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 savagʼry, the vilest stroke,

4

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 sin of time;5
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 hand?—
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,

4 wall-ey'd wrath,] So, in Titus Andronicus, Lucius, addressing himself to Aaron the Moor:

"Say, wall-ey'd slave." Steevens.

5 sin of time;] The old copy-of times. I follow Mr. Pope, whose reading is justified by a line in the celebrated soliloquy of Hamlet:

"For who would bear the whips and scorns of time?" Again, by another in this play of King John, p. 401: "I am not glad that such a sore of time of times;] That is, of all future times. So, in King Hen

ry V:

"By custom and the ordinance of times."

Again, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"For now against himself he sounds his doom,

Steevens.

"That through the length of times he stands disgrac'd." Mr. Pope and the subsequent editors more elegantly read-sins of time; but the peculiarities of Shakspeare's diction ought, in my apprehension, to be faithfully preserved. Malone.

Nor conversant with ease and idleness,

Till I have set a glory to this hand, head
By giving it the worship of revenge.7

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:-

a holy vow;

Never to taste the pleasures of the world,] This is a copy of the vows made in the ages of superstition and chivalry. Johnson. 7 Till I have set a glory to this hand,

By giving it the worship of revenge. The worship is the dignity, the honour. We still say worshipful of magistrates. Johnson.

I think it should be-a glory to this head;-pointing to the dead prince, and using the word worship in its common acceptation. A glory is a frequent term:

"Round a quaker's beaver cast a glory,"

says Mr. Pope: the solemn confirmation of the other lords seems to require this sense. The late Mr. Gray was much pleased with this correction. Farmer.

The old reading seems right to me, and means,-till I have famed and renowned my own hand by giving it the honour of revenge for so foul a deel. Glory means splendor and magnificence in St. Matthew, vi, 29. So, in Markham's Husbandry, 1631, p. 353: "But if it be where the tide is scant, and doth no more but bring the river to a glory," i. e. fills the banks without overflowing. So, in Act II, sc. ii, of this play:

"O, two such silver currents, when they join, "Do glorify the banks that bound them in.” A thought almost similar to the present, occurs in Ben Jonson's Catiline, who, Act IV, sc. iv, says to Cethegus: "When we meet again we 'H sacrifice to liberty. Cet. And revenge. That we may praise our hands once!" i. e. O! that we may set a glory, or procure honour and praise, to our hands, which are the instru ments of action. Tollet.

I believe, at repeating these lines, Salisbury should take hold of the hand of Arthur, to which he promises to pay the worship of revenge. M. Mason.

I think the old reading the true one. In the next Act we have the following lines:

66

I will not return,

"Till my attempt so much be glorified

"As to my ample hope was promised."

The following passage in Troilus and Cressida is decisive in support of the old reading:

Jove, let Æneas live,

"If to my sword his fate be not the glory,

"A thousand complete courses of the sun." Malone.

Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!
Hub. I am no villain.

Sal.

Must I rob the law?

[Drawing his sword.

Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.3 Sal. Not till I sheathe 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 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.

Do not prove me so;

Yet, I am none:1 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,2 That you shall think the devil is come from hell.2 Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge?

8 Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again ] i. e. lest it lose its brightness. So, in thello:

"Keep up your bright swords; for the dew will rust them." Malone.

9 — true defence;] Honest defence; defence in a good cause. Johnson.

1 Do not prove me so; Yet, I am none:] Do not make me a murderer, by compelling me to kill you; I am hitherto not a murderer. Johnson.

2

your toasting-iron,] The same thought is found in King Henry V: "I dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one, but what though? it will toast cheese." Again, in Fletcher's Woman's Prize, or the Tamer tamed: 66 dart ladles, toasting irons,

"And tongs, like thunder-bolts." Steevens.

Second a villain, and a murderer?
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 villainy is not without such rheum;
And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorse and innocency.
Away, with me, all you whose souls abhor
The uucleanly 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, sir.

Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what;

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

As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child.

3 That you shall think the devil is come from hell.] So, in the ancient MS. romance of The Sowdon of Babyloyne:

"And saide thai wer no men

"But develis abroken oute of helle." Steevens.

4 Like rivers of remorse-] Remorse here, as almost every where in these plays, and the contemporary books, signifies pity. Malone.

5 Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer:] So, in the old play:

"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." Malone.

There is not yet &c.] I remember once to have met with a book, printed in the time of Henry VIII, (which Shakspeare possibly might have seen) where we are told that the deformity of the condemned in the other world, is exactly proportioned to

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

Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be

A beam to hang thee on; or would'st thou drown thyself,"
Put but a little water in a spoon,
And it shall be as all the ocean,
Enough to stifle such a villain up.-

I do suspect thee very grievously.

Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought,
Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath
Which was embounded in this beauteous clay,
Let hell want pains enough to torture me!
I left him well.

8

Bast.
Go, bear him in thine arms.-
I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way
Among the thorns and dangers of this world.
How easy dost thou take all England up!
From forth this morsel of dead royalty,
The life, the right, and truth of all this realm
Is fled to heaven; and England now is left
To tug and scamble, and to part by the teeth
The unowed interest1 of proud-swelling state.

the degrees of their guilt. The author of it observes how difficult it would be, on this account, to distinguish betwen Belzebub and Judas Iscariot. Steevens.

71

- drown thyself.] Perhaps thyself is an interpolation. It certainly spoils the measure; and drown is elsewhere used by our author as a verb neuter. Thus, in King Richard III:

"Good lord, methought, what pain it was to drown.”

Steevens.

3 I am amaz'd,] i. e. confounded. So, King John, p. 382, says: I was amaz'd

66

"Under the tide." Steevens.

To tug and scamble,] So, in King Henry V, sc. i:

"But that the scambling and unquiet time."

Scamble and scramble have the same meaning. See note on the passage quoted. Steevens.

1 The unowed interest] i. e. the interest which has no proper owner to claim it. Steevens.

That is, the interest which is not at this moment legally possessed by any one, however rightfully entitled to it. On the