1    Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Wales and I
2    Must have some private conference; but be near at hand,
3    For we shall presently have need of you.
Exeunt Lords
4    I know not whether God will have it so,
5    For some displeasing service I have done,
6    That, in his secret doom, out of my blood
7    He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
8    But thou dost in thy passages of life
9    Make me believe that thou art only mark'd
10   For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven
11   To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else,
12   Could such inordinate and low desires,
13   Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts,
14   Such barren pleasures, rude society,
15   As thou art match'd withal and grafted to,
16   Accompany the greatness of thy blood
17   And hold their level with thy princely heart?

18   So please your majesty, I would I could
19   Quit all offences with as clear excuse
20   As well as I am doubtless I can purge
21   Myself of many I am charged withal:
22   Yet such extenuation let me beg,
23   As, in reproof of many tales devised,
24   which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
25   By smiling pick-thanks and base news-mongers,
26   I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
27   Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,
28   Find pardon on my true submission.

29   God pardon thee! yet let me wonder, Harry,
30   At thy affections, which do hold a wing
31   Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
32   Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost.
33   Which by thy younger brother is supplied,
34   And art almost an alien to the hearts
35   Of all the court and princes of my blood:
36   The hope and expectation of thy time
37   Is ruin'd, and the soul of every man
38   Prophetically doth forethink thy fall.
39   Had I so lavish of my presence been,
40   So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
41   So stale and cheap to vulgar company,
42   Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
43   Had still kept loyal to possession
44   And left me in reputeless banishment,
45   A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.
46   By being seldom seen, I could not stir
47   But like a comet I was wonder'd at;
48   That men would tell their children 'This is he;'
49   Others would say 'Where, which is Bolingbroke?'
50   And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,
51   And dress'd myself in such humility
52   That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
53   Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
54   Even in the presence of the crowned king.
55   Thus did I keep my person fresh and new;
56   My presence, like a robe pontifical,
57   Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state,
58   Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast
59   And won by rareness such solemnity.
60   The skipping king, he ambled up and down
61   With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,
62   Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state,
63   Mingled his royalty with capering fools,
64   Had his great name profaned with their scorns
65   And gave his countenance, against his name,
66   To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push
67   Of every beardless vain comparative,
68   Grew a companion to the common streets,
69   Enfeoff'd himself to popularity;
70   That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
71   They surfeited with honey and began
72   To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
73   More than a little is by much too much.
74   So when he had occasion to be seen,
75   He was but as the cuckoo is in June,
76   Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes
77   As, sick and blunted with community,
78   Afford no extraordinary gaze,
79   Such as is bent on sun-like majesty
80   When it shines seldom in admiring eyes;
81   But rather drowzed and hung their eyelids down,
82   Slept in his face and render'd such aspect
83   As cloudy men use to their adversaries,
84   Being with his presence glutted, gorged and full.
85   And in that very line, Harry, standest thou;
86   For thou has lost thy princely privilege
87   With vile participation: not an eye
88   But is a-weary of thy common sight,
89   Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;
90   Which now doth that I would not have it do,
91   Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.

92   I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord,
93   Be more myself.

94   For all the world
95   As thou art to this hour was Richard then
96   When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh,
97   And even as I was then is Percy now.
98   Now, by my sceptre and my soul to boot,
99   He hath more worthy interest to the state
100  Than thou the shadow of succession;
101  For of no right, nor colour like to right,
102  He doth fill fields with harness in the realm,
103  Turns head against the lion's armed jaws,
104  And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
105  Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on
106  To bloody battles and to bruising arms.
107  What never-dying honour hath he got
108  Against renowned Douglas! whose high deeds,
109  Whose hot incursions and great name in arms
110  Holds from all soldiers chief majority
111  And military title capital
112  Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ:
113  Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling clothes,
114  This infant warrior, in his enterprises
115  Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once,
116  Enlarged him and made a friend of him,
117  To fill the mouth of deep defiance up
118  And shake the peace and safety of our throne.
119  And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
120  The Archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,
121  Capitulate against us and are up.
122  But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?
123  Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
124  Which art my near'st and dearest enemy?
125  Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear,
126  Base inclination and the start of spleen
127  To fight against me under Percy's pay,
128  To dog his heels and curtsy at his frowns,
129  To show how much thou art degenerate.

130  Do not think so; you shall not find it so:
131  And God forgive them that so much have sway'd
132  Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!
133  I will redeem all this on Percy's head
134  And in the closing of some glorious day
135  Be bold to tell you that I am your son;
136  When I will wear a garment all of blood
137  And stain my favours in a bloody mask,
138  Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it:
139  And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
140  That this same child of honour and renown,
141  This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
142  And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.
143  For every honour sitting on his helm,
144  Would they were multitudes, and on my head
145  My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
146  That I shall make this northern youth exchange
147  His glorious deeds for my indignities.
148  Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
149  To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
150  And I will call him to so strict account,
151  That he shall render every glory up,
152  Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
153  Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
154  This, in the name of God, I promise here:
155  The which if He be pleased I shall perform,
156  I do beseech your majesty may salve
157  The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
158  If not, the end of life cancels all bands;
159  And I will die a hundred thousand deaths
160  Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.

161  A hundred thousand rebels die in this:
162  Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein.
Enter BLUNT
163  How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.

164  So hath the business that I come to speak of.
165  Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word
166  That Douglas and the English rebels met
167  The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury
168  A mighty and a fearful head they are,
169  If promises be kept on every hand,
170  As ever offer'd foul play in the state.

171  The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day;
172  With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster;
173  For this advertisement is five days old:
174  On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward;
175  On Thursday we ourselves will march: our meeting
176  Is Bridgenorth: and, Harry, you shall march
177  Through Gloucestershire; by which account,
178  Our business valued, some twelve days hence
179  Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet.
180  Our hands are full of business: let's away;
181  Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay.