! Eli. Your strong possession, much more than your right; Or else it must go wrong with you, and me: So much my conscience whispers in your ear; Which none but heaven, and you, and I, shall hear. Enter the sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers Essex. Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy, : Come from the country to be judg'd by you, Re-enter Sheriff, with Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip, his bastard brother. This expedition's charge. What men are you? Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman, Born in Northamptonshire; and eldest son, As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge; Rob. The son and heir to that same Faul 10 conbridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir ? You came not of one mother then, it seems.. Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king, That is well known; and, as I think, one father: And wound her honour with this diffidence. ,* Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance? 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 some tokens of my son In the large composition 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? Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father; my With that half-face would he have all land: A half-fac'd groat five hundred pound a year! Rob. My gracious liege, when that my liv'd, father Your brother did employ my father much; — Bast. 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: The advantage of his absence took the king, And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's; Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak: But truth is truth; large lengths of seas and shores Between my father and my mother lay, K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him; And, if she did play false, the fault was hers; Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother, Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, Had of your father claim'd this son for his? In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world; In sooth, he might: then, if he were my brother's, Your father's heir must have your father's land. Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force, To dispossels that child which is not his? And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land; And I had his, sir Robert his, like him; And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, I would not be sir Nob in any case. Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy fortune, Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me? Your face hath got five hundred pound a year; - Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither. Bast. Our country manners give our betters way. K. John. What is thy name? Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun; Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son. K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st; Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great; Bast. Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand; land: My father gave me honour, yours gave Something about, a little from the right, In at the window, or else o'er the hatch: Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night; And have is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is still well shot; And I am I, howe'er I was begot. K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire, A landless knight makes thee a landed 'squire. Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed For France, for France; for it is more than need. Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee! For thou wast got i'the way of honesty. [Exeunt all but the Bastard.] A foot of honour better than I was; ― But many a many foot of land the worse. |