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Direct not him, whose way himself will choose; 'Tis breath thou lackest, and that breath wilt thou lose. G. Methinks I am a prophet new inspir'd,

And thus expiring do foretell of him1:

His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
But violent fires soon burn out themselves.

Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short;
He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder;
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,

Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise;

This fortress, built by nature for herself,
Against infection and the hand of war;
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happy lands;

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth,
Renown'd for their deeds as far from home
(For Christian service and true chivalry)
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's Son;
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leas'd out (I die pronouncing it)
Like to a tenement or pelting2 farm.
England bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds;
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself!
O, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death!

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HENRY IV.

Prince Henry. I never thought to hear you speak again. King. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought: I stay too long by thee - I weary thee.

Dost thou so hunger for my empty chair,

That thou wilt needs invest thee with mine honours

Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!

Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity
Is held from falling with so weak a wind,
That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.

Thou hast stol'n that which, after some few hours,
Were thine without offence; and at my death
Thou hast seal'd up my expectation1:
Thy life did manifest thou lov'dst me not,
And thou wilt have me die assured of it.
Thou hid'st a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,
Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart,
To stab at half an hour of my life.

What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour?
There, get thee gone, and dig my grave thyself;
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear,
That thou art crown'd not that I am dead.
Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse
Be drops of balm to sanctify 2 thy head:
Only compound me with forgotten dust;
Give that which gave thee life unto the worms;
Pluck down my officers; break my decrees;
For now a time is come to mock at form.
Harry the Fifth is crown'd. Up, vanity!

Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence !
And to the English court assemble now,
From every region, apes of idleness!

Now, neighbour confines 3, purge you of your scum;
Have you a ruffian, that will swear, drink, dance,
Revel the night; rob, murder, and commit
The oldest sins the newest kind of ways?
Be happy he will trouble you no more:
England shall double gild his treble guilt;
England shall give him office, honour, might;

1 Confirmed the opinion which I entertained.

2 Allusion to the oil with which kings are anointed at their coronation. Sanctify, i. e. consecrate.

3 Neighbouring, colimitary, i. e. adjoining countries.

For the fifth Harry from curb'd license plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth in every innocent.
O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
When that my care could not withhold thy riots,
What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,
Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!

[Kneeling.

Prince. O pardon me, my liege! but for my tears,
The moist impediments unto my speech,
I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke,
Ere you with grief had spoke, and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your crown;
And He that wears the crown immortally
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more
Than as your honour and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
Which my most true and inward-duteous spirit
Teacheth this prostrate and exterior bending!
Heaven witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course1 of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,
O let me in my present wildness die ;

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And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed!
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead
(And dead almost, my liege, to think you were),
I spake unto the crown as having sense,

And thus upbraided it: The care on thee depending
Hath fed upon the body of my father;

Therefore thou, best of gold, art worst of gold.
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,

Preserving life in med'cine potable2:

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,
Hast eat thy bearer up. Thus, my most royal liege,
Accusing it, I put it on my head;

To try with it- as with an enemy,

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That had before my face murder'd my father,

The quarrel of a true inheritor.

But if it did infect my blood with joy,

Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;

If any rebel or vain spirit of mine

Did, with the least affection of a welcome,

1 Course, current, movement.

2 Potable, taken by drinking-hence potion,

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Give entertainment to the might of it,
Let God for ever keep it from my head!
And make me as the poorest vassal is,
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
King. O my son!

Heaven put it in thy mind to take it hence,
That thou migh'st win the more thy father's love,
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it.

ways

Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son,
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd
I met this crown; and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;
For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me
But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand;
And I had many living to upbraid

My gain of it by their assistances;

Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears
Thou seest with peril I have answer'd:
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument; and now my death
Changes the mode: for what in me was purchas'd,
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;
So thou the garland wear'st successively. 2
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so,
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O God, forgive!
And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
Prince. My gracious liege,

You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right must my possession be,
Which I with more than with a common pain
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.

1 Guilt of achieving or winning it.

2 Wearest the crown by right of succession.

HENRY V.

I.

HENRY V. AND THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.

you

not.

King Henry. You are, I think, assur'd I love
Chief Justice. I am assur'd, if I be measur'd rightly,
Your Majesty has no just cause to hate me.
King. No!

How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me

?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy ?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?

Chief Justice. I then did use the person of your father ;
The image of his power lay then in me :
And, in the administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be

you contented, wearing now the garland1,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person:
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.2
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son:

Hear your own dignity so much profaned,

See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;

And then imagine me taking your part,

And, in your pow'r, soft silencing your son.

1 Crown.

2 Treat with contempt your acts executed by a representative.

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