King John/Henry VIII (Signet Classics) Read online

  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 forced99 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 gentlem
an.

  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 fixed, 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 embattailed 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 account223 '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 endeared 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 purposed,

  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!

  My nobles leave me, and my state is braved250,

  Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers;

  Nay, in the body of this fleshly land252,

  This kingdom, this confine253 of blood and breath,

  Hostility and civil tumult254 reigns

  Between my conscience and my cousin's death.

  HUBERT 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 maiden259 and an innocent hand,

  Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.

  Within this bosom never entered yet

  The dreadful motion262 of a murderous thought;

  And you have slandered nature in my form263,

  Which, howsoever rude exteriorly264,

  Is yet the cover of a fairer mind

  Than to be butcher of an innocent child.

  KING JOHN Doth Arthur live? O, haste thee to the peers:

  Throw268 this report on their incensed rage,

  And make them tame269 to their obedience.

  Forgive the comment that my passion made

  Upon thy feature, for my rage was blind,

  And foul imaginary eyes of blood272

  Presented thee more hideous than thou art.

  O, answer not, but to my closet274 bring

  The angry lords with all expedient haste.

  I conjure276 thee but slowly: run more fast.

  Exeunt

  Act 4 Scene 3

  running scene 8

  Enter Arthur, on the walls

  Disguised as a ship-boy

  ARTHUR 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,

  This ship-boy's semblance hath disguised me quite4.

  I am afraid, and yet I'll venture5 it.

  If I get down, and do not break my limbs,

  I'll find a thousand shifts7 to get away:

  He leaps down

  As good to die and go, as die and stay8.

  O me! My uncle's spirit is in these stones:

  Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones!

  Dies

  Enter Pembroke, Salisbury and Bigot

  SALISBURY Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury11:

  It is our safety12, and we must embrace

  This gentle13 offer of the perilous time.

  PEMBROKE Who brought that letter from the cardinal?

  SALISBURY The count Melun, a noble lord of France,

  Whose private16 with me of the dauphin's love

  Is much more general17 than these lines import.

  BIGOT Tomorrow morning let us meet him then.

  SALISBURY Or rather then set forward; for 'twill be

  Two long days' journey, lords, or ere we20 meet.

  Enter [the] Bastard

  BASTARD Once more today well met, distempered21 lords:

  The king by me requests your presence straight22.

  SALISBURY The king hath dispossessed himself23 of us:

  We will not line his thin bestained cloak24

  With our pure honours, nor attend the foot25

  That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks.

  Return and tell him so: we know the worst.

  BASTARD Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best.

  SALISBURY Our griefs, and not our manners, reason29 now.

  BASTARD But there is little reason in your grief.

  Therefore 'twere reason you had manners now.

  PEMBROKE Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege32.

  BASTARD 'Tis true, to hurt his master, no man's else33.

  Sees Arthur's body

  SALISBURY This is the prison. What is he lies here?

  PEMBROKE O, death, made proud with pure and princely beauty:

  The earth had not a hole to hide this deed.

  SALISBURY Murder, as37 hating what himself hath done,

  Doth lay it open38 to urge on revenge.

  BIGOT Or whe39n he doomed this beauty to a grave,

&
nbsp; Found it too precious-princely for a grave.

  SALISBURY Sir Richard, what think you? You have beheld41,

  Or have you read, or heard: or could you think,

  Or do you almost think43, although you see,

  That you do see? Could thought, without this object44,

  Form such another? This is the very top,

  The height, the crest46, or crest unto the crest,

  Of murder's arms47: this is the bloodiest shame,

  The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,

  That ever wall-eyed49 wrath or staring rage

  Presented to the tears of soft remorse50.

  PEMBROKE All murders past do stand excused in51 this:

  And this, so sole52 and so unmatchable,

  Shall give a holiness, a purity,

  To the yet unbegotten sin of times54,

  And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,

  Exampled by this heinous56 spectacle.

  BASTARD It is a damned and a bloody work:

  The graceless action of a heavy58 hand,

  If that it be the work of any hand.

  SALISBURY If that it be the work of any hand?

  We had a kind of light61 what would ensue:

  It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand,

  The practice63 and the purpose of the king:

  From whose obedience I forbid my soul,

  Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life,

  And breathing to his breathless66 excellence

  The incense67 of a vow, a holy vow:

  Never to taste the pleasures of the world,

  Never to be infected69 with delight,

  Nor conversant with ease and idleness,

  Till I have set71 a glory to this hand,

  By giving it the worship72 of revenge.

  PEMBROKE AND BIGOT Our souls religiously confirm73 thy words.

  Enter Hubert

  HUBERT Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you:

  Arthur doth live: the king hath sent for you.

  SALISBURY O, he is bold, and blushes not at death.--

  Avaunt77, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!

  HUBERT I am no villain.