To the last syllable of recorded time; Enter a MESSENGER. Macb. My name's Macbeth. Yo. Siw. The devil himself could not p.o nounce a title More hateful to mine ear. Macb. No, nor more fearful. Yo. Siw. Thou liest, abhorred tyrant; with my sword I'll prove the lie thou speak'st. (They fight, and young SiWARD is slain. Macb. Thou wast born of woman.-——— Thon com'st to use thy tongue; thy story quickly. But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn, Mess. Gracious my lord, I shall report that which I say I saw, Macb. Well, say, Sir. Mess. As I did stand my watch upon the Within this three mile may you see it coming; Macb. If thou speak'st false, Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth, I pull in resolution; and begin To doubt the equivocation of the fiend, That lies like truth: Fear not, till Birnam wood Do come to Dunsinane-and now a wood If this, which he avouches, does appear, And wish the estate o'the world were now un done. [wrack ! SCENE VI.-The same.-A Plain before the Enter, with Drums end Colours, MALCOLM, Mal. Now near enough; your leavy screens throw down, And show like those you are :-You, worthy uncle, Shall, with my cousin, your right-noble son, Site. Fare you well. Do we but find the tyraut's power to-night, Those clamorous harbingers of blood and death. SCENE VII.-The same.-Another Part of the Plain. Enter MACBETH. Macb. They have tied me to a stake: I can. not fly: But, bear-like, I must fight the course.-What's That was not born of woman? Such a one Enter young SIWARD. Yo. Siw. What is thy name? Macb. Thou'lt be afraid to hear it. Brandish'd by man that's of a woinan born. Alarums. Enter MACDUFF. [Exit. Macd. That way the noise is:-Tyrant, show thy face: If thou be'st slain, and with no stroke of nine, My wife and children's ghost will haunt me still. I cannot strike at wretched kernes, whose arms Or else my sword, with an unbatter'd edge, By this great clatter, one of greatest note Enter MALCOLM and SIWARD. 80, For it hath cow'd my better part of man! Macd. Then yield thee, coward, Yo. Siw. No; though thou call'st thyself a Here may you see the tyrant. Sir. Then he is dead? Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow Must not be measur'd by his worth, for then Site. Had he his hurts before? Rosse. Ay, on the front. Sio. Why then, God's soldier be he! Had I as many sons as I have hairs, I would not wish them to a fairer death: And so his knell is knoll'd. Mal. He's worth more sorrow, And that I'll spend for him. Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH'S Head on a Pole. Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold, where stands The usurper's cursed head: the time is free: [Flourish. All. King of Scotland, hail! Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves, Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland Of this dead butcher, and his fiend-like queen; Who, as 'tis thought, by self and violent hands Took off her life;-This, and what needful else [Flourish. Exeunt. + The kingdom's wealth or ornament. KING JOHN. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THIS play was probably written in the year 1596. The action comprehends some of the principal events which occurred from the 34th year of King John's life to the time of his demise; or, during his short reign of seventeen years. Shakspeare has in some respects closely adhered to the old historians and chroniclers; but the Duke of Austria was not accessary to the death of Richard Cœur-de-lion; neither was John himself poisoned by a monk. However the gross licentiousness of the latter---his utter disregard of even the appearances of religion---and his habitual ridicule of the church, might favour such a supposition, it is certain that he died partly of grief, and partly of chagrin, at Newark. These incongruities, with the outline of Faulconbridge's character, our poet very likely derived from some previous dramatic production. With respect to the unfor tunate Arthur, when he first fell into the power of his uncle, he was confined in the castle of Falaise, and the perfidious monarch endeavoured in vain to procure his assassination. He was afterwards conducted to the castle of Rouen, where Johu resided, and never afterwards heard of. The manner of his death is uncertain ; but it is generally believed that the barbarous tyrant stabbed him with his own hand. Dr. Johnson says of this tragedy: "Though not written with the utmost power of Shakspeare, it is varied with a very pleasing interchange of incidents and characters: the lady's grief is very affecting; and the character of the Bastard con tains that mixture of greatness and levity, which this author delighted to exhibit." The latter is, indeed, as odd a personage as any author ever drew; and his language is as peculiar as his ideas; but the scene in which John so darkly proposed to Hubert the murder of his innocent nephew, is beyond the commendation of criticism. Art could add little to its perfection; no change in dramatic taste can injure it; and time itself can subtract nothing from its beauties-Colly Cibber altered this drama, though not for the best. KING JOHN. DRAMATIS PERSONE. PRINCE HENRY, his Son; afterwards King ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, Son of Geffrey, WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury. ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, Son of Sir Robert PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, his Half-brother, PETER of Pomfret, a Prophct. CARDINAL PANDULPH, the Pope's legate. ELINOR, the Widow of King Henry II. and CONSTANCE, Mother to Arthur. Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sherif, SCENE, Sometimes in England, and sometimes in France. ACT I. SCENE I.-Northampton.-A Room of State Enter King JOHN, Queen ELINOR, PEMBROKE, TILLON. K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the king of In my behaviour, to the majesty, war, Eli. A stratige beginning;-borrow'd ma. To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld. jesty! In the manner I now do. K. John. Here have we war for war, and blood for blood, Controlment for controlineut: so answer France. Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth, The furthest limit of my embassy. (Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me !) K. John. Bear mine to him and so depart in And were our father, and his son like him ; peace: Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France; [Exeunt CHATILLON and PEMBROKE. Eli. What now, my son have I not ever said, How that ambitions Constance would not cease, and made With very easy arguments of love; Eli. Your strong possession, much more than your right; Or else it must go wrong with you and me : bear. Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire, who whispers ESSEX. Esser. My liege, here is the strangest controversy, Come from the country to be judg'd by yon, Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulcon. bridge. K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir ? You came not of one mother then, it seems. Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king, That is well known; and, as I think, one father: O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee I give heaven thanks, I was not like to thee. K. John. Why, what a mad-cap hath heaven lent us here! Eli. He hath a trick of Coeur-de-lion's face, The accent of his tongue affecteth him : Do you not read some tokens of my son In the large composition of this man? K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts, [speak, And finds them perfect Richard. - Sirrah, What doth move you to claim your brother's land ? Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father; With that half-face would he have all my land: A half-faced groat five hundred pounds a year! Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father liv'd, Your brother did employ my father much ;Bast. Well, Sir, by this you cannot get my land; Your tale must be, how he employ'd my ino ther, Rob. And once despatch'd him in an embassy To Germany, there, with the emperor, To treat of high affairs touching that time: The advantage of his absence took the king, And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's; Where how he did prevail, I shame to speak: But truth is truth; large lengths of seas and Between my father and my mother lay, [shores (As I have heard my father speak himself,) When this same lusty gentleman was got. Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd His lands to me; and took it, on his death, That this, my mother's son, was none of his; And if he were, he came into the world Full fourteen weeks before the course of time. Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine, My father's land, as was my father's will. K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate; Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him : And, if she did play false, the fault was her's; Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother Who, as you say, took pains to get this son, Had of your father claim'd this son for his ? In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept This calf, bred from his cow, from all the world; In sooth he might: then, if he were my brother's, [father, My brother might not claim him nor your Being none of his, refuse him: This concludes, My mother's son did get your father's heir; Your father's heir must have your father's land. Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force, To dispossess that child which is not his ? Than was his will to get me, as I think. Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faul That in my ear I durst not stick a rose, And, to his shape, were heir to all this land, Exterior form, outward accoutrement; For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.- Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy What woman-post is this? hath she no hus fortune, Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me ? I am a soldier and now bound to France. Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance: Your face hath got five hundred pounds a year; Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun; Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son. K. John. from henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st: Kneel thou down Philip, but arise more great: Arise Sir Richard and Plantagenet !— Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me My father gave me honour, your's gave land: Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet !— Something about, a little from the right, In at the window, or else o'er the hatch: Who dares not stir by day, must walk by uignt; And have is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is still well shot; And I am I, howe er I was begot. K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire, A landless knight makes thee a landed squire. Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed For France, for France; for it is more than need. Bast. Brother, adieu; good fortune come to thee ! For thou wast got i'the way of honesty. And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter: It draws toward supper in conclusion so. band, That will take pains to blow a horn before her? Enter Lady FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES GURNEY. O me! it is my mother :-How now, good lady! What brings you here to court so hastily ? Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother! where is he? That holds in chase mine honour up and down t Bast. My brother Robert? old Sir Robert's son ? Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man↑ Sir Robert's son: Why scorn'st thou at Sur Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a while ? Gur. Good leave, good Philip. Bast. Philip - sparrow!-James, To whom am I beholden for these limbs? too, Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother [houour! That for thine own gain should'st defend mine What means this scorn, thou most untoward huave ? Bast. Knight, knight, good mother,— Basiliscolike: + What! I am dubb'd; I have it on my shoulder. Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself to Fanl conbridge? Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil. By long and vehement snit I was seduc'd Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again, Need must you lay your heart at his dispose,— band. |