Unyoke this seizure, and this kind regreet?1

Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with Heaven,
Make such unconstant children of ourselves,

As now again to snatch our palm from palm,
Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed
Of smiling peace to march a bloody host,
And make a riot on the gentle brow
Of true sincerity? O, holy sir,

My reverend father, let it not be so.
Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose
Some gentle order; and then we shall be blessed
To do your pleasure, and continue friends.

Pand. All form is formless, order orderless,
Save what is opposite to England's love.
Therefore, to arms! be champion of our church!
Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse,
A mother's curse, on her revolting son.

France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,
A cased lion by the mortal paw,

A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,

Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
K. Phi. I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
Pand. So mak'st thou faith an enemy to faith;
And, like a civil war, sett'st oath to oath,
Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow
First made to Heaven, first be to Heaven performed;
That is, to be the champion of our church!
What since thou swor'st, is sworn against thyself,
And may not be performed by thyself.

For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss,

Is not amiss when it is truly done;3

And being not done, where doing tends to ill,
The truth is then most done not doing it.
The better act of purposes mistook

1 A regreet is an exchange of salutation.

2 A cased lion is a lion irritated by confinement.

3 "Where doing tends to ill," where an intended act is criminal, the truth is most done by not doing the act. The criminal act, therefore, which thou hast sworn to do, is not amiss, will not be imputed to you as a crime, if it be done truly, in the sense I have now affixed to truth; that is, if you do not do it.

Is, to mistake again; though indirect,
Yet indirection thereby grows direct,

And falsehood falsehood cures; as fire cools fire,
Within the scorched veins of one new burned.

It is religion, that doth make vows kept;
But thou hast sworn against religion;

By what thou swear'st, against the thing thou swear❜st;
And mak'st an oath the surety for thy truth
Against an oath. The truth thou art unsure
To swear, swear only not to be forsworn;
Else, what a mockery should it be to swear?
But thou dost swear only to be forsworn;
And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.
Therefore, thy latter vows, against thy first,
Is in thyself rebellion to thyself;

And better conquest never canst thou make,
Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts
Against those giddy, loose suggestions;
Upon which better part our prayers come in,
If thou vouchsafe them: but, if not, then know,
The peril of our curses light on thee;

So heavy, as thou shalt not shake them off,
But, in despair, die under their black weight.
Aust. Rebellion, flat rebellion!

Bast.

Will't not be?

Will not a calf-skin stop that mouth of thine?
Lew. Father, to arms!

Blanch.

Upon thy wedding day? Against the blood that thou hast married?

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men?
Shall braying trumpets, and loud, churlish drums,—
Clamors of hell,-be measures to our pomp?

O, husband, hear me !-Ah, alack! how new
Is husband in my mouth! Even for that name,
Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce,
Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms

Against mine uncle.

1 By what thou swear'st, &c. "In swearing by religion against religion, thou hast sworn by what thou swear'st; i. e. in that which thou hast sworn, against the thing thou swearest by; i. e. religion."

Const.

O, upon my knee,

Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,
Thou virtuous dauphin, alter not the doom
Forethought by Heaven.

Blanch. Now shall I see thy love. What motive

may

Be stronger with thee than the name of wife?

Const. That which upholdeth him that thee upholds,
His honor. O, thine honor, Lewis, thine honor!
Lew. I muse, your majesty doth seem so cold,
When such profound respects do pull you on.
Pand. I will denounce a curse upon his head.
K. Phi. Thou shalt not need.-England, I'll fall
from thee.

Const. O fair return of banished majesty!
Eli. O foul revolt of French inconstancy!

K. John. France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour.

Bast. Old time, the clock-setter, that bald sexton

time,

Is it as he will? Well, then, France shall rue.

Blanch. The sun's o'ercast with blood. Fair day, adieu!

Which is the side that I must go withal?
I am with both each army hath a hand;
And in their rage, I having hold of both,
They whirl asunder, and dismember me.
Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win;
Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose;
Father, I may not wish the fortune thine;
Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive.
Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose ;
Assured loss, before the match be played.

Lew. Lady, with me; with me thy fortune lies. Blanch. There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.

K. John. Cousin, go draw our puissance together.[Exit Bastard. France, I am burned up with inflaming wrath; A rage, whose heat hath this condition,

That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,

The blood, and dearest valued blood, of France.

K. Phi. Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn

To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire.

Look to thyself; thou art in jeopardy.

K. John. No more than he that threats.-To arms

let's hie!

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. The same. Plains near Angiers. Alarums; Excursions.

Enter the Bastard, with AUSTRIA's head.

Bast. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;

Some airy devil hovers in the sky,

And pours down mischief. Austria's head, lie there, While Philip breathes.

Enter KING JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT.

K. John. Hubert, keep this boy.-Philip,' make up ; My mother is assailed in our tent,

And ta'en, I fear.
Bast.
My lord, I rescued her;
Her highness is in safety; fear you not.
But on, my liege; for very little pains
Will bring this labor to a happy end.

[Exeunt.

1 Here the king, who had knighted him by the name of sir Richard, calls him by his former name. Shakspeare has followed the old plays, and the best authenticated history. The queen mother, whom king John had made regent in Anjou, was in possession of the town of Mirabeau, in that province. On the approach of the French army, with Arthur at their head, she sent letters to king John to come to her relief, which he immediately did. As he advanced to the town, he encountered the army that lay before it, routed them, and took Arthur prisoner. The queen, in the mean while, remained in perfect security in the castle of Mirabeau.

SCENE III. The same. Alarums; Excursions;

Retreat.

Enter KING JOHN, ELINOR, ARTHUR, the Bastard, HUBERT, and Lords.

K. John. So shall it be; your grace shall stay be

hind,

[TO ELINOR. So strongly guarded.-Cousin, look not sad;

[To ARTHUR.

Thy grandam loves thee, and thy uncle will
As dear be to thee as thy father was.

Arth. O, this will make my mother die with grief. K. John. Cousin, [To the Bastard.] away for England. Haste before;

And, ere our coming, see thou shake the bags
Of hoarding abbots; imprisoned angels1
Set thou at liberty; the fat ribs of peace
Must by the hungry now be fed upon.
Use our commission in his utmost force.

Bast. Bell, book, and candle, shall not drive me back,

When gold and silver becks me to come on.
I leave your highness.-Grandam, I will pray
(If ever I remember to be holy)

For your fair safety; so I kiss your hand.
Eli. Farewell, my gentle cousin.

K. John.

Coz, farewell.

[Exit Bastard.

Eli. Come hither, little kinsman; hark, a word.

[She takes ARTHUR aside.

K. John. Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert,

We owe thee much; within this wall of flesh

1 Gold coin of that name.

2 It appears from Johnson's Ecclesiastical Laws, that sentence of ex communication was to be "explained in order in English, with bells tolling and candles lighted, that it may cause the greater dread; for laymen have greater regard to this solemnity than to the effect of such sentences."