begin?

FRIAR. Well art thou suited: would my order would
Permit me habit equal to my heart!

CHO. If you remember, John did take an oath
Never again to seek Matilda's love.

FRIAR. O, what is he, that's sworn affection's slave,
That will not violate all laws, all oaths?
And, being mighty, what will he omit
To compass his intents, though ne'er so ill?--
You must suppose King Richard now is dead,
And John, resistless, is fair England's lord
Who, striving to forget Matilda's love,
Takes to his wife the beauteous Isabel,
Betroth'd to Hugh le Brun, Earl of North-March:[292]
And picking quarrels under show of kin,
Wholly divorces his first queen away.
But yet Matilda still-still troubles him,
And being in the court, so oft he courts her,
That by her noble father, old Fitzwater,
She is remov'd from his lust-tempting eye.
But tides restrain'd o'erswell their bounds with rage:
Her absence adds more fuel to his fire.
In sleep he sees her, and his waking thoughts
Study by day to compass his desire.

CHO. Friar, since now you speak of visions,
It was received by tradition
From those that were right near unto King John,
Of three strange visions that to him appear'd;
And, as I guess, I told you what they were.

FRIAR. With them I will begin. Draw but that veil,
And there King John sits sleeping in his chair.

[_Draw the curtain: the king sits sleeping, his sword
by his side. Enter Austria, before whom cometh Ambition,
and bringing him before the chair, King John in sleep
maketh signs to avoid, and holdeth his own crown fast
with both his hands_.

FRIAR. Ambition, that had ever waited on King John,
Now brings him Austria, easy to be ta'en,
Being wholly tam'd by Richard's warlike hand.
And bids him add that dukedom to his crown:
But he puts by Ambition, and contemns
All other kingdoms but the English crown,
Which he holds fast, as if he would not loose[293].

[_Enter Constance, leading Young Arthur: both
offer to take the crown; but with his foot he
overturneth them: to them cometh Insurrection,
led by the F.K. and L.[294] menacing him, and
leads the child again to the chair; but he only
layeth hand on his sword, and with his foot
overthroweth the child, whom they take up as
dead; and, Insurrection flying, they mournfully
bear in the body_.

FRIAR. The lady and the child that did ascend,
Striving in vain to take the crown from John,
Were Constance and he