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What say'st thou: Philip, sprung of ancient Kings?

Quo me rapit tempestas?

What wind of honour blows this fury forth,

Or whence proceed these fumes of majesty?

Methinks I hear a hollow echo sound,

That Philip is the son unto a King:

The whistling leaves upon the trembling trees

Whistle in concert I am Richard's son;

The bubbling murmur of the water's fall

Records Philippus Regis filius;

Birds in their flight make music with their wings,

Filling the air with glory of my birth;

Birds, bubbles, leaves and mountains, echo, all

Ring in mine ears, that I am Richard's son.

Fond man, ah, whither art thou carried?

How are thy thoughts yrapt in Honour's heaven?

Forgetful what thou art, and whence thou cam'st?

Thy father's land cannot maintain these thoughts;

These thoughts are far unfitting Falconbridge;

And well they may; for why this mounting mind

Doth soar too high to stoop to Falconbridge

Why, how now? Knowest thou where thou art?

And know'st thou who expects thine answer here?

Wilt thou, upon a frantic madding vein,

Go lose thy land, and say thyself base-born?

No, keep thy land, though Richard were thy sire;

Whate'er thou think'st say thou art Falconbridge.

K. John. Speak, man! be sudden, who thy father was.

Philip. Please it your Majesty, Sir Robert ...

Philip, that Falconbridge cleaves to thy jaws: (Aside)

It will not out; I cannot for my life

Say I am son unto a Falconbridge.

Let land and living go! 'tis Honour's fire

That makes me swear King Richard was my sire.

Base to a King, adds title of more state,

Than knight's begotten, though legitimate.

Please it your Grace, I am King Richard's son.

While it is generally agreed by text critics that Shakespeare's King John was drastically revised in about 1596, the metrical tests and the scarcity of classical allusions denote its composition at about the same period as that of the original composition of Richard II.; and though the later time revision of both of these plays has no doubt replaced much of Shakespeare's earlier work in them with matter of a later time, an early date for their original composition is very evident. I therefore assign the original composition of King John to the early part of the year 1591, and believe, that in writing this play Shakespeare worked from a copy of The Troublesome Raigne of King John, and that he followed, and still further developed, the original intention of that play regarding the interests of Sir John Perrot. It is evident that King John was written at the time The Troublesome Raigne was published in 1591, and that the play was Burbage property when it was published. A play was not as a rule published until it had outrun its interest upon the stage, or had been replaced by a new play upon the same subject.

While records of Henslowe's affiliations with Lord Strange's and the Admiral's companies do not appear in his Diary until February 1592, when the Rose Theatre was ready for their occupancy, it is likely that their connection commenced in the previous year and that his affiliations with the Queen's company ended at the same time. The number of old plays formerly owned by the Queen's company that came into the hands of Strange's, the Admiral's, and Pembroke's men at this time were probably purchased from Henslowe, upon the reorganisation of companies in 1591-92, or else were brought to these companies as properties by Queen's men who joined them upon the disruption of this large and powerful company at this period. Gabriel Spencer, Humphrey Jeffes, and John Sinkler, whose names are mentioned in The True Tragedy of the Duke of York, were evidently old Queen's men, the former two joining Pembroke's men, and Sinkler, Strange's men at this time. The entry of their names as actors in this play was evidently made while it was a Queen's property and when the Queen's company acted under Henslowe's auspices at the Rose Theatre between 1587 and 1591. Both Jeffes and Spencer rejoined Henslowe upon the new reorganisation of companies in 1594, and continued to