But thou, most fine, most honoured, most renowned,
Hast eat the bearer up.’—Thus, my royal liege,
Accusing it, I put it on my head,
To try with it, as with an enemy
That had before my face murdered my father,
The quarrel of a true inheritor.
But if it did infect my blood with joy,
Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride,
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine
Did with the least affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to the might of it,
Let heaven forever keep it from my head
And make me as the poorest vassal is
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
KING HENRY IV O my son,
Heaven put it in thy mind to take it hence,
That thou mightst join the more thy father’s love,
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it!
Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed
Prince Henry rises
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son,
By what by-paths and indirect crooked ways
I met this crown, and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head.
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation,
For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seemed in me
But as an honour snatched with boist’rous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances,
Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposèd peace. All these bold fears
Thou see’st with peril I have answerèd,
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument. And now my death
Changes the mood, for what in me was purchased,
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort.
So thou the garland wear’st successively.
Yet, though thou stand’st more sure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green,
And all thy friends, which thou must make thy friends,
Have but their stings and teeth newly taken out,
By whose fell working I was first advanced
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displaced, which to avoid,
I cut them off and had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land,
Lest rest and lying still might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels, that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days.
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O heaven forgive,
And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
PRINCE HENRY My gracious liege,
You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me.
Then plain and right must my possession be;
Which I with more than with a common pain
Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.
Enter Lord John of Lancaster [Prince John]and Warwick [behind]
KING HENRY IV Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster.
PRINCE JOHN Health, peace, and happiness to my royal father!
KING HENRY IV Thou bring’st me happiness and peace, son John,
But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare withered trunk. Upon thy sight
My worldly business makes a period.
Where is my lord of Warwick?
PRINCE HENRY My lord of Warwick!
KING HENRY IV Doth any name particular belong
Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?
WARWICK ’Tis called Jerusalem, my noble lord.
KING HENRY IV Laud be to heaven! Even there my life must end.
It hath been prophesied to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerusalem,
Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land.
But bear me to that chamber. There I’ll lie.
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.
Exeunt
Act 5 Scene 1
running scene 12
Location: at Justice Shallow’s, Gloucestershire
Enter Shallow, Silence, Falstaff, Bardolph, Page and Davy
SHALLOW By cock and pie, you shall not away tonight. What,
Davy, I say!
FALSTAFF You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.
SHALLOW I will not excuse you. You shall not be excused.
Excuses shall not be admitted. There is no excuse shall serve.
You shall not be excused.— Why, Davy!
DAVY Here, sir.
Steps forward
SHALLOW Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, Davy, let me see.
William Cook, bid him come hither. Sir John, you shall not be
excused.
DAVY Marry, sir, thus: those precepts cannot be served.
And again, sir, shall we sow the headland with wheat?
SHALLOW With red wheat, Davy. But for William Cook: are
there no young pigeons?
DAVY Yes, sir. Here is now the smith’s note for
Gives a paper
shoeing and plough-irons.
SHALLOW Let it be cast and paid.— Sir John, you shall not be
excused.
DAVY Sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be had.
And, sir, do you mean to stop any of William’s wages, about
the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley Fair
SHALLOW He shall answer? it. Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of
short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any pretty little
tiny kickshaws, tell William Cook.
They talk aside
DAVY Doth the man of war stay all night, sir?
SHALLOW Yes, Davy. I will use him well. A friend i’th’court is
better than a penny in purse. Use his men well, Davy, for they
are arrant knaves, and will backbite.
DAVY No worse than they are bitten, sir, for they have
marvellous foul linen.
SHALLOW Well conceited, Davy. About thy business, Davy.
DAVY I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of
Woncot against Clement Perkes of the Hill.
SHALLOW There are many complaints, Davy, against that
Visor. That Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.
DAVY I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir, but
yet, heaven forbid, sir, but a knave should have some
countenance at his friend’s request. An honest man, sir, is
able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served
your worship truly, sir, these eight years, and if I cannot once
or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest
man, I have but a very little credit with your worship. The
knave is mine honest friend, sir: therefore, I beseech your
worship let him be countenanced.
SHALLOW Go to, I say he shall have no wrong. Look about,
Davy.
[Exit Davy]
Where are you, Sir John? Come, off with your boots.— Give
me your hand, Master Bardolph.
BARDOLPH I am glad to see your worship.
SHALLOW I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master
Bardolph, and welcome, my tall fellow.— Come, Sir John.
FALSTAFF I’ll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow.
[Exit Shallow]
Bardolph, look to our horses.
[Exeunt Bard
olph and Page]
If I were sawed into quantities, I should make four dozen
of such bearded hermits’ staves as Master Shallow. It is a
wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men’s
spirits and his: they, by observing of him, do bear themselves
like foolish justices: he, by conversing with them, is turned
into a justice-like servingman. Their spirits are so married in
conjunction with the participation of society that they flock
together in consent, like so many wild geese. If I had a suit
to Master Shallow, I would humour his men with the
imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I would
curry with Master Shallow that no man could better
command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing
or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of
another: therefore let men take heed of their company. I will
devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince
Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of six fashions,
which is four terms, or two actions, and he shall laugh with
intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a slight oath and a
jest with a sad brow will do with a fellow that never had the
ache in his shoulders. O, you shall see him laugh till his face
be like a wet cloak ill laid up.
SHALLOW Sir John!
Within
FALSTAFF I come, Master Shallow, I come, Master Shallow.
Exit
Act 5 Scene 2
running scene 13
Location: the royal court
Enter the Earl of Warwick and the Lord Chief Justice
WARWICK How now, my Lord Chief Justice whither away?
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE How doth the king?
WARWICK Exceeding well, his cares are now all ended.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE I hope, not dead.
WARWICK He’s walked the way of nature,
And to our purposes he lives no more.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE I would his majesty had called me with him.
The service that I truly did his life
Hath left me open to all injuries.
WARWICK Indeed I think the young king loves you not.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE I know he doth not, and do arm myself
To welcome the condition of the time,
Which cannot look more hideously upon me
Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.
Enter John of Lancaster [Prince John], Gloucester and Clarence,
[Westmorland and others]
WARWICK Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry.
O, that the living Harry had the temper
Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen!
How many nobles then should hold their places
That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort!
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE Alas, I fear all will be overturned.
PRINCE JOHN Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.
GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE Good morrow, cousin.
PRINCE JOHN We meet like men that had forgot to speak.
WARWICK We do remember, but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk.
PRINCE JOHN Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE Peace be with us, lest we be heavier!
GLOUCESTER O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed,
And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of seeming sorrow, it is sure your own.
PRINCE JOHN Though no man be assured what grace to find,
You stand in coldest expectation
I am the sorrier, would ’twere otherwise.
CLARENCE Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair,
Which swims against your stream of quality.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honour,
Led by th’impartial conduct of my soul,
And never shall you see that I will beg
A ragged and forestalled remission.
If troth and upright innocency fail me,
I’ll to the king my master that is dead,
And tell him who hath sent me after him.
WARWICK Here comes the prince.
Enter Prince Henry [now King Henry V]
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE Good morrow, and heaven save your majesty!
KING HENRY V This new and gorgeous garment majesty
Sits not so easy on me as you think.—
Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear.
This is the English, not the Turkish court,
Not Amurah an Amurah succeeds,
But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, to speak truth, it very well becomes you.
Sorrow so royally in you appears
That I will deeply put the fashion on
And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad,
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,
I’ll be your father and your brother too.
Let me but bear your love, I’ll bear your cares;
But weep that Harry’s dead, and so will I;
But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears
By number into hours of happiness.
PRINCE JOHN, GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE We hope no other from
your majesty.
KING HENRY V You all look strangely on me.— And
To Lord Chief Justice
you most:
You are, I think, assured I love you not.
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE I am assured, if I be measured rightly,
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
KING HENRY V No?
How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?
What? Rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
Th’immediate heir of England? Was this easy?
May this be washed in Lethe, and forgotten?
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE I then did use the person of your father,
The image of his power lay then in me,
x And in th’administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleasèd to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgement,
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought?
To pluck down justice from your awful bench?
To trip the course of law and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person?
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image
And mock your workings in a second body?
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours,
Be now the father and propose a son,
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdained,
And then imagine me taking your part
And in your power soft silencing your son.
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege’s sovereignty.
KING HENRY V You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well:
Therefore still bear the balance and the sword.
And I do wish your honours may increase
Till you do live to
see a son of mine
Offend you and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father’s words:
‘Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son;
And no less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice.’ You did commit me,
For which, I do commit into your hand
Th’unstained sword that you have used to bear,
With this remembrance: that you use the same
With the like bold, just and impartial spirit
As you have done gainst me. There is my hand.
Offers his hand
You shall be as a father to my youth,
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practised wise directions.
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you:
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections ,
And with his spirits sadly I survive,
To mock the expectation of the world,
To frustrate prophecies and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flowed in vanity till now.
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament,
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best governed nation,
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us,—
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.
To Lord Chief Justice
Our coronation done, we will accite,
As I before remembered) consigning to, all our state.
And, heaven my good intents,
No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,
Heaven shorten Harry’s happy life one day!
Exeunt
Act 5 Scene 3
running scene 14
Location: Shallow’s garden, Gloucestershire
Enter Falstaff, Shallow, Silence, Bardolph, [Davy]and Page
Henry IV, Part 2 Page 12