"O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness?" Shakespeare (c.1596) Henry IV Part 2, Act III, Scene 1, ll.1709-1712. This is Henry IV of England, speaking these lines, (1367-1413) with all the worries of how he will make good his grandfather’s claim to the throne of France. Shakespeare was writing these lines a couple of hundred years later, around 1596, when Elizabeth I was on the throne, still styling herself as the Queen of England and of France. Meanwhile, across the Channel, Continue reading on Toureme for Henri IV of France (1553-1610), known as Good King Henry, Nature’s soft nurse is kinder: "Sleep hears his voice, and slow to Henry's bower, On lazy pinions moves the drowsy power. The zephyrs scarcely breathe as he goes by, Hope's children, airy Dreams, around him fly."
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