That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent:

200

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 205

cause

To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him. Hub. No had, my lord! why, did you not provoke me? 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 advised respect.

Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did.

210

215

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 !

210. within] F 1; omitted Ff 2, 3, 4; into Pope.
200. That... Kent] Scan "That
wére em-bát- tail-éd | and ránk'd
| in Ként."

200. embattailed] drawn up in battle

array.

201. artificer] artisan. The term is still kept in the Navy.

207. No had, my lord !] had not, my lord! This peculiar form of repeating interrogatively a negative assertion was common in Shakespeare's time. Compare Ralph Roister Doister, 1. iv. 34: "No is?" and II. iv. 17: "No did?"

Mr. Wright considers the use of bloody here as proleptic-" the house of life which thereby becomes bloody." It may also be taken in the ordinary way, as merely descriptive of the composition of the "house."

211-214. And on the winking of authority, etc.] when one in authority winks to interpret it as a command, to know what a king means in a moment of anger when he frowns capriciously and not as a consequence of deliberation. Some quite unnecessary alterations of this passage have 210. To break . . . house of life] been suggested.

207. provoke] incite.

...

How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Make deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by, 220

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 villany,
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,

225

Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.

Hub. My lord,

230

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 tale in express words,

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

235

And those thy fears might have wrought fears in

me:

229. Made] Mad'st Pope.

220. Make] Plural in number owing to influence of "deeds." It is tempting to read "Make ill deeds done" with Knight, after a conjecture of Capell's. But the Folios are unanimous, and it seems to me that their reading is undoubtedly right, meaning "How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes deeds done which it were ill to do"-in fact "ill" is another proleptic adjective. See line 210 supra.

222. Quoted] specially marked out. See Cotgrave, Quoté: quoted,

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

240

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 braved,
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

245

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.

250

255

K. John. Doth Arthur live? O, haste thee to the peers, 260
Throw this report on their incensed rage,
And make them tame to their obedience!

243. my state] my authority as king.

245. Here the Long MS. gives a stage-direction, "Laying his hand upon his breast." John is evidently referring to his own body.

247. reigns] Singular number owing to the nominatives both conveying a similar idea. Compare IV. i. 120 supra. Hanmer corrected it to "reign."

255. motion] impulse. Compare 1. i. 212 supra.

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.

SCENE III.-Before the castle.

Enter ARTHUR, on the walls.

265

[Exeunt.

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.

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

5

As good to die and go, as die and stay. [Leaps down.
O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones:
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! 10

Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BIGOT.

[Dies.

Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury:

It is our safety, and we must embrace

This gentle offer of the perilous time.

Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal?

II. Saint] F 2; S. F 1; St. Ff 3, 4.

265. imaginary] imaginative.

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.
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.

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

15

20

25

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.

15. Melun] Rowe; Meloone F1; 15. Melun] We have here followed the generally accepted modernisation of the spelling. The Folios indicate the pronunciation of the time and the accentuation necessary to make the line scan.

16. private] Here equivalent to private communication either by letter from the Dauphin or in conversation with Melun, more probably the latter. Compare Twelfth Night, III. iv. 100: "Let me enjoy my private: go off." For "with me Collier substitutes "missive," and Spedding conjectures "witness."

17. Is much more general, etc.] The meaning of "general" here is rather obscure. Hanmer cleverly gets over the difficulty by reading "Is much more than these general lines impart." As it stands we must take it to mean that the private communication of the Count was much more compre

Melloone Ff 2, 3, 4.

is in his retirement marvellous distempered."

24. thin bestained] These words are hyphened in the Folios, and as a consequence we have the following emendations. Singer (ed. 2), following Collier MS., sin-bestained," Cartwright (conj.)" thick-bestained," Gould (conj.) "kin-bestained." But surely it is better to drop the hyphen and leave the words untouched when they give such an obvious meaning, for the hyphens of the Folios are quite unreliable. "Thin" and "bestained" offer two distinct ideas, and "thin" is absolutely necessary because it carries out the idea of "line."