Read King John & Henry VIII Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
King John & Henry VIII (13 page)
KING PHILIP
Bind up those tresses
62
: O, what love I note
In the fair multitude of those her hairs!
Where but by chance a
silver drop
64
hath fallen,
Even to that drop ten thousand
wiry friends
65
Do glue themselves in
sociable
66
grief,
Like true, inseparable, faithful loves,
Sticking together in calamity.
CONSTANCE
To England, if you will
69
.
KING PHILIP
Bind up your hairs.
CONSTANCE
Yes, that I will: and
wherefore
71
will I do it?
I tore them from their bonds and cried aloud
‘O, that these hands could so
redeem
73
my son,
As they have given these hairs their liberty!’
But now I
envy at
75
their liberty,
And will again commit them to their bonds,
She binds up her hair
Because my poor child is a prisoner.
And, Father Cardinal, I have heard you say
That we shall see and
know
79
our friends in heaven:
If that be true, I shall see my boy again;
For since the birth of
Cain
81
, the first male child,
To him that did but yesterday
suspire
82
,
There was not such a
gracious
83
creature born:
But now will
canker-sorrow
eat my
bud
84
And chase the
native
85
beauty from his cheek,
And he will look as hollow as a ghost,
As
dim
and
meagre
as
an ague’s fit
87
,
And
so
he’ll die: and
rising
88
so again,
When I shall meet him in the court of heaven
I shall not
know
90
him: therefore never, never
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
You hold too
heinous
a
respect
92
of grief.
CONSTANCE
He talks to me that never had a son.
KING PHILIP
You are as
fond of
94
grief as of your child.
CONSTANCE
Grief fills the
room
95
up of my absent child:
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers
98
me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form;
Then have I reason to be fond of grief?
Fare you well: had you such a loss as I,
She unbinds her hair
I could give better comfort than you do.
I will not keep this
form
103
upon my head,
When there is such disorder in my wit:
O lord, my boy, my Arthur, my fair son,
My life, my joy, my food, my all the world:
My widow-comfort, and my sorrows’ cure!
Exit
KING PHILIP
I fear some
outrage
108
, and I’ll follow her.
Exit
LEWIS
There’s nothing in this world can make me
joy
109
:
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale,
Vexing the
dull
111
ear of a drowsy man;
And bitter shame hath spoiled the sweet
word’s
112
taste
That
113
it yields nought but shame and bitterness.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
Before the curing of a strong disease,
Even
in the instant
of
repair
115
and health,
The
fit
116
is strongest: evils that take leave,
On their departure most of all show evil:
What have you lost by losing of this
day
118
?
LEWIS
All days of glory, joy and happiness.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
If you
had
120
won it, certainly you had.
No, no: when Fortune
means
121
to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threat’ning eye:
’Tis strange to think how much King John hath lost
In this which he
accounts
124
so clearly won:
Are not you grieved that Arthur is his prisoner?
LEWIS
As heartily as he is glad he hath him.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
Your mind is all as youthful as your blood.
Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit:
For even the breath of what I mean to speak
Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little
rub
130
,
Out of the path which shall directly lead
Thy foot to England’s throne. And therefore
mark
132
:
John hath seized Arthur, and it cannot be
That whiles warm life plays in that
infant’s
134
veins,
The
misplaced
John should
entertain
135
an hour,
One minute, nay, one quiet breath of rest.
A sceptre snatched with an unruly hand
Must be as
boisterously
138
maintained as gained:
And he that stands upon a slipp’ry place
Makes nice of no
vile hold to
stay
140
him up:
That
141
John may stand, then Arthur needs must fall:
So be it, for it cannot be but so.
LEWIS
But what shall I gain by young Arthur’s fall?
CARDINAL PANDULPH
You, in the right of Lady Blanche your wife,
May then make all the claim that Arthur did.
LEWIS
And lose it, life and all, as Arthur did.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
How
green
147
you are, and fresh in this old world!
John
lays you plots
148
: the times conspire with you:
For he that
steeps
his safety in
true
149
blood
Shall find but bloody safety and
untrue
150
.
This act, so evilly born, shall cool the hearts
Of all his people and freeze up their
zeal
152
,
That
none so small advantage
153
shall step forth
To
check
his
reign
154
, but they will cherish it:
No natural
exhalation
155
in the sky,
No
scope
of nature, no
distempered
156
day,
No common wind, no
customèd
157
event,
But they will
pluck away
his
natural
cause
158
And call them meteors,
prodigies
159
, and signs,
Abortives
,
presages
160
, and tongues of heaven,
Plainly
denouncing
161
vengeance upon John.
LEWIS
Maybe he will not touch young Arthur’s life,
But
hold
himself
safe
in his prisonment
163
.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
O sir, when he shall hear of your
approach
164
,
If that young Arthur be not gone already,
Even at that news he dies: and then the hearts
Of all his people shall revolt from him,
And
kiss the lips of
unacquainted
168
change,
And
pick
strong matter of
169
revolt and wrath
Out of the bloody fingers’ ends of John
170
.
Methinks I see this
hurly
all
on foot
171
:
And O, what better matter
breeds
172
for you
Than I have named! The Bastard Falconbridge
Is now in England, ransacking the Church,
Offending charity: if but a dozen French
Were there in arms, they would be as a
call
176
To
train
177
ten thousand English to their side,
Or, as a little snow, tumbled about,
Anon
179
becomes a mountain. O noble dauphin,
Go with me to the king: ’tis wonderful
What may be
wrought
181
out of their discontent,
Now that their souls are
top-full
of
offence
182
.
For England go: I will
whet on
183
the king.
LEWIS
Strong reasons make
strange actions
184
: let us go:
If you say
ay
185
, the king will not say no.
Exeunt
running scene 6
Enter Hubert and Executioners
With a rope and irons
Within
the
arras
2
: when I strike my foot
Upon the bosom of the ground, rush forth
And bind the boy which you shall find with me
Fast to the chair: be
heedful
5
: hence, and watch.
FIRST EXECUTIONER
I hope your warrant will
bear out
6
the deed.
The Executioners withdraw behind the arras
HUBERT
Uncleanly scruples
7
: Fear not you: look to’t.
Young lad, come forth; I have
to say with
8
you.
Enter Arthur
ARTHUR
Good morrow, Hubert.
HUBERT
Good morrow,
little
10
prince.
To be more prince, as may be. You are
sad
12
.
HUBERT
Indeed, I have been merrier.
ARTHUR
’Mercy
14
on me!
Methinks nobody should be sad but I:
Yet, I remember, when I was in France,
Young gentlemen would be as
sad
17
as night
Only
for
wantonness
:
by my christendom
18
,
So
19
I were out of prison and kept sheep,
I should be as merry as the day is long:
And so I would be here, but that I
doubt
21
My uncle
practises
22
more harm to me:
He is afraid of me, and I of him:
Is it my fault that I was Geoffrey’s son?
No, indeed, is’t not: and I
would
25
to heaven
I were your son,
so
26
you would love me, Hubert.
Aside
HUBERT
If I talk to him, with his innocent
prate
27
He will awake my mercy which lies dead:
Therefore I will be sudden and
dispatch
29
.
ARTHUR
Are you sick, Hubert? You look pale today:
In
sooth
31
, I would you were a little sick,
That I might sit all night and
watch
32
with you.
I
warrant
33
I love you more than you do me.
Aside
HUBERT
His words do take possession of my bosom.—
Showing a paper/Aside
Read here, young Arthur.— How now, foolish
rheum
35
!
Turning dispiteous torture out of door
36
?
I must be
brief
, lest
resolution
37
drop
Out at mine eyes in tender womanish tears.
Can you not read it? Is it not
fair writ
39
?
