And,pretty child,sleep doubtless and secure,That Hubert,for the wealth of all the world,Will not offend thee.ARTHUR O heaven!I thank you,Hubert.HUBERT Silence;no more:go closely in with me:
Much danger do I undergo for thee.Exeunt
SCENE II.England.KING JOHN'S palace
Enter KING JOHN,PEMBROKE,SALISBURY,and other Lords KING JOHN Here once again we sit,once again crown'd,And looked upon,I hope,with cheerful eyes.PEMBROKE This 'once again,'but that your highness pleased,Was once superfluous:you were crown'd before,And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off,The faiths of men ne'er stained with revolt;Fresh expectation troubled not the land With any long'd-for change or better state.SALISBURY Therefore,to be possess'd with double pomp,To guard a title that was rich before,To gild refined gold,to paint the lily,To throw a perfume on the violet,To smooth the ice,or add another hue Unto the rainbow,or with taper-light To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.PEMBROKE But that your royal pleasure must be done,This act is as an ancient tale new told,And in the last repeating troublesome,Being urged at a time unseasonable.SALISBURY In this the antique and well noted face Of plain old form is much disfigured;And,like a shifted wind unto a sail,It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about,Startles and frights consideration,Makes sound opinion sick and truth suspected,For putting on so new a fashion'd robe.PEMBROKE When workmen strive to do better than well,They do confound their skill in covetousness;And oftentimes excusing of a fault Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse,As patches set upon a little breach Discredit more in hiding of the fault Than did the fault before it was so patch'd.SALISBURY To this effect,before you were new crown'd,We breathed our counsel:but it pleased your highness To overbear it,and we are all well pleased,Since all and every part of what we would Doth make a stand at what your highness will.KING JOHN Some reasons of this double coronation I have possess'd you with and think them strong;And more,more strong,then lesser is my fear,I shall indue you with:meantime but ask What you would have reform'd that is not well,And well shall you perceive how willingly I will both hear and grant you your requests.PEMBROKE Then I,as one that am the tongue of these,To sound the purpose of all their hearts,Both for myself and them,but,chief of all,Your safety,for the which myself and them Bend their best studies,heartily request The enfranchisement of Arthur;whose restraint Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent To break into this dangerous argument,--If what in rest you have in right you hold,Why then your fears,which,as they say,attend The steps of wrong,should move you to mew up Your tender kinsman and to choke his days With barbarous ignorance and deny his youth The rich advantage of good exercise?
That the time's enemies may not have this To grace occasions,let it be our suit That you have bid us ask his liberty;Which for our goods we do no further ask Than whereupon our weal,on you depending,Counts it your weal he have his liberty.
Enter HUBERT KING JOHN Let it be so:I do commit his youth To your direction.Hubert,what news with you?
Taking him apart PEMBROKE This is the man should do the bloody deed;He show'd his warrant to a friend of mine:
The image of a wicked heinous fault Lives in his eye;that close aspect of his Does show the mood of a much troubled breast;And I do fearfully believe 'tis done,What we so fear'd he had a charge to do.SALISBURY The colour of the king doth come and go Between his purpose and his conscience,Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set:
His passion is so ripe,it needs must break.PEMBROKE And when it breaks,I fear will issue thence The foul corruption of a sweet child's death.KING JOHN We cannot hold mortality's strong hand:
Good lords,although my will to give is living,The suit which you demand is gone and dead:
He tells us Arthur is deceased to-night.SALISBURY Indeed we fear'd his sickness was past cure.PEMBROKE Indeed we heard how near his death he was Before the child himself felt he was sick:
This must be answer'd either here or hence.KING JOHN Why do you bend such solemn brows on me?
Think you I bear the shears of destiny?
Have I commandment on the pulse of life?SALISBURY It is apparent foul play;and 'tis shame That greatness should so grossly offer it:
So thrive it in your game!and so,farewell.PEMBROKE Stay yet,Lord Salisbury;I'll go with thee,And find the inheritance of this poor child,His little kingdom of a forced grave.
That blood which owed the breadth of all this isle,Three foot of it doth hold:bad world the while!
This must not be thus borne:this will break out To all our sorrows,and ere long I doubt.
Exeunt Lords KING JOHN They burn in indignation.I repent:
There is no sure foundation set on blood,No certain life achieved by others'death.
Enter a Messenger A fearful eye thou hast:where is that blood That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks?
So foul a sky clears not without a storm:
Pour down thy weather:how goes all in France?Messenger From France to England.Never such a power For any foreign preparation Was levied in the body of a land.
The copy of your speed is learn'd by them;
For when you should be told they do prepare,The tidings come that they are all arrived.KING JOHN O,where hath our intelligence been drunk?
Where hath it slept?Where is my mother's care,That such an army could be drawn in France,And she not hear of it?Messenger My liege,her ear Is stopp'd with dust;the first of April died Your noble mother:and,as I hear,my lord,The Lady Constance in a frenzy died Three days before:but this from rumour's tongue I idly heard;if true or false I know not.KING JOHN Withhold thy speed,dreadful occasion!
O,make a league with me,till I have pleased My discontented peers!What!mother dead!
How wildly then walks my estate in France!