Presented thee more hideous than thou art. SCENE III. The same. Before the Castle. Enter ARTHUR, on the walls. Arth. The wall is high; and yet will I leap down.3— If I get down, and do not break my limbs, [Leaps down. O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones. Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BIGOT. [Dies. Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmund's Bury; It is our safety, and we must embrace This gentle offer of the perilous time. Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal? 1 Expeditious. 2 The old play of The Troublesome Raigne of King John, is divided into two parts; the first of which concludes with the king's despatch of Hubert on this message; the second begins with Enter Arthur, &c., as in the following scene. 3 Shakspeare has followed the old play. In what manner Arthur was deprived of his life is not ascertained. Matthew Paris, relating the event, uses the word evanuit; and it appears to have been conducted with impenetrable secrecy. The French historians say that John, coming in a boat during the night to the castle of Rouen, where the young prince was confined, stabbed him while supplicating for mercy, fastened a stone to the body, and threw it into the Seine, in order to give some color to a report, which he caused to be spread, that the prince, attempting to escape out of a window, fell into the river, and was drowned. Sal. The count Melun, a noble lord of France ; Bast. Once more to-day well met, distempered3 lords! 4 Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason1 now. Bast. But there is little reason in your grief; Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now. Pem. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege. Bast. 'Tis true; to hurt his master, no man else. Sal. This is the prison: What is he lies here? [Seeing ARTHUr. Pem. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty! The earth had not a hole to hide this deed. Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, Doth lay it open, to urge on revenge. Big. Or, when he doomed this beauty to a grave, Found it too precious-princely for a grave. Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? Have held, Have you be Or have you read, or heard? or could you think? 1 Private account. 2 The use of or for ere, before, is at least as old as Chaucer's time. Ere ever, or ever, or ere, is, in modern English, sooner than at any time; before ever; and this is the sense in which Shakspeare and our elder writers constantly use the phrase. 3 i. e. ruffled, out of humor. 4 To reason, in Shakspeare, is not so often to argue as to talk. Or do you almost think, although you see, That you do see? Could thought, without this object, Pem. All murders past do stand excused in this; And this, so sole, and so unmatchable, Shall give a holiness, a purity, To the yet unbegotten sins of time,1 And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest, Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work; Sal. If that it be the work of any hand ?- Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words. 1 The old copy reads sin of times. The emendation is Pope's. 2 The old copy reads, "Till I have set a glory to this hand." This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of superstition and chivalry. Pope thought that we should read "a glory to this head," pointing to the head of the dead prince, and using worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a circle of rays, such as is represented surrounding the heads of saints and other holy persons. The solemn confirmation of the other lords seems to require this sense. Gray, the poet (says Dr. Farmer), was much pleased with this correction. The old reading has been explained, "till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honor of revenge for so foul a deed.". 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.— Must I rob the law? Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. Big. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a noble man ? 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 :2 Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. Pem. Cut him to pieces. Bast. Keep the peace, I say. Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. Bast. 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. Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge? Second a villain, and a murderer? 1 Honest defence, defence in a good cause. 2 i. e. as yet I am none. Hubert means to say, "Do not prove me a murderer, by obliging me to take your life in defending my own.' Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. Big. Who killed this prince? Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well. I honored him, I loved him; and will weep My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss. Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, Big. Away, toward Bury, to the dauphin there! 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, Art thou damned, Hubert. Hub. Do but hear me, sir. Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what; Thou art damned as black-nay, nothing is so black; Thou art more deep damned 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 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 |