Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

P. Hen. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my tears, The moist impediments unto my speech, [Kneeling.

I had forestall'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 rise,
(Which my most true and inward-duteous spirit
Teacheth,) this prostrate and exterior bending!
Heaven witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! if I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die ;

And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed!
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,

(And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,).
I spake unto the crown, as having sense,

And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending,
Hath fed upon the body of my father;

Therefore, thou, best of gold art worst of gold :
Other, less fine in carrat, is more precious,

Preserving life in med'cine potable :4

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,
Hast eat thy bearer up. Thus, my most royal liege,
Accusing 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 swell my thoughts to any strain 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 God forever keep it from my head!
And make me as the poorest vassal is,
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
K. Hen. O my son !

Heaven put it in thy mind, to take it hence,

That thou might'st win the more thy father's love,

[4] There has long prevailed an opinion that a solution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that the incorruptibility of gold might be communicated to the body impregnated with it. Some have pretended to make potable gold, among other frauds practised on credulity. JOHNS!

Pleading so wisely in excuse of it.

Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;

And hear, I think, the very latest counsel

That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son,
By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways,

I met this crown; and I myself know well,

How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;

For all the soils of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me,
But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand;
And I had many living, to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances;

Which daily grew to quarrel, and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears,"
Thou see'st, 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 more fairer sort;

So thou the garland wear'st successively.

Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green;
And all thy friends, which thou must make thy friends,
Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd,
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displac'd: which to avoid,
I cut them off; and had a purpose now

To lead out many to the Holy Land ;7

Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course, to busy giddy minds

With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days.
More would 1, but my lungs are wasted so,
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O God, forgive !8

[5] Soil-is spot, dirt, turpitude, reproach. JOHNS.
[6] To fear is often used by Shakspeare for to fright.

STEEV.

[7] The sense is: Of those who assisted my usurpation, some I have cut off, and many I intended to lead abroad. This journey to the Holy Land of which the king very frequently revives the mention, had two motives, religion and policy. He durst not wear the ill-gotten crown without expiation, but in the act of expiation he contrives to make his wickedness successful. JOHNS. [8] This is a true picture of a mini divided between heaven and earth. He prays for the prosperity of guilt while he deprecates its punishment. JOH

And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
P. Hen. My gracious liege,

You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain, and right, must my possession be:
Which I, with more than with a common pain,
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.

Enter Prince JOHN of Lancaster, WARWICK, Lords, and others.

K. Hen. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster !
P.John.Health,peace, and happiness, to my royal father!
K. Hen. Thou bring'st me happiness, and peace, son
John;

But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare, wither'd trunk: upon thy sight,
My worldly business makes a period.-

Where is my lord of Warwick?

P. Hen. My lord of Warwick !

K. Hen. Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did swoon? War. 'Tis cail'd Jerusalem, my noble lord. K.Hen. Laud be to God!-even there my life must end. It hath been prophesied to me many years,

I should not die but in Jerusalem ;

Which vainly I suppos'd, the Holy Land :-
But, bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie ;

In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.

ACT V.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-Glostershire. A Hall in SHALLOW's House. Enter SHALLOW, FALSTAFF, BARDOLPH, and Page.

Shallow.

BY cock and pye, sir, you shall not away to-night. -What, Davy, I say!

Fal. You must excuse me, master Robert Shallow. Shal. I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused;

""

[9] This adjuration, which seems to have been very popular, is used by other writers, as well as by Shakspeare in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Ophelia likewise says, By cock, they are to blame.". -Cock is only a corruption of the Sacred Name, as appears from many passages in the old interludes, Gammar Gurton's Needle, &c. viz. Cocks-benes, cockswounds, by cock's-mother, and some others. The pie is a table or rule in the old roman offices, shewing in a technical way, how to find out the service which is to be read on each day. A printing letter of a particular size, call ed the pica, was probably denominated from the pie, as the brevier, from the breviary, and the primer from the primer. STEEV!

excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve; you shall not be excused. '-Why, Davy!

Davy. Here, sir.

Enter DAVY.

Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy,—let me see, Davy ; let me see-yea, marry, William cook, bid him come hither. -Sir John, you shall not be excused.

Davy. Marry, sir, thus ;-those precepts cannot be served:2 and, again, sir,-Shall we sow the headland with wheat?

Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook; Are there no young pigeons?

Davy. Yes, sir.Here is now the smith's note, for shoeing, and plough-irons.

Shal. Let it be cast, and paid ;-sir John, you shall not be excused.

Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be had :—And, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages, about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair?

Shal. He shall answer it:- -Some pigeons, Davy; a couple of short-legged hens; a joint of mutton; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William cook.

Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir?

Shal. Yes, Davy. I will use him well; A friend i'the court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well, Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite. Davy. No worse than they are back-bitten, sir; for they have marvellous foul linen.

Shal. Well conceited, Davy. About thy business, Davy. Davy. I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of Wincot against Clement Perkes of the hill.

Shal. There are many complaints, Davy, against that Visor; that Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.

Davy. I grant your worship, that he is a knave, sir: but yet, God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served your worship truly, sir, this eight years; and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave

[1] The sterility of Justice Shallow's wit is admirably described, in thus making him, by one of the finest strokes of nature, so often vary his phrase, to express one and the same thing, and that the commonest. WARB. [2] Precept is a justice's warrant. To the ffices which Falstaff gives Davy in the following scene, may be added that of justice's clerk. Davy has almost as many employ ments as Scrub in The Stratagem. JOHNS.

against an honest man, I have but a very little credit with your worship. The knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech your worship, let him be countenanced.

Shal. Go to; I say, he shall have no wrong. Look about, Davy. [Exit DAVY,] Where are are you, sir John? Come, off with your boots.-Give me your hand, master Bardolph.

Bard. I am glad to see your worship.

Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind master Bardolph ;-and welcome, my tall fellow. [Te the Page.] Come, sir John. [Exeunt SHALLOW.

Fal. I'll follow you, good master Robert Shallow. -Bardolph, look to our horses.- -[Exeunt BARDOLPH and Page.] If I were saw'd into quantities, I should make four dozen of such bearded hermit's-staves as master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing, to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his : They, by observing him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turn'd into a justice-like serving-man their spirits are so married in conjunction with the participation of society, that they flock together in consent, 4 like so many wild geese. If I had a suit to master Shallow, I would humour his men, with the imputation of being near their master : 5if to his men, I would curry with master Shallow, that no man could better command his servants. It is certain, that either wise bearing, or ignorant carriage, is caught, as men take diseases, one of another: therefore, let men take heed of their company. I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow, to keep prince Harry in continual laughter, the wearing-out of six fashions (which is four terms, or two actions), and he shall laugh without intervallums. O, it is much, that a lie, with a slight oath, and a jest, with a sad brow, will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up. Shal. [Within.] Sir John !

6

Fal. I come, master Shallow; I come, master Shallow.

[Exit.

[3] He had before called him the starved justice. His want of flesh is a standing jest. JOHNS.

[4] That is, in union, in accord.

MAL.

[5] That is, admitted to their master's confidence.

STEEV.

There is something humorous in making a spendthrift compute time

by the operation of an action of debt. JOHNS.

« ZurückWeiter »