For
your
conversion. Now

your traveller,
He and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess;
And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd,
Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise
My picked man of countries:'--My dear sir,
(Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin,)
I shall beseech you—That is question now;
And then comes answer like an ABC-book :8.
O sir, says answer, at your best command;
At your employment; at your service, sir:-
No, sir, says question, I, sweet sir, at yours:
And so, ere answer knows what question would,
(Saving in dialogue of compliment;
And talking of the Alps and Apennines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po,)
It draws toward supper in conclusion so.
But this is worshipful society,
And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation;
(And so am I, whether I smack, or no;)
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.-
But who comes in such haste, in riding robes ?

6 'Tis too respective, and too sociable, For

your conversion.] Respective, is respectful, formal. Conversion seems to mean, his late change of condition from a private gentleman to a knight. STEEVENS. 7 My picked man of countries :] i. e. my travelled fop.

like an ABC-book :] An ABC-book, or, as they spoke and wrote it, an absey-book, is a catechism.

9 For he is but a bastard to the time, &c.] He is accounted but a mean man in the present age.

8

What woman-post is this ? hath she no husband, That will take pains to blow a horn before her?

Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE, and JAMES GURNEY.
O me! it is my mother :--How now, good lady?
What brings you here to court so hastily?
Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother ? where

is he?
That holds in chase mine honour

up

and down? Bast. My brother Robert ? old sir Robert's son ? Colbrand' the giant, that saine mighty man? Is it sir Robert's son, that you seek so? Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend

boy, Sir Robert's son: Why scorn'st thou at sir Robert ? He is sir Robert's son; and so art thiou. Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a

while ? Gur. Good leave, good Philip. Bast.

Philip ?--sparrow 13-James, There's toys abroad ;4 anon I'll tell thee more.

[Exit Gurney. Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son ; Sir Robert might have eat his part in me Upon Good-friday, and ne’er broke his fast: Sir Robert could do well ; Marry (to confess !) Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it; We know his handy-work :-Therefore, good mo

ther, To whom am I beholden for these limbs? Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.

* Colbrand-] Colbrand was a Danish giant, whom Guy of Warwick discomfited in the presence of King Athelstan.

Good leare, &c.] Good leave means a ready assent. s Philip?

---sparrow!] A sparrow is called Philip. * There's toys avroad; &c.] i. e. rumours idle reports,

Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother

too, That for thine own gain should'st defend mine ho

nour? What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave? Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,--Basilisco

like:
What! I am dubb’d; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not sir Robert's son;
I have disclaim'd sir Robert, and my land;
Legitimation, name, and all is gone:
Then, good my mother, let me know my father;
Some

proper man, I hope; Who was it, mother? Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulcon

bridge? Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. Lady F. King Richard Caur-de-lion was thy fa

ther;
By long and vehement suit I was seduc'd
To make room for him in my husband's bed:-
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge!-
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,
Which was so strongly urg'd, past my defence.

Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father.
Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly:
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose,
Subjected tribute to commanding love, —
Against whose fury and unmatched force
The awless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.

5

Knight, knight, good mother,-Basilisco-like:] Faulconbridge's words here carry a concealed piece of satire on a stupid drama of that age, printed in 1599, and called Soliman and Perseda. In this piece there is a character of a bragging cowardly knight, called Basilisco.

He, that perforce robs lions of their hearts,
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,
With all my heart I thank thee for

my

father! Who lives and dares but say, thou did'st not well When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell. Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin; And they shall say,

when Richard me begot, If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin: Who says it was, he lies; I say, 'twas not.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. France. Before the Walls of Angiers.

Enter, on one side, the Archduke of Austria, and

Forces ; on the other, PHILIP, King of France, and Forces; LEWIS, CONSTANCE, ARTHUR, and Attendants.

Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria. Arthur, that great fore-runner of thy blood, Richard, that robb’d the lion of his heart, And fought the holy wars in Palestine, By this brave duke came early to his grave: And, for amends to his posterity, At our importance hither is he come, To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf; And to rebuke the usurpation Of thy unnatural uncle, English John: Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither. Arth. God shall forgive you Coeur-de-lion's

death,

6 At our importance -] At our importunity.

ܥ

The rather, that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,
But with a heart full of unstained love :
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee

right?
Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As seal to this indenture of my love;
That to my home I will no more return,
Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg’d in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utinost corner of the west
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's

thanks, Till your strong hand shall help to give him

strength, To make a more requital to your love. Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs, that lift

their swords In such a just and charitable war. K. Phi. Well then, to work ; our cannon shall

be bent
Against the brows of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages :-
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,

7 To cull the plots of best advantages:] i, e. to mark such stations as might over-awe the town. VOL. IV.

P