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  • William Shakespeare: King John, Act V, Scene VII

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Scene VIIThe orchard in Swinstead AbbeyEnter Prince Henry, Salisbury, and BigotPrince HenryIt is too late: the life of all his blood Is touch’d corruptibly, and his pure brain, Which some suppose the soul’s frail dwelling-house, Doth by the idle comments that it makes Foretell the ending of mortality.Enter PembrokePembrokeHis highness yet doth speak, and holds belief That, being brought into the open air, It would allay the burning quality Of that fell poison which assaileth him.Prince HenryLet him be brought into the orchard here. Doth he still rage?Exit BigotPembrokeHe is more patient Than when you left him; even now he sung.Prince HenryO vanity of sickness! fierce extremes In their continuance will not feel themselves. Death, having prey’d upon the outward parts, Leaves them invisible, and his siege is now Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds With many legions of strange fantasies, Which, in their throng and press to that last hold, Confound themselves. ‘Tis strange that death should sing. I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan, Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death, And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings His soul and body to their lasting rest.SalisburyBe of good comfort, prince; for you are born To set a form upon that indigest Which he hath left so shapeless and so rude.Enter Attendants, and Bigot, carrying King John in a chairKing JohnAy, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room; It would not out at windows nor at doors. There is so hot a summer in my bosom, That all my bowels crumble up to dust: I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen Upon a parchment, and against this fire Do I shrink up.Prince HenryHow fares your majesty?King JohnPoison’d,—ill fare—dead, forsook, cast off: And none of you will bid the winter come To thrust his icy fingers in my maw, Nor let my kingdom’s rivers take their course Through my burn’d bosom, nor entreat the north To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much, I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait And so ingrateful, you deny me that.Prince HenryO that there were some virtue in my tears, That might relieve you!King JohnThe salt in them is hot. Within me is a hell; and there the poison Is as a fiend confined to tyrannize On unreprievable condemned blood.Enter the BastardBastardO, I am scalded with my violent motion, And spleen of speed to see your majesty!King JohnO cousin, thou art come to set mine eye: The tackle of my heart is crack’d and burn’d, And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail Are turned to one thread, one little hair: My heart hath one poor string to stay it by, Which holds but till thy news be uttered; And then all this thou seest is but a clod And module of confounded royalty.BastardThe Dauphin is preparing hitherward, Where heaven He knows how we shall answer him; For in a night the best part of my power, As I upon advantage did remove, Were in the Washes all unwarily Devoured by the unexpected flood.King John diesSalisburyYou breathe these dead news in as dead an ear. My liege! my lord! but now a king, now thus.Prince HenryEven so must I run on, and even so stop. What surety of the world, what hope, what stay, When this was now a king, and now is clay?BastardArt thou gone so? I do but stay behind To do the office for thee of revenge, And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven, As it on earth hath been thy servant still. Now, now, you stars that move in your right spheres, Where be your powers? show now your mended faiths, And instantly return with me again, To push destruction and perpetual shame Out of the weak door of our fainting land. Straight let us seek, or straight we shall be sought; The Dauphin rages at our very heels.SalisburyIt seems you know not, then, so much as we: The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest, Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin, And brings from him such offers of our peace As we with honour and respect may take, With purpose presently to leave this war.BastardHe will the rather do it when he sees Ourselves well sinewed to our defence.SalisburyNay, it is in a manner done already; For many carriages he hath dispatch’d To the sea-side, and put his cause and quarrel To the disposing of the cardinal: With whom yourself, myself and other lords, If you think meet, this afternoon will post To consummate this business happily.BastardLet it be so: and you, my noble prince, With other princes that may best be spared, Shall wait upon your father’s funeral.Prince HenryAt Worcester must his body be interr’d; For so he will’d it.BastardThither shall it then: And happily may your sweet self put on The lineal state and glory of the land! To whom with all submission, on my knee I do bequeath my faithful services And true subjection everlastingly.SalisburyAnd the like tender of our love we make, To rest without a spot for evermore.Prince HenryI have a kind soul that would give you thanks And knows not how to do it but with tears.BastardO, let us pay the time but needful woe, Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs. This England never did, nor never shall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself. Now these her princes are come home again, Come the three corners of the world in arms, And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue, If England to itself do rest but true.Exeunt

William Shakespeare: King John, Act V

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William Shakespeare: King John, Act IV, Scene II

  • William Shakespeare: King John, Act IV, Scene II

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  • Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses
  • Current Events This Week: January 2023
  • African Americans by the Numbers
  • Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
  • The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales