Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants. ACT I. SCENE I.-London. The Palace.. SCENE.-England. Enter King HENRY, WESTMORELAND, and Others. K. Hen. So shaken as we are, so wan with care, Shall daub her lips with her own children's West. My liege, this haste was hot in question, 11 By those Welshwomen done, as may not be No more shall trenching war channel her fields, 21 Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross womb To chase these pagans in those holy fields 40 K. Hen. It seems then that the tidings of this Brake off our business for the Holy Land. For more uneven and unwelcome news 50 Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour; Uncertain of the issue any way. signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun K. Hen. Here is a dear and true industrious himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured friend, Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse, Stain'd with the variation of each soil Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours; taffeta, I see no reason why thou should'st be so superfluous to demand the time of the day. Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phœbus, he, that wandering knight so fair.' And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy grace, majesty, I should say, for grace thou wilt have West. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Malevolent to you in all aspects; K. Hen. But I have sent for him to answer this; And for this cause awhile we must neglect Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we West. I will, my liege. 100 Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. An Apartment of the PRINCE'S. Enter the PRINCE and FALSTAFF. Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad ? Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou would'st truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. Prince. Well, how then? come roundly, roundly. Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beanty: let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. 33 Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed as the sea is, by the moon. As for proof now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing Lay by,' and spent with crying 'Bring in'; now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench? Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance? Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what! in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin? Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern? Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft. Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part! Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. 60 Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit. Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent, -But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king, and resolu tion thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antick the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. Prince. No; thou shalt. Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll bera brave judge. Prince. Thou judgest false already; I mean thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman. Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you. 70 Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes, and art indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought. An old lord of the council rated me the other day in the street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked wisely, and in the street too. Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. 101 Fal. O! thou hast damnable iteration, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over; by the Lord, an I do not, I am a villain: I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom. 110 Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? Fal. 'Zounds! where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain and baffle me. Prince. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying to purse-taking. Enter POINS, at a distance. Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. O! if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand!' to a true man, Prince. Good morrow, Ned. 123 Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse? What says Sir John Sackand-Sugar? Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg? 130 Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due. Poins. Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil. Prince. Else he had been damned for cozening the devil, Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purses: I have vizards for you all; you have horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hanged. Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go. Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion, and him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may move, and what he hears may be believed, that the true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: you shall find me in Eastcheap. 174 Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, All-hallown summer! Exit FALSTAFF. Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid; yourself and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders. Prince. But how shall we part with them in setting forth? Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they adventure upon the exploit themselves, which they shall have no sooner achieved but we'll set upon them. 191 Prince. Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by our horses, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves. Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see, I'll tie them in the wood; our vizards we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments. Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us. 201 Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will tell us when we meetatsupper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this lies the jest. 210 Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap; there I'll sup. Farewell Poins. Farewell, my lord. The unyok'd humour of your idleness : Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To sport would be as tedious as to work; 220 39 He was perfumed like a milliner, But when they seldom come, they wish'd for To bring a slovenly unhandsome corpse Betwixt the wind and his nobility. He should, or he should not; for he made me To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, mark! And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, Betwixt my love and your high majesty. Whatever Harry Percy then had said 70 80 K. Hen. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners, Hot. Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, 100 B Three times they breath'd and three times did That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve. they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank Never did base and rotten policy Colour her working with such deadly wounds; Receive so many, and all willingly : Then let not him be slander'd with revolt. 110 But shall it be that you, that set the crown 160 K. Hen. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost Or fill up chronicles in time to come, Exeunt King HENRY, BLUNT, and Train. That men of your nobility and power 170 Did gage them both in an unjust behalf, North. What! drunk with choler? stay and And now I will unclasp a secret book, pause awhile: And to your quick-conceiving discontents 190 In his behalf I'll empty all these veins, 'Zounds! I will speak of him; and let my soul Want mercy if I do not join with him: And shed my dear blood drop by drop i' the dust, So honour cross it from the north to south, But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer Hot. If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim: Send danger from the east unto the west, As high i' the air as this unthankful king, And let them grapple: O! the blood more stirs As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke. North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad. Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was gone? 141 Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners; Wor. I cannot blame him: was he not pro- By Richard that dead is the next of blood? Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here, Those same noble Scots North. He was; I heard the proclamation: Hot. I cry you mercy. 150 From whence he, intercepted, did return That are your prisoners, - To be depos'd, and shortly murdered. I'll keep them all; By God, he shall not have a Scot of them: Wor. And for whose death we in the world's No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not: wide mouth |