Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again 9. Sal. Not till I sheath it in a murderer's skin. Hub. Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand back, I say; By heaven, I think, my sword's as sharp as yours: Your worth, your greatness, and nobility. Big. Out, dunghill! dar'st thou brave a nobleman? Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend My innocent life against an emperor. Sal. Thou art a murderer. Hub. 11; Do not prove me so Yet I am none: Whose tongue soe'er speaks false, Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies. Pem. Cut him to pieces. Bast. Keep the peace, I say. Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge. Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury: If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot, Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame, I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime; Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron, That you shall think the devil is come from hell. Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge? Second a villain, and a murderer? 9 So in Othello:- Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will rust them.' Both Faulconbridge and Othello speak contemptuously. You have shown that your sword is bright, and now you may put it up again; you shall not use it.' 10 Honest defence, defence in a good cause. 11 Dr. Johnson has, I think, mistaken the sense of this passage, which he explains—' Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer.' By 'Do not prove me so' Hubert means do not provoke me, or try my patience so.' This was a common acceptation of the word. assay, to prove, to try, to tempt one to do evil.' Baret, in v. prove. To Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none. Who kill'd this prince? Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well: I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss. Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes, For villany is not without such rheum; And he, long traded in it, makes it seem Like rivers of remorse 12 and innocency. Away, with me, all you, whose souls abhor The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house, For I am stifled with this smell of sin. Big. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there! Pem. There, tell the king, he may inquire us out. [Exeunt Lords. Bast. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this fair work? Beyond the infinite and boundless reach Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death, Art thou damn'd, Hubert. Hub. Do but hear me, sir. Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what; Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black; As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child. Bast. If thou didst but consent To this most cruel act, do but despair, And, if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread Hell, Hubert, trust me, all the plagues of hell This seal, the warrant of the body's bliss, Ensureth Satan chieftain of thy soul.' Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be A beam to hang thee on; or would'st thou drown thyself, Put but a little water in a spoon, And it shall be as all the ocean, Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought Bast. of peace: Now powers from home, and discontents at home, Now happy he, whose cloak and cincture 16 can 14 i. e. unowned. See before, p. 402. 15 i. e. the interest which is not at this moment legally possessed by any one. On the death of Arthur, the right to the crown devolved to his sister Eleanor. 16 Girdle. ACT V. SCENE I. The same. A Room in the Palace. Enter KING JOHN, PANDULPH, with the Crown, and Attendants. K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand The circle of my glory. Pand. Take again [Giving JOHN the Crown. From this my hand, as holding of the pope, K. John. Now keep your holy word: go meet And from his holiness use all your power Then pause not; for the present time's so sick, Or overthrow incurable ensues. Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest up, Upon your stubborn usage of the pope: But, since you are a gentle convertite 2, 1 Counties here most probably mean not the divisions of the kingdom, but the lords and nobility in general. As in Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado about Nothing. 2 Convert. |