LITMIR.BIZ

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       Am bound to underbear.

       SALISBURY.

       Pardon me, madam,

       I may not go without you to the kings.

       CONSTANCE.

       Thou mayst, thou shalt; I will not go with thee:

       I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;

       For grief is proud, and makes his owner stout.

       To me, and to the state of my great grief,

       Let kings assemble; for my grief’s so great

       That no supporter but the huge firm earth

       Can hold it up: here I and sorrows sit;

       Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.

       [Seats herself on the ground.]

       [Enter KING JOHN, KING PHILIP, LOUIS, BLANCH, ELINOR, BASTARD,

       AUSTRIA, and attendants.]

       KING PHILIP.

       ‘Tis true, fair daughter; and this blessed day

       Ever in France shall be kept festival:

       To solemnize this day the glorious sun

       Stays in his course and plays the alchemist,

       Turning, with splendour of his precious eye,

       The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold:

       The yearly course that brings this day about

       Shall never see it but a holiday.

       CONSTANCE.

       [Rising.] A wicked day, and not a holy day!

       What hath this day deserv’d? what hath it done

       That it in golden letters should be set

       Among the high tides in the calendar?

       Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,

       This day of shame, oppression, perjury:

       Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child

       Pray that their burdens may not fall this day,

       Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross’d:

       But on this day let seamen fear no wreck;

       No bargains break that are not this day made:

       This day, all things begun come to ill end,—

       Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change!

       KING PHILIP.

       By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause

       To curse the fair proceedings of this day.

       Have I not pawn’d to you my majesty?

       CONSTANCE.

       You have beguil’d me with a counterfeit

       Resembling majesty; which, being touch’d and tried,

       Proves valueless; you are forsworn, forsworn:

       You came in arms to spill mine enemies’ blood,

       But now in arms you strengthen it with yours:

       The grappling vigour and rough frown of war

       Is cold in amity and painted peace,

       And our oppression hath made up this league.—

       Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjur’d kings!

       A widow cries: be husband to me, heavens!

       Let not the hours of this ungodly day

       Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,

       Set armed discord ‘twixt these perjur’d kings!

       Hear me, O, hear me!

       AUSTRIA.

       Lady Constance, peace!

       CONSTANCE.

       War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war.

       O Lymoges! O Austria! thou dost shame

       That bloody spoil: thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!

       Thou little valiant, great in villainy!

       Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!

       Thou Fortune’s champion that dost never fight

       But when her humorous ladyship is by

       To teach thee safety!—thou art perjur’d too,

       And sooth’st up greatness. What a fool art thou,

       A ramping fool, to brag, and stamp. and swear

       Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,

       Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side?

       Been sworn my soldier? bidding me depend

       Upon thy stars, thy fortune, and thy strength?

       And dost thou now fall over to my foes?

       Thou wear a lion’s hide! doff it for shame,

       And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs!

       AUSTRIA.

       O that a man should speak those words to me!

       BASTARD.

       And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.

       AUSTRIA.

       Thou dar’st not say so, villain, for thy life.

       BASTARD.

       And hang a calf’s-skin on those recreant limbs.

       KING JOHN.

       We like not this: thou dost forget thyself.

       KING PHILIP.

       Here comes the holy legate of the Pope.

       [Enter PANDULPH.]

       PANDULPH.

       Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!—

       To thee, King John, my holy errand is.

       I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,

       And from Pope Innocent the legate here,

       Do in his name religiously demand

       Why thou against the church, our holy mother,

       So wilfully dost spurn; and, force perforce

       Keep Stephen Langton, chosen Archbishop

       Of Canterbury, from that holy see?

       This, in our foresaid holy father’s name,

       Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.

       KING JOHN.

       What earthly name to interrogatories

       Can task the free breath of a sacred king?

       Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name

       So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous,

       To charge me to an answer, as the pope.

       Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England

       Add thus much more,—that no Italian priest

       Shall tithe or toll in our dominions:

       But as we under heaven are supreme head,

       So, under him, that great supremacy,

       Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,

       Without the assistance of a mortal hand:

       So tell the pope, all reverence set apart

       To him and his usurp’d authority.

       KING PHILIP.

       Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.

       KING JOHN.

       Though you and all the kings of Christendom

       Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,

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