University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

Southampton.
Enter Exeter, Bedford, and Westmorland.
Bedford.
'Fore heaven, his grace is bold to trust these traitors.

Exe.
They shall be apprehended by and by.

West.
How smooth and even they do bear themselves,
As if allegiance in their bosoms sate,
Crowned with faith and constant loyalty!

Bed.
The King hath note of all that they intend,
By interception, which they dream not of.

Exe.
Nay but the man that was his bed-fellow,
Whom he hath lull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours;
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery!

[Trumpets sound.
Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge, Grey, and Attendants.
K. Henry.
Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.
My Lord of Cambridge, and my Lord of Masham,
And you, my gentle Knight, give me your thoughts:
Think you not that the pow'rs we bear with us,
Will cut their passage through the force of France?

Scroop.
No doubt, my Liege; if each man do his best.

K. Henry.
I doubt not that, since we are well persuaded,
We carry not a heart with us from hence,
That grows not in a fair consent with ours;
And leave not one behind that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.

Camb.
Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd,
Than is your Majesty; there's not a subject,
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness,
Under the sweet shade of your government.

Grey.
True; those that were your father's enemies,
Have steept their galls in honey, and observe you,
With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

K. Henry.
We therefore have great cause of thankfulness,
And shall forget the office of our hand,
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit,
According to the weight and worthiness.
Uncle of Exeter,
Inlarge the man committed yesterday,
That rail'd against our person: we consider,
It was excess of wine that set him on,
And on his more advice we pardon him.

Scroop.
That's mercy, but too much security:
Let him be punish'd, Sovereign, lest example
Breed, by his suff'rance, more of such a kind.

K. Henry.
O let us yet be merciful.

Camb.
So may your Highness, and yet punish too.

Grey.
You shew great mercy, if you give him life,
After the taste of much correction.

K. Henry.
We'll yet enlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care,
And tender preservation of our person,
Would have him punish'd. Now to our French causes?
Who are the late commissioners?

Cam.
I one, my Lord.
Your Highness bade me ask for it, to-day.

Scroop.
So did you me, my Liege.

Grey.
And I, my sovereign.

K. Henry.
Then Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;
There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and Sir Knight,
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours;
Read them, and know, I know your worthiness.
My Lord of Westmorland, and uncle Exeter,
We will aboard to-night. Why, how now, gentlemen?
What see you in those papers, that you lose
So much complexion? Look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper! Why, what read you there,
That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood,
Out of appearance?

Cam.
I confess my fault,
And do submit me to your Highness' mercy.

Grey., Scroop.
To which we all appeal.

K. Henry.
The mercy which was quick in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:
You must not dare for shame to talk of mercy.
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
These English monsters! my Lord Cambridge here,
You know how apt our love was to accord,
To furnish him with all appertinents,
Belonging to his honour; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns lightly conspir'd,
And sworn unto the practices of France,
To kill us, here in Hampton. To the which,
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us,
Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But O!
What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop, thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature!
Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold,
Would'st thou have practis'd on me for thy use?
May it be possible that foreign hire
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil,
That might annoy my finger? 'Tis so strange,
That though the truth of it stand off as gross,
As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.
If that same dæmon that hath gull'd thee thus,
Should with his lion-gate walk the whole world,
He might return to vasty Tartar back,
And tell the legions, I can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.
Their faults are open.
Arrest them to the answer of the law,
And Heav'n acquit them of their practices.

Exe.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard Earl of Cambridge.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas
Lord Scroop of Masham.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas
Grey, Knight of Northumberland.

Scroop.
Our purposes Heav'n justly hath discover'd,
And I repent my fault, more than my death;
Which I beseech your Highness to forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.

Cam.
For me, the gold of France did not seduce,
Although I did admit it as a motive,
The sooner to effect what I intended;
But Heaven be thanked for prevention,
Which I in suff'rance heartily rejoice for,
Beseeching Heaven and you to pardon me.

Grey.
Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason,
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself,
Prevented from a damned enterprise:
My fault, but not my body, pardon, Sovereign.

K. Henry.
You have conspir'd against our royal person,
Join'd with an enemy, and from his coffers
Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death;
Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,
His princes and his peers to servitude,
His subjects to oppression and contempt,
And his whole kingdom into desolation.
Touching our person, seek we no revenge,
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws
We do deliver you. Go therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death;
The taste whereof Heav'n of its mercy give
You patience to endure; and true repentance
Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.
[Exeunt Scroop, Grey, and Cambridge guarded.
Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
Then forth, dear countrymen,
Putting it straight in expedition.
Cheerly to sea, the signs of war advance,
No King of England, if not King of France.

[Exeunt.