Page:Henry IV Part 2 (1921) Yale.djvu/85

King Henry the Fourth, IV. i

I have in equal balance justly weigh'd

What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer,

And find our griefs heavier than our offences.

We see which way the stream of time doth run

And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere

By the rough torrent of occasion;

And have the summary of all our griefs,

When time shall serve, to show in articles,

Which long ere this we offer'd to the king,

And might by no suit gain our audience.

When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs,

We are denied access unto his person

Even by those men that most have done us wrong.

The dangers of the days but newly gone,—

Whose memory is written on the earth

With yet appearing blood,—and the examples

Of every minute's instance, present now,

Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms;

Not to break peace, or any branch of it,

But to establish here a peace indeed,

Concurring both in name and quality.

West. When ever yet was your appeal denied?

Wherein have you been galled by the king?

What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you,

That you should seal this lawless bloody book

Of forg'd rebellion with a seal divine,

And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?

Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth,

To brother born an household cruelty,

I make my quarrel in particular.

West. There is no need of any such redress;

Or if there were, it not belongs to you.

 69 griefs: grievances

93 commotion's: insurrection's

94-96 Cf. n. 