K. John. Poison'd,-ill fare-dead, forsook, cast off: And none of you will bid the winter come

35

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

I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait
And so ingrateful, you deny me that.

And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much,

40

K. John.

P. Hen. O that there were some virtue in my tears, That might relieve you!

Within me is a hell; and there the poison

Is as a fiend confined to tyrannize
On unreprieveable condemned blood.

Enter the BASTARD.

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

And spleen of speed to see your majesty!

50

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;
For in a night the best part of my power,

60

As I upon advantage did remove,

35. fare] fair F4. fate Pope.

dead] oh! dead Hanmer. in

deed Anon. conj.

41. I do not ask you] I ask not Pope.

42. strait] straight Ff.

43. ingrateful] ungrateful F4

45. in them] Fr. of them F2F3F4.
48. unreprieveable condemned] un-
reprievable-condemned Delius.
49. SCENE X. Pope.

58. module model Hanmer.
60. heaven] God S. Walker conj.

Were in the Washes all unwarily

Devoured by the unexpected flood.

[The king dies.

65

Sal. You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear.
My liege! my lord! but now a king, now thus.

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

To do the office for thee of revenge,

70

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,
And instantly return with me again,

75

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,
With purpose presently to leave this war.

Bast.

He will the rather do it when he sees Ourselves well sinewed to our defence.

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.

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 interr'd; For so he will'd it.

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.

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.

Bast. O, let us pay the time but needful woe,

Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs.

This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,
But when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,
Come the three corners of the world in arms,

And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest

F2

97. princes] See note (xxx1).
99. Worcester] F3F4. Worster F,

[Exeunt.

but true.

conj.

IIO. time but] Rowe. time: but

107. [Kneeling too, with the other Lords. Capell.

108. kind kindred Jackson conj. give you thanks] Rowe. give thanks Ff. fain give thanks Edd.

Ff.

112. This England] Thus England Hanmer.

nor] and Pope.

115. Now...again] See note (xxxII).
117. Nought] F2F3F4. Naught F1.

100

105

ΙΙΟ

115

NOTES.

NOTE I.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. In our enumeration of the Dramatis Personæ we have given no further description of each than might be derived from the Play itself.

In the stage directions of the Folios Queen Elinor is variously indicated as Elinor, Eli., Ele., Elen., Elea., Queen, Qu., Old Qu., and Qu. Mo.; Philip Faulconbridge as Philip or Phil. to I. 1. 132, afterwards Bast, except in III. 1. 133, 135, where he is called Phil.; King Philip is termed King or Kin., and, in the scenes where King John is also present, France or Fra.; King John is designated as K. John, John, and once, III. 1. 324, Eng.; Lewis is called in the 'entrances' Daulphin or Dolphin, and in the dialogue Lewis, Dol., or Dolph. As we do not conceive our rule of modernizing the spelling to apply to proper names we have not substituted Falconbridge for Faulconbridge, the consistent spelling of the Folio. In the old play it is spelt as consistently Fauconbridge.

NOTE II.

SCENE. We have not followed Capell and the more recent editors in attempting to define the precise spot at which each scene took place, where none is mentioned in the body of the play or in the stage directions of the Folio. Nothing is gained by an attempt to harmonize the plot with historical facts gathered from Holinshed and elsewhere, when it is plain that Shakespeare was either ignorant of them or indifferent to minute accuracy. For example, the second scene of Act IV. is supposed to occur at the same place as the first scene of that act, or, at all events, in the immediate neighbourhood

VOL. IV.

II