He show'd bis warrant to, a friend of mine : What we so fear'd he had a charge to do. Sal. The colour of the king doth come and go, Pemb. 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. Pemb. Indeed, we heard how near his death he was, Before the child himself felt he was sick : 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 'tis shame, That greatness should so grossly offer it: So thrive it in your game! and so farewell. Pemb. Stay yet, lord Salisbury; I'll go with thee, That blood, which ow'd the breath of all this isle, No certain life achiev'd by other's death. 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? Mess. From France to England.-Never such a power [3] The king asks how all goes in France, the messenger catches the word goes, and answers, that whatever is in France goes now into England. JOHNSON For any foreign preparation, Was levied in the body of a land! The copy of your speed is learn'd by them; 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? That such an army could be drawn in France, And she not hear of it? Mess. My liege, her ear Is stopp'd with dust; the first of April, died Three days before: but this from rumour's tongue K. John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion! Enter the Bastard, and PETER of POMFRET. With these ill tidings.-Now, what says the world Bast. But, if you be afeard to hear the worst, K. John. Bear with me, cousin; for I was amaz'd1 Bast. How I have sped among the clergymen, [4] i. e. stunned, confounded. STEEVENS. [5] This man was a hermit in great repute with the common people. Notwithstanding the event is said to have fallen out as he had prophesied, the poor fellow From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found Your highness should deliver up your crown. K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so? Peter. Fore-knowing that the truth will fall out so. K. John. Hubert, away with him: imprison him ; And on that day at noon, whereon, he says, 1 shall yield up my crown, let him be 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 it: Besides, I met lord Bigot, and lord Salisbury, K. John. Gentle kinsman, go, And thrust thyself into their companies : Bast. I will seek them out. K. John. Nay, but make haste; the better foot before.O, let me have no subject enemies, When adverse foreigners affright my towns And fly, like thought, from them to me again. Bast. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. [Exit. K. John. Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman. Go after him; for he, perhaps, shall need And be thou he. Mess. With all my heart, my liege. [Exit. K. John. My mother dead! was inhumanly dragged at horses' tails through the streets of Warham, and together with his son, who appears to have been even more innocent than his father, hanged afterwards upon a gibbet. DOUCE. 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 wond'rous motion. K. John. Five moons? Hub. Old men, and beldams, in the streets Do prophecy upon it dangerously: Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths : 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 fears? Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death? Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had mighty cause Hub. Had none, my lord! why, did you not provoke me? 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, To understand a law; to know the meaning Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did. Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal Witness against us to damnation! [6] i. e. deliberate consideration, reflection. STEEVENS. How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds, mind : I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death: Made it no conscience to destroy a prince. Hub. My lord K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head, or made a pause, When I spake darkly what I purposed; Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face, As bid me tell my tale in express words ; Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off, And didst in signs again parley with sin; The deed, which both our tongues held vile to name. This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath, Between my conscience, and my cousin's death. [7] Quoted, i. e. observed, distinguished. STEEVENS. [8] There are many touches of nature in this conference of John with Hubert. A man engaged in wickedness would keep the profit to himself, and transfer the guilt to his accomplice. These reproaches, vented against Hubert, are not the words of art or policy, but the eruptions of a mind swelling with consciousness of a crime, and desirous of discharging its misery on another. This account of the timidity of guilt is drawn ab ipsis recessibus mentis, from the intimate knowledge of nankind, particularly that line in which he says, that to have bid him tell his tale in express words, would have struck him dumb: nothing is more certain than that bad men use all the arts of fallacy upon themselves, palliate their actions to their own minds by gentle terms, and hide themselves from their own detection in am biguities and subterfuges. JOHNSON. |