Page:Henry IV Part 1 (1917) Yale.djvu/105

King Henry the Fourth, IV. iii

Gave him their heirs as pages, follow'd him

Even at the heels in golden multitudes.

He presently, as greatness knows itself,

Steps me a little higher than his vow

Made to my father, while his blood was poor,

Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurgh;

And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform

Some certain edicts and some strait decrees

That lie too heavy on the commonwealth,

Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep

Over his country's wrongs; and by this face,

This seeming brow of justice, did he win

The hearts of all that he did angle for;

Proceeded further; cut me off the heads

Of all the favourites that the absent king

In deputation left behind him here,

When he was personal in the Irish war.

Blunt. Tut, I came not to hear this.

Hot.Then to the point.

In short time after, he depos'd the king;

Soon after that, depriv'd him of his life;

And, in the neck of that, task'd the whole state;

To make that worse, suffer'd his kinsman March—

Who is, if every owner were well plac'd,

Indeed his king—to be engag'd in Wales,

There without ransom to lie forfeited;

Disgrac'd me in my happy victories;

Sought to entrap me by intelligence;

Rated my uncle from the council-board;

In rage dismiss'd my father from the court;

Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong;

 79 strait: strict

88 personal: in person

92 task'd: taxed

95 engag'd: held as hostage

98 intelligence: information obtained through spies

99 rated: drove away by chiding 