The First Part of Henry the Fourth
With the Life and Death of Henry, Surnamed Hotspur
ACT FIRST
Scene One
[London. The Palace]
Enter the King, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, with others.
King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care,
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
To be commenc'd in stronds afar remote. 4
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;
No more shall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs 8
Of hostile paces: those opposed eyes,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock 12
And furious close of civil butchery,
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
March all one way, and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies: 16
The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
4 stronds: coasts
5 Cf. n.
7 trenching: trench-digging
channel: make channels in
12 intestine: internal, civil
13 close: grapple
14 mutual well-beseeming ranks: ranks which have, most properly, a common interest
