K. John. Our strong possession and our right for us.
Eli. Your strong possession much more than your right,40
Or else it must go wrong with you and me:
So much my conscience whispers in your ear,
Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear.
Enter a Sheriff.[11]
Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy
Come from the country to be judged by you,45
That e'er I heard: shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach.
Our abbeys and our priories shall pay
This expedition's charge.
Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip his bastard brother.[12]
What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman[13]50
Born in Northamptonshire and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge,[14]
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cœur-de-lion knighted in the field.[15]
K. John. What art thou?[16]55
Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.