But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
And well consider of them: Make good speed.-
[Exit Page.
How many thousands of my poorest subjects
Are at this hour asleep!-Sleep, gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thec,

And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber;
Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,

And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile,
In loathsome beds: and leav'st the kingly couch,
A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge;
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deaf'ning clamours in the slippery clouds,
That, with the hurly,' death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sca-boy in an hour so rude;
And, in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and incans to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lic down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

Enter Warwick and Surrey.

War. Many good morrows to your majesty!
K. Hen. Is it good morrow, lords?

War. 'Tis one o'clock, and past.

When Richard,-with his eye orimfull of tears,
Then check'd and rated by Northumberland,-
Did speak these words, now prov'd a prophecy?
Northumberland, thou ladder, by the which
My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;-
Though then, heaven knows, I had no such intent;
But that necessity so bow'd the state,

That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss :-
The time shall come, thus did he follow it,
The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head,
Shall break into corruption :-so went on,
Foretelling this same time's condition,
And the division of our amity.

War. There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd:
The which observ'd, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life; which in their seeds,
And weak beginnings, lie intreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
And, by the necessary form of this,

King Richard might create a perfect guess,
That great Northumberland, then false to him,
Would, of that seed, grow to a greater falseness;
Which should not find a ground to root upon,
Unless on you.

K. Hen. Are these things then necessities?
Then let us meet them like necessities:-
And that same word even now cries out on us;
They say, the bishop and Northumberland
Are fifty thousand strong.

War.
It cannot be, my lord;
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
The numbers of the fear'd:-Please it your grace,
To go to bed upon my life, my lord,

The powers that you already have sent forth,

K. Hen. Why then, good morrow to you all, my Shall bring this prize in very easily.

Jords.

Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you ?

War. We have, my liege.

To comfort you the more, I have receiv'd
A certain instance, that Glendower is dead.
Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill;

K. Hen. Then you perceive, the body of our And these unseason'd hours, perforce, must add

kingdom

How foul it is; what rank diseases grow,
And with what danger, near the heart of it.
War. It is but as a body, yet, distemper'd;
Which to his former strength may be restor'd,
With good advice, and little medicine :-
My lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.
K. Hen. O heaven! that one might read the book
of fate;

And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent
(Weary of solid firmness) melt itself
Into the sea! and, other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the ocean

Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration
With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,
The happiest youth,-viewing his progress through,
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,-
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.
'Tis not ten years gone,

Since Richard, and Northumberland, great friends,
Did feast together, and, in two years after,
Were they at wars: It is but eight years, since
This Percy was the man nearest my soul;
Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs,
And laid his love and life under my foot;
Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard,
Gave hiin defiance. But which of you was by,
(You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember,)

(1) Noise.

[To Warwick. (2) Those in lowly situations.

Unto your sickness.

K. Hen. I will take your counsel: And, were these inward wars once out of hand, We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land. [Éxe. SCENE II.-Court before Justice Shallow's house, in Gloucestershire. Enter Shallow and Silence, meeting; Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, Bullcalf, and servants, behind.

Shal. Come on, come on, come on; give me your hand, sir, give me your hand, sir: an early stirrer, by the rood. And how doth my good cousin, Silence?

Sil. Good morrow, good cousin Shallow. Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bed-fellow? and your fairest daughter, and mine, my god-daugh ter Ellen?

Sil. Alas, a black ouzel, cousin Shallow.

Shal. By yea and nay, sir, I dare say, my cousin William is become a good scholar: He is at Oxford still, is he not?

Sil. Indeed, sir, to my cost.

Shal. He must then to the inns of courts shortly: I was once of Clement's-Inn; where, I think, they will talk of mad Shallow yet.

Sil. You were called-lusty Shallow, then,

cousin.

Shal. By the mass, I was called any thing; and I would have done any thing, indeed, and roundly too. There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George Bare, and Francis Pickbone, (3) Cross.

and Will Squele, a Cotswold man,-you had not sir John.-Give me your good hand, give me your four such swing-bucklers' in all the inns of court worship's good hand: By my troth, you look well, again and I may say to you, we knew where the and bear your years very well: welcome, good sir bona-robas were; and had the best of them all at John.

commandment. Then was Jack Falstaff, now sir Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master John, a boy; and page to Thomas Mowbray, duke Robert Shallow:-Master Sure-card, as I think. of Norfolk. Shal. No, sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in

Sil. This sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon commission with me. about soldiers?

Shal. The same sir John, the very same. I saw him break Skogan's head at the court-gate, when he was a crack,' not thus high: and the very same day did I fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's-Inn. . O, the mad-days that I have spent! and to see how many of mine old acquaintances are dead!

Sil. We shall all follow, cousin.

Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you should be of the peace.

Sil. Your good worship is welcome.
Fal. Fie! this is hot weather.-Gentlemen,
have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient
men?

Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit?
Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you.

Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: the roll?-Let me sec, let me see. So, so, so, so: death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all Yea, marry, sir:-Ralph Mouldy:-let them ap shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stam- pear as I call; let them do so, let them do so.ford fair? Let me see; Where is Mouldy?

Sil. Truly, cousin, I was not there.

Moul. Here, an't please you.

Shal. Death is certain.-Is old Double of your Shal. What think you, sir John? a good-limbed town living yet?

Sil. Dead, sir.

fellow: young, strong, and of good friends.
Fal. Is thy name Mouldy?

Moul. Yea, an't please you.

Shal. Dead!-See, see!-he drew a good bow ;And dead!-he shot a fine shoot :-John of Gaunt Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used. loved him well, and betted much money on his Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i'faith! things head. Dead! he would have clapped i'the clout that are mouldy, lack use: Very singular good!— at twelve score; and carried you a forehand shaft In faith, well said, sir John; very well said. a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would have done a man's heart good to see.-How a score of ewes now?

Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds.

Shal. And is old Double dead?

Enter Bardolph, and one with him.

Sil. Here come two of sir John Falstaff's men,

as I think.

Fal. Prick him. [To Shallow. Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you could have let me alone: my old dame will be undone now, for one to do her husbandry, and her drudgery: you need not to have pricked me; there are other men fitter to go out than I.

Fal. Go to; peace, Mouldy, you shall go. Mouldy, it is time you were spent.

Moul. Spent!

Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside; Know Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I be-you where you are?-For the other, sir John:-let seech you, which is justice Shallow?

Shal. I'am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this county, and one of the king's justices of the peace: What is your good pleasure with me?

Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you: my captain, sir John Falstaff: a tall gentleinan, by heaven, and a most gallant leader.

Shal. He greets me well, sir; I knew him a good backsword man: How doth the good knight? may I ask, how my lady his wife doth?

Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated, than with a wife.

Shal. It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is well said, indeed, too. Better accommodated!-it is good; yea, indeed, it is: good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable. Accommodated!-it comes from accommodo: very good; a good phrase.

Bard. Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase, call you it? By this good day, I know not the phrase: but I will maintain the word with my sword, to be a soldier-like word, and a word of exceeding good command. Accommodated; that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated: or, when a man is,-being,-whereby, he may be thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing.

Enter Falstaff.

me see ;-Simon Shadow!

Fal. Ay marry, let me have him to sit under: he's like to be a cold soldier.

Shal. Where's Shadow?

Shad. Here, sir.

Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou?
Shad. My mother's son, sir.

Fal. Thy mother's son! like enough; and thy father's shadow: so the son of the female is the shadow of the male: It is often so, indeed; but not much of the father's substance.

Shal. Do you like him, sir John?

Fal. Shadow will serve for summer,—prick him; for we have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book.

Shal. Thomas Wart!
Fal. Where's he?

Wart. Here, sir.
Fal. Is thy name Wart?
Wart. Yea, sir.

Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart.
Shal. Shall I prick him, sir John?

Ful. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame stands upon pins: prick him no more.

Shal. Ha, ha, ha!-you can do it, sir; you can do it: I commend you well.-Francis Feeble! Fee. Here, sir.

Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble?

Shal. It is very just:-Look, here comes good Fee. A woman's tailor, sir.

(1) Rakes, or rioters.

(2) Ladies of pleasure. (3) Boy.

(4) Hit the white mark at twelve score yards. (5) Brave.

Shal. Shall I prick him, sir? Bull. Good master corporate Bardolph, stand Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, my friend; and here is four Harry ten shillings in he would have pricked you.-Wilt thou make as French crowns for you. In very truth, sir, I had many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou hast done as lief be hanged, sir, as go: and yet, for mine in a woman's petticoat?

Fee. I will do my good will, sir; you can have

no more.

Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well said, courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse.Prick the woman's tailor well, master Shallow; deep, master Shallow.

Fee. I would, Wart might have gone, sir.

Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor; that thou might'st mend him, and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a private soldier, that is the leader of so many thousands: Let that suffice, most forcible Feeble.

Fee. It shall suffice, sir.

own part, sir, I do not care; but, rather, because I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a desire to stay with my friends; else, sir, I did not care, for mine own part, so much.

Bard. Go to; stand aside.

Moul. And, good master corporal captain, for my old dame's sake, stand my friend: she has nobody to do any thing about her, when I am gone: and she is old, and cannot help herself: you shall have forty, sir.

Bard. Go to; stand aside.

Fee. By my troth, I care not;-a man can die but once; we owe God a death;-I'll ne'er bear a base mind:-an't be my destiny, so;-an't be not, so: No man's too good to serve his prince;

Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble.- and, let it go which way it will, he that dies this Who is next?

Bull. A whores on cold, sir; a cou , sir; which I caught with ringing in the king's ars, upon his coronation day, sir.

year, is quit for the next.

Bard. Well said; thou'rt a good fellow.
Fee. 'Faith, I'll bear no base mind.

Re-enter Falstaff, and Justices.

Fal. Come, sir, which men shall I have?
Shal. Four, of which you please.

Bard. Sir, a word with you:-I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bull-calf.

Fal. Go to; well.

Shal. Come, sir John, which four will you have?
Fal. Do you choose for me.

Shal. Marry then,-Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feebie, and Shadow.

Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the was in a gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will take such Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf:-For you, Mouldy, order, that thy friends shall ring for hee.-1s here stay at home still; you are past service: and, for your part, Bull-calf-grow till you come unto it;

all? Shal. Here is two more called thar your num-1 will none of you. ber; you must have but four here, si;-and sɔ, I Shal. Sir John, sir John, do not yourself wrong: pray you, go in with me to dinner. they are your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the best.

Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth, master Shallow.

Shal. O, sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in St. George's-fields Ful. No more of that, good master Shallow, no more of that.

Shal. Ha, it was a merry night. And is Jane
Night-work alive?

Fal. She lives, master Shallow.
Shal. She never could away with me.
Fal. Never, never: she would always say, she
could not abide master Shallow.

Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the heart. She was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well?

Fal. Old, old, master Shallow.

Shal. Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose but be old; certain, she's old; and had Robin Night-work by ald Night-work, before I came to Clement's-Inn.

Sil. That's fifty-five year ago.

Fal. Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to choose a man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man! Give me the spirit, master Shallow.-Herc's Wart;you see what a ragged appearance it is: he shall charge you, and discharge you, with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off, and on, swifter than he that gibbets-on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-fac'd fellow, Shadow,-give me this man: he presents no mark to the enemy: the focman' may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife: And, for a retreat,-how swiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off! O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.— Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.

Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So ::-very well:-go to:-very good:-exceeding good.-0, give me always a little, lean, old, chapped, bald shot.-Well said, i'faith, Wart; thou art a good scab: hold, there's a tester for thee.

Shal. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen Shal. He is not his craft's-master, he doth not do that that this knight and I have seen!-Ha, sir it right. I remember at Mile-end green (when I John, said I well? lay at Clement's-Inn,-I was then sir Dagonet, in Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Arthur's show,) there was a little quiver fellow, master Shallow. and 'a would manage you his piece thus: and 'a Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; would about, and about, and come you in, and in faith, sir John, we have; our watch-word was, come you in: rah, tah, tah, would 'a say; bounce, Hem, boys!-Come, let's to dinner; come, let's would 'a say; and away again would 'a go, and to dinner:-0, the days that we have seen!- again would 'a come:-I shall never see such a Come, come. [Exe. Falstaff, Shallow, and Silence. fellow.

(1) Enemy. (2) Gun. (3) March

(4) Shooter.

(5) An exhibition of archery

SH

Fal. These fellows will do well, master Shal-As might hold sortance with his quality, will not The which he could not levy; whereupon low.-God keep you, master Silence; use many words with you:-Fare you well, gentle- He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes, men both: I thank you: I must a dozen mile to- To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers, That your attempts may overlive the hazard, night.-Bardolph, give the soldiers coats. Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper And fearful meeting of their opposite. Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch your affairs, and send us peace! As you return, visit my house; let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure, I will with you to the court. Fal. I would you would, master Shallow, Shal. Go to; I have spoke, at a word. Fare you well. [Exeunt Shallow and Silence.

ground,

And dash themselves to picces.
Enter a Messenger.

Hast.

out.

Now, what news?

Enter Westmoreland.

Arch. What well-appointed' leader fronts us
here?

Mob. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland.
West. Health and fair greeting from our general,
The prince, lord John and duke of Lancaster.
Arch. Say on, my lord of Westmoreland, in

peace;

Then, my lord,

Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile, Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bat-In goodly form comes on the enemy: dolph, lead the men away. [Exeunt Bardolph, Recruits, &c.] As I return, I will fetch off these And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number, justices: I do see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Upon, or near, the rate of thirty thousand. Mob. The just proportion that we gave them Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his Let us sway on, and face them in the field. youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbullstreet; and every third word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him at Clement's-Inn, like a man made after supper of a cheese-paring: when he was naked, he was, for all the world, like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife: he was so forlorn, that his dimensions to any thick sight were invisible: he was the very genius of What doth concern your coming? West. famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores called him-mandrake: he came ever in the rear-Unto your grace do I in chief address ward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the The substance of my speech. If that rebellion over-scutched huswives that he heard the carmen Came like itself, in base and abject routs, whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage, good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger be- And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary; come a squire; and talks as familiarly of John of I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd, Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: In his true, native, and most proper shape, and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the You, reverend father, and these noble lords, Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head, for crowd-Had not been here, to dress the ugly form ing among the marshal's men. I saw it; and told Of base and bloody insurrection John of Gaunt, he beat his own name: for you With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,— might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into an Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd; eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a man- Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd; sion for him, a court; and now has he land and Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor❜d; beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him, if Whose white investments figure innocence, I return and it shall go hard, but I will make him The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young dace Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself, be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason, in the Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace, law of nature, but I may snap at him. Let time Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war? shape, and there an end.

ACT IV.

[Exit. Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,
Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet, and a point of war?
Arch. Wherefore do I this?-so the question
stands.

SCENE I-A forest in Yorkshire. Enter the Briefly to this end:-We are all diseas'd;
archbishop of York, Mowbray, Hastings,

others.

Arch. What is this forest call'd?
Hast. "Tis Gualtree forest, an't shall
your grace.

Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send
verers forth,

To know the numbers of our enemies.
Hast. We have sent forth already.
Arch.

and And, with our surfeiting, and wanton hours, Have brought ourselves into a burning fever, And we must bleed for it: of which disease Our late king, Richard, being infected, died. please But, my most noble lord of Westmoreland, I take not on me here as a physician; disco-Nor do I as an enemy to peace,

"Tis well done.
My friends, and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have receiv'd
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus:—
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers

(1) In Clerkenwell. (2) Titles of little poems. (3) A wooden dagger like that used by the modern harlequin,

Troop in the throngs of military men:
But, rather, show a while like fearful war,
To diet rank minds, sick of happiness:
And purge the obstructions, which begin to stop
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weigh'd
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we
suffer,

And find our griefs

(4) Broke.
(6) Be suitable.
(8) Grievances.

heavier than our offences.

(5) Gaunt is thin, slender. (7) Completely accoutred.

We see which way the stream of time doth run,
And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere
By the rough torrent of occasion:
And have the summary of all our griefs,
When time shall serve, to show in articles;
Which, long ere this, we offer'd to the king,
And might by no suit gain our audience:
When we are wrong'd, and would unfold our griefs,
We are denied access onto his person,
Even by those men that most have done us wrong.
The dangers of the days but newly gone,
(Whose memory is written on the earth
With yet appearing blood,) and the examples
Of every minute's instance, (present now,)
Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms:
Not to break peace, or any branch of it;
But to establish here a peace indeed,
Concurring both in name and quality.
West. When ever yet was your appeal denied?
Wherein have you been galled by the king?
What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you?
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forg'd rebellion with a seal divine,
And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?

Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth,
To brother born a household eruelty,

I make my quarrel in particular.

West. There is no need of any such redress;
Or, if there were, it not belongs to you.
Mowb. Why not to him, in part; and to us all,
That feel the bruises of the days before;
And suffer the condition of these times
To lay a heavy and unequal hand
Upon our honours ?

West.
O my good lord Mowbray,
Construe the times to their necessities,
And you shall say indeed,-it is the time,
And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet, for your part, it not appears to me,
Either from the king, or in the present time,
That you should have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on: Were you not restor'd
To all the duke of Norfolk's signiories,
Your noble and right-well-remember'd father's?
Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost,
That need to be reviv'd, and breath'd in me?
The king, that lov'd him, as the state stood then,
Was, force perforce, compell'd to banish him:
And then, when Harry Bolingbroke, and he,-
Being mounted, and both rous'd in their seats,
Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,
Their armed staves' in charge, their beavers' down,
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights' of steel,
And the loud trumpet blowing them together;
Then, then, when there was nothing could have staid
My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,
O, when the king did throw his warder4 down
His own life hung upon the staff he threw :
Then threw he down himself; and all their lives,
That, by indictment, and by dint of sword,
Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.
West. You speak, lord Mowbray, now you know

not what:

The earl of Hereford was reputed then

In England the most valiant gentleman;

Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers, and
love,

Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on,
And bless'd, and grac'd indeed, more than the king.
But this is mere digression from my purpose.-
Here come I from our princely general,
To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace,
That he will give you audience: and wherein
It shall appear that your demands are just,
You shall enjoy them; every thing set off,
That might so much as think you enemies.
Mowb. But he hath forc'd us to compel this
offer:

And it proceeds from policy, not love.

West. Mowbray, you overween, to take it so;
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear:
For, lo! within a ken, our army lies;
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arins,
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;
Then reason wills, our hearts should be as good:-
Say you not then, our offer is compell'd.

Mowb. Well, by my will, we shall admit no
parley.

West. That argues but the shame of your offence:
A rotten case abides no handling.

Hast. Hath the prince John a full commission,
In very ample virtue of his father,
To hear, and absolutely to determine
Of what conditions we shall stand upon?

West. That is intended" in the general's name:
I muse, you make so slight a question.
Arch. Then take, my lord of Westmoreland, this
schedule;

For this contains our general grievances:-
Each several article herein redress'd;

All members of our cause, both here and hence,
That are insinew'd to this action,
Acquitted by a true substantial form:
And present execution of our wills
To us, and to our purposes, consign'd;
We come within our awful banks10 again,
And kn our powers to the arm of peace.

West. This will I show the general. Please you,
In sight of both our battles we may meet:
lords,

And either end in peace, which heaven so frame!
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.
Arch.

My lord, we will do so.
[Exit West.
Mowb. There is a thing within my bosom, tells me,
That no conditions of our peace can stand.
Hast. Fear you not that: if we can make our

peace

Upon such large terms, and so absolute,
As our conditions shall consist upon,
Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
Morob. Ay, but our valuation shall be such,
That every slight and false-derived cause,
Yea, every idle, nice," and wanton reason,
Shall, to the king, taste of this action:
That, were our royal faiths12 martyrs in love,

Who knows, on whom fortune would then have We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind,

But, if your father had been victor there,

smil'd?

He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry:

For all the country, in a general voice,

(1) Lances. (2) Helmets.

(3) The eye-holes of helmets. (4) Truncheon. (5) Think too highly.

(6) Sight.

That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff,
And good from bad find no partition.

Arch. No, no, my lord; Note this,-the king is
weary

(7) Understood. (8) Wonder. (9) Inventory. (10) Proper limits of reverence.

(11) Trival. (12) The faith due to a king.