Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right; His heart is fracted and corroborate.

it may;

Nym. The King is a good king: but it must be as he passes some humours and careers. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for lambkins we will live.

SCENE II. Southampton. A council-chamber.

131

Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND. Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.

Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by. West. How smooth and even they do bear themselves!

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,

Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.

Bed. The King hath note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of.

Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow, Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious fa

vours,

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell

His sovereign's life to death and treachery.

10

Trumpets sound. Enter KING HENRY, SCROOP, CAMBRIDGE, GREY,

and Attendants.

K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will

aboard.

My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham, And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts:

127. fracted= broken. So in Timon of Athens, Act II, Sc. i, 1. 22. W.

2. by and by, at once.

8. his bedfellow : so Holinshed says: the practice was less uncommon of old than now. W. He speaks of Lord Scroop.

Think you not that the powers we bear with us Will cut their passage through the force of France, Doing the execution and the act

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 per

suaded

We carry not a heart with us from hence

That grows not in a fair consent with ours,
Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.

20

Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a sub. ject

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 30 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
According to the weight and worthiness.

Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil, And labour shall refresh itself with hope,

To do your grace incessant services.

K. Hen. We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday,

That rail'd against our person: we consider

40

21. from hence: the from is unnecessary and incorrect. Cf.

II, ii, 177, 181.

40. Enlarge = release.

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,
After the taste of much correction.

50

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.

60

K. Hen. Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;

There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,

43. more advice =

second thoughts, reflection. W.

51. correction: four syllables. W.

54. distemper = drunkenness, as in Hamlet, III, ii, 314.

58. dear extreme.

61. late = new. W.

Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:
Read them, and know I know your worthiness.
My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,
We will aboard to-night. Why, how now, gentlemen!
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,
That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood
Out of appearance?

Cam.

I do confess my fault;

And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
Grey.

Scroop. To which we all appeal.

70

80

K. Hen. The mercy that was quick in us but late, By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd: You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy; For your own reasons turn into your bosoms, As dogs upon their masters, worrying you. See you, my princes and my noble peers, These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here, You know how apt our love was to accord To furnish him with all appertinents Belonging to his honour; and this man Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd, And sworn unto the practices of France, To kill us here in Hampton: to the which This knight, no less for bounty bound to us

Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But, O, What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? thou cruel, Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!

Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,

90. practices: with a sinister, ill sense. W.

90

That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,

That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold,
Wouldst thou have practis'd on me for thy use,
May it be possible, that foreign hire
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil
That might annoy my finger? 't is so strange,
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross
As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason and murder ever kept together,
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause,
That admiration did not whoop at them:
But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was
That wrought upon thee so preposterously
Hath got the voice in hell for excellence :
All other devils that suggest by treasons
Do botch and bungle up damnation

100

110

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 shouldst do treason,
Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.

If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,
He might return to vasty Tartar back,

120

99. practis'd on: commonly with a bad meaning, as in 1. 90 above.

113. got the voice become the first.

119. instance= pressing motive.

122. his lion gait : "seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter v, 8. W.

123. Tartar = Tartarus.