If thou best slain, and with no ftroke of mine,
My wife and children's ghofts will haunt me ftill.
I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whofe arms
Are hir'd to bear their staves; either thou, Macbeth,
Or elfe my fword, with an unbatter'd edge,
I fheath 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 caftle's gently
render'd:

The tyrant's people on both sides do fight,
The noble thanes do bravely in the war;
The day almost itfelf profeiles yours,

And little is to do.

Mal. We have met with foes

That ftrike befide us.

Siw. Enter, fir, the caftie. [Exeunt. Alarum.

Re-enter Macbeth.

Mach. Why fhould I play the Roman fool, and die On mine own fword? whiles I fee lives, the gashes Do better upon them.

Re-enter Macduff.

Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn.

Mach. Of all men elfe I have avoided thee: But get thee back, my foul is too much charg'd With blood of thine already.

Macd. I have no words,

My voice is in my fword; thou bloodier villain
Than terms can give thee out! [Fight. Alarum.
Macb. Thou lofeft labour:

As eafy may'st thou the intrenchant air 2
With thy keen fword imprefs, as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable creits ;

I bear a charmed life, which muft not yield
To one of woman born.

Macd. Defpair thy charm;

And let the angel, whom thou still haft ferv'd,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's womb
Untimely ripp'd.

Macb. Accurfed be that tongue that tells me fo,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!
And be thefe juggling fiends no more believ'd,
That palter 3 with us in a double fenfe;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope.-I'll not fight with thee.
Mced. Then yield thee, coward,

And live to be the fhew and gaze o' the time."
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted upon a pole; and under-writ,

Here may you fee the tyrant.

Mach. I will not yield,

[of forrow

Roffe. Ay, and brought off the field: your caufe
Muft not be meafur'd by his worth, for then
It hath no end.

Siw. Had he his hurts before?

Roffe. Ay, on the front.

Siw. Why then, God's foldier be he!
Had I as many fons as I have hairs,

I would not with them to a fairer death:
And fo his knell is knoll'd.

Mal. He's worth more forrow,
And that I'll spend for him.

Siw. He's worth no more;

They fay, he parted well, and paid his fcore:
And fo, God be with him!-Here comes newer

comfort.

Re-enter Macduff, with Macbeth's Head. Macd. Hail, king! for fo thou art: Behold, where ftands

The ufurper's curfed head: the time is free:
I fee thee compafs'd with thy kingdom's pearl 5,
That fpeak my falutation in their minds;
Whofe voices I defire aloud with mine,-
Hail, king of Scotland!

All. Hail, king of Scotland !

[Flourish.

Mal. We fhall not spend a large expence of time,
Before we reckon with your feveral loves, [men,
And make us even with you. My thanes and kinf-
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In fuch an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the fnares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel minifters

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen ;
Who, as 'tis thought, by felf and violent hands
Took off her life ;-This, and what needful elfe

To kifs the ground before young Malcolm's feet, That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,

And to be baited with the rabble's curfe.
Though Birnam wood be come to Dunfinane,
And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the laft: Before my body

1 To bruit is to report with clamour; to noise. with ambiguous expreflions. 4 See note, p, 367.

We will perform in meafure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to fee us crown'd at Scone.
[Flourish. Exeunt,

zi. e. air which cannot be cut. 3 i. e. that shuffle
5 i. c. thy kingdom's wealth.

Citizens of Angiers, Heralds, Executioners, Meffingers, Soldiers, and other Attendants.
The SCENE, fometimes in England, and fometimes in France.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

Northampton.

A room of flate in the palace.

And put the fame into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew, and right royal fovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we difallow of this?
Chat. The proud controul 7 of fierce and bloody

Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Effex, To inforce thefe rights fo forcibly withheld. [war,

and Salisbury, with Chatillon.

NOW

WOW, fay, Chatillon, what would
France with us? [France,
Chat. Thus, after greeting, fpeaks the king of
In my behaviour", to the majefty,
The borrow'd majefty of England here.

Eli. A ftrange beginning ;-borrow'd majesty!
K.Jobn. Silence, good mother; hear the embally.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceated brother Geffrey's fon,
Arthur Plantagenet, lays moft lawful claim
To this fair ifland, and the territories;
To Ireland, Poitiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine:
Defiring thee to lay afide the fword,
Which fways ufurpingly these several titles ;

K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood
for blood,

Controulment for controulment; fo answer France.
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my
The fartheft limit of my embally. [mouth,

K. John. Bear mine to him, and fo depart in
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France: [peace:
For ere thou canft report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon fhall be heard:
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And fullen prefage of your own decay.—
An honourable conduct let him have ;-
Pembroke, look to't :-Farewell, Chatillon.
[Exeunt Chat. and Pem.
Eli. What now, my fon? have I not ever faid,

1 Mr. Theobald remarks, that though this play hath the title of The Life and Death of King John, yet the action of it begins at the thirty-fourth year of his life; and takes in only fome tranfactions of his reign at the time of his demife, being an interval of about feventeen years. Mr. Steevens obferves, that Hall, Holinihed, Stowe, &c. are clofely followed not only in the conduct, but fometimes in the expreffions throughout the following hiftorical dramas; viz. Macbeth, this play, Richard 11. Henry IV. & parts, Henry V. Henry VI. 3 parts, Richard III. and Henry VIII. 2 William Marefhall. 3 Jeffrey Fitzpeter, Ch. J. of England. 4 William Long(word, fon to Hen. II. by Rofamond Clifford. 5 Roger, Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk. i. e. in my character.

position.

Ccz

7 i. e. op

How

How that ambitious Conftance would not cease,
'Till the had kindled France, and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her ton?

This might have been prevented, and made whole,
With very eafy arguments of love;

Which now the manage1 of two kingdoms must
With fearful bloody iffue arbitrate.

[us.

K. Y. Our furong posieision, and our right for
Fl. Your strong poffeffion, much more than your
Or else it must go wrong with you, and me: [right;
So much my confcience whispers in your ear:
Which none but heaven, and you, and I, fhall hear.
Enter the Sheriff of Northumpiorfbire, who whispers
Hyfox.

Efex. My liege, here is the ftrangeft controverfy,
Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: Shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach. [Exit Sheriff.
Our abbies, and our priories, fhall pay

O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee.
K. John. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven

lent us here!

Eli.. He hath a trick 2 of Coeur-de-lion's face,
The accent of his tongue affecteth him :
Do you not read fome tokens of my fon
In the large compofition of this man?

K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts,
And finds them perfect Richard.--Sirrab, speak,
What doth move you to claim your brother's land?

Pbil. Because he hath a half-face, like my father;
With that half-face would he have all my land :
A half-fac'd groat 3 five hundred pound a year!

Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd,
Your brother did employ my father much ;-

Phil. Well, fir, by this you cannot get my land; Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother. Rob. And once difpatch'd him in an embally

Re-enter Sheriff with Robert Faulconbridge, and Phi-To Germany, there, with the emperor,

lip, his brother.

This expedition's charge.-What men are you?
Phil. Your faithful fubiect I, a gentleman,
Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son,
As I fuppofe, to Robert Faulconbridge;
A foldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. Joln. What art thou?

Rob. The fon and heir to that fame Faulconbridge.
K. Job. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it seems.

Phil. Molt 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 doft shame
thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.

Phil. I, madam? no, I have no reafon for it;
That is my brother's plea, and none of mine;
The which if he can prove, a' pops me out
At ledt from fair five hundred pound a-year:
Heaven guard my mother's honour, and my land!
K. Jabn. A good blunt fellow:-Why, being
younger born,

Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

To treat of high affairs touching that time:
The advantage of his abfence took the king,
And in the mean time fojourn'd at my father's ;
Where how he did prevail, I fhame to speak;
But truth is truth; large lengths of feas and fhores
Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father fpeak himself)
When this fame lufty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
His lands to me; and took it on his death,
That this, my mother's fon, was none of his ;
And, if he were, he came into the world
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.

K. Jobe. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him :
And, if the did play falfe, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazard of all hufbands
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,
Who, as you fay, took pains to get this fon,
Had of your father claim'd this fon for his ?
In footh, good friend, your father might have kept
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world;
In footh, he might: then, if he were my brother's,
My brother might not claim him; nor your father,
Being none of his, refufe him: This concludes--

Phil. I know not why, except to get the land. My mother's fon did get your father's heir;

But once he flander'd me with bastardy:
But whe'r I be as true begot, or no,
That ftill I lay upon my mother's head;
But that I am as well begot, my liege,

(Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!)
Compare our faces, and be judge yourself.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,

And were our father, and this ion like him ;

Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force,
To difpoffefs that child which is not his ?

Phil. Of no more force to difpoffets me, fir, Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether hadft thou rather, be a Faulconbridge,

And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;

1 That is, conduct, adminiftration. 2 Meaning, that peculiarity of face which may be fufficiently fhewn by the flightest outline. 3 Our author is here knowingly guilty of an anachronism, as he alludes to a coin not truck till the year 1504, in the reign of king Henry VII. viz. a groat, which, as well as the half groat, bare but half faces impreffed. The groats of all our kings of England, and indeed all their other coins of filver, one or two only excepted, had a full face crowned; till Henry VII. at the time above mentioned, coined groats and half groats, as alfo fome fhillings, with half faces, i. e. faces in profile, as all our coin has now. The firit groats of king Henry VIII. were like thofe of his father; though afterwards he returned to the broad faces again. In the ne of King John there were no goats at all, they being firit, as far as appears, coined in the reign of King Edward III.

Or

Or the reputed fon of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy prefence, and no land befide ?

Phil. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, fir Robert's his, like him 2;
And if my legs were two fuch riding-rods,
My arms fuch eel-skins stuft; my face fo thin,
That in mine ear I durft not stick a rofe 3, [goes!
Left men should fay, Look, where three-farthings
And, to his fhape, were heir to all this land,
'Would I might never ftir from off this place,
I'd give it every foot to have this face ;
I would not be Sir Nob in any cafe.

Phil. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee, For thou wait got i'the way of honesty!

[Exeunt all but Philip.

A foot of honour 6 better than I was;
But many a many foot of land the worse.
Well, now can I make any Joan a Lady
Good den, Sir Richard,—God-a-merty, fellow 1 ;--
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
Tis too refpective, and too fociable,

For your converfing. Now your traveller,-
He and his tooth-pick 9 at my worship's mefs;
And when my knightly ftomach is fuffic'd,
Why then I fuck my teeth, and catechife
My piked 10 man of countries :-

[tune,
Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forfake thy for-
Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?
I am a foldier, and now bound to France.
Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my (Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin)

chance:

Your face hath got five hundred pound a-year ;
Yet fell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear.--
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
Phil. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. What is thy name?

Phil. Philip, my liege; fo is my name begun;
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest fon.
K. Joba. From henceforth bear his name whofe
form thou bear'it :

Kneel thou down Philip, but arife more great ;
Arife Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.

-My dear fir,

I fhall befecth you—That is question now;
And then comes anfwer like an ABC-book 11
O fir, fays answer, at your best command ;
At your employment; at your fervice, fir :-
No, fr, fays queftion; I, fweet fir, at yours :
And fo, e'er answer knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment ;
And talking of the Alps, and Apennines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po) ..
It draws toward fupper in conclufion so,
But this is worshiprul fociety,
And fits the mounting fpirit, like myself:
For he is but a baftard to the time,
That doth not fmack of observation;
(And fo am I, whether I imack, or no)
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, fweet, fweet poifon for the age's tooth:
Which 42 though i will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it fhall ftrew the footsteps of my rifing.-
But who comes in fuch hafte, in riding robes?
What woman-poft is this? hath the no huiband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her 43 ?
Enter Lady Faulconbridge and James Gurney.
O me! it is my mother :-How now, good lady?
[he,
K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now haft thou thy What brings you here to court so hastily?

[hand;
Phil. Brother by the mother's fide, give me your
My father gave me honour, yours gave land
Now bletfed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.
Eli. The very fpirit of Plantagenet !—
I am thy grandame, Richard; call me fo.
Phil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
What though+?

Something about, a little from the right,

In at the window, or elfe o'er the hatch 5: Who dares not ftir by day, muft walk by night; And have is have, however men do catch : Near or far off, well won is still well fhot; And I am 1, howe'er I was begot.

defire,

A landless knight makes thee a landed 'fquire·
Come, madam, and come, Richard; we muft speed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.

Lady. Where is that flave, thy brother? where is That holds in chafe mine honour up and down? Phil. My brother Robert ? old Sir Robert's fon? Colbrand the giant, that fame mighty man?

2 The meaning is, "If I had his 1 i. e. mafter of thy majestic figure and dignified appearance. fhape- Sir Robert's--as he has." Sir Robert his, for Sir Robert's, is agreeable to the practice of that time, when the 's added to the nominative was believed, I think erroneously, to be a contraction of his. 3 Theobald fays, that in this very obfcure paffage our poet is anticipating the date of another coin; humouroufly to rally a thin face, eclipfed, as it were, by a full-blown refe. We must obferve, to explain this allufion, that queen Elizabeth was the firft, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England three-hall pence, and three-farthing pieces. She at one and the fame time coined shillings, fixpences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, three-half-pence, pence, three-farthings, and half-pence; and thefe pieces all had her head, and were alternately with the refe behind, and without the rofe. The fhilling. groat, two-pence, penny, and half-penny had it not: the other intermediate coins, 172. the fix-pence, three-pence, three-half-pence, and three-farthings had the refe. But Dr. Warburton ob4 What then? Thele exferves, that the fticking roses about them was then all the court-fashion.

preflions mean, fays Mr. Steevens, to be born out of wedlock. 6 i. e. a step. 7 Faulconbridge here entertains himself with ideas of greatnefs. Good den, Sir Richard, he fuppofes to be the falutation of a vallal. God-a-mercy, fellow, his own fupercilious reply to it. 8 i. e, refpectful. 9 To pick the teeth, and wear a piqued beard, were, in that time, marks of a traveller, or man ariccting foreign fashions. 10 Sec note 8. p. 164. 1 i. e. as they then spoke and wrote it, an absty-book, meaning a catechifm. 13 Dr. Johnton fays, our author means, that a woman who travelled about like a

12 Which for this.

pat, was likely to horn her husband.

Cc3

Is

Is it Sir Robert's fon that you feek fo?
Lady. Sir Robert's fon! Ay, thou unreverend boy,
Sir Robert's fon: Why scorn'st thou at Sir Robert ?
He is Sir Robert's fon, and fo art thou. [while?
Phil. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.
Phil. Philip-fparrow !—James,
There's toys abroad?; anon I'll tell thee more.
[Exit James.

Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's fon;
Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
Upon Good-friday, and ne'er broke his faft;
Sir Robert could do well; Marry, to confefs!
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it ;
We know his handy-work:-Therefore, good mo-
To whom am I beholden for thefe limbs ?
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.
[ther,
Lady. Haft thou confpired with thy brother too,
That for thine own gain should'st defend mine ho-
nour?

What means this fcorn, thou most untoward knave?
Phil. Knight, knight, good mother,-Bafilifco
like 3:

What! I am dub'd; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's fon;
I have difclaim'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. Haft thou deny'd thyself a Faulconbridge?
Phil. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
By long and vehement fuit I was feduc'd
Lady. King Richard Cœur-de-lion was thy father;
To make room for him in my husband's bed :--
Heaven lay not my tranfgreffion to my charge!-
Thou art the iffue of my dear offence,
Which was fo ftrongly urg'd, paft my defence.

Phil. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not with a better father.
Some fins do bear their privilege on earth,
And fo doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Subjected tribute to commanding love,-
Needs muft you lay your heart at his difpofe,-
Against whofe fury and unmatched force
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand 4,
The awlefs lion could not wage the fight,
He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!
May eafily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
Who lives and dares but fay, thou didst not well
When I was got, I'll fend his foul to hell.
Come, lady, I will fhew thee to my kin;

And they fhall fay, when Richard me begat,
If thou hadft faid him nay, it had been fin:
Who fays, it was, he lyes; I say, 'twas not.
[Exeunt

SCENE

ACT

I.

Before the walls of Angiers in France.
Enter Philip King of France, Lewis the Dauphin, the
Archduke of Auftria, Conflance, and Arthur.
Lewis. DEFORE Angiers well met, brave Au-
ftria-

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,
At our importance 5 hither is he come,
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf;
And to rebuke the ufurpation

Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.

Arthur. God fhall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's
The rather, that you give his offspring life, [death,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerlefs hand,

II.

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?

As feal to this indenture of my love ;
Auft. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kifs,
That to my home I will no more return,
'Till Angiers, and the right thou haft in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd fhore,
Whofe foot fpurns 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, ftill fecure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even 'till that utmost corner of the west,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms,
Salute thee for her king: 'till then, fair boy,
Conft. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's
thanks,
[ftrength,
Till your ftrong hand fhall help to give him
To make a more requital to your love.

6

1 Good leave means a ready affent. 2 i. c. rumours, idle reports. carry a concealed piece of fatire on a ftupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Solman 3 Faulconbridge's words here and Perfeda. In this piece there is the character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Bafilifco, His pretenfion to valour is fo blown, and feen through, that Pifton, a buffoon-fervant in the play, junips upon his back, and will not difengage him, till he makes Bafilifco fwear upon his dudgeon dagger that he was a knave, knave, knate, and no knight, knight, knight, as Bafilifco arrogantly filed himicit. In the fame manner Philip, when his mother calls him knave, throws off that reproach by humourously laving claim to his new dignity of knighthood. 4 Shakspeare here alludes to the old metrical romance of Richard Caur de lion, wherein this once celebrated monarch is related to have acquired his diftinguishing appellation, by having plucked out a lion's heart to whofe fury he was expofed by the duke of Austria, for having flain his fon with a blow of his fit. i, c. importunity. 1. e, greater,