Nor tempt the danger of my true defence; Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend Sal. Thou art a murderer. Hub. Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none: Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. Pemb. Cut him to pieces. Bast. Keep the peace, If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, Second a villain, and a murderer? Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his 5 eyes, true defence;] Honest defence; defence in a good cause. 6 Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer. 7 Like rivers of remorse-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity. Away, with Big. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! Pem. There, tell the king, he may inquire us out. [Exeunt Lords. Bast. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this fair work? Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, Hub. Do but hear me, sir. Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what; Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black; As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child. Bast. If thou didst but consent To this most cruel act, do but despair, And, if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread 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, 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 him well. Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms.I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way 8 Among the thorns and dangers of this world. How easy dost thou take all England up! From forth this morsel of dead royalty, 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 unowed interest' of proud-swelling state. Now, for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty, Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest, And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace: Now powers from home, and discontents at home, Meet in one line; and vast confusion waits (As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast,) The imminent decay of wrested pomp.* Now happy he, whose cloak and cincture can Hold out this tempest. Bear away that child, And follow me with speed; I'll to the king: A thousand businesses are brief in hand, And heaven itself doth frown upon the land. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter King JOHN, PANDULPH with the Crown, and Attendants. K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand The circle of my glory. 9 To tug and scamble,] Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. The unowed interest-] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. • The imminent decay of wrested pomp.] i. e. greatness obtained by violence; or rather, greatness wrested from its possessor. Pand. Take again [Giving JOHN the Crown. From this my hand, as holding of the pope, Your sovereign greatness and authority. K. John. Now keep your holy word: go meet the And from his holiness use all your power Then pause not; for the present time's so sick, Or overthrow incurable ensues. Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest up, Upon your stubborn usage of the pope: But, since you are a gentle convertite, My tongue shall hush again this storm of war, Go I to make the French lay down their arms. [Exit. K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the prophet Say, that, before Ascension-day at noon, But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary. 3 a gentle convertite,] A convertite is a convert. Enter the Bastard. Bast. All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds out, But Dover castle: London hath receiv'd, Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers: And wild amazement hurries up and down K. John. Would not my lords return to me again, After they heard young Arthur was alive? Bast. They found him dead, and cast into the streets; An empty casket, where the jewel of life Bast. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew. And fright him there? and make him tremble there? |