And pours down mischief. Austria's head, lie there, While Philip breathes.

Enter King JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT.

2

John. Hubert, keep this boy. - Philip, make up: My mother is assailed in our tent,

And ta'en, I fear.

Bast.

My lord, I rescu'd her;
Her highness is in safety, fear you not:
But on, my liege; for very little pains
Will bring this labour to an happy end.

SCENE III. The same.

[Exeunt.

Alarums; Excursions; Retreat. Enter King JOHN, ELINOR, ARTHUR, the Bastard, HUBERT, and Lords.

John. [To ELINOR.] So shall it be; your grace shall stay behind,

So strongly guarded. — [To ARTHUR.] Cousin, look

not sad:

Thy grandam loves thee, and thy uncle will
As dear be to thee as thy father was.

Arth. O! this will make my mother die with grief.

they raise any tempest, that sodainely great mortalitie shall ensue to the inhabitants. The spirits of fire have their mansions under the regions of the moone."

2 Here the king, who had knighted him by the name of Sir Richard, calls him by his former name. Shakespeare has followed the old plays, and the best authenticated history. The queen mother, whom King John had made regent in Anjou, was in possession of the town of Mirabeau, in that province. On the approach of the French army, with Arthur at their head, she sent letters to King John to come to her relief, which he immediately did. As he advanced to the town he encountered the army that lay before it, routed them, and took Arthur prisoner. The queen

in the mean while remained in perfect security in the castle of Mirabeau.

John. [To the Bast.] Cousin, away for England:

haste before;

And, ere our coming, see thou shake the bags
Or hoarding abbots; set at liberty
Impr.son'd angels: the fat ribs of peace
Must by the hungry now be fed upon :

Use our commission in his utmost force.

Bast. Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back,2

When gold and silver becks me to come on.

I leave your highness: - Grandam, I will pray (If ever I remember to be holy)

For your fair safety: so I kiss your hand.

Eli. Farewell, gentle cousin.

John. Coz, farewell.

[Exit Bastard

Eli. Come hither, little kinsman; hark, a work.

[She takes ARTHUR aside.

O! my gentle Hu

John. Come hither, Hubert.

bert,

1 Gold coin of that name.

2 The order of the horrible ceremony here referred to, as given by Fox and Strype, was for the bishop, and clergy, and all the several sorts of friars in the cathedral, to go into the Church, with the cross borne before them, and three wax tapers lighted. A priest, all in white, then mounted the pulpit, and began the denunciation. At the climax of the cursing each taper was extinguished, with the prayer that the souls of the excommunicate might be given over utterly to the power of the fiend, as this candle is now quench'd and put out." Thus described, also, in Bale's Pageant:

66

"For as moch as kyng Johan doth Holy Church so handle,
Here I do curse hym wyth crosse, boke, bell, and candle:
Lyke as this same roode turneth now from me his face,
So God I requyre to sequester hym of his grace:
As this boke doth speare by my worke mannual,

I wyll God to close uppe from hym his benefyttes all :
As this burnyng flame goth from this candle in syght,
I wyll God to put hym from his eternall lyght:
I take hym from Crist, and after the sownd of this bell,
Both body and sowle I geve hym to the devyll of hell."

H.

We owe thee much; within this wall of flesh
There is a soul counts thee her creditor,
And with advantage means to pay thy love:
And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath
Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished.
Give me thy hand. I had a thing to say,
But I will fit it with some better time.
By Heaven, Hubert, I am almost asham'd
To say what good respect I have of thee.

Hub. I am much bounden to your majesty.

John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet; But thou shalt have; and creep time ne'er so slow, Yet it shall come, for me to do thee good.

I had a thing to say, -but let it go:

The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day,
Attended with the pleasures of the world,
Is all too wanton, and too full of gawds,
To give me audience : If the midnight bell
Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth,
Sound on into the drowsy ear of night;

If this same were a churchyard where we stand,
And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs;
Or if that surly spirit, melancholy,

Had bak'd thy blood, and made it heavy, thick,
(Which, else, runs tickling up and down the veins,
Making that idiot, laughter, keep men's eyes,
And strain their cheeks to idle merriment,
A passion hateful to my purposes ;)

Or if that thou could'st see me without eyes,
Hear me without thine ears, and make reply
Without a tongue, using conceit alone,

Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words;
Then, in despite of brooded watchful day,

4

3 Race here means course, progress.

4 Brooded for brooding; the passive form in an active sense

H.

I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts.
But ah! I will not: Yet I love thee well;

And, by my troth, I think thou lov'st me well.
Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake,
Though that my death were adjunct to my act,
By Heaven, I would do it.

John.

Do not I know thou would'st? Good Huber Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

་

On yond' yng boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend, He is a very serpent in my way;

And, wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,

Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee:

Remember. Madam, fare you well:

I'll send those powers o'er to your majesty.
Eli. My blessing go with thee!

John.

For England, cousin: go.

Hubert shall be your man, attend on you
With all true duty. — On toward Calais, ho!

[Exeunt.

King John, after he had taken Arthur prisoner, sent him to the town of Falaise, in Normandy, under the care of Hubert, his chamberlain, from whence he was afterwards removed to Rouen, and delivered to the custody of Robert de Veypont. Here he was secretly put to death.

SCENE IV. The same.

The French King's Tent.

Enter King PHILIP, LEWIS, PANDULPH, and Attendants.

Phil. So, by a roaring tempest on the flood, A whole armado of convicted sail 1

Is scatter'd and disjoin'd from fellowship.

Pan. Courage and comfort! all shall yet go well. Phil. What can go well, when we have run so ill ! Are we not beaten ? Is not Angiers lost? Arthur ta'en prisoner? divers dear friends slain? And bloody England into England gone, O'erbearing interruption, spite of France?

Lew. What he hath won, that hath he fortified So hot a speed with such advice dispos'd, Such temperate order in so fierce a cause, Doth want example. Who hath read, or heard, Of any kindred action like to this?

Phil. Well could I bear that England had this praise,

So we could find some pattern of our shame.

Enter CONSTANCE.

Look! who comes here? a grave unto a soul;
Holding the eternal spirit, against her will,
In the vile prison of afflicted breath.2
I pr'ythee, lady, go away with me.

Con. Lo, now, now see the issue of your peace!

1 Armado is a fleet of war; the word is adopted from the Spanish, and the recent defeat of the Spanish armado had made it familiar.- Convicted is vanquished, overcome. To convince and convict were synonymous. See Macbeth, Act i. sc. 7, note 10.

The body; the same vile prison in which the breath is confined