Enter PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and BIGOT.

Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmund'sBury;

It is our safety, and we must embrace

This gentle offer of the perilous time.

Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal? Sal. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France; Whose private with me 2, of the Dauphin's love, Is much more general than these lines import.

Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then. Sal. Or, rather then set forward: for 'twill be Two long days' journey, lords, or e'er3 we meet. Enter the Bastard.

Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords!

The king, by me, requests your presence straight.
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
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.

Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason 5 now.

2 Private account.

3 The use of or for ere, before, is at least as old as Chaucer's time. It is the Saxon aeɲ, prius, antequam, priusquam,―ere, or, sooner than; before. Ever is the Saxon ærne-aliquando, unquam,-ever, e'er, at any time. Ere ever, or ever, or ere, is, in modern English, sooner than at any time; before ever: and this is the sense in which Shakspeare and our elder writers constantly use the phrase.

4 i. e. ruffled, out of humour. So in Hamlet:

in his retirement marvellous distemper'd.

5 To reason, in Shakspeare, is not so often to argue as to talk. So in Coriolanus:

Bast. But there is little reason in your grief; Therefore, 'twere reason, you had manners now. Pem. Sir, sir, impatience hath its privilege. Bast. "Tis true: to hurt his master, no man else. Sal. This is the prison: What is he lies here? [Seeing ARTHUR. Pem. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty!

The earth had not a hole to hide this deed.

Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done, Doth lay it open, to urge on revenge.

Big. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave, Found it too precious-princely for a grave.

Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? Have you beheld,

Or have you read, or heard? or could you think?
Or do you almost think, although you see,

That you do see? could thought, without this object,
Form such another? This is the very top, ...
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
Of murder's arms: this is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savag'ry, the vilest, stroke,

That ever wall-ey'd wrath, or staring rage,
Presented to the tears of soft remorse".

Pem. All murders past do stand excus'd in this : And this, so sole, and so unmatchable,

Shall give a holiness, a purity,

To the yet unbegotten sins of time,

And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.

Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work;
The graceless action of a heavy hand,
If that it be the work of any hand.
Sal. If that it be the work of any

6 Pity.

hand?

7 The old copy reads sin of times. The emendation is Pope's.

We had a kind of light, what would ensue :
It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand;
The practice, and the purpose, of the king:
From whose obedience I forbid my soul,
Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life,
And breathing to his breathless excellence
The incense of a vow, a holy vow;
Never to taste the pleasures of the world,
Never to be infected with delight,
Nor conversant with ease and idleness,
"Till I have set a glory to this head,
By giving it the worship of revenge.

-.

Pem. Big. Our souls religiously confirm thy words,

Enter HUBERT.

Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you: Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you.

Sal. O, he is bold, and blushes not at death :-
Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!
Hub. I am no villain.

Sal.

Must I rob the law?
[Drawing his sword.

6

The old copy reads, "Till I have set a glory to this hand.' This is a copy of the vows made. in the ages of superstition and chivalry. Pope thought that we should read a glory to this head,' pointing to the head of the dead prince, and using worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a circle of rays, such as is represented surrounding the heads of saints and other holy persons. The solemn confirmation of the other lords seems to require this sense. Gray, the poet (says Dr. Farmer), was much pleased with this correction. The old reading has been explained, 'till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honour of revenge for so foul a deed.' In the next act we have:— I will not return

Till my attempt so much be glorified
As to my ample hope was promised.'

And in Troilus and Cressida :

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:
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true 10 defence;
Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget
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.

Το

Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none.
Big.

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,

Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what;

་

sir.

Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so black;
Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer 13:
There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell

As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child.
Hub. Upon my soul,-

Bast.

If thou didst but consent

To this most cruel act, do but despair,

And, if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread
That ever spider twisted from her womb

Hell, Hubert, trust me, all the plagues of hell
Hangs on performance of this damned deed;

This seal, the warrant of the body's bliss,

Ensureth Satan chieftain of thy soul.'