The Life And Death Of King John

1 Enter Constance, Arthur and Salisbury.
2 CONSTANCE.
3 Gone to be married? Gone to swear a peace?
4 False blood to false blood join’d? Gone to be friends?
5 Shall Louis have Blanche, and Blanche those provinces?
6 It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard;
7 Be well advis’d, tell o’er thy tale again.
8 It cannot be; thou dost but say ’tis so.
9 I trust I may not trust thee, for thy word
10 Is but the vain breath of a common man.
11 Believe me, I do not believe thee, man.
12 I have a king’s oath to the contrary.
13 Thou shalt be punish’d for thus frighting me,
14 For I am sick and capable of fears,
15 Oppress’d with wrongs, and therefore full of fears,
16 A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,
17 A woman, naturally born to fears,
18 And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,
19 With my vex’d spirits I cannot take a truce,
20 But they will quake and tremble all this day.
21 What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?
22 Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?
23 What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
24 Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
25 Like a proud river peering o’er his bounds?
26 Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?
27 Then speak again—not all thy former tale,
28 But this one word, whether thy tale be true.
29 SALISBURY.
30 As true as I believe you think them false
31 That give you cause to prove my saying true.
32 CONSTANCE.
33 O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,
34 Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die,
35 And let belief and life encounter so
36 As doth the fury of two desperate men
37 Which in the very meeting fall and die.
38 Louis marry Blanche? O boy, then where art thou?
39 France friend with England? What becomes of me?
40 Fellow, be gone. I cannot brook thy sight.
41 This news hath made thee a most ugly man.
42 SALISBURY.
43 What other harm have I, good lady, done,
44 But spoke the harm that is by others done?
45 CONSTANCE.
46 Which harm within itself so heinous is,
47 As it makes harmful all that speak of it.
48 ARTHUR.
49 I do beseech you, madam, be content.
50 CONSTANCE.
51 If thou, that bid’st me be content, wert grim,
52 Ugly, and sland’rous to thy mother’s womb,
53 Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,
54 Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,
55 Patch’d with foul moles and eye-offending marks,
56 I would not care, I then would be content,
57 For then I should not love thee; no, nor thou
58 Become thy great birth, nor deserve a crown.
59 But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,
60 Nature and Fortune join’d to make thee great.
61 Of Nature’s gifts thou mayst with lilies boast,
62 And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,
63 She is corrupted, chang’d, and won from thee;
64 She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,
65 And with her golden hand hath pluck’d on France
66 To tread down fair respect of sovereignty,
67 And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.
68 France is a bawd to Fortune and King John,
69 That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John!
70 Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn?
71 Envenom him with words, or get thee gone,
72 And leave those woes alone which I alone
73 Am bound to underbear.
74 SALISBURY.
75 Pardon me, madam,
76 I may not go without you to the Kings.
77 CONSTANCE.
78 Thou mayst, thou shalt; I will not go with thee.
79 I will instruct my sorrows to be proud,
80 For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop.
81 To me and to the state of my great grief
82 Let kings assemble; for my grief’s so great
83 That no supporter but the huge firm earth
84 Can hold it up. Here I and sorrows sit;
85 Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.
86 [_Seats herself on the ground._]
87 Enter King John, King Philip, Louis, Blanche, Eleanor, Bastard, Austria
88 and attendants.
89 KING PHILIP.
90 ’Tis true, fair daughter; and this blessed day
91 Ever in France shall be kept festival.
92 To solemnize this day the glorious sun
93 Stays in his course and plays the alchemist,
94 Turning with splendour of his precious eye
95 The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold.
96 The yearly course that brings this day about
97 Shall never see it but a holy day.
98 CONSTANCE.
99 [_Rising_.] A wicked day, and not a holy day!
100 What hath this day deserv’d? What hath it done
101 That it in golden letters should be set
102 Among the high tides in the calendar?
103 Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,
104 This day of shame, oppression, perjury.
105 Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child
106 Pray that their burdens may not fall this day,
107 Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross’d.
108 But on this day let seamen fear no wrack;
109 No bargains break that are not this day made;
110 This day, all things begun come to ill end,
111 Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change!
112 KING PHILIP.
113 By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause
114 To curse the fair proceedings of this day.
115 Have I not pawn’d to you my majesty?
116 CONSTANCE.
117 You have beguil’d me with a counterfeit
118 Resembling majesty, which, being touch’d and tried,
119 Proves valueless. You are forsworn, forsworn.
120 You came in arms to spill mine enemies’ blood,
121 But now in arms you strengthen it with yours.
122 The grappling vigour and rough frown of war
123 Is cold in amity and painted peace,
124 And our oppression hath made up this league.
125 Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjur’d kings!
126 A widow cries; be husband to me, heavens!
127 Let not the hours of this ungodly day
128 Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,
129 Set armed discord ’twixt these perjur’d kings!
130 Hear me, O, hear me!
131 AUSTRIA.
132 Lady Constance, peace!
133 CONSTANCE.
134 War! war! no peace! Peace is to me a war.
135 O Limoges, O Austria, thou dost shame
136 That bloody spoil. Thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!
137 Thou little valiant, great in villainy!
138 Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
139 Thou Fortune’s champion that dost never fight
140 But when her humorous ladyship is by
141 To teach thee safety! Thou art perjur’d too,
142 And sooth’st up greatness. What a fool art thou,
143 A ramping fool, to brag, and stamp, and swear
144 Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
145 Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side?
146 Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend
147 Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength?
148 And dost thou now fall over to my foes?
149 Thou wear a lion’s hide! Doff it for shame,
150 And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.
151 AUSTRIA.
152 O that a man should speak those words to me!
153 BASTARD.
154 And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.
155 AUSTRIA.
156 Thou dar’st not say so, villain, for thy life.
157 BASTARD.
158 And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.
159 KING JOHN.
160 We like not this. Thou dost forget thyself.
161 KING PHILIP.
162 Here comes the holy legate of the Pope.
163 Enter Pandulph.
164 PANDULPH.
165 Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!
166 To thee, King John, my holy errand is.
167 I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,
168 And from Pope Innocent the legate here,
169 Do in his name religiously demand
170 Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
171 So wilfully dost spurn; and force perforce
172 Keep Stephen Langton, chosen Archbishop
173 Of Canterbury, from that holy see.
174 This, in our foresaid holy father’s name,
175 Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.
176 KING JOHN.
177 What earthy name to interrogatories
178 Can task the free breath of a sacred king?
179 Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
180 So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,
181 To charge me to an answer, as the pope.
182 Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England
183 Add thus much more, that no Italian priest
184 Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;
185 But as we under God are supreme head,
186 So, under Him, that great supremacy,
187 Where we do reign, we will alone uphold
188 Without th’ assistance of a mortal hand.
189 So tell the pope, all reverence set apart
190 To him and his usurp’d authority.
191 KING PHILIP.
192 Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
193 KING JOHN.
194 Though you and all the kings of Christendom
195 Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
196 Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
197 And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,
198 Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
199 Who in that sale sells pardon from himself;
200 Though you and all the rest, so grossly led,
201 This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,
202 Yet I alone, alone do me oppose
203 Against the pope, and count his friends my foes.
204 PANDULPH.
205 Then, by the lawful power that I have,
206 Thou shalt stand curs’d and excommunicate;
207 And blessed shall he be that doth revolt
208 From his allegiance to an heretic;
209 And meritorious shall that hand be call’d,
210 Canonized and worshipp’d as a saint,
211 That takes away by any secret course
212 Thy hateful life.
213 CONSTANCE.
214 O, lawful let it be
215 That I have room with Rome to curse awhile!
216 Good father Cardinal, cry thou amen
217 To my keen curses; for without my wrong
218 There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
219 PANDULPH.
220 There’s law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
221 CONSTANCE.
222 And for mine too. When law can do no right,
223 Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong.
224 Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
225 For he that holds his kingdom holds the law;
226 Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
227 How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?
228 PANDULPH.
229 Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
230 Let go the hand of that arch-heretic,
231 And raise the power of France upon his head,
232 Unless he do submit himself to Rome.
233 QUEEN ELEANOR.
234 Look’st thou pale, France? Do not let go thy hand.
235 CONSTANCE
236 Look to that, devil, lest that France repent
237 And by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul.
238 AUSTRIA.
239 King Philip, listen to the cardinal.
240 BASTARD.
241 And hang a calf’s-skin on his recreant limbs.
242 AUSTRIA.
243 Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs,
244 Because—
245 BASTARD.
246 Your breeches best may carry them.
247 KING JOHN.
248 Philip, what say’st thou to the cardinal?
249 CONSTANCE.
250 What should he say, but as the cardinal?
251 LOUIS.
252 Bethink you, father; for the difference
253 Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome,
254 Or the light loss of England for a friend.
255 Forgo the easier.
256 BLANCHE.
257 That’s the curse of Rome.
258 CONSTANCE.
259 O Louis, stand fast! The devil tempts thee here
260 In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.
261 BLANCHE.
262 The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,
263 But from her need.
264 CONSTANCE.
265 O, if thou grant my need,
266 Which only lives but by the death of faith,
267 That need must needs infer this principle:
268 That faith would live again by death of need.
269 O then tread down my need, and faith mounts up;
270 Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down!
271 KING JOHN.
272 The King is mov’d, and answers not to this.
273 CONSTANCE.
274 O, be remov’d from him, and answer well!
275 AUSTRIA.
276 Do so, King Philip; hang no more in doubt.
277 BASTARD.
278 Hang nothing but a calf’s-skin, most sweet lout.
279 KING PHILIP.
280 I am perplex’d, and know not what to say.
281 PANDULPH.
282 What canst thou say but will perplex thee more,
283 If thou stand excommunicate and curs’d?
284 KING PHILIP.
285 Good reverend father, make my person yours,
286 And tell me how you would bestow yourself.
287 This royal hand and mine are newly knit,
288 And the conjunction of our inward souls
289 Married in league, coupled and link’d together
290 With all religious strength of sacred vows;
291 The latest breath that gave the sound of words
292 Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love
293 Between our kingdoms and our royal selves;
294 And even before this truce, but new before,
295 No longer than we well could wash our hands
296 To clap this royal bargain up of peace,
297 Heaven knows, they were besmear’d and overstain’d
298 With slaughter’s pencil, where revenge did paint
299 The fearful difference of incensed kings.
300 And shall these hands, so lately purg’d of blood,
301 So newly join’d in love, so strong in both,
302 Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet?
303 Play fast and loose with faith? So jest with heaven,
304 Make such unconstant children of ourselves,
305 As now again to snatch our palm from palm,
306 Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed
307 Of smiling peace to march a bloody host,
308 And make a riot on the gentle brow
309 Of true sincerity? O, holy sir,
310 My reverend father, let it not be so!
311 Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose
312 Some gentle order, and then we shall be blest
313 To do your pleasure and continue friends.
314 PANDULPH.
315 All form is formless, order orderless,
316 Save what is opposite to England’s love.
317 Therefore to arms! Be champion of our church,
318 Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse,
319 A mother’s curse, on her revolting son.
320 France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,
321 A chafed lion by the mortal paw,
322 A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,
323 Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
324 KING PHILIP.
325 I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
326 PANDULPH.
327 So mak’st thou faith an enemy to faith,
328 And like a civil war sett’st oath to oath,
329 Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow
330 First made to heaven, first be to heaven perform’d,
331 That is, to be the champion of our church.
332 What since thou swor’st is sworn against thyself
333 And may not be performed by thyself,
334 For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss
335 Is not amiss when it is truly done;
336 And being not done, where doing tends to ill,
337 The truth is then most done not doing it.
338 The better act of purposes mistook
339 Is to mistake again; though indirect,
340 Yet indirection thereby grows direct,
341 And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire
342 Within the scorched veins of one new-burn’d.
343 It is religion that doth make vows kept,
344 But thou hast sworn against religion
345 By what thou swear’st against the thing thou swear’st,
346 And mak’st an oath the surety for thy truth
347 Against an oath. The truth thou art unsure
348 To swear, swears only not to be forsworn,
349 Else what a mockery should it be to swear?
350 But thou dost swear only to be forsworn,
351 And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.
352 Therefore thy latter vows against thy first
353 Is in thyself rebellion to thyself;
354 And better conquest never canst thou make
355 Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts
356 Against these giddy loose suggestions,
357 Upon which better part our prayers come in,
358 If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know
359 The peril of our curses light on thee,
360 So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,
361 But in despair die under the black weight.
362 AUSTRIA.
363 Rebellion, flat rebellion!
364 BASTARD.
365 Will’t not be?
366 Will not a calf’s-skin stop that mouth of thine?
367 LOUIS.
368 Father, to arms!
369 BLANCHE.
370 Upon thy wedding-day?
371 Against the blood that thou hast married?
372 What, shall our feast be kept with slaughter’d men?
373 Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,
374 Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp?
375 O husband, hear me! Ay, alack, how new
376 Is “husband” in my mouth! Even for that name,
377 Which till this time my tongue did ne’er pronounce,
378 Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms
379 Against mine uncle.
380 CONSTANCE.
381 O, upon my knee,
382 Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,
383 Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom
384 Forethought by heaven!
385 BLANCHE.
386 Now shall I see thy love. What motive may
387 Be stronger with thee than the name of wife?
388 CONSTANCE.
389 That which upholdeth him that thee upholds,
390 His honour. O, thine honour, Louis, thine honour!
391 LOUIS.
392 I muse your majesty doth seem so cold,
393 When such profound respects do pull you on.
394 PANDULPH.
395 I will denounce a curse upon his head.
396 KING PHILIP.
397 Thou shalt not need. England, I will fall from thee.
398 CONSTANCE.
399 O fair return of banish’d majesty!
400 QUEEN ELEANOR.
401 O foul revolt of French inconstancy!
402 KING JOHN.
403 France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour.
404 BASTARD.
405 Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time,
406 Is it as he will? Well, then, France shall rue.
407 BLANCHE.
408 The sun’s o’ercast with blood. Fair day, adieu!
409 Which is the side that I must go withal?
410 I am with both, each army hath a hand;
411 And in their rage, I having hold of both,
412 They whirl asunder and dismember me.
413 Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win;
414 Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose;
415 Father, I may not wish the fortune thine;
416 Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive.
417 Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose;
418 Assured loss before the match be play’d.
419 LOUIS.
420 Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies.
421 BLANCHE.
422 There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.
423 KING JOHN.
424 Cousin, go draw our puissance together.
425 [_Exit Bastard._]
426 France, I am burn’d up with inflaming wrath;
427 A rage whose heat hath this condition,
428 That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,
429 The blood, and dearest-valu’d blood, of France.
430 KING PHILIP.
431 Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn
432 To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire.
433 Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.
434 KING JOHN.
435 No more than he that threats. To arms let’s hie!
436 [_Exeunt severally._]