Act III · Scene I
Westminster. The palace.
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Enter KING HENRY IV in his nightgown, with a Page
KING HENRY IV
Go call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,And well consider of them; make good speed.
Exit Page
KING HENRY IV
How many thousand of my poorest subjectsAre 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 downAnd steep my senses in forgetfulness?Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,Upon uneasy pallets stretching theeAnd hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,Under the canopies of costly state,And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vileIn loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couchA watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mastSeal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brainsIn cradle of the rude imperious surgeAnd in the visitation of the winds,Who take the ruffian billows by the top,Curling their monstrous heads and hanging themWith deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy reposeTo the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,And in the calmest and most stillest night,With all appliances and means to boot,Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
Enter WARWICK and SURREY
WARWICK
Many good morrows to your majesty!
KING HENRY IV
Is it good morrow, lords?
WARWICK
'Tis one o'clock, and past.
KING HENRY IV
Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords.Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?
WARWICK
We have, my liege.
KING HENRY IV
Then you perceive the body of our kingdomHow foul it is; what rank diseases growAnd with what danger, near the heart of it.
WARWICK
It is but as a body yet distemper'd;Which to his former strength may be restoredWith good advice and little medicine:My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.
KING HENRY IV
O God! that one might read the book of fate,And see the revolution of the timesMake mountains level, and the continent,Weary of solid firmness, melt itselfInto the sea! and, other times, to seeThe beachy girdle of the oceanToo wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,And changes fill the cup of alterationWith divers liquors! O, if this were seen,The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,What perils past, what crosses to ensue,Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.'Tis not 'ten years goneSince Richard and Northumberland, great friends,Did feast together, and in two years afterWere they at wars: it is but eight years sinceThis Percy was the man nearest my soul,Who like a brother toil'd in my affairsAnd laid his love and life under my foot,Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of RichardGave him defiance. But which of you was by--You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember--
To WARWICK
KING HENRY IV
When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,Then cheque'd and rated by Northumberland,Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy?'Northumberland, thou ladder by the whichMy cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;'Though then, God knows, I had no such intent,But that necessity so bow'd the stateThat I and greatness were compell'd to kiss:'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 conditionAnd the division of our amity.
WARWICK
There is a history in all men's lives,Figuring the nature of the times deceased;The which observed, a man may prophesy,With a near aim, of the main chance of thingsAs yet not come to life, which in their seedsAnd weak beginnings lie intreasured.Such things become the hatch and brood of time;And by the necessary form of thisKing Richard might create a perfect guessThat great Northumberland, then false to him,Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness;Which should not find a ground to root upon,Unless on you.
KING HENRY IV
Are these things then necessities?Then let us meet them like necessities:And that same word even now cries out on us:They say the bishop and NorthumberlandAre fifty thousand strong.
WARWICK
It cannot be, my lord;Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your graceTo go to bed. Upon my soul, my lord,The powers that you already have sent forthShall bring this prize in very easily.To comfort you the more, I have receivedA certain instance that Glendower is dead.Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill,And these unseason'd hours perforce must addUnto your sickness.
KING HENRY IV
I will take your counsel:And were these inward wars once out of hand,We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.
Exeunt