so ill?

Hear me without thine ears, and make reply Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost :
Without a tongue, using conceito alone,

I am not mad; I would to heaven, I were!
Without eyes, cars, and harmful sound of words; For then, 'tis like I should forget nyself:
Then, in despite of brooded watchful day,

0, if I could, what grief should I forget ! I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts:

Preach some philosophy to make me mad, But ah, I will not :-Yet I love thee well;

And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal : And, by my troth, I think, thou lovest me well. For, being not mad, but sensible of grief,

Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake, My reasonable part produces reason Though that my death were adjunct to my act, How I may be deliver'd of these woes, By heaven, I'd do't.

And teaches me to kill or hang myself:
K. John. Do not I know thou wouldst?

If I were mad, I should forget my son ;
Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye Or madly think, a babe of clouts were he:
On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend, I am not mad; too well, too well I feel
He is a very serpent in my way ;

The different plague of each calamity.
And, wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread, K. Phi. Bind up those tresses : 0, what love I note
He lies before me : Dost thou understand me In the fair multiiude of those her hairs !
Thou art his keeper.

Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen,
Hub. And I will keep him so,

Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends That he shall not offend your majesty.

Do glew themselves in sociable grief ; K. John. Death.

Like true, inseparable, faithful loves, Hub. My lord ?

Sticking together in calamity. K. John. A grave.

Const. To England, if you will. Hub. He shall not live.

K. Phi. Bind up your hairs. K. John. Enough.

Const. Yes, that I will; and wherefore will I do it? I could be merry now: Hubert, I love thee; I tore them from their bonds; and cried aloud, Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee :

O that these hands could so redeem my son, Remember.Madam, fare you well :

As they have given these hairs their liberty! l'll send those powers o'er to your majesty. But now I envy at their liboty, Eli. My blessing go with thee!

And will again commit them to their bonds, K. John. For Eugland, Cousin :

Because my poor child is a prisoner.-
Hubert shall be your man, attend on you

And, father cardinal, I have heard you say,
With all true duty.-Ou loward Calais, ho! (Ereunt. That we shall see and know our friends in heaven:

If that be true, I shall see my boy again;
SCENE IV.-The same.—The French King's Tent. For, since the birth of Cain, the first male child,

To him that did but yesterday suspire, Enter King PuiLIP, LEWIS, PANDULPH, and At

There was not such a gracious + creature born.
tendants.

But now will canker sorrow eat my bud,
K. Phi. So, by a roaring tempest on the flood, And chase the native beauty from his cheek,
A whole armado I of convicted sait

And he will look as hollow as a ghost;
Is scatter'd, and disjoin'd from fellowship.

As dim and meagre as an ague's tit;
Pand. Courage and comfort! All shall yet go well. And so he'll die; and, rising so again,
K. Phi. What can go well, when we have run When I shall meet him in the court of heaven

I shall not know him : therefore, never, never
Are we not beaten ? Is not Angiers lost?

Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.
Arthur ta’en prisoner ? Divers dear friends slain ? Pand. You hold too heinous a respect of grief.
And bloody England into England gone,

Const. He talks to me, that never had a son.
O'erbearing interruption, spite of France?

K. Phi. You are as fond of grief as of your child. Lew. What he hath won, that hath he fortified: Const. Grief fills the room up of my absent child, So hot a speed with such advice disposed,

Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me; Soch temperate order in so fierce a cause,

Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, Doth want example: Who hath read, or heard, Remembers me of all his gracious parts, Of any kindred action like to this?

Stuffs out his vacant garments with his

form; K. Phi. Weil could I bear that England had this Then, have I reason to be fond of grief. praise,

Fare you well: had you such a loss as I, So we could tind some pattern of our shame. I could give better comfort than you do. Enter CONSTANCE.

I will not keep this form upon my head,

(Tearing of' her Head-dress.
Look, who comes here! A grave unto a soul; When there is such, disorder in my wit.
Holding the eteri al spirit, against her will, O lord! My boy, my Arthur, my lair son !
In the vile prison of a flicted breath :-

My life, my joy, my food, my all the world
I pr'ythee, lady, go away with me.

My widow-comfort, and my sorrows' cure! (Exit. Const. Lo, now! Now see the issue of your peace! K. Phi. I sear some outrage, and I'll follow her. K. Phi. Patience, good lady ! Comfort, gentle

(Exit. Constance !

Lew. There's nothing in this world, can make me Const. No, I defy || all counsel, all redress,

joy:
But that which ends all counsel, true redress, Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,
Death, death : 0 amiable lovely death!

Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man;
Thou odoriferous stench ! Sound rottenness! And bitter shame hath spoil'd the sweet world's
Arise forth from the couch of lasting night,

taste, Thou hate and terror to prosperity,

That it yields naught, but shame and bitterness.
And I will kiss thy detestable bones :

Pand. Before the curing of a strong disease,
And put my eye-balls in thy vaulty brows; Even in the instant of repair and health,
And ring these fingers with thy household worms; The fit is strongest; evils, that take leave,
And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust, On their departure, most of all shew evil:
And be a carrion monster like thyself:

What have you lost by losing of this day?
Come, grin on me; and I will think thou smil'st, Leu. All days of glory, joy, and happiness.
And buss thee as thy wife ! Misery's love,

Pand. If you had won it, certainly, you had. 0, come to me!

No, no: when fortune means to men most good,
K. Phi. O fair affliction, peace.

She looks upon them with a threatening eye.
Const. No, no, I will not, having breath to cry: 'Tis strange, to think how much king John Irath lost
O, that the tongiie were in the thunder's mouthi In this which he accounts so clearly won :
Then with a passion would I shake the world ; dre not you grieved, that Artbur is his prisoner ?
And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy,

Lew. As heartily, as he is glad he hath him.
Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice,

Pand. Your mind is all as youthful as your blood. Which scorns a modern d'invocation.

Now hear me speak, with a prophetic spirit; Pand. Lady, you utter madness, and not sorrow. For even the breath of what I mean to speak Const. Thou art not holy to belie me so;

Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little rub,
I am not mad : this hair I tear, is mine :

Out of the path which shall directly lead
My name is Constance ; I was Geffrey's wife ; Thy foot to England's throne; and, therefore, mark.

John hath seized Arthur; and it cannot be,
• Conception. Joined. Fleet of war.
Overcome. Refuse. Common.

• Breathe.

Graceful.

That, wbiles warm life plays in that infant's veins, Is it my fault that I was Geffrey's son !
The misplaced John should entertain an hour, No, indeed, is't not; and I would to heaven,
One minute, nay, one quiet breath of rest :

I were your son, so you would love me, Hubert
A sceptre, snatch'd with an unruly band,

Hub. If I talk to him, with his innocent prate
Must be as boisterously maintain'd as gaind: He will awake my mercy, which lies dend:
And he, that stands upon a slippery place, Therefore I will be sudden, and despatch. (A side.
Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up:

Arth. Are you sick, Hubert? You look pale to-day:
That Joba may stand, then Arthur needs must fall; In sooth, I would you were a little sick;
So be it, for it cannot be but so.

That I might sit all night, and watch with you:
Lew. But what shall I gain by young Arthur's fall? 1 warrant, I love you more than you do me.
Pand. You, in the right of lady Blanch your wife, Hub. His words do take possession of my bosom.
May then make all the claim that Arthur did. Read here, youg Arthur. (Shewing a Paper.)
Lew. And lose it, life and all, as Arthur did.

How now, foolish rheum! (Aside.
Pand. How green are you, and fresh in this old Turning dispiteous torture ont of door!
world!

I must be brief; lest resolution drop.
John lays you plots; the times conspire with you: Ont at mine eyes, in tender womanish tears.
For he, that steeps his safely in true blood,

Can you not read it! Is it not fair writ
Sball find but bloody safety, and untrue.

Arih. Too fairly, Hubert, for so foul effect :
This act, so evilly born, shall cool the hearts Must you with hot irons burn out both mine eyes?
of all his people, and freeze up their zeal;

Hub. Young boy, I must.
That none so small advantage shall step forth, Arth. And will you ?
To check his reign, but they will cherish it :

Hub. And I will.
No natural exhalalion in the sky,

Arth. Have you the heart? When your head did
No scape of nature, no distemper'd day,

but ache,
No common wind, no customed event,

I knit my handkerchief about your brows,
But they will pluck away liis natural clause, (The best i liad, a princess wrought it me,)
And call them meteors, prodigies, and signs,

And I did never ask it you again :
Abortives, présages, and tongues of heaven, And with my hand at midnight held your head;
Plainly denouncing vengeance upon John.

And, like the watchful minutes to the hour,
Lew. May be, he will not touch young Arthur's Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time;
life,

Saying, what lack you? And, where lies your grief? But hold himself safe in his prisonment,

Or, what good love may I perform for you!
Pand. 0, Sir, when he shall hear of your ap- Many a poor man's son would have lain still,
proach,

And ne'er have spoke a loving word to you;
If that young Arthur be pot gone already, But you at your sick service had a prince.
Even at that news he dies : and then the hearts Nay, you may think, my love was crafty love,
Of all his people shall revolt from him,

And call it, cunning : do, an if you will :
And kiss the lips of unacquainted change; If heaven be pleased that you must use me ill,
And pick strong matier or revoli, and wrath, Why, then you must.-Will you put out mine eyes?
Out of the bloody fingers' ends of John.

These eyes, that never did nor never shall,
Methinks, I see this hurly all on foot;

So much as frown on you?
And, 0, what better maller breeds for you,

Hub. I have sworn to do it ;
Than I have named !-The bastard Faulconbridge And with hot irons inust I burn them out.
Is now in England, ransacking the church,

Arth. Ah, none but in this iron age would do it;
Offending charity : it but a dozen French

The iron of itself, though heat red-hot,
Were there in arms, they would be as a call Approaching near these eyes, would drink tay tears,
To train ten thousand English to their side ; And quench his fiery indignation,
Or, as a little snow, tumbled about,

Even in the matter of mine innocence :
Anon becomes a mountain. O noble Dauphin, Nay, after that, consume away in rust,
Go with me to the king : 'tis wonderful,

But for containing tire to harm mine eye.
What may be wrought out of their discontent: Are you more stubborn-hard than hanımer'd iron?
Now that their souls are topfull of offence,

An if an angel should have come to me,
For England go; I will whet on the king.

And told me, Hubert should put out mine eyes, Lew. Strong reasons make strong actions : let I would not have believed no longue, but Hubert's. us go;

Hub. Come forth.

(Stamps. If you say, wy, the king will not say, no. (Ereunt.

Re-enter ATTENDANTS, with Cord, Irons, &c. ACT IV.

Do as I bid you do.

Arth. O save me, Hubert, save me! My eyes are SCENE 1.- Northampton.-A Room in the Castle.

out,

Even with the fierce looks of these blondy men. Enter HUBERT, and two ATTENDANTS.

Hub. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here. Hub. Heat me these irons hut; and, look thou Arth. Alas, what need you be so boist'rous-tough stand

I will not struggle, I will stand stone-stille
Within the arras: when I strike my foot

For heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound !
Upop the bosom of the ground, rush forth; Nay, hear me, Hubert! Drive these men away
And bind the boy, which you shall find with me, And I will sit as quiet as a lamb;
Fast to the chair: be heedful : hence, and watch. I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word,
1 Attend. I hope, your warrant will beur out the Nor look upon the iron angerly :
deed.

Thrust but ihese men away, and I'll forgive you, Hub. Uncleanly scruples! Fear not you: look Whatever torment you do put me to. to't :

(Ereunt Ållendants. Hub. Go, sland within ; let me alone with him. Young lad, come forth ; I have to say with you. 1 Attend. I am best pleased to be from such a deed.

(Exeunt Attendants. Enter ARTHUR.

Arth. Alas! I then have chid away my friend ;
Arth. Good morrow, Hubert.

He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart :-
Hub. Good morrow, little prince.

Let him come back, that his compassion may
Arth. As little prince (having so great a title Give life to yours.
To be more prince,) as may be.-You are sad. Hub. Come, boy, prepare yourself,
Hub. Indeed, I have been merrier.

Arth. Is there no reniedy?
Arth. Mercy on me!

Hub. None, but to lose your eyes.
Methinks, no body should be sad but I :

Arth. O heaven ! that there were but a mote in
Yel, I remember, when I was in France,

yours,
Young gentlemen would be as sad as night, A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wand'ring hair,
Only for wantonness. By ny christendoni, Any annoyance in that precious sense!
So I were out of prison, and kept sheep,

Then, feeling what small things are boist'rous there,
I should be as merry as the day is long;

Your vile intent must needs seem horible.
And so I would be here, but that I doubt

Hub. Is this your promise I Go to, hold your tongue.
My uncle practises more harm to me :

Arth. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues He is afraid of me, and I of him:

Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes :

Let me not hold my tongue; let me not, Hubert ! • Tapestry.

Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,

So I may keep mine eyes; 0, spare mine eyes; I have possess': you with, and think them strong;
Though to no use, but still to look ou you!

And more, more strong, (when lesser is my fear,) lo, by my troth, the instrument is cold,

I shall indue you with : mean time, but ask And would not harm me.

What you would have reform'd, that is not well; Hub. I can heat it, boy.

And well shall you perceive, how willingly Arth. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with I will both hear and grant you your requests. grief,

Pemb. Then I, (as one that am the tongue of these, Being create for comfort, to be used'

To sound the purposes of all their hearts,) In uudeserved extremes : see else yourself; Both for myseli and them, (but, chief of all, There is no malice in this burning coal ;

Your safety, for the which myself and them The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out, Bend their best studies,) heartily request And strew'd repentant ashes on his head.

The enfranchisement 7 of Arthur; whose restraint
Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy. Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent

Arth. And if you do, you will but make it blush, To break into this dangerous argument,-.
And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert: It, what in rest you have, in right you hold,
Nay, ii, perchance, will sparkle in your eyes; Why then your tears, (which, as they say, attend
And, like a dog, that is compellid to fight,

The steps of wrong,) should move you to mew up
Snaich at his master that doth tarre him on t. Your tender kinsman, aud to choke his days
All things, that you should use to do me wrong, With barbarous ignorance, and deny his youth
Deny their office : only you do lack

The rich advantage of good exercise ?
That mercy, whicla tierce tire, and iron, extends, That the time's enemies may not have this
Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses.

To grace occasions, let it be our suit,
Hub. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes that you have bid us ask his liberty i
For all the treasure that thine uncle owes I: Which for our goods we do no further aski,
Yet am I sworn, and I did purpose, boy,

Than whereupon our weal, on you depending,
With this same very iron to burn them out.

Counts it your weal, he have his liberty.
Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! All this while K. John. Let it be so ; I do comnuit his youth
You were disguised.
Huo. Peace: no more. Adieu ;

Enter HUBERT.
Your uncle must not know but you are dead :

To your direction.-Hubert, what news with you? I'll till these dogged spies with false reports.

Pemb. This is the man should do the bloody And, pretty child, sleep doublless, and secure,

deed; That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world, He shew'd his warrant to a friend of mine : Will not offend thee.

The image of a wicked heinous fault Arth. O heaven I thank you, Hubert.

Lives in his eye: that close aspect of his Hub. Silence ; no more : go closely j in with me;

Does shew the mood of a much troubled breast; Much danger do I undergo lor thee. (Exeunt. Aud I do fearfully believe, 'tis done,

What we so fear'ð he had a charge to do.
SCENE II.-The same.--A Room of State in the

Sul. The colour of the king doth come and go,
Palace.

Between his purpose and his conscience,
Enter King John, crowned ; PEMBROKE, SALIS-

Like heralds 'twixt two dreadtul battles set : BURY, and other Lords.-The King takes his State,

His passion is so ripe, it needs must break.

Pemb. And, when it breaks, I fear, will issue K. John. Here once again we sit, once again

thence crown'd,

The foal corruption of a sweet child's death. And look'd upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.

K. John. We cannot hold mortality's strong hand; Pem. This once again, but that your highness Good lords, although my will to give is living, pleased,

The suit which you demand is gone and dead :
Was once superfluous : you were crown'd before,

He tells us, Arthur is deceased to-night.
And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off ; Sul. Indeed, we fear'd, his sickness was past cure.
The faiths of men ne'er slain'd with revolt;

Pemb. Indeed, we heard, how near his death he
Fresh expectation troubled not the land,

was, With any long'd-for change, or better state. Before the child himself felt he was sick:

Sal. Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp, This must be answer'd, either here, or hence. To guard | a title that was rich before,

K. John. Why do you bend such solemn brows To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,

on me To throw a perfume on the violet,

Think you, I bear the shears of destiny ? To smooth the ice, or add another hue

Have I commandment on the pulse of life?
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

Sal. It is apparent foul-play ; and 'tis shame,
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish I, That greatness should so grossly offer it :-.
Is wasteful, and ridiculous excess.

So thrive it in your game! And so farewell.
Pemb. But that your royal pleasure must be done,

Pemb. Stay yet, lord Salisbury; I'll go with This act is as an ancient tale new told ;

thee, Aud, in the last repeating, troublesome,

And find the inheritance of this poor child Being urged at a time unseasonable.

His little kingdom of a forced grave. Sul. I. this, the antique and well noted face

That blood, which owed I; the breath of all this isle, of plain old form is much distigured :

Three foot of it doth hold ; band world the while ! And, like a shitted wind unto a sail,

Tuis must not be thus borrie : this will break out It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about;

To all our sorrows, and ere long, I donbt. Startles and frights consideration ;

(Ereunt Lords. Makes sound opinion sick, and truth suspected, K. John. They burn in indignation ; I repent; For putting on so new a fashion'd rube.

There is no sure foundation set on blood; Pemb. When workmen strive to do better than

No certain lise achieved by others' death.
well,
They do confound their skill in covelousness,

Enter a MESSENGER.
And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault,
Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse ; A fearful eye thou hast ; where is that blood,
As patches, set upon a little breach,

That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks?
Discredit more in biding of the fault,

So foul a sky clears not without a storm : Than did the fault before it was so patch'd.

Pour down thy weather :-How goes all in France ? Sul. To this effect, before you were new crown'd, Mess. From France to England. - Never such a We breathed our counsel; but it preased your ligh.

Power •
ness

For any foreigu preparation,
To overbear it; and we are all well pleased; Was levied in the body of a land !
Since all and every part of what we would, The copy of your speed is learn'd by them;
Doth make a stand at what your bighness will. Por, when you should be told they do prepare,
K. John. Some reasons of this double coronation The vidings come, lhat they are all arrived.

K. John. o, where hath our intelligence been • In cruelty I have not deserved.

drunk? Set bini on.

* Owns. Ø Secretly. #bace. & Decorate. • Publish.

* Releasement. * Dosire of excelling.

Owned.

Ś Force.

Aloft the

264

KING JOUN.
Where hath it slept! Where is my mother's care: Whilst he, that hears, makes fearful action,
That such an army could be drawn in France, With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.
And she not hear of it?

I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,
Mess. My liege, her ear

The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
Is stopp'd with dust; the first of April, died With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news;
Your noble mother ; and, as I hear, my lord, Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,
The lady Constance in a frenzy died

Standing on slippers, (which his nimble haste
Three days before : but this from rumour's tongue Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet)
I idly heard ; if true, or false, I know not.

Told of a many thousand warlike French,
K. John. With hold'thy speed, dreadful occasion: That were emLatteled and rank'd in Kent':
0, make a league with me, till I have pleased Another lean unwash'd artificer
My discontented peers -What! Mother dead? Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur's death.
How wildly then walks my estate in France ! K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess ine with
Under whose conduct came those powers of France,

these fears?
That thou for truth givest out, are landed here? Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death?
Mess. Under the Dauphin.

Thy hand hath murder'd hivi: I had mighty canse
Enter the BASTARD and PETER of POMFRET.

To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.

Hub. Had none, my lord ? Why, did you not K. John. Thou hast made me giddy,

provoke me? With these ill tidings.- Now, what says the world K. John. It is the curse of kings, to be attended To your proceedings? Do not seek to stuff

By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant y head with more ill news, for it is full.

To break within the bloody house of life:
Baust. But, if you be afeard to hear the worst, And, on the winking of authority,
Then le

the worst, unheard, fall on your head. To understand a law; to know the meaning
K. John

". Bear with me, cousin ; for I was amazed Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns Under the Lide : but now I breathe again

More upon bumour than advised respect'. sood; and can give audience

Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I To any tongue,'speak it of what it will.

did. Basí. How I have sped among the clergymen, K. John. 0, when the last account 'twixt heaven The sums I have collected shall express.

and earth
But, as I travell's hither through the land,

Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal
I find the people strangely fantasied;

Witness against us to damnation !
Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams ; How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear: Makes deeds ill done! Hadest not thou been by,
And here's a prophet, that I brought with me A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd,
From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found Quoted +, and sign'd, lo do a deed of shame,
With many hundreds treading on his heels ;

This murder had not come into my mind :
To whom he sung, in rude harsh sounding rhymes, But, taking note of thy abhorr'd aspéct,
'I hat, ere the next Ascension-day at noon,

Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,
Your highness should deliver up your crown. Apt, liable, to be employ'd in danger,
K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death ;
thou so I

And thou, to be endeared to a king,
Peter. Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so. Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.

K. John.'Hubert, away with him; imprison him; Hub. My lord, -
And on that day at noon, whereon, he says,

K. John. Hadsi thou but shook thy head, or made
I shall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd :

a pause.
Deliver him to salety t, and return,

When I spake darkly what I purposed;
Fur I must use thee.-0 my gentle cousin,

Or turn's an eye of doubt upon my face,
(Erit Hubert, with Peter. As bid me tell my tale in express words;
Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arrived ? Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break
Bast. The French, iny lord ; men's mouths are

off,
full of it;

And those thy fears might have wrought fears in
Besides, I met lord Bigot, and lord Salisbury,
(With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,)

But thou didst understand me by my signs,
And others more, going to seek the grave

And didst in signs again parley with sin;
Of Arthur, who, they say, is kill'd to-night

Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,
On your suggestion.

And, consequently, thy rude hand to act
K. John. Gentle kinsman, go,

The deed, which both our tongues held vile to
And thrust thyself into their companies :

name.
I have a way to win their loves again ;

Out of my sight, and never see me more !
Bring them before me.

My nobles leave me ; and my state is braved,
Bust, I will seek them out.

Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers :
K. John. Nay, but make haste; the better foot Nay, in the body of this fleshly land 1,
before,

This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
0, let me have no subject enemies,

Hostility and civil tumult reigns
When adverse foreigners affright my towns Between my conscience, and my cousin's death,
With dreadful pomp of stout invasion !

Hub. Arın you against your other enemies,
Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels;

I'll make a peace between your soul and you.
Aud fiy, like thought, from them to me again. Young Arthur is alive : this band of mine
Bast. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,

(Exit. Not painted with the crimson spots of blood,
K. John. Spoke like a spriteful noble gentleman.-Within this bosom never enter'd yet
Go after him ; for he, perhaps, shall need

The dreadful motion of a murd'rous thought,
Some messenger betwixt me and the peers; And you have slander'd nature in my form
And be thou he.

Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,
Mess. With all my heart, my liege. (Erit. Is yet the cover of a fairer mind
K. John. My mother dead!

Than to be butcher of an innocent child.
Re-enter HOBERT.

K. John. Doch Arthur live? O, haste tice to the

peers,
Hub. My lord, they say, five moons were seen Throw this report on their incensed rage,
to-night :

And make them tame to their obedience !
Pour fixed; and the fifth did whirl about

Forgive the comment that my passion made
The other four, in wond'rous motion.

Upon thy feature; for my rage was blind,
K. John. Five moons ?

And foul imaginary eyes of blood
Hub. Old men, and beldams, in the streets Presented thee more hideous than thou art.
Do prophesy upon it dangerously :
Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths : The angry lords, with all expedient haste :

0, answer pot ; but to my closet bring
And when they talk of him, they shake their heads, i conjure thee but slowly:run more fast.
And whisper one another in the ear;

(Erennt.
And he, that speaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrist;

• Deliberate consideration. Observed.
• Stunned, confounded.
* Custody. His own body.

$ Expeditious

me:

1

Till I have set a glory to this hand, SCENE III.-The same.-Before the Castle. By giving it the worship of reveage. Enter ARTHUR, on the Walls.

Pemb. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words Arth. The wall is high ; and yet will I leap

Enter HUBERT down:

Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you :
Good ground, be pitiful, and hurt me not!

Arthur doth livc; the king hath sent for you.
There's few, or none, do know me; if they did, Sal. O, he is bold, and blushes not at death :-
This ship-boy's semblance hath disguised nie quite. Avaunt, thou hatetul villain, get thee gone!
I am atraid; and yet I'll venture it.

Hub, I am no villain.
If I get down, and do not break my limbs,

Sal. Must I rob the law. (Drawing his Sword. P'll find a thousand shifts to get away :

Bust. Your sword is bright, Sir : put it up again. As good to die, and go, as diz, and stay:

Sul. Not ull I sheath it in a murderer's skin. (Leups down.

Hub. Sland back, lord Salisbury, stand back, I o me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones :

say ; Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! By heaven, I toink, my sword's as sharp as yours :

(Dies. I would not have you, iord, forget yourself,

Nor tempt the danger of my true defence; Enter PEMBROKB, SALISBURY, and B.got.

Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget Sal. Lords, I will meet him as Saint Edmund's Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. Bury ;

Big. Out dunghill i Dar est ihou brave a nobleman ! It is our satety, and we must embrace

Hub. Not for my lite : but yet I dare detend This gentle offer of the perilous time.

My innocent life against an emperor.

Sal. Thou art a murderer. Pemb. Who brought that letter tiom the car. dinal 1

Hub. Do not prove me so t; Sal. The count Melun, a noble lord of France;

Yet I am none : whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Whose private with me, of the Dauphin's love,

Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. Is much more general than these lines import.

Pemb. Cut him to pieces. Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then.

Bast. Keep the peace, I say: Sul. Or, rather then set forward : for 'rwill be

Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. Two long days' journey, lords, or e'er we meet.

Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury:

If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,
Enter the BASTARD.

Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shanie,

I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime; Bast. Once more to-day well me., distemper'd + Or I'll so maul you and your toasting iron, lords !

That you shall think the devil is come from hell. The king, by me, requests your presence straight. Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge

Sal. The king brath dispossess'd himself ot' us ; Second a villain, and a murderer We will not line his thin bestained cloak

Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none.
With our pure honours, nor attenu the foot

Big. Who kili'd this prince ?
That leaves the print of blood where-e'er it walks: Hub. Tis not an hour since I left him well :
Return, and tell him so; we kuow the worst. I honour'd him, I loved him; and will weep
Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss.
were best.

Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes,
Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason now. For villuiny is not without such rheum ý;

Bast. But there is little reason in your grief; And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now. Like rivers of remorse || and innocency.

Pemb Sir, Sir, impatience hath his privilege. Away, with me, all you whose souls abhoi
Bast. Tis true ; to hurt his master, no man else. The nucleanly savours of a slaughter-house ;
Sal. This is the prison : what is he lies her»? For I am suified with this smell of sin.

Seeing Arthur. Big. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! Pemb. O death, made proud with pure and prince- Pemb. There, tell the king, he may enquire us ly beauty!

[Ererni Lords. The carth had not a hole to hide this deed.

Bust. Here's a good world !-Knew you of this Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done,

fair work ? Doth lay it open, to urge on revenge.

Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Big. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave, Oi mercy, it thou didst this deed of death, Found it too precious-princely for a grave

Art thou damn'd, Hubert. Sal. Sir Richard, what think you ? Have you be Hub. Do but hear me, Sir. held,

Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what;
Or have you read, or heard ? Or could you think? Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black;
Or do you almost think, although you see,

Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer :
That you do see? Could thought, without this ob- There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell
ject,

As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child Por such another. This the very top,

Hub. Upon my soul, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,

Bast. I thou didst but consent of murder's arins : this is the bloodiest shanie, To this most cruel act, do but despair, The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,

And, if thou want'st cord, the smallest thread
Tha ever wall-eyed wrath, or staring rage, That ever spider twisted from her womb
Presented to the tears of soft remorse I.

Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be
Pemb. All murders past do stand excused ia this : A beam to hang thee on; or, wouldst thou drowu
And this, so sole, and so unmatchable,

thyself, Shall give a holiness, a purity,

Put lint a little water in a spoon, To the yet-unbegotten sin of time;

And it shall be as all the ocean, And prore a deadly bloodshed but a jest,

Enough to stifte such a villain up. Examplow by this heinous spectacle.

| do suspect thee very grievously. Bast. 1. is a damped and a bloody work ;

Hub, Ir I in act, consent, or sin of thought The graceless action of a heavy hand,

Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath li that it be the work of any hand.

Which was embounded in this beauteous clay, Sal. If that it be the work of any hand ?

Let hell want pains enough to torture me! We had a kind of light, what would ensue:

I left him well.
It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand ;

Bast. Go, beur hiun in thine arms
The practice, and the parpose, of the king :- I am an uzed i, methinks; and lose my way
Prom whose obedience I forbid my soul,

Among the thorns and dangers of this world.-
Kneeling before this ruin of swett life,

How easy dost thou take all England up!
And treathing to his breathless excellence From forth this nsoræl of dead royalty,
The incense of a vow, a holy vow;
Never to taste the pleasui es of the world,

• Hand should be kead; a glory is the circle of Never to be infected with delight,

rays which surrounds the leads of saints in pic Nor conversant with case and idleness,

turos.
+ Honest,

By compelling to kill you. • Private accounts. Our of huniour. : lity. $ Moisture. V Pily: Confounded.

2 M

out.