Page 821 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

And raise his issue like a loving sire;
Thou, being a king, blest with a goodly son,
Didst yield consent to disinherit him,
Which argued thee a most unloving father. [25]
Unreasonable creatures feed their young;
And though man’s face be fearful to their eyes,
Yet, in protection of their tender ones,
Who hath not seen them, even with those wings
Which sometime they have used in fearful flight, [30]
Make war with him that climbed unto their nest,
Offering their own lives in their young’s defence?
For shame, my liege, make them your precedent!
Were it not pity that this goodly boy
Should lose his birthright by his father’s fault [35]
And long hereafter say unto his child,
‘What my great-grandfather and grandsire got
My careless father fondly gave away’?
Ah, what a shame were this! Look on the boy
And let his manly face, which promiseth [40]
Successful fortune, steel thy melting heart
To hold thine own and leave thine own with him.

KING HENRY

Full well hath Clifford played the orator,
Inferring arguments of mighty force:
But, Clifford, tell me, didst thou never hear [45]
That things ill got had ever bad success?
And happy always was it for that son
Whose father, for his hoarding, went to hell?
I’ll leave my son my virtuous deeds behind:
And would my father had left me no more! [50]
For all the rest is held at such a rate
As brings a thousandfold more care to keep
Than in possession any jot of pleasure.
Ah, cousin York, would thy best friends did know
How it doth grieve me that thy head is here! [55]

MARGARET

My lord, cheer up your spirits: our foes are nigh
And this soft courage makes your followers faint.
You promised knighthood to our forward son: