Page 233 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

GLOUCEST ER

You of my household, leave this peevish broil
And set this unaccustomed fight aside.

THIRD SERVINGMAN

My lord, we know your grace to be a man
Just and upright and, for your royal birth,
Inferior to none but to his majesty; [95]
And ere that we will suffer such a prince,
So kind a father of the commonweal,
To be disgracèd by an inkhorn mate,
We and our wives and children all will fight
And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes. [100]

FIRST SERVINGMAN

Ay, and the very parings of our nails
Shall pitch a field when we are dead.

Begin [the skirmish] again.

GLOUCEST ER

Stay, stay, I say!
And if you love me, as you say you do,
Let me persuade you to forbear a while.
O, how this discord doth afflict my soul. [105]

KING HENRY

Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold
My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?
Who should be pitiful, if you be not?
Or who should study to prefer a peace
If holy churchmen take delight in broils? [110]

WARWICK

Yield, my lord protector; yield, Winchester;
Except you mean with obstinate repulse
To stay your sovereign and destroy the realm.
You see what mischief - and what murder too -
Hath been enacted through your enmity; [115]
Then be at peace, except ye thirst for blood.