He whom a fool does very wisely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob. If not,
The wise man's folly is anatomiz'd
Even by the squand'ring glances of a fool.
Invest me in my motley, give me leave
To speak my mind, and I will through and through
Cleanse the foul body of th' infected world,
If they will patiently receive my medicine.
DURE. Fie on thee? I can tell thee what thou would'st do.
JAQ. What, for a counter, would I do but good? DUKE. Most mischievous foul sin, in chiding sin, For thou thyself hast been a libertine,
And all th' embossed sores and headed evils,
That thou with license of free foot bast caught,
Would'st thou disgorge into the gen'ral world.
JAQ. Why, who cries out on pride,
That can therein tax any private party?
Doth it not flow as hugely as the sea,
Till that the very, very means do ebb?
What woman in the city do I name,
When that I say, the city woman bears
The cost of princes on unworthy shoulders?
Who can come in and say, that I mean her
When such a one as she, such is her neighbour ?
Or what is he of basest function,
That sys, his brav'ry is not on my cost;
Thinking that I mean him. but therein suits
His folly to the mettle of my speech?
There then; how then? what then? let me see wherein
My tongue has wrong'd him; if to do him right, Then he hath wrong'd himself; if he be free, Why, then my taxing, like a wild goose, flies Unclaim'd of any man.
HENRY AND LORD CHIEF JUSTICE:
CH. JUST. I AM assur'd, if I be measur❜d rightly, Your Majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
P. HENRY. NO! 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 wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?
CH, JUST. I then did use the person of your
father;
The image of his pow'r lay then in me:
And in th'administration of his law,
While I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your Highness pleased to forget my place,
'The majesty and pow'r of law and justice,
The image of the King whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
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 nought:
To pluck down justice from your awful 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 working in a second body
Question your royal thoughts, make the case
your's;
Be now the father, and propose a son;
Hear your own dignity so much profan'd;
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted;
Behold yourself so by a son disin'd;
And then imagine me taking your part,
And in your pow'r so silencing your son.
After this cold consid❜rance, 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 sov'reignty.
P. HENRY. 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
Offend you, and obey you, as I did:
So shall live to speak my father's words
Happy am I, that have a man so bold
That cares do justice on my proper son;
And no less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hand of justice. You committed me;
For which I do commit into your hand
Th' unstain'd-sword that you have us'd to bear;
With this remembrance, that you use the same
With a like bold, just, and impartial spirit,
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand, You shall be as a father to my youth;›
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear, And I will stoop and humble my intents,
To your well practis'd wise directions.
And Princes all, believe me, I beseech you;
My father is gone wild into his grave:
For in his tomb lie my affections ;
And with his spirit sadly I survive,
To mock the expectations of the world;
To frustrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, which hath writ me down
After my set mig. Though my tide of blood
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now;
Now doth it turn and ebb uuto the sea.
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,
And flow benceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament ;
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great Lody of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us,
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.
Our coronation done, we will accite
(As I before remember'd) all our state,
And (Heav'n consigning to my good intents)
No prince, or peer, shall have just cause to say.
Heav'n shorten Harry's happy life one day.
SHAKSPEARE.
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND BISHOP
CANT. MY Lord, I'll tell you that self bill is urg'd,
Which, in the eleventh year o' the last King's reign,
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
But that scrambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of farther question.
ELY But how, my Lord, shall we resist it now?
CANT. It must be thought on. If it pass against
We lose the better half of our possession ;
For all the temp'ral lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us; being valued thus :
As much as would maintain to the King's honour
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires :
And to relief of lazars and weak age
Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil,
A hundred alms houses right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the King beside,
A thousand pounds by th' year. Thus runs the
ELY. This would drink deep.
CANT. 'Twould drink the cup and all.
ELY But what prevention ?
CANT. The king is full of grace and fair regard.
ELY. And a true lover of the holy church.
CANT. The courses of his youth promis❜d it not;
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came,
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradise,
T' invelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made
Never came reformation in a flood
With such a heady current, scouring faults
Nor ever hydra-headed wilfulness,
So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this King.
ELY. We're blessed in the change.
CANT. Hear him but reason in divinity,
And, all admiring, with an inward wish
You would desire the King were made a prelate
Hear him debate of con monwealth affairs,
You'd say, it had been all in all his study.
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music.
Turn i
im to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter. When he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still ;
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences :
So that the art, and practice part of life,
Must be the mistress of this theoric.
Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain ;
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