Henry V by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 2
Southampton. A council-chamber.
Lord Scroop : No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.
Earl of Cambridge : Never was monarch better fear'd and loved
[p]Than is your majesty:
there's not, I think, a subject
[p]That sits in heart-grief and
uneasiness
[p]Under the sweet shade of your government.
Sir Thomas Grey : True: those that were your father's enemies
[p]Have steep'd their
galls in honey and do serve you
[p]With hearts create of duty and of
zeal.
Lord Scroop : So service shall with steeled sinews toil,
[p]And labour shall refresh
itself with hope,
[p]To do your grace incessant services.
Lord Scroop : That's mercy, but too much security:
[p]Let him be punish'd,
sovereign, lest example
[p]Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a
kind.
Earl of Cambridge : So may your highness, and yet punish too.
Sir Thomas Grey : Sir,
[p]You show great mercy, if you give him life,
[p]After the taste
of much correction.
Earl of Cambridge : I one, my lord:
[p]Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Lord Scroop : So did you me, my liege.
Sir Thomas Grey : And I, my royal sovereign.
Earl of Cambridge : I do confess my fault;
[p]And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
Sir Thomas Grey : [with Scroop] To which we all appeal.
Lord Scroop : Our purposes God justly hath discover'd;
[p]And I repent my fault more
than my death;
[p]Which I beseech your highness to
forgive,
[p]Although my body pay the price of it.
Earl of Cambridge : For me, the gold of France did not seduce;
[p]Although I did admit it
as a motive
[p]The sooner to effect what I intended:
[p]But God be
thanked for prevention;
[p]Which I in sufferance heartily will
rejoice,
[p]Beseeching God and you to pardon me.
Sir Thomas Grey : Never did faithful subject more rejoice
[p]At the discovery of most
dangerous treason
[p]Than I do at this hour joy o'er
myself.
[p]Prevented from a damned enterprise:
[p]My fault, but not my
body, pardon, sovereign.
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Next: Act 2 - Scene 3
