Pem.

He is more patient
Than when you left him; even now he sung.
P. Hen. O vanity of sick ness! fierce extremes

In their continuance will not feel themselves,
Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts, 15
Leaves them invisible, and his siege is now
Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds
With many legions of strange fantasies,
Which, in their throng and press to that last hold,
Confound themselves. 'Tis strange that death should
sing

20
I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan,
Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death,
And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings

His soul and body to their lasting rest.
Sal. Be of good comfort, prince; for you are born 25

To set a form upon that indigest
Which he hath left so shapeless and so rude.

16. his] F 1; hir Ff 2, 4; her F 3. 17. mind] Rowe (ed. 2); winde F1; wind Ff 2, 3, 4. 21. cygnet] Rowe (ed. 2); Symet Ff.

24. to] F1; omitted in Ff 2, 3, 4.

16. invisible] If we take this to found their skill in covetousness," iv. refer to Death, the passage yields a ii. 29 supra. good meaning—"Death, after prey- 21, 22. I am the cygnet . . . death] ing upon the outward parts, leaves It was a popular belief that the swa them without being seen and lays “fluted a wild carol ere her death." siege to the mind." There is a large So The Merchant of Venice, Il. ii. number of unsatisfactory readings 44: “He makes a swan-like end, and conjectures. Fleay reads " leaves fading in music.” them, invisible; and his siege"; 26. indigest] chaotic confusion. this throws up the necessary mean. This appears to be a reminiscence of ing by the punctuation and seems Ovid's“ rudis indigestaque moles.” quite worth adopting.

So 3 Henry VI. v. vi. 51 : An in20. Confound themselves] non- digested and deformed lump." plus” themselves. Compare

con

Enter Attendants, and Bigot, carrying KING JOHN

in à chair.
K. John. Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room ;

It would not out at windows nor at doors.
There is so hot a summer in my bosom,

30
That all my bowels crumble up to dust:
I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen
Upon a parchment, and against this fire

Do I shrink up.
P. Hen.

How fares your majesty ?
K. John. Poison'd,-ill fare-dead, forsook, cast off: 35

And none of you will bid the winter come
To thrust his icy fingers in my maw,
Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course
Through my burn'd bosom, nor entreat the north
To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips 40
And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much,
I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait,

And so ingrateful, you deny me that.
P. Hen. O that there were some virtue in my tears,

That might relieve you!
K. John.

The salt in them is hot. 45 Within me is a hell; and there the poison

33, 34. Upon .. up] one line in Ff. 35. ill fare] ill fair F 4. 43. ingrateful] ungrateful F 4. 45. in them] F 1; of them Ff 2, 3, 4.

35. ill fare] I fare ill, poisoned by words has a parallel in the death ill fare. Mr. Worrall points out scene of Gaunt in Richard II. kindred “clenches " in Hamlet, 111. ii. 42. strait] niggardly, mean. We 97, 98, and Edward III. iv. vi. 53, 54. have a somewhat similar use in Timon

37. maw) stomach, generally of of Athens, 1. i. 96: “His means most animals. A.S. maga.

short, his creditors most strait.” 42. cold comforts As Mr. Wright The Folios have“ straight,” which points out, this death-bed trifling with was corrected by Pope.

Is as a fiend confined to tyrannise
On unreprievable condemned blood.

Enter the BASTARD,

50

Bast. O, I am scalded with my violent motion,

And spleen of speed to see your majesty!
K. John. O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye :

The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd,
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail
Are turned to one thread, one little hair :
My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, 55
Which holds but till thy news be uttered;
And then all this thou seest is but a clod

And module of confounded royalty.
Bast. The Dauphin is preparing hitherward,

Where heaven He knows how we shall answer him; 60
For in a night the best part of my power,
As I upon advantage did remove,
Were in the Washes all unwarily

Devoured by the unexpected flood. [The King dies. Sal. You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear. 65

My liege! my lord! but now a king, now thus,

51. art] are F 4.

48. On ... blood] on blood con- “ Module: a model or module." demned beyond reprieve, i.e. John Compare All's Well that Ends Well, felt that his death was certain. iv. iii. 114: "Bring forth this coun

50. spleen of speed] See 11. i. 448 terfeit module." "Hanmer printed supra.

“ model." 51. to set mine eye] to close my 58. confounded] worsted, destroyed. eyes after death.

Compare iv. ii. 29 and v. vii. 20 supra. 55. to stay it by] Keeping up the 60. heaven He knows] The "he" is nautical metaphor, referring to the a common pleonasm. For heaven = stay of a mast.

God = He. Compare ii. i. 155 supra. 58. module] = model, pattern, 62. upon advantage] seeing a mould, form. Cotgrave has favourable opportunity.

P. Hen. Even so must I run on, and even so stop.

What surety of the world, what hope, what stay,

When this was now a king, and now is clay?
Bast. Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind 70

To do the office for thee of revenge,
And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven,
As it on earth hath been thy servant still.
Now, now, you stars that move in your right spheres,
Where be your powers ? show now your mended
faiths,

75
And instantly return with me again,
To push destruction and perpetual shame
Out of the weak door of our fainting land.
Straight let us seek, or straight we shall be sought;
The Dauphin rages at our very heels.

80 Sal. It seems you know not, then, so much as we:

The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest,
Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin,
And brings from him such offers of our peace
As we with honour and respect may take, 85

With purpose presently to leave this war.
Bast. He will the rather do it when he sees

Ourselves well sinewed to our defence. 74. right] bright Pope. 84. our] fair Roderick conj.

75. Where be ... mended faiths] legiance by marching with me upon I cannot agree with Mr. Wright's the foe at once.” Pope also misundernote upon

“mended "_" John's for- stood the passage, or he could never tune had broken faith with him". have read a bright" for "right." implying that the Bastard was really 86. presently] immediately. addressing the stars. It seems to me 88. sinewed] The Folios have quite evident that “ Plantagenet" is “ sinew'd,” which makes the line detalking to the nobles—"stars that fective, leading to Rowe's reading of

move in your right spheres “ sinewed” in the text, and the sug(which you had left awhile) where are gestion of the Collier MS., “ sinewd your men ? Show your returned al- to our own.'

now

90

Sal. Nay, it is in a manner done already;

For many carriages he hath dispatch'd
To the sea-side, and put his cause and quarrel
To the disposing of the cardinal:
With whom yourself, myself and other lords,
If you think meet, this afternoon will post
To consummate this business happily.

95 Bast. Let it be so: and you, my noble prince,

With other princes that may best be spared,

Shall wait upon your father's funeral.
P. Hen. At Worcester must his body be intere'd ;

For so he will'd it.
Bast.
Thither shall it then:

100
And happily may your sweet self put on
The lineal state and glory of the land !
To whom, with all submission, on my knee
I do bequeath my faithful services
And true, subjection everlastingly.

105 Sal. And the like tender of our love we make,

To rest without a spot for evermore. P. Hen. I have a kind soul that would give you thanks

And knows not how to do it but with tears,

89. it is] Pope ; 'tis Ff.

99. Worcester] Ff 3, 4; Worster Ff 1, 2.

97. princes] Sidney Walker sus- the dying king said “To God and St. pects "princes,” believing it to be a Wulstan I commend my body and printer's error, owing to his eye soul.” St. Wulstan was Bishop of catching the “prince" of the previous Worcester, 1062 to 1095-6 (Mr. line. Mr. Wright points out that Wright).

princes" is used of the nobles in 108. give you thanks] The Folios line 115, and that a preferable change read "give thanks”; the reading in would be “prince" into "king" in the text is Rowe's. The Cambridge line 96.

Editors conjecture

give 99, 100. At Worcester . . . willd thanks ”-a far finer reading. it] According to Roger of Wendover

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