SCENE changes to the Court of England.

Enter King John, Pembroke, Salisbury, and other LordsK. John. ERE once again we fit, once again HE

crown'd,

And look'd upon, I hope, with chearful eyes.

Pemb. This once again, but that your highness pleas'd, Was once fuperfluous; you were crown'd before, And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off: The faiths of men ne'er ftained with revolt: Fresh expectation troubled not the land With any long'd-for change, or better state.

Sal. Therefore to be poffefs'd with double pomp,To guard a title that was rich before; To gild refined gold, to paint the lilly, To throw a perfume on the violet, To smooth the ice, or add another hue Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light To feek the beauteous eye of heav'n to garnish, Is wafteful and ridiculous excess.

Pemb. But that your royal pleasure must be done, This act is as an ancient tale new told,

And in the laft repeating troublefome;

Being urged at a time unseasonable.

Sal. In this the antique and well-noted face
Of plain old form is much disfigured;
And, like a fhifted wind unto a fail,

It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about;
Startles and frights confideration;

Makes found opinion fick, and truth fufpected,
For putting on fo new a fashion'd robe.

Pemb. When workmen ftrive to do better than well,
They do confound their skill in covetousness; (15)
And oftentimes excufing of a fault

(15) They do confound their Skill in Covetousness.] i. e. Not by their Avarice, but in an eager Emulation, an intense Defire of excelling; as in Henry V.

But if it be a Sin to covet Honour,

I am the most offending Soul alive,

R 4

Doth

Doth make the fault the worse by the excufe:
As patches, fet upon a little breach,
Difcredit more in hiding of the fault,

Than did the fault before it was so patch'd.

Sal. To this effect, before you were new crown'd, We breath'd our counfel; but it pleas'd your highness To qver-bear it; and we're all well pleas'd; Since all and every part of what we would, Mult make a ftand at what your highness will.

K. John. Some reafons of this double coronation I have poffeft you with, and think them firong. And more, more strong (the leffer is my fear) I fhall endue you with: mean time, but ask What you would have reform'd, that is not well, And well fhall you perceive how willingly I will both hear and grant you your requefts. Pemb. Then I, as one that am the tongue of these, To found the purposes of all their hearts, (Both for myself and them; but chief of all, Your fafety; for the which, myfelf and they Bend their best fludies;) heartily request Th' infranchisement of Arthur; whose restraint Doth move the murm'ring lips of discontent To break into this dang'rous argument; If what in reft you have, in right you hold, Why fhou'd your fears, (which, as they fay, attend The steps of wrong) then move you to mew up Your tender kinfman, and to choke his days With barb'rous ignorance, and deny his youth The rich advantage of good exercise? 'That the time's enemies may not have this To grace occafions, let it be our fuit, That you have bid us ask his liberty; Which for our good we do no further ask, Than whereupon our weal, on you depending, Counts it your weal, that he have liberty.

Enter Hubert.

K. John. Let it be fo; I do commit his youth To your direction. Hubert, what news with

you ?

Pemb

Pemb. This is the man, fhould do the bloody deed: He fhew'd his warrant to a friend of mine.

The image of a wicked heinous fault

Lives in his eye; that clofe afpect of his
Does fhew the mood of a much troubled breast..
And I do fearfully believe 'tis done,

What we fo fear'd he had a charge to do.

Sal. The colour of the King doth come and go,
Between his purpofe and his confcience,

Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles fent: (16)
His paffion is fo ripe, it needs must break..

Pemb. And when it breaks, I fear, will iffue thence The foul corruption of a fweet child's death.

K. John. We cannot hold mortality's ftrong hand.
Good lords, although my will to give is living,
The suit which you demand is gone, and dead.
He tells us, Arthur is deceas'd to night.

Sal. Indeed, we fear'd, his fickness was paft cure.. Pemb. Indeed, we heard how near his death he was,. Before the child himself felt he was fick..

This must be anfwer'd, either here, or hence..

K. John. Why do you bend fuch folemn brows on me?? Think you, I bear the fhears of destiny?

Have I commandment on the pulse of life?

Sal. It is apparent foul play, and 'tis shame. That greatnefs fhould fo grofly offer it :

So thrive it in your game, and fo farewel!.

Pemb. Stay yet, lord Salisbury, I'll go with thee,.
And find th' inheritance of this poor child,
His little kingdom of a forced grave.

That blood, which own'd the breadth of all this ifle,
Three foot of it doth hold; bad world the while!
This must not be thus borne; this will break out
To all our forrows, and ere long, I doubt..

[Exeunt

(16) Like Heralds, 'twixt two dreadful Battles fet ;] But Heralds are not planted, I prefume, in the midft betwixt twe Lines of Battle; tho' they, and Trumpets, are often fent over from Party to Party, to propofe Terms, demand a Parley, I have therefore ventur'd to read, fent.

R. 5

&c.

Enter

Enter a Meffenger.

K. Jobn. They burn in indignation; I repent. There is no fare foundation fet on blood;

No certain life atchiev'd by others' death

[Afide.

A fearful eye thou haft; where is that blood, [To the Mef. That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks?

So foul a sky clears not without a storm ;

Pour down thy weather: how goes all in France?
Mef. From France to England never fuch a power,
For any foreign preparation,

Was levy'd in the body of a land.

The copy of your fpeed is learn'd by them:

For when you should be told, they do prepare,

The tidings come, that they are all arriv'd.

K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk?'

Where hath it flept? where is my mother's care?

That fuch an army fhould be drawn in France,
And the not hear of it?

Mef. My Liege, her ear

Is ftopt with duft: the first of April, dy'd
Your noble mother; and, as I hear, my lord,

The lady Conftance in a frenzie dy'd

Three days before: but this from rumour's tongue
I idlely heard; if true or falfe, I know not.

K. John. With-hold thy fpeed, dreadful occafion ! · O make a league with me, till I have pleas'd

My discontented peers. What! mother dead?
How wildly then walks my estate in France?
Under whofe conduct came thofe powers of France,
That, thou for truth giv'ft out, are landed here?
Mef. Under the Dauphin.

Enter Faulconbridge, and Peter of Pomfret.
K. John. Thou haft made me giddy
With these ill tidings. Now, what fays the world
To your proceedings? Do not feek to stuff
My head with more ill news, for it is full.

Faule. But if you be afraid to hear the worst,
Then let the worst unheard fall on your head.

K. John.

A

K. John. Bear with me, Coufin; for I was amaz'd Under the tide; but now I breathe again Aloft the flood, and can give audience To any tongue, speak it of what it will. Faule. How I have fped among the clergymen, The fums I have collected fhall exprefs. But as I travell'd hither thro' the land, I find the people ftrangely fantasied; Poffeft with rumours, full of idle dreams; Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear, And here's a Prophet that I brought with me From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found With many hundreds treading on his heels: To whom he fung in rude harsh-founding rhimes, That, ere the next Afcenfion-day at noon,

Your Highness should deliver up your crown.

K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore did'st thou fo?
Peter. Fore-knowing, that the truth will fall out fo.
K. John. Hubert, away with him, imprison him,

And on that day at noon, whereon he says

I fhall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd.
Deliver him to fafety, and return,

For I must use thee.- O my gentle cousin,

[Exit Hubert, with Peter. Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arriv'd?

Faulc. The French, my ford; men's mouths are full

of it:

Befides, I met lord Bigot and lord Salisbury,

With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,
And others more, going to feek the grave
Of Arthur, who, they fay, is kill'd to night
On your fuggeftion.

K. John. Gentle kinfman, go

And thrust thyself into their company:
I have a way to win their loves again :
Bring them before me.

Faulc. I will seek them out.

K. John. Nay, but make hafte: the better foot before.

O, let me have no fubject enemies,

When adverfe foreigners affright my towns