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  • Title: Henry IV, Part 2 (Modern)
  • Editor: Rosemary Gaby

  • Copyright Rosemary Gaby. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: Rosemary Gaby
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Henry IV, Part 2 (Modern)

    [5.2]
    Enter Warwick [and the] Lord Chief Justice.
    Warwick
    How now, my Lord Chief Justice, whither away?
    Justice
    How doth the king?
    Warwick
    Exceeding well, his cares are now all ended.
    Justice
    I hope not dead?
    Warwick
    He's walked the way of nature,
    And to our purposes he lives no more.
    Justice
    I would his majesty had called me with him.
    2890The service that I truely did his life
    Hath left me open to all injuries.
    Warwick
    Indeed I think the young king loves you not.
    Justice
    I know he doth not and do arm myself
    To welcome the condition of the time,
    2895Which cannot look more hideously upon me
    Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.
    Enter John, Thomas, and Humphrey.
    Warwick
    Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry.
    2900Oh, that the living Harry had the temper
    Of he, the worst of these three gentlemen!
    How many nobles then should hold their places
    That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort!
    Justice
    O god, I fear all will be overturned.
    2905Lancaster
    Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.
    Gloucester and Clarence
    Good morrow, cousin.
    Lancaster
    We meet like men that had forgot to speak.
    Warwick
    We do remember, but our argument
    Is all too heavy to admit much talk.
    2910Lancaster
    Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy.
    Justice
    Peace be with us, lest we be heavier.
    Gloucester
    [To Lord Chief Justice] O good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed,
    And I dare swear you borrow not that face
    Of seeming sorrow, it is sure your own.
    2915Lancaster
    Though no man be assured what grace to find,
    You stand in coldest expectation.
    I am the sorrier; would 'twere otherwise.
    Clarence
    Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair,
    Which swims against your stream of quality.
    2920Justice
    Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honor,
    Led by th'impartial conduct of my soul;
    And never shall you see that I will beg
    A raggèd and forestalled remission.
    If truth and upright innocency fail me,
    2925I'll to the king my master that is dead,
    And tell him who hath sent me after him.
    Enter the Prince and Blunt.
    Warwick
    Here comes the prince.
    Justice
    Good morrow, and god save your majesty.
    2930King Henry
    This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,
    Sits not so easy on me as you think.
    Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear.
    This is the English, not the Turkish court;
    Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
    2935But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,
    For by my faith it very well becomes you.
    Sorrow so royally in you appears
    That I will deeply put the fashion on
    And wear it in my heart. Why then be sad,
    2940But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
    Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
    For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,
    I'll be your father and your brother too.
    Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
    2945Yet weep that Harry's dead, and so will I;
    But Harry lives that shall convert those tears
    By number into hours of happiness.
    Princes
    We hope no otherwise from your majesty.
    King Henry
    You all look strangely on me [To Lord Chief Justice] -- and you most.
    2950You are, I think, assured I love you not.
    Justice
    I am assured, if I be measured rightly,
    Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
    King Henry
    No? How might a prince of my great hopes forget
    So great indignities you laid upon me?
    2955What, rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
    Th'immediate heir of England? Was this easy?
    May this be washed in Lethe and forgotten?
    Justice
    I then did use the person of your father.
    The image of his power lay then in me;
    2960And in th'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,
    2965And struck me in my very seat of judgement;
    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 garland,
    2970To have a son set your decrees at naught?
    To pluck down justice from your awe-full 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
    2975And mock your workings in a second body?
    Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours,
    Be now the father and propose a son,
    Hear your own dignity so much prophaned,
    See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
    2980Behold yourself so by a son disdained,
    And then imagine me taking your part,
    And in your power soft silencing your son.
    After this cold considerance sentence me;
    And as you are a king, speak in your state
    2985What I have done that misbecame my place,
    My person, or my liege's sovereignty.
    King Henry
    You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well.
    Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;
    And I do wish your honors may increase
    2990Till you do live to see a son of mine
    Offend you and obey you as I did.
    So shall I live to speak my father's words,
    "Happy am I that have a man so bold
    That dares do justice on my proper son
    2995And no less happy having such a son
    That would deliver up his greatness so
    Into the hands of justice." You did commit me,
    For which I do commit into your hand
    Th'unstained sword that you have used to bear,
    3000With this remembrance: that you use the same
    With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit
    As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.
    You shall be as a father to my youth,
    My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,
    3005And I will stoop and humble my intents
    To your well-practiced wise directions.
    And princes all, believe me, I beseech you,
    My father is gone wild into his grave,
    For in his tomb lie my affections;
    3010And with his spirits sadly I survive
    To mock the expectation of the world,
    To frustrate prophecies, and to raze out
    Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
    After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
    3015Hath proudly flowed in vanity till now.
    Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea,
    Where it shall mingle with the state of floods
    And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
    Now call we our high court of parliament,
    3020And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
    That the great body of our state may go
    In equal rank with the best-governed nation;
    That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
    As things acquainted and familiar to us;
    3025[To Lord Chief Justice] In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.
    Our coronation done, we will accite,
    As I before remembered, all our state,
    And, god consigning to my good intents,
    No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,
    3030"God shorten Harry's happy life one day."
    Exeunt.