Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head.

Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: behold, where stands The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:

I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,
That speak my salutation in their minds;
Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,-
Hail, King of Scotland!

All.

Hail, King of Scotland! [Flourish.
Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time
Before we reckon with your several loves,

And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,
Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,-
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad,
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen,-
Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands
Took off her life;-this, and what needful else
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So, thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

KING JOHN.

KING JOHN.

PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards KING HENRY III. ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son to GEFFREY, late Duke of Bretagne, the Elder Brother to KING JOHN.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.

GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, Chief Justiciary of England.

WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury.

ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.

HUBERT DE BURGH, Chamberlain to the KING.

ROBERT FALCONBRIDGE, Son to SIR ROBERT FALCONBRIDGE. PHILIP FALCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, Bastard Son to KING RICHARD I.

JAMES GURNEY, Servant to LADY FALCONBRIDGE.

PETER of Pomfret, a Prophet.

PHILIP, King of France.

LOUIS, the Dauphin.

ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA.

CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's Legate.

MELUN, a French Lord.

CHATILLON, Ambassador from France to KING JOHN.

ELINOR, Widow of KING HENRY II., and Mother to KING JOHN.

"ANCE, Mother to ARTHUR.

Daughter to ALPHONSO, King of Castile, and Niece

AN.

DGE, Mother to the BASTARD and ROBERT

E.

of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, ssengers, and other Attendants.

times in ENGLAND, and sometimes in FRANCE.

KING JOHN.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-NORTHAMPTON. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter KING JOHN, QUEEN ELINOR, PEMBROKE, ESSEX, SALISBURY, and others, with CHATILLON.

K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with us?

Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France, In my behaviour, to the majesty,

The borrow'd majesty of England here.

Eli. A strange beginning;-borrow'd majesty!
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,

Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim
To this fair island, and the territories,-

To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine;
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword

Which sways usurpingly these several titles,
And put the same into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.

K. John. What follows, if we disallow of this?

Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war,

To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.

K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, Controlment for controlment: so answer France.

Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,

The furthest limit of my embassy.

K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:
So, hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath,
And sullen presage of your own decay.—

peace: