Thus hath King Richard's fon perform'd his vow,
And offer'd Austria's blood for facrifice

Unto his father's ever-living foul.

Enter King John, Arthur, and Hubert.

:

K. John. There, Hubert, keep this boy. Richard,

My mother is affailed in our tent,

And ta'en, I fear.

Faulc. My Lord, I rescu'd her.
Her Highness is in fafety, fear you not.
But on, my Liege; for very little pains
Will bring this labour to an happy end.

SCENEV.

[make up;

[Exeunt.

:

Alarms, excursions, retreat. Re-enter King John, Elinor, Arthur, Faulconbridge, Hubert, and Lords. K. John. So fhall it be; your Grace shall stay behind [To Elinor.

So strongly guarded. Cousin, look not fad,

[To Arthur.

Thy grandam loves thee, and thy uncle will
As dear be to thee as thy father was.

Arth. O! this will make my mother die with grief. K. John. Cousin, away for England; hafte before, [To Faulconbridge.

And ere our coming fee thou shake the bags
Of hoarding abbots; their imprison'd angels
Set thou at liberty: the fat ribs of peace
Must by the hungry war be fed upon.
Use our commission in its utmost force.

Faulc. Bell, book, and candle, shall not, drive me

When gold and filver beck me to come on.
I leave your Highness. Grandam, I will pray

(If ever I remember to be holy)

For your fair safety; so I kiss your hand.

Eli. Farewel, my gentle coufin.

K. John. Coz, farewel.

[back,

[Exit. Faulc.

Eli. Come hither, little kinsman; -hark, a word.

[Taking him to one side of the stage.

K. John. [to Hubert on the other fide.] Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert, 1 We owe thee much; within this wall of fletben?

There

4

There is a foul counts thee her creditor,
And with advantage means to pay thy love.
And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath
Lives in this bofom, dearly cherished.
Give me thy hand, I had a thing to say
But I will fit it with some better time.
By heaven, Hubert, I'm almost asham'd
To fay what good respect I have of thee.

:

Hub. I am much bounden to your Majesty.
K. John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to say fo

yet,

But thou shalt have-and creep time ne'er so flow,
Yet it shall come for me to do thee good......
• I had a thing to say, but let it go :
• The fun is in the heav'n, and the proud day,
• Attended with the pleasures of the world,
• Is all too wanton, and too full of gawds,
• To give me audience. If the midnight-bel
• Did with his iron tongue and brazen mouth
• Sound one unto the drowsy race of night;

If this fame were a church-yard where we stand,
• And thou poffefsed with a thousand wrongs;
• Or if that furly spirit Melancholy:

• Had bak'd my blood, and made it heavy-thick,
• Which else runs tickling up and down the veins
Making that ideot Laughter keep mens' eyes,

• And ftain their cheeks to idle merriment,

(A paffion hateful to my purposes);

Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes,
Hear me without thine ears, and make reply,..

• Without a tongue, using conceit alone,

:

L

• Without eyes, ears, and harmful found of words,
Then, in despight of broad-ey'd watchful day,....
I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts.
But ah, I will not.'-- Yet I love thee well;.
And, by my troth, I think thou lov'st me well.

Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake
Thơ' that my death were adjunct to my act,
By heav'n I'd do't.

:

K. John. Do not I know thou would'st?

Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

On yon young boy.. I'll tell thee what, my friend,

:..

He is a very ferpent in my way.
And, wherefoe'r this foot of mine doth tread,
He lies before me. Dost thou understand me?

Thou art his keeper.

Hub. And I'll keep him so,

That he shall not offend your Majesty.

K. John. Death.

Hub. My Lord ?

K. John. A grave.

Hub. He shall not live.

K. John. Enough.

I could be merry now. Hubert, I love thee;

Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee:

Remember. Madam, fare you well.

[Returning to the Queen.

I'll send those pow'rs o'er to your Majesty.

Eli. My bleffing go with thee ! K. John. For England, coufin, go. Hubert shall be your man, t'attend on you With all true duty; on toward Calais, ho! [Exeunt.

SCENE VI. Changes to the French court. Enter King Philip, Lewis, Pandulpho, and attendants.

K. Phil. So, by a roaring tempest on the flood,
A whole armado * of collected fail
Is scatter'd, and disjoin'd from fellowship.

Pand. Courage and comfort, all shall yet go well.
K. Phil. What can go well when we have run so ill?
Are we not beaten? Is not Angiers loft?
Arthur ta'en pris'ner? divers dear friends flain?
And bloody England into England gone,
O'er-bearing interruption, spite of France ?

Lewis. What he hath won, that hath he fortify'd: So hot a fpeed with such advice dispos'd, Such temp'rate order in so fierce a course, Doth want example; who hath read or heard Of any kindred action like to this?

* This play was first represented a winter or two after the Spanish invation in 1588. And it abounds with touches relative to the then

Pofture of affairs.

VOL. III.

Tt

K. Phil

K. Phil. Well could I bear that England had this

praife,

So we could find some pattern of our shame. :

Enter Conftance.

Look, who comes here? a grave unto a foul,
Holding th' eternal spirit 'gainst her will
In the vile prison of afflicted breath.

I pr'ythee, Lady, go away with me.

T

1

Con. Lo, now, now fee the issue of your peace.A K. Phil. Patience, good Lady; comfort, gentle Con

stance

Const. No, I defy all counsel and redress,
But that which ends all counsel, true redress,
Death, Death; oh amiable, lovely Death!”
Thou odoriferous stench, found rottenness,
Arise forth from thy couch of lasting night,

Thou hate and terror to profperity,
And I will kiss thy detestable bones;

And put my eye-balls in thy vaulty brows;
And ring these fingers with thy houshold-worms;
And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust,
And be a carrion monster like thyself;

Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smil'st,
And kiss thee as thy wife; mifery's love,

O come to me!

K.Phil. O fair affliction, peace.

1

A

Const. No, no, I will not, having breath to cry; O that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth! Then with a paffion I would shake the world, And rouse froin sleep that fell anatomy, Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice,

And fcorns a modern invocation.

(

Pand. Lady, you utter madness, and not forrow. Conft. Thou art not holy to bely me so; I am not mad; this hair I tear is mine; My name is Constance, I was Geffrey's wife: Young Arthur is my fon, and he is lost! I am not mad.; I would to heaven I were! For then 'tis like I should forget myself.

Oh,

Oh, if I could, what grief should I forget! **
I am not mad; too well, too well I feel
The diff'rent plague of each calamity. +
And, Father Cardinal, I have heard you fay,
That we shall fee and know our friends in heav'n;
If that be, I shall fee my boy again.
For fince the birth of Cain, the first male child,
To him that did but yesterday suspire,
There was not fuch a gracious creature born.
But now will canker forrow eat my bud,
And chase the native beauty from his cheek;
And he will look as hollow as a ghoft;
As dim and meagre as an ague's fit;
And fo he'll die: and, rising so again,
When I shall meet him in the court of heav'n,
I shall not know him; therefore never, never,
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.

Pand. You hold too heinous a respect of grief.

* should I forget!
Preach fome philosophy to make me mad,
And thou shalt be canoniz'd, Cardinal.
Fo, being not mad, but fenable of grief,
My reasonable part produces reason
How I may be deliver'a of these woes,
And teaches me to kill or hang myself.
If I were mad, I should forget my fon,
Or madly think a babe of clouts were he.
I am not mad, &c.

+

- each calamity.

:

1

K. Phil. Bind up those treffes. O, what love I note

In the fair multitude of those her hairs;

Where but by chance a fi ver drop hath fall'n,

Ev'n to that drop ten thousand wiery friends

Do glew themselves in fociable griet;

Like true, infeparable, faithful loves,

Sticking together in calamity.

4

!

3

A

A

TA

Conft. To. England, if you will.

K. Phil. Bind up your nairs.

Conft. Yes, that I will; and wherefore will I do it;

I tore them from their bonds, and cry'dakid,

O, that these hands could to redeem my fon,

As they have given thete hairs their libertydut nanay

But now I envy at their liberty,

i

And will again commit them to their bonds;

Because my poor child is a prifoner.

And, Father Cardinal, &c.