I Know Thee Not, Old Man

Tom Hiddleston as King Henry V in The Hollow Crown (2012)

Listen to:

I Know Thee Not, Old Man (2:06)

from Henry IV, Part II

by William Shakespeare

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Henry IV, part 2 – Act V, Scene 4

Prince Henry, having indeed redeemed himself in his father’s eyes,  

upon the death of his father now King Henry V, 

walks along a London street, where he passes Falstaff, 

his profligate former mentor of vices. 

The old sinner calls out piteously to him, 

“My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!” 

King Henry replies:

KING HENRY V 

I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers;

How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!

I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,

So surfeit-swell'd, so old and so profane;

But, being awaked, I do despise my dream.

Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace;

Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape

For thee thrice wider than for other men.

Reply not to me with a fool-born jest:

Presume not that I am the thing I was;

For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,

That I have turn'd away my former self;

So will I those that kept me company.

When thou dost hear I am as I have been,

Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,

The tutor and the feeder of my riots:

Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,

As I have done the rest of my misleaders,

Not to come near our person by ten mile.

For competence of life I will allow you,

That lack of means enforce you not to evil:

And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,

We will, according to your strengths and qualities,

Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord,

To see perform'd the tenor of our word. Set on.

I Will Redeem All This

Jeremy Irons as King Henry IV and Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal in The Hollow Crown (2012)

Listen to:

I Will Redeem All This (2:09)

from Henry IV, Part I

by William Shakespeare

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

In Act 3, scene 2, Hal has audience with the king, his father. 

The prince’s lewd behavior, “barren pleasures and rude society” 

greatly pain his father, 

who accuses him of being more an enemy to him 

than Henry Percy, know as Hotspur, 

his rival for the throne. 

Thoroughly shamed by the accusation, 

Prince Hal answers his father:

PRINCE HENRY 

Do not think so; you shall not find it so:

And God forgive them that so much have sway'd

Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!

I will redeem all this on Percy's head

And in the closing of some glorious day

Be bold to tell you that I am your son;

When I will wear a garment all of blood

And stain my favours in a bloody mask,

Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it:

And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,

That this same child of honour and renown,

This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,

And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.

For every honour sitting on his helm,

Would they were multitudes, and on my head

My shames redoubled! for the time will come,

That I shall make this northern youth exchange

His glorious deeds for my indignities.

Percy is but my factor, good my lord,

To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;

And I will call him to so strict account,

That he shall render every glory up,

Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,

Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.

This, in the name of God, I promise here:

The which if He be pleased I shall perform,

I do beseech your majesty may salve

The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:

If not, the end of life cancels all bands;

And I will die a hundred thousand deaths

Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.

I Know You All

Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal in The Hollow Crown (2012)

Listen to:

I Know You All (1:46)

from Henry IV, Part I

by William Shakespeare

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

Henry IV, Part I – Act I, scene ii – Prince Hal

Prince Henry, or Hal, the wayward son of Henry IV, 

wastes his afternoon bandying wits with Falstaff 

and his crew of low-lifes, 

even agreeing to accompany them 

in their plans for robbery. 

But when they leave the stage, 

Hal reveals his darker purpose – 

to cast them all aside when the time is ripe:

PRINCE HENRY 

I know you all, and will awhile uphold

The unyoked humour of your idleness:

Yet herein will I imitate the sun,

Who doth permit the base contagious clouds

To smother up his beauty from the world,

That, when he please again to be himself,

Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,

By breaking through the foul and ugly mists

Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.

If all the year were playing holidays,

To sport would be as tedious as to work;

But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,

And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.

So, when this loose behavior I throw off

And pay the debt I never promised,

By how much better than my word I am,

By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;

And like bright metal on a sullen ground,

My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,

Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes

Than that which hath no foil to set it off.

I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;

Redeeming time when men think least I will.

Hohenlinden

Listen to:

Hohenlinden (1:51)

by Thomas Campbell

performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode

On Linden, when the sun was low,
All bloodless lay the untrodden snow,
And dark as winter was the flow
    Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

  But Linden saw another sight
When the drum beat at dead of night,
Commanding fires of death to light
    The darkness of her scenery.

  By torch and trumpet fast arrayed,
Each horseman drew his battle blade,
And furious every charger neighed
    To join the dreadful revelry.

  Then shook the hills with thunder riven,
Then rushed the steed to battle driven,
And louder than the bolts of heaven
    Far flashed the red artillery.

  But redder yet that light shall glow
On Linden's hills of stainèd snow,
And bloodier yet the torrent flow
    Of Iser, rolling rapidly.

  'Tis morn, but scarce yon level sun
Can pierce the war clouds, rolling dun,
Where furious Frank and fiery Hun
    Shout in their sulphurous canopy.

  The combat deepens. On, ye brave,
Who rush to glory, or the grave!
Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave,
    And charge with all thy chivalry!

  Few, few shall part where many meet!
The snow shall be their winding-sheet,
And every turf beneath their feet
    Shall be a soldier's sepulchre.