Henry V – Act 2 Scene 2

BEDFORD

'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.

By God, the king is brave to trust these traitors.

EXETER

They shall be apprehended by and by.

They all will be arrested very soon.

WESTMORELAND

How smooth and even they do bear themselves!

How calm and unafraid they seem to be!

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,

It’s like they all have patriotic hearts,

Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.

All blessed by God with steadfast loyalty.

BEDFORD

The king hath note of all that they intend,

The king is well aware of what they’re planning,

By interception which they dream not of.

Through intercepted notes they’re unaware of.

EXETER

Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,

It’s strange a man who once was such a close friend,

Whom he hath dulled and cloyed with gracious favours,

Someone the king had lavished gifts upon,

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell

Has, for a chunk of foreign cash, sold off

His sovereign's life to death and treachery.

The king’s life, killing him most treasonably.

KING HENRY V

Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.

The wind is favourable, and we’ll set sail.

My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham,

My Lord of Cambridge; Scroop, my Lord of Masham;

And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts:

And you, Grey, gentle knight; share your opinions:

Think you not that the powers we bear with us

Do you believe the army that we’re taking

Will cut their passage through the force of France,

Can cut their way through French defensive forces,

Doing the execution and the act

And execute the actions we’ve prescribed

For which we have in head assembled them?

Which is the reason they’re assembled here?

SCROOP

No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.

No doubt, my lord, if each man does his best.

KING HENRY V

I doubt not that; since we are well persuaded

I do not doubt it either, for I’m sure

We carry not a heart with us from hence

There’s no one who’ll be leaving here with us

That grows not in a fair consent with ours,

Who’s not fully aligned with our ambition,

Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish

Nor no one will be left who doesn’t want

Success and conquest to attend on us.

For us to be successful in our conquest.

CAMBRIDGE

Never was monarch better feared and loved

There’s never been a monarch more respected

Than is your majesty: there's not, I think, a subject

Than you, your majesty. I think there’s no one

That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness

Who’s worried, suffering or is concerned

Under the sweet shade of your government.

When they’re protected by your government.

GREY

True: those that were your father's enemies

That’s true, because your father’s enemies

Have steeped their galls in honey and do serve you

Have dipped their bitterness in honey, serving

With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

You sweetly with a loyal sense of duty.

KING HENRY V

We therefore have great cause of thankfulness;

I have so many reasons to be grateful,

And shall forget the office of our hand,

I sooner would forget to use my hand

Sooner than quittance of desert and merit

Than fail to give acclaim and commendation

According to the weight and worthiness.

To those based on the merit of their actions.

SCROOP

So service shall with steeled sinews toil,

For this, all of your people will work harder,

And labour shall refresh itself with hope,

And toil away, refreshed each day with hope

To do your grace incessant services.

To serve your grace in hope of recognition.

KING HENRY V

We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter,

I think you’re right. Uncle of Exeter,

Enlarge the man committed yesterday,

Release the man imprisoned yesterday

That railed against our person: we consider

For being rude to me: one must assume

It was excess of wine that set him on;

That he was drunk from drinking too much wine;

And on his more advice we pardon him.

But, now he has reflected, set him free.

SCROOP

That's mercy, but too much security:

That’s merciful, but also over-risky:

Let him be punished, sovereign, lest example

He should be punished, else the precedent

Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.

Lets others, with impunity, behave.

KING HENRY V

O, let us yet be merciful.

Oh, we should still be merciful.

CAMBRIDGE

So may your highness, and yet punish too.

You can be, but yet punish him as well.

GREY

Sir,

Sir,

You show great mercy, if you give him life,

It would be merciful to spare his life

After the taste of much correction.

Once he’s severely punished for his actions.

KING HENRY V

Alas, your too much love and care of me

Unluckily, your strength of love for me

Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch!

Forms passionate pleas against the hapless chap!

If little faults, proceeding on distemper,

If petty crimes caused by drunken disorder

Shall not be winked at, how shall we stretch our eye

Cannot be overlooked, how should we look at

When capital crimes, chewed, swallowed and digested,

Foul crimes, planned out premeditatedly,

Appear before us? We'll yet enlarge that man,

When they arise? We’ll still release that man,

Though Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, in their dear care

Though Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, out of affection

And tender preservation of our person,

And warm concern for my security,

Would have him punished. And now to our French causes:

Would have him punished. Now, let’s talk of France:

Who are the late commissioners?

Who are our new commissioners?

CAMBRIDGE

I one, my lord:

I’m one, sir:

Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.

Your highness asked I asked for it today.

SCROOP

So did you me, my liege.

You asked the same of me, my lord.

GREY

And I, my royal sovereign.

And me, my royal sovereign.

KING HENRY V

Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;

Then, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, here’s your paper;

There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,

Here’s yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,

Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:

Grey of Northumberland, this one is yours:

Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.

Read them, and know I know what you deserve.

My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,

My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,

We will aboard to night. Why, how now, gentlemen!

We will depart tonight. What’s up now, gentlemen!

What see you in those papers that you lose

What have you read that’s made you lose the colour

So much complexion? Look ye, how they change!

From in your faces? Look how they have changed!

Their cheeks are paper. Why, what read you there

Their cheeks are white as paper. What have you read

That hath so cowarded and chased your blood

That’s frightened all your blood to make it run

Out of appearance?

Out of your faces?

CAMBRIDGE

I do confess my fault;

I confess my guilt;

And do submit me to your highness' mercy.

And beg for mercy from your royal highness.

GREY/SCROOP

To which we all appeal.

We all do beg for it.

KING HENRY V

The mercy that was quick in us but late,

The mercy that I recently possessed

By your own counsel is suppressed and killed:

Has been suppressed and killed by your advice.

You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;

You mustn’t even dare to talk of mercy,

For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,

Because your arguments strike through your hearts,

As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.

Like dogs that flip to turn against their masters.

See you, my princes, and my noble peers,

My princes and my noble peers, look at

These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here,

These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge, here,

You know how apt our love was to accord

You know my love was so much in alignment,

To furnish him with all appertinents

I gave him many privileges and honours

Belonging to his honour; and this man

That matched his rank; and now this very man

Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspired,

Has, for a few small coins, conspired against me,

And sworn unto the practises of France,

Aligning with the wishes of the French,

To kill us here in Hampton: to the which

To kill me in Southampton, here. And also

This knight, no less for bounty bound to us

This knight, Grey of Northumberland, rewarded

Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But, O,

The same as Cambridge, too has sworn to kill me.

What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? Thou cruel,

What shall I say to you, Lord Scroop? You cruel,

Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!

Ungrateful, inhumane and savage creature!

Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,

You were the one I went to for advice;

That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,

You knew the very heart and soul of me,

That almost mightst have coined me into gold,

I almost could have been your Royal Mint,

Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use,

If you had ever come to me for money,

May it be possible, that foreign hire

So how come foreign foes could simply hire you

Could out of thee extract one spark of evil

And take a single spark of evil in you

That might annoy my finger? 'Tis so strange,

To even prick my finger? It’s so strange

That, though the truth of it stands off as gross

That, though the truth is irrefutable

As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.

In black and white, I hardly can believe it.

Treason and murder ever kept together,

Treason and murder always go together,

As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,

Like oxen linked for ploughing, but they’re devils,

Working so grossly in a natural cause,

And work in plain sight, seeming very natural,

That admiration did not whoop at them:

So normal folk don’t shout or mention them.

But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in

But you, beyond all reasoning, created

Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:

Not only shock but awe for treasonous murder:

And whatsoever cunning fiend it was

And who on earth that crafty devil was

That wrought upon thee so preposterously

Who has corrupted you so monstrously

Hath got the voice in hell for excellence:

Has now been recognised in hell for skill.

All other devils that suggest by treasons

All other devils tempting man to treason

Do botch and bungle up damnation

Will clumsily disguise pending damnation

With patches, colours, and with forms being fetched

With platitudes and dressed up words of goodness

From glistering semblances of piety;

That sparkle like they’re taken from the Bible;

But he that tempered thee bade thee stand up,

But he that forged you told you to stand up

Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,

And gave no other reason for your treason

Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.

Except to brand you with the name of traitor.

If that same demon that hath gulled thee thus

Now, if that devil that has tricked you like this

Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,

Was walking through the world, proud as a lion,

He might return to vasty Tartar back,

He might go to the darkest part of hell

And tell the legions 'I can never win

And tell his fellow devils, ‘I can’t win

A soul so easy as that Englishman's.'

A soul as easy as that Englishman’s.’

O, how hast thou with jealousy infected

Oh, you’ve infected jealousy within

The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?

The beauty of one’s trust! Do men seem loyal?

Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned?

Well, so did you. Do men seem wise and well-read?

Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?

Well, so did you. Are they from noble families?

Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?

Well, so did you. Do they appear religious?

Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet,

Well, so did you. Do they eat moderately,

Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,

Avoid emotions caused by jokes or anger,

Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,

Stay level-headed, not goaded by impulse,

Garnished and decked in modest complement,

Come smartly dressed without being too flashy,

Not working with the eye without the ear,

Not judge by sight alone, but also listen,

And but in purged judgment trusting neither?

And draw conclusions, sceptical of inputs?

Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem:

Well, that’s exactly how refined you seemed.

And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,

And so your fall from grace has left a stain,

To mark the full-fraught man and best indued

Suggesting that a man that seems so flawless

With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;

Should be distrusted. I will weep for you,

For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like

Because this treachery of yours is like

Another fall of man. Their faults are open:

Adam expelled from Eden. They are guilty:

Arrest them to the answer of the law;

Arrest them with the full force of the law;

And God acquit them of their practises!

And God forgive them for their treacherous actions!

EXETER

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of

I arrest you for high treason, you so named

Richard Earl of Cambridge.

Richard, Earl of Cambridge.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of

I arrest you for high treason, you so named

Henry Lord Scroop of Masham.

Henry, Lord Scroop of Masham.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of

I arrest you for high treason, you so named

Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.

Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.

SCROOP

Our purposes God justly hath discovered;

God rightly has exposed what we intended;

And I repent my fault more than my death;

And I repent my sin more than my death;

Which I beseech your highness to forgive,

I ask your highness to forgive my sins,

Although my body pay the price of it.

Although my body will be put to death.

CAMBRIDGE

For me, the gold of France did not seduce;

For me, I wasn’t tempted by the money,

Although I did admit it as a motive

Although I must admit it helped a bit

The sooner to effect what I intended:

To carry out what I’d already planned.

But God be thanked for prevention;

But I thank God for stopping me from acting;

Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,

Now I will gladly take my punishment,

Beseeching God and you to pardon me.

And beg that God and you will pardon me.

GREY

Never did faithful subject more rejoice

A faithful man has never been so happy

At the discovery of most dangerous treason

Discovering a plot so treasonous

Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself.

As I am now, where joy usurps my fate.

Prevented from a damned enterprise:

I have been stopped from doing something awful:

My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.

Forgive my fault, but not my body, King.

KING HENRY V

God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.

May God forgive you! Listen to your sentence.

You have conspired against our royal person,

You have conspired against your royal king,

Joined with an enemy proclaimed and from his coffers

Aligning with the enemy, receiving

Received the golden earnest of our death;

Gold coins as a down-payment for my death,

Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,

Thereby you would have sold your king for murder,

His princes and his peers to servitude,

Turned noblemen and princes into slaves,

His subjects to oppression and contempt

Left English folk to tyranny and hatred

And his whole kingdom into desolation.

And brought this kingdom into wrack and ruin.

Touching our person seek we no revenge;

I do not seek revenge here for myself,

But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,

But I must keep my precious kingdom safe,

Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws

Which you’ve sought to destroy, hence by her laws

We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,

You will be brought to justice. Go from here,

Poor miserable wretches, to your death:

You worthless people, and be put to death:

The taste whereof, God of his mercy give

And as you die, may God grant, through his mercy,

You patience to endure, and true repentance

Your strength to persevere, and true repentance

Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.

For all the wrong you’ve done! Take them away.

[EXEUNT CAMBRIDGE, SCROOP AND GREY, GUARDED]

Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof

Now, lords, let’s leave for France; this war will prove

Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.

As glorious to you as it’s to me.

We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,

I’m sure we will be fortunate and conquering,

Since God so graciously hath brought to light

For God has graciously revealed to us

This dangerous treason lurking in our way

This treasonous plot that hid ahead of us

To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now

To stop us from the outset. I do not doubt

But every rub is smoothed on our way.

That all impediments are now removed.

Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver

So, onwards, countrymen: let us entrust

Our puissance into the hand of God,

Our potency into the hands of God,

Putting it straight in expedition.

And right away begin our expedition.

Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:

Let’s set to sea, and into war advance:

No king of England, if not king of France.

If king, I’m king of England and of France.