And fright him there? and make him tremble there?
O, let it not be said : forage, and run
To meet displeasure farther from the doors,

60 And grapple with him ere he come so nigh. K. John. The legate of the pope hath been with me,

And I have made a happy peace with him;
And he hath promised to dismiss the powers

Led by the Dauphin.
Bast.

O inglorious league ! - 65
Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play orders and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley and base truce
To arms invasive ? shall a beardless boy,
A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields, 70
And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,
Mocking the air with colours idly spread,
And find no check? Let us, my liege, to arms:

Perchance the cardinal cannot make your peace; 67. compromise] comprimise Ff. 72. idly] idlely Ff 1, 2; idely Ff 3, 4.

75

Or if he do, let it at least be said

They saw we had a purpose of defence. K. John. Have thou the ordering of this present time. Bast, Away, then, with good courage ! yet, I know,

Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-The Dauphin's camp at St. Edmundsbury.
Enter, in arms, LEWIS, SALISBURY, MELUN, PEMBROKE,

BiGoT, and Soldiers.
Lew. My Lord Melun, let this be copied out,

And keep it safe for our remembrance:
Return the precedent to these lords again;
That, having our fair order written down,
Both they and we, perusing o'er these notes, 5
May know wherefore we took the sacrament

And keep our faiths firm and inviolable.
Sal. Upon our sides it never shall be broken.

And, noble Dauphin, albeit we swear
A voluntary zeal and an unurged faith

10 To your proceedings; yet believe me, prince,

I am not glad that such a sore of time 3. precedent] Johnson ; president Ff. 78, 79. Away, then, . . . prouder I am confident that our party could foe] We can hardly agree with beat a stronger foe.” Johnson that the Bastard is here showing the white feather by mean

Scene 11. ing “ Yet I so well know the faintness of our party, that I think it may 1. this] the compact with the easily happen that they shall en- English lords. As an actual document counter enemies who have more it is evidently the same as the “prespirit than themselves." Quite the cedent," the original draft which was contrary meaning is more in keeping to be returned to the Englishmen, with the Bastard's character and while "it" in line 2 must have with the continual appeal to English meant the copy that Philip ordered patriotism in the play "Even now to be made,

15

20

Should seek a plaster by contemn'd revolt,
And heal the inveterate canker of one wound
By making many. O, it grieves my soul,
That I must draw this metal from my side
To be a widow-maker! O, and there
Where honourable rescue and defence
Cries out upon the name of Salisbury !
But such is the infection of the time,
That, for the health and physic of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand
Of stern injustice and confused wrong.
And is 't not pity, O my grieved friends,
That we, the sons and children of this isle,
Were born to see so sad an hour as this;
Wherein we step after a stranger, march
Upon her gentle bosom, and fill up
Her enemies' ranks,-I must withdraw and weep
Upon the spot of this enforced cause,–
To grace the gentry of a land remote,

25

30

And follow unacquainted colours here?
What, here? O nation, that thou couldst remove !
That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about,
Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself, 35
And grapple thee unto a pagan shore;
Where these two Christian armies might combine
The blood of malice in a vein of league,

And not to spend it so unneighbourly!
Lew. A noble temper dost thou show in this ;

40
And great affections wrestling in thy bosom
Doth make an earthquake of nobility.
O, what a noble combat hast thou fought
Between compulsion and a brave respect !
Let me wipe off this honourable dew,

45
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks :
My heart hath melted at a lady's tears,
Being an ordinary inundation;
But this effusion of such manly drops,
This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul, 50
Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed
Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven
Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.

Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,
And with a great heart heave away this storm: 55
Commend these waters to those baby eyes
That never saw the giant world enraged;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping.
Come, come; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep 60
Into the purse of rich prosperity
As Lewis himself: so, nobles, shall you all,
That knit your sinews to the strength of mine.
And even there, methinks, an angel spake :

Enter PANDULPH.

Look, where the holy legate comes apace, 65
To give us warrant from the hand of heaven,
And on our actions set the name of right

With holy breath.
Pand.

Hail, noble prince of France !
The next is this, King John hath reconciled
Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in,

70