P. Hen. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.

Fal. Well, may'st thou have the spirit of persuasion, and he the ears of profiting, that what Fal. O thou hast damnable iteration: and art, thou speakest may move, and what he hears may indeed, able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done be believed, that the true prince may (for recreamuch harm upon me, Hal,-God forgive thee for tion sake) prove a false thief; for the poor abuses it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and of the time want countenance. Farewell: You now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better shall find me in Eastcheap. than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, P. Hen. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, and I will give it over; by the Lord, an I do not, All-hallown summer!" I am a villain; I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom.

P. Hen. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack?

Fal. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an do not, call me villain, and baffle me.

P. Hen. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying, to purse-taking.

Enter Poins, at a distance.

I

[Exit Falstaf. 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 way-laid; yourself, and I, will not be there: and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from my shoulders.

P. Hen. But how shall we part with them in setting forth?

Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wheresin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins!-in it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. adventure upon the exploit themselves: which O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in they shall have no sooner achieved, but we'll set hell were hot enough for him? This is the most upon them. omnipotent villain, that ever cried, Stand, to a true' man.

P. Hen. Good morrow, Ned.

P. Hen. Ay, but, 'tis like, that they will know us, by our horses, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves.

8

Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal.-What says Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see, I'll monsieur Remorse? What says sir John Sack- tie them in the wood; our visors we will change, and-Sugar? Jack, how agrees the devil and thee after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-friday buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outlast, for a cup of Madeira, and a cold capon's leg? ward garments. P. Hen. 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 dumn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

P. Hen. But, I doubt, they will be too hard for us. 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 meet at supper: how thirty, Poins. But, my lads, muy lads, to-morrow morn-at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, ing, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill: There are what extremities he endured; and, in the reproof pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, of this, lies the jest.

P. Hen. Else he had been damned for cozening the devil.

and traders riding to London with fat purses: P. Hen. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all have visors for you all, you have horses for your-things necessary, and meet me to-morrow night in selves; Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have Eastcheap, there I'll sup. Farewell. bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap ;| Poins. Farewell, my lord. we may do it as secure as sleep: If you will go, will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home, and be hanged.

Fal. Hear me, Yedward; if I tarry at home, and go not, I'll hang you for going. Poins. You will, chops?

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?

P. Hen. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.

Fal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings. P. Hen. Well, then, once in my days I'll be mad-cap.

Fal. Why, that's well said.

a

P. Hen. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

P. Hen. I care not.

[Exit Poins.
P. Hen. I know you all, and will a while uphold
The unyok'd humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun;
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours, that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But, when they seldom come, they wish'd-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behaviour I throw off,
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ;10
And, like bright metal on a sullen" ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly, and attract more eyes,
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill:
Redceming time, when men think least I will. [Ex.

(7) Fine weather at All-hallown-tide (i. e. All Saints, Nov. 1st) is called an All-hallown summer. (8) Occasion.

(9) Confutation. (10) Expectations. (11) Dull.

SCENE III.-The same. Another room in the Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
palace. Enter King Henry, Northumberland, Which many a good tall" fellow had destroy'd
Worcester, Hotspur, Sir Walter Blunt, and So cowardly; and, but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier.

others.

K. Hen. My blood hath been too cold and tem- This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,

perate,

Unapt to stir at these indignities,

And you have found me; for, accordingly,
You tread upon my patience: but, be sure,
I will from henceforth rather be myself,
Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition;'
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down,
And therefore lost that title of respect,
Which the proud soul ne'er pays, but to the proud.
Wor. Our house, my sovereign liege, little de-

serves

The scourge of greatness to be used on it;
And that same greatness too which our own hands
Have holp to make so portly.

North. My lord,——

K. Hen. Worcester, get thee gone, for I see
danger

And disobedience in thine eye: O, sir,
Your presence is too bold and peremptory,
And majesty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a servant brow.
You have good leave to leave us; when we need
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you.-
[Exit Worcester.
[To North.
Yea, my good lord.
Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded,
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,
Were, as he says, not with such strength denied
As is deliver'd to your majesty:
Either envy, therefore, or misprision
Is guilty of this fault, and not my son.

You were about to speak.
North.

Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
But, I remember, when the fight was done,
When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil,
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dress'd,
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new reap'd,
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;
He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose, and took't away again;-
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in snuff:-and still he smil'd, and talk'd;
And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
He call'd them-untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
With many holiday and lady terms

He question'd me; among the rest demanded
My prisoners, in your majesty's behalf.

I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold,
To be so pester'd with a popinjay,'
Out of my grief and my impatience,
Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what;
He should, or he should not ;-for he made me mad,
To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet,
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman,
Of guns, and drums, and wounds, (God save the

mark!)

I

answer'd indirectly, as I said;
And, I beseech you, let not his report
Come current for an accusation,

Betwixt my love and your high majesty.
Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my
lord,

To such a person and in such a place,
Whatever Harry Percy then had said,
At such a time, with all the rest re-told,
May reasonably die, and never rise
To do him wrong, or any way impeach
What then he said, so he unsay it now.

But with proviso, and exception,
K. Hen. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners;

That we, at our own charge, shall ransom straight
Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
The lives of those that he did lead to fight
Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower;
Whose daughter, as we hear, the earl of March
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers then
Be emptied, to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treason? and indents with fears,
When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
No, on the barren mountains let him starve;
For I shall never hold that man my friend,
Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost
To ransom home revolted Mortimer.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer!

He never did fall off, my sovereign liege,
But by the chance of war;-To prove that true,
Necds no more but one tongue for all those wounds,
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took,
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,
In single opposition, hand to hand,

He did confound the best part of an hour
In changing hardiment 1° with great Glendower:
Three times they breath'd, and three times did they
drink,

Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood;
Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants.
Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
Never did bare and rotten policy

Nor never could the noble Mortimer
Receive so many, and all willingly:
Then let him not be slander'd with revolt.
K. Hen. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost
belie him,

He never did encounter with Glendower;
He durst as well have met the devil alone,
I tell thee,
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.
Art not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth
Send me your prisoners with the speediest means,
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer:
Or you shall hear in such a kind from me
As will displease you.-My lord Northumberland,
We license your departure with your son:
Send us your prisoners, or you'll hear of it.

[Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train.
Hot. And if the devil come and roar for them,
I will not send them :-I will after straight,

(5) Parrot. (6) Pain.
(8) Sign an indenture.
(10) Hardiness.

(7) Brave.
(9) Expend.
(11) Curled.

North. What, drunk with choler? stay, and I'll read you matter deep and dangerous;

Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
Deliver them up without their ransom straight,
And make the Douglas' son your only mean
For powers in Scotland; which,-for divers reasons,
Which I shall send you written,-be assur'd,
Will easily be granted.-You, my lord,-
[To Northumberland.
Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,-
Shall secretly into the bosom creep
Of that same noble prelate, well belov'd,
The archbishop.

Hot. Of York, is't not?

Wor. True; who bears hard

His brother's death at Bristol, the lord Scroop.
I speak not this in estimation,"

As what I think might be, but what I know
Is ruminated, plotted, and set down;
And only stavs but to behold the face
Of that occasion that shall bring it on.

Hot. I smell it; upon my life, it will do well.
North. Before the game's a-foot, thou still let'st
slip.

Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble
plot:-

And then the power of Scotland, and of York,-|
To join with Mortimer, ha?
Wor.
And so they shall.
Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
To save our heads by raising of a head :3'
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,

The king will always think him in our debt;
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,
Till he hath found a time to pay us home.
And sec already, how he doth begin
To make us strangers to his looks of love.
Hot. He does, he does; we'll be reveng'd on
him.

Wor. Cousin, farewell:-No further go in this,
Than I by letters shall direct your course.
When time is ripe (which will be suddenly,)
I'll steal to Glendower, and lord Mortimer;
Where you and Douglas, and our powers at once
(As I will fashion it,) shall happily meet,
To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms,
Which now we hold at much uncertainty.
North. Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive,

I trust.

Hot. Uncle, adieu :-O, let the hours be short, Till fields, and blows, and groans, applaud our sport! [Exeunt.

2 Car. Pease and beans are as dank" here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots: this house is turned upside down, since Robin ostler died.

1 Car. Poor fellow! never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of him.

2 Car. I think, this be the most villanous house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like a tench."

1 Car. Like a tench? by the mass, there is ne'er a king in Christendom could be better bit than I have been since the first cock.

2 Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a jorden, and then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.io"

1 Car. What, ostler! come away and be hanged,

come away.

2 Car. I have a gammon of bacon, and two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing-cross.

1 Car. 'Odsbody! the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved.-What, ostler!-A plague on thee! hast thou never an eye in thy head? canst not hear? An 'twere not as good a deed as drink, to break the pate of thee, I am a very villain.Come, and be hanged:-Hast no faith in thee?

Enter Gadshill.

Gads. Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock? 1 Car. I think it be two o'clock.

Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding in the stable.

1 Car. Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick worth two of that, i'faith.

Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thine.

2 Car. Ay, when? canst tell?-Lend me thy lantern, quoth-a ?-marry, I'll see thee hanged

first.

Gads. Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to London?

2 Car. Time enough to go to bed with a candle, I warrant thee.-Come, neighbour Mugs, we'll call up the gentlemen; they will along with company, for they have great charge. [Exe. Carriers. Gads. What, ho! chamberlain !

Cham. [Within.] At hand, quoth pick-purse."

Gads. That's even as fair as-at hand, quoth the chamberlain: for thou variest no more from picking of purses, than giving direction doth from labouring; thou lay'st the plot how.

Enter Chamberlain.

Cham. Good morrow, master Gadshill. It holds current, that I told you yesternight: There's a franklin12 in the wild of Kent, hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold: I heard him tell it to one of his company, last night at supper; a kind of auditor; one that hath abundance of charge too, God knows what. They are up already, and call for eggs and butter: They will away presently.

(9) Spotted like a tench.

(10) A small fish supposed to breed fleas. (11) A proverb, from the pick-purse being always ready.

(12) Freeholder.

Gads. Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicho-miles afoot with me; and the stony-hearted villains las' clerks, I'll give thee this neck. know it well enough: A plague upon't, when Cham. No, I'll none of it: I pr'ythee keep that thieves cannot be true to one another! [They whis for the hangman; for, I know, thou worship'st tle.] Whew!-A plague upon you all! Give me Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may. my horse, you rogues; give me my horse, and be Gads. What talkest thou to me of the hangman? hanged.

if I hang, I'll make a fat pair of gallows: for, if I P. Hen. Peace, ye fat-guts! lie down; lay thine hang, old sir John hangs with me; and, thou ear close to the ground, and list if thou canst hear knowest, he's no starveling. Tut! there are other the tread of travellers.

P. Hen. Thou liest, thou art not colted, thou art

Trojans that thou dreamest not of, the which, for Fal. Have you any levers to lift me up again, sport sake, are content to do the profession some being down? 'Sblood, I'll not bear mine own flesh grace; that would, if matters should be looked so far afoot again, for all the coin in thy father's into, for their own credit sake, make all whole. I exchequer. What a plague mean ye to colt" me am joined with no foot land-rakers,2 no long-staff, thus? six-penny strikers; none of these mad, mustachio, purple-hued malt-worms: but with nobility, and uncolted. tranquility; burgomasters, and great oneyers; Fal. I pr'ythee, good prince Hal, help me to my such as can hold in: such as will strike sooner than horse; good king's son." speak, and speak sooner than drink, and drink sooner P. Hen. Out, you rogue! shall I be your ostler? than pray: And yet I lie; for they pray continually Fal. Go, hang thyself in thy own heir-apparent to their saint, the commonwealth; or, rather, not garters! If I be ta'en, I'll peach for this. An I pray to her, but prey on her; for they ride up and have not ballads made on you all, and sung to filthy down on her, and make her their boots.+ tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison: When a jest

Cham. What, the commonwealth their boots? is so forward, and afoot too,-I hate it.

will she hold out water in foul way?

Gads. She will, she will; justice hath liquored her. We steal as in a castle, cock-sure; we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible.

Cham. Nay, by my faith; I think you are more beholden to the night, than to fern-seed, for your walking invisible.

Gads. Give me thy hand: thou shalt have a share in our purchase, as I am a true' man.

Cham. Nay, rather let me have it, as you are

false thief.

a

Gads. Stand.

Enter Gadshill.

Fal. So I do, against my will.
Poins. O, 'tis our setter: I know his voice.
Enter Bardolph.

Bard. What news?

Gads. Case ye, case ye; on with your visors; there's money of the king's coming down the hill; 'tis going to the king's exchequer.

Fal. You lie, you rogue; 'tis going to the king's

tavern.

Gads. There's enough to make us all.
Fal. To be hanged.

Gads. Go to; Homo is a common name to all men. Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of the stable. Farewell, you muddy knave. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The road by Gadshill. Enter Prince Henry and Poins; Bardolph and Peto at some narrow lane; Ned Poins, and I, will walk lower: if they 'scape from your encounter, then they light

distance.

Poins. Come, shelter, shelter; I have removed Falstaff's horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet. P. Hen. Stand close.

Enter Falstaff.

Fal. Poins! Poins, and be hanged! Poins! P. Hen. Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal; What brawling dost thou keep!

a

P. Hen. Sirs, you four shall front them in the

on us.

Peto. How many be there of them?
Gads. Some eight, or ten.

Fal. Zounds! will they not rob us?

P. Hen. What, a coward, sir John Paunch? Fal. Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your grandfather; but yet no coward, Hal.

P. Hen. Well, we leave that to the proof. Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind the find him. Farewell, and stand fast. hedge; when thou needest him, there thou shalt

Fal. Now cannot I strike him, if I should be

Fal. Where's Poins, Hal? P. Hen. He is walked up to the top of the hill; I'll go seek him. Pretends to seek Poins. Fal. I am accursed to rob in that thief's company: the rascal hath removed my horse, and tied him I know not where. If I travel but four foot by the squire further afoot, I shall break my wind. Well, I doubt not but to die a fair death for all this, if I 'scape hanging for killing that rogue. I have forsworn his company hourly any time this two and twenty years, and yet I am bewitched with the rogue's company. If the rascal have not 1 Trav. Come, neighbour; the boy shall lead our given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be horses down the hill: we'll walk afoot awhile, and hanged; it could not be else; I have drunk medi-ease our legs. cines.-Poins!-Hal!-a plague upon you both!Bardolph!-Peto!-I'll starve, ere I'll rob a foot further. An 'twere not as good a deed as drink to Fal. Strike, down with them; cut the villains' turn true1o man, and leave these rogues, I am the throats: Ah! whoreson caterpillars! bacon-fed veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight knaves! they hate us youth: down with them; yards of uneven ground, is threescore and ten fleece them.

(1) Cant term for highwaymen.

(2) Footpads. (3) Public accountants.

(4) Booty.

(5) Oiled, smoothed her over.

Thieves. Stand.
Trav. Jesu bless us!

(6) In what we acquire. (7) Honest.
(8) Square. (9) Love-powder. (10) Honest.
(11) Make a youngster of me. (12) Portion.