The First Part of Henry IV:
Act 3, Scene 2
Enter the KING, PRINCE OF WALES, and others.
KING HENRY IV
1
Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Wales and I
2
Must have some private conference; but be near at hand,
3
For we shall presently have need of you.
4
I know not whether God will have it so,
5
For some displeasing service I have done,
6
That, in his secret doom, out of my blood
7
He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
8
But thou dost in thy passages of life
9
Make me believe that thou art only mark'd
10
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven
11
To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else,
12
Could such inordinate and low desires,
13
Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts,
14
Such barren pleasures, rude society,
15
As thou art match'd withal and grafted to,
16
Accompany the greatness of thy blood
17
And hold their level with thy princely heart?
PRINCE HENRY
18
So please your majesty, I would I could
19
Quit all offences with as clear excuse
20
As well as I am doubtless I can purge
21
Myself of many I am charged withal:
22
Yet such extenuation let me beg,
23
As, in reproof of many tales devised,
24
which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
25
By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers,
26
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
27
Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,
28
Find pardon on my true submission.
KING HENRY IV
29
God pardon thee! yet let me wonder, Harry,
30
At thy affections, which do hold a wing
31
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
32
Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost.
33
Which by thy younger brother is supplied,
34
And art almost an alien to the hearts
35
Of all the court and princes of my blood:
36
The hope and expectation of thy time
37
Is ruin'd, and the soul of every man
38
Prophetically doth forethink thy fall.
39
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
40
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
41
So stale and cheap to vulgar company,
42
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
43
Had still kept loyal to possession
44
And left me in reputeless banishment,
45
A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.
46
By being seldom seen, I could not stir
47
But like a comet I was wonder'd at;
48
That men would tell their children 'This is he;'
49
Others would say 'Where, which is Bolingbroke?'
50
And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,
51
And dress'd myself in such humility
52
That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
53
Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
54
Even in the presence of the crowned king.
55
Thus did I keep my person fresh and new;
56
My presence, like a robe pontifical,
57
Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state,
58
Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast
59
And won by rareness such solemnity.
60
The skipping king, he ambled up and down
61
With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,
62
Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state,
63
Mingled his royalty with capering fools,
64
Had his great name profaned with their scorns
65
And gave his countenance, against his name,
66
To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push
67
Of every beardless vain comparative,
68
Grew a companion to the common streets,
69
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity;
70
That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
71
They surfeited with honey and began
72
To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
73
More than a little is by much too much.
74
So when he had occasion to be seen,
75
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,
76
Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes
77
As, sick and blunted with community,
78
Afford no extraordinary gaze,
79
Such as is bent on sun-like majesty
80
When it shines seldom in admiring eyes;
81
But rather drowzed and hung their eyelids down,
82
Slept in his face and render'd such aspect
83
As cloudy men use to their adversaries,
84
Being with his presence glutted, gorged and full.
85
And in that very line, Harry, standest thou;
86
For thou has lost thy princely privilege
87
With vile participation: not an eye
88
But is a-weary of thy common sight,
89
Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;
90
Which now doth that I would not have it do,
91
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.
PRINCE HENRY
92
I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord,
93
Be more myself.
KING HENRY IV
93
For all the world
94
As thou art to this hour was Richard then
95
When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh,
96
And even as I was then is Percy now.
97
Now, by my sceptre and my soul to boot,
98
He hath more worthy interest to the state
99
Than thou the shadow of succession;
100
For of no right, nor color like to right,
101
He doth fill fields with harness in the realm,
102
Turns head against the lion's armed jaws,
103
And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
104
Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on
105
To bloody battles and to bruising arms.
106
What never-dying honour hath he got
107
Against renowned Douglas! whose high deeds,
108
Whose hot incursions and great name in arms
109
Holds from all soldiers chief majority
110
And military title capital
111
Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ:
112
Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling clothes,
113
This infant warrior, in his enterprises
114
Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once,
115
Enlarged him and made a friend of him,
116
To fill the mouth of deep defiance up
117
And shake the peace and safety of our throne.
118
And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
119
The Archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,
120
Capitulate against us and are up.
121
But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?
122
Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
123
Which art my near'st and dearest enemy?
124
Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear,
125
Base inclination and the start of spleen
126
To fight against me under Percy's pay,
127
To dog his heels and curtsy at his frowns,
128
To show how much thou art degenerate.
PRINCE HENRY
129
Do not think so; you shall not find it so:
130
And God forgive them that so much have sway'd
131
Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!
132
I will redeem all this on Percy's head
133
And in the closing of some glorious day
134
Be bold to tell you that I am your son;
135
When I will wear a garment all of blood
136
And stain my favors in a bloody mask,
137
Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it:
138
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
139
That this same child of honour and renown,
140
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
141
And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.
142
For every honour sitting on his helm,
143
Would they were multitudes, and on my head
144
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
145
That I shall make this northern youth exchange
146
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
147
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
148
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
149
And I will call him to so strict account,
150
That he shall render every glory up,
151
Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
152
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
153
This, in the name of God, I promise here:
154
The which if He be pleased I shall perform,
155
I do beseech your majesty may salve
156
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
157
If not, the end of life cancels all bands;
158
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths
159
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.
KING HENRY IV
160
A hundred thousand rebels die in this:
161
Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein.
162
How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.
SIR WALTER BLUNT
163
So hath the business that I come to speak of.
164
Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word
165
That Douglas and the English rebels met
166
The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury
167
A mighty and a fearful head they are,
168
If promises be kept on every hand,
169
As ever offer'd foul play in the state.
KING HENRY IV
170
The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day;
171
With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster;
172
For this advertisement is five days old:
173
On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward;
174
On Thursday we ourselves will march: our meeting
175
Is Bridgenorth: and, Harry, you shall march
176
Through Gloucestershire; by which account,
177
Our business valued, some twelve days hence
178
Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet.
179
Our hands are full of business: let's away;
180
Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay.