The Second Part Of King Henry The Fourth

1 Enter, from one side, Mowbray, attended; afterwards, the Archbishop,
2 Hastings, and others; from the other side, Prince John of Lancaster,
3 and Westmoreland; Officers, and others with them.
4 LANCASTER.
5 You are well encounter’d here, my cousin Mowbray.
6 Good day to you, gentle Lord Archbishop;
7 And so to you, Lord Hastings, and to all.
8 My Lord of York, it better show’d with you
9 When that your flock, assembled by the bell,
10 Encircled you to hear with reverence
11 Your exposition on the holy text
12 Than now to see you here an iron man,
13 Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
14 Turning the word to sword, and life to death.
15 That man that sits within a monarch’s heart,
16 And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,
17 Would he abuse the countenance of the king,
18 Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach
19 In shadow of such greatness! With you, Lord Bishop,
20 It is even so. Who hath not heard it spoken
21 How deep you were within the books of God,
22 To us the speaker in his parliament,
23 To us th’ imagined voice of God himself,
24 The very opener and intelligencer
25 Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven,
26 And our dull workings? O, who shall believe
27 But you misuse the reverence of your place,
28 Employ the countenance and grace of heaven
29 As a false favourite doth his prince’s name,
30 In deeds dishonourable? You have ta’en up,
31 Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
32 The subjects of his substitute, my father,
33 And both against the peace of heaven and him
34 Have here up-swarm’d them.
35 ARCHBISHOP.
36 Good my Lord of Lancaster,
37 I am not here against your father’s peace;
38 But, as I told my Lord of Westmoreland,
39 The time misorder’d doth, in common sense,
40 Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form
41 To hold our safety up. I sent your Grace
42 The parcels and particulars of our grief,
43 The which hath been with scorn shoved from the court,
44 Whereon this Hydra son of war is born,
45 Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm’d asleep
46 With grant of our most just and right desires,
47 And true obedience, of this madness cured,
48 Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.
49 MOWBRAY.
50 If not, we ready are to try our fortunes
51 To the last man.
52 HASTINGS.
53 And though we here fall down,
54 We have supplies to second our attempt:
55 If they miscarry, theirs shall second them;
56 And so success of mischief shall be born,
57 And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up
58 Whiles England shall have generation.
59 LANCASTER.
60 You are too shallow, Hastings, much too shallow,
61 To sound the bottom of the after-times.
62 WESTMORELAND.
63 Pleaseth your Grace to answer them directly
64 How far forth you do like their articles.
65 LANCASTER.
66 I like them all, and do allow them well,
67 And swear here, by the honour of my blood,
68 My father’s purposes have been mistook,
69 And some about him have too lavishly
70 Wrested his meaning and authority.
71 My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress’d;
72 Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you,
73 Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
74 As we will ours; and here between the armies
75 Let’s drink together friendly and embrace,
76 That all their eyes may bear those tokens home
77 Of our restored love and amity.
78 ARCHBISHOP.
79 I take your princely word for these redresses.
80 LANCASTER.
81 I give it you, and will maintain my word;
82 And thereupon I drink unto your Grace.
83 HASTINGS.
84 Go, captain, and deliver to the army
85 This news of peace. Let them have pay, and part.
86 I know it will please them. Hie thee, captain.
87 [_Exit Officer._]
88 ARCHBISHOP.
89 To you, my noble Lord of Westmoreland.
90 WESTMORELAND.
91 I pledge your Grace; and if you knew what pains
92 I have bestow’d to breed this present peace,
93 You would drink freely; but my love to ye
94 Shall show itself more openly hereafter.
95 ARCHBISHOP.
96 I do not doubt you.
97 WESTMORELAND.
98 I am glad of it.
99 Health to my lord and gentle cousin, Mowbray.
100 MOWBRAY.
101 You wish me health in very happy season,
102 For I am on the sudden something ill.
103 ARCHBISHOP.
104 Against ill chances men are ever merry,
105 But heaviness foreruns the good event.
106 WESTMORELAND.
107 Therefore be merry, coz, since sudden sorrow
108 Serves to say thus, “Some good thing comes tomorrow.”
109 ARCHBISHOP.
110 Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.
111 MOWBRAY.
112 So much the worse, if your own rule be true.
113 [_Shouts within._]
114 LANCASTER.
115 The word of peace is render’d. Hark how they shout!
116 MOWBRAY.
117 This had been cheerful after victory.
118 ARCHBISHOP.
119 A peace is of the nature of a conquest;
120 For then both parties nobly are subdued,
121 And neither party loser.
122 LANCASTER.
123 Go, my lord.
124 And let our army be discharged too.
125 [_Exit Westmoreland._]
126 And, good my lord, so please you, let our trains
127 March by us, that we may peruse the men
128 We should have coped withal.
129 ARCHBISHOP.
130 Go, good Lord Hastings,
131 And, ere they be dismiss’d, let them march by.
132 [_Exit Hastings._]
133 LANCASTER.
134 I trust, lords, we shall lie tonight together.
135 Enter Westmoreland.
136 Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still?
137 WESTMORELAND.
138 The leaders, having charge from you to stand,
139 Will not go off until they hear you speak.
140 LANCASTER.
141 They know their duties.
142 Enter Hastings.
143 HASTINGS.
144 My lord, our army is dispersed already.
145 Like youthful steers unyoked, they take their courses
146 East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up,
147 Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place.
148 WESTMORELAND.
149 Good tidings, my Lord Hastings; for the which
150 I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason;
151 And you, Lord Archbishop, and you, Lord Mowbray,
152 Of capital treason I attach you both.
153 MOWBRAY.
154 Is this proceeding just and honourable?
155 WESTMORELAND.
156 Is your assembly so?
157 ARCHBISHOP.
158 Will you thus break your faith?
159 LANCASTER.
160 I pawn’d thee none.
161 I promised you redress of these same grievances
162 Whereof you did complain; which, by mine honour,
163 I will perform with a most Christian care.
164 But for you, rebels, look to taste the due
165 Meet for rebellion and such acts as yours.
166 Most shallowly did you these arms commence,
167 Fondly brought here and foolishly sent hence.
168 Strike up our drums, pursue the scattr’d stray:
169 God, and not we, hath safely fought today.
170 Some guard these traitors to the block of death,
171 Treason’s true bed and yielder-up of breath.
172 [_Exeunt._]