For which we have in head assembled them? Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. K. Hen. I doubt not that; since we are well persuaded We carry not a heart with us from hence That grows not in a fair consent with ours; Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd and loved Than is your majesty: there's not, I think, a subject That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government. Grey. True: those that were your father's enemies Have steep'd their galls in honey, and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal. K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of thankfulness, And shall forget the office of our hand, Sooner than quittance of desert and merit Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil, K. Hen. We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday That rail'd against our person: we consider It was excess of wine that set him on ; And on his more advice we pardon him. Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security: Let him be punish'd, sovereign, lest example Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind. K. Hen. O! let us yet be merciful. Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. Grey. Sir, You show great mercy, if you give him life, K. Hen. Alas! your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. If little faults, proceeding on distemper, Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested, Appear before us? We'll yet enlarge that man, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care And tender preservation of our person, Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes: Who are the late commissioners ? Cam. I one, my lord: Your highness bade me ask for it to-day Scroop. So did you me, my liege. Grey. And I, my royal sovereign. K. Hen. Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours; There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight, Grey of Northumberland. this same is yours: Read them; and know, I know your worthiness. men! What see you in those papers that you lose So much complexion? Look ye, how they change! Their cheeks are paper. Why, what read you there, your blood That hath so cowarded and chased K. Hen. The mercy that was quick in us but late By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd: You know how apt our love was to accord That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold Could out of thee extract one spark of evil With patches, colours, and with forms, being fetch'd From glistering semblances of piety; But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up, Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do treason, Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. Show men dutiful? Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned? Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard Earl of Cambridge. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry Lord Scroop of Masham. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland. Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd, And I repent my fault more than my death; Which I beseech your highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it. Cam. For me, the gold of France did not seduce, Although I did admit it as a motive The sooner to effect what I intended : But God be thanked for prevention; Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice, Beseeching God and you to pardon me. |