Act 4. Scene V

SCENE V. Another chamber.

KING HENRY IV lying on a bed: CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, and others in attendance
KING HENRY IV
Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;
Unless some dull and favourable hand
Will whisper music to my weary spirit.

WARWICK
Call for the music in the other room.

KING HENRY IV
Set me the crown upon my pillow here.

CLARENCE
His eye is hollow, and he changes much.

WARWICK
Less noise, less noise!

Enter PRINCE HENRY

PRINCE HENRY
Who saw the Duke of Clarence?

CLARENCE
I am here, brother, full of heaviness.

PRINCE HENRY
How now! rain within doors, and none abroad!
How doth the king?

GLOUCESTER
Exceeding ill.

PRINCE HENRY
Heard he the good news yet?
Tell it him.

GLOUCESTER
He alter'd much upon the hearing it.

PRINCE HENRY
If he be sick with joy, he'll recover without physic.

WARWICK
Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince,
speak low;
The king your father is disposed to sleep.

CLARENCE
Let us withdraw into the other room.

WARWICK
Will't please your grace to go along with us?

PRINCE HENRY
No; I will sit and watch here by the king.

Exeunt all but PRINCE HENRY

Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,
Being so troublesome a bedfellow?
O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!
Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet
As he whose brow with homely biggen bound
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,
That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather which stirs not:
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down
Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my father!
This sleep is sound indeed, this is a sleep
That from this golden rigol hath divorced
So many English kings. Thy due from me
Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously:
My due from thee is this imperial crown,
Which, as immediate as thy place and blood,
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,
Which God shall guard: and put the world's whole strength
Into one giant arm, it shall not force
This lineal honour from me: this from thee
Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me.

Exit

KING HENRY IV
Warwick! Gloucester! Clarence!

Re-enter WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and the rest

CLARENCE
Doth the king call?

WARWICK
What would your