To speak unto this city: what say you?

  KING JOHN

  If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son,

  485 Can in this book of beauty read ‘I love’,

  Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen:

  For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poitiers,

  And all that we upon this side the sea –

  Except this city now by us besieged –

  490 Find liable to our crown and dignity,

  Shall gild her bridal bed and make her rich

  In titles, honours and promotions, [a4rb]

  As she in beauty, education, blood,

  Holds hand with any princess of the world.

  KING PHILIP

  495 What sayst thou, boy? Look in the lady’s face.

  DAUPHIN

  I do, my lord, and in her eye I find

  A wonder, or a wondrous miracle:

  The shadow of myself formed in her eye,

  Which, being but the shadow of your son,

  500 Becomes a sun and makes your son a shadow.

  I do protest I never loved myself,

  Till now infixed I beheld myself,

  Drawn in the flattering table of her eye.

  Whispers with Blanche.

  BASTARD [aside]

  ‘Drawn in the flattering table of her eye!’

  505 Hanged in the frowning wrinkle of her brow,

  And quartered in her heart, he doth espy

  Himself love’s traitor. This is pity now,

  That hanged, and drawn, and quartered, there should be

  In such a love so vile a lout as he.

  BLANCHE [to Dauphin]

  510 My uncle’s will in this respect is mine.

  If he see aught in you that makes him like,

  That anything he sees which moves his liking

  I can with ease translate it to my will;

  Or if you will, to speak more properly,

  515 I will enforce it easily to my love.

  Further I will not flatter you, my lord,

  That all I see in you is worthy love

  Than this, that nothing do I see in you,

  Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your judge,

  520 That I can find should merit any hate.

  KING JOHN

  What say these young ones? What say you my niece?

  BLANCHE

  That she is bound in honour still to do

  What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say.

  KING JOHN

  Speak then, Prince Dauphin, can you love this lady?

  DAUPHIN

  525 Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love,

  For I do love her most unfeignedly.

  KING JOHN

  Then I do give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine,

  Poitiers and Anjou, these five provinces

  With her to thee, and this addition more,

  530 Full thirty thousand marks of English coin.

  Philip of France, if thou be pleased withal,

  Command thy son and daughter to join hands.

  KING PHILIP

  It likes us well, young princes: close your hands.

  [Dauphin and Blanche clasp hands.]

  AUSTRIA

  And your lips too, for I am well assured,

  535 That I did so when I was first assured.

  KING PHILIP

  Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates:

  Let in that amity which you have made,

  For at Saint Mary’s Chapel presently

  The rites of marriage shall be solemnized.

  540 Is not the Lady Constance in this troop?

  I know she is not, for this match made up

  Her presence would have interrupted much.

  Where is she and her son, tell me, who knows?

  DAUPHIN

  She is sad and passionate at your highness’ tent.

  KING PHILIP

  545 And by my faith, this league that we have made

  Will give her sadness very little cure.

  Brother of England, how may we content

  This widow lady? In her right we came,

  Which we, God knows, have turned another way

  To our own vantage.

  550 KING JOHN We will heal up all,

  For we’ll create young Arthur Duke of Britain

  And Earl of Richmond, and this rich fair town

  We make him lord of. Call the Lady Constance. [a4va]

  Some speedy messenger bid her repair

  To our solemnity. I trust we shall, [Exit Salisbury.]

  556 If not fill up the measure of her will,

  Yet in some measure satisfy her so

  That we shall stop her exclamation.

  Go we, as well as haste will suffer us,

  560 To this unlooked-for, unprepared pomp.

  Exeunt [all but Bastard].

  BASTARD

  Mad world, mad kings, mad composition!

  John, to stop Arthur’s title in the whole,

  Hath willingly departed with a part,

  And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,

  565 Whom zeal and charity brought to the field

  As God’s own soldier, rounded in the ear

  With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil,

  That broker that still breaks the pate of faith,

  That daily break-vow, he that wins of all,

  570 Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids –

  Who having no external thing to lose

  But the word maid, cheats the poor maid of that –

  That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling Commodity.

  Commodity, the bias of the world;

  575 The world, who of itself is peised well,

  Made to run even, upon even ground,

  Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias,

  This sway of motion, this Commodity,

  Makes it take head from all indifferency,

  580 From all direction, purpose, course, intent.

  And this same bias, this Commodity,

  This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,

  Clapped on the outward eye of fickle France,

  Hath drawn him from his own determined aid,

  585 From a resolved and honourable war

  To a most base and vile-concluded peace.

  And why rail I on this Commodity?

  But for because he hath not wooed me yet.

  Not that I have the power to clutch my hand

  590 When his fair angels would salute my palm,

  But for my hand, as unattempted yet,

  Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.

  Well, whiles I am a beggar I will rail,

  And say there is no sin but to be rich;

  595 And being rich, my virtue then shall be

  To say there is no vice but beggary.

  Since kings break faith upon Commodity,

  Gain be my lord, for I will worship thee. Exit.

  [3.1] Enter CONSTANCE, ARTHUR and SALISBURY.

  CONSTANCE

  Gone to be married? Gone to swear a peace?

  False blood to false blood joined! Gone to be friends?

  Shall Lewis have Blanche, and Blanche those provinces?

  It is not so, thou hast misspoke, misheard.

  5 Be well advised, tell o’er thy tale again;

  It cannot be, thou dost but say ’tis so.

  I trust I may not trust thee, for thy word

  Is but the vain breath of a common man:

  Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;

  10 I have a king’s oath to the contrary.

  Thou shalt be punished for thus frighting me,

  For I am sick, and capable of fears,

  Oppressed with wrongs, and therefore full of fears; [a4vb]

  A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,

  15 A woman naturally born to fears;

  And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,

  With my vexed spirits I cannot take a truce,

  But they will quake and tremble all this day.

  What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?

  20 Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?

  What means that hand upon that breast of thine?

  Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,

  Like a proud river peering o’er his bounds?

  Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?

  25 Then speak again, not all thy former tale,

  But this one word, whether thy tale be true.

  SALISBURY

  As true as I believe you think them false,

  That give you cause to prove my saying true.

  CONSTANCE

  O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,

  30 Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die,

  And let belief and life encounter so,

  As doth the fury of two desperate men

  Which in the very meeting fall and die.

  Lewis marry Blanche? O, boy, then where art thou?

  35 France friend with England? What becomes of me?

  Fellow, be gone. I cannot brook thy sight,

  This news hath made thee a most ugly man.

  SALISBURY

  What other harm have I, good lady, done

  But spoke the harm that is by others done?

  CONSTANCE

  40 Which harm within itself so heinous is

  As it makes harmful all that speak of it.

  ARTHUR

  I do beseech you, madam, be content.

  CONSTANCE

  If thou that bid’st me be content wert grim,

  Ugly, and slanderous to thy mother’s womb,

  45 Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,

  Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,

  Patched with foul moles and eye-offending marks,

  I would not care, I then would be content;

  For then I should not love thee, no, nor thou

  50 Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown.

  But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,

  Nature and Fortune joined to make thee great.

  Of nature’s gifts thou mayst with lilies boast

  And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,

  55 She is corrupted, changed, and won from thee,

  Sh’adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,

  And with her golden hand hath plucked on France

  To tread down fair respect of sovereignty

  And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.

  60 France is a bawd to Fortune and King John:

  That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John.

  Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn?

  Envenom him with words, or get thee gone

  And leave those woes alone which I alone

  Am bound to underbear.

  65 SALISBURY Pardon me madam,

  I may not go without you to the kings.

  CONSTANCE

  Thou mayst, thou shalt, I will not go with thee.

  I will instruct my sorrows to be proud,

  For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop:

  70 To me and to the state of my great grief

  Let kings assemble, for my grief’s so great

  That no supporter but the huge firm earth

  Can hold it up. Here I and sorrows sit;

  [Throws herself to the ground.]

  Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.

  [Exit Salisbury with Arthur.] [a5ra]

  [Flourish.] Enter KING JOHN, KING PHILIP of France, [Lewis the] DAUPHIN, BLANCHE, ELEANOR, the BASTARD, AUSTRIA.

  KING PHILIP [to Blanche]

  75 ’Tis true, fair daughter, and this blessed day

  Ever in France shall be kept festival.

  To solemnize this day the glorious sun

  Stays in his course and plays the alchemist,

  Turning with splendour of his precious eye

  80 The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold.

  The yearly course that brings this day about

  Shall never see it but a holy day.

  CONSTANCE [Rises.]

  A wicked day, and not a holy day!

  What hath this day deserved? What hath it done,

  85 That it in golden letters should be set

  Among the high tides in the calendar?

  Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,

  This day of shame, oppression, perjury.

  Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child

  90 Pray that their burdens may not fall this day,

  Lest that their hopes prodigiously be crossed;

  But on this day let seamen fear no wrack,

  No bargains break that are not this day made;

  This day all things begun come to ill end,

  95 Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change.

  KING PHILIP

  By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause

  To curse the fair proceedings of this day.

  Have I not pawned to you my majesty?

  CONSTANCE

  You have beguiled me with a counterfeit

  100 Resembling majesty, which, being touched and tried,

  Proves valueless. You are forsworn, forsworn!

  You came in arms to spill mine enemies’ blood,

  But now in arms you strengthen it with yours.

  The grappling vigour and rough frown of war

  105 Is cold in amity and painted peace,

  And our oppression hath made up this league.

  Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjured kings!

  A widow cries; be husband to me, Lord,

  Let not the hours of this ungodly day

  110 Wear out the day in peace, but ere sunset,

  Set armed discord ’twixt these perjured kings.

  Hear me, O, hear me!

  AUSTRIA Lady Constance, peace.

  CONSTANCE

  War, war, no peace! Peace is to me a war.

  O Limoges, O Austria, thou dost shame

  115 That bloody spoil. Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward,

  Thou little valiant, great in villainy,

  Thou ever strong upon the stronger side,

  Thou Fortune’s champion that dost never fight

  But when her humorous ladyship is by

  120 To teach thee safety: thou art perjured too,

  And sooth’st up greatness. What a fool art thou,

  A ramping fool, to brag and stamp and swear

  Upon my party. Thou cold-blooded slave,

  Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side?

  125 Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend

  Upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength,

  And dost thou now fall over to my foes?

  Thou wear a lion’s hide? Doff it for shame,

  And hang a calf’s skin on those recreant limbs.

  AUSTRIA

  130 O, that a man should speak those words to me.

  BASTARD

  And hang a calf’s skin on those recreant limbs.

  AUSTRIA

  Thou dar’st not say so, villain, for thy life.

  BASTARD

  And hang a calf’s skin on those recreant limbs. [a5rb]

  KING JOHN [to Bastard]

  We like not this, thou dost forget thyself.

  Enter PANDULPH.

  KING PHILIP

  135 Here comes the holy legate of the Pope.

  [Takes hand of King John.]

  PANDULPH

  Hail, you anointed deputies of God.

  To thee, King John, my holy errand is:

  I, Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,

  And from Pope Innocent the legate here,

  140 Do in his name religiously demand

  Why thou against the Church, our holy mother,

  So wilfully dost spurn, and force perforce

  Keep Stephen Langton, chosen Archbishop

  Of Canterbury, from that holy see?

  145 This, in our foresaid Holy Father’s name,

  Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

  KING JOHN

  What earthy name to interrogatories

  Can test the free breath of a sacred king?

  Thou canst not, Cardinal, devise a name

  150 So slight, unworthy and ridiculous

  To charge me to an answer as the Pope.

  Tell him this tale, and from the mouth of England

  Add thus much more, that no Italian priest

  Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;

  155 But as we, under God, are supreme head,

  So, under Him, that great supremacy

  Where we do reign we will alone uphold

  Without th’assistance of a mortal hand.

  So tell the Pope, all reverence set apart

  160 To him and his usurped authority.

  KING PHILIP

  Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.

  KING JOHN

  Though you and all the kings of Christendom

  Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,

  Dreading the curse that money may buy out,

  165 And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,

  Purchase corrupted pardon of a man

  Who in that sale sells pardon from himself;

  Though you and all the rest so grossly led

  This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,

  170 Yet I alone, alone do me oppose

  Against the Pope, and count his friends my foes.

  PANDULPH

  Then by the lawful power that I have,

  Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate,

  And blessed shall he be that doth revolt

  175 From his allegiance to an heretic,

  And meritorious shall that hand be called,

  Canonized and worshipped as a saint,

  That takes away by any secret course

  Thy hateful life.

  CONSTANCE O, lawful let it be

  180 That I have room with Rome to curse awhile.

  Good Father Cardinal, cry thou ‘Amen’

  To my keen curses, for without my wrong

  There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.

  PANDULPH

  There’s law and warrant, lady, for my curse.

  CONSTANCE

  185 And for mine too; when law can do no right,

  Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong.

  Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,

  For he that holds his kingdom, holds the law;

  Therefore since law itself is perfect wrong,

  190 How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?

  [Philip takes John’s hand.]

  PANDULPH

  Philip of France, on peril of a curse,

  Let go the hand of that arch-heretic,

  And raise the power of France upon his head,

  Unless he do submit himself to Rome.