Page:Henry IV Part 2 (1921) Yale.djvu/104

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The Earl Northumberland, and the Lord Bardolph,

With a great power of English and of Scots,

Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown.

The manner and true order of the fight

This packet, please it you, contains at large.

King. And wherefore should these good news make me sick?

Will Fortune never come with both hands full

But write her fair words still in foulest letters?

She either gives a stomach and no food;

Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast

And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,

That have abundance and enjoy it not.

I should rejoice now at this happy news,

And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy.

O me! come near me, now I am much ill.

Glo. Comfort, your majesty!

Cla. O my royal father!

West. My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself: look up!

War. Be patient, princes: you do know these fits

Are with his highness very ordinary:

Stand from him, give him air; he'll straight be well.

Cla. No, no; he cannot long hold out these pangs:

The incessant care and labour of his mind

Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in

So thin, that life looks through and will break out.

Glo. The people fear me; for they do observe

Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature:

The seasons change their manners, as the year

 105 stomach: appetite

119 wrought the mure: worn the wall

121 fear: frighten

122 (Such portents as) creatures born without parents and other monstrosities

123 as: as if 