K. John. It is the curse of kings, to be attended
By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life:
And, on the winking of authority,

5

To understand a law; to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns 10
More upon
humour than advis'd respect.

Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did.
K. John. Oh, 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 deeds ill done? Had'st not thou been by,
A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd,
Quoted', and signed to do a deed of shame,
This murder had not come into my mind:
But, taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,
Apt, liable, to be employed in danger,

I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death;
And thou, to be endeared to a king,

Mad'st it no conscience to destroy a prince.
Hub. My lord,

K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head, or

made a pause,

[off,

Forgive the comment that my passion made
Upon thy feature; for my rage was blind,
And foul imaginary eyes of blood

Presented thee more hideous than thou art.
Oh, answer not; but to my closet bring
The angry lords, with all expedient haste:

I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast. [Exe.
SCENE III.

A Street before a Prison.

Enter Arthur on the walls.

Arth. The wall is high; and yet will I leap down:-
Good ground, be pitiful, and hurt me not!-
There's few, or none, do know me; if they did,
15 This ship-boy's semblance hath disguis'd me quite.
I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it.

20

30

When I spake darkly what I purposed;
Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face;
Or bid me tell my tale in express words;
Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break
And those thy fears might have wrought fears in 35
But thou didst understand me by my signs, [me:
And didst in signs again parley with sin;
Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,
And, consequently, thy rude hand to act

IfI down, and do not break my limbs,
get
I'll find a thousand shifts to get away:
As good to die, and go, as die, and stay.

[Leaps down. Oh me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones:-Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! [Dics.

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.

Pemb 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.

Bigot. Tomorrow morning let us meet him then. Sal. Or, rather, then set forward: for 'twill be Two long days' journey, lords, or ere' we meet. Enter Faulconbridge.

Faulc. 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;

The deed, which both our tongues held vile toname. 40 We will not line his thin-bestained cloak

Out of my sight, and never see me more!
My nobles leave me; and my state is brav'd,
Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers:
Nay, in the body of this fleshly land,
This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
Hostility and civil tumult reigns
Between my conscience, and my cousin's death.

Hub. Arm you against your other enemies,
I'll make a peace between your soul and you.
Young Arthur is alive: This hand of mine
Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,
Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.
Within this bosom never enter'd yet

The dreadful motion of a murd'rous thought,
have slander'd nature in my form;

And you

Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,

Is yet the cover of a fairer mind

Than to be butcher of an innocent child.

K. John. Doth Arthur live? O, haste thee to

the peers,

Throw this report on their incensed rage,
And make them tame to their obedience!

1i. e. observed, distinguished.
i. e. speak.

45|

50

55

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.
Faulc. Whate'er you think, good words, I think,
[now,
were best.
Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason*
Faulc. But there is little reason in your grief:
Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now,
Pemb. Sir, sir,impatience hath its privilege.
Faulc. 'Tis true; to hurt his master, no man
else.

Sal. This is the prison: What is he lies here?
[Seeing Arthur.
Pemb. O death, made proud with pure and
princely beauty!

The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, [grave, Doth lay it open to urge on revenge. Bigot. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to the 60 Found it too precious-princely for a grave. Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? Have beheld,

you

? Meaning, his private account, or letter to me.

'i. e. before,

Or

Or have you read, or heard? or could you think?
Or do you almost think, although you see,
That you do see? could thought, without this object,
Form such another? This is the very top,
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
Of murder's arms: this is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savag'ry, the vilest stroke,
That ever wall-ey'd wrath, or staring rage,
Presented to the tears of soft remorse.

Faulc. Thou wert better gaul the devil, Salis
If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, [bury:
Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,
I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;
5 Or I'll so maul you and your toasting iron,
That you shall think the devil is come from hell.
Bigot. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulcon-
Second a villain, and a murderer? [bridge?
Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none.

Pemb. All murders past do stand excus'd in this, 10
And this, so sole, and so unmatchable,
Shall give a holiness, a purity,
To the yet-unbegotten sins of time;
And prove a deadly bloodshed, but a jest,
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.

Faule. It is a damned and a bloody work;
The graceless action of a heavy hand.
If that it be the work of any hand.

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 this 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 his hand,
By giving it the worship' of revenge.

Pemb. Bigot. Our souls religiously confirm thy
words.

Enter Hubert,

I

Bigot. Who kill'd this prince?

Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well: honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss.

Sul. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes,

15 For villainy is not without such rheum;
And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorse and innocency.
Away with me, all you whose souls abhor
The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house
20 For I am stifled with the smell of sin.

Bigot. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!
Pemb. There, tell the king, he may enquire us
[Exeunt lords.

out.

Faulc. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this 25 Beyond the infinite and boundless reach [fair work? Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, Art thou damn'd, Hubert.

Hub. Do but hear me, sir.

Faulc. Ha! I'll tell thee what;

30 Thou art damn'd so black--nay,nothing is so black; Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer: There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell

Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you:35 Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you.

Sul. Oh, 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? [Drawing his sword.
Fuulc. 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

40

45

50

As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child,
Hub. Upon my soul,-

Faule. If thou didst but consent

To this most cruel act, do but despair,

And, if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread
That ever spider twisted from her womb

Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be a beam
To hang thee on : or, would'st thou drown thyself,
Put but a little water in a spoon,

And it shall be as all the ocean,

Enough to stifle such a villain up.—

I do suspect thee very grievously.

Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought,
Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath
Which was embounded in this beauteous clay,
Let hell want pains enough to torture me!
I left hinr well.

Faule. Go, bear him in thine arms.-
I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way
Among the thorns and dangers of this world.--
How easy dost thou take all England up!
From forth this morsel of dead royalty,
55 The life, the right, and truth of all this realm
Is fled to heaven; and England now is left
To tug, and scamble, and to part by the teeth
The unow'd' interest of proud swelling state.
Now, for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty,
60 Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest,
And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace:
superstition and chivalry.
4 i. e. honest.

! This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of splendor, or renown. 3i. e. the honour or dignity. Yet for hitherto. i. e. unclaimed, or unowned.

2 Glory here means, i. e. do not make me one. Now

Hold out this tempest. Bear away that child,
And follow me with speed; I'll to the hing:
A thousand businesses are brief in hand,
And heaven itself doth trown upon the land.
[Exeunt.

SCENE I.

The Court of England.

ACT V.

Enter King John, Pandulph, and Attendants.
K. John. THUS hand
HUS have I yielded up into your

The circle of my glory. (Giving up the crown.
Pand. Take again

From this my hand, as holding of the Pope,
Your sovereign greatness and authority. [French;
K.John. Now keep your holy word: go meet the
And from his holiness use all your power
To stop their marches, 'fore we are inflam'd.
Our discontented counties do revolt;
Our people quarrel with obedience;
Swearing allegiance, and the love of soul,
To stranger blood, to foreign royalty.
This inundation of mistemper'd humour
Rests by you only to be qualify'd.
Then pause not; for the present time's so sick,
That present medicine must be ministred,
Or overthrow incurable ensues,

[up,

Faulc. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew.
But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad?
15 Be great in act, as you have been in thought;
Let not the world see fear, and sad distrust,
Govern the notion of a kingly eye:

20

Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire;
Threaten the threatner, and out-t ce the brow
Of bragging horror: so shall interior 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,
25 When he intendeth to become the field:
Shew boldness, and aspiring confidence.
What, shall they seek the lion in his den? [there?
And fright him there; and make him tremble
Oh, let it not be said!-Forage3, and run
30 To meet displeasure farther from the doors;
And grapple with him, ere he come so nigh. [me,

K. John. The legate of the Pope hath been with
And I have made a happy peace with hum;
And he hath promis'd to dismiss the powers
Led by the Dauphin.

Faulc. Oh inglorious league!
Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair play orders, and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley, and base truce,
40 To arms invasiye? Shal! 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,

Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest 35
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 Ito make the French lay down their arms. [Ex.
K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the
Say, that, before Ascension-day at noon, [prophet
My crown
I should give off? Even so l'have:
I did suppose, it should be on constraint;
But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary.
Enter Faulconbridge.

45

They saw we had a purpose of defence.

[time.

K. John. Have thou the ordering of this present
Faulc. Away,then, with good courage; yet I know,
Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt,

The Dauphin's camp at St. Edmund's-bury. 55 Enter, in arms, Lewis, Salisburn, Melun, Pembroke, Bigot, and Soldiers.

Faule. AllKent hath yielded; nothing there holds
But Dover castle: London hath receiv'd, [out, 50
Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers:
Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy;
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends.
K. John. Would not my lords return to me again,
After they heard young Arthur was alive? [streets;
Faulc. They found him dead, and cast into the
An empty casket, where the jewel of life,
By some damn'd hand, was robb'd and ta'en away. 60
K. John. That villain Hubert told me he did live.

Lewis. My lord Melun, let this be copied out,
And keep it safe for our remembrance:
Return the precedent to these lords again;
That, having our tair order written down,
Both they, and we, perusing o'er these notes,
2 i. e. convert. ¿ i, e. range abroad.

Wrested pomp means, greatness obtained by violence.
j. e. the original treaty between the Dauphin and the English lords,

·May

408

May know wherefore we took the sacrament,
And keep our faiths firm and inviolable.

Sal. Upon our sides it never shall be broken.
And, noble Dauphin, albeit we swear
A voluntary zeal, and an unurg'd faith,
To your proceedings; yet, believe me, prince,
I am not glad that such a sore of time
Should seek a plaister by contemn'd revolt,
And heal the inveterate canker of one wound,
By making many: Oh, it grieves my soul,
That I must draw this metal from my side
To be a widow-maker; oh, and there,
Where honourable rescue, and defence,
Cries out upon the name of Salisbury:
But such is the infection of the time,
That, for the health and physic of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand
Of stern injustice and confused wrong.-
And is't not pity, oh, my grieved friends!
That we, the sons and children of this isle,
Were born to see so sad an hour as this;
Wherein we step after a stranger march
Upon her gentle bosom, and fill up

Her enemies' ranks, (I must withdraw and weep
Upon the spot of this enforced cause)
To grace the gentry of a land remote,
And follow unacquainted colours here?
What, here?-O nation,that thou could'st remove!
That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about,
Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself,
And grapple thee unto a pagan shore;
Where these two christian armies might combine
The blood of malice in a vein of league,
And not to spend it so unneighbourly!

To give us warrant for the hand of heaven;
And on our actions set the name of right,
With holy breath.

Pand. Hail, noble prince of France!

5 The next is this,-king John hath reconcil'd
Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in,
That so stood out against the holy church,
The great metropolis and see of Rome:
Therefore thy threat'ning colours now wind up,
10 And tame the savage spirit of wild war;
That, like a lion foster'd up at hand,

It may lie gently at the foot of peace,

And be no further harmful than in shew. [back;
Lewis. Your grace shall pardon me, I will not
151 am too high-born to be property'd,
To be a secondary at controul,

Or useful serving-man, and instrument,

To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars
20 Between this chastis'd kingdom and myself,
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
You taught me how to know the face of right,
25 Acquainted me with interest to this land,
Yea, thrust this enterprize into my heart;
And come ye now to tell me, John hath made
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I by the honour of my marriage-bed,

30 After young Arthur, claim this land for mine;
And, now it is half-conquer'd, must I back,
Because that John hath made his peace with Rome?
Am IRome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne,
What men provided, what munition sent,

Lewis. A noble temper dost thou show in this; 35 To underprop this action? Is't not I,

And great affections, wrestling in thy bosom,
Do make an earthquake of nobility.
Oh, what a noble combat hast thou fought,
Between compulsion, and a brave respect'!.
Let me wipe off this honourable dew,
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks:
My heart hath melted at a lady's tears,
Being an ordinary inundation;

45

That undergo this charge? who else but I,
And such as to my claim are liable,
Sweat in this business, and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out,
40 Vive le roy! as I have bank'd their towns?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,
To win this easy match play'd for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.
Pand. You look but on the outside of this work.
Lewis. Outside or inside, I will not return
Till my attempt so much be glorify'd
As to my ample hope was promised
Before I drew this gallart head of war,
50 And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world,
To out-look conquest, and to win renown
Even in the jaws of danger and of death.—
[Trumpet sounds.
What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?
Enter Faulconbridge, attended.
Faule. 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

But this effusion of such manly drops,
This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul,
Startles mine eyes, and makes ine more amaz'd
Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven
Figur'd quite o'er with burning meteors.
Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,
And with a great heart heave away this storm:
Command these waters to those baby eyes,
That never saw the giant world enrag'd;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full warm of blood, of mirth, of gossiping.
Come,come; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep 55
Into the purse of rich prosperity,

As Lewis himself:-so, nobles, shall you all,
That knit your sinews to the strength of mine.
Enter Pandulph, attended.

And even there, methinks, an angel spake:
Look, where the holy legate comes apace,

I come, to learn how you have dealt for him;
60 And, as you answer, I do know the scope
And warrant limited unto my tongue.

1 This compulsion was the necessity of a reformation in the state; which, according to Salisbury's opinion (who, in his speech preceding, calls it an enforced cause), could only be procured by foreign arms: and the brave respect was the love of his country.

Pand.

Pand. The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite,
And will not temporize with my entreaties;
He flatly says, he'll not lay down his arms.

Faule. By all the blood that ever fury breath'd,
The youth says well:-Now hear our English 5
For thus his royalty doth speak in me. [king
He is prepar'd; and reason, too, he should:
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This haruess'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;
To dive like buckets of concealed wells;
To crouch in litter of your stable planks;
To lie, like pawns, lock'd up in chests and trunks;
To hug with swine; to seek sweet safety out
In vaults and prisons; and to thrill, and shake,
Even at the crying of your nation's crow,
Thinking this voice an armed Englishman ;-
Shall that victorious hand be feebled here,
That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No: Know, the gallant monarch is in arms;
And, like an eagle o'er his aiery' towers,
To souse annoyance
that comes near his nest.-
And you degenerate, you ingrate revolts,
You bloody Neroes, ripping up the womb
Of your dear mother E gland, blush for shame:
For your own ladies, and pale-visag'd maids,
Like Amazons, come tripping after drums;
Their thimbles into armed gantlets change,
Their neelds to lances, and their gentle hearts
To fierce and bloody inclination.

Lewis. There end thy brave, and turn thy face
in peace;

We grant, thou canst out-scold us: fare thee well;
We hold our time too precious to be spent
With such a brabler.

Pand. Give me leave to speak.

Faule. No, I will speak.

Lewis. We will attend to neither:
Strike up the drums; and let the tongue of war
Plead for our interest, and our being here.
Faulc. Indeed, your drums, being beaten, will

cry out;

Lewis. Strike up our drums to find this danger out.
Faule. And thou shalt find it, Dauphin, do not

doubt.

SCENE

A Field of Battle.

[Exeunt.

III.

Alarums Enter King John and Hubert.
K. John. How goes the day with us? oh, tell
me, Hubert.

Hub. Badly, I fear? How fares your majesty?
10 K. John. This fever,that hath troubled me solong,
Lies heavy on me; Oh, my heart is sick!
Enter a Messenger.

Mes. My lord, your valiant kinsman, Faulcon-
bridge,

15 Desires your majesty to leave the field;
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,
20 That was expected by the Dauphin here,
Are wreck'd three nightsago on Goodwin-sands.
This news was brought to Richard* but even now:
The French fight coldly, and retire themselves

K. John Ah me! this tyrant fever burns me up,
25 And will not let me welcome this good news.
Set on toward Swinstead: to my litter straight;
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint. [Exe.
SCENE IV.
The French Camp.

130

35

40

Enter Salisbury, Pembroke, and Bigot.
Sal. I did not think the king so stor'd with friends.
Pemb. Uponce again; put spirit in the French;
If they miscarry, we miscarry too.

Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge,
In spight of spight, alone upholds the day. [held.
Pemb. They say, king John, sore sick, hath left the
Enter Melun wounded, and led by soldiers.
Melun. Lead me to the revolts of England here.
Sal. When we were happy, we had other names.
Pemb. It is the count Melun.

Sal. Wounded to death.

[sold:

Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and
Unthread the rude eye of rebellion,

45 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,
He means to recompense the pains you take,
By cutting off your heads: Thus hath he sworn,
50 And I with him, and many more with me,
Upon the altar at Saint Edmund's-bury;
Eyen on that altar where we swore to you
Dear amity and everlasting love.

And so shall you, being beaten : Do but start
An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd,
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine;
Sound but another, and another shall,
As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's ear,
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder: for at hand 55
(Not trusting to this halting-legate here,
Whom he hath us'd rather for sport than need)
Is warlike John; and in his forehead sits

A bare-ribb'd death, whose office is this day
To feast upon whole thousands of the French.

1

Sal. May this be possible! may this be true! Melun. Have I not hideous death within my Retaining but a quantity of life;

[view,

Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire?
What in the world should make me now deceive,
160 Since I must lose the use of all deceit ?

i. e. unbearded sauciness, alluding to the Dauphin's youth. To take the hatch, is to leap the

hatch.

An aiery is the nest of an eagle.

images made by witches.

* Meaning, Faulconbridge. Alluding to the Why