Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale At his distemperature. P. Hen. The southern wind K. Hen. Then with the losers let it sympathize; For nothing can seem foul to those that win. Trumpet. Enter Worcester and Vernon. Of broached mischief to the unborn times? For mine own part, I could be well content K. Hen. You have not sought for it! how comes it then? Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it. P. Hen. Peace, chewet,' peace. Wor. It pleas'd your majesty, to turn your looks In Richard's time; and posted day and night By unkind usage, dangerous countenance, K. Hen. These things, indeed, you have articu lated,4 Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches; To face the garment of rebellion With some fine colour, that may please the eye And never yet did insurrection want P. Hen. In both our armies, there is many a soul K. Hen. And, prince of Wales, so dare we ven ture thee, Albeit, considerations infinite Do make against it :-No, good Worcester, no, [Exeunt Worcester and Vernon. charge; For, on their answer, will we set on them: [Exeunt King, Blunt, and Prince John. Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so; 'tis a point of friendship. P. Hen. Nothing but a colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell. Fal. I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well. P. Hen. 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 honour 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 in that word, honour? What is (4) Exhibited in articles. Wor. O, no, my nephew must not know, sir that honour? Air. A trim reckoning!-Who hath Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly, it? He that died o'Wednesday. Doth he feel it? Unless a brother should a brother dare No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible then? To gentle exercise and proof of arms. Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the He gave you all the duties of a man; living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it :- Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue; therefore I'll none of it: Honour is a mere scutch- Spoke your deservings like a chronicle; eon,' and so ends my catechism. [Exit. Making you ever better than his praise, SCENE II.-The rebel camp. Enter Worcester And, which became him like a prince indeed, By still dispraising praise, valued with you: and Vernon. He made a blushing cital of himself; And chid his truant youth with such a grace, As if he master'd 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 enamour'd Upon his follies; never did I hear Of any prince, so wild, at liberty: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, sol friends, The liberal kind offer of the king. Ver. 'Twere best he did. Then are we all undone. A hair-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen: Ver. Deliver what you will, I'll say, 'tis so. Enter Hotspur and Douglas; and officers and Hot. My uncle is return'd:-Deliver up [Exit. Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the king. Doug. Arm, gentlemen; to arms! for I have thrown A brave defiance in king Henry's teeth, And, nephew, challeng'd you to single fight. Hot. O, 'would the quarrel lay upon our heads; (1) Painted heraldry in funerals. Better consider what you have to do, Enter a Messenger. Mess. My lord, here are letters for you. O gentlemen, the time of life is short; Enter another Messenger. Mess. My lord, prepare; the king comes on apace. [The trumpets sound. They embrace, SCENE III-Plain near Shrewsbury. Excursions, and parties fighting. Alarum to the battle. Then enter Douglas and Blunt, meeting. Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus Doug. Know then, my name is Douglas; Thy likeness; for, instead of thee, king Harry, (4) The motto of the Percy family. Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot; [They fight, and Blunt is slain. Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much:- P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. Hot. O Douglas, hadst thou fought at Holme- My lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. don thus, I never had triumph'd upon a Scot. Doug. All's done, all's won; here breathless lies the king. Hot. Where? Hot. This, Douglas? no, I know this face full A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt; Drug. A fool go with thy soul, whither it goes! Up, and away; Hot.. West. Come, my lord, I will lead you to your tent. help: And heaven forbid, a shallow scratch should drive P. John. We breathe too long:-Come, cousin Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come. did not think thee lord of such a spirit: K. Hen. I saw him hold lord Piercy at the point, P. Hen. Lends mettle to us all! O, this boy [Erit. Alarums. Enter Douglas. Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads: Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here; here's no scoring, but upon the pate.-Soft! who art thou? 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 I am the Douglas, fatal to all those own bowels. I have led my raggamuffins where That wear those colours on them.-What art thou, they are peppered: there's but three of my hundred That counterfeit'st the person of a king? and fifty left alive; and they are for the town's end, K. Hen. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves to beg during life. But who comes here? Enter Prince Henry. at heart, So many of his shadows thou hast met, P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend me Seek Percy, and 'hyself, about the field: thy sword: Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff, sword. Fal. O Hal, I pr'ythee, give me leave to breathe a while.-Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms, as I have done this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure. P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. Lend me thy sword, I pr'ythee. Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou get'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. P. Hen. Give it me: What, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's that will sack a city. Bat, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily, Dong. I fear, thou art another counterfeit ; [They fight; the King being in danger, Never to hold it up again! the spirits Shirly, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms: is the prince of Wales, that threatens thee; Who never promiseth, but he means to pay.Cheerly, my lord; How fares your grace?— [They fight; Douglas flies. Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent, [The Prince draws out a bottle of sack. And so hath Clifton; I'll to Clifton straight. P. Hen. What, is't a time to jest and dally now? K. Hen. Stay, and breathe awhile:Throws it at him, and exit. Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion;3 Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. If And show'd, thou mak'st some tender of my life, he do come in my way, so if he do not, if I come in this fair rescue thou has brought to me. in his, willingly, let him make a carbonado2 of me. P. Hen. O heaven! they did me too much inI like not such grinning honour as sir Walter hath : Give me life which if I can save, so; if not, That ever said, I hearken'd for your death. honour comes unlooked for, and there's an end. If it were so, I might have let alone [Exit. The insulting hand of Douglas over you; SCENE IV.-Another part of the field. Alarums. Which would have been as speedy in your end, Excursions. Enter the King, Prince Henry, As all the poisonous potions in the world, Prince John, and Westmoreland. Hot. My name is Harry Percy. Why, then I see A very valiant rebel of the name. Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come Enter Falstaff. [They fight. Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you shall Hot. O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth: But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool; [Dies. P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: Fare thee well, great heart! Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk! Is room enough:-This earth, that bears thee dead, If thou wert sensible of courtesy, should not make so dear a show of zeal:- life of a man: but to counterfeit dying, when a Re-enter Prince Henry and Prince John. Thy maiden sword. P. John. But soft! whom have we here? Art thou alive? or is it phantasy 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 is Percy: [Throwing the body down.] 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. P. Hen. Why, Percy I killed 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 believed, 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, I would make him eat a piece of my sword. P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back: [A retreat is sounded. He [He sees 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. Q, 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. Fal. [Rising slowly.] Embowell'd! If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder2 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 Ill-spirited Worcester !-did we not send grace, counterfeit: To die, is to be a counterfeit; for he Pardon, and terms of love to all of you? [Exeunt Prince Henry and Prince John. Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. 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. [Exit. The SCENE V.-Another part of the field. trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Prince Henry, Prince John, Westmoreland, and others; with Worcester, and Vernon, prisoners. K. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke. is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not the And would'st thou turn our offers contrary? (1) Scarf with which he covers Percy's face. (2) Salt. 1 Misuse the tenor 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. P. Hen. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you This honourable bounty shall belong : Go to the Douglas, and deliver him Wor. What I have done, my safety urg'd me to; Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds, And I embrace this fortune patiently, K. Hen, Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon too: Other offenders we will pause upon. [Exeunt Worcester and Vernon, guarded. How goes the field? P. Hen. The noble Scot, lord Douglas, when he saw The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, K. Hen. Even in the bosom of our adversaries. K. Hen. 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, |