Away, with me, all you whose souls abhor Big. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! Bast. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, Hub. Do but hear me, sir. Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what; Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black; 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. 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, I do suspect thee very grievously. Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms. I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way Among the thorns and dangers of this world.— [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter King JOHN, PANDULPH with the Crown, and Attendants. K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand The circle of my glory. 9 To tug and scamble,] Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. The unowed interest-] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. 2 The imminent decay of wrested pomp.] i. e. greatness obtained by violence; or rather, greatness wrested from its possessor. Pand. Take again [Giving 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 And from his holiness use all your power Rests by you only to be qualified. Then pause not; for the present time's so sick, That present medicine must be minister'd, Or overthrow incurable ensues. Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest up, Upon your stubborn usage of the pope: But, since you are a gentle convertite,3 My tongue shall hush again this storm of war, Go I to make the French lay down their arms. [Exit. K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the prophet Say, that, before Ascension-day at noon, But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary. 3 a gentle convertite,] A convertite is a convert. Enter the Bastard. Bast. All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds out, But Dover castle: London hath receiv'd, Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers: And wild amazement hurries up and down K. John. Would not my lords return to me again, After they heard young Arthur was alive? Bast. They found him dead, and cast into the streets; An empty casket, where the jewel of life Bast. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew. And fright him there? and make him tremble there? K. John. The legate of the pope hath been with me, And I nave made a happy peace with him; Bast. O inglorious league! To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy, They saw we had a purpose of defence. K. John. Have thou the ordering of this present time. Bast. Away then, with good courage; yet, I know, Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Plain, near St. Edmund's-Bury. Enter, in arms, LEWIS, SALISBURY, Melun, Lew. My lord Melun, let this be copied out, 4 the precedent, &c.] i. e. the rough draught of the original treaty between the Dauphin and the English lords. |