Host. Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these twenty-nine years, come peascod-time; but an honester, and truer-hearted man,—Well, fare thee well. Bar. [within.] Mistress Tear-sheet, Host. What's the matter? Bar. [within.] Bid mistress Tear-sheet come to my master. Host. O, run, Doll, run; run, good Doll. ACT II I. [Exeunt. SCENE I. A room in the palace. Enter KING HENRY in his night-gown, with a Page. K. Hen. Go, call the earls of Surrey and of War wick; 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 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, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber; Than in the perfumed chambers of the great, And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody? Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy mast, And in the visitation of the winds, Enter WARWICK and SURREY. War. Many good morrows to your majesty! War. 'Tis one o'clock, and past. K. Hen. Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords. Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you? Noise. War. We have, my liege. K. Hen. Then you perceive, the body of our kingdom How foul it is; what rank diseases grow, My lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd. 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 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,— 'Tis not ten years gone, Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends, (You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember) [to Warwick. When Richard, with his eye brimfull of tears, Then check'd and rated by Northumberland, Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy? 'Northumberland, thou ladder, by the which My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;' Though then, Heaven knows, I had no such intent; But that necessity so bow'd the state, That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss : 6 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. War. There is a history in all men's lives, King Richard might create a perfect guess, K. Hen. Are these things then necessities? And that same word even now cries out on us. They say, the bishop and Northumberland Are fifty thousand strong. War. It cannot be, my lord: Rumor doth double, like the voice and echo, The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your grace, The powers that you already have sent forth, To comfort you the more, I have received K. Hen. I will take your counsel : SCENE II. [Exeunt. Court before Justice Shallow's house in Glostershire. Enter SHALLOW and SILENCE, meeting; MOULDY, SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, BULLCALF, and Servants behind. Shal. Come on, come on, come on: give me your hand, sir; give me your hand, sir; an early stirrer, by the rood. And how doth my good cousin Silence? The cross. |