Or have you read, or heard? or could you think? That you do see? could thought, without this object, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, Pem. 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; Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work; Sal. If that it be the work of any hand?— By giving it the worship of revenge. Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words. Enter HUBERT. Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you. Arthur doth live: the king hath sent for you. Sal. O he is bold, and blushes not at death.Avaunt, thou hateful villain! get thee gone. Hub. I am no villain. Sal. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his sword. Bast. Your sword is bright, sir: put it up again. Hub. Stand back, lord Salisbury; stand back, I say: Big. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman? Hub. Not for my life; but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor. 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. If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame, That you shall think the devil is come from hell. Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. Big. Who kill'd this prince? Hub. "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. Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, For villainy is not without such rheum; 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; 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. Hub. Upon my soul, 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 And it shall be as all the ocean, Enough to stifle such a villain up. Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms. I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way 4 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. Pand. Take again [Giving JOHN the Crown. 4 3 The UNOWED interest] i. e. unowned interest; the interest which has no owner. whose cloak and CINCTURE can] We adopt Pope's amendment of the old text, which has center for "cincture," an easy misprint, when we recollect that perhaps the MS., from which the compositor printed, had the word written ceinture, from the French. VOL. IV. G 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 To stop their marches, 'fore we are inflam'd. 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, Upon your oath of service to the pope, Go I to make the French lay down their arms. [Exit. K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the pro phet Say that before Ascension-day at noon, My crown I should give off? Even so I have. I did suppose it should be on constraint; But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary. 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. To offer service to your enemy; |