back,

Never to be infected with delight,
Nor conversant with ease and idleness,
Till I have set a glory to this head,
By giving it the worship of revenge.
Pem. 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. Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone !
Hub. I am no villain.
Sal. Must I rob the law? [Draws his Sword.
Faul. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.
Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin.
Hub. [Draws.] Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand

I

say;
By Heaven, I think my sword as sharp as yours:
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true defence;
Lest 1, by marking of your rage, forget
Your worth, your

greatness, and nobility.
Sal. 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. Pem. Cut him to pieces.

[PEMBROKE and Essex draw. Faul. Keep the peace, I say.

. Sal. Stand by; or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge.

Faul. 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,

a

Away, with

you

Sal. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge? Second a villain, and a murderer?

Hub. Lord Salisbury, I am none.
Sal. 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.

me,

all whose souls abhor The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house; For I am stifled with this smell of sin.

[Exit SALISBURY. Ess. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!

[Exit Essex. Pem. There, tell the King, he may inquire us out.

[Exit PEMBROKE. Faul. 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.

Hub. Do but hear me, sir:
Upon my soul,

Faul. 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 rushi will be
A beam to hang thee on; or, would'st 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,

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.

Faul. Go, bear him in thine arms.— I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way Among the thorns and dangers of this world.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 FAULCON BRIDGE and HUBERT, bearing ARTHUR in his Arms.

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE I.

England.

The Palace.

Flourish of Drums and Trumpets.

KING JOHN, PANDULPH, his ATTENDANTS, ENGLISH GENTLEMEN, and HERALD, discovered.

K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand The circle of my glory.

Pan. Take again, [Gives King 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

French;
And from his holiness use all your power
To stop their marches.

Pan. 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,
And make fair weather in your blustering land.

[Exit PANDULPH, with his ATTENDANTS.

Enter FAULCONBRIDGE,
Faul. All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds

out,
But Dover Castle: London hath receiv’d,
Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers :
Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy;
And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends.

K. John. Would not my lords return to me again,
After they heard young Arthur was alive?
Faul. They found him dead, and cast into the

streets, An empty casket, where the jewel of life By some damn'd hand was robb’d and ta’on away. K. John. That villain Hubert told me, he did live.

Faul. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew. But wherefore do you droop? why look you

sad?
Be great in act, as you have been in thought ;
Let not the world see fear, and sad distrust,
Govern the motion of a kingly eye:
Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire;
Threaten the threat'ner, and out-face the brow
Of bragging horror : so shall inferior eyes,

That borrow their behaviours from the great,
Grow great by your example, and put on
The dauntless spirit of resolution.
Away; and glister like the god of war,
When he intendeth to become the field;
Show boldness, and aspiring confidence.
What, shall they seek the lion in his den?
And fright him there, and make him tremble there?
O, let it not be said!-Forage, and run
To meet displeasure further from the doors;
And grapple with him, ere he come so nigh.

K, John. The Legate of the Pope hath been with

me,

And I have made a happy peace with him;
And he hath promis'd to dismiss the
Led by the Dauphin.

powers

Faul. O, inglorious league!

Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play orders, and make compromise,
Insinuation, parley, and base truce,

To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy,
A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields,
And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,
Mocking the air with colours idly spread,
And find no check? Let us, my liege, to arms;
Sweep off these base invaders from the land:
And above all exterminate those slaves,
Those British slaves, whose prostituted souls,
Under French banners, move in vile rebellion,
Against their King, their country, and their God.

K. John. Have thou the ordering of the present

time.

Faul. Away then, with good courage; yet, I know Qur party may well meet a prouder foe.

[Exeunt,