Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks;
With fuch a deep demeanour in great forrow,
That Tyranny, which never quaft but blood,
Would by beholding him have wash'd his knife
With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.
K. Henry. But wherefore did he take away the
Crown?
Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry ; Depart the chamber, leave us here alone. [Exe. Lords. P. Henry. I never thought to hear you fpeak again. K. Henry. Thy with was father, Harry, to that thought:
I ftay too long by thee, I weary thee.
Doft thou fo hunger for my empty Chair,
That thou wilt needs inveft thee with my Honours,
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!
Thou feek'ft the Greatnefs, that will overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little; for my cloud of Dignity
Is held from falling with fo weak a wind,
That it will quickly drop; my day is dim.
Thou haft ftoln That, which, after fome few hours,
Were thine without offence; and at my death
Thou haft seal'd up my expectation;
Thy life did manifeft, thou lov'dft me not;
And thou wilt have me die affur'd of it.
Thou hid'ft a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,
Which thou haft whetted on thy ftony. heart,
To ftab at half an hour of my frail life.
What! canft thou not forbear me half an hour?
Then get thee gone, and dig my Grave thyself,
And bid the merry bells ring to thy ear
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears, that fhould bedew my herse,
Be drops of balm to fanctify thy head;
Only compound me with forgotten duft,
Give That, which gave thee life, unto the worms.
Pluck down my officers, break my decrees;
For now a time is come to mock at form ;
Henry the Fifth is crown'd: up, Vanity!
Down, royal State! All you fage Councellors, hence;
And to the English Court aflemble now,
From ev'ry region, apes of Idlenefs:
Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum;
Have you a ruffian that will fwear ? drink? dance?
Revel the night? rob? murder? and commit
The oldeft fins the neweft kind of ways?
Be happy, he will trouble you no more:
[England fhall double gild his treble Guilt;}
England shall give him office, honour, might:
For the Fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks
The muzzle of restraint; and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.
O my poor kingdom, fick with civil blows!
When that my care could not withhold thy riots,
What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,
Peopled with Wolves, thy old inhabitants.
P. Henry. O pardon me, my Liege! but for my
(The moift impediments unto my speech,)
I had fore-ftall'd this dear and deep rebuke,
Ere you with grief had spoke, and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your Crown;
And he that wears the crown immortally,
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more,
Than as your
Honour, and as your Renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rife,
Which my most true and inward-duteous fpirit
Teacheth this proftrate and exterior bending.
Heav'n witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no courfe of breath within your Majefty,
How cold it ftruck my heart! If I do feign,{
O let me in my prefent wildness die,
And never live to fhew th' incredulous world
The noble Change that I have purposed.
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
(And dead almoft, my Liege, to think you were)
I fpake unto the Crown, as having fenfe,
And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending
Hath fed upon the body of my father,
Therefore thou beft of gold art worft of gold;
Other, lefs fine in carrat, is more precious,
Preserving life in med'cine potable:
But thou, moft fine, moft honour'd, moft renown'd, Haft eat thy bearer up. Thus, Royal Liege, Accufing it, I put it on my head,
To try with it (as with an enemy,
That had before my face murder'd my father)
The quarrel of a true inheritor.
But if it did infect my blood with joy,
Or fwell my thoughts to any ftrain 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 heav'n for ever keep it from my head,
And make me as the pooreft vafsal is,
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
K. Henry. O my fon!..
Heav'n put it in thy mind to take it hence,
That thou might'st win the more thy father's love,
Pleading fo wifely in excufe of it. I
Come hither, Harry, fit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel,
That ever I fhall breathe. Heav'n knows, my fon,
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways
I met this crown; and I myself know well,
How troublesome it fat upon my head.
To thee it fhall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation:
For all the foil of the atchievement goes.
With me into the earth. It feem'd in me
But as an Honour snatch'd with boift'rous band,
And I had many living to upbraid
My gain of it by their affiftances;
Which daily grew to quarrel and to blood-fhed,
Wounding fuppofed peace.
Thou feeft, with peril I have answered.
For all my reign hath been but as a Scene,
Acting that Argument: And now my death
Changes the mode; for what in me was purchas'd,
Falls upon thee in a much fairer fort;
For thou the garland wear'ft fucceffively.
Yet though thou ftand'ft more fure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, fince griefs are green;
And all thy friends, which thou muft make thy friends,
Have but their ftings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd,
And by whose pow'r I well might lodge a fear,
To be again difplac'd: which to avoid
I cut them off, and had a purpose now
To lead our many to the Holy Land ;
Left Reft and lying ftill might make them look
Too near into my State. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy courfe to busy giddy minds
With foreign Quarrels; that action, hence, borne out,
May wafte the memory of former days.
More would I, but my Lungs are wasted so,
That ftrength of fpeech is utterly deny'd me.
How I came by the Crown, O God, forgive!
And grant it may with thee in true peace live.
P. Henry. My gracious Liege,
You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right muft my Poffeffion be;
Which I with more than with a common pain,
'Gainft all the world, will rightfully maintain.
Enter Lord John of Lancafter, and Warwick.
K. Henry. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancafter.
Lan. Health, peace and happiness to my royal father! K. Henry.
K. Henry. Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, fon John;
But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare, wither'd, Trunk. Upon thy fight
My worldly business makes a period."
Where is my lord of Warwick?
P. Henry. My lord of Warwick.
K. Henry. Doth any name particular belong
Unto the lodging where I firft did swoon?
War. 'Tis call'd Jerufalem, my noble lord,
K. Henry. Laud be to God! even there
must end.
It hath been prophefy'd to me many years,
I fhould not die but in Jerufalem:
Which vainly I fuppos'd the Holy Land.
But bear me to that chamber, there I'll lie:
In that Jerufalem shall Harry die.
Shallow's Seat in Glo'ftershire.
Enter Shallow, Silence, Falftaff, Bardolph,
B What: Davy, I fay
Y cock and pye, Sir, you fhall not away to-night.
Fal. You must excufe me, mafter Robert Shallow. Shal. I will not excufe you; you shall not be excufed. Excufes fhall not be admitted: there is no excuse shall serve you shall not be excus'd. Why, Davy,
Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, let me fee, Davy, let me
|