My uncle practifes more harm to me:
He is afraid of me, and I of him:

Is it my fault that I was Geffrey's fon?

No, indeed, is't not; And I would to heaven,
I were your fon, fo you would love me, Hubert.
Hub. If I talk to him, with his innocent prate
He will awake my mercy, which lies dead:
Therefore I will be fudden, and defpatch.

[Afide.

Arth. Are you fick, Hubert? you look pale to-day:

That I might fit all night, and watch with you:

In footh, I would you were a little fick;

1 warrant, I love you more than you do me.

Hub. His words do take poffeffion of my bofom.

Read here, young Arthur. [Showing a paper.] How now,

foolish rheum!

Turning difpiteous torture out of door!

I must be brief; left refolution drop
Out at mine eyes, in tender womanish tears.-
Can you not read it? is it not fair writ?
Arth. Too fairly, Hubert, for fo foul effect:
Muft
you with hot irons burn out both mine eyes?
Hub. Young boy, I must.

Arth.

Hub.

And will you?

[Afile.

And I will.

Arth. Have you the heart? When your head did but ake,

I knit my handkerchief about your brows,

(The best I had, a princess wrought it me,)

And I did never atk it you again :

And with my hand at midnight held your head;
And, like the watchful minutes to the hour,

Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time;

Saying, What lack you? and, Where lies your grief?
Or, What good love may I perform for you?
Many a poor man's fon would have lain ftill,
And ne'er have spoke a loving word to you;
But
you at your fick fervice had a prince.
Nay, you may think, my love was crafty love,
And call it, cunning; Do, an if you will:
If heaven be pleas'd that you must use me ill,
Why, then you muft,-Will you put out mine eyes?

E 2

There

Thefe eyes, that never did, nor never shall,
So much as frown on you?

Hub.

I have fworn to do it;

And with hot irons must I burn them out.

Arth. Ah, none, but in this iron age, would do it!
The iron of itself, though heat red-hot,"

Approaching near thefe eyes, would drink my tears,
And quench his firy indignation,2

Even in the matter of mine innocence:
Nay, after that, confume away in rust,
But for containing fire to harm mine eye.
Are you more stubborn-hard than hammer'd iron?
An if an angel fhould have come to me,

And told me, Hubert fhould put out mine eyes,
I would not have believ'd no tongue, but Hubert's.
Hub. Come forth.

Re-enter Attendants, with cords, irons, &c.

Do as I bid you do.

[Stamps.

Arih. O, fave me, Hubert, fave me! my eyes are out Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men.

Hub. Give me the iron, I fay, and bind him here.
Arth. Alas, what need you be fo boift'rous-rough?
I will not ftruggle, I will ftand ftone-still.
For heaven's fake, Hubert, let me not be bound!
Nay, hear me, Hubert! drive these men away,
And I will fit as quiet as a lamb;

I will not ftir, nor wince, nor fpeak a word,
Nor look upon the iron angerly:

'Thruft but these men away, and I'll forgive you,
Whatever torment you do put me to.

Hub. Go, ftand within; let me alone with him.

1 Attend.

9 The participle beat, though now obfolete, was in ufe in our author's time. So, in the facred writings: "He commanded that they should heat the furnace one feven times more than it was wont to be beat." Dan. iii. 19. MALONE.

2 These words are taken from the Bible. In the Epiftle to the Hebrews, we read" a certain fearful looking for of judgement and fry indignation." ch. x. v. 27. WHALLEY.

1 Attend. I am best pleas'd to be from fuch a deed.

[Exeunt Attendants.

Arth. Alas! I then have chid away my friend;
He hath aftern look, but a gentle heart:-
Let him come back, that his compassion may
Give life to yours.

Hub.

Come, boy, prepare yourself.

Arth. Is there no remedy?

Hub.

None, but to lofe your eyes.

Arth. O heaven!--that there were but a mote in yours,3 A grain, a duft, a gnat, a wand'ring hair,

Any annoyance in that precious fenfe!

Then, feeling what fmall things are boift'rous there,
Your vile intent must needs feem horrible.

Hub. Is this your promife? go to, hold your tongue.
Arth. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues
Muft needs want pleading for a pair of eyes:
Let me not hold my tongue; let me not, Hubert!
Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,+
So I may keep mine eyes; O, fpare mine eyes:
Though to no ufe, but still to look on you!
Lo, by my troth, the inftrument is cold,
And would not harm me.

Hub.

I can heat it, boy.

Arth. No, in good footh; the fire is dead with grief,5
Being create for comfort, to be us'd

In undeferv'd extremes: See elfe yourself;
There is no malice in this burning coal;

E 3

6

Hub.

3 Our author, who has borrowed fo much from the facred writings, without doubt remembered,-" And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye," &c. Matth. vii. 3. A mote is a small particle of ftraw or chaff. It is likewife ufed by old writers for an atom.

MALONE. 4 This is according to nature. We imagine no evil fo great as that which is near us. JOHNSON.

5 The fenfe is the fire, being created not to hurt, but to comfort, is dead with grief for finding itself used in acts of cruelty, which, being innocent, I have not deferved. JOHNSON.

Dr. Grey fays, that no malice in a burning coal is certainly abfurd, and that we should read:

There is no malice burning in this coal. STEEVENS.

The breath of heaven hath blown his fpirit out,
And ftrew'd repentant afhes on his head.

Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy.
Arth. And if you do, you will but make it blush,
And glow with fhame of your proceedings, Hubert:
Nay, it, perchance, will fparkle in your eyes;
And, like a dog that is compell'd to fight,
Snatch at his mafter that doth tarre him on.7
All things, that you should use to do me wrong,
Deny their office: only you do lack

That mercy, which fierce fire, and iron, extends,
Creatures of note for mercy-lacking ufes.

Hub. Well, fee to live; I will not touch thine eyes
For all the treasure that thine uncle owes :

Yet am I fworn, and I did purpose, boy,
With this fame very iron to burn them out.

Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! all this while
You were difguifed.

Hub.

Peace: no more.
Adieu;
Your uncle muft not know but you are dead:
I'll fill thefe dogged fpies with falfe reports.
And, pretty child, fleep doubtless, and fecure,
That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world,
Will not offend thee.

Arth.

O heaven!-I thank уси, Hubert. Hub. Silence; no more: Go clofely in with me; ? Much danger do I undergo for thee.

[Exeunt.

Dr. Grey's remark on this paffage is an hypercriticism. The coal was till burning, for Hubert fays, " he could revive it with his breath: ' but it had loft for a time its power of injuring by the abatement of its heat. M. MASON.

7 i. e. ftimulate, fet him on. Suppofed to be derived from rapala, excito. The word occurs again in Hamlet. STEEVENS.

The meaning is not, I believe, keep your eye-fight, that you may live (for he might have lived though blind). The words agreeably to a common idiom of our language, mean, I conceive, no more than Lue.

MALONE.

See to live means only-Continue to enjoy the means of life. STEEVEN 5. On further confideration of these words, I believe the author meant, "Well, live, and live with the means of feeing; that is, with your eyes uninjured." MALONE.

9 i. e. fecretly, privately. REED.

& But we Todd', Johnson, Dit v. SCENE.

SCENE II.

The fame. A Room of ftate in the Palace.

Enter King JOHN, crowned; PEMBROKE, SALISBURY, and other Lords. The King takes his fate.

K. John. Here once again we fit, once again crown'd, And look'd upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.

Pem. This once again, but that your highnefs pleas'd,
Was once fuperfluous: you were crown'd before,
And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off;
The faiths of men ne'er ftained with revolt;
Fresh expectation troubled not the land,
With any long'd-for change, or better itate.

Sal. Therefore, to be poffefs'd with double pomp,
To guard a title that was rich before,3
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To feek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,
Is wafteful, and ridiculous excess.

Pemb. But that your royal pleasure must be done,
This act is as an ancient tale new told; 4

2 This one time more was one time more than enough. JOHNSON. It should be remembered that King John was at prefent crowned for the fourth time. STEEVENS.

John's fecond coronation was at Canterbury in the year 1201. He was crowned a third time at the fame place, after the murder of his nephew, in April 1202; probably with a view of confirming his title to the throne, his competitor no longer ftanding in his way. MALONE. 3 To guard, is to fringe. JOHNSON.

Rather, to lace. So, in The Merchant of Venice:

66 -give him a livery

"More guarded than his fellows."

STEEVENS.

4 Had Shakspeare been a diligent examiner of his own compositions,

he