The Second Part of Henry the Fourth: ACT III , SCENE I. Westminster. The palace.

The Second Part of Henry the Fourth: ACT III


	Introduction

	INDUCTION

	ACT I

	ACT II

	ACT III

		SCENE I. Westminster. The palace.

		SCENE II. Gloucestershire. Before SHALLOW'S house.

	ACT IV

	ACT V

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SCENE I. Westminster. The palace.

Enter KING HENRY IV in his nightgown, with a Page

KING HENRY IV

      Go call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;
      But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
      And well consider of them; make good speed.

Exit Page

      How many thousand of my poorest subjects
5     Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep,
      Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
      That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
      And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
      Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
10    Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee
      And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
      Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
      Under the canopies of costly state,
      And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?
15    O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
      In loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch
      A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?
      Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
      Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
20    In cradle of the rude imperious surge
      And in the visitation of the winds,
      Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
      Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
      With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,
25    That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?
      Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
      To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
      And in the calmest and most stillest night,
      With all appliances and means to boot,
30    Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
      Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Enter WARWICK and SURREY

WARWICK

Many good morrows to your majesty!

KING HENRY IV

Is it good morrow, lords?

WARWICK

'Tis one o'clock, and past.

KING HENRY IV

35 Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords.
Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?

WARWICK

We have, my liege.

KING HENRY IV

      Then you perceive the body of our kingdom
      How foul it is; what rank diseases grow
40    And with what danger, near the heart of it.

WARWICK

      It is but as a body yet distemper'd;
      Which to his former strength may be restored
      With good advice and little medicine:
      My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.

KING HENRY IV

45    O God! that one might read the book of fate,
      And see the revolution of the times
      Make mountains level, and the continent,
      Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
      Into the sea! and, other times, to see
50    The beachy girdle of the ocean
      Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
      And changes fill the cup of alteration
      With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,
      The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
55    What perils past, what crosses to ensue,
      Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.
      'Tis not 'ten years gone
      Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends,
      Did feast together, and in two years after
60    Were they at wars: it is but eight years since
      This Percy was the man nearest my soul,
      Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs
      And laid his love and life under my foot,
      Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard
65    Gave him defiance. But which of you was by--
      You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember--

To WARWICK

      When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,
      Then cheque'd and rated by Northumberland,
      Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy?
70    'Northumberland, thou ladder by the which
      My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;'
      Though then, God knows, I had no such intent,
      But that necessity so bow'd the state
      That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss:
75    'The time shall come,' thus did he follow it,
      'The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head,
      Shall break into corruption:' so went on,
      Foretelling this same time's condition
      And the division of our amity.

WARWICK

80    There is a history in all men's lives,
      Figuring the nature of the times deceased;
      The which observed, a man may prophesy,
      With a near aim, of the main chance of things
      As yet not come to life, which in their seeds
85    And weak beginnings lie intreasured.
      Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
      And by the necessary form of this
      King Richard might create a perfect guess
      That great Northumberland, then false to him,
90    Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness;
      Which should not find a ground to root upon,
      Unless on you.

KING HENRY IV

      Are these things then necessities?
      Then let us meet them like necessities:
95    And that same word even now cries out on us:
      They say the bishop and Northumberland
      Are fifty thousand strong.

WARWICK

      It cannot be, my lord;
      Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
100   The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your grace
      To go to bed. Upon my soul, my lord,
      The powers that you already have sent forth
      Shall bring this prize in very easily.
      To comfort you the more, I have received
105   A certain instance that Glendower is dead.
      Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill,
      And these unseason'd hours perforce must add
      Unto your sickness.

KING HENRY IV

      I will take your counsel:
110   And were these inward wars once out of hand,
      We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.

Exeunt

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