Mojo, The Bard, & Me

Hear your own dignity so much profaned,

See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,

Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;



-Lord Chief Justice



King Henry The Fourth Part II                                  Act V scene ii line 93



Here’s the deal: Henry IV has just died. A bunch of the big guys are talking, the Lord Chief Justice being one of them. They’re talking about the fact that the Lord Chief Justice had reprimanded Prince Harry, who is now Henry V, and so that this Lord may be in for his comeuppance (in fact, I think he might have actually thrown Prince Harry in jail, but I’m not sure). Harry, now Henry V, enters the room and he sort of asks the Lord Chief Justice about this incident. And the Lord Chief Justice says that when he was Prince Harry his highness was breaking his dad’s rules. That would be King Henry the Fourth’s rules, and that’s what the Chief Justice was enforcing. He asks the new King to wait until he has a son, and to wait until he hears his own dignity so much profaned, his own laws so loosely slighted, and himself by a son disdain’d. Then he’ll understand what the Chief Justice was doing by reprimanding him when he was Prince Harry. And Harry, now King Henry V, says You’re right. Literally, he says,

 You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;

The Lord Chief Justice used a version of the old “wait ‘til you have kids of your own!” It’s the oldest line in the book.

That's my dad in the background looking at my brother on the left with his two sons, the little guy in his mom's arms and the older son on the right. Do you think my dad is thinking anything about being glad that my brother now gets to see what it's like to have sons of his own? Well he seems to be enjoying some thought or another, doesn't he?