Mort. Fie, cousin Percy! how you cross my father! Hot. I cannot choose. Sometimes he angers me With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant, Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies, And of a dragon and a finless fish,
A clip-wing’d griffin and a moulten raven, A couching lion and a ramping cat,
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff As puts me from my faith. I tell you what- He held me last night at least nine hours In reckoning up the several devils’ names That were his lackeys. I cried ‘hum,’ and ‘Well, go to!’ But mark’d him not a word. O, he is as tedious As a tired horse, a railing wife;
Worse than a smoky house. I had rather live With cheese and garlic in a windmill far Than feed on cates and have him talk to me In any summer house in Christendom).
Mort. In faith, he is a worthy gentleman, Exceedingly well read, and profited
In strange concealments, valiant as a lion, And wondrous affable, and as bountiful As mines of India. Shall I tell you, cousin? He holds your temper in a high respect And curbs himself even of his natural scope When you come ‘cross his humour. Faith, he does. I warrant you that man is not alive
Might so have tempted him as you have done Without the taste of danger and reproof. But do not use it oft, let me entreat you. Wor. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame, And since your coming hither have done enough To put him quite besides his patience. You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault. Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, blood- And that’s the dearest grace it renders you- Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage, Defect of manners, want of government, Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain; The least of which haunting a nobleman Loseth men’s hearts, and leaves behind a stain Upon the beauty of all parts besides,
Beguiling them of commendation.
Hot. Well, I am school’d. Good manners be your speed! Here come our wives, and let us take our leave.
Enter Glendower with the Ladies.
Mort. This is the deadly spite that angers me- My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh. Glend. My daughter weeps; she will not part with you; She’ll be a soldier too, she’ll to the wars. Mort. Good father, tell her that she and my aunt Percy Shall follow in your conduct speedily. Glendower speaks to her in Welsh, and she answers him in the same. Glend. She is desperate here. A peevish self-will’d harlotry, One that no persuasion can do good upon. The Lady speaks in Welsh. Mort. I understand thy looks. That pretty Welsh Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens I am too perfect in; and, but for shame, In such a Barley should I answer thee. The Lady again in Welsh. I understand thy kisses, and thou mine, And that’s a feeling disputation.
But I will never be a truant, love, Till I have learnt thy language: for thy tongue Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn’d, Sung by a fair queen in a summer’s bow’r, With ravishing division, to her lute.
Glend. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad. The Lady speaks again in Welsh. Mort. O, I am ignorance itself in this! Glend. She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down And rest your gentle head upon her lap, And she will sing the song that pleaseth you And on your eyelids crown the god of sleep, Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness, Making such difference ‘twixt wake and sleep As is the difference betwixt day and night The hour before the heavenly-harness’d team Begins his golden progress in the East. Mort. With all my heart I’ll sit and hear her sing. By that time will our book, I think, be drawn. Glend. Do so,
And those musicians that shall play to you Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence, And straight they shall be here. Sit, and attend. Hot. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down. Come, quick, quick, that I may lay my head in thy lap. Lady P. Go, ye giddy goose.
The music plays. Hot. Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh; And ’tis no marvel, be is so humorous. By’r Lady, he is a good musician.
Lady P. Then should you be nothing but musical; for you are altogether govern’d by humours. Lie still, ye thief, and hear the lady sing in Welsh.
Hot. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish. Lady P. Wouldst thou have thy head broken? Hot. No.
Lady P. Then be still.
Hot. Neither! ‘Tis a woman’s fault. Lady P. Now God help thee!
Hot. To the Welsh lady’s bed.
Lady P. What’s that?
Hot. Peace! she sings.
Here the Lady sings a Welsh song. Come, Kate, I’ll have your song too.
Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth.
Hot. Not yours, in good sooth? Heart! you swear like a comfit-maker’s wife. ‘Not you, in good sooth!’ and ‘as true as I live!’ and ‘as God shall mend me!’ and ‘as sure as day!’ And givest such sarcenet surety for thy oaths As if thou ne’er walk’st further than Finsbury. Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art, A good mouth-filling oath; and leave ‘in sooth’ And such protest of pepper gingerbread To velvet guards and Sunday citizens. Come, sing. Lady P. I will not sing.
Hot. ‘Tis the next way to turn tailor or be redbreast-teacher. An the indentures be drawn, I’ll away within these two hours; and so come in when ye will. Exit. Glend. Come, come, Lord Mortimer. You are as slow As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go.
By this our book is drawn; we’ll but seal, And then to horse immediately.
Mort. With all my heart.
Exeunt.
Scene II.
London. The Palace.
Enter the King, Prince of Wales, and others.
King. Lords, give us leave. The Prince of Wales and I Must have some private conference; but be near at hand, For we shall presently have need of you. Exeunt Lords.
I know not whether God will have it so, For some displeasing service I have done, That, in his secret doom, out of my blood He’ll breed revengement and a scourge for me; But thou dost in thy passages of life
Make me believe that thou art only mark’d For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else, Could such inordinate and low desires, Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts, Such barren pleasures, rude society,
As thou art match’d withal and grafted to, Accompany the greatness of thy blood
And hold their level with thy princely heart? Prince. So please your Majesty, I would I could Quit all offences with as clear excuse As well as I am doubtless I can purge
Myself of many I am charged withal. Yet such extenuation let me beg
As, in reproof of many tales devis’d, Which oft the ear of greatness needs must bear By, smiling pickthanks and base newsmongers, I may, for some things true wherein my youth Hath faulty wand’red and irregular,
And pardon on lily true submission. King. God pardon thee! Yet let me wonder, Harry, At thy affections, which do hold a wing, Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors. Thy place in Council thou hast rudely lost, Which by thy younger brother is supplied, And art almost an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood. The hope and expectation of thy time
Is ruin’d, and the soul of every man Prophetically do forethink thy fall.
Had I so lavish of my presence been, So common-hackney’d in the eyes of men, So stale and cheap to vulgar company,
Opinion, that did help me to the crown, Had still kept loyal to possession
And left me in reputeless banishment, A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.
By being seldom seen, I could not stir But, like a comet, I Was wond’red at;
That men would tell their children, ‘This is he!’ Others would say, ‘Where? Which is Bolingbroke?’ And then I stole all courtesy from heaven, And dress’d myself in such humility
That I did pluck allegiance from men’s hearts, Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths Even in the presence of the crowned King. Thus did I keep my person fresh and new, My presence, like a robe pontifical,
Ne’er seen but wond’red at; and so my state, Seldom but sumptuous, show’d like a feast And won by rareness such solemnity.
The skipping King, he ambled up and down With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits, Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state; Mingled his royalty with cap’ring fools; Had his great name profaned with their scorns And gave his countenance, against his name, To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push Of every beardless vain comparative;
Grew a companion to the common streets, Enfeoff’d himself to popularity;
That, being dally swallowed by men’s eyes, They surfeited with honey and began
To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little More than a little is by much too much. So, when he had occasion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June, Heard, not regarded- seen, but with such eyes As, sick and blunted with community,
Afford no extraordinary gaze,
Such as is bent on unlike majesty When it shines seldom in admiring eyes; But rather drows’d and hung their eyelids down, Slept in his face, and rend’red such aspect As cloudy men use to their adversaries, Being with his presence glutted, gorg’d, and full. And in that very line, Harry, standest thou; For thou hast lost thy princely privilege With vile participation. Not an eye
But is aweary of thy common sight, Save mine, which hath desir’d to see thee more; Which now doth that I would not have it do- Make blind itself with foolish tenderness. Prince. I shall hereafter, my thrice-gracious lord, Be more myself.
King. For all the world,
As thou art to this hour, was Richard then When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh; And even as I was then is Percy now.
Now, by my sceptre, and my soul to boot, He hath more worthy interest to the state Than thou, the shadow of succession;
For of no right, nor colour like to right, He doth fill fields with harness in the realm, Turns head against the lion’s armed jaws, And, Being no more in debt to years than thou, Leads ancient lords and reverend Bishops on To bloody battles and to bruising arms. What never-dying honour hath he got
Against renowmed Douglas! whose high deeds, Whose hot incursions and great name in arms Holds from all soldiers chief majority And military title capital
Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ. Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling clothes, This infant warrior, in his enterprises Discomfited great Douglas; ta’en him once, Enlarged him, and made a friend of him, To fill the mouth of deep defiance up
And shake the peace and safety of our throne. And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland, The Archbishop’s Grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer Capitulate against us and are up.
But wherefore do I tell these news to thee Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes, Which art my nearest and dearest enemy’ Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear, Base inclination, and the start of spleen, To fight against me under Percy’s pay, To dog his heels and curtsy at his frowns, To show how much thou art degenerate.
Prince. 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 hall 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 pleas’d 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. King. A hundred thousand rebels die in this! Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein.
Enter Blunt.
How now, good Blunt? Thy looks are full of speed. Blunt. So hath the business that I come to speak of. Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word That Douglas and the English rebels met The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury. A mighty and a fearful head they are,
If promises be kept oil every hand, As ever off’red foul play in a state.
King. The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day; With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster; For this advertisement is five days old. On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward; On Thursday we ourselves will march. Our meeting Is Bridgenorth; and, Harry, you shall march Through Gloucestershire; by which account, Our business valued, some twelve days hence Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet. Our hands are full of business. Let’s away. Advantage feeds him fat while men delay. Exeunt.
Scene III.
Eastcheap. The Boar’s Head Tavern.
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.
Fal. Bardolph, am I not fall’n away vilely since this last action? Do I not bate? Do I not dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me like an old lady’s loose gown! I am withered like an old apple John. Well, I’ll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking. I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is made of, I am a peppercorn, a brewer’s horse. The inside of a church! Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.
Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful you cannot live long. Fal. Why, there is it! Come, sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be, virtuous enough: swore little, dic’d not above seven times a week, went to a bawdy house not above once in a quarter- of an hour, paid money that I borrowed- three or four times, lived well, and in good compass; and now I live out of all order, out of all compass. Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you must needs be out of all compass- out of all reasonable compass, Sir John. Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I’ll amend my life. Thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the poop- but ’tis in the nose of thee. Thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp. Bard. Why, Sir John, my face does you no harm. Fal. No, I’ll be sworn. I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a death’s-head or a memento mori. I never see thy face but I think upon hellfire and Dives that lived in purple; for there he is in his robes, burning, burning. if thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear by thy face; my oath should be ‘By this fire, that’s God’s angel.’ But thou art altogether given over, and wert indeed, but for the light in thy face, the son of utter darkness. When thou ran’st up Gadshill in the night to catch my horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus or a ball of wildfire, there’s no purchase in money. O, thou art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light! Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern; but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler’s in Europe. I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any time this two-and-thirty years. God reward me for it!
Bard. ‘Sblood, I would my face were in your belly! Fal. God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heart-burn’d.
Enter Hostess.
How now, Dame Partlet the hen? Have you enquir’d yet who pick’d my pocket?
Host. Why, Sir John, what do you think, Sir John? Do you think I keep thieves in my house? I have search’d, I have enquired, so has my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant by servant. The tithe of a hair was never lost in my house before. Fal. Ye lie, hostess. Bardolph was shav’d and lost many a hair, and I’ll be sworn my pocket was pick’d. Go to, you are a woman, go! Host. Who, I? No; I defy thee! God’s light, I was never call’d so in mine own house before!
Fal. Go to, I know you well enough. Host. No, Sir John; you do not know me, Sir John. I know you, Sir John. You owe me money, Sir John, and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it. I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back. Fal. Dowlas, filthy dowlas! I have given them away to bakers’ wives; they have made bolters of them. Host. Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight shillings an ell. You owe money here besides, Sir John, for your diet and by-drinkings, and money lent you, four-and-twenty pound. Fal. He had his part of it; let him pay. Host. He? Alas, he is poor; he hath nothing. Fal. How? Poor? Look upon his face. What call you rich? Let them coin his nose, let them coin his cheeks. I’ll not pay a denier. What, will you make a younker of me? Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn but I shall have my pocket pick’d? I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather’s worth forty mark. Host. O Jesu, I have heard the Prince tell him, I know not how oft, that that ring was copper!
Fal. How? the Prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup. ‘Sblood, an he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog if he would say so.
Enter the Prince [and Poins], marching; and Falstaff meets them, playing upon his truncheon like a fife.
How now, lad? Is the wind in that door, i’ faith? Must we all march?
Bard. Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion. Host. My lord, I pray you hear me.
Prince. What say’st thou, Mistress Quickly? How doth thy husband? I love him well; he is an honest man.
Host. Good my lord, hear me.
Fal. Prithee let her alone and list to me. Prince. What say’st thou, Jack?
Fal. The other night I fell asleep here behind the arras and had my pocket pick’d. This house is turn’d bawdy house; they pick pockets.
Prince. What didst thou lose, Jack? Fal. Wilt thou believe me, Hal? Three or four bonds of forty pound apiece and a seal-ring of my grandfather’s. Prince. A trifle, some eightpenny matter. Host. So I told him, my lord, and I said I heard your Grace say so; and, my lord, he speaks most vilely of you, like a foul-mouth’d man as he is, and said he would cudgel you. Prince. What! he did not?
Host. There’s neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in me else. Fal. There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune, nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox; and for woman-hood, Maid Marian may be the deputy’s wife of the ward to thee. Go, you thing, go!
Host. Say, what thing? what thing? Fal. What thing? Why, a thing to thank God on. Host. I am no thing to thank God on, I would thou shouldst know it! I am an honest man’s wife, and, setting thy knight-hood aside, thou art a knave to call me so.
Fal. Setting thy womanhood aside, thou art a beast to say otherwise.
Host. Say, what beast, thou knave, thou? Fal. What beast? Why, an otter.
Prince. An otter, Sir John? Why an otter? Fal. Why, she’s neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not where to have her.
Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so. Thou or any man knows where to have me, thou knave, thou!
Prince. Thou say’st true, hostess, and he slanders thee most grossly.
Host. So he doth you, my lord, and said this other day you ought him a thousand pound.
Prince. Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound? Fal. A thousand pound, Hal? A million! Thy love is worth a million; thou owest me thy love.
Host. Nay, my lord, he call’d you Jack and said he would cudgel you.
Fal. Did I, Bardolph?
Bard. Indeed, Sir John, you said so. Fal. Yea. if he said my ring was copper. Prince. I say, ’tis copper. Darest thou be as good as thy word now? Fal. Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art but man, I dare; but as thou art Prince, I fear thee as I fear the roaring of the lion’s whelp.
Prince. And why not as the lion?
Fal. The King himself is to be feared as the lion. Dost thou think I’ll fear thee as I fear thy father? Nay, an I do, I pray God my girdle break.
Prince. O, if it should, how would thy guts fall about thy knees! But, sirrah, there’s no room for faith, truth, nor honesty in this bosom of thine. It is all fill’d up with guts and midriff. Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket? Why, thou whoreson, impudent, emboss’d rascal, if there were anything in thy pocket but tavern reckonings, memorandums of bawdy houses, and one poor pennyworth of sugar candy to make thee long-winded- if thy pocket were enrich’d with any other injuries but these, I am a villain. And yet you will stand to it; you will not pocket up wrong. Art thou not ashamed?
Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? Thou knowest in the state of innocency Adam fell; and what should poor Jack Falstaff do in the days of villany? Thou seest I have more flesh than another man, and therefore more frailty. You confess then, you pick’d my pocket? Prince. It appears so by the story.
Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee. Go make ready breakfast. Love thy husband, look to thy servants, cherish thy guests. Thou shalt find me tractable to any honest reason. Thou seest I am pacified. -Still?- Nay, prithee be gone. [Exit Hostess.] Now, Hal, to the news at court. For the robbery, lad- how is that answered? Prince. O my sweet beef, I must still be good angel to thee. The money is paid back again.
Fal. O, I do not like that paying back! ‘Tis a double labour. Prince. I am good friends with my father, and may do anything. Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou doest, and do it with unwash’d hands too.
Bard. Do, my lord.
Prince. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot. Fal. I would it had been of horse. Where shall I find one that can steal well? O for a fine thief of the age of two-and-twenty or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. Well, God be thanked for these rebels. They offend none but the virtuous. I laud them, I praise them.
Prince. Bardolph!
Bard. My lord?
Prince. Go bear this letter to Lord John of Lancaster, To my brother John; this to my Lord of Westmoreland. [Exit Bardolph.] Go, Poins, to horse, to horse; for thou and I Have thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner time. [Exit Poins.]
Jack, meet me to-morrow in the Temple Hall At two o’clock in the afternoon.
There shalt thou know thy charge. and there receive Money and order for their furniture.
The land is burning; Percy stands on high; And either they or we must lower lie. [Exit.] Fal. Rare words! brave world! Hostess, my breakfast, come. O, I could wish this tavern were my drum! Exit.
<
ACT IV. Scene I.
The rebel camp near Shrewsbury.
Enter Harry Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas.
Hot. Well said, my noble Scot. If speaking truth In this fine age were not thought flattery, Such attribution should the Douglas have As not a soldier of this season’s stamp Should go so general current through the world. By God, I cannot flatter, I defy
The tongues of soothers! but a braver place In my heart’s love hath no man than yourself. Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord. Doug. Thou art the king of honour.
No man so potent breathes upon the ground But I will beard him.
Enter one with letters.
Hot. Do so, and ’tis well.-
What letters hast thou there?- I can but thank you. Messenger. These letters come from your father. Hot. Letters from him? Why comes he not himself? Mess. He cannot come, my lord; he is grievous sick. Hot. Zounds! how has he the leisure to be sick In such a justling time? Who leads his power? Under whose government come they along? Mess. His letters bears his mind, not I, my lord. Wor. I prithee tell me, doth he keep his bed? Mess. He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth, And at the time of my departure thence He was much fear’d by his physicians.
Wor. I would the state of time had first been whole Ere he by sickness had been visited.
His health was never better worth than now. Hot. Sick now? droop now? This sickness doth infect The very lifeblood of our enterprise.
‘Tis catching hither, even to our camp. He writes me here that inward sickness- And that his friends by deputation could not So soon be drawn; no did he think it meet To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
On any soul remov’d but on his own. Yet doth he give us bold advertisement, That with our small conjunction we should on, To see how fortune is dispos’d to us;
For, as he writes, there is no quailing now, Because the King is certainly possess’d Of all our purposes. What say you to it? Wor. Your father’s sickness is a maim to us. Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopp’d off. And yet, in faith, it is not! His present want Seems more than we shall find it. Were it good To set the exact wealth of all our states All at one cast? to set so rich a man
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour? It were not good; for therein should we read The very bottom and the soul of hope,
The very list, the very utmost bound Of all our fortunes.
Doug. Faith, and so we should;
Where now remains a sweet reversion. We may boldly spend upon the hope of what Is to come in.
A comfort of retirement lives in this. Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
If that the devil and mischance look big Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.
Wor. But yet I would your father had been here. The quality and hair of our attempt
Brooks no division. It will be thought By some that know not why he is away,
That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike Of our proceedings kept the Earl from hence. And think how such an apprehension
May turn the tide of fearful faction And breed a kind of question in our cause. For well you know we of the off’ring side Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement, And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence The eye of reason may pry in upon us. This absence of your father’s draws a curtain That shows the ignorant a kind of fear Before not dreamt of.
Hot. You strain too far.
I rather of his absence make this use: It lends a lustre and more great opinion, A larger dare to our great enterprise, Than if the Earl were here; for men must think, If we, without his help, can make a head To push against a kingdom, with his help We shall o’erturn it topsy-turvy down. Yet all goes well; yet all our joints are whole. Doug. As heart can think. There is not such a word Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear.
Enter Sir Richard Vernon.
Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul. Ver. Pray God my news be worth a welcome, lord. The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Is marching hitherwards; with him Prince John. Hot. No harm. What more?
Ver. And further, I have learn’d
The King himself in person is set forth, Or hitherwards intended speedily,
With strong and mighty preparation. Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son, The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales, And his comrades, that daff’d the world aside And bid it pass?
Ver. All furnish’d, all in arms;
All plum’d like estridges that with the wind Bated like eagles having lately bath’d; Glittering in golden coats like images; As full of spirit as the month of May
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer; Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls. I saw young Harry with his beaver on
His cushes on his thighs, gallantly arm’d, Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury, And vaulted with such ease into his seat As if an angel dropp’d down from the clouds To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
And witch the world with noble horsemanship. Hot. No more, no more! Worse than the sun in March, This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come. They come like sacrifices in their trim, And to the fire-ey’d maid of smoky war All hot and bleeding Will we offer them. The mailed Mars Shall on his altar sit Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh, And yet not ours. Come, let me taste my horse, Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt
Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales. Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse, Meet, and ne’er part till one drop down a corse. that Glendower were come!
Ver. There is more news.
I learn’d in Worcester, as I rode along, He cannot draw his power this fourteen days. Doug. That’s the worst tidings that I hear of yet. Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound. Hot. What may the King’s whole battle reach unto? Ver. To thirty thousand.
Hot. Forty let it be.
My father and Glendower being both away, The powers of us may serve so great a day. Come, let us take a muster speedily.
Doomsday is near. Die all, die merrily. Doug. Talk not of dying. I am out of fear Of death or death’s hand for this one half-year. Exeunt.
Scene II.
A public road near Coventry.
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.
Fal. Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry; fill me a bottle of sack. Our soldiers shall march through. We’ll to Sutton Co’fil’ to-night.
Bard. Will you give me money, Captain? Fal. Lay out, lay out.
Bald. This bottle makes an angel.
Fal. An if it do, take it for thy labour; an if it make twenty, take them all; I’ll answer the coinage. Bid my lieutenant Peto meet me at town’s end.
Bard. I Will, Captain. Farewell. Exit. Fal. If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a sous’d gurnet. I have misused the King’s press damnably. I have got in exchange of a hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd pounds. I press me none but good householders, yeomen’s sons; inquire me out contracted bachelors, such as had been ask’d twice on the banes- such a commodity of warm slaves as had as lieve hear the devil as a drum; such as fear the report of a caliver worse than a struck fowl or a hurt wild duck. I press’d me none but such toasts-and-butter, with hearts in their bellies no bigger than pins’ heads, and they have bought out their services; and now my whole charge consists of ancients, corporals, lieutenants, gentlemen of companies- slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the glutton’s dogs licked his sores; and such as indeed were never soldiers, but discarded unjust serving-men, younger sons to Younger brothers, revolted tapsters, and ostlers trade-fall’n; the cankers of a calm world and a long peace; ten times more dishonourable ragged than an old fac’d ancient; and such have I to fill up the rooms of them that have bought out their services that you would think that I had a hundred and fifty tattered Prodigals lately come from swine-keeping, from eating draff and husks. A mad fellow met me on the way, and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and press’d the dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows. I’ll not march through Coventry with them, that’s flat. Nay, and the villains march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves on; for indeed I had the most of them out of prison. There’s but a shirt and a half in all my company; and the half-shirt is two napkins tack’d together and thrown over the shoulders like a herald’s coat without sleeves; and the shirt, to say the truth, stol’n from my host at Saint Alban’s, or the red-nose innkeeper of Daventry. But that’s all one; they’ll find linen enough on every hedge.
Enter the Prince and the Lord of Westmoreland.
Prince. How now, blown Jack? How now, quilt? Fal. What, Hal? How now, mad wag? What a devil dost thou in Warwickshire? My good Lord of Westmoreland, I cry you mercy. I thought your honour had already been at Shrewsbury. West. Faith, Sir John, ’tis more than time that I were there, and you too; but my powers are there already. The King, I can tell you, looks for us all. We must away all, to-night. Fal. Tut, never fear me. I am as vigilant as a cat to steal cream. Prince. I think, to steal cream indeed, for thy theft hath already made thee butter. But tell me, Jack, whose fellows are these that come after?
Fal. Mine, Hal, mine.
Prince. I did never see such pitiful rascals. Fal. Tut, tut! good enough to toss; food for powder, food for powder. They’ll fill a pit as well as better. Tush, man, mortal men, mortal men.
West. Ay, but, Sir John, methinks they are exceeding poor and bare- too beggarly.
Fal. Faith, for their poverty, I know, not where they had that; and for their bareness, I am surd they never learn’d that of me. Prince. No, I’ll be sworn, unless you call three fingers on the ribs bare. But, sirrah, make haste. Percy ‘s already in the field.
Exit.
Fal. What, is the King encamp’d?
West. He is, Sir John. I fear we shall stay too long. [Exit.]
Fal. Well,
To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest. Exit.
Scene III.
The rebel camp near Shrewsbury.
Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Douglas, Vernon.
Hot. We’ll fight with him to-night.
Wor. It may not be.
Doug. You give him then advantage. Ver. Not a whit.
Hot. Why say you so? Looks he no for supply? Ver. So do we.
Hot. His is certain, ours ‘s doubtful. Wor. Good cousin, be advis’d; stir not to-night. Ver. Do not, my lord.
Doug. You do not counsel well.
You speak it out of fear and cold heart. Ver. Do me no slander, Douglas. By my life- And I dare well maintain it with my life- If well-respected honour bid me on
I hold as little counsel with weak fear As you, my lord, or any Scot that this day lives. Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle Which of us fears.
Doug. Yea, or to-night.
Ver. Content.
Hot. To-night, say I.
Come, come, it may not be. I wonder much, Being men of such great leading as you are, That you foresee not what impediments
Drag back our expedition. Certain horse Of my cousin Vernon’s are not yet come up. Your uncle Worcester’s horse came but to-day; And now their pride and mettle is asleep, Their courage with hard labour tame and dull, That not a horse is half the half of himself. Hot. So are the horses of the enemy,
In general journey-bated and brought low. The better part of ours are full of rest. Wor. The number of the King exceedeth ours. For God’s sake, cousin, stay till all come in.
The trumpet sounds a parley.
Enter Sir Walter Blunt.
Blunt. I come with gracious offers from the King, If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect. Hot. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt, and would to God You were of our determination!
Some of us love you well; and even those some Envy your great deservings and good name, Because you are not of our quality,
But stand against us like an enemy. Blunt. And God defend but still I should stand so, So long as out of limit and true rule
You stand against anointed majesty! But to my charge. The King hath sent to know The nature of your griefs; and whereupon You conjure from the breast of civil peace Such bold hostility, teaching his duteous land Audacious cruelty. If that the King
Have any way your good deserts forgot, Which he confesseth to be manifold,
He bids you name your griefs, and with all speed You shall have your desires with interest, And pardon absolute for yourself and these Herein misled by your suggestion.
Hot. The King is kind; and well we know the King Knows at what time to promise, when to pay. My father and my uncle and myself
Did give him that same royalty he wears; And when he was not six-and-twenty strong, Sick in the world’s regard, wretched and low, A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home,
My father gave him welcome to the shore; And when he heard him swear and vow to God He came but to be Duke of Lancaster,
To sue his livery and beg his peace, With tears of innocency and terms of zeal, My father, in kind heart and pity mov’d, Swore him assistance, and performed it too. Now, when the lords and barons of the realm Perceiv’d Northumberland did lean to him, The more and less came in with cap and knee; Met him on boroughs, cities, villages, Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes, Laid gifts before him, proffer’d him their oaths, Give him their heirs as pages, followed him Even at the heels in golden multitudes. He presently, as greatness knows itself, Steps me a little higher than his vow
Made to my father, while his blood was poor, Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurgh;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform Some certain edicts and some strait decrees That lie too heavy on the commonwealth; Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country’s wrongs; and by this face, This seeming brow of justice, did he win The hearts of all that he did angle for; Proceeded further- cut me off the heads Of all the favourites that the absent King In deputation left behind him here
When he was personal in the Irish war. But. Tut! I came not to hear this.
Hot. Then to the point.
In short time after lie depos’d the King; Soon after that depriv’d him of his life; And in the neck of that task’d the whole state; To make that worse, suff’red his kinsman March (Who is, if every owner were well placid, Indeed his king) to be engag’d in Wales, There without ransom to lie forfeited; Disgrac’d me in my happy victories,
Sought to entrap me by intelligence; Rated mine uncle from the Council board; In rage dismiss’d my father from the court; Broke an oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong; And in conclusion drove us to seek out This head of safety, and withal to pry Into his title, the which we find
Too indirect for long continuance. Blunt. Shall I return this answer to the King? Hot. Not so, Sir Walter. We’ll withdraw awhile. Go to the King; and let there be impawn’d Some surety for a safe return again,
And In the morning early shall mine uncle Bring him our purposes; and so farewell. Blunt. I would you would accept of grace and love. Hot. And may be so we shall.
Blunt. Pray God you do.
Exeunt.
Scene IV.
York. The Archbishop’s Palace.
Enter the Archbishop of York and Sir Michael.
Arch. Hie, good Sir Michael; bear this sealed brief With winged haste to the Lord Marshal; This to my cousin Scroop; and all the rest To whom they are directed. If you knew How much they do import, you would make haste. Sir M. My good lord,
I guess their tenour.
Arch. Like enough you do.
To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men Must bide the touch; for, sir, at Shrewsbury, As I am truly given to understand,
The King with mighty and quick-raised power Meets with Lord Harry; and I fear, Sir Michael, What with the sickness of Northumberland, Whose power was in the first proportion, And what with Owen Glendower’s absence thence, Who with them was a rated sinew too
And comes not in, overrul’d by prophecies- I fear the power of Percy is too weak
To wage an instant trial with the King. Sir M. Why, my good lord, you need not fear; There is Douglas and Lord Mortimer.
Arch. No, Mortimer is not there.
Sir M. But there is Mordake, Vernon, Lord Harry Percy, And there is my Lord of Worcester, and a head Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.
Arch. And so there is; but yet the King hath drawn The special head of all the land together- The Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, The noble Westmoreland and warlike Blunt, And many moe corrivals and dear men
Of estimation and command in arms. Sir M. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well oppos’d. Arch. I hope no less, yet needful ’tis to fear; And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed. For if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the King Dismiss his power, he means to visit us, For he hath heard of our confederacy,
And ’tis but wisdom to make strong against him. Therefore make haste. I must go write again To other friends; and so farewell, Sir Michael. Exeunt.
<
ACT V. Scene I.
The King’s camp near Shrewsbury.
Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, Sir Walter Blunt, Falstaff.
King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer Above yon busky hill! The day looks pale At his distemp’rature.
Prince. The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes And by his hollow whistling in the leaves Foretells a tempest and a blust’ring day. King. Theft with the losers let it sympathize, For nothing can seem foul to those that win.
The trumpet sounds. Enter Worcester [and Vernon].
How, now, my Lord of Worcester? ‘Tis not well That you and I should meet upon such terms As now we meet. You have deceiv’d our trust And made us doff our easy robes of peace To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel. This is not well, my lord; this is not well. What say you to it? Will you again unknit This churlish knot of all-abhorred war, And move in that obedient orb again
Where you did give a fair and natural light, And be no more an exhal’d meteor,
A prodigy of fear, and a portent
Of broached mischief to the unborn times? Wor. Hear me, my liege.
For mine own part, I could be well content To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for I do protest I have not sought the day of this dislike. King. You have not sought it! How comes it then, Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it. Prince. Peace, chewet, peace!
Wor. It pleas’d your Majesty to turn your looks Of favour from myself and all our house; And yet I must remember you, my lord, We were the first and dearest of your friends. For you my staff of office did I break In Richard’s time, and posted day and night To meet you on the way and kiss your hand When yet you were in place and in account Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.
It was myself, my brother, and his son That brought you home and boldly did outdare The dangers of the time. You swore to us, And you did swear that oath at Doncaster, That you did nothing purpose ‘gainst the state, Nor claim no further than your new-fall’n right, The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster. To this we swore our aid. But in short space It it rain’d down fortune show’ring on your head, And such a flood of greatness fell on you- What with our help, what with the absent King, What with the injuries of a wanton time, The seeming sufferances that you had borne, And the contrarious winds that held the King So long in his unlucky Irish wars
That all in England did repute him dead- And from this swarm of fair advantages You took occasion to be quickly woo’d
To gripe the general sway into your hand; Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;
And, being fed by us, you us’d us so As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo’s bird, Useth the sparrow- did oppress our nest; Grew, by our feeding to so great a bulk That even our love thirst not come near your sight For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing We were enforc’d for safety sake to fly Out of your sight and raise this present head; Whereby we stand opposed by such means As you yourself have forg’d against yourself By unkind usage, dangerous countenance, And violation of all faith and troth
Sworn to tis in your younger enterprise. King. These things, indeed, you have articulate, Proclaim’d at market crosses, read in churches, To face the garment of rebellion
With some fine colour that may please the eye Of fickle changelings and poor discontents, Which gape and rub the elbow at the news Of hurlyburly innovation.
And never yet did insurrection want Such water colours to impaint his cause, Nor moody beggars, starving for a time Of pell-mell havoc and confusion.
Prince. In both our armies there is many a soul Shall pay full dearly for this encounter, If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world In praise of Henry Percy. By my hopes, This present enterprise set off his head, I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant or more valiant-young, More daring or more bold, is now alive To grace this latter age with noble deeds. For my part, I may speak it to my shame, I have a truant been to chivalry;
And so I hear he doth account me too. Yet this before my father’s Majesty-
I am content that he shall take the odds Of his great name and estimation,
And will to save the blood on either side, Try fortune with him in a single fight. King. And, Prince of Wales, so dare we venture thee, Albeit considerations infinite
Do make against it. No, good Worcester, no! We love our people well; even those we love That are misled upon your cousin’s part; And, will they take the offer of our grace, Both he, and they, and you, yea, every man Shall be my friend again, and I’ll be his. So tell your cousin, and bring me word What he will do. But if he will not yield, Rebuke and dread correction wait on us, And they shall do their office. So be gone. We will not now be troubled with reply. We offer fair; take it advisedly.
Exit Worcester [with Vernon] Prince. It will not be accepted, on my life. The Douglas and the Hotspur both together Are confident against the world in arms. King. Hence, therefore, every leader to his charge; For, on their answer, will we set on them, And God befriend us as our cause is just! Exeunt. Manent Prince, Falstaff. Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle and bestride me, so! ‘Tis a point of friendship.
Prince. Nothing but a Colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell.
Fal. I would ’twere bedtime, Hal, and all well. Prince. Why, thou owest God a death.
Exit.
Fal. ‘Tis not due yet. I would be loath to pay him before his day. What need I be so forward with him that calls not on me? Well, ’tis no matter; honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honor set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is honour? A word. What is that word honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died a Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth be bear it? No. ‘Tis insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon- and so ends my catechism. Exit.
Scene II.
The rebel camp.
Enter Worcester and Sir Richard Vernon.
Wor. O no, my nephew must not know, Sir Richard, The liberal and kind offer of the King. Ver. ‘Twere best he did.
Wor. Then are we all undone.
It is not possible, it cannot be
The King should keep his word in loving us. He will suspect us still and find a time To punish this offence in other faults. Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes; For treason is but trusted like the fox Who, ne’er so tame, so cherish’d and lock’d up, Will have a wild trick of his ancestors. Look how we can, or sad or merrily,
Interpretation will misquote our looks, And we shall feed like oxen at a stall, The better cherish’d, still the nearer death. My nephew’s trespass may be well forgot; It hath the excuse of youth and heat of blood, And an adopted name of privilege-
A hare-brained Hotspur govern’d by a spleen. All his offences live upon my head
And on his father’s. We did train him on; And, his corruption being taken from us, We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all. Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know, In any case, the offer of the King.
Enter Hotspur [and Douglas].
Ver. Deliver what you will, I’ll say ’tis so. Here comes your cousin.
Hot. My uncle is return’d.
Deliver up my Lord of Westmoreland. Uncle, what news?
Wor. The King will bid you battle presently. Doug. Defy him by the Lord Of Westmoreland. Hot. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so. Doug. Marry, and shall, and very willingly. Exit.
Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the King. Hot. Did you beg any, God forbid!
Wor. I told him gently of our grievances, Of his oath-breaking; which he mended thus, By now forswearing that he is forsworn. He calls us rebels, traitors, aid will scourge With haughty arms this hateful name in us.
Enter Douglas.
Doug. Arm, gentlemen! to arms! for I have thrown A brave defiance in King Henry’s teeth, And Westmoreland, that was engag’d, did bear it; Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on. Wor. The Prince of Wales stepp’d forth before the King And, nephew, challeng’d you to single fight. Hot. O, would the quarrel lay upon our heads, And that no man might draw short breath to-day But I and Harry Monmouth! Tell me, tell me, How show’d his tasking? Seem’d it in contempt? No, by my soul. I never in my life
Did hear a challenge urg’d more modestly, Unless a brother should a brother dare To gentle exercise and proof of arms.
He gave you all the duties of a man; Trimm’d up your praises with a princely tongue; Spoke your deservings like a chronicle; Making you ever better than his praise By still dispraising praise valued with you; And, which became him like a prince indeed, He made a blushing cital of himself,
And chid his truant youth with such a grace As if lie mast’red there a double spirit Of teaching and of learning instantly. There did he pause; but let me tell the world, If he outlive the envy of this day,
England did never owe so sweet a hope, So much misconstrued in his wantonness. Hot. Cousin, I think thou art enamoured Upon his follies. Never did I hear
Of any prince so wild a libertine. But be he as he will, yet once ere night I will embrace him with a soldier’s arm, That he shall shrink under my courtesy. Arm, arm with speed! and, fellows, soldiers, friends, Better consider what you have to do
Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue, Can lift your blood up with persuasion.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord, here are letters for you. Hot. I cannot read them now.-
O gentlemen, the time of life is short! To spend that shortness basely were too long If life did ride upon a dial’s point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour. An if we live, we live to tread on kings; If die, brave death, when princes die with us! Now for our consciences, the arms are fair, When the intent of bearing them is just.
Enter another Messenger.
Mess. My lord, prepare. The King comes on apace. Hot. I thank him that he cuts me from my tale, For I profess not talking. Only this-
Let each man do his best; and here draw I A sword whose temper I intend to stain With the best blood that I can meet withal In the adventure of this perilous day. Now, Esperance! Percy! and set on.
Sound all the lofty instruments of war, And by that music let us all embrace;
For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall A second time do such a courtesy.
Here they embrace. The trumpets sound. [Exeunt.]
Scene III.
Plain between the camps.
The King enters with his Power. Alarum to the battle. Then enter Douglas and Sir Walter Blunt.
Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus Thou crossest me? What honour dost thou seek Upon my head?
Doug. Know then my name is Douglas, And I do haunt thee in the battle thus Because some tell me that thou art a king. Blunt. They tell thee true.
Doug. The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath bought Thy likeness; for instead of thee, King Harry, This sword hath ended him. So shall it thee, Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner. Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot; And thou shalt find a king that will revenge Lord Stafford’s death.
They fight. Douglas kills Blunt. Then enter Hotspur.
Hot. O Douglas, hadst thou fought at Holmedon thus, I never had triumph’d upon a Scot.
Doug. All’s done, all’s won. Here breathless lies the King. Hot. Where?
Doug. Here.
Hot. This, Douglas? No. I know this face full well. A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt; Semblably furnish’d like the King himself. Doug. A fool go with thy soul, whither it goes! A borrowed title hast thou bought too dear: Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king? Hot. The King hath many marching in his coats. Doug. Now, by my sword, I will kill all his coats; I’ll murder all his wardrop, piece by piece, Until I meet the King.
Hot. Up and away!
Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day. Exeunt.
Alarum. Enter Falstaff solus.
Fal. Though I could scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here. Here’s no scoring but upon the pate. Soft! who are you? Sir Walter Blunt. There’s honour for you! Here’s no vanity! I am as hot as molten lead, and as heavy too. God keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels. I have led my rag-of-muffins where they are pepper’d. There’s not three of my hundred and fifty left alive; and they are for the town’s end, to beg during life. But who comes here?
Enter the Prince.
Prince. What, stand’st thou idle here? Lend me thy sword. Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies, Whose deaths are yet unreveng’d. I prithee Rend me thy sword.
Fal. O Hal, I prithee give me leave to breathe awhile. Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done this day. I have paid Percy; I have made him sure.
Prince. He is indeed, and living to kill thee. I prithee lend me thy sword.
Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou get’st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. Prince. Give it me. What, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal. ‘Tis hot, ’tis hot. There’s that will sack a city.
The Prince draws it out and finds it to he a bottle of sack.
What, is it a time to jest and dally now? He throws the bottle at him. Exit. Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I’ll pierce him. If he do come in my way, so; if he do not, if I come in his willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. I like not such grinning honour as Sir Walter hath. Give me life; which if I can save, so; if not, honour comes unlook’d for, and there’s an end. Exit.
Scene IV.
Another part of the field.
Alarum. Excursions. Enter the King, the Prince, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland
King. I prithee,
Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleedest too much. Lord John of Lancaster, go you unto him. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. Prince. I do beseech your Majesty make up, Lest Your retirement do amaze your friends. King. I will do so.
My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. West. Come, my lord, I’ll lead you to your tent. Prince. Lead me, my lord, I do not need your help; And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive The Prince of Wales from such a field as this, Where stain’d nobility lies trodden on, And rebels’ arms triumph in massacres! John. We breathe too long. Come, cousin Westmoreland, Our duty this way lies. For God’s sake, come. [Exeunt Prince John and Westmoreland.] Prince. By God, thou hast deceiv’d me, Lancaster! I did not think thee lord of such a spirit. Before, I lov’d thee as a brother, John; But now, I do respect thee as my soul. King. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point With lustier maintenance than I did look for Of such an ungrown warrior.
Prince. O, this boy
Lends mettle to us all! Exit.
Enter Douglas.
Doug. Another king? They grow like Hydra’s heads. I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
That wear those colours on them. What art thou That counterfeit’st the person of a king? King. The King himself, who, Douglas, grieves at heart So many of his shadows thou hast met,
And not the very King. I have two boys Seek Percy and thyself about the field; But, seeing thou fall’st on me so luckily, I will assay thee. So defend thyself.
Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit; And yet, in faith, thou bearest thee like a king. But mine I am sure thou art, whoe’er thou be, And thus I win thee.
They fight. The King being in danger, enter Prince of Wales.
Prince. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like Never to hold it up again! The spirits Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt are in my arms. It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee, Who never promiseth but he means to pay. They fight. Douglas flieth. Cheerly, my lord. How fares your Grace? Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent, And so hath Clifton. I’ll to Clifton straight. King. Stay and breathe awhile.
Thou hast redeem’d thy lost opinion, And show’d thou mak’st some tender of my life, In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me. Prince. O God! they did me too much injury That ever said I heark’ned for your death. If it were so, I might have let alone
The insulting hand of Douglas over you, Which would have been as speedy in your end As all the poisonous potions in the world, And sav’d the treacherous labour of your son. King. Make up to Clifton; I’ll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey. Exit.
Enter Hotspur.
Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. Prince. Thou speak’st as if I would deny my name. Hot. My name is Harry Percy.
Prince. Why, then I see
A very valiant rebel of the name. I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy, To share with me in glory any more.
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere, Nor can one England brook a double reign Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales. Hot. Nor shall it, Harry; for the hour is come To end the one of us and would to God
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine! Prince. I’ll make it greater ere I part from thee, And all the budding honours on thy crest I’ll crop to make a garland for my head. Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities. They fight.
Enter Falstaff.
Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal! Nay, you shall find no boy’s play here, I can tell you.
Enter Douglas. He fighteth with Falstaff, who falls down as if he were dead. [Exit Douglas.] The Prince killeth Percy.
Hot. O Harry, thou hast robb’d me of my youth! I better brook the loss of brittle life Than those proud titles thou hast won of me. They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh. But thoughts the slave, of life, and life time’s fool, And time, that takes survey of all the world, Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy, But that the earthy and cold hand of death Lies on my tongue. No, Percy, thou art dust, And food for- [Dies.] Prince. For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee well, great heart! Ill-weav’d ambition, how much art thou shrunk! When that this body did contain a spirit, A kingdom for it was too small a bound; But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.
If thou wert sensible of courtesy, I should not make so dear a show of zeal. But let my favours hide thy mangled face; And, even in thy behalf, I’ll thank myself For doing these fair rites of tenderness. Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven! Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave, But not rememb’red in thy epitaph!
He spieth Falstaff on the ground. What, old acquaintance? Could not all this flesh Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell! I could have better spar’d a better man. O, I should have a heavy miss of thee
If I were much in love with vanity! Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. Embowell’d will I see thee by-and-by;
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. Exit.
Falstaff riseth up.
Fal. Embowell’d? If thou embowel me to-day, I’ll give you leave to powder me and eat me too to-morrow. ‘Sblood, ’twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie; I am no counterfeit. To die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life. Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead. How if he should counterfeit too, and rise? By my faith, I am afraid he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I’ll make him sure; yea, and I’ll swear I kill’d him. Why may not he rise as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah [stabs him], with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.
He takes up Hotspur on his hack. [Enter Prince, and John of Lancaster.
Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh’d Thy maiden sword.
John. But, soft! whom have we here? Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? Prince. I did; I saw him dead,
Breathless and bleeding on the ground. Art thou alive, Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight? I prithee speak. We will not trust our eyes Without our ears. Thou art not what thou seem’st. Fal. No, that’s certain! I am not a double man; but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There ‘s Percy. If your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you. Prince. Why, Percy I kill’d myself, and saw thee dead! Fal. Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying! I grant you I was down, and out of breath, and so was he; but we rose both at an instant and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believ’d, so; if not, let them that should reward valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I’ll take it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the thigh. If the man were alive and would deny it, zounds! I would make him eat a piece of my sword.
John. This is the strangest tale that ever I beard. Prince. This is the strangest fellow, brother John. Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back. For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, I’ll gild it with the happiest terms I have. A retreat is sounded. The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours. Come, brother, let’s to the highest of the field, To see what friends are living, who are dead. Exeunt [Prince Henry and Prince John]. Fal. I’ll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards me, God reward him! If I do grow great, I’ll grow less; for I’ll purge, and leave sack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do. Exit [bearing off the body].
Scene V.
Another part of the field.
The trumpets sound. [Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, with Worcester and Vernon prisoners.
King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke. Ill-spirited Worcester! did not we send grace, Pardon, and terms of love to all of you? And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary? Misuse the tenour of thy kinsman’s trust? Three knights upon our party slain to-day, A noble earl, and many a creature else Had been alive this hour,
If like a Christian thou hadst truly borne Betwixt our armies true intelligence.
Wor. What I have done my safety urg’d me to; And I embrace this fortune patiently,
Since not to be avoided it fails on me. King. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon too; Other offenders we will pause upon.
Exeunt Worcester and Vernon, [guarded]. How goes the field?
Prince. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he saw The fortune of the day quite turn’d from him, The Noble Percy slain and all his men
Upon the foot of fear, fled with the rest; And falling from a hill,he was so bruis’d That the pursuers took him. At my tent The Douglas is, and I beseech Your Grace I may dispose of him.
King. With all my heart.
Prince. Then brother John of Lancaster, to you This honourable bounty shall belong.
Go to the Douglas and deliver him Up to his pleasure, ransomless and free. His valour shown upon our crests today Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds, Even in the bosom of our adversaries.
John. I thank your Grace for this high courtesy, Which I shall give away immediately.
King. Then this remains, that we divide our power. You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland, Towards York shall bend you with your dearest speed To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop, Who, as we hear, are busily in arms.
Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March. Rebellion in this laud shall lose his sway, Meeting the check of such another day; And since this business so fair is done, Let us not leave till all our own be won. Exeunt.
THE END
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1598
SECOND PART OF KING HENRY IV
by William Shakespeare
Dramatis Personae
RUMOUR, the Presenter
KING HENRY THE FOURTH
HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, afterwards HENRY PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER
PRINCE HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER
THOMAS, DUKE OF CLARENCE
Sons of Henry IV
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND
SCROOP, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK
LORD MOWBRAY
LORD HASTINGS
LORD BARDOLPH
SIR JOHN COLVILLE
TRAVERS and MORTON, retainers of Northumberland Opposites against King Henry IV
EARL OF WARWICK
EARL OF WESTMORELAND
EARL OF SURREY
EARL OF KENT
GOWER
HARCOURT
BLUNT
Of the King’s party
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE
SERVANT, to Lord Chief Justice
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF
EDWARD POINS
BARDOLPH
PISTOL
PETO
Irregular humourists
PAGE, to Falstaff
ROBERT SHALLOW and SILENCE, country Justices DAVY, servant to Shallow
FANG and SNARE, Sheriff’s officers
RALPH MOULDY
SIMON SHADOW
THOMAS WART
FRANCIS FEEBLE
PETER BULLCALF
Country soldiers
FRANCIS, a drawer
LADY NORTHUMBERLAND
LADY PERCY, Percy’s widow
HOSTESS QUICKLY, of the Boar’s Head, Eastcheap DOLL TEARSHEET
LORDS, Attendants, Porter, Drawers, Beadles, Grooms, Servants, Speaker of the Epilogue
SCENE: England
INDUCTION
INDUCTION.
Warkworth. Before NORTHUMBERLAND’S Castle
Enter RUMOUR, painted full of tongues
RUMOUR. Open your ears; for which of you will stop The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks? I, from the orient to the drooping west, Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold The acts commenced on this ball of earth. Upon my tongues continual slanders ride, The which in every language I pronounce, Stuffing the ears of men with false reports. I speak of peace while covert emnity,
Under the smile of safety, wounds the world; And who but Rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful musters and prepar’d defence, Whiles the big year, swoln with some other grief, Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war, And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures, And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, The still-discordant wav’ring multitude, Can play upon it. But what need I thus My well-known body to anatomize
Among my household? Why is Rumour here? I run before King Harry’s victory,
Who, in a bloody field by Shrewsbury, Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops, Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels’ blood. But what mean I To speak so true at first? My office is To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell Under the wrath of noble Hotspur’s sword, And that the King before the Douglas’ rage Stoop’d his anointed head as low as death. This have I rumour’d through the peasant towns Between that royal field of Shrewsbury And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone, Where Hotspur’s father, old Northumberland, Lies crafty-sick. The posts come tiring on, And not a man of them brings other news Than they have learnt of me. From Rumour’s tongues They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs. Exit
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ACT I. SCENE I.
Warkworth. Before NORTHUMBERLAND’S Castle
Enter LORD BARDOLPH
LORD BARDOLPH. Who keeps the gate here, ho?
The PORTER opens the gate
Where is the Earl?
PORTER. What shall I say you are?
LORD BARDOLPH. Tell thou the Earl
That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here. PORTER. His lordship is walk’d forth into the orchard. Please it your honour knock but at the gate, And he himself will answer.
Enter NORTHUMBERLAND
LORD BARDOLPH. Here comes the Earl. Exit PORTER NORTHUMBERLAND. What news, Lord Bardolph? Every minute now Should be the father of some stratagem. The times are wild; contention, like a horse Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose And bears down all before him.
LORD BARDOLPH. Noble Earl,
I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury. NORTHUMBERLAND. Good, an God will!
LORD BARDOLPH. As good as heart can wish. The King is almost wounded to the death; And, in the fortune of my lord your son, Prince Harry slain outright; and both the Blunts Kill’d by the hand of Douglas; young Prince John, And Westmoreland, and Stafford, fled the field; And Harry Monmouth’s brawn, the hulk Sir John, Is prisoner to your son. O, such a day, So fought, so followed, and so fairly won, Came not till now to dignify the times, Since Cxsar’s fortunes!
NORTHUMBERLAND. How is this deriv’d? Saw you the field? Came you from Shrewsbury? LORD BARDOLPH. I spake with one, my lord, that came from thence; A gentleman well bred and of good name, That freely rend’red me these news for true.
Enter TRAVERS
NORTHUMBERLAND. Here comes my servant Travers, whom I sent On Tuesday last to listen after news.
LORD BARDOLPH. My lord, I over-rode him on the way; And he is furnish’d with no certainties More than he haply may retail from me. NORTHUMBERLAND. Now, Travers, what good tidings comes with you? TRAVERS. My lord, Sir John Umfrevile turn’d me back With joyful tidings; and, being better hors’d, Out-rode me. After him came spurring hard A gentleman, almost forspent with speed, That stopp’d by me to breathe his bloodied horse. He ask’d the way to Chester; and of him I did demand what news from Shrewsbury. He told me that rebellion had bad luck, And that young Harry Percy’s spur was cold. With that he gave his able horse the head And, bending forward, struck his armed heels Against the panting sides of his poor jade Up to the rowel-head; and starting so, He seem’d in running to devour the way, Staying no longer question.
NORTHUMBERLAND. Ha! Again:
Said he young Harry Percy’s spur was cold? Of Hotspur, Coldspur? that rebellion
Had met ill luck?
LORD BARDOLPH. My lord, I’ll tell you what: If my young lord your son have not the day, Upon mine honour, for a silken point
I’ll give my barony. Never talk of it. NORTHUMBERLAND. Why should that gentleman that rode by Travers Give then such instances of loss?
LORD BARDOLPH. Who- he?
He was some hilding fellow that had stol’n The horse he rode on and, upon my life, Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news.
Enter Morton
NORTHUMBERLAND. Yea, this man’s brow, like to a title-leaf, Foretells the nature of a tragic volume. So looks the strand whereon the imperious flood Hath left a witness’d usurpation.
Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury? MORTON. I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord; Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask To fright our party.
NORTHUMBERLAND. How doth my son and brother? Thou tremblest; and the whiteness in thy cheek Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand. Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, So dull, so dread in look, so woe-begone, Drew Priam’s curtain in the dead of night And would have told him half his Troy was burnt; But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue, And I my Percy’s death ere thou report’st it. This thou wouldst say: ‘Your son did thus and thus; Your brother thus; so fought the noble Douglas’- Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds; But in the end, to stop my ear indeed, Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise, Ending with ‘Brother, son, and all, are dead.’ MORTON. Douglas is living, and your brother, yet; But for my lord your son-
NORTHUMBERLAND. Why, he is dead.
See what a ready tongue suspicion hath! He that but fears the thing he would not know Hath by instinct knowledge from others’ eyes That what he fear’d is chanced. Yet speak, Morton; Tell thou an earl his divination lies, And I will take it as a sweet disgrace And make thee rich for doing me such wrong. MORTON. You are too great to be by me gainsaid; Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain. NORTHUMBERLAND. Yet, for all this, say not that Percy’s dead. I see a strange confession in thine eye; Thou shak’st thy head, and hold’st it fear or sin To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so: The tongue offends not that reports his death; And he doth sin that doth belie the dead, Not he which says the dead is not alive. Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news Hath but a losing office, and his tongue Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,
Rememb’red tolling a departing friend. LORD BARDOLPH. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead. MORTON. I am sorry I should force you to believe That which I would to God I had not seen; But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state, Rend’ring faint quittance, wearied and out-breath’d, To Harry Monmouth, whose swift wrath beat down The never-daunted Percy to the earth,
From whence with life he never more sprung up. In few, his death- whose spirit lent a fire Even to the dullest peasant in his camp- Being bruited once, took fire and heat away From the best-temper’d courage in his troops; For from his metal was his party steeled; Which once in him abated, an the rest
Turn’d on themselves, like dull and heavy lead. And as the thing that’s heavy in itself Upon enforcement flies with greatest speed, So did our men, heavy in Hotspur’s loss, Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety, Fly from the field. Then was that noble Worcester Too soon ta’en prisoner; and that furious Scot, The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword Had three times slain th’ appearance of the King, Gan vail his stomach and did grace the shame Of those that turn’d their backs, and in his flight, Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all Is that the King hath won, and hath sent out A speedy power to encounter you, my lord, Under the conduct of young Lancaster
And Westmoreland. This is the news at full. NORTHUMBERLAND. For this I shall have time enough to mourn. In poison there is physic; and these news, Having been well, that would have made me sick, Being sick, have in some measure made me well; And as the wretch whose fever-weak’ned joints, Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life, Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire Out of his keeper’s arms, even so my limbs, Weak’ned with grief, being now enrag’d with grief, Are thrice themselves. Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch! A scaly gauntlet now with joints of steel Must glove this hand; and hence, thou sickly coif! Thou art a guard too wanton for the head Which princes, flesh’d with conquest, aim to hit. Now bind my brows with iron; and approach The ragged’st hour that time and spite dare bring To frown upon th’ enrag’d Northumberland! Let heaven kiss earth! Now let not Nature’s hand Keep the wild flood confin’d! Let order die! And let this world no longer be a stage To feed contention in a ling’ring act; But let one spirit of the first-born Cain Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set On bloody courses, the rude scene may end And darkness be the burier of the dead! LORD BARDOLPH. This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord. MORTON. Sweet Earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour. The lives of all your loving complices Lean on your health; the which, if you give o’er To stormy passion, must perforce decay. You cast th’ event of war, my noble lord, And summ’d the account of chance before you said ‘Let us make head.’ It was your pre-surmise That in the dole of blows your son might drop. You knew he walk’d o’er perils on an edge, More likely to fall in than to get o’er; You were advis’d his flesh was capable Of wounds and scars, and that his forward spirit Would lift him where most trade of danger rang’d; Yet did you say ‘Go forth’; and none of this, Though strongly apprehended, could restrain The stiff-borne action. What hath then befall’n, Or what hath this bold enterprise brought forth More than that being which was like to be? LORD BARDOLPH. We all that are engaged to this loss Knew that we ventured on such dangerous seas That if we wrought out life ’twas ten to one; And yet we ventur’d, for the gain propos’d Chok’d the respect of likely peril fear’d; And since we are o’erset, venture again. Come, we will put forth, body and goods. MORTON. ‘Tis more than time. And, my most noble lord, I hear for certain, and dare speak the truth: The gentle Archbishop of York is up
With well-appointed pow’rs. He is a man Who with a double surety binds his followers. My lord your son had only but the corpse, But shadows and the shows of men, to fight; For that same word ‘rebellion’ did divide The action of their bodies from their souls; And they did fight with queasiness, constrain’d, As men drink potions; that their weapons only Seem’d on our side, but for their spirits and souls This word ‘rebellion’- it had froze them up, As fish are in a pond. But now the Bishop Turns insurrection to religion.
Suppos’d sincere and holy in his thoughts, He’s follow’d both with body and with mind; And doth enlarge his rising with the blood Of fair King Richard, scrap’d from Pomfret stones; Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause; Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land, Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke; And more and less do flock to follow him. NORTHUMBERLAND. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth, This present grief had wip’d it from my mind. Go in with me; and counsel every man
The aptest way for safety and revenge. Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed- Never so few, and never yet more need. Exeunt
SCENE II.
London. A street