For England go; I will whet on the king. ACT IV. If heaven be pleas'd that you must use me ill, SCENE I.-Northampton. A Room in the Castle. The iron of itself, though heat red-hot, Enter HUBERT and Two Attendants. Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears, Hub. Heat me these irons hot; and, look thou stand Even in the matter of mine innocence : Within the arras: when I strike my foot to't. Arth. Good morrow, Hubert. Hub. Is it my fault that I was Geffrey's son? [Aside. Nay, after that, consume away in rust, Hub. Come forth. Re-enter Attendants, with cords, irons, &c. Do as I bid you do. Arth. O, save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are out, Hub. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here. I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word, Thrust but these men away, and I'll forgive you, Hub. Go, stand within; let me alone with him. None, but to lose your eyes. [yours, Arth. O heaven!- that there were but a mote in Hub. His words do take possession of my bosom.-Then, feeling what small things are boist'rous there, Read here, young Arthur. [Shewing a paper.] How Your vile intent must needs seem horrible. now, foolish rheum! Turning dispiteous torture out of door! I must be brief; lest resolution drop [Aside. Arth. Too fairly, Hubert, for so foul effect: Must you with hot irons burn out both mine eyes? Hub. Young boy, I must. Arth. And will you? Hub. Hub. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue. Hub. Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy. That mercy, which fierce fire, and iron extends, Hub. Well, see to live, I will not touch thine eyes Your safety, for the which myself and them Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! all this while Why then your fears, (which, as they say, attend Arth. SCENE II. The same. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter KING JOHN, crowned; PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and other Lords. The KING takes his State. K. John. Here once again we sit, once again crown'd, And look'd upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes. Pem. This once again, but that your highness pleas'd, Was once superfluous: you were crown'd before, And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off; The faiths of men ne'er stained with revolt; Fresh expectation troubled not the land, With any long'd-for change, or better state. Sal. Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp, To smooth the ice, or add another hue To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, 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; Pem. When workmen strive to do better than well, Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse; Sal. To this effect, before you were new-crown'd, K. John. Some reasons of this double coronation I have possess'd you with, and think them strong; And more, more strong, (when lesser is my fear,) I shall indue you with: Mean time, but ask What you would have reform'd, that is not well; And well shall you perceive, how willingly I will both hear and grant you your requests. Pem. Then I, (as one that am the tongue of To sound the purposes of all their hearts,) Both for myself and them, (but, chief of all, The steps of wrong,) should move you to mew up K. John. Let it be so; I do commit his youth To your direction.-Hubert, what news with you? 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 :Good lords, although my will to give is living, The suit which you demand is gone and dead: He tells us, Arthur is deceas'd to-night. Sal. Indeed, we fear'd, his sickness was past cure. Sal. It is apparent foul-play; and 'tis shame, Pem. Stay yet, lord Salisbury; I'll go with thee, That blood, which ow'd the breadth of all this isle, Three foot of it doth hold: Bad world the while This must not be thus borne: this will break out To all our sorrows, and ere long I doubt. [Exeunt Lords. K. John. They burn in indignation; I repent; There is no sure foundation set on blood; No certain life achiev'd by others' death. Enter a Messenger. A fearful eye thou hast; Where is that blood, Was levied in the body of a land! The copy of your speed is learn'd by them; these,For, when you should be told they do prepare, The tidings come, that they are all arriv'd. K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk? Where hath it slept? Where is my mother's care? Mess. Three days before: but this from rumour's tongue K. John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion! O, make a league with me, till I have pleas'd My discontented peers!-What! mother dead? How wildly then walks my estate in France!— Under whose conduct came those powers of France, That thou for truth giv'st out, are landed here? Mess. Under the Dauphin. Enter the BASTARD and PETER of Pomfret. K. John. Thou hast made me giddy With these ill tidings.-Now, what says the world To 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. K. John. Bear with me, cousin, for I was amaz'd Under the tide but now I breathe again Aloft the flood; and can give audience To any tongue, speak it of what it will. Bast. How I have sped among the clergymen, The sums I have collected shall express. But, as I travelled hither through the land, I find the people strangely fantasied; Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams; Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear: And here's a prophet, that I brought with me From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found With many hundreds treading on his heels; To whom he sung, in rude harsh-sounding rhymes, That, ere the next Ascension-day at noon, Your highness should deliver up your crown. K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so? Peter. Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so. K. John. Hubert, away with him; imprison him; And on that day at noon, whereon, he says, I shall yield up my crown, let him he hang'd: Deliver him to safety, and return, For I must use thee.-O my gentle cousin, [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 Besides, I met lord Bigot, and lord Salisbury, [it: (With eyes as red as new enkindled fire,) And others more, going to seek the grave Of Arthur, who, they say, is kill'd to-night On your suggestion. K. John. Gentle kinsman, go, And thrust thyself into their companies : I have a way to win their loves again; Bring them before me. Bast. I will seek them out. Hub. Old men, and beldams, in the streets, And he, that speaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrist; Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur's death. K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death? [fears' Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had mighty cause To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him. Hub. Had none, my lord! why, did you not provoke To understand a law; to know the meaning [earth | More upon humour than advis'd respect. [pause, K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head, or made a The deed, which both our tongues held viie to name.- This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath, Between my conscience, and my cousin's death. SCENE 111.-The same. Before the Castle. Arth. The wall is high; and yet will I leap down: Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BIGOT. Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmund's- Bury; It is our safety, and we must embrace This gentle offer of the perilous time. Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal? Sal. The count Melun, a noble lord of France; Whose private with me, of the Dauphin's love, Is much more general than these lines import. Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then. Sal. Or, rather then set forward: for 'twill be Two long days' journey, lords, or e'er we meet. Enter the Bastard. Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords! The king, by me, requests your presence straight. Sal. The king hath dispossess'd himself of us; We will not line his thin bestained cloak With our pure honours, nor attend the foot That leaves the print of blood where-e'er it walks: Return, and tell him so; we know the worst. [best. Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason now. Bast. But there is little reason in your grief; Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now. Pem. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege. Bast. "Tis true; to hurt his master, no man else. Sal. This is the prison: What is he lies here? [Seeing ARTHUr. Pem. O death, made proud with pure and princely The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. [beauty! Sul. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, Doth lay it open, to urge on revenge. Big. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave, Found it too precious-princely for a grave. Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? Have you beheld, Or have you read, or heard? or could you think? Or do you almost think, although you see, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, Pem. All murders past do stand excus'd in this: To the yet-unbegotten sin of times; Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work; :- Sal. If that it be the work of any hand?We had a kind of light, what would ensue : It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand: The practice, and the purpose, of the king :From whose obedience I forbid my soul, Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life And breathing to his breathless excellence The incense of a vow, a holy vow; Never to taste the pleasures of the world, Never to be infected with delight, Nor conversant with ease and idleness, Till I have set a glory to this hand, By giving it the worship of revenge. Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words. Enter HUBERT. [Drawing his sword. Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you: Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you. Sal. O, he is bold, and blushes not at death :Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone! Hub. I am no villain. Sal. Must I rob the law? Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again. Sal. Not till I sheath it in a murderer's skin. Hub. Stand back, lord Salisbury, stand back, I say; By heaven, I think, my sword's as sharp as yours: I would not have you, lord, forget yourself, Nor tempt the danger of my true defence; Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. Big. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman? Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor. Sat. Thou art a murderer. Hub. Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none: Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. Pem. Cut him to pieces. Bast. Keep the peace, I say. Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame, I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime; Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron, That you shall think the devil is come from hell. Big. What wilt thou do renowned Faulconbridge? Second a villain and a murderer ? Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. Big. Who kill'd this prince? Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well: I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss. Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, For villany is not without such rheum; And he long traded in it, makes it seem Big. Away, toward Bury, to the dauphin there! If thou didst but consent To this most cruel act, do but despair, [self, A beam to hang thee on; or would'st thou drown thy- I do suspect thee very grievously. Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought Bast. ACT V. SCENE I.-The same. A Room in the Palace. K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand Our discontented counties do revolt; Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest up, Upon your stubborn usage of the pope : But, since you are a gentle convertite, My tongue shall hush again this storm of war, And make fair weather in your blustering land. On this Ascension-day, remember well, Upon your oath of service to the pope, Go I to make the French lay down their arms. [Exit. K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the prophet Say, that, before Ascension-day at noon, My crown I should give off? Even so I have: I did suppose, it should be on constraint; But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary. Enter the Bastard. Bast. All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds out, And wild amazement hurries up and down Bast. They found him dead, and cast into the streets; K. John. That villain Hubert told me he did live. Bast. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew. But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad? Be great in act, as you have been in thought; Let not the world see fear, and sad distrust, Govern the motion of a kingly eye: Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; Threaten the threat'ner, and outface the brow Of bragging horror: so shall inferior eyes, That borrow their behaviours from the great, Grow great by your example, and put on The dauntless spirit of resolution. Away; and glister like the god of war, When he intendeth to become the field: Shew boldness and aspiring confidence. What, shall they seek the lion in his den, And fright him there? and make him tremble there? O, let it not be said!--Forage, and run To meet displeasure further from the doors; And grapple with him, ere he comes so nigh. K.John. The legate of the pope hath been with me, And I have made a happy peace with him; And he hath promis'd to dismiss the powers Led by the Dauphin. Bast. O inglorious league! Shall we, upon the footing of our land, Send fair-play orders, and make compromise, Insinuation, parley, and base truce, To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy A cocker'd silken wanton brave our fields, And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil, Mocking the air with colours idly spread, And find no check? Let us, my liege, to arms: Perchance, the cardinal cannot make your peace; Or if he do, let it at least be said, They saw we had a purpose of defence. |