Page:Henry IV Part 1 (1917) Yale.djvu/15

 

 

King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care,

Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,

And breathe short-winded accents of new broils

To be commenc'd in stronds afar remote.

No more the thirsty entrance of this soil

Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood; No more shall trenching war channel her fields,

Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs Of hostile paces: those opposed eyes,

Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,

All of one nature, of one substance bred,

Did lately meet in the intestine shock And furious close of civil butchery,

Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,

March all one way, and be no more oppos'd

Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies: The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,

No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,

 4 stronds: coasts

5 Cf. n.

7 trenching: trench-digging

channel: make channels in

12 intestine: internal, civil

13 close: grapple

14 mutual well-beseeming ranks: ranks which have, most properly, a common interest 