The First Part Of King Henry The Fourth

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