The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] · William Shakespeare
SCENE VI. _London. The Tower_.
_Enter_ KING HENRY _and_ GLOUCESTER, _with the_ Lieutenant, _on the walls_. _Glou._ Good day, my lord. What, at your book so hard? [cef001] _K. Hen._ Ay, my good lord:--my lord, I should say rather; ’Tis sin to flatter; ‘good’ was little better: ‘Good Gloucester’ and ‘good devil’ were alike, And both preposterous; therefore, not ‘good lord.’ ·cef005· _Glou._ Sirrah, leave us to ourselves: we must confer. [cef006] [_Exit Lieutenant._ _K. Hen._ So flies the reckless shepherd from the wolf; [cef007] So first the harmless sheep doth yield his fleece, [cef008] And next his throat unto the butcher’s knife. What scene of death hath Roscius now to act? [cef010] _Glou._ Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; The thief doth fear each bush an officer. _K. Hen._ The bird that hath been limed in a bush, With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush; And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird, [cef015] Have now the fatal object in my eye Where my poor young was limed, was caught and kill’d. [cef017] _Glou._ Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete, That taught his son the office of a fowl! And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown’d. ·cef020· _K. Hen._ I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus; [cef021] Thy father, Minos, that denied our course; The sun that sear’d the wings of my sweet boy Thy brother Edward, and thyself the sea Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life. ·cef025· Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words! My breast can better brook thy dagger’s point Than can my ears that tragic history. But wherefore dost thou come? is’t for my life?
_Glou._ I’ll hear no more: die, prophet, in thy speech: [cef057] [_Stabs him._ For this, amongst the rest, was I ordain’d. _K. Hen._ Ay, and for much more slaughter after this. O, God forgive my sins, and pardon thee! [_Dies._ ·cef060· _Glou._ What, will the aspiring blood of Lancaster Sink in the ground? I thought it would have mounted. See how my sword weeps for the poor king’s death! O, may such purple tears be alway shed From those that wish the downfall of our house! ·cef065· If any spark of life be yet remaining, Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither: [_Stabs him again._ I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear. Indeed, ’tis true that Henry told me of; For I have often heard my mother say ·cef070· I came into the world with my legs forward: Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste, And seek their ruin that usurp’d our right? The midwife wonder’d and the women cried ‘O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!’ ·cef075· And so I was; which plainly signified That I should snarl and bite and play the dog. Then, since the heavens have shaped my body so, Let hell make crook’d my mind to answer it. [cef079] I have no brother, I am like no brother; ·cef080· And this word ‘love,’ which greybeards call divine, Be resident in men like one another And not in me: I am myself alone. Clarence, beware; thou keep’st me from the light: [cef084] But I will sort a pitchy day for thee; ·cef085· For I will buz abroad such prophecies That Edward shall be fearful of his life, And then, to purge his fear, I’ll be thy death. King Henry and the prince his son are gone: Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest, ·cef090· Counting myself but bad till I be best. I’ll throw thy body in another room And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom. [cef093] [_Exit, with the body._
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.