King John

SCENE 2

England. KING JOHN'S palace

Enter KING JOHN, PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and other LORDS

  KING JOHN. Here once again we sit, once again crown'd,

    And look'd upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.

  PEMBROKE. This once again, but that your Highness pleas'd,

    Was once superfluous: you were crown'd before,

    And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off,

    The faiths of men ne'er stained with revolt;

    Fresh expectation troubled not the land

    With any long'd-for change or better state.

  SALISBURY. Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp,

    To guard a title that was rich before,

    To gild refined 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-light

    To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,

    Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

  PEMBROKE. But that your royal pleasure must be done,

    This act is as an ancient tale new told

    And, in the last repeating, troublesome,

    Being urged at a time unseasonable.

  SALISBURY. In this the antique and well-noted face

    Of plain old form is much disfigured;

    And like a shifted wind unto a sail

    It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about,

    Startles and frights consideration,

    Makes sound opinion sick, and truth suspected,

    For putting on so new a fashion'd robe.

  PEMBROKE. When workmen strive to do better than well,

    They do confound their skill in covetousness;

    And oftentimes excusing of a fault

    Doth make the fault the worse by th' excuse,

    As patches set upon a little breach

    Discredit more in hiding of the fault

    Than did the fault before it was so patch'd.

  SALISBURY. To this effect, before you were new-crown'd,

    We breath'd our counsel; but it pleas'd your Highness

    To overbear it; and we are all well pleas'd,

    Since all and every part of what we would

    Doth make a stand at what your Highness will.

  KING JOHN. Some reasons of this double coronation

    I have possess'd you with, and think them strong;

    And more, more strong, when lesser is my fear,

    I shall indue you with. Meantime but ask

    What you would have reform'd 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 tongue of these,

    To sound the purposes of all their hearts,

    Both for myself and them- but, chief of all,

    Your safety, for the which myself and them

    Bend their best studies, heartily request

    Th' enfranchisement of Arthur, whose restraint

    Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent

    To break into this dangerous argument:

    If what in rest you have in right you hold,

    Why then your fears-which, as they say, attend

    The steps of wrong-should move you to mew up

    Your tender kinsman, and to choke his days

    With barbarous ignorance, and deny his youth

    The rich advantage of good exercise?

    That the time's enemies may not have this

    To grace occasions, let it be our suit

    That you have bid us ask his liberty;

    Which for our goods we do no further ask

    Than whereupon our weal, on you depending,

    Counts it your weal he have his liberty.

  KING JOHN. Let it be so. I do commit his youth

    To your direction.

Enter HUBERT

    Hubert, what news with you?

  PEMBROKE. This is the man should do the bloody deed:

    He show'd his warrant to a friend of mine;

    The image of a wicked heinous fault

    Lives in his eye; that close aspect of his

    Doth show the mood of a much troubled breast,

    And I do fearfully believe 'tis done

    What we so fear'd he had a charge to do.

  SALISBURY. The colour of the King doth come and go

    Between his purpose and his conscience,

    Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set.

    His passion is so ripe it needs must break.

  PEMBROKE. And when it breaks, I fear will issue thence

    The foul corruption of a sweet child's death.

  KING 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.

  SALISBURY. Indeed, we fear'd 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 answer'd either here or hence.

  KING 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?

  SALISBURY. It is apparent foul-play; and 'tis shame

    That greatness should so grossly offer it.

    So thrive it in your game! 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 forced grave.

    That blood which ow'd the breadth of all this isle

    Three foot of it doth hold-bad world the while!

    This must not be thus borne: this will break out

    To all our sorrows, and ere long I doubt. Exeunt

LORDS

  KING JOHN. They burn in indignation. I repent.

    There is no sure foundation set on blood,

    No certain life achiev'd by others' death.

Enter a MESSENGER

    A fearful 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 weather-how goes all in France?

  MESSENGER. From France to England. Never such a pow'r

    For any foreign preparation

    Was levied in the body of a land.

    The copy of your speed is learn'd by them,

    For when you should be told they do prepare,

    The tidings comes that they are all arriv'd.

  KING 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?

  MESSENGER. My liege, her ear

    Is stopp'd with dust: the first of April died

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

    The Lady Constance in a frenzy died

    Three days before; but this from rumour's tongue

    I idly heard-if true or false I know not.

  KING JOHN. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion!

    O, make a league with me, till I have pleas'd

    My discontented peers! What! mother dead!

    How wildly then walks my estate in France!

    Under whose conduct came those pow'rs of France

    That thou for truth giv'st out are landed here?

  MESSENGER. Under the Dauphin.

  KING JOHN. Thou hast made me giddy

    With these in tidings.

Enter the BASTARD and PETER OF POMFRET

    Now! What says the world

    To your proceedings? Do not seek to stuff

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

  BASTARD. But if you be afear'd to hear the worst,

    Then let the worst, unheard, fall on your head.

  KING JOHN. Bear with me, cousin, for I was amaz'd

    Under the tide; but now I breathe again

    Aloft the flood, and can give audience

    To any tongue, speak it of what it will.

  BASTARD. How I have sped among the clergymen

    The sums I have collected shall express.

    But as I travell'd hither through the land,

    I find the people strangely fantasied;

    Possess'd with rumours, full of idle 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 heels;

    To whom he sung, in rude harsh-sounding rhymes,

    That, ere the next Ascension-day at noon,

    Your Highness should deliver up 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 hang'd.

    Deliver him to safety; and return,

    For I must use thee.

Exit HUBERT with PETER

    O my gentle cousin,

    Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arriv'd?

  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, whom they say is kill'd to-night

    On your suggestion.

  KING JOHN. Gentle kinsman, go

    And thrust thyself into their companies.

    I have a way to will their loves again;

    Bring them before me.

  BASTARD. I Will seek them out.

  KING JOHN. Nay, but make haste; the better foot before.

    O, let me have no subject enemies

    When adverse foreigners affright my towns

    With dreadful pomp of stout invasion!

    Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels,

    And fly like thought from them to me again.

  BASTARD. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed.

  KING JOHN. Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman.

Exit BASTARD

    Go after him; for he perhaps shall need

    Some messenger betwixt me and the peers;

    And be thou he.

  MESSENGER. With all my heart, my liege.

Exit

  KING JOHN. My mother dead!

Re-enter HUBERT

  HUBERT. My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night;

    Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about

    The other four in wondrous motion.

  KING JOHN. Five moons!

  HUBERT. Old men and beldams in the streets

    Do prophesy upon it dangerously;

    Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths;

    And when they talk of him, they shake their heads,

    And whisper one another in the ear;

    And he that speaks doth gripe the hearer's wrist,

    Whilst he that hears makes fearful action

    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 feet,

    Told of a many thousand warlike French

    That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent.

    Another lean unwash'd artificer

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

  KING JOHN. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears?

    Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death?

    Thy hand hath murd'red him. I had a mighty cause

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

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

  KING 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

    Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns

    More upon humour than advis'd respect.

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

  KING JOHN. O, when the last account '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 do ill deeds

    Make deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by,

    A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd,

    Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame,

    This murder had not come into my mind;

    But, taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect,

    Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,

    Apt, liable to be employ'd in danger,

    I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death;

    And thou, to be endeared to a king,

    Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.

  HUBERT. My lord-

  KING JOHN. Hadst thou but shook thy head or made 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 those thy fears might have wrought fears in me.

    But thou didst understand me by my signs,

    And didst in signs again parley with sin;

    Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,

    And consequently thy rude 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 braved,

    Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign pow'rs;

    Nay, in the body of the fleshly land,

    This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,

    Hostility and civil tumult 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 maiden and an innocent hand,

    Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.

    Within this bosom never ent'red yet

    The dreadful motion of a murderous thought

    And you have slander'd nature in my form,

    Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,

    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,

    Throw this report on their incensed rage

    And make them tame to their obedience!

    Forgive the comment that my passion made

    Upon thy feature; for my rage was blind,

    And foul imaginary eyes of blood

    Presented thee more hideous than thou art.

    O, answer not; but to my closet bring

    The angry lords with all expedient haste.

    I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast.

Exeunt

SCENE 3

England. Before the castle

Enter ARTHUR, on the walls

  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 disguis'd me quite.

    I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it.

    If I get down and do not break my limbs,

    I'll find a thousand shifts to get away.

    As good to die and go, as die and stay. [Leaps

down]

    O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones.

    Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones!

Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BIGOT

  SALISBURY. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury;

    It is our safety, and we must embrace

    This gentle offer of the perilous time.

  PEMBROKE. Who brought that letter from the Cardinal?

  SALISBURY. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France,

    Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love

    Is much more general than these lines import.

  BIGOT. To-morrow morning let us meet him then.

  SALISBURY. Or rather then set forward; for 'twill be

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

Enter the BASTARD

  BASTARD. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords!

    The King by me requests your presence straight.

  SALISBURY. The King hath dispossess'd himself of us.

    We will not line his thin bestained cloak

    With our pure honours, nor attend the foot

    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, reason now.

  BASTARD. But there is little reason in your grief;

    Therefore 'twere reason you had manners now.

  PEMBROKE. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege.

  BASTARD. 'Tis true-to hurt his master, no man else.

  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, as hating what himself hath done,

    Doth lay it open to urge on revenge.

  BIGOT. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave,

    Found it too precious-princely for a grave.

  SALISBURY. Sir Richard, what think you? Have you beheld,

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

    Or do you almost think, although you see,

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

    Form such another? This is the very top,

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

    Of murder's arms; this is the bloodiest shame,

    The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,

    That ever wall-ey'd wrath or staring rage

    Presented to the tears of soft remorse.

  PEMBROKE. All murders past do stand excus'd in this;

    And this, so sole and so unmatchable,

    Shall give a holiness, a purity,

    To the yet unbegotten sin of times,

    And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,

    Exampled by this heinous spectacle.

  BASTARD. It is a damned and a bloody work;

    The graceless action of a heavy 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 light what would ensue.

    It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand;

    The practice and the purpose of the King;

    From whose obedience I forbid my soul

    Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life,

    And breathing to his breathless excellence

    The incense of a vow, a holy vow,

    Never to taste the pleasures of the world,

    Never to be infected with delight,

    Nor conversant with ease and idleness,

    Till I have set a glory to this hand

    By giving it the worship of revenge.

  PEMBROKE. and BIGOT. Our souls religiously confirm 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!

    Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!

  HUBERT. I am no villain.

  SALISBURY. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his

sword]

  BASTARD. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.

  SALISBURY. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin.

  HUBERT. Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand back, I say;

    By heaven, I think my sword's as sharp as yours.

    I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,

    Nor tempt the danger of my true defence;

    Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget

    Your worth, your greatness and nobility.

  BIGOT. Out, dunghill! Dar'st thou brave a nobleman?

  HUBERT. Not for my life; but yet I dare defend

    My innocent life against an emperor.

  SALISBURY. Thou art a murderer.

  HUBERT. Do not prove me so.

    Yet I am none. Whose tongue soe'er speaks false,

    Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.

  PEMBROKE. Cut him to pieces.

  BASTARD. Keep the peace, I say.

  SALISBURY. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge.

  BASTARD. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury.

    If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,

    Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,

    I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;

    Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron

    That you shall think the devil is come from hell.

  BIGOT. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge?

    Second a villain and a murderer?

  HUBERT. Lord Bigot, I am none.

  BIGOT. Who kill'd this prince?

  HUBERT. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well.

    I honour'd him, I lov'd him, and will weep

    My date of life out for his sweet life's loss.

  SALISBURY. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes,

    For villainy is not without such rheum;

    And he, long traded in it, makes it seem

    Like rivers of remorse and innocency.

    Away with me, all you whose souls abhor

    Th' uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house;

    For I am stifled with this smell of sin.

  BIGOT. Away toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!

  PEMBROKE. There tell the King he may inquire us out.

Exeunt LORDS

  BASTARD. 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,

    Art thou damn'd, Hubert.

  HUBERT. Do but hear me, sir.

  BASTARD. Ha! I'll tell thee what:

    Thou'rt damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black-

    Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer;

    There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell

    As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child.

  HUBERT. Upon my soul-

  BASTARD. If thou didst but consent

    To this most cruel act, do but despair;

    And if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread

    That ever spider twisted from her womb

    Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be a beam

    To hang thee on; or wouldst thou drown thyself,

    Put but a little water in a spoon

    And it shall be as all the ocean,

    Enough to stifle such a villain up

    I do suspect thee very grievously.

  HUBERT. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought,

    Be guilty of the stealing that