William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (210 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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PANDOLF
The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite,
And will not temporize with my entreaties.
He flatly says he’ll not lay down his arms.
And will not temporize with my entreaties.
He flatly says he’ll not lay down his arms.
BASTARD
By all the blood that ever fury breathed,
The youth says well. Now hear our English king,
For thus his royalty doth speak in me.
He is prepared, and reason too he should.
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This harnessed masque and unadvised revel,
This unhaired sauciness and boyish troops,
The King doth smile at, and is well prepared
To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms, 135
From out the circle of his territories.
That hand which had the strength even at your door
To cudgel you and make you take the hatch,
To dive like buckets in concealed wells,
To crouch in litter of your stable planks,
To lie like pawns locked up in chests and trunks,
To hug with swine, to seek sweet safety out
In vaults and prisons, and to thrill and shake
Even at the crying of your nation’s crow,
Thinking his voice an armed Englishman;
Shall that victorious hand be feebled here
That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No! Know the gallant monarch is in arms,
And like an eagle o’er his eyrie towers
To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.
(
To the English lords
)
And you degenerate, you ingrate revolts,
You bloody Neros, ripping up the womb
Of your dear mother England, blush for shame;
For your own ladies and pale-visaged maids
Like Amazons come tripping after drums;
Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change,
Their needles to lances, and their gentle hearts
To fierce and bloody inclination.
The youth says well. Now hear our English king,
For thus his royalty doth speak in me.
He is prepared, and reason too he should.
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This harnessed masque and unadvised revel,
This unhaired sauciness and boyish troops,
The King doth smile at, and is well prepared
To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms, 135
From out the circle of his territories.
That hand which had the strength even at your door
To cudgel you and make you take the hatch,
To dive like buckets in concealed wells,
To crouch in litter of your stable planks,
To lie like pawns locked up in chests and trunks,
To hug with swine, to seek sweet safety out
In vaults and prisons, and to thrill and shake
Even at the crying of your nation’s crow,
Thinking his voice an armed Englishman;
Shall that victorious hand be feebled here
That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No! Know the gallant monarch is in arms,
And like an eagle o’er his eyrie towers
To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.
(
To the English lords
)
And you degenerate, you ingrate revolts,
You bloody Neros, ripping up the womb
Of your dear mother England, blush for shame;
For your own ladies and pale-visaged maids
Like Amazons come tripping after drums;
Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change,
Their needles to lances, and their gentle hearts
To fierce and bloody inclination.
LOUIS THE DAUPHIN
There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace.
We grant thou canst outscold us. Fare thee well: 160
We hold our time too precious to be spent
With such a brabbler.
We grant thou canst outscold us. Fare thee well: 160
We hold our time too precious to be spent
With such a brabbler.
PANDOLF Give me leave to speak.
BASTARD
No, I will speak.
LouisTHE DAUPHIN We will attend to neither.—
Strike up the drums, and let the tongue of war
Plead for our interest and our being here.
Plead for our interest and our being here.
BASTARD
Indeed your drums, being beaten, will cry out;
And so shall you, being beaten. Do but start
An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is ready braced
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine.
Sound but another, and another shall
As loud as thine rattle the welkin’s ear,
And mock the deep-mouthed thunder; for at hand,
Not trusting to this halting legate here,
Whom he hath used rather for sport than need,
Is warlike John; and in his forehead sits
A bare-ribbed Death, whose office is this day
To feast upon whole thousands of the French.
And so shall you, being beaten. Do but start
An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is ready braced
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine.
Sound but another, and another shall
As loud as thine rattle the welkin’s ear,
And mock the deep-mouthed thunder; for at hand,
Not trusting to this halting legate here,
Whom he hath used rather for sport than need,
Is warlike John; and in his forehead sits
A bare-ribbed Death, whose office is this day
To feast upon whole thousands of the French.
LOUIS THE DAUPHIN
Strike up our drums to find this danger out.
BASTARD
And thou shalt find it, Dauphin, do not doubt.
⌈
Drums beat
.⌉
Exeunt the Bastard Fat onedoor
⌉
,
all the rest, ⌈
marching
,
at another door
⌉
Alarum. Enter King John Fat one door and Hubert
⌈
at another door
⌉
KING JOHN
How goes the day with us? O, tell me, Hubert.
HUBERT
Badly, I fear. How fares your majesty?
KING JOHN
This fever that hath troubled me so long
Lies heavy on me. O, my heart is sick!
Lies heavy on me. O, my heart is sick!
Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER
My lord, your valiant kinsman Falconbridge
Desires your majesty to leave the field,
And send him word by me which way you go.
Desires your majesty to leave the field,
And send him word by me which way you go.
KING JOHN
Tell him toward Swineshead, to the abbey there.
MESSENGER
Be of good comfort, for the great supply
That was expected by the Dauphin here
Are wrecked three nights ago on Goodwin Sands.
This news was brought to Richard, but even now
The French fight coldly and retire themselves.
That was expected by the Dauphin here
Are wrecked three nights ago on Goodwin Sands.
This news was brought to Richard, but even now
The French fight coldly and retire themselves.
KING JOHN
Ay me, this tyrant fever burns me up,
And will not let me welcome this good news.
Set on toward Swineshead. To my litter straight;
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint.
Exeunt
5.4And will not let me welcome this good news.
Set on toward Swineshead. To my litter straight;
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint.
Exeunt
⌈
Alarum.
⌉
Enter the Earls of Salisbury and Pembroke, and Lord Bigot
SALISBURY
I did not think the King so stored with friends.
PEMBROKE
Up once again; put spirit in the French.
If they miscarry, we miscarry too.
If they miscarry, we miscarry too.
SALISBURY
That misbegotten devil Falconbridge,
In spite of spite, alone upholds the day.
In spite of spite, alone upholds the day.
PEMBROKE
They say King John, sore sick, hath left the field.
Enter Count Melun, wounded,
⌈
led by a soldier
⌉
MELUN
Lead me to the revolts of England here.
SALISBURY
When we were happy, we had other names.
PEMBROKE
It is the Count Melun.
SALISBURY Wounded to death.
MELUN
Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold.
Unthread the rude eye of rebellion,
And welcome home again discarded faith;
Seek out King John and fall before his feet,
For if the French be lords of this loud day
He means to recompense the pains you take
By cutting off your heads. Thus hath he sworn,
And I with him, and many more with me,
Upon the altar at Saint Edmundsbury,
Even on that altar where we swore to you
Dear amity and everlasting love.
Unthread the rude eye of rebellion,
And welcome home again discarded faith;
Seek out King John and fall before his feet,
For if the French be lords of this loud day
He means to recompense the pains you take
By cutting off your heads. Thus hath he sworn,
And I with him, and many more with me,
Upon the altar at Saint Edmundsbury,
Even on that altar where we swore to you
Dear amity and everlasting love.
SALISBURY
May this be possible? May this be true?
MELUN
Have I not hideous death within my view,
Retaining but a quantity of life,
Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Resolveth from his figure ‘gainst the fire?
What in the world should make me now deceive,
Since I must lose the use of all deceit?
Why should I then be false, since it is true
That I must die here, and live hence by truth?
I say again, if Louis do win the day,
He is forsworn if e’er those eyes of yours
Behold another daybreak in the east;
But even this night, whose black contagious breath
Already smokes about the burning cresset
Of the old, feeble, and day-wearied sun,
Even this ill night your breathing shall expire,
Paying the fine of rated treachery
Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives,
If Louis by your assistance win the day.
Commend me to one Hubert with your king.
The love of him, and this respect besides,
For that my grandsire was an Englishman,
Awakes my conscience to confess all this;
In lieu whereof, I pray you bear me hence
From forth the noise and rumour of the field,
Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts
In peace, and part this body and my soul
With contemplation and devout desires.
Retaining but a quantity of life,
Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Resolveth from his figure ‘gainst the fire?
What in the world should make me now deceive,
Since I must lose the use of all deceit?
Why should I then be false, since it is true
That I must die here, and live hence by truth?
I say again, if Louis do win the day,
He is forsworn if e’er those eyes of yours
Behold another daybreak in the east;
But even this night, whose black contagious breath
Already smokes about the burning cresset
Of the old, feeble, and day-wearied sun,
Even this ill night your breathing shall expire,
Paying the fine of rated treachery
Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives,
If Louis by your assistance win the day.
Commend me to one Hubert with your king.
The love of him, and this respect besides,
For that my grandsire was an Englishman,
Awakes my conscience to confess all this;
In lieu whereof, I pray you bear me hence
From forth the noise and rumour of the field,
Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts
In peace, and part this body and my soul
With contemplation and devout desires.
SALISBURY
We do believe thee; and beshrew my soul
But I do love the favour and the form
Of this most fair occasion; by the which
We will untread the steps of damned flight,
And like a bated and retired flood,
Leaving our rankness and irregular course,
Stoop low within those bounds we have o’erlooked,
And calmly run on in obedience
Even to our ocean, to our great King John.
My arm shall give thee help to bear thee hence,
For I do see the cruel pangs of death
Right in thine eye.—Away,my friends! New flight,
And happy newness that intends old right.
Exeunt
5.5But I do love the favour and the form
Of this most fair occasion; by the which
We will untread the steps of damned flight,
And like a bated and retired flood,
Leaving our rankness and irregular course,
Stoop low within those bounds we have o’erlooked,
And calmly run on in obedience
Even to our ocean, to our great King John.
My arm shall give thee help to bear thee hence,
For I do see the cruel pangs of death
Right in thine eye.—Away,my friends! New flight,
And happy newness that intends old right.
Exeunt
⌈
Alarum,. retreat.
⌉
Enter Louis the Dauphin, and his train
LOUIS THE DAUPHIN
The sun of heaven, methought, was loath to set,
But stayed and made the western welkin blush,
When English measured backward their own ground
In faint retire. O, bravely came we off,
When with a volley of our needless shot,
After such bloody toil, we bid good night,
And wound our tatt’ring colours clearly up,
Last in the field and almost lords of it.
But stayed and made the western welkin blush,
When English measured backward their own ground
In faint retire. O, bravely came we off,
When with a volley of our needless shot,
After such bloody toil, we bid good night,
And wound our tatt’ring colours clearly up,
Last in the field and almost lords of it.
Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER
Where is my prince the Dauphin?
LOUIS THE DAUPHIN Here. What news?
MESSENGER
The Count Melun is slain; the English lords
By his persuasion are again fall’n off;
And your supply which you have wished so long
Are cast away and sunk on Goodwin Sands.
By his persuasion are again fall’n off;
And your supply which you have wished so long
Are cast away and sunk on Goodwin Sands.
LOUIS THE DAUPHIN
Ah, foul shrewd news! Beshrew thy very heart
I did not think to be so sad tonight
As this hath made me. Who was he that said
King John did fly an hour or two before
The stumbling night did part our weary powers?
I did not think to be so sad tonight
As this hath made me. Who was he that said
King John did fly an hour or two before
The stumbling night did part our weary powers?
MESSENGER
Whoever spoke it, it is true, my lord.
LOUIS THE DAUPHIN
Well, keep good quarter and good care tonight.
The day shall not be up so soon as I,
To try the fair adventure of tomorrow. Exeunt
5.6The day shall not be up so soon as I,
To try the fair adventure of tomorrow. Exeunt
Enter the Bastard
⌈
With a light
⌉
and Hubert
⌈
With a pistol
⌉
, severally
HUBERT
Who’s there? Speak, ho! Speak quickly, or I shoot.
BASTARD
A friend. What art thou?
HUBERT Of the part of England.
BASTARD
Whither dost thou go?
HUBERT What’s that to thee?
Why may not I demand of thine affairs
As well as thou of mine?
As well as thou of mine?
BASTARD Hubert, I think.
HUBERT Thou hast a perfect thought.
I will upon all hazards well believe
Thou art my friend that know’st my tongue so well.
Who art thou?
Thou art my friend that know’st my tongue so well.
Who art thou?
BASTARD Who thou wilt. An if thou please,
Thou mayst befriend me so much as to think
I come one way of the Plantagenets.
I come one way of the Plantagenets.
HUBERT
Unkind remembrance! Thou and eyeless night
Have done me shame. Brave soldier, pardon me
That any accent breaking from thy tongue
Should ’scape the true acquaintance of mine ear.
Have done me shame. Brave soldier, pardon me
That any accent breaking from thy tongue
Should ’scape the true acquaintance of mine ear.
BASTARD
Come, come, sans compliment. What news abroad?
HUBERT
Why, here walk I in the black brow of night
To find you out.
To find you out.
BASTARD Brief, then, and what’s the news?
HUBERT
O my sweet sir, news fitting to the night:
Black, fearful, comfortless, and horrible.
Black, fearful, comfortless, and horrible.
BASTARD
Show me the very wound of this ill news;
I am no woman, I’ll not swoon at it.
I am no woman, I’ll not swoon at it.
HUBERT
The King, I fear, is poisoned by a monk.
I left him almost speechless, and broke out
To acquaint you with this evil, that you might
The better arm you to the sudden time
Than if you had at leisure known of this.
I left him almost speechless, and broke out
To acquaint you with this evil, that you might
The better arm you to the sudden time
Than if you had at leisure known of this.
BASTARD
How did he take it? Who did taste to him?
HUBERT
A monk, I tell you, a resolved villain,
Whose bowels suddenly burst out. The King
Yet speaks, and peradventure may recover.
Whose bowels suddenly burst out. The King
Yet speaks, and peradventure may recover.
BASTARD
Who didst thou leave to tend his majesty?
HUBERT
Why, know you not? The lords are all come back,
And brought Prince Henry in their company,
At whose request the King hath pardoned them,
And they are all about his majesty.
And brought Prince Henry in their company,
At whose request the King hath pardoned them,
And they are all about his majesty.
BASTARD
Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven,
And tempt us not to bear above our power.
I’ll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night,
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide.
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them;
Myself, well mounted, hardly have escaped.
Away before! Conduct me to the King.
I doubt he will be dead or ere I come.
Exeunt
5.7And tempt us not to bear above our power.
I’ll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night,
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide.
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them;
Myself, well mounted, hardly have escaped.
Away before! Conduct me to the King.
I doubt he will be dead or ere I come.
Exeunt
Enter Prince Henry, the Earl of Salisbury, and Lord Bigot
PRINCE HENRY
It is too late. The life of all his blood
Is touched corruptibly, and his pure brain,
Which some suppose the soul’s frail dwelling-house,
Doth by the idle comments that it makes
Foretell the ending of mortality.
Is touched corruptibly, and his pure brain,
Which some suppose the soul’s frail dwelling-house,
Doth by the idle comments that it makes
Foretell the ending of mortality.
Enter the Earl of Pembroke
PEMBROKE
His highness yet doth speak, and holds belief
That being brought into the open air,
It would allay the burning quality
Of that fell poison which assaileth him.
That being brought into the open air,
It would allay the burning quality
Of that fell poison which assaileth him.
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