Under whose conduct came those powers of France That thou for truth givest out are landed here?Messenger Under the Dauphin.KING JOHN Thou hast made me giddy With these ill tidings.
Enter the BASTARD and PETER of Pomfret Now,what says the world To your proceedings?do not seek to stuff My head with more ill news,for it is full.BASTARD But if you be afeard to hear the worst,Then let the worst unheard fall on your bead.KING JOHN Bear with me cousin,for I was amazed Under the tide:but now I breathe again Aloft the flood,and can give audience To any tongue,speak it of what it will.BASTARD How I have sped among the clergymen,The sums I have collected shall express.
But as I travell'd hither through the land,I find the people strangely fantasied;Possess'd with rumours,full of idle dreams,Not knowing what they fear,but full of fear:
And here a prophet,that I brought with me From forth the streets of Pomfret,whom I found With many hundreds treading on his heels;To whom he sung,in rude harsh-sounding rhymes,That,ere the next Ascension-day at noon,Your highness should deliver up your crown.KING JOHN Thou idle dreamer,wherefore didst thou so?PETER Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so.KING JOHN Hubert,away with him;imprison him;And on that day at noon whereon he says I shall yield up my crown,let him be hang'd.
Deliver him to safety;and return,For I must use thee.
Exeunt HUBERT with PETER
O my gentle cousin,Hear'st thou the news abroad,who are arrived?BASTARD The French,my lord;men's mouths are full of it:
Besides,I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury,With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,And others more,going to seek the grave Of Arthur,who they say is kill'd to-night On your suggestion.KING JOHN Gentle kinsman,go,And thrust thyself into their companies:
I have a way to win their loves again;
Bring them before me.BASTARD I will seek them out.KING JOHN Nay,but make haste;the better foot before.
O,let me have no subject enemies,When adverse foreigners affright my towns With dreadful pomp of stout invasion!