King John & Henry VIII Read online

  HUBERT Come, boy, prepare yourself.

  ARTHUR Is there no remedy97?

  HUBERT None, but to lose your eyes.

  ARTHUR O heaven, that there were but a mote99 in yours,

  A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair,

  Any annoyance in that precious sense101:

  Then feeling what small things are boisterous102 there,

  Your vile intent must needs seem horrible.

  HUBERT Is this your promise? Go to104, hold your tongue.

  ARTHUR Hubert, the utterance of a brace105 of tongues

  Must needs want pleading106 for a pair of eyes:

  Let me not107 hold my tongue: let me not, Hubert:

  Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,

  So I may keep mine eyes. O, spare mine eyes,

  Though to no use but still110 to look on you.

  Lo, by my troth111, the instrument is cold

  And would not harm me.

  HUBERT I can heat it, boy.

  ARTHUR No, in good sooth114: the fire is dead with grief,

  Being create115 for comfort, to be used

  In undeserved extremes: see else116 yourself:

  There is no malice in this burning coal:

  The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,

  And strewed repentant ashes on his head.

  HUBERT But with my breath I can revive it, boy.

  ARTHUR An if you do, you will but121 make it blush

  And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert:

  Nay, it perchance will sparkle in123 your eyes,

  And, like a dog that is compelled to fight,

  Snatch at his master that doth tarre125 him on.

  All things that you should use to do me wrong

  Deny their office127: only you do lack

  That mercy, which fierce fire and iron extends128,

  Creatures of note for mercy, lacking uses129.

  HUBERT Well, see to live: I will not touch thine eye

  For all the treasure that thine uncle owes131:

  Yet am I sworn and I did purpose132, boy,

  With this same very iron to burn them out.

  ARTHUR O, now you look like Hubert. All this while

  You were disguisèd.

  HUBERT Peace; no more. Adieu.

  Your uncle must not know but137 you are dead.

  I’ll fill these doggèd138 spies with false reports:

  And, pretty child, sleep doubtless139, and secure,

  That Hubert for the wealth of all the world,

  Will not offend141 thee.

  ARTHUR O heaven! I thank you, Hubert.

  HUBERT Silence, no more: go closely143 in with me.

  Much danger do I undergo for thee.

  Exeunt

  Act 4 Scene 2

  running scene 7

  Enter King John, Pembroke, Salisbury and other Lords

  King John ascends the throne

  KING JOHN Here once again we sit: once again crowned,

  And looked upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.

  PEMBROKE This ‘once again’, but that your highness pleased,

  Was once4 superfluous: you were crowned before,

  And that high royalty was ne’er plucked off:

  The faiths of men ne’er stainèd with revolt:

  Fresh7 expectation troubled not the land

  With any longed-for change or better state8.

  SALISBURY Therefore, to be possessed with double pomp9,

  To guard10 a title that was rich before,

  To gild11 refinèd gold, to paint the lily,

  To throw a perfume on the violet,

  To smooth the ice, or add another hue

  Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light14

  To seek the beauteous eye of heaven15 to garnish,

  Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

  PEMBROKE But that your royal pleasure17 must be done,

  This act is as an ancient tale new told,

  And, in the last repeating, troublesome,

  Being urgèd at a time unseasonable20.

  SALISBURY In this the antique and well-noted21 face

  Of plain old form is much disfigurèd22,

  And, like a shifted23 wind unto a sail,

  It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about24,

  Startles and frights consideration25,

  Makes sound26 opinion sick and truth suspected,

  For putting on so new a fashioned27 robe.

  PEMBROKE When workmen strive to do better than well,

  They do confound29 their skill in covetousness,

  And oftentimes excusing of a fault30

  Doth make the fault the worse by th’excuse:

  As patches set upon a little breach32

  Discredit33 more in hiding of the fault

  Than did the fault before it was so patched.

  SALISBURY To this effect, before you were new crowned35,

  We breathed36 our counsel: but it pleased your highness

  To overbear37 it, and we are all well pleased,

  Since all and every part of what we would

  Doth make a stand at39 what your highness will.

  KING JOHN Some reasons of this double coronation

  I have possessed you with41, and think them strong.

  And more, more strong, than lesser is my fear42,

  I shall indue43 you with: meantime but ask

  What you would have reformed that is not well,

  And well shall you perceive how willingly

  I will both hear and grant you your requests.

  PEMBROKE Then I, as one that am the tongue47 of these,

  To sound48 the purposes of all their hearts,

  Both for myself and them, but chief of all

  Your safety, for the which myself and them50

  Bend their best studies51, heartily request

  Th’enfranchisement52 of Arthur, whose restraint

  Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent

  To break into this dangerous argument:

  If what in rest you have, in right55 you hold,

  Why then your fears, which, as they say, attend56

  The steps of wrong, should move you to mew up57

  Your tender58 kinsman, and to choke his days

  With barbarous ignorance and deny his youth

  The rich advantage of good exercise60.

  That the time’s enemies may not have this61

  To grace occasions, let it be our suit62

  That you have bid us ask his liberty,

  Which for our goods64 we do no further ask

  Than, whereupon our weal65 on you depending

  Counts66 it your weal, he have his liberty.

  Enter Hubert

  KING JOHN Let it be so: I do commit67 his youth

  To your direction68.—

  Taking him to one side

  Hubert, what news with you?

  PEMBROKE This is the man should do70 the bloody deed:

  He showed his warrant to a friend of mine:

  The image of a wicked heinous72 fault

  Lives in his eye: that close aspect73 of his

  Do74 show the mood of a much troubled breast,

  And I do fearfully believe ’tis done,

  What we so feared he had a charge76 to do.

  SALISBURY The colour77 of the king doth come and go

  Between his purpose and his conscience,

  Like heralds ’twixt two dreadful battles79 set:

  His passion is so ripe, it needs must break80.

  PEMBROKE And when it breaks, I fear will issue thence

  The foul corruption of a sweet child’s death.

  KING JOHN We cannot hold83 mortality’s strong hand.—

  To Lords

  Good lords, although my will to give84 is living,

  The suit which you demand is gone and dead.

  He tells us Arthur is deceased tonight86.

  SALISBURY Indeed we feared his sickness was past cure.
/>
  PEMBROKE Indeed we heard how near his death he was

  Before the child himself felt he was sick:

  This must be answered either here or hence90.

  KING JOHN Why do you bend such solemn brows91 on me?

  Think you I bear the shears of destiny92?

  Have I commandment on93 the pulse of life?

  SALISBURY It is apparent94 foul play, and ’tis shame

  That greatness should so grossly offer95 it:

  So thrive it in your game96, and so farewell.

  PEMBROKE Stay yet, Lord Salisbury: I’ll go with thee,

  And find th’inheritance of this poor child,

  His little kingdom of a forcèd99 grave.

  That blood which owed100 the breadth of all this isle,

  Three foot of it doth hold: bad world the while101:

  This must not be thus borne: this will break out

  To all our sorrows, and ere long I doubt103.

  Exeunt [Lords]

  KING JOHN They burn in indignation: I repent:

  There is no sure foundation set105 on blood:

  No certain life achieved by others’ death.

  Enter [a] Messenger

  A fearful107 eye thou hast. Where is that blood

  That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks?

  So foul a sky clears not without a storm:

  Pour down thy weather110: how goes all in France?

  MESSENGER From France to England: never such a power111

  For any foreign preparation112

  Was levied in the body113 of a land.

  The copy114 of your speed is learned by them:

  For when you should be told they do prepare,

  The tidings comes that they are all arrived.

  KING JOHN O, where hath our intelligence117 been drunk?

  Where hath it slept? Where is my mother’s care118,

  That such an army could be drawn119 in France,

  And she not hear of it?

  MESSENGER My liege, her ear

  Is stopped with dust: the first of April died

  Your noble mother; and as I hear, my lord,

  The lady Constance in a frenzy124 died

  Three days before: but this from Rumour’s tongue

  I idly126 heard: if true or false I know not.

  KING JOHN Withhold thy speed, dreadful Occasion127:

  O, make a league128 with me, till I have pleased

  My discontented peers. What? Mother dead?

  How wildly then walks my estate130 in France!—

  Under whose conduct131 came those powers of France

  That thou for truth giv’st out132 are landed here?

  MESSENGER Under the dauphin.

  KING JOHN Thou hast made me giddy

  With these ill tidings.

  Enter [the] Bastard and Peter of Pomfret

  Now, what says the world

  To your proceedings136? Do not seek to stuff

  My head with more ill news, for it is full.

  BASTARD But if you be afeard138 to hear the worst,

  Then let the worst unheard fall on your head139.

  KING JOHN Bear with me cousin, for I was amazed140

  Under the tide141: but now I breathe again

  Aloft142 the flood, and can give audience

  To any tongue, speak it of what it will.

  BASTARD How I have sped144 among the clergymen,

  The sums I have collected shall express145:

  But as I travelled hither through the land,

  I find the people strangely fantasied147:

  Possessed with rumours, full of idle148 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 heels152:

  To whom he sung in rude153 harsh-sounding rhymes,

  That ere the next Ascension Day154 at noon,

  Your highness should deliver up155 your crown.

  KING JOHN Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so?

  PETER Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so.

  KING JOHN Hubert, away with him: imprison him,

  And on that day at noon, whereon he says

  I shall yield up my crown, let him be hanged.

  Deliver him to safety161, and return,

  For I must use thee.—

  [Exeunt Hubert and Peter]

  O my gentle cousin,

  Hear’st thou the news abroad163, who are arrived?

  BASTARD The French, my lord: men’s mouths are full of it.

  Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury,

  With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,

  And others more, going to seek the grave

  Of Arthur, who they say is killed tonight168

  On your suggestion169.

  KING JOHN Gentle kinsman, go,

  And thrust thyself into their companies.

  I have a way to win their loves again:

  Bring them before me.

  BASTARD I will seek them out.

  KING JOHN Nay, but make haste: the better foot before175.

  O, let me have no subject enemies176,

  When adverse177 foreigners affright my towns

  With dreadful pomp of stout178 invasion.

  Be Mercury179, set feathers to thy heels,

  And fly like thought from them to me again.

  BASTARD The spirit of the time181 shall teach me speed.

  Exit

  KING JOHN Spoke like a sprightful182 noble gentleman.

  Go after him: for he perhaps shall need

  Some messenger betwixt184 me and the peers,

  And be thou he.

  MESSENGER With all my heart, my liege.

  [Exit]

  KING JOHN My mother dead!

  Enter Hubert

  HUBERT My lord, they say five moons were seen tonight188:

  Four fixèd, and the fifth did whirl about

  The other four in wondrous190 motion.

  KING JOHN Five moons?

  HUBERT Old men and beldams192 in the streets

  Do prophesy upon it193 dangerously:

  Young Arthur’s death is common in their mouths,

  And when they talk of him, they shake their heads

  And whisper one196 another in the ear.

  And he that speaks doth grip the hearer’s wrist,

  Whilst he that hears makes fearful action198,

  With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.

  I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,

  The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,

  With open mouth swallowing a tailor’s news,

  Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,

  Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste

  Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet205,

  Told of a many thousand206 warlike French

  That were embattailèd and ranked207 in Kent.

  Another lean, unwashed artificer208

  Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur’s death.

  KING JOHN Why seek’st thou to possess210 me with these fears?

  Why urgest thou so oft211 young Arthur’s death?

  Thy hand hath murdered him: I had a mighty cause212

  To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.

  HUBERT No had, my lord! Why, did you not provoke214 me?

  KING JOHN It is the curse of kings to be attended

  By slaves that take their humours216 for a warrant

  To break within the bloody house of life217,

  And on the winking218 of authority

  To understand a law219, to know the meaning

  Of dangerous majesty, when perchance220 it frowns

  More upon humour than advised respect221.

  He shows a paper

  HUBERT Here is your hand222 and seal for what I did.

  KING JOHN O, when the last account22
3 ’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 do226 ill deeds

  Make deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by227,

  A fellow by the hand of nature marked228,

  Quoted and signed229 to do a deed of shame,

  This murder had not come into my mind.

  But taking note of thy abhorred aspect231,

  Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,

  Apt, liable233 to be employed in danger,

  I faintly broke234 with thee of Arthur’s death:

  And thou, to be endearèd to a king,

  Made it no conscience236 to destroy a prince.

  HUBERT My lord—

  KING JOHN Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause

  When I spake darkly239 what I purposèd,

  Or turned an eye of doubt upon my face,

  As bid me tell my tale in express241 words,

  Deep shame had242 struck me dumb, made me break off,

  And those thy fears might have wrought243 fears in me.

  But thou didst understand me by my signs

  And didst in signs again parley245 with sin:

  Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,

  And consequently thy rude247 hand to act

  The deed, which both our tongues held vile to name.

  Out of my sight, and never see me more!