Yet I will try the last: Before my body

Macduff;

I throw my warlike shield: lay on,
And damn'd be he that first cries, "Hold, enough."

[Exeunt, fighting. Retreat. Flourish. Re-enter, with drum and colours, MALCOLM, old SIWARD, ROSSE, LENOX, ANGUS, CATHNESS, MENTETH, and Soldiers.

Mal. I would the friends we miss were safe arriv'd.

Siw. Some must go off; and yet, by these I see,

So great a day as this is cheaply bought.

Mal. Macduff is missing, and your noble son.

Rosse. Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt:

He only liv'd but till he was a man

The which no sooner had his prowess confirm'd,

In the unshrinking station where he fought,

But like a man he died.

Siw. Then he is dead?

Rosse. Ay, and brought off the field: your cause of sorrow Must not be measured by his worth, for then

It hath no end.

Siw.

Had he his hurts before?

Rosse. Ay, on the front.
Siw.

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.
Siw.

He's worth no more;

They say, he parted well, and paid his score:

And so, God be with him!-Here comes newer comfort.
Re-enter MACDUFF, with MACBETH's head.

Macd. Hail, king! for so thou art: Behold, where stands The usurper's cursed head: the time is free:

I see thee compass'd with thy kingdom's pearl,1
That speak my salutation in their minds;

Whose voices I desire aloud with mine,

Hail, king of Scotland!

All.

Hail, king of Scotland!

Mal. We shall not spend a large expense of time, Before we reckon with your several loves,

[Flourish.

And make us even with you. My thanes and kinsmen,

(1) Thy kingdom's pearl, i. e. the brave and good men of thy kingdom, which

are its ornament.

Henceforth be earls, the first that ever Scotland
In such an honour nam'd. What's more to do,
Which would be planted newly with the time,—
As calling home our exil'd friends abroad
That fled the snares of watchful tyranny;
Producing forth the cruel ministers

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
That calls upon us, by the grace of Grace,
We will perform in measure, time, and place:
So thanks to all at once, and to each one,
Whom we invite to see us crown'd at Scone.

[Flourish. Exeunt.

END OF MACBETH.

King John.

Persons represented.

KING JOHN.

PRINCE HENRY, son to King John; afterwards King Henry III.
ARTHUR, Duke of Bretagne, son of Geffrey, late Duke of Bretagne, the

elder brother of King John.

WILLIAM MARESHALL, Earl of Pembroke.

GEFFREY FITZ-PETER, Earl of Essex, chief justiciary of England.
WILLIAM LONGSWORD, Earl of Salisbury, son of King Henry II. by the
Fair Rosamond.

ROBERT BIGOT, Earl of Norfolk.

HUBERT DE BURGH, chamberlain to the King.

ROBERT FAULCONBRIDGE, son of Sir Robert Faulconbridge.

PHILIP FAULCONBRIDGE, half-brother to Robert Faulconbridge, bastard son to King Richard I.

JAMES GURNEY, servant to Lady Faulconbridge.

PETER OF POMFRET, a prophet.

PHILIP, King of France.

LEWIS, the Dauphin.

ARCH DUKE OF AUSTRIA.

CARDINAL PANDUL PH, the Pope's legate.

MELUN, a French lord.

CHATILLON, ambassador from France to King John.

ELINOR, the widow of King Henry II., and mother of King John.
CONSTANCE, mother to Arthur.

BLANCH, daughter to Alphonso, King of Castile, and niece to King John. LADY FAULCON BRIDGE, mother to the Bastard and Robert Faulconbridge. Lords, Ladies, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other attendants.

SCENE. Sometimes in England; sometimes in France.

Introduction.

HENRY II. had, by Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII. four sons,-Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John. Of these, Henry and Geoffrey died before their father, who at his death was succeeded by Richard, so well known as Coeur-de-Lion. Constance, the wife of Geoffrey, soon after his decease was delivered of a son, who was named Arthur, who of course, at the death of Richard, had a prior claim to the throne before his uncle John, as being the son of his elder brother. It was scarcely to be expected, however, that John, who had already made himself notorious for his perfidy towards his brother Richard, would have any respect to the right of a child of twelve years old; and he accordingly seized on the crown of England, together with the large possessions which his father and brother had held in France. Philip, surnamed Augustus, king of that country, espoused the cause of Arthur very warmly; so much so, indeed, that he gave occasion to his mother to suspect that, should he overcome John, still her son would be no nearer his just inheritance, which the king of France seemed so likely to retain for himself. This suspicion induced her to put herself and Arthur under the protection of John, hoping, no doubt, that the feelings of consanguinity would make him, in the end, a better guardian for them than she feared Philip might prove himself to be. In this she was deceived: for John, having got possession of his youthful rival, kept him and his mother close prisoners in Mans; where the cruelties which they experienced made them effect an escape, and once more throw themselves under the protection of Philip. After various success in their enterprises, in which they were assisted by the French king, Arthur was taken prisoner by his uncle, and confined in the castle of Falaise, from which, for the sake of greater security, he was removed to Rouen, where he was murdered, as it is supposed, by the hands of John himself, A.D. 1203.

The detestable cnormity of this crime raised the hatred of every

H