Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch! Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care 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 me, my royal sovereign. K. Hen. Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours; There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham ;—and, sir knight, So much complexion?-Look ye, how they change! Out of appearance? Cam. I do confess my fault, 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, You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy; As dogs upon their masters, worrying you. See you, my princes and my noble peers, These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here,— 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, Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels, That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, Could out of thee extract one spark of evil With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up, If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus A soul so easy as that Englishman's. O, how hast thou with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful? Arrest them to the answer of the law; And God acquit them of their practices! 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; The sooner to effect what I intended: Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign. K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence. You have conspir'd against our royal person, Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter, [Exeunt Conspirators, guarded. But every rub is smoothed on our way. Then, forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance: [Exeunt. SCENE III.-LONDON. The Hostess's House in Eastcheap. Enter PISTOL, Hostess, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy. Host. Pr'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines. Pist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn. Bardolph, be blithe;-Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins ;Boy, bristle thy courage up;-for Falstaff he is dead, And we must yearn therefore. Bard. Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven or in hell! Host. Nay, sure, he's not in hell: he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom child; 'a parted even just between twelve and one, even at the turning o' the tide for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields. How now, Sir John! quoth I: what, man! be o' good cheer. So 'a cried out -God, God, God! three or four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God; I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and so upward and upward, and all was as cold as any stone. Nym. They say he cried out of sack. Host. Ay, that 'a did. Bard. And of women. Host. Nay, that 'a did not. Boy. Yes, that'a did; and said they were devils incarnate. Host. 'A could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour he never liked. Boy. 'A said once, the devil would have him about women. Host. 'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women; but then he was rheumatic, and talked of the whore of Babylon. Boy. Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose, and 'a said it was a black soul burning in hell? Bard. Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire: that's all the riches I got in his service. Nym. Shall we shog? the king will be gone from Southampton. Pist. Come, let's away.-My love, give me thy lips. Look to my chattels and my movables: Let senses rule; the word is, Pitch and pay; Trust none; For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes, Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor. Go, clear thy crystals.-Yoke-fellows in arms, Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys, To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck! Boy. And that is but unwholesome food, they say. Bard. Farewell, hostess.. [Kissing her. Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but, adieu. Pist. Let housewifery appear: keep close, I thee command. Host. Farewell; adieu. [Exeunt. SCENE IV.-FRANCE. A Room in the FRENCH KING'S Palace. Flourish. Enter the FRENCH KING, attended; the DAUPHIN, the DUKE OF BURGUNDY, the Constable, and others. Fr. King. Thus come the English with full power upon us; And more than carefully it us concerns To answer royally in our defences. Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne, Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth, And you, Prince Dauphin,—with all swift despatch, To line and new repair our towns of war With men of courage and with means defendant; As waters to the sucking of a gulf. |