K. Henry.
Go, call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick:
But ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
And well consider of them: make good speed. [Exit Page.
How many thousands of my poorest subjects
Are at this hour asleep! &plquo;O gentle Sleep,
&plquo;Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
&plquo;That thou no more wilt weigh my eye-lids down,
&plquo;And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
&plquo;Why rather, Sleep, ly'st thou in smoaky cribs,
&plquo;Upon uneasie pallets stretching thee,
&plquo;And husht with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber;
&plquo;Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great,
&plquo;Under the canopies of costly state,
&plquo;And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody?
&plquo;O thou dull God, why ly'st thou with the vile
&plquo;In loathsom beds, and leav'st the kingly couch
&plquo;A watch-case, or a common larum-bell?
&plquo;Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast,
&plquo;Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains,
&plquo;In cradle of the rude imperious surge;
&plquo;And in the visitation of the winds,
&plquo;Who take the ruffian billows by the top,

&plquo;Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
&plquo;With deaf'ning clamours in the slip'ry shrouds,
&plquo;That with the hurley, death it self awakes?
&plquo;Canst thou, O partial Sleep, give thy repose
&plquo;To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude?
&plquo;And in the calmest and the stillest night,
&plquo;With all appliances and means to boot,
&plquo;Deny it to a King? then happy low! lye down;
Uneasie lyes the head that wears a crown.

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