Enter QUEEN MOTHER, CHESTER, SHERIFF of Kent, Soldiers.
QU. MO. From the pursuing of the hateful priest
And bootless search of Ely are we come.
JOHN. And welcome is your sacred majesty;
And, Chester, welcome too against your will.
CHES. Unwilling men come not without constraint;
But uncompell'd comes Chester to this place,
Telling thee, John, that thou art much to blame,
To chase hence Ely, chancellor to the king;
To set thy footsteps on the cloth of state,
And seat thy body in thy brother's throne.
SAL. Who should succeed the brother but the brother?
CHES. If one were dead, one should succeed the other.
QU. MO. My son is king, my son then ought to reign.
FITZ. One son is king; the state allows not twain.
SAL. The subjects many years the king have miss'd.
CHES. But subjects must not choose what king they list.