...the ball, The sword, the mace, the crown imperial .... No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so...Who, with a body fill'd, and vacant mind, Gets him to rest.10 But if crown imperial and tide of pomp do not suffice, then what will? Here's my take on it....

...anxiety that plagued the slumber of wealthy and powerful men. In Henry V, Shakespeare wrote that none "laid in bed majestical, / Can sleep so soundly as...a body fill'd and vacant mind / Gets him to rest." 7 Sleep, to be sure, granted weary men and women of all ranks some measure of relief from daily cares...

..."title," "throne," and "the tide of pomp," Henry declares, No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave Who, with a body filled and vacant mind, Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread; Never sees horrid night,...

..."Ceremonie" by Henry V before Agincourt would have the most immediate resonance for a contemporary reader. The "wretched Slave / Who with a body fill'd, and vacant mind / Gets him to rest" is echoed by Heminge's "Cobler" and "Broome-man" (line 15) and "Souldier" (line 19) in their enviable...

...pomp That beats upon the high shore of this world — No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so...the eye of Phoebus, and all night Sleeps in Elysium. . . . —Hal, now Henry V, to himself, Henry V, 4.1.230-274 (The Riverside Shakespeare) Thus far, with...

...the worries of the unsleeping soldiers he has just left: No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave Who, with a body filled and vacant mind, Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread; Never sees horrid night,...

...pomp That beats upon the high shore of this world — No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Not all these, laid in bed majestical, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave [.] (iv.i.238— 40, 246—7, 256—68) Henry's speech seems to echo two primary sources in the previous...