Lift up thy brow,renowned Salisbury,And with a great heart heave away the storm:
Commend these waters to those baby eyes That never saw the giant world enraged;Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,Full of warm blood,of mirth,of gossiping.
Come,come;for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep Into the purse of rich prosperity As Lewis himself:so,nobles,shall you all,That knit your sinews to the strength of mine.
And even there,methinks,an angel spake:
Enter CARDINAL PANDULPH
Look,where the holy legate comes apace,To give us warrant from the hand of heaven And on our actions set the name of right With holy breath.CARDINAL PANDULPH Hail,noble prince of France!
The next is this,King John hath reconciled Himself to Rome;his spirit is come in,That so stood out against the holy church,The great metropolis and see of Rome:
Therefore thy threatening colours now wind up;And tame the savage spirit of wild war,That like a lion foster'd up at hand,It may lie gently at the foot of peace,And be no further harmful than in show.LEWIS Your grace shall pardon me,I will not back:
I am too high-born to be propertied,To be a secondary at control,Or useful serving-man and instrument,To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars Between this chastised kingdom and myself,And brought in matter that should feed this fire;And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
You taught me how to know the face of right,Acquainted me with interest to this land,Yea,thrust this enterprise into my heart;And come ye now to tell me John hath made His peace with Rome?What is that peace to me?
I,by the honour of my marriage-bed,After young Arthur,claim this land for mine;And,now it is half-conquer'd,must I back Because that John hath made his peace with Rome?
Am I Rome's slave?What penny hath Rome borne,What men provided,what munition sent,To underprop this action?Is't not IThat undergo this charge?who else but I,And such as to my claim are liable,Sweat in this business and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out 'Vive le roi!'as I have bank'd their towns?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,To win this easy match play'd for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No,no,on my soul,it never shall be said.CARDINAL PANDULPH You look but on the outside of this work.LEWIS Outside or inside,I will not return Till my attempt so much be glorified As to my ample hope was promised Before I drew this gallant head of war,And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world,To outlook conquest and to win renown Even in the jaws of danger and of death.
Trumpet sounds What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?
Enter the BASTARD,attended BASTARD According to the fair play of the world,Let me have audience;I am sent to speak:
My holy lord of Milan,from the king I come,to learn how you have dealt for him;And,as you answer,I do know the scope And warrant limited unto my tongue.CARDINAL PANDULPH The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite,And will not temporize with my entreaties;He flatly says he'll not lay down his arms.BASTARD By all the blood that ever fury breathed,The youth says well.Now hear our English king;For thus his royalty doth speak in me.
He is prepared,and reason too he should:
This apish and unmannerly approach,This harness'd masque and unadvised revel,This unhair'd sauciness and boyish troops,The king doth smile at;and is well prepared To whip this dwarfish war,these pigmy arms,From out the circle of his territories.
That hand which had the strength,even at your door,To cudgel you and make you take the hatch,To dive like buckets in concealed wells,To crouch in litter of your stable planks,To lie like pawns lock'd up in chests and trunks,To hug with swine,to seek sweet safety out In vaults and prisons,and to thrill and shake Even at the crying of your nation's crow,Thinking his voice an armed Englishman;Shall that victorious hand be feebled here,That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No:know the gallant monarch is in arms And like an eagle o'er his aery towers,To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.
And you degenerate,you ingrate revolts,You bloody Neroes,ripping up the womb Of your dear mother England,blush for shame;For your own ladies and pale-visaged maids Like Amazons come tripping after drums,Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change,Their needles to lances,and their gentle hearts To fierce and bloody inclination.LEWIS There end thy brave,and turn thy face in peace;We grant thou canst outscold us:fare thee well;We hold our time too precious to be spent With such a brabbler.CARDINAL PANDULPH Give me leave to speak.BASTARD No,I will speak.LEWIS We will attend to neither.
Strike up the drums;and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest and our being here.BASTARD Indeed your drums,being beaten,will cry out;And so shall you,being beaten:do but start An echo with the clamour of thy drum,And even at hand a drum is ready braced That shall reverberate all as loud as thine;Sound but another,and another shall As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder:for at hand,Not trusting to this halting legate here,Whom he hath used rather for sport than need Is warlike John;and in his forehead sits A bare-ribb'd death,whose office is this day To feast upon whole thousands of the French.LEWIS Strike up our drums,to find this danger out.BASTARD And thou shalt find it,Dauphin,do not doubt.
Exeunt
SCENE III.England.The field of battle
Alarums.Enter KING JOHN and HUBERT
KING JOHN How goes the day with us?O,tell me,Hubert.HUBERT Badly,I fear.How fares your majesty?KING JOHN This fever,that hath troubled me so long,Lies heavy on me;O,my heart is sick!
