To thrust his icy fingers in my maw,

Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course Through my burn'd bosom, nor entreat the north

To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much,

I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait

And so ingrateful, you deny me that.

41

P. Hen. O that there were some virtue in my tears, That might relieve you!

K. John.

The salt in them is hot.
Within me is a hell; and there the poison
Is as a fiend confined to tyrannize
On unreprieveable condemned blood.

Enter the Bastard.

Bast. O, I am scalded with my violent motion,

50

And spleen of speed to see your majesty!
K. John. O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye:
The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd,
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should
sail

Are turned to one thread, one little hair
My heart hath one poor string to stay it by,
Which holds but till thy news be uttered;
And then all this thou seest is but a clod
And module of confounded royalty.

Bast. The Dauphin is preparing hitherward,
Where heaven He knows how we shall answer

him;

For in a night the best part of my power,

60

As I upon advantage did remove,
Were in the Washes all unwarily
Devoured by the unexpected flood.

[The King dies. Sal. You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear. My liege! my lord! but now a king, now thus. P. Hen. Even so must I run on, and even so stop.

What surety of the world, what hope, what stay, When this was now a king, and now is clay? Bast. Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind 70 To do the office for thee of revenge,

And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven,
As it on earth hath been thy servant still.
Now, now, you stars that move in your right
spheres,

Where be your powers? show now your mended
faiths,

And instantly return with me again,

To push destruction and perpetual shame
Out of the weak door of our fainting land.
Straight let us seek, or straight we shall be
sought;

80

The Dauphin rages at our very heels. Sal. It seems you know not, then, so much as we: The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest,

62. "upon advantage," as a favorable opportunity occurred.-C. H. H.

64. "Unexpected flood"; this untoward accident really happened to King John himself. As he passed from Lynn to Lincolnshire he lost by an inundation all his treasure, carriages, baggage, and regalia.— H. N. H.

82. "Cardinal Pandulph." The historic cardinal who effected the negotiations was no longer Pandulph, but Gualo (Hol. iii. 192).-C. Н. Н.

Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin, And brings from him such offers of our peace As we with honor and respect may take, With purpose presently to leave this war. Bast. He will the rather do it when he sees

90

Ourselves well sinewed to our defense. Sal. Nay, it is in a manner done already; For many carriages he hath dispatch'd To the sea-side, and put his cause and quarrel To the disposing of the cardinal: With whom yourself, myself and other lords, If you think meet, this afternoon will post To consummate this business happily. Bast. Let it be so: and you, my noble prince, With other princes that may best be spared, Shall wait upon your father's funeral.

P. Hen. At Worcester must his body be interr'd; For so he will'd it.

Bast.

Thither shall it then:
And happily may your sweet self put on
The lineal state and glory of the land!
To whom, with all submission, on my knee
I do bequeath my faithful services
And true subjection everlastingly.

Sal. And the like tender of our love we make,
To rest without a spot for evermore.

100

P. Hen. I have a kind soul that would give you thanks

And knows not how to do it but with tears.

99. "At Worcester"; a stone coffin, containing the body of King John, was discovered in the cathedral church of Worcester, July 17, 1797.-H. N. H.