From forth this morfel of dead royalty,
The life, the right, and truth of all this realm
Is fled to heav'n; and England now is left
Το tug and scramble, and to part by th' teeth
The unowed intereft of proud-fwelling ftate.
Now for the bare-pickt bone of Majefty,
Doth dogged war bristle his

angry

creft;

And fnarleth in the gentle eyes of peace.
Now pow'rs from home and difcontents at home
Meet in one line: and vaft confufion waits
(As doth a raven on a fick, fall'n beast)
The imminent decay of wrefted pomp.
Now happy he, whose cloak and cincture can
Hold out this tempeft. Bear away that child,
And follow me with fpeed; I'll to the King;
A thousand bufineffes are brief at hand,

And heav'n itself doth frown upon the land. [Exeunt.

fagacious Editors! The ftupid pointing, which has prevail'd in all the copies, makes ftaik nonfenfe of the paffage. My pointing reftores it to its genuine purity. Faulconbridge, feeing Hubert take up the body of the dead Prince, makes two reflections:-How eafir, fays he, deft thou take up all England in that burden! and then, that the life, right, and truth of the realm was fled to heaven from out the breathlefs coarse of that flaughtered royalty, 26

AC T V.

SCENE, the Court of England.

Enter King John, Pandulph, and Attendants.
K. JOHN.

HUS I have yielded up into your hand

T The circle of my glory.

Pand. Take again.

[Giving the crown.

From this my hand, as holding of the Pope,

Your fovereign greatness and authority.

K.John. Now keep your holy word; go meet the French, And from his Holinefs ufe all your power

To flop their marches, 'fore we are enflam'd.
Our difcontented counties do revolt;

Our people quarrel with obedience;
Swearing allegiance, and the love of foul,
To ftranger blood, to foreign royalty:
This inundation of mift mper'd humour

Refts by you only to be qualify'd.

Then paufe not; for the prefent time's fo fick,
That prefent medicine must be miniftred,

Or overthrow incurable enfues.

Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempeft up,

Upon your ftubborn ufage of the Pope :

But fince you are a gentle convertite, (24)

My

(24) But fince you are a gentle convertite.] i. e. a convert, (a penitent) as we now phrafe it: But in our Author's time, convertite was the term in fashion. We find him use it again more than once; In

As you like it, fententious Jaques fays;

out of thefe convertites

There is much matter to be heard and learn'd

And in his poem, call'd, Tarquin and Lucrece ;
He thence departs a heavy convertite ;
She there remains a hopeless caft-away.

And

My tongue fhall hush again this ftorm of war;
And make fair weather in your bluft'ring land.
On this Afcenfion day, remember well,

Upon your oath of fervice to the Pope,

Go I to make the French lay down their arms.

[Exis

K. John. Is this Afenfion-day? did not the prophet

Say, that before Afcenfion-day at noon

My crown I should give off? even so I have :
I did fuppofe, it should be on constraint;
But, heav'n be thank'd, it is but voluntary.
Enter Faulconbridge..

Faulc. All Kent hath yielded, nothing there holds out But Dover-Castle: London hath receiv'd,

Like a kind hoft, the Dauphin and his powers.
Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer fervice to your enemy;

And wild amazement hurries up and down
The little number of your doubtful friends.

K. John. Would not my Lords return to me again, After they heard, young Arthur was alive?

Faule. They found him dead, and caft into the streets, An empty cafket, where the jewel, life,

By fome damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away.
K. John. That villain Hubert told me, he did live.
Faule. So on my foul he did, for ought he knew:
But wherefore do you droop? why look you fad?
Be great in act, as you have been in thought:
Let not the world fee fear and fad diftrust
Govern the motion of a kingly eye:

Be ftirring as the time; be fire with fire;
Threaten the threat'ner, and out-face the brow
Of bragging horror: fo fhall inferior eyes,
That borrow their behaviours from the great,.

And Beaumont and Fletcher in their Noble Gentleman.
Your coufin, who is now a convertite;

The termination of this word, no doubt, we form'd from the Italian participle, convertito: And the Spaniards likewife call a convert, un convertido.

Grow great by your example; and put on
The dauntless fpirit of refolution.
Away, and glifter like the god of war,
When he intendeth to become the field;
Shew boldness and afpiring confidence.
What, fhall they feek the lion in his den,
And fright him there and make him tremble there?
Oh, let it not be faid! Forage, and run
To meet difpleafure farther from the doors;
And grapple with him, ere he come fo nigh.

K. John. The legate of the Pope hath been with me,
And I have made a happy peace with him;
And he hath promis'd to difmifs the powers.
Led by the Dauphin,

Faule. O inglorious league!

Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play-orders, and make compromife,
Infinuation, parly, and bafe truce,

To arms invafive? fhall a beardless boy,
A cockred, filken, wanton brave our fields,
And fleth his fpirit in a warlike foil,

Mocking the air with colours idly spread,
And find no check? let us, my Liege, to arms:
Perchance, the Cardinal can't make your peace;
Or if he do, let it at least be said,

They faw, we had a purpose of defence.

K.John. Have thou the ord'ring of this present time.. Faulc. Away, then, with good courage; yet, I know,

Out party may well meet a prouder toe.

SCENE changes to the Dauphin's
St. Edmundbury. (25)

[Exeunt.

Camp, at

Enter, in arms, Lewis, Salisbury, Melun, Pembroke, Bigot, and Soldiers.

Lervis.

Y Lord Melun, let this be copied out,
And keep it fafe for our remembrance:

MY

Return

(25) at St Edmondsbury.] I have ventur'd to fix the place of the fcene here, which is fpecified by none of the Editors, on the following.

autho

Return the prefident to thefe Lords again,
That having our fair order written down,
Both they and we, perufing o'er these notes,
May know wherefore we took the facrament;
And keep our faiths firm and inviolable.

Sal. Upon our fides it never fhall be broken.
And, noble Dauphin, albeit we fwear
A voluntary zeal and un-urg'd faith

To your proceedings; yet believe me, Prince,
I am not glad that fuch a fore of time
Should feek a plaifter by contemn'd revolt;
And heal th' invet'rate canker of one wound,
By making many. Oh, it grieves my foul,
That I must draw this metal from my fide
To be a widow-maker: oh, and there,
Where honourable refcue, and defence,
Cries out upon the name of Salisbury.
But fuch is the infection of the time,
That, for the health and phyfick of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand
Of ftern injuftice, and confufed wrong.
And is't not pity, oh my grieved friends!
That, we, the fons and children of this ifle,
Were born to fee fo fad an hour as this,
Wherein we step after a ftranger march (26)

Upen

authorities. In the preceding act, where Salisbury has fix'd to go over to the Dauphin, he fays,

Lords, I will meet him at St. Edmon foury.

And Count Melun, in this laft act, fays;

and many more with me,

Upon the altar at St. Edmundbury;

Even on that altar, where we swore to you,
Dear amity, and everlasting love.

And it appears likewife from the troublesome reign of King John, in two parts, (the first rough model of this play) that the interchange of vows betwixt the Dauphin and the English Barons was at St. Edmond'sbury.

(26) Wherein we fep after a franger, march

Upon her gentle bofem,] Thus all the printed copies have miftakingly pointed this pallage: but, with fubmiffion to the form er

S 4

Editors,,