Enter Hotspur.
Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.
P. Hen. Thou speak’st as if I would deny my name.
Hot. My name is Harry Percy.
P. Hen.

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!

P. Hen. 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 fights with Falstaff, who falls down

as if he were dead, and exit Douglas. Hotspur is wounded, and falls.

Hot. 0, Harry, thou hast robbed 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 thought's the slave of life, and life, time's fool; And time, that takes survey of all the world,

0, Hurry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth:) Shakspeare has chosen to make Hotspur fall by the hand of the prince of Wales; but there is, I believe, no authority for the fact. Holinshed says, “The king slew that day with his own hand six and thirty persons of his enemies. The other [i. ę. troops) of his party, encouraged by his doings, fought valiantly, and slew the lord Percy, called Henry Hotspur.” Speed says, Percy was killed by an unknown hand. -MALONE.

Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthly and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue:-No, Percy, thou art dust,
And food for

[Dies.
P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: Fare thee well, great
I'll-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk! [heart!-
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 ignomy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remember'd in thy epitaph !-

[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. 0, I should have a heavy miss of thee, If I were much in love with vanity. Death hath not struck so fat a deerk 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. Fal. [rising slowly.] Embowelled ! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder' me, and eat me too,

a

b

these proud titles thou hast won of me; &c.] Hotspur in his last moments endeavours to console himself. The glory of the prince wounds his thoughts ; but thought, being dependent on life, must cease with it, and will soon be at an end. Life, on which thought depends, is itself of no great value, being the fool and sport of time ; of time, which, with all its dominion over sublunary things, must itself at last be stopped.-Johnson.

But let my favours hide thy mangled face;] He covers his face with a scarf, to hide the ghastiless of death.—Johnson.

so fat a deer~] There is in these lines a very natural mixture of the serious and ludicrous, produced by the view of Percy and Falstaff. I wish all play on words had been forbome.-Johnson.

k

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 gun

I powder Percy, though he be dead: How, if he should counterfeit too, and rise? I am afraid, he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore, I'll make him sure: yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why may not he rise, as well as I ? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah, [stabbing him.] with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.

[Takes HOTSPUR on his back. Re-enter Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN. P. Hen. Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou

flesh'd Thy maiden sword. P. John.

But, soft! whom have we here?
Did you not tell me, this fat man was dead?
P. Hen. I did ; I saw him dead, breathless and

bleeding
Upon the ground.
Art thou alive? or is it phantasy
That plays upon our eyesight? I pr’ythee, 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 :m 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

a double man:] That is, I am not Falstaff and Percy together, though, having Percy on my back, I seem double.—Johnson.

VOL. IV.

2 F

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, 80; 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 heard.

P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother John.Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back : For my part, if a lie

may 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.

a

do thee grace,

SCENE V.

Another part of the Field.

Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Prince Henry,

Prince John, WESTMORELAND, and others, with WOR-
CESTER and VERNON, Prisoners.

K. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.
Ill-spirited Worcester ! did we not send grace,
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you ?
And would’st thou turn our offers contrary?
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,
f, 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 falls on me.

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,
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.
K. Hen.

With all my heart.
P. Hen. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you
This honourable bounty shall belong:
Go to the Douglas, and deliver him
Up to his pleasure, ransomeless and free;
His valour, shown upon our crests to-day,
Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,
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,
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 land 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.