Read King John & Henry VIII Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
King John & Henry VIII (18 page)
LEWIS
A noble
temper
40
dost thou show in this,
And great
affections
41
wrestling in thy bosom
Doth make an
earthquake
42
of nobility.
O, what a noble combat hast thou fought
Between
compulsion
and a
brave respect
44
:
Let me wipe off this honourable
dew
45
,
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks:
My heart hath melted at a lady’s tears,
Being an
ordinary
48
inundation:
But this effusion of such manly drops,
This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul,
Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed
Than had I seen the
vaulty
52
top of heaven
Figured
53
quite o’er with burning meteors.
Lift up thy brow, renownèd Salisbury,
And with a great heart
heave
55
away this storm:
Commend
these waters to
those baby eyes
56
That never saw the giant world enraged,
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full warm of
blood
59
, of mirth, of gossiping:
Come, come; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep
Into the purse of rich prosperity
As Lewis himself: so,
nobles
62
, shall you all,
That
knit
your
sinews
63
to the strength of mine.
And
even there methinks an
angel
64
spake.
Enter Cardinal Pandulph
Look where the holy legate comes
apace
65
,
To give us warrant from the hand of heaven
And on our actions set the name of right
With holy breath.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
Hail, noble Prince of France!
The next is this: King John hath reconciled
Himself to Rome: his spirit is
come in
71
That so stood out against the Holy Church,
The great metropolis and
see
73
of Rome.
Therefore thy threat’ning colours now
wind up
74
,
And tame the savage spirit of wild war,
That like a lion
fostered up at hand
76
,
It may lie gently at the foot of peace,
And be no further harmful than in
show
78
.
LEWIS
Your grace shall pardon me, I will not
back
79
:
I am too high-born to be
propertied
80
,
To be a
secondary at control
81
,
Or useful serving-man and instrument
To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars
Between this chastised kingdom and myself,
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;
And now ’tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it:
You taught me how to know the face of
right
89
,
Acquainted me with
interest
90
to this land,
Yea, thrust this enterprise into my heart;
And come ye now to tell me John hath made
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I, by the honour of my marriage-bed,
After young Arthur, claim this land for mine:
And, now it is half-conquered, must I back
Because that John hath made his peace with Rome?
Am I Rome’s slave? What
penny hath Rome borne
98
,
What men provided, what munition sent,
To
underprop
100
this action? Is’t not I
That undergo this
charge
101
? Who else but I,
And such as to my claim are
liable
102
,
Sweat in this business and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out
‘
Vive le roi
’
as I have
banked
105
their towns?
Have I not here the best cards for the game
To win this easy
match
played for a
crown
107
?
And shall I now give o’er the yielded
set
108
?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
You look but on the outside of this work.
LEWIS
Outside or inside, I will not return
Till my attempt so much be glorified
As to my
ample
113
hope was promisèd
Before I
drew
this gallant
head
114
of war,
And
culled
115
these fiery spirits from the world
To
outlook
116
conquest and to win renown
Even in the jaws of danger and of death.
Trumpet sounds
What
lusty
118
trumpet thus doth summon us?
Enter
[
the
]
Bastard
BASTARD
According to
119
the fair play of the world,
Let me
have audience
120
: I am sent to speak.
My holy lord of Milan, from the king
I come to learn how you have
dealt for him
122
:
And, as you answer, I do know the
scope
123
And
warrant
limited
124
unto my tongue.
CARDINAL PANDULPH
The dauphin is too
wilful-opposite
125
,
And will not
temporize
126
with my entreaties:
He flatly says he’ll not lay down his arms.
BASTARD
By all the blood that ever fury breathed,
The youth says well. Now hear our English king,
For thus his royalty doth speak in me:
He is prepared, and
reason
131
too he should:
This
apish
and
unmannerly
132
approach,
This
harnessed
masque
and
unadvisèd
133
revel,
This
unheard
134
sauciness and boyish troops,
The king doth smile at, and is well prepared
To
whip
this dwarfish war, these
pigmy
136
arms,
From out the circle of his territories.
That hand which had the strength, even at your door,
To cudgel you and make you
take the hatch
139
,
To dive like buckets in concealèd wells,
To crouch in
litter
of your stable
planks
141
,
To lie like
pawns
142
locked up in chests and trunks,
To
hug
143
with swine, to seek sweet safety out
In
vaults
and prisons, and to
thrill
144
and shake
Even at the crying of your nation’s
crow
145
,
Thinking this voice an armèd Englishman:
Shall that victorious hand be feebled here,
That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No: know the gallant monarch is in arms
And like an eagle o’er his
eyrie
150
towers,
To
souse
151
annoyance that comes near his nest:
And you degenerate, you ingrate
revolts
152
,
You bloody
Neroes
153
, ripping up the womb
Of your dear mother England, blush for shame:
For your own ladies and pale-visaged maids
Like
Amazons
come
tripping
156
after drums:
Their thimbles into armèd
gauntlets
157
change,
Their needles to lances, and their gentle hearts
To fierce and bloody inclination.
LEWIS
There end thy
brave
, and
turn thy face
160
in peace:
We grant thou canst
outscold
161
us: fare thee well:
We hold our time too precious to be spent
With such a
brabbler
163
.
Strike up the drums, and let the tongue of war
Plead for our interest and our being here.
BASTARD
Indeed your drums, being beaten, will cry out;
And so shall you, being beaten: do but start
An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is
ready braced
172
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine.
Sound but another, and another shall
As loud as thine rattle the
welkin’s
175
ear
And mock the deep-mouthed thunder: for at hand —
Not trusting to this
halting
177
legate here,
Whom he hath used rather for
sport
178
than need —
Is warlike John: and in his
forehead
179
sits
A
bare-ribbed
Death, whose
office
180
is this day
To feast upon whole thousands of the French.
LEWIS
Strike up our drums, to find this danger out.
BASTARD
And thou shalt
find
183
it, dauphin, do not doubt.
Exeunt
[
at different doors
]
running scene 11
Alarums. Enter King John and Hubert
[
at different doors
]
KING JOHN
How goes the day with us? O, tell me, Hubert.
HUBERT
Badly, I fear. How fares your majesty?
KING JOHN
This fever that hath troubled me so long
Lies heavy on me: O, my heart is sick!
Enter a Messenger
MESSENGER
My lord, your valiant kinsman Falconbridge
Desires your majesty to leave the field
And send him word by me which way you go.
KING JOHN
Tell him toward
Swinstead
8
, to the abbey there.
MESSENGER
Be of good comfort, for the great
supply
9
That was expected by the dauphin here
Are wrecked three nights ago on
Goodwin Sands
11
.
This news was brought to
Richard
12
but even now:
The French fight
coldly
and
retire themselves
13
.
KING JOHN
Ay me, this tyrant fever burns me up,
And will not let me welcome this good news.
Set on toward Swinstead: to my
litter
16
straight;
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint.
Exeunt
running scene 11 continues
Enter Salisbury, Pembroke and Bigot
SALISBURY
I did not think the king so
stored
1
with friends.
PEMBROKE
Up once again
2
: put spirit in the French:
If they
miscarry
3
, we miscarry too.
SALISBURY
That
misbegotten
4
devil Falconbridge
In spite of spite
5
, alone upholds the day.
PEMBROKE
They say King John,
sore
6
sick, hath left the field.
Enter Melun, wounded
MELUN
Lead me to the
revolts
7
of England here.
SALISBURY
When we were happy we had other names.
PEMBROKE
It is the count Melun.
SALISBURY
Wounded to death.
MELUN
Fly
, noble English, you are
bought and sold
11
:
