EPILOGUE.
’Tis ten to one this play can never please
All that are here. Some come to take their ease,
And sleep an act or two—but those, we fear,
We’ve frighted with our trumpets; so, ’tis clear,
They’ll say ’tis naught—others, to hear the city
Abused extremely and to cry “That’s witty!”—
Which we have not done neither—that I fear
All the expected good we’re like to hear
For this play at this time is only in
The merciful construction of good women,
For such a one we showed ’em. If they smile
And say ’twill do, I know within a while
All the best men are ours; for ’tis ill hap
If they hold when their ladies bid ’em clap.

[Exit.]

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN

Contents

ACT I
[Scene I. Northampton. A Room of State in the Palace.]
ACT II
[Scene I. France. Before the walls of Angiers.]
ACT III
[Scene I. France. The French King’s tent.]
[Scene II. The same. Plains near Angiers]
[Scene III. The same.]
[Scene IV. The same. The French King’s tent.]
ACT IV
[Scene I. Northampton. A Room in the Castle.]
[Scene II. The same. A Room of State in the Palace.]
[Scene III. The same. Before the castle.]
ACT V
[Scene I. Northampton. A Room in the Palace.]
[Scene II. Near Saint Edmundsbury. The French Camp.]
[Scene III. The same. The Field of Battle.]
[Scene IV. The same. Another part of the same.]
[Scene V. The same. The French camp.]
[Scene VI. An open place in the neighborhood of Swinstead Abbey.]
[Scene VII. The orchard of Swinstead Abbey.]

Dramatis Personæ

KING JOHN.
PRINCE HENRY, son to King John; afterwards KING HENRY III.
ARTHUR, Duke of Brittany, nephew to King John.
EARL OF PEMBROKE.
EARL OF ESSEX.
EARL OF SALISBURY.
ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.
HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the King.
ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, son to Sir Robert Faulconbridge.
The BASTARD, PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his half-brother, bastard son to King Richard I.
JAMES GURNEY, servant to Lady Faulconbridge.
PETER OF POMFRET, a prophet

KING PHILIP II., King of France.
LOUIS, the Dauphin; son to King Philip II.
DUKE OF AUSTRIA, also called Limoges.
MELUN, a French lord.
CHATILLION, Ambassador from France to King John.
CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope’s legate.

QUEEN ELEANOR, Mother to King John and Widow of King Henry II.
CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur.
BLANCHE OF SPAIN, Daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile, and Niece to King John.
LADY FAULCONBRIDGE, Mother to the Bastard and Robert Faulconbridge.