Hub. Why, know you not? the lords are all come back,[653]
And brought Prince Henry in their company;
At whose request the king hath pardon'd them,35
And they are all about his majesty.
Bast. Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven,
And tempt us not to bear above our power!
I'll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night,[654]
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide;40
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them;
Myself, well mounted, hardly have escaped.[655]
Away before: conduct me to the king;
I doubt he will be dead or ere I come.[656] [Exeunt.
Scene VII. The orchard in Swinstead Abbey.[657]
Enter Prince Henry, Salisbury, and Bigot.
P. Hen. It is too late: the life of all his blood
Is touch'd corruptibly, and his pure brain,[658]
Which some suppose the soul's frail dwelling-house,
Doth by the idle comments that it makes
Foretell the ending of mortality.5
Enter Pembroke.
Pem. His highness yet doth speak, and holds belief
That, being brought into the open air,
It would allay the burning quality
Of that fell poison which assaileth him.
P. Hen. Let him be brought into the orchard here.[659]10
Doth he still rage? [Exit Bigot.
Pem. He is more patient
Than when you left him; even now he sung.
P. Hen. O vanity of sickness! fierce extremes
In their continuance will not feel themselves.[660]
Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts,[661]15
Leaves them invisible, and his siege is now[662]
Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds[663]
With many legions of strange fantasies,
Which, in their throng and press to that last hold,
Confound themselves. 'Tis strange that death should sing.20
I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan,[664]
Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death,
And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings
His soul and body to their lasting rest.[665]