LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I would his majesty had called me with him.

The service that I truly did his life

Hath left me open to all injuries.

WARWICK

Indeed I think the young King loves you not.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I know he doth not, and do arm myself

To welcome the condition of the time,

Which cannot look more hideously upon me

Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.

Enter Prince John of Lancaster, and the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester

WARWICK

Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry.

O, that the living Harry had the temper

Of he the worst of these three gentlemen !

How many nobles then should hold their places,

That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort !

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

O God, I fear all will be overturned.

PRINCE JOHN

Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.

GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE Good morrow, cousin.

PRINCE JOHN

We meet like men that had forgot to speak.

WARWICK

We do remember, but our argument

Is all too heavy to admit much talk.

PRINCE JOHN

Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Peace be with us, lest we be heavier I

GLOUCESTER

O good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed;

And I dare swear you borrow not that face

Of seeming sorrow—it is sure your own.

PRINCE JOHN (to Lord Chief Justice)

Though no man be assured what grace to find,

You stand in coldest expectation.

I am the sorrier; would ’twere otherwise.

CLARENCE (to Lord Chief Justice)

Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair,

Which swims against your stream of quality.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Sweet princes, what I did I did in honour,

Led by th’impartial conduct of my soul;

And never shall you see that I will beg

A ragged and forestalled remission.

If truth and upright innocency fail me,

I’ll to the King my master, that is dead,

And tell him who hath sent me after him.

Enter Prince Harry, as King

WARWICK Here comes the Prince.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Good morrow, and God save your majesty I

PRINCE HARRY

This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,

Sits not so easy on me as you think.

Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear.

This is the English not the Turkish court;

Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,

But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,

For, by my faith, it very well becomes you.

Sorrow so royally in you appears

That I will deeply put the fashion on,

And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad;

But entertain no more of it, good brothers,

Than a joint burden laid upon us all.

For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured

I’ll be your father and your brother too.

Let me but bear your love, I’ll bear your cares.

Yet weep that Harry’s dead, and so will I;

But Harry lives that shall convert those tears

By number into hours of happiness.

PRINCE JOHN, GLOUCESTER, and CLARENCE

We hope no other from your majesty.

PRINCE HARRY

You all look strangely on me, (to Lord Chief Justice)

and you most.

You are, I think, assured I love you not.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I am assured, if I be measured rightly,

Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.

PRINCE HARRY

No? How might a prince of my great hopes forget

So great indignities you laid upon me?

What—rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison

Th’immediate heir of England? Was this easy?

May this be washed in Lethe and forgotten ?

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I then did use the person of your father.

The image of his power lay then in me;

And in th’administration of his law,

Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,

Your highness pleased to forget my place,

The majesty and power of law and justice,

The image of the King whom I presented,

And struck me in my very seat of judgement;

Whereon, as an offender to your father,

I gave bold way to my authority

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,

Be you contented, wearing now the garland,

To have a son set your decrees at naught—

To pluck down justice from your awe-full bench,

To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword

That guards the peace and safety of your person,

Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image,

And mock your workings in a second body?

Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours,

Be now the father, and propose a son;

Hear your own dignity so much profaned,

See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,

Behold yourself so by a son disdained;

And then imagine me taking your part,

And in your power soft silencing your son.

After this cold considerance, sentence me;

And, as you are a king, speak in your state

What I have done that misbecame my place,

My person, or my liege’s sovereignty.

PRINCE HARRY

You are right Justice, and you weigh this well.

Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;

And I do wish your honours may increase

Till you do live to see a son of mine