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Henry V, Modern text based on the Quarto

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: James D. Mardock
Not Peer Reviewed
626.1

[Scene 3]

Enter Exeter and Gloucester.
Gloucester Before God, my lord, his grace is too bold to trust these traitors.
Exeter They shall be apprehended by and by.
635Gloucester Ay, but the man that was his bedfellow,
Whom he hath cloyed and graced with princely favors,
That he should, for a foreign purse -- to sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery!
638.1Exeter Oh, the Lord of Masham.
640
Enter the King and three lords[, Masham, Cambridge, and Grey, and attendants].
King Henry Now sirs, the wind's fair, and we will aboard.
My lord of Cambridge, and my lord of Masham,
And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts:
Do you not think the power we bear with us,
645Will make us conquerors in the field of France?
Masham No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.
Cambridge Never was monarch better feared and loved
655Than is your majesty.
Grey Even those that were your father's enemies
Have steeped their galls in honey for your sake.
King Henry We therefore have great cause of thankfulness,
And shall forget the office of our hands
Sooner than reward and merit,
According to their cause and worthiness.
665Masham So service shall with steelèd sinews shine,
And labor shall refresh itself with hope
To do your grace incessant service.
King Henry Uncle of Exeter, enlarge the man
Committed yesterday, 670that railed against our person.
We consider it was the heat of wine that set him on,
And on his more advice we pardon him.
Masham That is mercy, but too much security.
Let him be punished, sovereign, lest the example of him
675Breed more of such a kind.
King Henry Oh, let us yet be merciful.
Cambridge So may your highness, and punish too.
Grey You show great mercy if you give him life,
After the taste of his correction.
680King Henry Alas, your too much care and love of me
Are heavy orisons 'gainst the poor wretch.
If little faults proceeding on distemper
Should not be winked at, how should we stretch our eye
When capital crimes, chewed, swallowed, and digested,
685Appear before us? We'll yet enlarge the man,
Though Cambridge and the rest, in their dear loves
And tender preservation of our state
Would have him punished. Now to our French causes. --
Who are the late commissioners?
690Cambridge
Me one, my lord.
Your highness bade me ask for it today.
Masham So did you me, my sovereign.
Grey And me, my lord.
King Henry [Giving them papers] Then Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours.
695There is yours, my lord of Masham and Sir Thomas Grey,
Knight of Northumberland, this same is yours.
Read them, and know we know your worthiness. --
Uncle Exeter, I will aboard tonight.
Why how now, gentlemen? 700Why change you color?
What see you in those papers
That hath so chased your blood out of appearance?
705Cambridge I do confess my fault, and do submit me
To your highness' mercy.
Masham To which we all appeal.
King Henry The mercy which was quit in us but late
By your own reasons is forestalled and done.
710You must not dare for shame to ask for mercy,
For your own conscience turn upon your bosoms
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them. --
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
These English monsters: my lord of Cambridge here,
715You know how apt we were to grace him
In all things belonging to his honor;
And this vile man hath for a few light crowns,
Lightly conspired and sworn unto the practices of France
720To kill us here in Hampton. To the which
This knight, no less in bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. --
[To Masham] But oh, what shall I say to thee, false man?
Thou cruel, ingrateful, and inhumane creature,
725Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsel,
That knew'st the very secrets of my heart,
That almost mightst'a coined me into gold,
Wouldst thou a'practiced on me for thy use?
Can it be possible that out of thee
730Should proceed one spark that might annoy my finger?
'Tis so strange, that though the truth doth show as gross
As black from white, mine eye will scarcely see it. --
Their faults are open; arrest them to the answer of the law,
And God acquit them of their practices.
Exeter I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of 775Richard, Earl of Cambridge. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry, Lord of Masham. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland.
780Masham Our purposes God justly hath discovered,
And I repent my fault more than my death,
Which I beseech your majesty forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.
795King Henry God quit you in his mercy. Hear your sentence:
You have conspired against our royal person,
Joined with an enemy proclaimed and fixed,
And from his coffers received the golden earnest of our death.
Touching our person we seek no redress,
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
805Whose ruin you have sought, that to our laws
We do deliver you. Get ye therefore hence,
Poor miserable creatures, to your death,
The taste whereof God in his mercy give you
Patience to endure, and true repentance
810Of all your deeds amiss. -- Bear them hence.
810.1
Exit [the] three lords[, Cambridge, Grey, and Masham, guarded].
Now, lords, to France, the enterprise whereof
Shall be to you as us, successively,
Since God cut off 815this dangerous treason lurking in our way.
Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance.
No king of England if not king of France.
Exeunt omnes.