Henry IV, Part II

William Shakespeare

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9780486796895
• eBook ISBN: 9780486790084
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," laments the sleepless king of Henry IV, Part II. Despite having quelled a rebel army along the Welsh border in Part I, Henry IV faces further insurrections elsewhere in England. His woes are compounded by disturbing reminders of his own mortality as well as the wayward behavior of Prince Hal. The heir to the throne acquitted himself admirably in the battles against the Welsh rebels, but has returned to his old haunts in Eastcheap, where he carouses nightly at the Boar's Head Tavern with the notorious reprobate, Sir John Falstaff.
Renowned Shakespeare critic G. B. Harrison pronounced Falstaff "the supreme comic character in all drama . . . who redeems his vices by his incomparable wit and his skill at escaping from every tight corner." The fat knight's humorous quips and antics are balanced by the play's thought-provoking reflections on ambition, guilt, leadership, and responsibility. Rich in sparkling wordplay and historical drama, this tale sets the stage for Henry V.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. Yorkshire. Gaul tree Forest .

Enter the ARCHBISHOP of CORK, MOWBRAC, HASTINGS, and others

ARCHBISHOP. What is this forest call’d?

HAST. ’Tis Gaultree Forest, an ’t shall please your grace. [2]

ARCH. Here stand, my lords; and send discoverers forth

To know the numbers of our enemies.

HAST. We have sent forth already.

ARCH.

’Tis well done.

My friends and brethren in these great affairs,

I must acquaint you that I have received

New-dated letters from Northumberland;

Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus:

Here doth he wish his person, with such powers [10]

As might hold sortance with his quality,

The which he could not levy; whereupon

He is retired, to ripe his growing fortunes,

To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers

That your attempts may overlive the hazard

And fearful meeting of their opposite. [16]

MOWB. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground

And dash themselves to pieces.

Enter a Messenger

HAST.

Now, what news?

MESS. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile,

In goodly form comes on the enemy; [20]

And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number

Upon or near the rate of thirty thousand.

MOWB. The just proportion that we gave them out.

Let us sway on and face them in the field.

ARCH. What well-appointed leader fronts us here?

Enter WESTMORELAND

MOWB. I think it is my Lord of Westmoreland.

WEST. Health and fair greeting from our general,

The prince, Lord John and Duke of Lancaster.

ARCH. Say on, my Lord of Westmoreland, in peace:

What doth concern your coming?

WEST.

Then, my lord,

[30]

Unto your grace do I in chief address

The substance of my speech. If that rebellion

Came like itself, in base and abject routs, [33]

Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rags,

And countenanced by boys and beggary;

I say, if damn’d commotion so appear’d,

In his true, native and most proper shape,

You, reverend father, and these noble lords

Had not been here, to dress the ugly form

Of base and bloody insurrection [40]

With your fair honours. You, lord Archbishop,

Whose see is by a civil peace maintain’d,

Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch’d,

Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor’d,

Whose white investments figure innocence,

The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,

Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself

Out of the speech of peace that bears such grace,

Into the harsh and boisterous tongue of war;

Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, [50]

Your pens to lances, and your tongue divine

To a loud trumpet and a point of war?

ARCH. Wherefore do I this? so the question stands.

Briefly to this end: we are all diseased,

And with our surfeiting and wanton hours

Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,

And we must bleed for it; of which disease

Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.

But, my most noble Lord of Westmoreland,

I take not on me here as a physician, [60]

Nor do I as an enemy to peace

Troop in the throngs of military men;

But rather show a while like fearful war,

To diet rank minds sick of happiness, [64]

And purge the obstructions which begin to stop

Our very veins of life. Hear...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Note
• Contents
• ACT I.
• ACT II.
• ACT III.
• ACT IV.
• ACT V.
• Epilogue