KING JOHN,* ACT IV. SCENE I.-Shakspeare. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE (1564-1616) the greatest of dramatic poets, and the greatest name in our literature, was born at Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. He became a player in London, and afterwards the manager of a theatre. Before his death he retired with a competence to his native place. His works consist of thirty-seven plays, two poems, and a collection of sonnets. Among the plays may be mentioned such masterpieces as Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, King John, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry VIII., The Tempest, &c. Enter HUBERT and Two ATTENDANTS. Heat me, heat for me. Look thou stand, Hub. HEAT me* these irons hot; and, look thou take care to stand * Within the arras ;* when I strike my foot Upon the bosom of the ground, rush forth, And bind the boy, which you shall find with me, 5 Fast to the chair: be heedful: hence, and watch, I Attend. I hope your warrant* will bear out the deed.* Hub. Uncleanly scruples!* Fear not you: look to't. [Exeunt* ATTENDANTS. Young lad, come forth; I have to say with you. Enter ARTHUR. Arth. Good morrow, Hubert. Hub. stand. the ing sometimes battles, or figures of men, birds, beasts, &c., used formerly to cover the walls of mansions. First Bear out the deed, Mercy on me! So great a title, &c., having a right to be more than a prince, Arth. 20 Is it my fault, that I was Geffrey's son? 25 No, indeed, is't not; And I would to heaven I were your son, so you would love me, Hubert. *King John was the younger brother of Geffrey, the third son of Henry II. Therefore, according to law, Geffrey's son, Arthur, had a better claim to the crown than his uncle. John knowing this, and fearing a rebellion in favour of his nephew, was anxious to get rid of him, so he employed Hubert de Burgh to murder him. Arthur was born in 1187, and is supposed to have been murdered at Rouen in 1203; some say by John's own hand K Rheum, here a Greek, rheuma, Hub. [Aside.] If I talk to him, with his innocent ; [prate* Hub. [Aside.] His words do take possession of my bosom. Read here, young Arthur. 30 [Showing a paper. 35 [Aside.] How now, foolish rheum !* flow of tears; Turning dispiteous* torture out of door! from rheo, mean- I must be brief, lest resolution drop ing to flow. Out at mine eyes in tender womanish tears.Dispiteous, cruel, Can you not read it? is it not fair writ ?* unpitying, merciless. Fair writ, legibly or distinctly writ ten. Wrought, worked, Lack, to want, to require, to be without. What good love, what good action. Crafty, cunning, artful, deceitful. Arth. Too fairly, Hubert, for so foul effect: Arth. Hub. And will you? 40 And I will. 45 Arth. Have you the heart? When your head did but ache, I knit my handkerchief about your brows, (The best I had, a princess wrought* it me,) And with my hand, at midnight, held your head; Or, "What good love* may I perform for you?" 50 55 60 And with hot irons must I burn them out. Arth. Ah, none but in this iron age would do it ; iron and thus Approaching* near these eyes, would drink my tears,' * 70 But for containing fire to harm mine eye. Are you more stubborn hard than hammer'd iron? 75 And told me Hubert should put out mine eyes, Hub. Come forth! [Stamps. Re-enter ATTENDANTS with cords, irons, &c. Arth. O save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are 80 Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men. Hub. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here. I will not stir, nor wince,* nor speak a word, Thrust but these men away, and I'll forgive you, 90 Whatever torment you do put me to. Hub. Go, stand within; let me alone with him. 1 Attend. I am best pleased to be from such a deed. [Exeunt ATTENDANTS. Arth. Alas! I then have chid* away my friend; He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart :95 Let him come back, that his compassion* may Give life to yours. 100 105 Hub. Come, boy, prepare yourself. Arth. Is there no remedy Hub. None, but to lose your eyes, No tongue, the expression," I would have believed,” is under stood to come before these words. What, why. Boisterous, brutal, violent, noisy. Wince, to shrink or start back, Angerly, with anger, angrily. Thrust, send,put Chid,reproached, driven away. Compassion, mercy. Arth. O heaven! that there were but a mote* in Mote, a very small A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair, [yours, particle. Any annoyance in that precious sense,* Precious sense, the sense of sight, the eye. Being create, &c. Fire is intended for our personal comfort or for assisting us in our to be used either business, and not for purposes of cruelty. Tarre him on, encourage him to fight, to excite, to provoke. Mercy-lacking, merciless, pitiless. Hub. I can heat it, boy. Arth. No, in good sooth: the fire is dead with 115 grief, Being create * for comfort, to be us'd Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy. * That mercy which fierce fire and iron extends, Hub. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes, Owes, possesses, For all the treasure that thine uncle owes : * owns, With this same very iron to burn them out. 120 125 130 Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! all this while 135 Disguised, al- You were disguised.* tered in appear ance or charac &c. ter, as by a change Your uncle must not know but you are dead: * 140 Arth. O heaven !-I thank you, Hubert. A FAREWELL.-Kingsley. My gentle child, I have no song to give you; ; Be good, sweet child, and let who will be clever; 5 He was my friend-faithful and just to me- 15 And Brutus is an honourable man! fill; He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Caesar was the leader of the popular party among the Romans. He became the foremost man in all the world, and the greatest general of his time. Brutus, the nephew of Cato, was a young man whom Cæsar had treated almost like a son. The rest, the other Honourable, noble, without reproach. hath for the nearest friend 20 Ambition should be made of sterner stuff!Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; * And Brutus is an honourable man! * of any great man to attend his funeral and deliver a speech in his praise. Ransom, the money paid to liberate a captive. Coffer, a chest to hold money. 25 Which he did thrice refuse: was this am- Lupercal, the place bition ? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke; for him? O judgment! thou hast fled to brutish beasts, me; My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar; 35 And I must pause till it come back to me ! in Rome where Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city, were said to have been suckled by a shewolf. Kingly crown. The Romans had a great dislike of kings, and one of the principal charges brought that he wished to beagainst Cæsar was ccme king in name as well as in power. Withholds you, forbids or prevents you. * Mark Antony was connected with the family of Cæsar through his mother. After being defeated by Augustus at Actium, B. O. 31, he stabbed himself. This famous speech is taken from Shakspeare's "Julius Cæsar," Act III., Scene II. |