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So much my confcience whispers in your ear,

Which none but heav'n, and you, and I fhall hear.
Effex. My Liege, here is the ftrangeft controverfy
Come from the country to be judg'd by you,
That e'er I heard: fhall I produce the men ?
K. John. Let them approach.

Our abbies and our priories fhall pay

"This expedition's charge.What men are you?

SCENE II.

Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip his brother, the baftard.

Phil. Your faithful fubject, I, a gentleman
Born in Northamptonshire, and eldest fon,
As I fuppofe, to Robert Faulconbridge,
A foldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Coeur-de-lion knighted in the field.
K. John. What art thou?

Robert. The fon and heir to that fame Faulconbridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir? You came not of one mother, then, it feems.

Phil. Moft certain of one mother, mighty King,
That is well known; and, as I think, one father:
But, for the certain knowledge of that truth,
I put you o'er to heav'n, and to my mother;

Of that I doubt, as all mens' children may.

Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou doft fhame thy mother,

And wound her honour with this diffidence.

Phil. I, Madam? no, I have no reason for it; "That is my brother's plea, and none of mine; The which if he can prove, he pops me out At leaft from fair five hundred pound a-year. Heav'n guard my mother's honour, and my land! K. John. A good blunt fellow; why, being younger born,

Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?

Phil., I know not why, except to get the land;

But once he flander'd me with baftardy:

But whether I be true begot or no,

That fill I lay upon my mother's head

But that I am as well begot, my Liege,
(Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!),
Compare our faces, and be judge yourself.
If old Sir Robert did beget us both,

And were our father, and this fon like him;
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee

I give heav'n thanks I was not like to thee.

K. John. Why, what a mad-cap hath heav'n lent us here?

Eli. He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face,

The accent of his tongue affecteth him:

Do you not read fome tokens of my fon
In the large compofition of this man?

K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts,
And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak,
What doth move you to claim your brother's land?
Phil. Because he hath a half-face like my father,
With that half-face would he have all my land?
A half-fac'd groat, five hundred pound a-year!
Rob. My gracious Liege, when that my father liv'd,
Your brother did employ my father much?

Phil. Well, Sir, by this you cannot get my land.
Your tale must be, how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany; there with the Emperor
To treat of high affairs touching that time:
Th' advantage of his abfence took the King,
And in the mean time fojourn'd at my father's;
Where, how he did prevail, I fhame to speak :
But truth is truth; large lengths of feas and shores
Between my father and my mother lay,
(As I have heard my father fpeak himself),
When this fame lufty gentleman was got.
Upon his deathbed he by will bequeath'd
His lands to me; and took it on his death,
That this, my mother's fon, was none of his ;;
And if he were, he came into the world
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
Then, good my Liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.

K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate ;.
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him:

And if she did play falfe, the fault was her's;
Which fault lies on the hazard of all hufbands
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,
Who, as you fay, took pains to get this fon,

Had of
your father claim'd this fon for his ?
In footh, good friend, your father might have kept
This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world.
In footh he might. Then, if he were my brother's,
My brother might not claim him; nor your father,
Being none of his, refufe him. This concludes,
My mother's fon did get your father's heir,
Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force
To difpoffefs that child which is not his ?

Phil. Of no more force to difpoffefs me, Sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.

Eli. Whether hadit thou rather be a Faulconbridge, And, like thy brother, to enjoy thy land;

Or the reputed fon of Coeur-de-lion,

Lord of the prefence *, and no land befide?

Phil. Madam, and if my brother had my shape,
And I had his, Sir Robert his, like him;
And if my legs were two fuch riding rods,
My arms fuch eel-skins ftuff'd; my face fo thin,
That in mine ear I durft not ftick a rofe †,

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Left men fhould fay, Look, where three farthings goes!

"And to his shape were heir to all this land;" 'Would I might never ftir from off this place, I'd give it ev'ry foot to have this face.

i. e. Prince of the blood.

The flicking rofes about them, was then all the court-fashion. We must obferve, to explain this allufion, that Q. Elifabeth was the first, and indeed the only prince, who coined in England threehalf-pence and three-farthing pieces. She at one and the fame time coined fhillings, fix-pences, groats, three-pences, two-pences, threehalfpence, pence, three-farthings, and halfpence. And thefe pieces all had her head, and were alternately with the rose behind, and without the rofe. The fhilling, groat, two-pence, penny, and half-penny, had it not. The other intermediate coins, viz. the fixpence, three-pence, three-halfpence, and three-farthings, had the rofe, Mr Theobald.

I would not be Sir Nobbe * in any case.

Eli. I like thee well; wilt thou forfake thy fortune, Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me?

I am a foldier, and now bound to France.

Phil. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance; Your face hath got five hundred pound a-year, Yet fell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear. Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. Phil. Our country-manners give our betters way. K. John. What is thy name?

Phil. Philip, my Liege, fo is my name begun : Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest fon.

K. John. From henceforth bear his name, whofe form thou bear'ft.

Kneel thou down Philip, but rise up more great;
Arife Sir Richard, and Plantagenet.

Phil. Brother by th' mother's fide, give me your hand;

My father gave me honour, your's gave land.
Now bleffed be the hour, by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away!
Eli. The very fpirit of Plantagenet!
I am thy grandam; Richard, call me fo.

Phil. Madam, by chance, but not by truth; what though?

Something about, a little from the right,

In at the window, or else o'er the hatch.
Who dares not ftir by day, muft walk by night,
And have his have, however men do catch:

Near or far off, well won is ftill well shot;
And I am I, howe'er I was begot.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge, now haft thou thy defire;

A landless knight makes thee a landed 'fquire.
Come, Madam, and come, Richard, we must speed
For France, for France; for it is more than need.
Phil. Brother, adieu; "good fortune come to thee,
For thou was got i' th' way of honefty.

[Exeunt all but Philip.

* A nick-name, in contempt, of Sir Robert.

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A foot of honour better than I was,
But many a many foot of land the worfe!
Well, now can I make any Joan a lady.

"Good-den, Sir Richard,—Godamercy, fellow; "And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter; "For new-made honour doth forget mens names. "Tis too refpective and unfociable

"For your converfing. Now your traveller,
"He and his tooth-pick at my Worship's mefs;
"And when my knightly ftomach is fuffic'd,
Why then I fuck my teeth, and catechife
*
My piked man of countries;

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-My dear Sir, (Thus leaning on mine elbow, I begin),.. "Ì fhall befeech you, that is queftion now; "And then comes anfwer like an ABC-book. "O Sir, fays anfwer, at your best command, "At your employment, at your fervice, Sir. "No Sir, fays queftion, I, fweet Sir, at your's."And fo ere answer knows what question would, "Serving in dialogue of compliment;

"And talking of the Alps and Apennines, "The Pyrenean and the river Po;

"It draws towards fupper in conclufion, fo. "But this is worshipful fociety,

And fits the mounting fpirit like myself:

For he is but a baftard to the time,
That doth not fmack of obfervation;
[And fo am I, whether I fmack or no]; †
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;

But from the inward motion to deliver

Sweet, fweet, fweet poifon for the age's tooth ;
Which tho' I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it fhall ftrew the footsteps of my rifing.
But who comes in fuch hafte in riding-robes ?
What woman-poft is this? hath fhe no husband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her ?

i e. formally bearded.

† A nonfenfical line of the players.

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