When King Henry V. of England was a youth, he and his brothers grew tired of the irksome ways of the court, and scandalized the king, their father, and the staid courtiers by their practical jokes and mad frolics.
Prince Henry often grieved his father by his reckless behaviour when in the company of his gay associates. He would disguise himself as a thief, and set upon and rob the men who had collected his father"s rents. But he would reward brave, honest people; and his wild pranks seem to have been due more to boyish love of mischief and adventure and to boisterous spirits than to any real liking for ill-doing. However, his conduct and that of his brothers ill became royal princes, and Prince Henry"s familiarity with some of his future subjects vexed his royal father very much.
There is one story about Prince Henry, or Prince Hal, as the people liked to call him, which not only redounds to his credit by showing he could be staunch to a friend in trouble, and take punishment with good grace, but tells how a judge put justice before the favour of man. Prince Henry"s brothers, Thomas and John, once supped far into the night with some of their boon companions, and the feast ended in a riot, at which the city authorities had to interfere. The princes were angry at that;and, as a result, the Lord Mayor and aldermen were summoned before the king. He, however, soon dismissed them when they said they had merely done their duty in stopping a riot.
It was during another wild freak of this kind that one of Prince Henry"s followers was charged and sentenced to imprisonment. When the prince heard what had befallen his favourite, he came to the judge, Chief Justice Gascoigne, and ordered him to release his follower. But the judge, who feared the anger of the royal youth less than he feared the reproach of his own conscience, looked at him sternly, and told him justice must be done, though, at the same time, if the king willed, he could pardon the prisoner.
When Prince Henry saw that he could not overawe the judge, he grew very angry, and drew his sword on him threateningly. Then the judge called on him to recollect himself, and declared that he was there to fulfil his duty in place of the prince"s own father, and that in his name he adjured him to change his wilful conduct and set a good example to those who would one day be his own subjects.
"And now, " he concluded, "because you are guilty of disobedience and contempt of this court, I commit you to the King"s Bench Prison. There you will stay until the king your father"s pleasure is declared. "The hot-tempered prince acknowledged the justice of the judge"s words, and, laying his sword down, bowed to the courageous man who had sentenced him, and was then taken off to prison. It is said that, when the king heard of what had occurred , he expressed his happy fortune in having for one of his judges a man who was not afraid to administer justice, and for a son a youth willing to submit to it.
Shakespeare, who wrote a great deal about Prince Henry in his plays, makes the king, his father, say these words :
Happy am I, that have a man so bold, That dares do justice on my proper son; And not less happy, having such a son, That would deliver up his greatness so Into the hands of justice.
The Judge sentences the Prince
Prince Henry afterwards treated Judge Gascoigne with much respect, recognizing that, if he could keep so strictly to enforcing the laws of the country, even against the heir to the throne, who in the natural course of events would one day be his sovereign, then he would not regard the favour of any man, but seek to do his duty to all.
When Prince Henry did come to the throne, he justified the people"s trust in him, and Judge Gascoigne was one of the upright men he consulted. Shakespeare puts these words into the mouth of Henry V., when addressing the judge :
Still bear the balance and the sword;
And I do wish your honours may increase Till you do live to see a son of mine Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
The Children"s Encyclop?dia
Author.-Anonymous. The story is told in Shakespeare"s Henry the Fourth, but the version given is from The Children"s Encyclop?dia, edited by Arthur Mee.
General.-To what were Prince Henry"s pranks due? Was he really vicious? What makes you think so? Was the Chief Justice a brave man? What makes you think so? Tell in prose the opinion expressed by the Prince "s father. What is meant by the line "Still bear the balance and the sword "?