Shakespeare's King Henry IV 3.2 - Henry doubts Hal's loyalty

King Henry IV, Part I

Please see the bottom of the page for extensive explanatory notes and other helpful resources.

ACT III SCENE II	London. The palace.
[Enter HOTSPUR, WORCESTER, MORTIMER, and GLENDOWER]
[Enter KING HENRY IV, PRINCE HENRY, and others]
KING HENRY IV	Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Wales and I
	Must have some private conference; but be near at hand,
	For we shall presently have need of you.
[Exeunt Lords]
	I know not whether God will have it so,
	For some displeasing service I have done,	5
	That, in his secret doom, out of my blood
	He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
	But thou dost in thy passages of life
	Make me believe that thou art only mark'd
	For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven	10
	To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else,
	Could such inordinate and low desires,
	Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts,
	Such barren pleasures, rude society,
	As thou art match'd withal and grafted to,	15
	Accompany the greatness of thy blood
	And hold their level with thy princely heart?
PRINCE HENRY	So please your majesty, I would I could
	Quit all offences with as clear excuse
	As well as I am doubtless I can purge	20
	Myself of many I am charged withal:
	Yet such extenuation let me beg,
	As, in reproof of many tales devised,
	which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
	By smiling pick-thanks and base news-mongers,	25
	I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
	Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,
	Find pardon on my true submission.
KING HENRY IV	God pardon thee! yet let me wonder, Harry,
	At thy affections, which do hold a wing	30
	Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
	Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost.
	Which by thy younger brother is supplied,
	And art almost an alien to the hearts
	Of all the court and princes of my blood:	35
	The hope and expectation of thy time
	Is ruin'd, and the soul of every man
	Prophetically doth forethink thy fall.
	Had I so lavish of my presence been,
	So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,	40
	So stale and cheap to vulgar company,
	Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
	Had still kept loyal to possession
	And left me in reputeless banishment,
	A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.	45
	By being seldom seen, I could not stir
	But like a comet I was wonder'd at;
	That men would tell their children 'This is he;'
	Others would say 'Where, which is Bolingbroke?'
	And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,	50
	And dress'd myself in such humility
	That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
	Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
	Even in the presence of the crowned king.
	Thus did I keep my person fresh and new;	55
	My presence, like a robe pontifical,
	Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state,
	Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast
	And won by rareness such solemnity.
	The skipping king, he ambled up and down	60
	With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,
	Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state,
	Mingled his royalty with capering fools,
	Had his great name profaned with their scorns
	And gave his countenance, against his name,	65
	To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push
	Of every beardless vain comparative,
	Grew a companion to the common streets,
	Enfeoff'd himself to popularity;
	That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,	70
	They surfeited with honey and began
	To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
	More than a little is by much too much.
	So when he had occasion to be seen,
	He was but as the cuckoo is in June,	75
	Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes
	As, sick and blunted with community,
	Afford no extraordinary gaze,
	Such as is bent on sun-like majesty
	When it shines seldom in admiring eyes;	80
	But rather drowzed and hung their eyelids down,
	Slept in his face and render'd such aspect
	As cloudy men use to their adversaries,
	Being with his presence glutted, gorged and full.
	And in that very line, Harry, standest thou;	85
	For thou has lost thy princely privilege
	With vile participation: not an eye
	But is a-weary of thy common sight,
	Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;
	Which now doth that I would not have it do,	90
	Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.
PRINCE HENRY	I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord,
	Be more myself.
KING HENRY IV	For all the world
	As thou art to this hour was Richard then	95
	When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh,
	And even as I was then is Percy now.
	Now, by my sceptre and my soul to boot,
	He hath more worthy interest to the state
	Than thou the shadow of succession;	100
	For of no right, nor colour like to right,
	He doth fill fields with harness in the realm,
	Turns head against the lion's armed jaws,
	And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
	Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on	105
	To bloody battles and to bruising arms.
	What never-dying honour hath he got
	Against renowned Douglas! whose high deeds,
	Whose hot incursions and great name in arms
	Holds from all soldiers chief majority	110
	And military title capital
	Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ:
	Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling clothes,
	This infant warrior, in his enterprises
	Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once,	115
	Enlarged him and made a friend of him,
	To fill the mouth of deep defiance up
	And shake the peace and safety of our throne.
	And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
	The Archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,	120
	Capitulate against us and are up.
	But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?
	Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
	Which art my near'st and dearest enemy?
	Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear,	125
	Base inclination and the start of spleen
	To fight against me under Percy's pay,
	To dog his heels and curtsy at his frowns,
	To show how much thou art degenerate.
PRINCE HENRY	Do not think so; you shall not find it so:	130
	And God forgive them that so much have sway'd
	Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!
	I will redeem all this on Percy's head
	And in the closing of some glorious day
	Be bold to tell you that I am your son;	135
	When I will wear a garment all of blood
	And stain my favours in a bloody mask,
	Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it:
	And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
	That this same child of honour and renown,	140
	This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
	And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.
	For every honour sitting on his helm,
	Would they were multitudes, and on my head
	My shames redoubled! for the time will come,	145
	That I shall make this northern youth exchange
	His glorious deeds for my indignities.
	Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
	To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
	And I will call him to so strict account,	150
	That he shall render every glory up,
	Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
	Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
	This, in the name of God, I promise here:
	The which if He be pleased I shall perform,	155
	I do beseech your majesty may salve
	The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
	If not, the end of life cancels all bands;
	And I will die a hundred thousand deaths
	Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.	160
KING HENRY IV	A hundred thousand rebels die in this:
	Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein.
[Enter BLUNT]
	How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.
SIR WALTER BLUNT	So hath the business that I come to speak of.
	Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word	165
	That Douglas and the English rebels met
	The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury
	A mighty and a fearful head they are,
	If promises be kept on every hand,
	As ever offer'd foul play in the state.	170
KING HENRY IV	The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day;
	With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster;
	For this advertisement is five days old:
	On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward;
	On Thursday we ourselves will march: our meeting	175
	Is Bridgenorth: and, Harry, you shall march
	Through Gloucestershire; by which account,
	Our business valued, some twelve days hence
	Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet.
	Our hands are full of business: let's away;	180
	Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay.
[Exeunt]

Continue to Henry IV, Part I, Act 3, Scene 3

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Explanatory Notes for Act 3, Scene 2
From Henry IV, Part I. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark and Maynard.
(Line numbers have been altered.)
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8. Passages, occurrences.

13. Lewd, base.

20. Doubtless, sure.

23. Reproof, disproof.

31. From, away from.

43. To possession, to the possessor of the crown, Richard II.

59. Such solemnity, the solemnity of a feast.

61. Bavin, dry brushwood, light, combustible.

62. Carded his state, discarded his dignity, as cards are thrown out of the pack.

63. Carping, taunting.

67. Comparative, one who uses terms of comparison.

69. Enfeoff'd himself, gave himself up, devoted himself.

73. By much too much, excessively too much. The expression too much was often intensified by prefixing too. Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 4, "O but I love his lady too too much."

77. Community, commonness, familiarity.

81. But rather drows'd, but with such eyes as rather drowsed.

83. Cloudy, gloomy.

85. Line, position.

98. Interest to the state, interest in the eyes of the state.

101. Harness, armor.

103. Being no more, etc. Being no older than thyself. This was not the fact. Shakespeare thought it poetically expedient to make Hotspur an "infant warrior."

115. Enlarged him, set him at large, liberated him.

120. Capitulate, draw up heads or articles of conspiracy. Up, in arms.

123. Dearest, most important. Hamlet, i. 2, "Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven."

136. Favor, features, face.

138. Lights, happens.

141. Unthought-of, unregarded.

148. To engross up, to collect or store up.

151. Worship, homage.

154. I shall, etc. That I shall perform it.

156. Long-grown wounds, long-repeated grievances.

157. Bands, bonds. The words band and bond were formerly interchangeable.

158. A hundred thousand, etc. This is to me as good as the deaths of, etc.

176. By which account, etc. And our business being reckoned according to this account.

180. Feeds him, feeds himself.

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How to cite the explanatory notes:
Shakespeare, William. King Henry IV, Part 1. Ed. Brainerd Kellogg. New York: Clark and Maynard, 1885. Shakespeare Online. 20 Feb. 2010. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/1kh4_3_2.html >.

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