Enter SALISBURY, PEMBROKE, BIGOT, and Others. Sal. I did not think the king so stor❜d with friends. Pem. Up once again; put spirit in the French; If they miscarry, we miscarry too. Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge, In spite of spite, alone upholds the day. Pem. They say, king John, sore sick, hath left the field. Enter MELUN, wounded, and led by Soldiers. Mel. Lead me to the revolts of England here. Sal. Wounded to death. Mel. 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; 8 For, if the French be lords of this loud day, Sal. May this be possible? may this be true? Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax He means -] The Frenchman, i. e. Lewis, means, &c. 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 He is forsworn, if e'er those eyes of yours Behold another day break in the east: But even this night,-whose black contagious breath Of the old, feeble, and day-wearied sun,- Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives, ; Sal. 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; Resolveth, &c.] This is said in allusion to the images made by witches. Holinshed observes, that it was alleged against dame Eleanor Cobham and her confederates, "that they had devised an image of war, representing the king, which, by their sorcerie, by little and little consumed, intending thereby, in conclusion, to waste and destroy the king's person." 1 rated treachery,] i. e. The Dauphin has rated your treachery, and set upon it a fine, which your lives must pay. Leaving our rankness and irregular course, Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd, 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, leading off MELUN. The same. SCENE V.. The French Camp. Enter LEWIS, and his Train. Lew. The sun of heaven, methought, was loath to set; When with a volley of our needless shot, Enter a Messenger. Mess. Where is my prince, the Dauphin? Lew. Here:-What news? Mess. The count Melun is slain; the English lords, By his persuasion, are again fall'n off: And your supply, which you have wish'd so long, Are cast away, and sunk, on Goodwin sands. 2 Lew. Ah, foul shrewd news!-Beshrew thy very heart! happy newness, &c.] Happy innovation, that purposed the restoration of the ancient rightful government. +"tattering"- Malone. I did not think to be so sad to-night, As this hath made me.-Who was he, that said, The stumbling night did part our weary powers? Lew. Well; keep good quarter, and good care to night; The day shall not be up so soon as I, To try the fair adventure of to-morrow. SCENE VI. [Exeunt. An open Place in the Neighbourhood of Swinstead Abbey. Enter the Bastard and HUBERT, meeting. Hub. Who's there? speak, ho! speak quickly, or I shoot. Bast. A friend :-What art thou? Hub. Bast. Whither dost thou go? Of the part of England. Hub. What's that to thee? Why may not I demand Of thine affairs, as well as thou of mine? Bast. Hubert, I think. Hub. 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? Bast. Who thou wilt: an if thou please, Thou may'st befriend me so much, as to think I come one way of the Plantagenets. Hub. 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. Bast. Come, come; sans compliment, what news 3 abroad? keep good quarter,] i. e. keep in your allotted posts. Hub. Why, here walk I, in the black brow of night, To find you out. Bast. Bast. Show me the very wound of this ill news; Hub. The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk': Than if you had at leisure known of this. Bast. How did he take it? who did taste to him? Bast. Who didst thou leave to tend his majesty? Bast. Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven, [Exeunt. Not one of the The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk:] historians who wrote within sixty years after the death of king John mentions this very improbable story. The tale is, that a monk, to revenge himself on the king for a saying at which he took offence, poisoned a cup of ale, and having brought it to his majesty, drank some of it himself, to induce the king to taste it, and soon afterwards expired. Thomas Wykes is the first, who relates it in his Chronicle as a report, but a more particular account may be seen in Fox's " Acts and Monuments," vol. i. According to the best accounts, John died at Newark, of a fever. |