Internet Shakespeare Editions

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Not Peer Reviewed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.