e;

Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose;
Father, I may not wish the fortune thine
Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive:
Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose ;
Assured loss before the match be play'd.

Lew. Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies. Blanch. There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.

K. John. Cousin, go draw our puissance to

gether. [Exit Bastard. France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath; A rage whose heat hath this condition, That nothing can allay, nothing but blood, The blood, and dearest-valued blood, of France. K. Phi. Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn

To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire:
Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.

K. John. No more than he that threats.
arms let's hie!

Το

[Exeunt.

340

SCENE II. The same.

Plains near Angiers.

Alarums, excursions.

Enter the BAstard,

with AUSTRIA's head.

Bast. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous

hot;

Some airy devil hovers in the sky

341. condition, quality.

2. Some airy devil. The 'storm-elves' of Germanic myth still survived in Elizabethan demonology in the form of

'spirits of the air,' ' aerial spirits or devils,' who 'mix themselves in thunder and lightning' and produce storm and whirlwind.

And pours down mischief.

While Philip breathes.

Austria's head lie there,

Enter KING JOHN, ARTHUR, and HUBERT.

K. John. Hubert, keep this boy. Philip, make up: My mother is assailed in our tent,

And ta'en, I fear.

Bast.

My lord, I rescued her;

Her highness is in safety, fear you not:

But on, my liege; for very little pains

Will bring this labour to an happy end. [Exeunt.

Enter KING JOHN,

Alarums, excursions, retreat.

ELINOR, ARTHUR, the BASTARD, HUBERT, and
Lords.

K. John. [To Elinor] So shall it be; your
grace shall stay behind

So strongly guarded. [To Arthur] Cousin, look not sad:

Thy grandam loves thee; and thy uncle will

As dear be to thee as thy father was.

Arth. O, this will make my mother die with grief!
K. John. [To the Bastard] Cousin, away for
England! haste before:

And, ere our coming, see thou shake the bags
Of hoarding abbots; imprisoned angels
Set at liberty the fat ribs of peace
Must by the hungry now be fed upon:
Use our commission in his utmost force.

4. Philip; the Bastard's old name is used, apparently by oversight, instead of Richard.'

So in v. 5. Shakespeare prob

ΤΟ

ably had the old play before him, where the Bastard is called Philip throughout.

5. make up, hasten on.

Bast. Bell, book, and candle shall not drive

me back,

When gold and silver becks me to come on.
I leave your highness. Grandam, I will pray,
If ever I remember to be holy,

For your fair safety; so, I kiss your hand.

Eli. Farewell, gentle cousin.

K. John.

Coz, farewell. [Exit Bastard.

Eli. Come hither, little kinsman; hark, a word.
K. John. Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle

Hubert,

We owe thee much! within this wall of flesh

There is a soul counts thee her creditor
And with advantage means to pay thy love:
And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath
Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished.
Give me thy hand. I had a thing to say,

But I will fit it with some better time.
By heaven, Hubert, I am almost ashamed
To say what good respect I have of thee.

Hub. I am much bounden to your majesty.

K. John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to
say so yet,

But thou shalt have; and creep time ne'er so slow,
Yet it shall come for me to do thee good.

I had a thing to say, but let it go:

The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day,
Attended with the pleasures of the world,
Is all too wanton and too full of gawds
To give me audience: if the midnight bell
Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth,

20

30

the book was closed, the three
candles quenched, and the bell
tolled.

22. advantage, interest.
36. gawds, idle ornaments.

F

Sound on into the drowsy ear of night;

If this same were a churchyard where we stand,
And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs,
Or if that surly spirit, melancholy,

Had baked thy blood and made it heavy-thick,
Which else runs tickling up and down the veins,
Making that idiot, laughter, keep men's eyes
And strain their cheeks to idle merriment,
A passion hateful to my purposes,

Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes,
Hear me without thine ears, and make reply
Without a tongue, using conceit alone,
Without eyes, ears and harmful sound of words;
Then, in despite of brooded watchful day,
I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts:
But, ah, I will not! yet I love thee well;
And, by my troth, I think thou lovest me well.
Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake,
Though that my death were adjunct to my act
By heaven, I would do it.

K. John.

Do not I know thou wouldst ? Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye

On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,

He is a very serpent in my way;

And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,

He lies before me: dost thou understand me?

40

50

60

52. brooded, having a brood, hence alert and suspicious, like a sitting hen.

K. John.
Hub.

A grave.

He shall not live.

K. John.

Enough.

Hubert, I love thee;

I could be merry now.

Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee:
Remember. Madam, fare you well :

I'll send those powers o'er to your majesty.

Eli. My blessing go with thee!

K. John.

For England, cousin, go:

Hubert shall be your man, attend on you

With all true duty.

On toward Calais, ho!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The same.

The French KING'S tent.

70

Enter KING PHILIP, LEWIS, PANDULPH, and

Attendants.

K. Phi. So, by a roaring tempest on the flood, A whole armado of convicted sail

Is scatter'd and disjoin'd from fellowship.

Pand. Courage and comfort! all shall yet go well.

K. Phi. What can go well, when we have run so ill?

Are we not beaten ? Is not Angiers lost?

Arthur ta'en prisoner? divers dear friends slain?
And bloody England into England gone,

O'erbearing interruption, spite of France?

Lew. What he hath won, that hath he fortified: 10 So hot a speed with such advice disposed,

2. armado (a popular form

of 'armada'), fleet.

2. convicted, beaten.

6, 7.

Is not Angiers lost? Arthur ta'en prisoner?

This

identifies two events. Arthur was taken at Mirabeau in 1202; Angiers was 'lost' in 1206.

11. advice, judgment.