For now a time is come to mock at form, Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence! Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum: Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants! P. Hen. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my [Kneeling. tears, The moist impediments unto my speech, And never live to show the incredulous world The noble change that I have purposed! And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending, Therefore, thou, best of gold, art worst of gold. But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd, To try with it, as with an enemy, That had before my face murder'd my father,- But if it did infect my blood with joy, Did, with the least affection of a welcome, Let God for ever keep it from my head! And make me as the poorest vassal is, That doth with awe and terror kneel to it! Heaven put it in thy mind, to take it hence, 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, in med cine potable:] There has long prevailed an opinion that a solution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that the incorruptibility of gold might be conmunicated to the body impregnated with it. To thee it shall descend with better quiet, But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand; My gain of it by their assistances; 8 Which daily grew to quarrel, and to bloodshed, So thou the garland wear'st successively.2 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; 6 8 soil- Is spot, dirt, turpitude, reproach. supposed peace:] Counterfeited, imagined, not real. all these bold fears,] Fear is here used in the active sense, for that which causes fear. 9 Changes the mode:] Mode is the form or state of things. -for what in me was purchas'd,] Purchased, in this place, signifies acquired by unjust and indirect methods. Purchase, in Shakspeare, frequently means stolen goods, or goods dishonestly obtained. successively.] By order of succession. Every usurper snatches a claim of hereditary right as soon as he can. To lead out many to the Holy Land;] 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 Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me; 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 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? 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. JOHNSON. * How I came, &c.] This is a true picture of a mind divided between heaven and earth. He prays for the prosperity of guilt while he deprecates its punishment. JOHNSON. War. 'Tis call'd Jerusalem, my noble lord. It hath been prophesied to me many years, Which vainly I suppos'd, the Holy Land:- [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. Glostershire. A Hall in Shallow's House. Enter SHALLOW, FALSTAFF, BARDOLPH, and Page. Shal. 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; 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: and, again, sir,-Shall we sow the headland with wheat? 5 those precepts cannot be served:] Precept is a justice's warrant. To the offices which Falstaff gives Davy in the following scene, may be added that of justice's clerk. Davy has almost as many employments as Scrub in The Stratagem. |