The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Part 242

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1597

KING JOHN

by William Shakespeare

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

KING JOHN PRINCE HENRY, his son ARTHUR, DUKE OF BRITAINE, son of Geffrey, late Duke of Britaine, the elder brother of King John EARL OF PEMBROKE EARL OF ESs.e.x EARL OF SALISBURY LORD BIGOT HUBERT DE BURGH ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, son to Sir Robert Faulconbridge PHILIP THE b.a.s.t.a.r.d, his half-brother JAMES GURNEY, servant to Lady Faulconbridge PETER OF POMFRET, a prophet

KING PHILIP OF FRANCE LEWIS, the Dauphin LYMOGES, Duke of Austria CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate MELUN, a French lord CHATILLON, amba.s.sador from France to King John

QUEEN ELINOR, widow of King Henry II and mother to King John CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur BLANCH OF SPAIN, daughter to the King of Castile and niece to King John LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, widow of Sir Robert Faulconbridge

Lords, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Executioners, Messengers, Attendants

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SCENE: England and France

ACT I. SCENE 1

KING JOHN's palace

Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESs.e.x, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON

KING JOHN. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

CHATILLON. Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France In my behaviour to the majesty, The borrowed majesty, of England here.

ELINOR. A strange beginning- 'borrowed majesty'!

KING JOHN. Silence, good mother; hear the emba.s.sy.

CHATILLON. Philip of France, in right and true behalf Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son, Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim To this fair island and the territories, To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine, Desiring thee to lay aside the sword Which sways usurpingly these several t.i.tles, And put the same into young Arthur's hand, Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.

KING JOHN. What follows if we disallow of this?

CHATILLON. The proud control of fierce and b.l.o.o.d.y war, To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.

KING JOHN. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, Controlment for controlment- so answer France.

CHATILLON. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth- The farthest limit of my emba.s.sy.

KING JOHN. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace; Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France; For ere thou canst report I will be there, The thunder of my cannon shall be heard.

So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath And sullen presage of your own decay.

An honourable conduct let him have- Pembroke, look to 't. Farewell, Chatillon.

Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE ELINOR. What now, my son! Have I not ever said How that ambitious Constance would not cease Till she had kindled France and all the world Upon the right and party of her son?

This might have been prevented and made whole With very easy arguments of love, Which now the manage of two kingdoms must With fearful b.l.o.o.d.y issue arbitrate.

KING JOHN. Our strong possession and our right for us!

ELINOR. Your strong possession much more than your right, Or else it must go wrong with you and me; So much my conscience whispers in your ear, Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear.

Enter a SHERIFF

ESs.e.x. My liege, here is the strangest controversy Come from the country to be judg'd by you That e'er I heard. Shall I produce the men?

KING JOHN. Let them approach. Exit SHERIFF Our abbeys and our priories shall pay This expedition's charge.

Enter ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE and PHILIP, his b.a.s.t.a.r.d brother

What men are you?

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman Born in Northamptons.h.i.+re, and eldest son, As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge- A soldier by the honour-giving hand Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.

KING JOHN. What art thou?

ROBERT. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.

KING JOHN. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?

You came not of one mother then, it seems.

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. 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.

ELINOR. Out on thee, rude man! Thou dost shame thy mother, And wound her honour with this diffidence.

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I, madam? No, I have no reason for it- That is my brother's plea, and none of mine; The which if he can prove, 'a pops me out At least from fair five hundred pound a year.

Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land!

KING JOHN. A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born, Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I know not why, except to get the land.

But once he slander'd me with b.a.s.t.a.r.dy; But whe'er I be as true begot or no, That still 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 son like him- O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee!

KING JOHN. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here!

ELINOR. He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face; The accent of his tongue affecteth him.

Do you not read some tokens of my son In the large composition of this man?

KING JOHN. Mine eye hath well examined his parts And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak, What doth move you to claim your brother's land?

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Because he hath a half-face, like my father.

With half that face would he have all my land: A half-fac'd groat five hundred pound a year!

ROBERT. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd, Your brother did employ my father much- b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land: Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother.

ROBERT. And once dispatch'd him in an emba.s.sy To Germany, there with the Emperor To treat of high affairs touching that time.

Th' advantage of his absence took the King, And in the meantime sojourn'd at my father's; Where how he did prevail I shame to speak- But truth is truth: large lengths of seas and sh.o.r.es Between my father and my mother lay, As I have heard my father speak himself, When this same l.u.s.ty 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 son 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.

KING JOHN. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate: Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him, And if she did play false, the fault was hers; Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother, Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, Had of your father claim'd this son for his?

In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world; In sooth, he might; then, if he were my brother's, My brother might not claim him; nor your father, Being none of his, refuse him. This concludes: My mother's son did get your father's heir; Your father's heir must have your father's land.

ROBERT. Shall then my father's will be of no force To dispossess that child which is not his?

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir, Than was his will to get me, as I think.

ELINOR. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land, Or the reputed son of Coeur-de-lion, Lord of thy presence and no land beside?

b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Madam, an if my brother had my shape And I had his, Sir Robert's 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 would give it every foot to have this face!