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. SAL. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his sword. BAST. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again 8. SAL. Not till I sheath 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: BIG. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman ? HUB. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor. 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. PEMB. Cut him to pieces. BAST. Keep the peace, I say. SAL. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulcon bridge. 8 Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again,] i. e. lest it lose its brightness. So, in Othello: 9 cause. 66 Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will rust them." true defence ;] Honest defence; defence in a good JOHNSON. 1 Do not prove me so; YET, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer. JOHNSON. 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, I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime; Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron 2, That you shall think the devil is come from hell3. BIG. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulcon bridge? Second a villain, and a murderer ? Who kill'd this prince! HUB. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well: I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss. 4 SAL. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, For villainy 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! PEM. There, tell the king, he may inquire us out. [Exeunt Lords. 2 - your TOASTING-IRON,] The same thought is found in King Henry V.: "I dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one, but what though? it will toast cheese." 66 Again, in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, or the Tamer tamed: 3 That STEEVENS. you shall think THE DEVIL IS COME FROM HELL.] So, in the ancient MS. romance of The Sowdon of Babyloyne : "And saide thai wer no men "But develis abroken oute of helle." STEEVENS. 4 Like rivers of REMORSE-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity. MALONE. BAST. Here's a good world !-Knew you of this fair work? Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, HUB. Do but hear me, sir. BAST. Ha! I'll tell thee what; Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black; Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer": As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child". 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 Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be A beam to hang thee on; or would'st thou drown thyself", Put but a little water in a spoon, 5 Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer :] the old play: Hell, Hubert, trust me, all the plagues of hell "This seal, the warrant of the body's bliss, "Ensureth Satan chieftain of thy soul." MALOne. So, in 6 There is not yet, &c.] I remember once to have met with a book, printed in the time of Henry VIII. (which Shakspeare possibly might have seen,) where we are told that the deformity of the condemned in the other world, is exactly proportioned to the degrees of their guilt. The author of it observes how difficult it would be, on this account, to distinguish between Belzebub and Judas Iscariot. STEEVENS. drown THYSELF.] Perhaps thyself is an interpolation. It certainly spoils the measure; and drown is elsewhere used by our author as a verb neuter. Thus, in King Richard III.: "Good lord, methought, what pain it was to drown." STEEVENS. And it shall be as all the ocean, HUB. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought BAST. Go, bear him in thine arms.I am amaz'd3, methinks; and lose my way Among the thorns and dangers of this world.How easy dost thou take all England up! From forth this morsel of dead royalty, The life, the right, and truth of all this realm Meet in one line; and vast confusion waits says: I am AMAZ'D,] i. e. confounded. So, King John, p. 322, 9 To tug and SCAMBLE,] So, in K. Henry V. Sc. I.: "But that the scambling and unquiet time." Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. See note on the passage quoted. STEEVENs. The UNOWED interest] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. STEEVENS. That is, the interest which is not at this moment legally possessed by any one, however rightfully entitled to it. On the death of Arthur, the right to the English crown devolved to his sister, Eleanor. MALONE. 3 can The imminent decay of wrested pomp 2 [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The Same. A Room in the Palace. Enter King JOHN, PANDULPH with the Crown, and Attendants. K. JOHN. Thus have I yielded up into your hand The circle of my glory. PAND. Take again [Giving JOHN the Crown. From this my hand, as holding of the pope, Your sovereign greatness and authority. K. JOHN. Now keep your holy word: go meet the French; And from his holiness use all your power To stop their marches, 'fore we are inflam'd 4: 2 The imminent decay of WRESTED POMP.] greatness obtained by violence. JOHNSON. Rather, greatness wrested from its possessor. 3 - and CINCTURE -] Wrested pomp is MALone. The old copy reads-center, pro bably for ceinture, Fr. STEEVENS. The emendation was made by Mr. Pope. MALOne. use all your power To stop their marches, 'FORE we are inflam'd.] This cannot be right, for the nation was already as much inflamed as it could be, and so the King himself declares. We should read for, instead of fore, and then the passage will run thus: |
