K. John. Why do you bend such solemn brows on me? Think you, I bear the shears of destiny? Sal. It is apparent foul-play; and 'tis shame, His little kingdom of a forced grave. 8 That blood, which ow'd the breadth of all this isle, Three foot of it doth hold: Bad world the while! This must not be thus borne: this will break out To all our sorrows, and ere long, I doubt. [Exeunt Lords. K. John. They burn in indignation; I repent; There is no sure foundation set on blood; No certain life achiev'd by others' death. Enter a Messenger. A fearful eye thou hast: Where is that blood, So foul a sky clears not without a storm: Pour down thy weather :-How goes all in France? Mess. From France to England. power For any foreign preparation, Was levied in the body of a land! - Never such a The copy of your speed is learn'd by them; K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk? Where hath it slept? Where is my mother's care? Mess. My liege, her ear I's stopp'd with dust; the first of April, died Your noble mother: And, as I hear, my lord, The lady Constance in a frenzy died Three days before: but this from rumour's tongue. I idly heard; if true, or false, I know not. K. John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion; O, make a league with me, till I have pleas'd My discontented peers! What! mother dead? How wildly then walks my estate in France! Under whose conduct came those powers of France, That thou for truth giv'st out, are landed here? Mess. Under the Dauphin. Enter the Bastard and PETER of POMFRET. K. John. With these ill tidings. Thou hast made me giddy Now, what says the world To your proceedings? do not seek to stuff My head with more ill news, for it is full. Bast. But, if you be afeard to hear the worst, Then let the worst, unheard, fall on your head. K. John. Bear with me, cousin; for I was amaz'd Under the tide: but now I breathe again Aloft the flood; and can give audience To any tongue, speak it of what it will. Bast. How I have sped among the clergymen, The sums I have collected shall express. But, as I travelled hither through the land, I find the people strangely fantasied; Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams; Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear: And here's a prophet, that I brought with me From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found With many hundreds treading on his heels; To whom he sung, in rude harsh-sounding rhymes, That, ere the next Ascension-day at noon, Your highness should deliver up your crown. K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so? Peter. Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so. K. John. Hubert, away with him; imprison him; And on that day at noon, whereon, he says, I shall yield up my crown, let him be bang'd: Deliver him to safety, and return, For I must use thee.. - O my gentle cousin, Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arriv'd? Bast. The French, my lord; men's mouths are full of it: Besides, I met lord Bigot, and lord Salisbury, K. John. Bast. I will seek them out. K. John. Nay, but make haste; the better foot before. O, let me have no subject enemies, When adverse foreigners affright my towns man. Go after him; for he, perhaps, shall need 9 Safe custody. Mess. With all my heart, my liege. [Exit. K. John. My mother dead! Re-enter HUBERT. Hub. My lord, they say, five moons were seen to-night: Four fixed; and the fifth did whirl about The other four, in wond'rous motion. K. John. Five moons? Hub. in the streets Old men, and beldams, Do prophesy upon it dangerously: Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths: And he, that speaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrist; Cuts off his tale, and talks of Arthur's death. Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death? voke me? K. John. It is the curse of kings, to be attended By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant To break within the bloody house of life: To understand a law; to know the meaning Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns More humour than advis'd respect. upon Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did. K. John. O, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds, Made it no conscience to destroy a prince. K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head, or made a pause, When I spake darkly what I purposed; Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face, And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me: But thou didst understand me by my signs, And didst in signs again parley with sin; And, consequently, thy rude hand to act The deed, which both our tongues held vile to name, 1 Deliberate consideration. 2 Noted, observed. |