Enter Hostess. How now dame Partlet the hen?? have you inquired yet, who picked my pocket?

Host. Why, sir John! what do you think, sir John? do you think I keep thieves in my house? I have searched, I have inquired, 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. You lie, hostess; Bardolph was shaved and lost many a hair: and I'll be sworn, my pocket was picked: Go to, you are a woman, go.

Host. Who I? I defy thee: I was never called 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, dowlas: I have given them away to bakers' wives, and 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.

you

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 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 picked? I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's worth forty mark.

Host. O! 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; and, if he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog if he would say so.

FAL

Enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS, marching.
STAFF meets the PRINCE, playing on his truncheon
like a fife.

Fal. How now, lad? is the wind in that door, must we all march?

Bard. Yea, two and two, Newgate-fashion.
Host. My lord, I pray you, hear me.

P. Hen. What sayest thou, mistress Quickly? How does thy husband? I love him well, he is an honest man.

Host. Good my lord hear me.

Fal. Pr'ythee, let her alone, and list to me.
P. Hen. What say'st thou, Jack?

Fal. The other night I fell asleep here behind the arras, and had my pocket picked.

P. Hen. What did'st thou lose, Jack? Fal. Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four bonds of forty pound a-piece, and a seal-ring of my grandfather's.

P. Hen. A trifle, some eight-penny 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-mouthed man as he is; and said, he would cudgel you.

P. Hen. What! he did not.

fox;

and for womanhood, maid Marian 9 may be the deputy's wife of the ward to thee. Go, you thing, go.

Host. Say, what thing? what thing? I am an honest man's wife: and, setting thy knighthood 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?
Ful. What beast? why an otter.

P. Hen. An otter, sir John! why an otter?
Fal. Why? she's neither fish, nor flesh.
Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so.
P. Hen. Thou sayest 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.

P. Hen. 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 called 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.
P. Hen. 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.

P. Hen. 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? P. Hen. O, sirrah, there's no room for faith, truth, nor honesty, in this bosom of thine. Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket! Why, thou impudent rascal, if there were any thing in thy pocket but tavern-reckonings, and one poor penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long winded; if thy pocket were enriched 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 villainy? Thou seest, I have more flesh than another man; and therefore more frailty. You confess then, you picked my pocket?

P. Hen. 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, pr'ythee, be gone. [Exit Hostess.] Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, lad, How is that answered?

P. Hen. 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.

P. Hen. I am good friends with my father, and may do any thing.

Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou

Host. There's neither faith, truth, nor woman- doest, and do it with unwashed hands too. hood 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

7 In the story-book of Reynard the Fox.

8 A term of contempt frequently used by Shakspeare.

Bard. Do, my lord.

P. Hen. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of

foot.

9A female character, who attends morris-dancers; generally a man dressed like a woman.

Fal. I would, it had been of horse. Where shall | Have thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner time. I find one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, Jack, of the age of two-and-twenty, or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. Well, Heaven be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous; I laud them, I praise them. P. Hen. Bardolph Bard. My lord.

ACT IV.

Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth I, rather, of his absence make this use;

Enter Sir RICHARD VERNON.

Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul.
Ver. Pray Heaven, 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.

Fal. Lay out, lay out.
Bard. This bottle makes an angel.

make twenty, take them all, I'll answer the coinage.
Fal. An if it do, take it for thy labour; and if it
Bid my lieutenant Peto meet me at the town's end.
Bard. I will, captain: farewell.
[Exit.

Fal. If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a souced gurnet. I have misused the king's press vilely. I have got in exchange of a hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd pounds. I press me none but good householders, yeoman's sons.

Hot He shall be welcome, too. Where is his son, inquire me out contracted bachelors, such as had 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 6 that wing 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 cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd, —
Rise from the ground like feather'd 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.

been asked twice on the bans; such a commodity of warm slaves, as had as lief hear the devil as a drum; such as fear the report of a caliver 9 worse than a struck fowl, or a hurt wild-duck. I pressed me none but such toasts and butter, with hearts 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, and such as, indeed, were never soldiers, but discarded, unjust serving-men, younger sons to younger brothers, revolted tapsters, and ostlers trade-fallen; the cankers of a calm world, and a long peace; ten times more dishonourably ragged than an old faced ancient1: and such have 【 to fill up the rooms of them that have bought out their services. A mad fellow met me on the way,

Hot. No more, no more; worse than the sun in and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets, and

March,

This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come;
They come like sacrifices in their trim,
And to the fire-eyed 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,

pressed the dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scare-crows. 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 tacked together, and thrown over the shoulders like a herald's coat

And yet not ours: - Come, let me take my horse, without sleeves; and the shirt, to say the truth,

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. —
O, 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 make 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.

stolen from my host at Saint Alban's, or the rednose inn-keeper of Daintry. 3 But that's all one; they'll find linen enough on every hedge.

Enter PRINCE HENRY and WESTMORELAND P. Hen. 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 night.

Fal. Tut, never fear me; I am as vigilant as a cat to steal cream.

P. Hen. 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.

P. Hen. 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 ex

Fal. Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry; fill ceeding poor and bare; too beggarly.

me a bottle of sack: our soldiers shall march
through; we'll to Sutton-Colfield to-night.
Bard. Will you give me money, captain?

Fal. 'Faith, for their poverty, I know not where they had that: and for their bareness, — I am sure they never learned that of me.

P. Hen. No, I'll be sworn; unless you call three
fingers on the ribs bare. But, sirrah, make haste;
Percy is already in the field.
Fal. What, the king encamped?

Such bold hostility, teaching this duteous land
Audacious cruelty: If that the king
Have any way your good deserts forgot,
Which he confesseth to be manifold, -

West. He is, sir John; I fear we shall stay too He bids you name your griefs; and, with all speed,

long.
Fal. Well,

To the latter end of a fray, and the beginning of a

feast,

Fits a dull fighter, and a keen guest.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. -The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.

Enter HOTSPUR, WORCESTER, DOUGLAS, and
VERNON.

Hot. We'll fight with him to-night
Wor.

Doug. You give him then advantage.

Ver.

Ver. So do we.
Hot.

Not a whit.

Hor. Why say you so? looks he not for supply?
His is certain, ours is 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.

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:
It may not be. And, when he heard him swear, and vow to God,
He came but to be duke of Lancaster,
To sue his livery 7, 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 perform'd it too.
Now, when the lords and barons of the realm
Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him,
The more and less 8 came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages;
Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,
Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths,
Gave 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 Ravenspurg;
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.
Blunt. I came not to hear this.
Hot.

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 lives :
Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle,
Which of us fears.

Doug.

Ver.

Yea, or to night.

Hot. To-night say I.

Ver.

Content.

Come, come, it may not be.
I wonder much, being men of such great leading +,
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 himself.

Hot. So are the horses of the enemy,
In general journey-bated and brought low;
The better part of ours is full of rest.

Wor. The number of the king exceedeth ours:
For heaven'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 heaven,

You were of our determination!

Some of us love you well: and even those some
Envy your great deserving, and good name;
Because you are not of our quality",

But stand against us like an enemy.

Then, to the point.
In short time after, he 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, suffer'd his kinsman March
(Who is, if every owner were well plac'd,
There without ransome to lie forfeited:
Indeed his king,) to be incag'd in Wales,
Disgrac'd me in my happy victories;
Sought to entrap me by intelligence;
Rated my uncle from the council-board;
In rage dismiss'd my father from the court;
Broke 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

Blunt. And God defend, but still I should stand so, Too indirect for long continuance.

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

And in the morning early shall mine uncle
Bring him our purposes: and so farewell.
Blunt. I would, you would accept of grace and To wage an instant trial with the king.

How much they do import, you would make haste. And many more corrivals, and dear men

ACT V.

The King's Camp near Shrewsbury. | With quiet hours; for, I do protest,

Enter KING HENRY, PRINCE HENRY, PRINCE
JOHN of Lancaster, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and Sir
JOHN FALSTAFF.

K. Hen. How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon busky 2 hill! the day looks pale
At his distemperature.