Page:Henry IV Part 2 (1921) Yale.djvu/89

King Henry the Fourth, IV. i

Hast. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace

Upon such large terms, and so absolute

As our conditions shall consist upon,

Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.

Mowb. Yea, but our valuation shall be such

That every slight and false-derived cause,

Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason

Shall to the king taste of this action;

That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,

We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind

That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff

And good from bad find no partition.

Arch. No, no, my lord. Note this; the king is weary

Of dainty and such picking grievances:

For he hath found to end one doubt by death

Revives two greater in the heirs of life;

And therefore will he wipe his tables clean,

And keep no tell-tale to his memory

That may repeat and history his loss

To new remembrance; for full well he knows

He cannot so precisely weed this land

As his misdoubts present occasion:

His foes are so enrooted with his friends

That, plucking to unfix an enemy,

He doth unfasten so and shake a friend.

So that this land, like an offensive wife,

That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes,

As he is striking, holds his infant up

And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm

That was uprear'd to execution.

 189 our valuation: the king's estimation of us

191 nice: trivial

198 picking: fastidious

206 misdoubts: suspicions

213 hangs: suspends

resolv'd correction: chastisement which had been determined upon 