Could out of thee extract one spark of evil
That might annoy my finger? 't is so strange,
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross
As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason and murder ever kept together,
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause,
That admiration did not hoop at them:
But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was
That wrought upon thee so preposterously
Hath got the voice in hell for excellence:
All other devils that suggest by treasons
Do botch and bungle up damnation

With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd
From glistering semblances of piety;

But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up,
Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,
Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.

If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,

103 stands off as gross] stands out as palpable.
107-108 Working so grossly in... hoop at them] Working so manifestly
in the manner that nature dictated that no wonder was excited.
"Hoop" is here the old spelling of whoop, i. e., cry out in surprise.
109 'gainst all proportion] against all the fitness of things.

114 suggest by treasons] tempt to treasons.

118 temper'd thee] made thee pliable.

119 instance] reason.

122 Should with his lion gait . .

world] Cf. 1 Peter, v, 8, "the devil,

as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

110

120

He might return to vasty Tartar back,
And tell the legions "I can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's."
O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance!

Show men dutiful?

Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned ?
Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?

Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet,
Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,
Not working with the eye without the ear,
And but in purged judgement trusting neither ?
Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man and best indued
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man.

Their faults are open:

123 Tartar] Tartarus, the classical name for "hell." Cf. Tw. Night, II, v, 184," the fate of Tartar."

133 blood] passionate impulse.

134 complement] accomplishment.

135 Not working... ear] Not judging men merely by appearance, but listening to their talk.

136 but] save, except.

137 finely bolted] finely sifted, thoroughly tried or tested.

139 To mark the] Theobald's emendation of the unintelligible reading of the Folio To make thee.

the full-fraught man] the man endowed with amplitude of virtue.

130

140

Arrest them to the answer of the law;

And God 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 Henry Lord Scroop of Masham.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.

SCROOP. Our purposes God 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 God be thanked for prevention;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,
Beseeching God 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. HEN. God quit you in his mercy! Hear

sentence.

Hear your

144 God acquit them] God absolve them. Cf. line 166, infra.

157 The sooner . . . intended] Cambridge's object was to obtain the English crown for his brother-in-law, Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, a descendant of Edward III.

159 in sufferance] in my suffering (for my sin).

166 quit] absolve. Cf. line 144, supra.

150

160

You have conspired against our royal person, Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers

Received the golden earnest of our death;

Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter, 170
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 have sought, that to her laws
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
The taste whereof, God of his mercy give
You patience to endure, and true repentance
Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.

[Exeunt Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, guarded.
Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason lurking in our way
To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now
But every rub is smoothed on our way.
Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,

169 the golden earnest] the earnest-money.

181 dear] grievous.

188 rub] obstacle; a technical term in the game of bowls.

Cf. V, ii,

180

190

33, infra.

Putting it straight in expedition.

Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:

No king of England, if not king of France.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III-LONDON

BEFORE A TAVERN

Enter PISTOL, HOSTESS, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy HOST. Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

PIST. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.

Bardolph, be blithe: Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins:
Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,
And we must yearn therefore.

BARD. Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven or in hell!

HOST. Nay, sure, he's not in hell: he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. A' made 10 a finer end and went away an it had been any christom child; a' parted even just between twelve and one, even at the turning o' the tide: for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his

1 bring] accompany.

2 yearn] mourn.

9-10 in Arthur's bosom] Mrs. Quickly's blunder for "in Abraham's bosom."

11 christom] Mrs. Quickly's confused rendering of "christened,” i. e., baptised, and "chrisom," a white cloth put on children who were baptised before they were a month old.