K. Phi. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish,50
Our messenger Chatillon is arrived!
What England says, say briefly, gentle lord;
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.
Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege
And stir them up against a mightier task.55
England, impatient of your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as I;
His marches are expedient to this town,60
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife;[83]
With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king's deceased;[84]65
And all the unsettled humours of the land,
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,
With ladies' faces and fierce dragons' spleens,
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,[85]70
To make a hazard of new fortunes here:
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath in Christendom. [Drum beats.[86]75
The interruption of their churlish drums
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,[87]
To parley or to fight; therefore prepare.[87]
K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much80
We must awake endeavour for defence;
For courage mounteth with occasion:
Let them be welcome then; we are prepared.
Enter King John, Elinor, Blanch, the Bastard, Lords, and Forces.[88]
K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit[89]
Our just and lineal entrance to our own;85
If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven,
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct[90]
Their proud contempt that beats His peace to heaven.[91]
K. Phi. Peace be to England, if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace.90
England we love; and for that England's sake
With burden of our armour here we sweat.
This toil of ours should be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king,[92]95
Cut off the sequence of posterity,
Out-faced infant state and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face;
These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his:100
This little abstract doth contain that large
Which died in Geffrey, and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.[93]
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his son; England was Geffrey's right105
And this is Geffrey's: in the name of God[94]
How comes it then that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France,110
To draw my answer from thy articles?[95]
K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughts
In any breast of strong authority,[96]
To look into the blots and stains of right:[97]
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:115
Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong
And by whose help I mean to chastise it.