The seasons change their manners, as the year Had found some months asleep and leap'd them over. CLARENCE The river hath thrice flow'd, no ebb between;And the old folk, time's doting chronicles, Say it did so a little time before That our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died. WARWICK Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers. GLOUCESTER This apoplexy will certain be his end. KING HENRY IV I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence Into some other chamber: softly, pray. SCENE V. Another chamber. KING HENRY IV lying on a bed: CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, and others in attendance KING HENRY IV Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;Unless some dull and favourable hand Will whisper music to my weary spirit. WARWICK Call for the music in the other room. KING HENRY IV Set me the crown upon my pillow here. CLARENCE His eye is hollow, and he changes much. WARWICK Less noise, less noise!
Enter PRINCE HENRY PRINCE HENRY Who saw the Duke of Clarence? CLARENCE I am here, brother, full of heaviness. PRINCE HENRY How now! rain within doors, and none abroad!
How doth the king? GLOUCESTER Exceeding ill. PRINCE HENRY Heard he the good news yet?
Tell it him. GLOUCESTER He alter'd much upon the hearing it. PRINCE HENRY If he be sick with joy, he'll recover without physic. WARWICK Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince, speak low;The king your father is disposed to sleep. CLARENCE Let us withdraw into the other room. WARWICK Will't please your grace to go along with us? PRINCE HENRY No; I will sit and watch here by the king.
Exeunt all but PRINCE HENRY
Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow, Being so troublesome a bedfellow?
O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!
Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet As he whose brow with homely biggen bound Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit Like a rich armour worn in heat of day, That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath There lies a downy feather which stirs not:
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my father!
This sleep is sound indeed, this is a sleep That from this golden rigol hath divorced 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:
My due from thee is this imperial crown, Which, as immediate as thy place and blood, Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits, 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 'tis left to me.
Exit KING HENRY IV Warwick! Gloucester! Clarence!
Re-enter WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and the rest CLARENCE Doth the king call? WARWICK What would your majesty? How fares your grace? KING HENRY IV Why did you leave me here alone, my lords? CLARENCE We left the prince my brother here, my liege, Who undertook to sit and watch by you. KING HENRY IV The Prince of Wales! Where is he? let me see him:
He is not here. WARWICK This door is open; he is gone this way. GLOUCESTER He came not through the chamber where we stay'd. KING HENRY IV Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow? WARWICK When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here. KING HENRY IV The prince hath ta'en it hence: go, seek him out.
Is he so hasty that he doth suppose My sleep my death?
Find him, my Lord of Warwick; chide him hither.
Exit WARWICK
This part of his conjoins with my disease, And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you are!
How quickly nature falls into revolt When gold becomes her object!
For this the foolish over-careful fathers Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care, Their bones with industry;For this they have engrossed and piled up The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold;For this they have been thoughtful to invest Their sons with arts and martial exercises:
When, like the bee, culling from every flower The virtuous sweets, Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey, We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees, Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste Yield his engrossments to the ending father.
Re-enter WARWICK
Now, where is he that will not stay so long Till his friend sickness hath determined me? WARWICK My lord, I found the prince in the next room, Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks, With such a deep demeanor in great sorrow That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood, Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither. KING HENRY IV But wherefore did he take away the crown?
Re-enter PRINCE HENRY
Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry.
Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.
Exeunt WARWICK and the rest PRINCE HENRY I never thought to hear you speak again. KING HENRY IV Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:
I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.
Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair That thou wilt needs invest thee with my honours Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!
Thou seek'st the greatness that will o'erwhelm thee.
Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity Is held from falling with so weak a wind That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.
Thou hast stolen that which after some few hours Were thine without offence; and at my death Thou hast seal'd up my expectation:
Thy life did manifest thou lovedst me not, And thou wilt have me die assured of it.
Thou hidest a thousand daggers in thy thoughts, Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart, To stab at half an hour of my life.