Arth. Alas, what need you be so boisterous-rough? I will not struggle, I will stand stone-still.

For Heaven sake, Hubert, let me not be bound!

Nay, hear me, Hubert! drive these men away,
And I will sit as quiet as a lamb ;

80

I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word,
Nor look upon the iron angerly:

Thrust but these men away, and I'll forgive you,
Whatever torment you do put me to.

Hub. Go, stand within; let me alone with him.
First Attend. I am best pleased to be from such a deed.

85

[Exeunt Attendants.

Arth. Alas! I then have chid away my friend! He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart :

Let him come back, that his compassion may

Arth. O Heaven, that there were but a mote in yours,

Any annoyance in that precious sense!

A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair,

Then, feeling what small things are boisterous there,
Your vile intent must needs seem horrible.

95

Hub. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue. Arth. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes:

Let me not hold my tongue,-let me not, Hubert!
Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,

100

So I may keep mine eyes: O, spare mine eyes,
Though to no use but still to look on you!
Lo, by my troth, the instrument is cold,

And would not harm me.

Hub.

I can heat it, boy.

105

Arth. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief,

Being create for comfort, to be used

In undeserved extremes: see else yourself;

There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out,

110

And strewed repentant ashes on his head.

Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy.
Arth. And if you do, you will but make it blush
And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert:
Nay, it perchance will sparkle in your eyes;
And, like a dog that is compelled to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on.
All things that you should use to do me wrong
Deny their office: only you do lack

115

That mercy which fierce fire and iron extends,

120

Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses.

Hub. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes

For all the treasure that thine uncle owes :

Yet am I sworn, and I did purpose, boy,

With this same very iron to burn them out.

125

Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! all this while You were disguised.

Peace: no more.

Adieu.

Hub.
Your uncle must not know but you are dead:
I'll fill these dogged spies with false reports.
And, pretty child, sleep doubtless and secure
That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world,
Will not offend thee.

130

Hubert.

[Exeunt.

Arth.
O Heaven! I thank you,
Hub. Silence; no more: go closely in with me.
Much danger do I undergo for thee.

1. Hubert.

NOTES.

Hubert de Burgh has undertaken, at the instigation of King John, to murder Prince Arthur.Heat.. hot. 'Hot' is adj., complement to 'heat.' The expression is condensed for-heat (for) me these irons, so that they shall be hot-exceedingly hot.'

2. Arras, tapestry, hangings woven
with figures. From Arras, a town
of France, in the department Pas de
Calais, long famous for tapestry.
9. Arthur was the son of Geoffrey,

third son of Henry II. John being
Henry's youngest son, Arthur, his

nephew, would come before him, according to the rule of hereditary succession. Hence John thinks he should be more secure of the crown if Arthur were put out of the way. Arthur was born in 1187, and is supposed to have been murdered (by John's own hand) at Rouen in 1203.

10, 11. Little prince ... more prince. A double play upon 'little.' Hubert uses 'little' as adj., applying to size or extent of physical growth. Arthur uses 'little' and 'more' as advs., the noun 'prince' being practically =

'princely,' and he refers to extent of power and dignity.

13. But I 'But' is conj.; and the full construction is-' but I should be sad,

Shak. supposes him to be in England. But, if historical accuracy were observed, he should now be in the castle of Rouen in Normandy. 16. Christendom, belief as a Christian, Christian faith. (See notes, page 20.) 17. Kept sheep. Cf. Greene, pp. 86-7. 24. So, provided that, if: as in 17 and

14. When I was in France.

102.

33. Rheum, a flow of humours; here, of tears. Gr. rheuma, from rheo (to flow).

34. Dispiteous, cruel. See Spenser, notes, page 56. Here, perhaps, not without a reference to 'piteous,' as if 'pitiless.'

52. At your sick service. Much condensed for at your service, when you were sick.'

57. Nor never common double negative, emphatic.

60. Iron age. A play upon 'iron,'

rather unseasonable. According to the Greek theory of first a golden age, next a silver age, then a bronze age, and last an iron age, the degeneracy of mankind is marked as continuous. Arthur refers to the coldness and cruel rigour of his

treatment.

61. Heat, for heated.' Cf. create' (107), and note to 'lift,' page 89. The 'ed' is frequently dropt off, especially after a root ending in 't.'

70. No tongue. In full: 'I would believe no tongue,' &c.

76. What = why: as if elliptical for 'for what.' The form is very common in Old English.

78. For Heaven sake. Cf. note to 'for recreation sake,' page 123.

99. Want, be wanting in; be unable to plead enough.

107. Being create is adjunct to 'the fire.' 'To be used' is at being used, because it has been used; and the connection is-'is dead with grief, or grieving, to be (= at being) used so, seeing that it was created for comfort.

108. Else if you think I am not right. 110. His. The coal is personified in

from the old agan (to own). 128. But that... not: 'your uncle must not know that you are not dead.' Or, by ellipsis, 'must not know (anything) but (that) you are dead.'

130. Doubtless, free from doubt or fear. 131. That Hubert . . . will not &c.

Noun clause dependent upon adjs. 'doubtless and secure,' which have the force of 'not doubting or fearing, but believing for certain, that Hubert,' &c.

133. Closely, secretly and cautiously.

THE END OF ALL.

(From The Tempest, Act IV., Scene i.)

Prospero. Our revels now are ended: these our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air :

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve ;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind: We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

NOTES.

Rack, drift of the sky; thin, broken

flying clouds.

Are made on. 'On' is now superseded by 'of.'

On a scroll in Shakspeare's hand, as he stands in Westminster Abbey, is inscribed an adaptation (very slightly altered) of the passage: 'And, like the baseless fabric... leave not a rack behind.'

INGRATITUDE.

(From As You Like It, Act II., Scene vii.)

SCENE.- -The Forest of Arden.

Enter THE DUKE (banished), AMIENS, and Lords like outlaws; and others.

Amiens.

SONG.
I.

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,

Thou art not so unkind

As man's ingratitude;

Thy tooth is not so keen,

Because thou art not seen,

Although thy breath be rude.

Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly :
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

II.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh

As benefits forgot :

Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp

As friend remembered not.

Heigh-ho sing, heigh-ho! &c.

For the sentiment, compare King Lear throughout, particularly Act i., sc. 4, 281-3 and 310-11; Act ii., sc. 4, 137; Act iii., sc. 2, 16-17, &c.

IMMORTALITY IN THE POET'S VERSE.

(SONNET LV.)

Not marble, nor the gilded monuments

Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme ;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmeared with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,

Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.

'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity

Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room,

Even in the eyes of all posterity

That wear this world out to the ending doom.

So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers' eyes.

NOTES.

1-2. Not marble... rhyme. The classical scholar will compare Horace, Odes, iii. 30.

7. Mars his sword, for 'Mars's sword.' See Layamon, 28,539, note, page 18. A verb as predicate to 'sword' is implied: shall cut to pieces,' or such like.

5

11

9. Oblivious now usually means 'forgetting,' 'forgetful,' but here it has the causative sense, 'causing to forget.' Cf. Macb. V. iii. 43: some sweet oblivious (= causing oblivion) antidote ;' and Milton, P. L., i. 266: 'the oblivious pool,' with P. L., ii, 74: 'that forgetful lake.'

FRANCIS BACON.-1561-1626.

FRANCIS BACON was the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. After spending nearly three years at Trinity College, Cambridge, he resided fully two years more with the English ambassador at Paris. On his father's death in 1579, he turned earnestly to the study of law, at the same time continuing to interest himself in politics, and engaging in literary work. In 1584 he entered parliament. He did not rise fast in his profession during the life of Elizabeth, but under James he was rapidly promoted, becoming Lord Chancellor in 1618. In the same year he was created Baron Verulam ; and he was made Viscount St Albans in 1621. In less than two months, Bacon was charged with accepting bribes in the exercise of his functions; and in May 1621 he was censured by