Re-enter HUBERT.

Hub. My lord, they say, five moons were seen tonight':

Four fixed; and the fifth did whirl about

The other four in wonderous motion.

K. John. Five moons?

Hub.

Old men, and beldams, in the streets

Do prophesy upon it dangerously.

Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths,
And when they talk of him, they shake their heads,
And whisper one another in the ear;

And he that speaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrist,
Whilst he that hears, makes fearful action,
With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.
I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news;
Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,
Standing on slippers, (which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet)
Told of a many thousand warlike French,
That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent.
Another lean, unwash'd artificer

Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur's death.

K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears?

Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death?

Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had a mighty cause
To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.
Hub. Had none, my lord! why, did you not provoke
me?

five moons were seen to-night :] In the old "King John," the five moons were in some way made visible to the audience: the stage-direction is, "There the five moons appear."

5 Hub. Had none, my lord !] It stands in the first and other folios, "No had (my Lord!)" which may have been misprinted for "None had ;" but it is more likely that Hubert took up, and repeated the King's words.

K. John. It is the curse of kings, to be attended
By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life;
And, on the winking of authority,

To understand a law; to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns
More upon humour than advis'd respect.

Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did.
K. John. O! when the last account 'twixt heaven

and earth

Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal

Witness against us to damnation.

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
Makes deeds ill done! Had'st not thou been by,
A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd,
Quoted', and sign'd, to do a deed of shame,
This murder had not come into my mind;
But, taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villainy,
Apt, liable to be employ'd in danger,

I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death;
And thou, to be endeared to a king,

Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.

Hub. My lord,—

K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head, or made a

pause,

When I spake darkly what I purposed;

Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face,

As bid me tell my tales in express words,

Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off,

• Makes deeds ill done !] The Rev. H. Barry suggests that this passage ought to run, "Makes ill deeds done!" and there may be some ground for the proposed transposition; but in the first and all the other folios, the words stand as in our text, and are very intelligible, whether the adjective be put before or after the substantive: "ill" is here not an adverb, but agrees with "deeds." Mr. Knight makes the transposition.

7 Quoted,] i.e. noted, or distinguished.

8 As bid me tell my tale] i. e. "turn'd such an eye of doubt, &c. as bid or bade me tell my tale." Malone and others read And for " As."

And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me: But thou didst understand me by my signs,

And didst in signs again parley with sin;

Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,
And consequently thy rude hand to act

The deed which both our tongues held vile to name.

Out of my sight, and never see me more!

My nobles leave me; and my state is brav'd,
Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers:
Nay, in the body of this fleshly land,

This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
Hostility and civil tumult reigns

Between my conscience, and my cousin's death.
Hub. Arm you against your other enemies,
I'll make a peace between your soul and you.

Young Arthur is alive: this hand of mine
Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,

Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.
Within this bosom never enter'd yet

The dreadful motion of a murderous thought,
And you have slander'd nature in my form;
Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,

Is yet the cover of a fairer mind,

Than to be butcher of an innocent child.

K. John. Doth Arthur live? O! haste thee to the

peers:

Throw this report on their incensed rage,
And make them tame to their obedience.
Forgive the comment that my passion made
Upon thy feature; for my rage was blind,
And foul imaginary eyes of blood
Presented thee more hideous than thou art.
O! answer not; but to my closet bring
The angry lords, with all expedient haste:
I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast".

[Exeunt.

9 I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast.] Here "the first part" of the old "King John " ends in these lines :

"Hie

SCENE III.

The Same. Before the Castle.

Enter ARTHUR, on the Walls.

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 disguis'd me quite.
I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it.

If I get down, and do not break my limbs,
I'll find a thousand shifts to get away:

[Leaps down.

As good to die and go, as die and stay.
O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones.—
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones!

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? Sal. The count Melun, a noble lord of France; Whose private' with me, of the Dauphin's love, Is much more general than these lines import.

"Hie, Hubert; tell these tidings to my lords,
That throb in passions for young Arthur's death.
Hence, Hubert; stay not, 'till thou hast reveal'd
The wished news of Arthur's happy health.

I goe my self, the joyfull'st man alive,

To story out this new supposed crime."

For new supposed we ought probably to read "now supposed." There is a sort of prologue, under the title of an address "To the Gentlemen Readers," before "the second part" of the old "King John," which opens with a scene exactly corresponding to that of Shakespeare, and with nearly the same stagedirection. Shakespeare has it, "Enter Arthur on the Walls," and the old King John,' """Enter young Arthur on the Walls."

66

Whose private," &c.] i. e. says Pope," Whose private account of the Dauphin's affection to our cause is much more ample than the letters.”

Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then. Sal. Or, rather then set forward: for 'twill be Two long days' journey, lords, or e'er we meet.

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 With our pure honours, nor attend the foot That leaves the print of blood where-e'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; Therefore, 'twere reason you had manners now. Pem. Sir, sir, impatience hath his privilege. Bast. "Tis true; to hurt his master, no man else2. 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 doom'd this beauty to a grave, Found it too precious-princely for a grave.

Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? Have you beheld3,

2 'Tis true; to hurt his master, no MAN else.] This is another, though a trifling instance of the advantage of referring to two different copies of the first folio. That belonging to Lord Francis Egerton reads, "no man's else, (as Malone's copy seems to have done) but that of the Duke of Devonshire is corrected to "no man else," which is certainly right. The error must have been discovered while the sheet was going through the press, and corrected before any more copies were worked off.

3 Have you beheld,] In the old copies, anterior to the third folio, it is printed, "You have beheld."