Pem. But that your royal pleasure must be done, Sal. In this the antique and well noted face It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about, Makes sound opinion sick and truth suspected, For putting on so new a fashion'd robe. Pem. When workmen strive to do better than well, They do confound their skill in covetousness; And oftentimes excusing of a fault Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse, As patches set upon a little breach Discredit more in hiding of the fault Than did the fault before it was so patch'd. Sol. To this effect, before you were new crown'd, K. John. Some reasons of this double coronation 20 30 40 50 at and we are all, etc."We are " is to be spoken as one syllable; and perhaps should be printed we 're. myself and them, etc.: as bad English as it is possible to write; wherefore, perhaps, some editors are justified in reading" and they." But see the next 10 or 20 lines and the next note. Way then your fears. Correct English, of S.'s time as well as ours, requires the transposition of "then" in this line and "should in the next. But I do not believe that the text is corrupted, only that we have here one of the countless examples of the heed less way in which S. wrote his plays. The steps of wrong, should move you to mew up Enter IIUBERT. K. John. Let it be so: I do commit his youth Το your direction. Hubert, what news with you? 60 [Taking him apart. Pem. This is the man should do the bloody deed; Sal. The colour of the King doth come and go Pem. And when it breaks, I fear will issue thence The foul corruption of a sweet child's death. K. John. We cannot hold mortality's strong hand: Sal. Indeed we fear'd his sickness was past cure. This must be answer'd either here or hence. K. John. Why do you bend such solemn brows on me? Think you I bear the shears of destiny? Have I commandment on the pulse of life? Sal. It is apparent foul play; and 't is shame That greatness should so grossly offer it: So thrive it in your game and so, farewell. Pem. Stay yet, Lord Salisbury; I'll go with thee, And find the inheritance of this poor child, 70 80 90 64 for our goods: that is, for the good of us all, a blunder not uncommon in S. time. See or were you both our mothers," All's Well That Ends Well, Act I. Sc. 3 line 145; and line 102 of this scene, " to all our sorrows." His little kingdom of a forced grave. That blood which ow'd the breadth of all this isle, K. John. They burn in indignation. I repent: Enter a Messenger. A fearful eye thou hast : where is that blood So foul a sky clears not without a storm: Pour down thy weather: how goes all in France? For any foreign preparation Was levied in the body of a land. 100 [Exeunt Lords. Never such a power The copy of your speed is learn'd by them; K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk? And she not hear of it? Mess. My liege, her ear Is stopp'd with dust; the first of April died care, Three days before: but this from rumour's tongue K. John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion! K. John. With these ill tidings. Το Thou hast made me giddy Enter the BASTARD and PETER of Pomfret. Now, what says the world your proceedings? do not seek to stuff My head with more ill news, for it is full. Bast. But if you be afeard to hear the worst, Then let the worst unheard fall on your head. Aloft the flood, and can give audience Bast. How I have sped among the clergymen, Your highness should deliver up your crown. K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so? I shall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd. For I must use thee. O my gentle cousin, 140 150 [Exit Hubert with Peter. Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arriv'd? Bast. The French, my lord; men's mouths are full of it: Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury, With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire, And others more, going to seek the grave K. John. Gentle kinsman, go, Bust. I will seek them out. K. John. Nay, but make haste; the better foot before. 160 170 O, let me have no subject enemies, When adverse foreigners affright my towns With dreadful pomp of stout invasion! Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels, And fly like thought from them to me again. Bast. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. [Erit. K. John. Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman. Go after him; for he perhaps shall need And be thou he. 174 Mercury, the messenger of the gods, was represented with winged sandals. 1 sprightful = spiritful; both forms of the word were pronounced spree ful 179 Mess. With all my heart, my liege. K. John. My mother dead! Re-enter HUBERT. Hub. My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night; Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about The other four in wondrous motion. K. John. Five moons! Hub. [Exit. Old men and beldams in the streets Do prophesy upon it dangerously: Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths: And he that speaks doth gripe the hearer's wrist, With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes. Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death. 190 200 K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears? Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death? Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had a mighty cause To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him. Hub. No had, my lord! why, did you not provoke me? To understand a law, to know the meaning Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did. 210 K. John. O, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal Witness against us to damnation ! How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds Makes ill deeds done! Hadst not thou been by, 220 201 No had had none; a strange idiom, as to the use of which in S.'s day there can be no doubt. Makes ill deeds done. The folio Make, etc.; and so S. probably wrote, misled by the plural form immediately preceding the verb tion of English would seem, But to follow him to this extreme viola in this case, literal slavishness. |