Thou hast a better place in his affection
Than all thy brothers; cherish it, my boy,
And noble offices thou mayst effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,
Between his greatness and thy other brethren.
Therefore omit1 him not; blunt not his love,
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace
By seeming cold or careless of his will.
For he is gracious, if he be observ'd;2
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity;
Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint,
As humorous3 as winter, and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
His temper, therefore, must be well observ'd.
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
When you perceive his blood inclin❜d to mirth;
But, being moody, give him line and scope,
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,
Confound themselves with working. Learn
The prince will in the perfectness of time
Cast off his followers; and their memory
Shall as a pattern or a measure live,
By which his grace must mete the lives of
Turning past evils to advantages.
6 Force perforce, of necessity.
& Suggestion, temptation; here a quadrisyllable.
10 Companions, metrically a quadrisyllable.
This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep
That from this golden rigol1 hath divorc'd
So many English kings. Thy due from me
Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously; 40
My due from thee is this imperial crown,
Which, as immediate from thy place and
blood,
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,
[Putting crown on his head:
Which God shall guard; and put the world's
whole strength
Into one giant arm, it shall not force
This lineal honour from me: this from thee
Will I to mine leave, as 't is is left to me.
[Exit.
King. [Awaking] Warwick! Gloucester!
Clarence!
Re-enter WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and the rest.
Clar. Doth the king call?
War. What would your majesty? How fares your grace?
That thou wilt needs invest thee with my 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 100
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 up1 my expectation;2
Thy life did manifest thou lov'dst me not,
And thou wilt have me die assur'd 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?
Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself,
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse
Be drops of balm to sanctify 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! 120
Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors,
hence!
And to the English court assemble now,
From every region, apes of idleness!
Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your
Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance,
Revel the night, rob, murther, and commit
The oldest sins the newest kind of ways?
Be happy, he will trouble you no more; 128
England shall double gild his treble guilt,
England shall give him office, honour, might;
For the fifth Harry from curb'd license plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.
O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
1 Seal'd up, confirmed.
2 Expectation, metrically five syllables. 3 Hour, pronounced as a dissyllable. 4 Compound, mingle.
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!]
Prince. O, pardon me, my liege! but for
The moist impediments unto my speech, 140 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! [Kneels] If I affect® it
Than as your honour and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
Which my most inward true and duteous spirit
Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending.
God witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your
majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die,
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 this crown as having sense,
And thus upbraided it: "The care on thee
depending
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