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A Chase in the North of England. | |
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Enter two Keepers, with cross-bows in their hands. | |
| First Keep. Under this thick-grown brake we’ll shroud ourselves; | |
| For through this laund anon the deer will come; | |
| And in this covert will we make our stand, | 5 |
| Culling the principal of all the deer. | |
| Sec. Keep. I’ll stay above the hill, so both may shoot. | |
| First Keep. That cannot be; the noise of thy cross-bow | |
| Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost. | |
| Here stand we both, and aim we at the best: | 10 |
| And, for the time shall not seem tedious, | |
| I’ll tell thee what befell me on a day | |
| In this self place where now we mean to stand. | |
| Sec. Keep. Here comes a man; let’s stay till he be past. | |
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Enter KING HENRY, disguised, with a prayer-book. | 15 |
| K. Hen. From Scotland am I stol’n, even of pure love, | |
| To greet mine own land with my wishful sight. | |
| No, Harry, Harry, ’tis no land of thine; | |
| Thy place is fill’d, thy sceptre wrung from thee, | |
| Thy balm wash’d off wherewith thou wast anointed: | 20 |
| No bending knee will call thee Cæsar now, | |
| No humble suitors press to speak for right, | |
| No, not a man comes for redress of thee; | |
| For how can I help them, and not myself? | |
| First Keep. Ay, here’s a deer whose skin’s a keeper’s fee: | 25 |
| This is the quondam king; let’s seize upon him. | |
| K. Hen. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, | |
| For wise men say it is the wisest course. | |
| Sec. Keep. Why linger we? let us lay hands upon him. | |
| First Keep. Forbear awhile; we’ll hear a little more. | 30 |
| K. Hen. My queen and son are gone to France for aid; | |
| And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick | |
| Is thither gone, to crave the French king’s sister | |
| To wife for Edward. If this news be true, | |
| Poor queen and son, your labour is but lost; | 35 |
| For Warwick is a subtle orator, | |
| And Lewis a prince soon won with moving words. | |
| By this account then Margaret may win him, | |
| For she’s a woman to be pitied much: | |
| Her sighs will make a battery in his breast; | 40 |
| Her tears will pierce into a marble heart; | |
| The tiger will be mild whiles she doth mourn; | |
| And Nero will be tainted with remorse, | |
| To hear and see her plaints, her brinish tears. | |
| Ay, but she’s come to beg; Warwick, to give: | 45 |
| She on his left side craving aid for Henry; | |
| He on his right asking a wife for Edward. | |
| She weeps, and says her Henry is depos’d; | |
| He smiles, and says his Edward is install’d; | |
| That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more: | 50 |
| Whiles Warwick tells his title, smooths the wrong, | |
| Inferreth arguments of mighty strength, | |
| And in conclusion wins the king from her, | |
| With promise of his sister, and what else, | |
| To strengthen and support King Edward’s place. | 55 |
| O Margaret! thus ’twill be; and thou, poor soul, | |
| Art then forsaken, as thou went’st forlorn. | |
| Sec. Keep. Say, what art thou, that talk’st of kings and queens? | |
| K. Hen. More than I seem, and less than I was born to: | |
| A man at least, for less I should not be; | 60 |
| And men may talk of kings, and why not I? | |
| Sec. Keep. Ay, but thou talk’st as if thou wert a king. | |
| K. Hen. Why, so I am, in mind; and that’s enough. | |
| Sec. Keep. But, if thou be a king, where is thy crown? | |
| K. Hen. My crown is in my heart, not on my head; | 65 |
| Not deck’d with diamonds and Indian stones, | |
| Nor to be seen: my crown is call’d content; | |
| A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy. | |
| Sec. Keep. Well, if you be a king crown’d with content, | |
| Your crown content and you must be contented | 70 |
| To go along with us; for, as we think, | |
| You are the king King Edward hath depos’d; | |
| And we his subjects, sworn in all allegiance, | |
| Will apprehend you as his enemy. | |
| K. Hen. But did you never swear, and break an oath? | 75 |
| Sec. Keep. No, never such an oath; nor will not now. | |
| K. Hen. Where did you dwell when I was King of England? | |
| Sec. Keep. Here in this country, where we now remain. | |
| K. Hen. I was anointed king at nine months old; | |
| My father and my grandfather were kings, | 80 |
| And you were sworn true subjects unto me: | |
| And tell me, then, have you not broke your oaths? | |
| First Keep. No; | |
| For we were subjects but while you were king. | |
| K. Hen. Why, am I dead? do I not breathe a man? | 85 |
| Ah! simple men, you know not what you swear. | |
| Look, as I blow this feather from my face, | |
| And as the air blows it to me again, | |
| Obeying with my wind when I do blow, | |
| And yielding to another when it blows, | 90 |
| Commanded always by the greater gust; | |
| Such is the lightness of you common men. | |
| But do not break your oaths; for of that sin | |
| My mild entreaty shall not make you guilty. | |
| Go where you will, the king shall be commanded; | 95 |
| And be you kings: command, and I’ll obey. | |
| First Keep. We are true subjects to the king, King Edward. | |
| K. Hen. So would you be again to Henry, | |
| If he were seated as King Edward is. | |
| First Keep. We charge you, in God’s name, and in the king’s, | 100 |
| To go with us unto the officers. | |
| K. Hen. In God’s name, lead; your king’s name be obey’d: | |
| And what God will, that let your king perform; | |
| And what he will, I humbly yield unto. [Exeunt. | |
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