Act 3, Scene 1: Westminster. The palace

SCENE I. Westminster. The palace.

    Enter KING HENRY IV in his nightgown, with a Page

KING HENRY IV

    Go call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;
    But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
    And well consider of them; make good speed.

    Exit Page
    How many thousand of my poorest subjects
    Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep,
    Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
    That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
    And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
    Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
    Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee
    And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
    Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
    Under the canopies of costly state,
    And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?
    O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
    In loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch
    A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?
    Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
    Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
    In cradle of the rude imperious surge
    And in the visitation of the winds,
    Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
    Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
    With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,
    That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?
    Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
    To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
    And in the calmest and most stillest night,
    With all appliances and means to boot,
    Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
    Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

    Enter WARWICK and SURREY

WARWICK

    Many good morrows to your majesty!

KING HENRY IV

    Is it good morrow, lords?

WARWICK

    'Tis one o'clock, and past.

KING HENRY IV

    Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords.
    Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?

WARWICK

    We have, my liege.

KING HENRY IV

    Then you perceive the body of our kingdom
    How foul it is; what rank diseases grow
    And with what danger, near the heart of it.

WARWICK

    It is but as a body yet distemper'd;
    Which to his former strength may be restored
    With good advice and little medicine:
    My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.

KING HENRY IV

    O God! that one might read the book of fate,
    And see the revolution of the times
    Make mountains level, and the continent,
    Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
    Into the sea! and, other times, to see
    The beachy girdle of the ocean
    Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
    And changes fill the cup of alteration
    With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,
    The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
    What perils past, what crosses to ensue,
    Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.
    'Tis not 'ten years gone
    Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends,
    Did feast together, and in two years after
    Were they at wars: it is but eight years since
    This Percy was the man nearest my soul,
    Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs
    And laid his love and life under my foot,
    Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard
    Gave him defiance. But which of you was by--
    You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember--

    To WARWICK
    When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,
    Then cheque'd and rated by Northumberland,
    Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy?
    'Northumberland, thou ladder by the which
    My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;'
    Though then, God knows, I had no such intent,
    But that necessity so bow'd the state
    That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss:
    'The time shall come,' thus did he follow it,
    'The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head,
    Shall break into corruption:' so went on,
    Foretelling this same time's condition
    And the division of our amity.

WARWICK

    There is a history in all men's lives,
    Figuring the nature of the times deceased;
    The which observed, a man may prophesy,
    With a near aim, of the main chance of things
    As yet not come to life, which in their seeds
    And weak beginnings lie intreasured.
    Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
    And by the necessary form of this
    King Richard might create a perfect guess
    That great Northumberland, then false to him,
    Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness;
    Which should not find a ground to root upon,
    Unless on you.

KING HENRY IV

    Are these things then necessities?
    Then let us meet them like necessities:
    And that same word even now cries out on us:
    They say the bishop and Northumberland
    Are fifty thousand strong.

WARWICK

    It cannot be, my lord;
    Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
    The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your grace
    To go to bed. Upon my soul, my lord,
    The powers that you already have sent forth
    Shall bring this prize in very easily.
    To comfort you the more, I have received
    A certain instance that Glendower is dead.
    Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill,
    And these unseason'd hours perforce must add
    Unto your sickness.

KING HENRY IV

    I will take your counsel:
    And were these inward wars once out of hand,
    We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.

    Exeunt