Act 2 — Scene I.—COUNCIL CHAMBER IN SOUTHAMPTON CASTLE.
Reading edition
Exeter, Bedford, and Westmoreland, discovered.
Bed. ’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 sat, 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 bedfellow,(A) Whom he hath cloy’d and grac’d with princely favours,— That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell His sovereign’s life to death and treachery!
Distant Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge, Grey, Lords and Attendants, U.E.L.H.
K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. My lord of Cambridge,—and my kind lord of Masham,— And you, my gentle knight,—give me your thoughts: Think you not, that the powers 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. Hen. 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,1 Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish Success and conquest to attend on us.
Cam. (R.) Never was monarch better fear’d and lov’d Than is your majesty: there’s not, I think, a subject That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government.
Grey. (R.) Even those that were your father’s enemies Have steep’d their galls in honey, and do serve you With hearts create2 of duty and of zeal.
K.Hen. (C.) 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, R. Enlarge 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,3 we pardon him.
Scroop. (R.) That’s mercy, but too much security: Let him be punish’d, sovereign; lest example Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful.
Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too.
Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life, After the taste of much correction.
K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons ’gainst this poor wretch!4 If little faults, proceeding on distemper,5 Shall not be wink’d at, how shall we stretch our eye6 When capital crimes, chew’d, swallow’d, and digested, Appear before us?—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. And now to our French causes: All take their places at Council table. Who are the late Commissioners?7
Cam. R. of table. I one, my lord: Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. R. of table. So did you me, my liege.
Grey. R. of table. And me, my royal sovereign.
K. Hen. 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 Westmoreland,—and uncle Exeter,— L. of table. We will aboard to-night. Conspirators start from their places. 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 do confess my fault; And do submit me to your highness’ mercy. Falling on his knees.
Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal. Kneeling.
K. Hen. rising; all the Lords rise with the King. The mercy that was quick8 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 of 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 practises 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 did’st 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, 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 stands off as gross9 As black from white,10 my eye will scarcely see it; For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like Another fall of man.—Their faults are open: Arrest them to the answer of the law;— Exeter goes to door U.E.L.H, and calls on the Guard. And Heaven acquit them of their practises!
Exe. comes down, R.C. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop of Masham.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.
Scroop. R., kneeling. Our purposes Heaven justly hath discover’d; And I repent my fault more than my death.
Cam. R., kneeling. For me,—the gold of France did not seduce;(B) Although I did admit it as a motive The sooner to effect what I intended: But Heaven be thanked for prevention; Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,11 Beseeching Heaven and you to pardon me.
Grey. R. kneeling. 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 enterprize: My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.
K. Hen. (C.) Heaven quit you in its mercy! Hear your sentence. You have conspir’d against our royal person, Join’d with an enemy proclaim’d, 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;(C) But we our kingdom’s safety must so tender,12 Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws We do deliver you. Get you, therefore, hence, Poor miserable wretches, to your death: The taste whereof, Heaven of its mercy give you Patience to endure, and true repentance Of all your dear offences!13—Bear them hence. Conspirators rise and exeunt guarded, with Exeter. Now, Lords, for France; the enterprize whereof Shall be to you, as us, like glorious. We doubt not of a fair and lucky war, Since Heaven so graciously hath brought to light This dangerous treason, lurking in our way. Then, forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver Our puissance14 into the hand of Heaven, Putting it straight in expedition. Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:(D) No king of England, if not king of France.
Exeunt, U.E.L.H.