And such as to my claim are liable, Pand. You look but on the outside of this work. Enter the Bastard, attended. Bast. According to the fair play of the world, Let me have audience; I am sent to speak: My holy lord of Milan, from the king I come, to learn how you have dealt for him; And as you answer, I do know the scope And warrant limited unto my tongue. Pand. The dauphin is too wilful-opposite, And will not temporize with my entreaties; He flatly says, he'll not lay down his arms. Bast. By all the blood that ever fury breath'd, The youth says well :-Now hear our English king; For thus his royalty doth speak in me. He is prepar'd; and reason too, he should: This apish and unmannerly approach, This harness'd masque, and unadvised revel, This unhair'd sauciness, and boyish troops, The king doth smile at; and is well prepar'd To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms, From out the circle of his territories. That hand, which had the strength, even at your door, To cudgel you, and make you take the hatch;2 Lew. There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace, We grant, thou canst outscold us fare thee well; Plead for our interest, and our being here. And so shall you, being beaten: Do but start Hub. Badly, I fear: How fares your majesty? long, Lies heavy on me; O, my heart is sick! Mess. My lord, your valiant kinsman, FaulconDesires your majesty to leave the field; bridge, And send him word by me, which way you go. K. John. Tell him, toward Swinstead, to the abbey there. Mess. Be of good comfort; for the great supply, That was expected by the dauphin here, Are wreck'd three nights ago on Goodwin sands. This news was brought to Richard but even now: The French fight coldly, and retire themselves. [Exe. K. John. Ah me! this tyrant fever burns me up, And will not let me welcome this good news. Set on toward Swinstead: to my litter straight; Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint. SCENE IV.-The same. Another part of the same. Enter Salisbury, Pembroke, Bigot, and others. Sal. I did not think the king so stor'd with friends Pem. Up once again; put spirit in the French; If they miscarry, we miscarry too. Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge, In spite of spite, alone upholds the day. Pem. They say, king John, sore sick, hath left the field. Enter Melun wounded, and led by soldiers. Mel. Lead me to the revolts of England here. Sal. When we were happy, we had other names. Pem. It is the count Melun. Sal. Wounded to death. Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold, Unthread the rude eye of rebellion, And welcome home again discarded faith. Seek out king John, and fall before his feet; For, if the French be lords of this loud day, Helo means to recompense the pains you take, By cutting off your heads: Thus hath he sworn, And I with him, and many more with me, Upon the altar at Saint Edmund's-Bury; Even on that altar, where we swore to you Dear amity and everlasting love. (5) Nest. (6) Needles. (7) Boast. (9) A proverb intimating treachery. (8) Sky's. (10) Lewis. Sal. May this be possible? may this be true? Mel. Have I not hideous death within my view, Retaining but a quantity of life; Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax Since I must lose the use of all deceit? But even this night,-whose black contagious breath Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives, Mess. Whoever spoke it, it is true, my lord. Lew. Well; keep good quarter, and good care to-night; The day shall not be up so soon as I, To try the fair adventure of to-morrow. [Exeunt. SCENE VI-An open place in the neighbour. hood of Swinstead abbey. Enter the Bastard and Hubert, meeting. Hub. Who's there? speak, ho! speak quickly, or I shoot. Bast. A friend :-What art thou? mand night, Have done me shame :-Brave soldier, pardon me, Sal. We do believe thee,-And beshrew3 my soul, That any accent, breaking from thy tongue, But I do love the favour and the form Of this most fair occasion, by the which We will untread the steps of damned flight; And, like a bated and retired flood, Leaving our rankness and irregular course, Even to our ocean, to our great king John.- Right in thine eye.-Away, my friends! New flight; And happy newness,5 that intends old right. SCENE V-The same. Lew. The sun of heaven, methought, was loath to set; But stay'd, and made the western welkin blush, When the English measur'd backward their own ground, In faint retire: O, bravely came we off, By his persuasion, are again fallen off: I did not think to be so sad to-night, (1) In allusion to the images made by witches. (2) Place. (3) Ill betide. (4) Immediate. (5) Innovation. (6) Sky. Should 'scape the true acquaintance of mine ear. Bast. Come, come; sans compliment, what news abroad? Hub. Why, here walk I, in the black brow of night, To find you out. Bast. Brief, then; and what's the news! Hub. O, my sweet sir, news fitting to the night, Black, fearful, comfortless, and horrible. Bast. Show me the very wound of this ill news; I am no woman, I'll not swoon at it. Hub. The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk : I left him almost speechless, and broke out To acquaint you with this evil; that you might The better arm you to the sudden time, Than if you had at leisure known of this. Bast. How did he take it? who did tasie to him? Hub. A monk, I tell you; a resolved villain, Whose bowels suddenly burst out: the king Yet speaks, and, peradventure, may recover. Bast. Who didst thou leave to tend his majesty? Hub. Why, know you not? the lords are all come back, And brought prince Henry in their company; At whose request the king hath pardon'd them, And they are all about his majesty. Bast. Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven, And tempt us not to bear above our power!I'll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night, Passing these flats, are taken by the tide, These Lincoln washes have devoured them; Myself, well-mounted, hardly have escap'd. Away, before! conduct me to the king; I doubt he will be dead, or ere I come. [Exeunt. SCENE VII-The orchard of Swinstead abbey. Enter Prince Henry, Salisbury, and Bigot. P. Hen. It is too late; the life of all his blood Is touch'd corruptibly; and his pure brain (Which some suppose the soul's frail dwellinghouse,) Doth, by the idle comments that it makes, (7) In your posts or stations. (8) Without. (9) Forces. Pem. His highness yet doth speak; and holds That, being brought into the open air, P. Hen. Let him be brought into the orchard here. Doth he still rage? [Exit Bigot. Pem. I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan, K. John. Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow room; It would not out at windows, nor at doors. P. Hen. How fares your majesty? cast off: And none of you will bid the winter come, P. Hen. O, that there were some virtue in my That might relieve you! K. John. Enter the Bastard. Bast. O, I am scalded with my violent motion, 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; As I upon advantage did remove, Act [The king dies. Sal. You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear. My liege! my lord!-But now a king,-now thus. Bast. Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind, As it on earth hath been thy servant still.— Where be your powers? Show now your mended To push destruction, and perpetual shame, Sal. It seems, you know not then so much as we : Bast. He will the rather do it, when he sees Sal. Nay, it is in a manner done already; Bast. Let it be so :-And you, my noble prince, P. Hen. At Worcester must his body be interr'd; Bast. And true subjection everlastingly. Sal. And the like tender of our love we make, To rest without a spot for evermore. P. Hen. I have a kind soul, that would give you And knows not how to do it, but with tears. rue, And all the shrouds, wherewith my life should sail, || If England to itself do rest but true. Exeunt. The tragedy of King John, though not written with the utmost power of Shakspeare, is varied with him:acters. The lady's grief is very affecting; and the a very pleasing interchange of incidents and charcharacter of the Bastard contains that mixture of greatness and levity, which this author delighted to llexhibit. JOHNSON. Bast. The dauphin is preparing hitherward; (1) Narrow, avaricious. |