Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best. 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? [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. 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 ob ject, Form such another? This is the very top, The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest, That ever wall-ey'd wrath, or staring rage, Pemb. All murders past do stand excus'd in this: And this, so sole, and so unmatchable, Shall give a holiness, a purity, To the yet-unbegotten sin of time; And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest, Exampled by this heinous spectacle. reason now.] To reason, in Shakspeare, is not so often to argue, as to talk. 4 Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work; Sal. If that it be the work of any hand?- Nor conversant with ease and idleness, Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words. Enter HUBERT. Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you: you. Sal. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his sword. say; By heaven, I think, my sword's as sharp as yours: a holy vow; Never to taste the pleasures of the world,] This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of superstition and chivalry. Nor tempt the danger of my true defence;" Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend 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, 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, 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. Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge? Second a villain, and a murderer? Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. Big. I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep And he, long traded in it, makes it seem 5 -true defence;] Honest defence; defence in a good cause. 6 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. Like rivers of remorse-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity. Away, with me, all you whose souls abhor Big. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! Pem. There, tell the king, he may inquire us out. [Exeunt Lords. 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; 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 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, Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms.I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way • I am amaz'd,] i. e. confounded. Among the thorns and dangers of this world.- angry crest, And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace: Now powers from home, and discontents at home, [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. 9 To tug and scamble,] Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. The unowed interest] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. • The imminent decay of wrested pomp.] i. e. greatness obtained by violence; or rather, greatness wrested from its possessor. |