Arth. The wall is high, and yet will I leap down:
 Good ground, be pitiful and hurt me not!
 There's few or none do know me: if they did,
 This ship-boy's semblance hath disguised me quite.
 I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it.5
 If I get down, and do not break my limbs,
 I'll find a thousand shifts to get away:
 As good to die and go, as die and stay. [Leaps down.[514]
 O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones:
 Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! [Dies.10

Enter Pembroke, Salisbury, and Bigot.

Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury:[515]
 It is our safety, and we must embrace
 This gentle offer of the perilous time.
Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal?
Sal. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France;[516]15
 Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love[517]
 Is much more general than these lines import.
Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then.
Sal. Or rather then set forward; for 'twill be
 Two long days' journey, lords, or ere we meet.[518]20

Enter the Bastard.

Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords!
 The king by me requests your presence straight.
Sal. The king hath dispossess'd himself of us:
 We will not line his thin bestained cloak[519]
 With our pure honours, nor attend the foot25
 That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks.
 Return and tell him so: we know the worst.
Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best.
Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason now.
Bast. But there is little reason in your grief;30
 Therefore 'twere reason you had manners now.
Pem. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege.[520]
Bast. 'Tis true, to hurt his master, no man else.[520][521]
Sal. This is the prison. What is he lies here?

[Seeing Arthur.[522]

Pem. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty!35
 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 doom'd this beauty to a grave,[523]
 Found it too precious-princely for a grave.[524]40
Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? have you beheld,[525]
 Or have you read or heard? or could you think?
 Or do you almost think, although you see,
 That you do see? could thought, without this object,[526]
 Form such another? This is the very top,[527]45
 The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
 Of murder's arms: this is the bloodiest shame,
 The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,
 That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
 Presented to the tears of soft remorse.50
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 sin of times;[528]
 And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,55
 Exampled by this heinous spectacle.
Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work;
 The graceless action of a heavy hand,
 If that it be the work of any-hand.
Sal. If that it be the work of any hand![529]60
 We had a kind of light what would ensue:
 It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand;
 The practice and the purpose of the king:
 From whose obedience I forbid my soul,
 Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life,65
 And breathing to his breathless excellence[530]
 The incense of a vow, a holy vow,
 Never to taste the pleasures of the world,
 Never to be infected with delight,
 Nor conversant with ease and idleness,70
 Till I have set a glory to this hand,[531]
 By giving it the worship of revenge.
Pem. } Our souls religiously confirm thy words.
 Big.   }

Enter Hubert.

Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you:[532]
 Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you.75
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.[533]
Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.
Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin.80
Hub. Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand back, I say;
 By heaven, I think my sword's as sharp as yours:
 I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
 Nor tempt the danger of my true defence;
 Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget[534]85
 Your worth, your greatness and nobility.
Big. Out, dunghill! darest 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;[535]90
 Yet I am none: 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:95
 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;[536]
 Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron,
 That you shall think the devil is come from hell.100
Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge?[537]
 Second a villain and a murderer?
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 loved him, and will weep105
 My date of life out for his sweet life's loss.
Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes,
 For villany is not without such rheum;[538]
 And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
 Like rivers of remorse and innocency.[539]110
 Away with me, all you whose souls abhor
 The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house;[540]
 For I am stifled with this smell of sin.[541]
Big. Away toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!
Pem. There tell the king he may inquire us out.115

[Exeunt Lords.

Bast. Here's a good world! Knew you of this fair work?[542]
 Beyond the infinite and boundless reach[543]
 Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death,[543]
 Art thou damn'd, Hubert.[543]
Hub. Do but hear me, sir.
Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what;120
 Thou'rt damn'd as black—nay, nothing is so black;[544]
 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—[545]
Bast. If thou didst but consent125
 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 rush will be a beam[546]
 To hang thee on; or wouldst thou drown thyself,[547]130
 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,135
 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.
Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms.[548]
 I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way140
 Among the thorns and dangers of this world.
 How easy dost thou take all England up![549]
 From forth this morsel of dead royalty,[549]
 The life, the right and truth of all this realm
 Is fled to heaven; and England now is left145
 To tug and scamble and to part by the teeth[550]
 The unowed interest of proud-swelling state.[551]
 Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty
 Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest
 And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace:150
 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,[552]
 The imminent decay of wrested pomp.[553]
 Now happy he whose cloak and cincture can[554]155
 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,[555]
 And heaven itself doth frown upon the land. [Exeunt.[556]

FOOTNOTES:

[407] Act IV. Sc. 1.] Actus Quartus, Scæna prima. F1. Actus Quintus ... F2 F3 F4.

A room in a castle.] Staunton. Northampton. A room in the castle. Capell. Changes to England. A Prison. Pope. Canterbury. A room in the castle. Grant White. Dover. A room in the castle. Halliwell.

Executioners.] Ff. Executioner. Rowe. certain Officers of the Castle. Capell. two attendants. Malone.

[408] thou] you Rowe.

[409] First Exec.] Exec. Ff. 1. O. Capell.

[410] Uncleanly] Unmanly Grey conj.

scruples! fear] Rowe (ed. 2). scruples feare F1 F2 (fear F3). scruples, fear F4. scruple! fear Rann.

Exeunt ...] Exeunt Officers. Capell. om. Ff.

[411] Good morrow, little] Morrow, little Pope.

[412] France] Fance F2.

[413] should] would Boswell (1821).

be as] be as as F2. be Pope.

[414] No, indeed] Indeed Pope.

is't] F1 F4. it's F2 F3. it is Pope.

[415] [Aside] Rowe.

[416] I warrant] Alas, Pope.

[417] [Aside] Capell.

[418] [Showing a paper.] Rowe (ed. 2).

[Aside] Rowe (ed. 2).

How now] How how Capell (corrected in MS.).

[419] rheum!... door!] Steevens. rheume?... doore? Ff. (door? F4). rheume, ... door! Rowe (ed. 2). rheum! ... door? Capell.

[420] dispiteous] dispitious Ff. this piteous Long MS.

torture] nature Hanmer.

[421] is it not fair] is't not fairly Keightley conj.

[422] effect] a fact Malone conj.

[423] hot] om. Pope.

[424] handkercher] Ff. handkerchief Rowe.

[425] lien] lyen F1 F2 F3. lain F4.

[426] sick service] sick-service Delius.

[427] an if] Theobald. and if Ff.

[428] nor] and Pope.

[429] I have] I've Pope.

[430] Ah, ... iron?] Put in the margin, as spurious, by Pope.

[431] his] Capell. this Ff. their Rowe (ed. 1). its Rowe (ed. 2).

[432] matter] water Long MS.

[433] stubborn-hard] Warburton. stubborne hard F1 F2. stubborn hard F3 F4.

[434] An if] Capell. And if F1. Oh if Pope.

[435] him,—no tongue but Hubert's] him: no tongue but Hubert's. Ff. a tongue but Hubert's. Pope. a tongue 'bate Hubert. Warburton conj. no tongue, but Hubert's. Steevens (1793). him. No tongue but Hubert's— Knight (Steevens conj.). See note (xxii).

[436] [Stamps ...] om. Ff. Stamps, and the men enter. Pope. Re-enter Officers with a cord, the irons, &c. Capell.

[437] iron] irons Anon. conj.

[438] boisterous-rough] Theobald. boistrous rough F1 F2. boisterous rough F3 F4.

[439] stone-still] Rowe. stone still Ff.

[440] heaven sake] heav'n's sake Warburton.

[441] wince] F2 F3 F4. winch F1.

[442] angerly] angrily Pope.

[443] Exeunt ...] Exeunt officers. Capell. Exit. Pope. om. Ff.

[444] mote] Steevens (Long MS. and Malone conj.). moth Ff.

[445] Hubert ... eyes:] Put in the margin, as spurious, by Pope.

[446] in this burning] burning in this Grey conj.

[447] his] its Pope.

[448] An ... on] Put in the margin, as spurious, by Pope.

[449] An if] Edd. (S. Walker conj.) And if Ff.

[450] tarre] Ff. set Rowe.

[451] extends] extend Pope.

[452] mercy-lacking] Pope. mercy, lacking Ff.

[453] to live] and live Roderick conj.

eye] Ff. eyes Steevens (Capell conj.).

[454] owes] owns Pope.

[455] disguised] Pope. disguis'd Ff.

[456] King John's Palace.] The Court of England. Pope. The same. A Room of State in the Palace. Capell.

Enter ...] Flourish. Enter King John, crowned; ... King takes his State. Capell.

[457] once again crown'd] F3 F4. once against crown'd F1 F2. crown'd once again Pope.

[458] suspected] suspect Anon. conj.

[459] to do better] to better do Staunton conj.

[460] covetousness] covetise Capell conj.

[461] fault ... fault] flaw ... flaw Warburton.

[462] it] 't Anon. conj.


and we are] yet we're Pope.
and we're Theobald.

[463] Doth] Do Rowe (ed. 2). Must Pope.

will] wills Keightley conj.

[464] then lesser is my fear,] then lesser is my feare F1. then lesse is my feare F2. then lesse is my fear F3 F4 (less F4). the less that is my fear, Rowe (ed. 2). (the lesser is my fear) Pope. (when lesser is my fear) Steevens (Tyrwhitt conj.). than lesser is my fear Collier (ed. 1). thus lessening my fear Collier MS. than lesser, in my fear Keightley conj.

[465] them] they Pope. See note (XXIII).

[466] argument,—] Capell. argument. Ff.

[467] in rest] in wrest Steevens conj. int'rest Jackson conj. in rent Anon. conj.

in right] not right Staunton conj.

hold] hold not Malone conj.

[468] then ... should] shou'd ... then Pope. then ... should not Keightley conj.

[469] you] you'd Keightley conj.

[470] goods] good Pope.

[471] Than] Then F1.
you] yours Collier MS.

[472] he have his] that he have Pope.

[473] [Taking him apart.] Capell. The King goes aside with Hubert. Hanmer.

[474] Does] F4. Doe F2. Do F1 F3. Doth Dyce and Staunton.

[475] set] sent Theobald.

[476] [Turning to the Lords. Capell.

[477] foul play] foule-play F1 F2. foul play F3 F4.

[478] owed] ow'd Ff. own'd Pope. breadth] breath Rowe.

[479] [Exeunt Lords.] Exeunt. Ff.

[480] Scene III. Pope.

[481] [Aside. Rowe (ed. 2).

[482] Enter ...] Enter Mes. Ff. (after line 102).

[483] England. Never] Johnson (Roderick Conj.) England, never Ff. England never Rowe. England—Never Capell.

[484] comes] F1 F2 F3. come F4.

[485] care] care or care F1. care F2 F3 F4. See note (XXIV).

[486] What!] What? Ff. My Pope.

[487] came] come Collier (Collier MS.).

[488] Dauphin] Dolphin Ff. Dauphin's Hanmer.

[489] Enter ...] Ff (after Dolphin, line 131).

[490] afeard] afraid F4.

[491] clergy-men] F4. clergy men F1 F2 F3. clergymen Warburton.

[492] Exit ...] Theobald.

[493] whom] Ff. who Pope.

[494] Of ... suggestion] As one line in Ff.

[495] companies] company Pope.

[496] subject] F1. subjects F2 F3 F4.

[497] [Exit.] Rowe.

[498] Re-enter H.] Capell. Enter H. Ff.

[499] Scene IV. Pope.

[500] Told] He told Long MS.

[501] a mighty cause] a cause Pope. mighty cause Steevens.

[502] No had] Ff. Had none Rowe (ed. 2). None had Knight.

[503] within] F1. om. F2 F3 F4 into Pope.

[504] Make] Makes Theobald.

deeds ill] Ff. ill deeds Knight (Capell conj.).

Hadst] for hadst Pope. Hadest Capell.

[505] Made] Mad'st Pope.

[506] As] Or Pope. And Malone.

[507] sin] sign Collier (Collier MS.).

[508] [Laying his hand upon his breast. Long MS.

[509] reigns] reign Hanmer.

[510] murderous] Ff. murd'rous Pope. murd'rer's Hanmer (Warburton).

[511] an innocent] a guiltless Pope.

[512] foul imaginary] foul-imaginary S. Walker conj.

[513] Scene III.] Scene V. Pope.

Before the castle.] The same. Before ... Capell. A prison. Rowe. A street before a prison. Pope.

Enter ...] Ff. Enter ... disguis'd. Theobald.

[514] [Leaps down.] Rowe.

[515] Saint] F2. S. F2. St. F3 F4.

[516] Melun] Rowe. Meloone F1. Melloone F2 F3 F4.

[517] with me] Ff. missive Collier (Collier MS.). witness Spedding conj.

[518] or ere] F1 F2 F3. or e're F4.

Enter ...] Enter Bastard. Ff.

[519] thin bestained] Rowe. thin-bestained Ff. sin-bestained Singer (Collier MS.).

cloak] cloake F1 F3. clake F2 F4.

[520] his] its Pope.

[521] man] mans F1. See note (XXV).

[522] [Seeing Arthur] Pope.

[523] a grave] the glaive Hanmer.

[524] precious-princley] Capell. precious princely Ff.

[525] have you beheld] F3 F4. you have beheld F1 F2.

[526] That] What Pope.

[527] This is] 'tis Pope. This' S. Walker conj.

[528] sin of times] F4. sinne of times F1 F2 F3. sins of time Pope. sin of time Steevens. sin of time's Keightley conj.

[529] hand!] hand? Ff. hand,— Capell.

[530] his] this Rowe.

[531] hand] head Singer (Farmer conj.).

[Taking Arthur's hand. Mason conj.

[532] Scene VI. Pope.

[533] law?] F1 F4. law. F2 F3.

[Drawing his sword.] Pope.

[534] of] but Collier (Collier MS.).

[535] Do not] Do but or Do you Keightley conj.

[536] thee] the Warburton (a misprint).

[537] wilt thou] will you Rowe (ed. 2).

[538] such rheum] such a rheum Warburton.

[539] innocency] innocence Pope.

[540] savours] F1. savour F2 F3 F4.

[541] this] the F4.

[542] Scene VII. Pope.

[543] Beyond ... Hubert.] Arranged as by Pope. As two lines, the first ending mercy, in Ff.

[544] as black—] Rowe (ed. 2). as blacke, F1 F2. as black, F3 F4. so black— Pope.

[545] soul—] Pope. soule. F1 F2. soul. F3 F4.

[546] serve to] Omitted by Pope.

[547] thyself] om. Steevens conj. (ending line 129 at will be).

[548] [Hubert takes up Arthur. Collier (Collier MS.).

[549] up!... royalty,] Theobald. up, ... royalty? Ff.

[550] scamble] scramble Rowe.

[551] proud swelling] Pope. proud-swelling Ff.

[552] sick-fallen] sick, fall'n Pope.

[553] wrested] wasted Anon. conj.

[554] cincture] Pope. center Ff. bever Anon. MS. conj. (ap. Halliwell).

[555] in] at Rowe.

[556] Exeunt.] Exit. Ff. Exeunt; Hubert bearing out Arthur. Collier (Collier MS.).