Enter LITTLE JOHN, &c.
And sith your yeomen do appear,
I'll give the watchword without fear.
Take it, I pray thee, though it be more worth.
Rush in SIR DONCASTER with his crew.
DON. Smite down! lay hold on outlaw'd Huntington!
LIT. JOHN. Soft, hot-spurr'd priest, 'tis not so quickly done.
DON. Now, out alas! the friar and the maid
Have to false thieves Sir Doncaster betray'd.
[Exeunt omnes.[211]
ACT IV., SCENE 1.
Enter JOHN crowned, QUEEN ELINOR, CHESTER, SALISBURY,
LORD PRIOR. Sit down all. WARMAN stands.
JOHN. As God's vicegerent, John ascends this throne,
His head impal'd with England's diadem,[212]
And in his hand the awful rod of rule,
Giving the humble place of excellence,
And to the low earth casting down the proud.