That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent: 200 Another lean unwash'd artificer Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death. K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears! Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death? Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had a mighty 205 cause To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him. Hub. No had, my lord! why, did you not provoke me? K. John. It is the curse of kings to be attended By slaves that take their humours for a warrant And on the winking of authority To understand a law, to know the meaning Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did. 210 215 K. John. O, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth 210. within] F 1; omitted Ff 2, 3, 4; into Pope. 200. embattailed] drawn up in battle array. 201. artificer] artisan. The term is still kept in the Navy. 207. No had, my lord !] had not, my lord! This peculiar form of repeating interrogatively a negative assertion was common in Shakespeare's time. Compare Ralph Roister Doister, 1. iv. 34: "No is?" and II. iv. 17: "No did?" Mr. Wright considers the use of bloody here as proleptic-" the house of life which thereby becomes bloody." It may also be taken in the ordinary way, as merely descriptive of the composition of the "house." 211-214. And on the winking of authority, etc.] when one in authority winks to interpret it as a command, to know what a king means in a moment of anger when he frowns capriciously and not as a consequence of deliberation. Some quite unnecessary alterations of this passage have 210. To break . . . house of life] been suggested. 207. provoke] incite. ... How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd, Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame, This murder had not come into my mind: But taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect, I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death; And thou, to be endeared to a king, 225 Made it no conscience to destroy a prince. Hub. My lord, 230 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, As bid me tell my tale in express words, Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off, 235 And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me: 229. Made] Mad'st Pope. 220. Make] Plural in number owing to influence of "deeds." It is tempting to read "Make ill deeds done" with Knight, after a conjecture of Capell's. But the Folios are unanimous, and it seems to me that their reading is undoubtedly right, meaning "How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes deeds done which it were ill to do"-in fact "ill" is another proleptic adjective. See line 210 supra. 222. Quoted] specially marked out. See Cotgrave, Quoté: quoted, But thou didst understand me by my signs And didst in signs again parley with sin; Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent, And consequently thy rude hand to act 240 The deed, which both our tongues held vile to name. Out of my sight, and never see me more! My nobles leave me; and my state is braved, 245 Between my conscience and my cousin's death. Hub. Arm you against your other enemies, I'll make a peace between your soul and you. The dreadful motion of a murderous thought; Is yet the cover of a fairer mind Than to be butcher of an innocent child. 250 255 K. John. Doth Arthur live? O, haste thee to the peers, 260 243. my state] my authority as king. 245. Here the Long MS. gives a stage-direction, "Laying his hand upon his breast." John is evidently referring to his own body. 247. reigns] Singular number owing to the nominatives both conveying a similar idea. Compare IV. i. 120 supra. Hanmer corrected it to "reign." 255. motion] impulse. Compare 1. i. 212 supra. Forgive the comment that my passion made SCENE III.-Before the castle. Enter ARTHUR, on the walls. 265 [Exeunt. Arth. The wall is high, and yet will I leap down: If I get down, and do not break my limbs, 5 As good to die and go, as die and stay. [Leaps down. Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BIGOT. [Dies. Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury: It is our safety, and we must embrace This gentle offer of the perilous time. Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal? II. Saint] F 2; S. F 1; St. Ff 3, 4. 265. imaginary] imaginative. Sal. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France; Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love Two long days' journey, lords, or ere we meet. Enter the BASTARD. Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords! Sal. The king hath dispossess'd himself of us: We will not line his thin bestained cloak With our pure honours, nor attend the foot 15 20 25 That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks. Return and tell him so: we know the worst. Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best. 15. Melun] Rowe; Meloone F1; 15. Melun] We have here followed the generally accepted modernisation of the spelling. The Folios indicate the pronunciation of the time and the accentuation necessary to make the line scan. 16. private] Here equivalent to private communication either by letter from the Dauphin or in conversation with Melun, more probably the latter. Compare Twelfth Night, III. iv. 100: "Let me enjoy my private: go off." For "with me Collier substitutes "missive," and Spedding conjectures "witness." 17. Is much more general, etc.] The meaning of "general" here is rather obscure. Hanmer cleverly gets over the difficulty by reading "Is much more than these general lines impart." As it stands we must take it to mean that the private communication of the Count was much more compre Melloone Ff 2, 3, 4. is in his retirement marvellous distempered." 24. thin bestained] These words are hyphened in the Folios, and as a consequence we have the following emendations. Singer (ed. 2), following Collier MS., sin-bestained," Cartwright (conj.)" thick-bestained," Gould (conj.) "kin-bestained." But surely it is better to drop the hyphen and leave the words untouched when they give such an obvious meaning, for the hyphens of the Folios are quite unreliable. "Thin" and "bestained" offer two distinct ideas, and "thin" is absolutely necessary because it carries out the idea of "line." |