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 else.
Sal. This is the prison. What is he lies here?

30

[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.

35

40

Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? have you beheld,

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,
Form such another? This is the very top,
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.

45

50

41. have you beheld] Ff 3, 4; you have beheld Ff 1, 2.

33. man] This is printed mans in some copies of the first Folio, but seems to have been corrected in the press, for Collier says that the Duke of Devonshire's copy reads " man.

49. wall-eyed] having eyes which from some defect appear to stare fiercely. Compare Cotgrave, "Oeil de

chevre: a whall, or over-white eye; an eye full of white spots, or whose apple seems divided by a streak of white."

49. staring] In Elizabethan English staring" meant to glare fiercely. Compare Julius Cæsar, IV. iii. 40: "Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?"

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;

And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,

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!

Pem.

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,
And breathing to his breathless excellence
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,
Till I have set a glory to this hand,
By giving it the worship of revenge.

} Our souls religiously confirm thy words.

m. }

Big.

55

60

65

70

67. The incense of a vow, etc.] By "head" for reading hand" in line 71, Pope manufactured what Staunton called a more elegant sense. What happens is that Salisbury raises his own hand to Heaven as he makes his vow in the customary manner. There is no reason for taking the hand of the dead prince as Mason suggests.

Enter HUBert.

Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you:
Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you.
Sal. O, he is bold and blushes not at death.

Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!
Hub. I am no villain.

75

Sal.

Must I rob the law?
[Drawing his sword.

80

Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.
Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin.
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
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.

85

Sal. Thou art a murderer.

Hub.

Do not prove me so;

Yet I am none: whose tongue soe'er speaks false,
Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.

77. Avaunt] a contemptuous method of driving a person away. Compare Cotgrave, "Devant (interject.): used, as our Avaunt, in the driving away of a dog."

79. Your sword is bright, etc.] It is somewhat strange to see the Bastard acting as peacemaker. He is however commissioned to do so by John, to whom he owes everything. Still on the least genuine excuse he is ready for mischief (see line 95, etc. infra).

90

84. Nor tempt . . . defence] nor run the risk of attacking my defence as a just man. "True may have the double meaning here of Hubert's defence of himself in justice and of his good defence as a swordsman.

90. Do not prove me so] do not make me one by causing me to murder you.

91. whose tongue . . false] Hubert is calling Salisbury a liar in a manner befitting his humbler posi

tion.

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:

If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,

Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,

95

I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;
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 ?

Second a villain and a murderer?
Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none.
Big.
Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well:

Who kill'd this prince?

I honour'd him, I loved him, and will weep
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;
And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorse and innocency.
Away with me, all you whose souls abhor
The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house;
For I am stifled with this smell of sin.
Big. Away toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!

94, 95. gall] gaul Ff. FI; savour Ff 2, 3, 4.

IIO. innocency] innocence Pope.

Compare Henry

94. gall] wound. VIII. III. ii. 207 :"So looks the chafed lion Upon the daring huntsman that hath galled him."

97. spleen] anger. Compare II. i. 448 supra, and v. vii. 50 infra.

IIO. remorse] pity, the general

Elizabethan

105

I IO

112. savours]

meaning. Compare Daniel, Civil Warres (1595), bk. i. stanza 15 (ed. Grosart):

"False John usurpes his Nephew Arthur's right. .

Murders the lawfull heire without remorse."

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?

Hub.

Beyond the infinite and boundless reach

Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death,

Art thou damn'd, Hubert.

Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what;

Do but hear me, sir.

120

Thou'rt 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.
Hub. Upon my soul-

Bast.

If thou didst but consent
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

125

Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be a beam.

To hang thee on; or wouldst thou drown thyself, 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.

117-119. Beyond . . . Hubert] Pope's arrangement; Ff make two lines, first ending at mercy. 119. Art thou] Thou art F 4.