Clar. No, no, he cannot long hold out these

pangs:

The incessant care and labour of his mind

Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in
So thin that life looks through and will break out. 120
Glou. The people fear me; for they do observe
Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature:
The seasons change their manners, as the year
Had found some months asleep and leap'd them

over.

Clar. The river hath thrice flow'd, no ebb
between ;

And the old folk, time's doting chronicles,

Say it did so a little time before

That our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.
War. Speak lower, princes, for the king re-

covers.

Glou. This apoplexy will certain be his end.
King. I pray you, take me up, and bear me

hence

Into some other chamber: softly, pray. [Exeunt.

130

man living could remember the like to be seen. But no portents are recorded to have preceded Edward III.'s death.

The old editions mark no break here. Some modern editions suppose that the King is merely placed on a bed in the inner part of the stage, and add a stage direction to that effect. It is clear, however, from 2 iv. 5. 240 that what follows does not take place in the Jerusalem chamber, and, in consequence, that there is a change of scene.

SCENE V. Another chamber.

The KING lying on a bed: CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, and others in attendance.

King. Let there be no noise made, my gentle

friends;

Unless some dull and favourable hand

Will whisper music to my weary spirit.

War. Call for the music in the other room.
King. Set me the crown upon my pillow here.
Clar. His eye is hollow, and he changes much.
War. Less noise, less noise!

Prince.

Enter PRINCE HENRY.

Who saw the Duke of Clarence?

Clar. I am here, brother, full of heaviness.

Prince. How now! rain within doors, and none

abroad!

How doth the king?

Glou. Exceeding ill.

Prince.

Tell it him.

Heard he the good news yet?

Glou. He alter'd much upon the hearing it. Prince. If he be sick with joy, he'll recover without physic.

War. Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince, speak low;

The king your father is disposed to sleep.

Clar. Let us withdraw into the other room. War. Will't please your grace to go along with us?

ΤΟ

Prince. No; I will sit and watch here by the [Exeunt all but the Prince. 20

king.

2. dull, drowsy, sleep-inducing.

Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,
Being so troublesome a bedfellow?

O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!
Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet
As he whose brow with homely biggen bound
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty !
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,
That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather which stirs not:
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down
Perforce must move. My gracious lord!
my father!
This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep
That from this golden rigol hath divorced
So many English kings. Thy due from me.
Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously:
My due from thee is this imperial crown,
Which, as immediate from thy place and blood,
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,

Which God shall guard: and put the world's whole strength

Into one giant arm, it shall not force

This lineal honour from me: this from thee

Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me.

King. Warwick! Gloucester ! Clarence!

[Exit.

Re-enter WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE,
and the rest.

Clar. Doth the king call?

30

27. biggen, night-cap, or coif.

31. scalds with safety, burns

while it protects.
36. rigol, circle.

War. What would your majesty? How fares

your grace?

King. Why did you leave me here alone, my lords? Clar. We left the prince my brother here, my liege,

Who undertook to sit and watch by you.

King. The Prince of Wales ! Where is he? let me see him:

He is not here.

War. This door is open ; he is gone this way. Glou. He came not through the chamber where we stay'd.

King. Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow?

War. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here.

King. The prince hath ta'en it hence: go, seek him out.

Is he so hasty that he doth suppose

My sleep my death?

Find him, my Lord of Warwick; chide him

hither.

[Exit Warwick.

This part of his conjoins with my disease,

And helps to end me. See, sons, what things

you are!

How quickly nature falls into revolt

When gold becomes her object!

For this the foolish over-careful fathers

Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their

brains with care,

Their bones with industry;

For this they have engross'd and piled up

The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold;

72. canker'd, polluted, foul. ib. strange-achieved, won for others to enjoy.

For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts and martial exercises:
When, like the bee, culling from every flower
The virtuous sweets,

Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with
honey,

We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees,
Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste
Yield his engrossments to the ending father.

Re-enter WARWICK.

Now, where is he that will not stay so long
Till his friend sickness hath determined me?
War. My lord, I found the prince in the next
room,

Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks,
With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow
That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood,
Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife
With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.

King. But wherefore did he take away the
crown?

Re-enter PRINCE HENRY.

80

Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry. 90 Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.

[Exeunt Warwick and the rest. Prince. I never thought to hear you speak again. King. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:

I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.

73. thoughtful, anxious. 77. thighs (two syllables). So 'hour,' in v. 109.

80. Yield his engrossments, his acquisitions yield (to the

dying father). Q Ff yields.

82. determined, ended.
84. kindly, spontaneous.
94. by thee, in thy opinion.