King John | Page 8

O, well did he become that lion's robe That did disrobe the
lion of that robe!

BASTARD. It lies as sightly on the back of him As great Alcides'
shows upon an ass:-- But, ass, I'll take that burden from your back, Or
lay on that shall make your shoulders crack.
AUSTRIA. What cracker is this same that deafs our ears With this
abundance of superfluous breath?
KING PHILIP. Louis, determine what we shall do straight.
LOUIS. 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: Wilt thou resign them, and lay
down thy arms?
KING JOHN. My life as soon:--I do defy thee, France. Arthur of
Bretagne, yield thee to my hand; And out of my dear love, I'll give thee
more Than e'er the coward hand of France can win: Submit thee, boy.
ELINOR. Come to thy grandam, child.
CONSTANCE. Do, child, go to it' grandam, child; Give grandam
kingdom, and it' grandam will Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig.
There's a good grandam!
ARTHUR. Good my mother, peace! I would that I were low laid in my
grave: I am not worth this coil that's made for me.
ELINOR. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.
CONSTANCE. Now, shame upon you, whe'er she does or no! His
grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames, Draws those
heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes, Which heaven shall take in
nature of a fee: Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be brib'd To
do him justice, and revenge on you.
ELINOR. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth!
CONSTANCE. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth! Call not
me slanderer: thou and thine usurp The dominations, royalties, and
rights, Of this oppressed boy: this is thy eldest son's son, Infortunate in
nothing but in thee: Thy sins are visited in this poor child; The canon of
the law is laid on him, Being but the second generation Removed from
thy sin-conceiving womb.
KING JOHN. Bedlam, have done.
CONSTANCE. I have but this to say,-- That he is not only plagued for
her sin, But God hath made her sin and her the plague On this removed
issue, plagu'd for her And with her plague, her sin; his injury Her
injury,--the beadle to her sin; All punish'd in the person of this child,

And all for her: a plague upon her!
ELINOR. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce A will that bars the title
of thy son.
CONSTANCE. Ay, who doubts that? a will, a wicked will; A woman's
will; a canker'd grandam's will!
KING PHILIP. Peace, lady! pause, or be more temperate: It ill beseems
this presence to cry aim To these ill-tuned repetitions.-- Some trumpet
summon hither to the walls These men of Angiers: let us hear them
speak Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.
[Trumpet sounds. Enter citizens upon the walls.]
FIRST CITIZEN. Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?
KING PHILIP. 'Tis France, for England.
KING JOHN. England for itself:-- You men of Angiers, and my loving
subjects,--
KING PHILIP. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects, Our
trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle.
KING JOHN. For our advantage; therefore hear us first. These flags of
France, that are advanced here Before the eye and prospect of your
town, Have hither march'd to your endamagement;
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath, And ready mounted are
they to spit forth Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls: All
preparation for a bloody siege And merciless proceeding by these
French Confronts your city's eyes, your winking gates; And, but for our
approach, those sleeping stones That as a waist doth girdle you about,
By the compulsion of their ordinance By this time from their fixed beds
of lime Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made For bloody power
to rush upon your peace. But, on the sight of us, your lawful king,--
Who, painfully, with much expedient march, Have brought a
countercheck before your gates, To save unscratch'd your city's
threatn'd cheeks,-- Behold, the French, amaz'd, vouchsafe a parle; And
now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire, To make a shaking fever in your
walls, They shoot but calm words folded up in smoke, To make a
faithless error in your ears: Which trust accordingly, kind citizens, And
let us in, your king; whose labour'd spirits, Forwearied in this action of
swift speed, Craves harbourage within your city-walls.
KING PHILIP. When I have said, make answer to us both. Lo, in this
right hand, whose protection Is most divinely vow'd upon the right Of

him it holds, stands young Plantagenet, Son to the elder brother of this
man,