The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works
Page 144
An honourable conduct let him have;
Pembroke, look to’t.—Farewell, Châtillon. 30
Exeunt Châtillon and Pembroke
QUEEN ELEANOR
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 35
With very easy arguments of love,
Which now the manage of two kingdoms must
With fearful-bloody issue arbitrate.
KING JOHN
Our strong possession and our right for us.
QUEEN ELEANOR (aside to King John)
Your strong possession much more than your right,
Or else it must go wrong with you and me: 41
So much my conscience whispers in your ear,
Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear.
Enter a Sheriff, [who whispers to Essex]
ESSEX
My liege, here is the strangest controversy,
Come from the country to be judged by you, 45
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 expeditious charge.Enter Robert Falconbridge and Philip the Bastard ⌈With the Sheriff⌉
What men are you?
BASTARD
Your faithful subject I, a gentleman 50
Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Falconbridge,
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cœur-de-lion knighted in the field.
KING JOHN What art thou? 55
FALCONBRIDGE
The son and heir to that same Falconbridge.
KING JOHN
Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it seems.
BASTARD
Most certain of one mother, mighty King—
That is well known—and, as I think, one father. 60
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.
QUEEN ELEANOR
Out on thee, rude man ! Thou dost shame thy mother
And wound her honour with this diffidence. 65
BASTARD
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! 70
KING JOHN
A good blunt fellow.—Why, being younger born,
Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance ?
BASTARD
I know not why, except to get the land;
But once he slandered me with bastardy.
But whe’er I be as true begot or no, 75
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 80
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!
QUEEN ELEANOR
He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion’s face; 85
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.
(To Robert Falconbridge) Sirrah, speak: 90
What doth move you to claim your brother’s land?
BASTARD
Because he hath a half-face like my father!
With half that face would he have all my land,
A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year.
FALCONBRIDGE
My gracious liege, when that my father lived, 95
Your brother did employ my father much—
BASTARD
Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land.
Your tale must be how he employed my mother.
FALCONBRIDGE
And once dispatched him in an embassy
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 sojourned at my father’s,
Where how he did prevail I shame to speak.
But truth is truth:large lengths of seas and shores
Between my father and my mother lay, 106
As I have heard my father speak himself,
When this same lusty gentleman was got.
Upon his deathbed he by will bequeathed
His lands to me, and took it on his death 110
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. 115
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 claimed 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, 125
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.
FALCONBRIDGE
Shall then my father’s will be of no force 130
To dispossess that child which is not his?
BASTARD
Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.
QUEEN ELEANOR
Whether hadst thou rather be: a Falconbridge,
And like thy brother to enjoy thy land, 135
Or the reputed son of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence, and no land beside?
BASTARD
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, 140
My arms such eel-skins stuffed, 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;
It would not be Sir Nob in any case.
QUEEN ELEANOR
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. 150
BASTARD
Brother, take you my land; I’ll take my chance.
Your face hath got five hundred pound a year,
Yet sell your face for fivepence and ’tis dear.—
Madam, I’ll follow you unt
o the death.
QUEEN ELEANOR
Nay, I would have you go before me thither. 155
BASTARD
Our country manners give our betters way.
KING JOHN What is thy name?
BASTARD
Philip, my liege, so is my name begun:
Philip, good old Sir Robert’s wife’s eldest son,
KING JOHN
From henceforth bear his name whose form thou
bear’st. 160
Kneel thou down Philip, but arise more great:He knights the Bastard
Arise Sir Richard and Plantagenet.
BASTARD
Brother by th’ mother’s side, give me your hand.
My father gave me honour, yours gave land.
Now blessèd be the hour, by night or day, 165
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.
QUEEN ELEANOR
The very spirit of Plantagenet I
I am thy grandam, Richard; call me so.
BASTARD
Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what though?
Something about, a little from the right,
In at the window, or else o‘er the hatch;
Who dares not stir by day must walk by night,
And have is have, however men do catch.
Near or far off, well won is still well shot,
And I am I, howe’er I was begot.
KING JOHN
Go, Falconbridge, now hast thou thy desire:
A 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.
BASTARD
Brother, adieu. Good fortune come to thee, 180
For thou wast got i’th’ way of honesty.Exeunt all but the Bastard
A foot of honour better than I was,
But many a many foot of land the worse.
Well, now can I make any Joan a lady.
‘Good e’en, Sir Richard‘—’God-a-mercy fellow’;
And if his name be George I’ll call him Peter,
For new-made honour doth forget men’s names;
’Tis too respective and too sociable
For your conversion. Now your traveller,
He and his toothpick at my worship’s mess; 190
And when my knightly stomach is sufficed,
Why then I suck my teeth and catechize
My picked man of countries. ‘My dear sir,’
Thus leaning on mine elbow I begin,
‘I shall beseech you—’. That is Question now; 195
And then comes Answer like an Absey book.
‘O sir,’ says Answer, ‘at your best command,
At your employment, at your service, sir.’
‘No sir,’ says Question, ‘I, sweet sir, at yours.’
And so, ere 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 supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society, 205
And fits the mounting spirit like myself;
For he is but a bastard to the time
That doth not smack of observation;
And so am I—whether I smack or no,
And not alone in habit and device, 210
Exterior form, outward accoutrement,
But from the inward motion—to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age’s tooth;
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet to avoid deceit I mean to learn; 215
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.
Enter Lady Falconbridge and James Gurney
But who comes in such haste in riding-robes?
What woman-post is this? Hath she no husband
That will take pains to blow a horn before her?
O me, ’tis my mother! How now, good lady? 220
What brings you here to court so hastily?
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Where is that slave thy brother? Where is he
That holds in chase mine honour up and down?
BASTARD
My brother Robert, old Sir Robert’s son?
Colbrand the Giant, that same mighty man? 225
Is it Sir Robert’s son that you seek so?
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Sir Robert’s son, ay, thou unreverent boy,
Sir Robert’s son. Why scorn’st thou at Sir Robert?
He is Sir Robert’s son, and so art thou.
BASTARD
James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile? 230
GURNEY
Good leave, good Philip.
BASTARD Philip Sparrow, James!
There’s toys abroad; anon I’ll tell thee more.
Exit James Gurney
Madam, I was not old Sir Robert’s son.
Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
Upon Good Friday, and ne’er broke his fast. 235
Sir Robert could do well, marry to confess,
Could a get me! Sir Robert could not do it:
We know his handiwork. Therefore, good mother,
To whom am I beholden for these limbs?
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg. 240
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Hast thou conspired with thy brother too,
That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour?
What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?
BASTARD
Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like!
What! I am dubbed; I have it on my shoulder. 245
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert’s son.
I have disclaimed 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? 250
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
Hast thou denied thyself a Falconbridge ?
BASTARD
As faithfully as I deny the devil.
LADY FALCONBRIDGE
King Richard Cœur-de-lion was thy father.
By long and vehement suit I was seduced
To make room for him in my husband’s bed. 255
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urged past my defence.
BASTARD
Now by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father. 260
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 265
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. 270
Who lives and dares but say thou didst not well
When I was got, I’ll send his soul to hell.
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin,
And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin. 275
Who says it was, he lies: I say ’twas not. Exeunt
2.1 ⌈Flourish.⌉ Enter before Angers ⌈at one door⌉ Philip King of France, Louis the Dauphin, Lady Constance, and Arthur Duke of Brittaine, with soldiers; ⌈at another door⌉ the Duke of Austria, wearing a lion’s hide, with soldiers
⌈KING PHILIP⌉
Before Angers well met, brave Austria.—
Arthur, that great forerunner of thy blood,
Richard that robbed the lion of his heart
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave; 5
And, for amends to his posterity,
At our importance hither is he come
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf,
And to rebuke the usurpation
Of thy unnatural uncle, English John. 10
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
ARTHUR (to Austria)
God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion’s death,
The rather that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war.
I give you welcome with a powerless hand, 15
But with a heart full of unstained love.
Welcome before the gates of Angers, Duke.
⌈KING PHILIP⌉
A noble boy. Who would not do thee right?
AUSTRIA (kissing Arthur)
Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss
As seal to this indenture of my love: 20
That to my home I will no more return
Till Angers and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-faced shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean’s roaring tides
And coops from other lands her islanders, 25
Even till that England, hedged in with the main,
That water-wallèd 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.
C0NSTANCE
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.
AUSTRIA
The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords
In such a just and charitable war.
KING PHILIP
Well then, to work! Our cannon shall be bent
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.
CONSTANCE
Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Lest unadvised you stain your swords with blood.
My lord Châtillon 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 Châtillon
KING PHILIP
A wonder, lady:lo upon thy wish