That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide [Putting it on his head. Which heaven 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. K. Hen. Warwick! Gloster! Clarence! Cla. Doth the king call? (Exit, War. What would your majesty? How fares your grace? K. Hen. Why did you leave me here alone, my lords? Cla. We left the prince my brother here, my liege, Who undertook to sit and watch by you. K. Hen. The prince of Wales? Where is he? let me see him: He is not here. War. This door is open; he is gone this way. P. Humph. He came not through the chamber where we stay'd. K. Hen. Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow? War. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here. [8] Ports is the ancient military term for gates STEEVENS. The word is yet used in this seuse in Scotland, MALONE [9] A kind of cap, at present word only by children. STEEVENS. K. Hen. 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. This part of his conjoins with my disease, [Exit WARWICK. 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 pil'd up The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold; Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey Now, where is he that will not stay so long Till his friend sickness hath determin'd me? War. My lord, I found the prince in the next room, Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks; With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow, That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood, Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife K. Hen. But wherefore did he take away the crown? Lo, where he comes.-Come hither to me, Harry :- [Exeunt CLAR. P. HUMPH. Lords, &c. P. Hen. I never thought to hear you speak again. I stay too long by thee, I weary thee. Dost thou so hunger for my empty chair, That thou wilt needs invest thee with mine honours Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth! Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee. Is held from falling with so weak a wind, Thou hast stol'n 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 lov'dst me not, What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour? Only compound me with forgotten dust; Give that, which gave thee life, unto the worms. For now a time is come to mock at form, Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence! Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum: Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants! (2) Thou hast confirmed my opinion. JOHNSON. 3i. e. Curator. A bold figure. So Eumeus is styled by Ovid, Epist. 1: "-immundæ curu fidelis haræ." TYRWHITT. P. Hen. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my tears, The moist impediments unto my speech, [Kneeling. I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke, And never live to show th' incredulous world And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending, Therefore, thou, best of gold, art worst of gold. Preserving life in med'cine potable:* But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd, Hast eat thy bearer up. Thus, my most royal liege, Accusing it, I put it on my head; To try with it,- as with an enemy, That had before my face murder'd my father, The quarrel of a true inheritor. But if it did infect my blood with joy, Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride; If any rebel or vain spirit of mine Did, with the least affection of a welcome, Give entertainment to the might of it, Let God forever keep it from my head! Heaven put it in thy mind, to take it bence, [4] There has long prevailed an opinion that a solution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that the incorruptibility of gold might be communicated to the body impregnated with it. Some have pretended to make potable gold, among other frauds practised on credulity. JOHNSON That thou might'st win the more thy father's love, And hear, I think, the very latest counsel That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son, My gain of it by their assistances; Which daily grew to quarrel, and to bloodshed, So thou the garland wear'st successively. Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do, With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, STEEVENS. [5] Soil-is spot, dirt, turpitude, reproach JOHNSON. [6] To fear is often used by Shakespeare for to fright. [7] The sense is: Of those who assisted my usurpation, some I have cut off, and Many I intended to lead abroad. This journey to the Holy Land, of which the king very frequently revives the mention, had two motives, religion and policy. He durst not wear the ill-gotten crown without expiation, but in the act of expiation he contrives to make his wickedness successful. JOHNSON. |