And two such shores to two such streams made one, 1 The lady Blanch was daughter to Alphonso, the ninth king of Castile, and was niece to king John by his sister Eleanor. 2 Zealous for pious. |