Enter Hostess.

Host. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to Sir John. Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him.

Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the knight; that's the even of it.

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

Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he passes some humours and

careers.

128

133

Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live.

[Exeunt.]

Scene Two

[Southampton. A Council-chamber]

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,

124 quotidian tertian; cf. n.

128 the even of it; cf. 'the long and the short of it'

130 fracted: broken

133 careers; cf. n.

corroborate; cf. n.

134 condole: sympathize with

2 by and by: immediately

Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious

favours,

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell

9

His sovereign's life to death and treachery! Sound trumpets. Enter the King, Scroop, Cambridge, and Grey [with Attendants].

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

aboard.

12

My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of

Masham,

And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts: 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?

16

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

24

Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd 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.

28

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,

15 powers: forces

32

18 in head: as an army

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
toil,

-And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
To do your Grace incessant services.

sinews

36

40

Fat?
No

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.

45

Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. 48
Grey. Sir,

You show great mercy, if you give him life

After the taste of much correction.

K. Hen. Alas! your too much love and care of

me

Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch.

If little faults, proceeding on distemper,

52

Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and di-

gested,

56

Appear before us? We'll yet enlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear

care,

And tender preservation of our person,

34 quittance: reward

40 Enlarge: set free

43 his more advice: his return to greater coolness of mind 46 by his sufferance: because he is pardoned

53 orisons: petitions

54 proceeding on distemper: arising from drunkenness

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

64

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.
My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,

68

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.

72

I do confess my fault,

76

And do submit me to your highness' mercy.

Grey.

Scroop.

}

To which we all appeal.

K. Hen. The mercy that was quick in us but late By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:

80

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,

84

These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge

here,

You know how apt our love was to accord

61 the late commissioners: those lately commissioned 63 it: i.e., his commission

79 quick: alive

But O!

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.
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,
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? 'tis 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:
And other devils that suggest by treasons
Do botch and bungle up damnation

88

92

97

100

105

108

112

With patches, colours, and with forms, being

fetch'd

90 unto the practices: in accord with the plots

91 Hampton: Southampton

108 admiration: wonder

116

107, grossly: palpably 109 proportion: seemliness

112 preposterously: contrary to the natural order of things 113 voice: verdict

114 suggest: seduce

26