Complete Plays, The

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Complete Plays, The Page 183

by William Shakespeare


  Which, cousin, you shall bear to comfort him,

  And we with sober speed will follow you.

  Falstaff

  My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go

  Through Gloucestershire: and, when you come to court,

  Stand my good lord, pray, in your good report.

  Lancaster

  Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition,

  Shall better speak of you than you deserve.

  Exeunt all but Falstaff

  Falstaff

  I would you had but the wit: ’twere better than your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober- blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh; but that’s no marvel, he drinks no wine. There’s never none of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness; and then when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for inflammation. A good sherris sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and curdy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and delectable shapes, which, delivered o’er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme: it illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puffed up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valour comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences it and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile and bare land, manured, husbanded and tilled with excellent endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.

  Enter Bardolph

  How now Bardolph?

  Bardolph

  The army is discharged all and gone.

  Falstaff

  Let them go. I’ll through Gloucestershire; and there will I visit Master Robert Shallow, esquire: I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him. Come away.

  Exeunt

  SCENE IV. WESTMINSTER. THE JERUSALEM CHAMBER.

  Enter King Henry IV, the Princes Thomas of Clarence and Humphrey of Gloucester, Warwick, and others

  King Henry IV

  Now, lords, if God doth give successful end

  To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,

  We will our youth lead on to higher fields

  And draw no swords but what are sanctified.

  Our navy is address’d, our power collected,

  Our substitutes in absence well invested,

  And every thing lies level to our wish:

  Only, we want a little personal strength;

  And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot,

  Come underneath the yoke of government.

  Warwick

  Both which we doubt not but your majesty

  Shall soon enjoy.

  King Henry IV

  Humphrey, my son of Gloucester,

  Where is the prince your brother?

  Gloucester

  I think he’s gone to hunt, my lord, at Windsor.

  King Henry IV

  And how accompanied?

  Gloucester

  I do not know, my lord.

  King Henry IV

  Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with him?

  Gloucester

  No, my good lord; he is in presence here.

  Clarence

  What would my lord and father?

  King Henry IV

  Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence.

  How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?

  He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas;

  Thou hast a better place in his affection

  Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy,

  And noble offices thou mayst effect

  Of mediation, after I am dead,

  Between his greatness and thy other brethren:

  Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love,

  Nor lose the good advantage of his grace

  By seeming cold or careless of his will;

  For he is gracious, if he be observed:

  He hath a tear for pity and a hand

  Open as day for melting charity:

  Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he’s flint,

  As humorous as winter and as sudden

  As flaws congealed in the spring of day.

  His temper, therefore, must be well observed:

  Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,

  When thou perceive his blood inclined to mirth;

  But, being moody, give him line and scope,

  Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,

  Confound themselves with working. Learn this, Thomas,

  And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends,

  A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in,

  That the united vessel of their blood,

  Mingled with venom of suggestion —

  As, force perforce, the age will pour it in —

  Shall never leak, though it do work as strong

  As aconitum or rash gunpowder.

  Clarence

  I shall observe him with all care and love.

  King Henry IV

  Why art thou not at Windsor with him, Thomas?

  Clarence

  He is not there to-day; he dines in London.

  King Henry IV

  And how accompanied? canst thou tell that?

  Clarence

  With Poins, and other his continual followers.

  King Henry IV

  Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds;

  And he, the noble image of my youth,

  Is overspread with them: therefore my grief

  Stretches itself beyond the hour of death:

  The blood weeps from my heart when I do shape

  In forms imaginary the unguided days

  And rotten times that you shall look upon

  When I am sleeping with my ancestors.

  For when his headstrong riot hath no curb,

  When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,

  When means and lavish manners meet together,

  O, with what wings shall his affections fly

  Towards fronting peril and opposed decay!

  Warwick

  My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite:

  The prince but studies his companions

  Like a strange tongue, wherein, to gain the language,

  ’Tis needful that the most immodest word

  Be look’d upon and learn’d; which once attain’d,

  Your highness knows, comes to no further use

  But to be known and hated. So, like gross terms,

  The prince will in the perfectness of time

  Cast off his followers; and their memory

  Shall as a pattern or a measure live,

  By which his grace must mete the lives of others,

  Turning past evils to advantages.

  King Henry IV

  ’Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb

  In the dead carrion.

  Enter Westmoreland

  Who’s here? Westmoreland?

  Westmoreland

  Health to my sovereign, and new happines
s

  Added to that that I am to deliver!

  Prince John your son doth kiss your grace’s hand:

  Mowbray, the Bishop Scroop, Hastings and all

  Are brought to the correction of your law;

  There is not now a rebel’s sword unsheath’d

  But peace puts forth her olive every where.

  The manner how this action hath been borne

  Here at more leisure may your highness read,

  With every course in his particular.

  King Henry IV

  O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird,

  Which ever in the haunch of winter sings

  The lifting up of day.

  Enter Harcourt

  Look, here’s more news.

  Harcourt

  From enemies heaven keep your majesty;

  And, when they stand against you, may they fall

  As those that I am come to tell you of!

  The Earl Northumberland and the Lord Bardolph,

  With a great power of English and of Scots

  Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown:

  The manner and true order of the fight

  This packet, please it you, contains at large.

  King Henry IV

  And wherefore should these good news make me sick?

  Will fortune never come with both hands full,

  But write her fair words still in foulest letters?

  She either gives a stomach and no food;

  Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast

  And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,

  That have abundance and enjoy it not.

  I should rejoice now at this happy news;

  And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy:

  O me! come near me; now I am much ill.

  Gloucester

  Comfort, your majesty!

  Clarence

  O my royal father!

  Westmoreland

  My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself, look up.

  Warwick

  Be patient, princes; you do know, these fits

  Are with his highness very ordinary.

  Stand from him. Give him air; he’ll straight be well.

  Clarence

  No, no, he cannot long hold out these pangs:

  The incessant care and labour of his mind

  Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in

  So thin that life looks through and will break out.

  Gloucester

  The people fear me; for they do observe

  Unfather’d heirs and loathly births of nature:

  The seasons change their manners, as the year

  Had found some months asleep and leap’d them over.

  Clarence

  The river hath thrice flow’d, no ebb between;

  And the old folk, time’s doting chronicles,

  Say it did so a little time before

  That our great-grandsire, Edward, sick’d and died.

  Warwick

  Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers.

  Gloucester

  This apoplexy will certain be his end.

  King Henry IV

  I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence

  Into some other chamber: softly, pray.

  SCENE V. ANOTHER CHAMBER.

  King Henry IV lying on a bed: Clarence, Gloucester, Warwick, and others in attendance

  King Henry IV

  Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;

  Unless some dull and favourable hand

  Will whisper music to my weary spirit.

  Warwick

  Call for the music in the other room.

  King Henry IV

  Set me the crown upon my pillow here.

  Clarence

  His eye is hollow, and he changes much.

  Warwick

  Less noise, less noise!

  Enter Prince Henry

  Prince Henry

  Who saw the Duke of Clarence?

  Clarence

  I am here, brother, full of heaviness.

  Prince Henry

  How now! rain within doors, and none abroad!

  How doth the king?

  Gloucester

  Exceeding ill.

  Prince Henry

  Heard he the good news yet?

  Tell it him.

  Gloucester

  He alter’d much upon the hearing it.

  Prince Henry

  If he be sick with joy, he’ll recover without physic.

  Warwick

  Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince, speak low; The king your father is disposed to sleep.

  Clarence

  Let us withdraw into the other room.

  Warwick

  Will’t please your grace to go along with us?

  Prince Henry

  No; I will sit and watch here by the king.

  Exeunt all but Prince Henry

  Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,

  Being so troublesome a bedfellow?

  O polish’d perturbation! golden care!

  That keep’st the ports of slumber open wide

  To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!

  Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet

  As he whose brow with homely biggen bound

  Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!

  When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit

  Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,

  That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath

  There lies a downy feather which stirs not:

  Did he suspire, that light and weightless down

  Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my father!

  This sleep is sound indeed, this is a sleep

  That from this golden rigol hath divorced

  So many English kings. Thy due from me

  Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,

  Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,

  Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously:

  My due from thee is this imperial crown,

  Which, as immediate as thy place and blood,

  Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,

  Which God shall guard: and put the world’s whole strength

  Into one giant arm, it shall not force

  This lineal honour from me: this from thee

  Will I to mine leave, as ’tis left to me.

  Exit

  King Henry IV

  Warwick! Gloucester! Clarence!

  Re-enter Warwick, Gloucester, Clarence, and the rest

  Clarence

  Doth the king call?

  Warwick

  What would your majesty? How fares your grace?

  King Henry IV

  Why did you leave me here alone, my lords?

  Clarence

  We left the prince my brother here, my liege,

  Who undertook to sit and watch by you.

  King Henry IV

  The Prince of Wales! Where is he? let me see him:

  He is not here.

  Warwick

  This door is open; he is gone this way.

  Gloucester

  He came not through the chamber where we stay’d.

  King Henry IV

  Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow?

  Warwick

  When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here.

  King Henry IV

  The prince hath ta’en it hence: go, seek him out.

  Is he so hasty that he doth suppose

  My sleep my death?

  Find him, my Lord of Warwick; chide him hither.

  Exit Warwick

  This part of his conjoins with my disease,

  And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you are!

  How quickly nature falls into revolt

  When gold becomes her object!

  For this the foolish over-careful fathers

  Have broke their sleep with thoughts,
their brains with care,

  Their bones with industry;

  For this they have engrossed and piled up

  The canker’d heaps of strange-achieved gold;

  For this they have been thoughtful to invest

  Their sons with arts and martial exercises:

  When, like the bee, culling from every flower

  The virtuous sweets,

  Our thighs pack’d with wax, our mouths with honey,

  We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees,

  Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste

  Yield his engrossments to the ending father.

  Re-enter Warwick

  Now, where is he that will not stay so long

  Till his friend sickness hath determined me?

  Warwick

  My lord, I found the prince in the next room,

  Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks,

  With such a deep demeanor in great sorrow

  That tyranny, which never quaff’d but blood,

  Would, by beholding him, have wash’d his knife

  With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.

  King Henry IV

  But wherefore did he take away the crown?

  Re-enter Prince Henry

  Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry.

  Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.

  Exeunt Warwick and the rest

  Prince Henry

  I never thought to hear you speak again.

  King Henry IV

  Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:

  I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.

  Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair

  That thou wilt needs invest thee with my honours

  Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!

  Thou seek’st the greatness that will o’erwhelm thee.

  Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity

  Is held from falling with so weak a wind

  That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.

  Thou hast stolen that which after some few hours

  Were thine without offence; and at my death

  Thou hast seal’d up my expectation:

  Thy life did manifest thou lovedst me not,

  And thou wilt have me die assured of it.

  Thou hidest a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,

  Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart,

  To stab at half an hour of my life.

  What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour?

  Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself,

  And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear

  That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.

  Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse

  Be drops of balm to sanctify thy head:

  Only compound me with forgotten dust

  Give that which gave thee life unto the worms.

  Pluck down my officers, break my decrees;

 

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