Arth. O heaven !-I thank you, Hubert. SCENE II. [Exeunt. The same. A Room of State in the Palace. Enter King JOHN, crowned; PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and other Lords. The King takes his State. K.John. Here once again we sit, once again crown'd, And look'd upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes. Pemb. This once again, but that your highness pleas'd, Was once superfluous: 7 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. Sal. Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp, To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish, Pemb. 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. Sal. 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; Makes sound opinion sick, and truth suspected, For putting on so new a fashion'd robe. Pemb. 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 the excuse; [7] This one time more was one time more than enough. STEEV JOHNS. It should be remembered, that King John was at present crowned for the fourth time. [8] To guard, is to fringe. JOHN [9] i. e. not by their avarice, but in an eager emulation, an intense desire of excelling. THEOBALD. As patches, set upon a little breach, Than did the fault before it was so patch'd. Sal. To this effect, before you were new-crown'd We breath'd our counsel: but it pleas'd your highness To over-bear 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. K. John. Some reasons of this double coronation K. John. Let it be so; I do commit his youth To your direction.-Hubert, what news with you? [:] To declare, to publish the desires of all those. JOHNS. [2] in the middle ages, the whole education of princes and noble youths consisted in martial exercises, &c. These could not be easily had in a prison, where mental improvements might have been afforded as well as any where else; but this sort of education never entered into the thoughts of our active, warlike, but illiterate nobility. PERCY. He show'd his warrant to a friend of mine: What we so fear'd he had a charge to do. Sal. The colour of the king doth come and go, Pemb. And, when it breaks, I fear, will issue thence The foul corruption of a sweet child's death. K. 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. Sal. Indeed, we fear'd, his sickness was past cure. Pemb. 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. K. 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? Sal. It is apparent foul-play; and 'tis shame, Pemb. Stay yet, lord Salisbury; I'll go with thee, That blood, which ow'd the breath of all this isle, There is no sure foundation set on blood; A fearful eye thou hast; Where is that blood, [3] The king asks how all goes in France, the messenger catches the word goes, and answers, that whatever is in France goes now into England JOHN. For any foreign preparation, Was levy'd in the body of a land ! The copy of your speed is learn'd by them; K. 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? Mess. My liege, her ear Is stopp'd with dust; the first of April, died Three days before but this from rumour's tongue K John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion! Enter the Bastard, and PETER of POMFRET. With these ill tidings.-Now, what says the world Bast. But, if you be afeard to hear the worst, To any tongue, speak it of what it will. Bast. How I have sped among the clergymen, Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams; [5] This man was a hermit in great repute with the common people. Notwithstanding the event is said to have fallen out as he had prophesied, the From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found Your highness should deliver up your crown. K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so? Peter. Fore-knowing that the truth will fall out so. K. 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 : For I must use thee.-O my gentle cousin, [Exit HUBERT with PETER. Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arriv'd? Bast. The French, my lord; men's mouths are full of it: Besides, I met lord Bigot, and lord Salisbury, K. John. Gentle kinsman, go, And thrust thyself into their companies: Bast. I will seek them out. K.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. Bast. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. [Exit. K. John. Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman. Go after him; for he, perhaps, shall need And be thou he. Mess. With all my heart, my liege. K. John. My mother dead! [Exit. poor fellow was inhumanly dragged at horses' tails through the streets of Warham, and together with his son, who appears to have been even more innocent than his father, hanged afterwards upon a gibbet. DOUCE. |