The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
[Pg i]
THE WORKS
OF
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE.
[Pg ii]
[Pg iii]
THE WORKS
OF
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
EDITED BY
WILLIAM GEORGE CLARK, M.A.
FELLOW AND TUTOR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, AND PUBLIC ORATOR IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE;
AND WILLIAM ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A.
LIBRARIAN OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
VOLUME IV
Cambridge and London:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1864.
[Pg iv]
CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTED BY C. J. CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
[Pg v]
CONTENTS.
|
PAGE |
| The Preface |
vii |
| King John |
3 |
| Notes to King John |
97 |
| King Richard II. |
109 |
| Notes to King Richard II. |
223 |
| The First Part of King Henry IV. |
233 |
| Notes to The First Part of King Henry IV. |
351 |
| The Second Part of King Henry IV. |
361 |
| Notes to The Second Part of King Henry IV. |
481 |
| King Henry V. |
491 |
| Notes to King Henry V. |
607 |
| The Chronicle Historie of Henry the Fift &c. |
615 |
[Pg vi]
[Pg vii]
PREFACE.
I. Shakespeare's King John was printed for the
first time in the Folio of 1623. The poet adopted most
of the characters, the general plot, and occasional lines,
or fragments of lines, from an earlier play, in two parts,
published in 1591, with the following title-page:
The | Troublesome Raigne | of Iohn King of England, with the
dis-|couerie of King Richard Cordelions | Base sonne (vulgarly
named, The Ba-|stard Fawconbridge): also the | death of King
Iohn at Swinstead | Abbey. | As it was (sundry times) publikely
acted by the | Queenes Maiesties Players, in the ho-|nourable Citie of
London. | Imprinted at London for Sampson Clarke, | and are to
be solde at his shop, on the backe-|side of the Royall Exchange. |
1591. |
This play was reprinted for a different bookseller in
1611, with the words 'W. Sh.' added to the title; and
a third edition in 1622, again issued by a different bookseller,
has 'W. Shakespeare.'
There can be little doubt that the booksellers attributed
the play to Shakespeare in the hope that so popular
a name might help the sale, for although the earlier play
is by no means devoid of merit, the evidence of its style
conclusively proves that Shakespeare had no part in the
authorship. We have therefore not reprinted it, but contented
ourselves with indicating the passages borrowed
[Pg viii]verbally from it.
2. Of Richard II. four editions in Quarto were published
before the appearance of the first Folio:
Q1. The | Tragedie of King Ri-|chard the se-|cond. | As
it hath beene publikely acted | by the right Honourable the | Lorde
Chamberlaine his Ser'uants. | London | Printed by Valentine
Simmes for Andrew Wise, and | are to be sold at his shop in
Paules church yard at | the signe of the Angel. | 1597. |
Q2. The | Tragedie of King Ri-|chard the second. | As it
hath beene publikely acted by the Right Ho-|nourable the
Lord Chamberlaine his | seruants. | By William Shake-speare. |
London | Printed by Valentine Simmes for Andrew Wise, and |
are to be sold at his shop in Paules churchyard at | the signe of
the Angel. | 1598. |
Q3. The | Tragedie of King | Richard the second. | As it
hath been publikely acted by the Right | Honourable the Lord
Chamberlaine | his seruantes. | By William Shake-speare. | London,
| Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to be | sold
at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at | the signe of the Foxe. |
1608. |
The same edition was also issued in the same year with
the following title-page:
The | Tragedie of King | Richard the Second: | With new
additions of the Parlia-|ment Sceane, and the deposing | of
King Richard, | As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges | Maiesties
seruantes, at the Globe. | By William Shake-speare. | At
London, | Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are to | be sold
at his shop in Paules Church-yard, | at the signe of the Foxe. |
1608. |
Q4. The | Tragedie of King | Richard the Se-|cond: | With
new additions of the Parliament Sceane, | and the deposing of King |
Richard. | As it hath been lately acted by the Kinges | Maiesties
seruants, at the Globe. | By William Shake-speare. | At London,
| Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold | at his shop
in Paules Church-yard, at the | signe of the Foxe. | 1615. |
Each of these Quartos was printed from its immediate
predecessor. The third however contains an important
addition, found in all the extant copies of Q3, amounting
to 165 lines, viz. IV. 1. 154-318. This is what is meant[Pg ix]
by 'the new additions of the Parliament scene' mentioned
in the title-pages of some copies of Q3 and in that of Q4.
These 'new additions' are found also in the first and following
Folios and in Q5. The play, as given in the first
Folio, was no doubt printed from a copy of Q4, corrected
with some care and prepared for stage representation.
Several passages have been left out with a view of shortening
the performance. In the 'new additions of the
Parliament Scene' it would appear that the defective text
of the Quarto had been corrected from the author's MS.
For this part therefore the first Folio is our highest authority:
for all the rest of the play the first Quarto affords
the best text.
The fifth Quarto (Q5) was printed from the second
Folio (F2), but its readings sometimes agree with one or
other of the earlier Quartos, and in a few cases are entirely
independent of previous editions. Its title-page is as
follows:
The | Life and | Death of King | Richard the | Second. | With
new Additions of the | Parliament Scene, and the | Deposing of
King Richard. | As it hath beene acted by the Kings Majesties |
Servants, at the Globe. | By William Shakespeare. | London,
Printed by Iohn Norton. | 1634. |
3. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
appeared in six successive Quarto editions before the publication
of the first Folio. The title-pages of the first five of
these editions are given in full below. The version in the
first Folio seems to have been printed from a partially
corrected copy of the fifth Quarto. In many places the
readings coincide with those of the earlier Quartos, which
were probably consulted by the corrector. The title of
the play in the Folio is, 'The First Part of Henry the
Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry Sirnamed Hotspurre.'
As there is no copy of the fourth Quarto in the
Capell collection, our collation has been made from the[Pg x]
copy in the Bodleian, and verified by that in the Devonshire
Library. The deficiencies of Capell's copy of the
third Quarto have been supplied by a collation of the
Bodleian copy of that edition.
Q1. The | History of | Henrie the | Fovrth; | With the battell
at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King and Lord | Henry Percy,
surnamed | Henrie Hotspur of | the North. | With the humorous
conceits of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | AT LONDON, | Printed by P. S.
for Andrew Wise, dwelling | in Paules Churchyard, at the signe
of | the Angell. 1598. |
Q2. The | History of | Henrie the | Fovrth; | With the
battell at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King and Lord Henry | Percy,
surnamed Henry Hot-|spur of the North. | With the humorous
conceits of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare.
| AT LONDON, | Printed by S. S. for Andrew Wise,
dwelling | in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of | the Angell.
1599. |
Q3. The | History of | Henrie the fourth, | With the battell
at Shrewsburie, | betweene the King, and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed
Henry Hot-|spur of the North. | With the humorous conceits
of Sir | Iohn Falstaffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare.
| London | Printed by Valentine Simmes, for Mathew
Law, and | are to be solde at his shop in Paules Churchyard, | at
the signe of the Fox. | 1604. |
Q4. The | History of | Henry the fourth, | With the battell
at Shrewseburie, | betweene the King, and Lord | Henry Percy, surnamed
Henry | Hotspur of the North. | With the humorous conceites
of Sir | Iohn Falstalffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. |
London, | Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at | his
shop in Paules Church-yard, neere vnto S. | Augustines gate, at
the signe of | the Foxe. 1608. |
Q5. The | History of | Henrie the fourth, | With the Battell
at Shrewseburie, betweene | the King, and Lord Henrie Percy,
sur-| named Henrie Hotspur of the North. | With the humorous
conceites of Sir | Iohn Falstaffe. | Newly corrected by W. Shakespeare.
| London, | Printed by W. W. for Mathew Law, and are
to be sold | at his shop in Paules Church-yard, neere vnto S. |
Augustines Gate, at the signe of the Foxe. | 1613. |
[Pg xi]
Subsequent editions in Quarto were printed in 1622
(Q6) by T. P. for Mathew Law, in 1632 (Q7) by John Norton
for William Sheares, and in 1639 (Q8) by John Norton
for Hugh Perry. In all these the title-page is substantially
the same. Each Quarto appears to have been printed from
its predecessor.
The 'Dering MS.' quoted in our foot-notes was discovered
in the muniment room at Surrenden by the Rev.
Lambert B. Larking in 1844, and published in the following
year for the Shakespeare Society under the editorship
of Mr Halliwell. It contains a large portion of the First
Part of Henry IV. and some scenes of the Second Part.
Mr Halliwell believes it to have been written in the early
part of the 17th century, certainly earlier than 1640, for
the purpose of private theatrical performance. Some
additions and corrections were made by the hand of 'Sir
Edward Deryng, the first baronet, who died in 1644.'
(Introduction, p. xii. ed. 1845.)
We are of opinion that this MS. was copied from the
fifth Quarto of the First Part, and from a complete Quarto
of the Second Part. The writer seems to have been both
illiterate and careless. His punctuation is singularly bad,
and his spelling peculiar to himself. We have noticed
such various readings as seemed in any way remarkable.
4. The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
was first published in Quarto in 1600 with the following
title-page:
The | Second part of Henrie | the fourth, continuing to his
death, | and coronation of Henrie | the fift. | With the humours of
sir Iohn Fal-| staffe, and swaggering | Pistoll. | As it hath been
sundrie times publikely | acted by the right honourable, the Lord |
Chamberlaine his seruants. | Written by William Shakespeare. |
London | Printed by V. S. for Andrew Wise, and | William
Aspley. | 1600. |
In some copies of the Quarto the first scene of Act [Pg xii]III.
is left out altogether. The omission seems to have been
discovered after part of the edition had been struck off
and rectified by the insertion of two new leaves. In order
to make this insertion, the type was taken to pieces in
part of the preceding and subsequent leaves, so that there
are two different impressions for the latter part of Act II.
and the beginning of Act III. Sc. 2. Where this difference
occurs we have used the symbols Q1, and Q2; where the
two are identical we use only Q.
The version in the first Folio was probably printed
from a transcript of the original MS. It contains passages
of considerable length which are not found in the
Quarto. Some of these are among the finest in the play,
and are too closely connected with the context to allow
of the supposition that they were later additions inserted
by the author after the publication of the Quarto. In
the MS. from which that edition was printed, these passages
had been most likely omitted, or erased, in order
to shorten the play for the stage. The Folio in other
places affords occasional readings which seem preferable
to those of the Quarto, but for the most part the
Quarto is to be regarded as having the higher critical
value.
5. King Henry the Fifth appears in its present
form for the first time in the Folio of 1623. An imperfect
edition in quarto was printed surreptitiously in
1600, with the following title:
(Q1). The | Cronicle | History of Henry the fift, | With his
battell fought at Agin Court in | France. Togither with Auntient
| Pistoll. | As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right
honorable | the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. | London Printed
by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Milling-|ton, and Iohn Busby. And
are to be | sold at his house in Carter Lane, next | the Powle
head. 1600. |
The text of this edition is given literatim at the end
of the present volume, with the readings of two reprints[Pg xiii]
which appeared in 1602 and 1608 respectively. The title-pages
of these are as follows:
(Q2). The | Chronicle | History of Henry the fift, | With his
battell fought at Agin Court | in France. Together with Auntient |
Pistoll. | As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable
| the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. | London | Printed by
Thomas Creede, for Thomas | Pauier, and are to be sold at his
shop in Cornhill, | at the signe of the Cat and Parrets neare |
the Exchange. 1602. |
Q3. The | Chronicle History | of Henry the fift, with his |
battell fought at Agin Court in | France. Together with an-|cient
Pistoll. | As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right
Honou-|rable the Lord Chamberlaine his | Seruants. | Printed for
T. P. 1608. |
The text of these Quarto editions is so imperfect and
varies so much from the more authentic text of the
Folio, that it was impossible to give the variations in our
foot-notes. We are inclined to agree with Mr Collier and
others in the supposition that the Quarto text was 'hastily
made up from notes taken at the theatre during the
performance, subsequently patched together.' The references
to these Quartos are inclosed in brackets in accordance
with the rule mentioned in the Preface to Vol. I.
p. xxi.
It is scarcely necessary to add that 'The famous
Victories of Henry the Fift,' published in 1617, has nothing
to do with Shakespeare's play.
We have the pleasure of adding several new names
to the list of our benefactors. Miss Thackeray, of Windsor,
has been so kind as to lend us a copy of Nares's
Glossary which belonged to her late father, the Provost of
King's College, Cambridge, and is copiously annotated
in his hand.
Mr Henry Wilbraham has obtained for us the loan
of some valuable MS. notes on Shakespeare, compiled by
the late Mr Roger Wilbraham, F.R.S., formerly Fellow of[Pg xiv]
Trinity College, and now in the possession of Mr George
Fortescue Wilbraham of Delamere House, Cheshire.
Dr C. M. Ingleby and Mr G. R. French have sent
us valuable communications, the former with reference
to difficulties in the text, the latter with reference to
points of history and genealogy.
We are also indebted for various acts of kindness and
courtesy to the Marquis Camden, the Rev. T. S. Woollaston,
the Rev. Lambert B. Larking, the Rev. Archibald
Clerke of Kilmallie, Mr Stirling of Keir, Mr Pryme,
Mr W. B. Donne, Mr P. S. Worsley, Professor Goldwin
Smith, the Rev. H. O. Coxe, Librarian of the Bodleian,
Mr C. Wright, and the late Mr George Daniell.
[Pg xv]
W. G. C.
W. A. W.
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
| King John. |
| III. 1. 69. |
Add note, his owner] dishonour Bullock conj. |
| III. 1. 209. |
Note, for new betrimmed read new untamed or new betrimmed. |
| IV. 2. 63. |
Add note, you] you'd Keightley conj. |
| IV. 3. 54. |
Add to note, sin of time's Keightley conj. |
| V. 2. 30. |
Note, for Dyce conj. read S. Walker conj. |
| V. 7. 108. |
Add to note, give thanks to you Keightley conj. |
| King Richard II. |
| I. 2. 12. |
Note, for Q1 Q2 read Q1 Q2 Ff. |
| I. 3. 153. |
Note, for Anon. read Seymour. |
| II. 3. 95. |
Add note, ostentation of despised] ostentation's undisguised Bullock conj. |
| First Part of Henry IV. |
| I. 2. 175, 176. |
Add note, two ... third] three ... fourth Farmer conj. MS. |
| II. 2. 41. |
Add note, garters] garter Farmer conj. MS. |
| Second Part of Henry IV. |
| I. 1. 141. |
Add note, buckle] knuckle Bailey conj. |
| I. 3. 51. |
Add note, and] draw or and draw Keightley conj. |
| I. 3. 60. |
Add note, cost] house Keightley conj. |
| I. 3. 101, 102. |
Add note, They ... Are] Thou Art Keightley conj. |
| II. 4. 331, 346. |
Notes, for Q read Qq. |
| Henry V. |
| I. 2. 270. |
Add to note, thence Keightley conj. |
| I. 2. 274. |
Add note, my sail] my full or me full Keightley conj. |
| II. Chorus, 41. |
Add to note, But, ere ... come Keightley conj. |
| II. 1. 42. |
Add note, off] off now Keightley conj. |
[Pg xvi]
[Pg 1]
THE LIFE AND DEATH
OF
KING JOHN.
[Pg 2]
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[A].
- King John.
- Prince Henry, son to the king.
- Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, nephew to the king.
- The Earl of Pembroke.
- The Earl of Essex.
- The Earl of Salisbury.
- The Lord Bigot.
- Hubert De Burgh.
- Robert Faulconbridge, son to Sir Robert Faulconbridge.
- Philip the Bastard, his half-brother.
- James Gurney, servant to Lady Faulconbridge.
- Peter of Pomfret, a prophet.
- Philip, King of France.
- Lewis, the Dauphin.
- Lymoges, Duke of Austria.
- Cardinal Pandulph, the Pope's legate.
- Melun, a French lord.
- Chatillon, ambassador from France to King John.
- Queen Elinor, mother to King John.
- Constance, mother to Arthur.
- Blanch of Spain, niece to King John.
- Lady Faulconbridge.
- Lords, Citizens of Angiers, Sheriff, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and other Attendants.
Scene: Partly in England, and partly in France[B].
THE LIFE AND DEATH
OF
KING JOHN.
Scene I. King John's palace.
Enter King John, Queen Elinor, Pembroke, Essex, Salisbury,
and others, with Chatillon.[1]
K. John. Now, say, Chatillon, what would France with
us?
Chat. Thus, after greeting, speaks the King of France
In my behaviour to the majesty,
The borrowed majesty, of England here.[2]
Eli. A strange beginning: 'borrowed majesty!'[2]5
K. John. Silence, good mother; hear the embassy.
Chat. Philip of France, in right and true behalf
Of thy deceased brother Geffrey's son,[3]
Arthur Plantagenet, lays most lawful claim[4]
To this fair island and the territories,10
To Ireland, Poictiers, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,[5]
Desiring thee to lay aside the sword
Which sways usurpingly these several titles,
[Pg 4]
And put the same into young Arthur's hand,
Thy nephew and right royal sovereign.15
K. John. What follows if we disallow of this?
Chat. The proud control of fierce and bloody war,
To enforce these rights so forcibly withheld.
K. John. Here have we war for war and blood for blood,
Controlment for controlment: so answer France.[6]20
Chat. Then take my king's defiance from my mouth,
The farthest limit of my embassy.
K. John. Bear mine to him, and so depart in peace:
Be thou as lightning in the eyes of France;
For ere thou canst report I will be there,[7]25
The thunder of my cannon shall be heard:
So hence! Be thou the trumpet of our wrath
And sullen presage of your own decay.[8]
An honourable conduct let him have:
Pembroke, look to't. Farewell, Chatillon.[9]30
[Exeunt Chatillon and Pembroke.
Eli. What now, my son! have I not ever said
How that ambitious Constance would not cease
Till she had kindled France and all the world,
Upon the right and party of her son?
This might have been prevented and made whole35
With very easy arguments of love,
Which now the manage of two kingdoms must[10]
With fearful bloody issue arbitrate.
K. John. Our strong possession and our right for us.
Eli. Your strong possession much more than your right,40
Or else it must go wrong with you and me:
So much my conscience whispers in your ear,
[Pg 5]
Which none but heaven and you and I shall hear.
Enter a Sheriff.[11]
Essex. My liege, here is the strangest controversy
Come from the country to be judged by you,45
That e'er I heard: shall I produce the men?
K. John. Let them approach.
Our abbeys and our priories shall pay
This expedition's charge.
Enter Robert Faulconbridge, and Philip his bastard brother.[12]
What men are you?
Bast. Your faithful subject I, a gentleman[13]50
Born in Northamptonshire and eldest son,
As I suppose, to Robert Faulconbridge,[14]
A soldier, by the honour-giving hand
Of Cœur-de-lion knighted in the field.[15]
K. John. What art thou?[16]55
Rob. The son and heir to that same Faulconbridge.
K. John. Is that the elder, and art thou the heir?
You came not of one mother then, it seems.
Bast. Most certain of one mother, mighty king;
That is well known; and, as I think, one father:60
But for the certain knowledge of that truth
I put you o'er to heaven and to my mother:
Of that I doubt, as all men's children may.
Eli. Out on thee, rude man! thou dost shame thy mother
And wound her honour with this diffidence.65
Bast. I, madam? no, I have no reason for it;
That is my brother's plea and none of mine;
[Pg 6]
The which if he can prove, a' pops me out[17]
At least from fair five hundred pound a year:
Heaven guard my mother's honour and my land!70
K. John. A good blunt fellow. Why, being younger born,
Doth he lay claim to thine inheritance?
Bast. I know not why, except to get the land.
But once he slander'd me with bastardy:
But whether I be as true begot or no,[18]75
That still I lay upon my mother's head;
But that I am as well begot, my liege,—
Fair fall the bones that took the pains for me!—
Compare our faces and be judge yourself.[19]
If old Sir Robert did beget us both80
And were our father and this son like him,[20]
O old Sir Robert, father, on my knee
I give heaven thanks I was not like to thee!
K. John. Why, what a madcap hath heaven lent us here![21]
Eli. He hath a trick of Cœur-de-lion's face;[22]85
The accent of his tongue affecteth him.
Do you not read some tokens of my son
In the large composition of this man?
K. John. Mine eye hath well examined his parts
And finds them perfect Richard. Sirrah, speak,90
What doth move you to claim your brother's land?
Bast. Because he hath a half-face, like my father.[23]
With half that face would he have all my land:[23][24]
A half-faced groat five hundred pound a year![23]
Rob. My gracious liege, when that my father lived,95
Your brother did employ my father much,—
[Pg 7]
Bast. Well, sir, by this you cannot get my land:
Your tale must be how he employ'd my mother.
Rob. And once dispatch'd him in an embassy
To Germany, there with the emperor100
To treat of high affairs touching that time.
The advantage of his absence took the king
And in the mean time sojourn'd at my father's;
Where how he did prevail I shame to speak,
But truth is truth: large lengths of seas and shores[25]105
Between my father and my mother lay,
As I have heard my father speak himself,
When this same lusty gentleman was got.
Upon his death-bed he by will bequeath'd
His lands to me, and took it on his death[26]110
That this my mother's son was none of his;
And if he were, he came into the world[27]
Full fourteen weeks before the course of time.
Then, good my liege, let me have what is mine,
My father's land, as was my father's will.115
K. John. Sirrah, your brother is legitimate;
Your father's wife did after wedlock bear him,
And if she did play false, the fault was hers;
Which fault lies on the hazards of all husbands[28]
That marry wives. Tell me, how if my brother,120
Who, as you say, took pains to get this son,
Had of your father claim'd this son for his?
In sooth, good friend, your father might have kept
This calf bred from his cow from all the world;
In sooth he might; then, if he were my brother's,125
My brother might not claim him; nor your father,
Being none of his, refuse him: this concludes;
My mother's son did get your father's heir;
Your father's heir must have your father's land.
Rob. Shall then my father's will be of no force130
To dispossess that child which is not his?
Bast. Of no more force to dispossess me, sir,
Than was his will to get me, as I think.
[Pg 8]
Eli. Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge[29]
And like thy brother, to enjoy thy land,135
Or the reputed son of Cœur-de-lion,
Lord of thy presence and no land beside?[30]
Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape,[31]
And I had his, sir Robert's his, like him;[32]
And if my legs were two such riding-rods,[33]140
My arms such eel-skins stuff'd, my face so thin
That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose
Lest men should say 'Look, where three-farthings goes!'
And, to his shape, were heir to all this land,[34]
Would I might never stir from off this place,145
I would give it every foot to have this face;[35]
I would not be sir Nob in any case.[36]
Eli. I like thee well: wilt thou forsake thy fortune,
Bequeath thy land to him and follow me?
I am a soldier and now bound to France.150
Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my chance.
Your face hath got five hundred pound a year,
Yet sell your face for five pence and 'tis dear.
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.
Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.155
Bast. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. What is thy name?
Bast. Philip, my liege, so is my name begun;
Philip, good old sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose form thou bear'st:[37]160
Kneel thou down Philip, but rise more great,[38]
Arise sir Richard and Plantagenet.
[Pg 9]
Bast. Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand:
My father gave me honour, yours gave land.
Now blessed be the hour, by night or day,165
When I was got, sir Robert was away!
Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!
I am thy grandam, Richard; call me so.[39]
Bast. Madam, by chance but not by truth; what though?[40]
Something about, a little from the right,170
In at the window, or else o'er the hatch:
Who dares not stir by day must walk by night,
And have is have, however men do catch:
Near or far off, well won is still well shot,
And I am I, howe'er I was begot.175
K. John. Go, Faulconbridge: now hast thou thy desire;
A landless knight makes thee a landed squire.
Come, madam, and come, Richard, we must speed
For France, for France, for it is more than need.
Bast. Brother, adieu: good fortune come to thee!180
For thou wast got i' the way of honesty.[41]
[Exeunt all but Bastard.[42]
A foot of honour better than I was;
But many a many foot of land the worse.[43]
Well, now can I make any Joan a lady.
'Good den, sir Richard!'—'God-a-mercy, fellow!'—185
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter;
For new-made honour doth forget men's names:
'Tis too respective and too sociable[44]
For your conversion. Now your traveller,[45]
He and his toothpick at my worship's mess,190
[Pg 10]
And when my knightly stomach is sufficed,
Why then I suck my teeth and catechize
My picked man of countries: 'My dear sir,'[46]
Thus, leaning on mine elbow, I begin,
'I shall beseech you'—that is question now;[47]195
And then comes answer like an Absey book:[48]
'O sir,' says answer, 'at your best command;
At your employment; at your service, sir:'
'No, sir,' says question, 'I, sweet sir, at yours:'
And so, ere answer knows what question would,200
Saving in dialogue of compliment,[49]
And talking of the Alps and Apennines,
The Pyrenean and the river Po,[50]
It draws toward supper in conclusion so.[51]
But this is worshipful society205
And fits the mounting spirit like myself,[52]
For he is but a bastard to the time
That doth not smack of observation;[53]
And so am I, whether I smack or no;[53][54]
And not alone in habit and device,210
Exterior form, outward accoutrement,
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,[55]
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;215
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.
But who comes in such haste in riding-robes?
What woman-post is this? hath she no husband
[Pg 11]
That will take pains to blow a horn before her?
Enter Lady Faulconbridge and James Gurney.
O me! it is my mother. How now, good lady![56]220
What brings you here to court so hastily?
Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother? where is he,[57]
That holds in chase mine honour up and down?
Bast. My brother Robert? old sir Robert's son?
Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man?225
Is it sir Robert's son that you seek so?
Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay, thou unreverend boy,
Sir Robert's son: why scorn'st thou at sir Robert?[58]
He is sir Robert's son, and so art thou.
Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile?[59]230
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.
Bast. Philip! sparrow: James,[60]
There's toys abroad: anon I'll tell thee more. [Exit Gurney.[61]
Madam, I was not old sir Robert's son:
Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
Upon Good-Friday and ne'er broke his fast:235
Sir Robert could do well: marry, to confess,[62]
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it:[63]
We know his handiwork: therefore, good mother,
To whom am I beholding for these limbs?[64]
Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.[65]240
Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too,[66]
That for thine own gain shouldst defend mine honour?
What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave?
[Pg 12]
Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco-like.[67]
What! I am dubb'd! I have it on my shoulder.[68]245
But, mother, I am not sir Robert's son;
I have disclaim'd sir Robert and my land;
Legitimation, name and all is gone:
Then, good my mother, let me know my father;
Some proper man, I hope: who was it, mother?250
Lady F. Hast thou denied thyself a Faulconbridge?
Bast. As faithfully as I deny the devil.
Lady F. King Richard Cœur-de-lion was thy father:
By long and vehement suit I was seduced
To make room for him in my husband's bed:255
Heaven lay not my transgression to my charge![69]
Thou art the issue of my dear offence,[70]
Which was so strongly urged past my defence.
Bast. Now, by this light, were I to get again,
Madam, I would not wish a better father.260
Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
And so doth yours; your fault was not your folly:[71]
Needs must you lay your heart at his dispose.
Subjected tribute to commanding love,
Against whose fury and unmatched force265
The aweless lion could not wage the fight,
Nor keep his princely heart from Richard's hand.[72]
He that perforce robs lions of their hearts
May easily win a woman's. Ay, my mother,[73]
With all my heart I thank thee for my father!270
Who lives and dares but say thou didst not well
When I was got, I'll send his soul to hell.
Come, lady, I will show thee to my kin;[74]
And they shall say, when Richard me begot,
[Pg 13]
If thou hadst said him nay, it had been sin:275
Who says it was, he lies; I say 'twas not. [Exeunt.
Scene I. France. Before Angiers.
Enter Austria and forces, drums, etc. on one side: on the other
King Philip of France and his Power; Lewis, Arthur,
Constance and attendants.[75]
Lew. Before Angiers well met, brave Austria.[76]
Arthur, that great forerunner of thy blood,
Richard, that robb'd the lion of his heart
And fought the holy wars in Palestine,
By this brave duke came early to his grave:5
And for amends to his posterity,
At our importance hither is he come,
To spread his colours, boy, in thy behalf,
And to rebuke the usurpation
Of thy unnatural uncle, English John:10
Embrace him, love him, give him welcome hither.
Arth. God shall forgive you Cœur-de-lion's death
The rather that you give his offspring life,
Shadowing their right under your wings of war:[77]
I give you welcome with a powerless hand,15
But with a heart full of unstained love:[78]
Welcome before the gates of Angiers, duke.
Lew. A noble boy! Who would not do thee right?
Aust. Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss,
As seal to this indenture of my love,20
That to my home I will no more return,
[Pg 14]
Till Angiers and the right thou hast in France,
Together with that pale, that white-faced shore,
Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides
And coops from other lands her islanders,25
Even till that England, hedged in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utmost corner of the west[79]
Salute thee for her king: till then, fair boy,30
Will I not think of home, but follow arms.
Const. O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks,
Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength
To make a more requital to your love!
Aust. The peace of heaven is theirs that lift their swords[80]35
In such a just and charitable war.
K. Phi. Well then, to work: our cannon shall be bent[81]
Against the brows of this resisting town.
Call for our chiefest men of discipline,
To cull the plots of best advantages:40
We'll lay before this town our royal bones,
Wade to the market-place in Frenchmen's blood,
But we will make it subject to this boy.
Const. Stay for an answer to your embassy,
Lest unadvised you stain your swords with blood:45
My Lord Chatillon may from England bring
That right in peace which here we urge in war,
And then we shall repent each drop of blood
That hot rash haste so indirectly shed.[82]
Enter Chatillon.
K. Phi. A wonder, lady! lo, upon thy wish,50
Our messenger Chatillon is arrived!
What England says, say briefly, gentle lord;
[Pg 15]
We coldly pause for thee; Chatillon, speak.
Chat. Then turn your forces from this paltry siege
And stir them up against a mightier task.55
England, impatient of your just demands,
Hath put himself in arms: the adverse winds,
Whose leisure I have stay'd, have given him time
To land his legions all as soon as I;
His marches are expedient to this town,60
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife;[83]
With her her niece, the Lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king's deceased;[84]65
And all the unsettled humours of the land,
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,
With ladies' faces and fierce dragons' spleens,
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,[85]70
To make a hazard of new fortunes here:
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scath in Christendom. [Drum beats.[86]75
The interruption of their churlish drums
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand,[87]
To parley or to fight; therefore prepare.[87]
K. Phi. How much unlook'd for is this expedition!
Aust. By how much unexpected, by so much80
We must awake endeavour for defence;
For courage mounteth with occasion:
Let them be welcome then; we are prepared.
[Pg 16]
Enter King John, Elinor, Blanch, the Bastard, Lords, and
Forces.[88]
K. John. Peace be to France, if France in peace permit[89]
Our just and lineal entrance to our own;85
If not, bleed France, and peace ascend to heaven,
Whiles we, God's wrathful agent, do correct[90]
Their proud contempt that beats His peace to heaven.[91]
K. Phi. Peace be to England, if that war return
From France to England, there to live in peace.90
England we love; and for that England's sake
With burden of our armour here we sweat.
This toil of ours should be a work of thine;
But thou from loving England art so far,
That thou hast under-wrought his lawful king,[92]95
Cut off the sequence of posterity,
Out-faced infant state and done a rape
Upon the maiden virtue of the crown.
Look here upon thy brother Geffrey's face;
These eyes, these brows, were moulded out of his:100
This little abstract doth contain that large
Which died in Geffrey, and the hand of time
Shall draw this brief into as huge a volume.[93]
That Geffrey was thy elder brother born,
And this his son; England was Geffrey's right105
And this is Geffrey's: in the name of God[94]
How comes it then that thou art call'd a king,
When living blood doth in these temples beat,
Which owe the crown that thou o'ermasterest?
K. John. From whom hast thou this great commission, France,110
To draw my answer from thy articles?[95]
[Pg 17]
K. Phi. From that supernal judge, that stirs good thoughts
In any breast of strong authority,[96]
To look into the blots and stains of right:[97]
That judge hath made me guardian to this boy:115
Under whose warrant I impeach thy wrong
And by whose help I mean to chastise it.
K. John. Alack, thou dost usurp authority.[98]
K. Phi. Excuse; it is to beat usurping down.[98][99]
Eli. Who is it thou dost call usurper, France?[98][100]120
Const. Let me make answer; thy usurping son.[98]
Eli. Out, insolent! thy bastard shall be king,[98]
That thou mayst be a queen, and check the world![98]
Const. My bed was ever to thy son as true[98]
As thine was to thy husband; and this boy[98]125
Liker in feature to his father Geffrey[98]
Than thou and John in manners; being as like[98][101]
As rain to water, or devil to his dam.[98]
My boy a bastard! By my soul, I think[98]
His father never was so true begot:[98]130
It cannot be, an if thou wert his mother.[98][102]
Eli. There's a good mother, boy, that blots thy father.[98]
Const. There's a good grandam, boy, that would blot thee.[98][103]
Bast. Hear the crier.[98]
Aust. What the devil art thou?[98]
Bast. One that will play the devil, sir, with you,[98]135
An a' may catch your hide and you alone:[98][104]
You are the hare of whom the proverb goes,[98]
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard:[98]
[Pg 18]
I'll smoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right;[98][105]
Sirrah, look to't; i' faith, I will, i' faith.[98]140
Blanch. O, well did he become that lion's robe[98]
That did disrobe the lion of that robe![98]
Bast. It lies as sightly on the back of him[98]
As great Alcides' shows upon an ass:[98][106]
But, ass, I'll take that burthen from your back,[98]145
Or lay on that shall make your shoulders crack.[98]
Aust. What cracker is this same that deafs our ears[98]
With this abundance of superfluous breath?[98]
K. Phi. Lewis, determine what we shall do straight.[98][107]
Lew. Women and fools, break off your conference.[98][108]150
King John, this is the very sum of all;
England and Ireland, Anjou, Touraine, Maine,[109]
In right of Arthur do I claim of thee:[110]
Wilt thou resign them and lay down thy arms?
K. John. My life as soon: I do defy thee, France.155
Arthur of Bretagne, yield thee to my hand;[111]
And out of my dear love I'll give thee more
Than e'er the coward hand of France can win:
Submit thee, boy.[112]
Eli. Come to thy grandam, child.[112]
Const. Do, child, go to it grandam, child;[112][113][114]160
Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will[112][114]
Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig:[112]
There's a good grandam.[112]
Arth. Good my mother, peace![112]
I would that I were low laid in my grave:[112]
I am not worth this coil that's made for me.[112]165
[Pg 19]
Eli. His mother shames him so, poor boy, he weeps.[112]
Const. Now shame upon you, whether she does or no![112][115]
His grandam's wrongs, and not his mother's shames,[112][116]
Draws those heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,[112][117]
Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;[112]170
Ay, with these crystal beads heaven shall be bribed[112][118]
To do him justice and revenge on you.[112]
Eli. Thou monstrous slanderer of heaven and earth![112]
Const. Thou monstrous injurer of heaven and earth![112]
Call not me slanderer; thou and thine usurp[112][119]175
The dominations, royalties and rights[112][120]
Of this oppressed boy: this is thy eld'st son's son,[112][121]
Infortunate in nothing but in thee:[112]
Thy sins are visited in this poor child;[112][122]
The canon of the law is laid on him,[112]180
Being but the second generation[112]
Removed from thy sin-conceiving womb.[112]
Const. I have but this to say,[112]
That he is not only plagued for her sin,[112]
But God hath made her sin and her the plague[112]185
On this removed issue, plagued for her[112]
And with her plague; her sin his injury,[112][124]
Her injury the beadle to her sin,[112][125]
All punish'd in the person of this child,[112]
And all for her; a plague upon her![112][126]190
[Pg 20]
Eli. Thou unadvised scold, I can produce[112]
A will that bars the title of thy son.[112]
Const. Ay, who doubts that? a will! a wicked will;[112]
A woman's will; a canker'd grandam's will![112]
K. Phi. Peace, lady! pause, or be more temperate:[112]195
It ill beseems this presence to cry aim[112][127]
To these ill-tuned repetitions.[112]
Some trumpet summon hither to the walls
These men of Angiers: let us hear them speak
Whose title they admit, Arthur's or John's.200
Trumpet sounds. Enter certain Citizens upon the walls.[128]
First Cit. Who is it that hath warn'd us to the walls?
K. Phi. 'Tis France, for England.
K. John. England, for itself.
You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,—
K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects,
Our trumpet call'd you to this gentle parle,—205
K. John. For our advantage; therefore hear us first.[129]
These flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and prospect of your town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement:
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath,210
And ready mounted are they to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparation for a bloody siege[130]
And merciless proceeding by these French[131]
Confronts your city's eyes, your winking gates;[132]215
And but for our approach those sleeping stones,
That as a waist doth girdle you about,[133]
[Pg 21]
By the compulsion of their ordinance[134]
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made220
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But on the sight of us your lawful king,
Who painfully with much expedient march
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threatened cheeks,[135]225
Behold, the French amazed vouchsafe a parle;
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,[136]
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shoot but calm words folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears:230
Which trust accordingly kind citizens,
And let us in, your king, whose labour'd spirits,[137]
Forwearied in this action of swift speed,[138]
Crave harbourage within your city walls.[139]
K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both.235
Lo, in this right hand, whose protection
Is most divinely vow'd upon the right
Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet,
Son to the elder brother of this man,
And king o'er him and all that he enjoys:240
For this down-trodden equity, we tread
In warlike march these greens before your town,
Being no further enemy to you
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal
In the relief of this oppressed child245
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
To pay that duty which you truly owe
To him that owes it, namely this young prince:[140]
And then our arms, like to a muzzled bear,
Save in aspect, hath all offence seal'd up;[141]250
[Pg 22]
Our cannons' malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;[142]
And with a blessed and unvex'd retire,
With unhack'd swords and helmets all unbruised.
We will bear home that lusty blood again255
Which here we came to spout against your town,
And leave your children, wives and you in peace.
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,[143]
'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced walls[144]
Can hide you from our messengers of war,260
Though all these English and their discipline
Were harbour'd in their rude circumference.[145]
Then tell us, shall your city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challenged it?[146]
Or shall we give the signal to our rage265
And stalk in blood to our possession?
First Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects:
For him, and in his right, we hold this town.[147]
K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.
First Cit. That can we not; but he that proves the king,270
To him will we prove loyal: till that time
Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.
K. John. Doth not the crown of England prove the king?
And if not that, I bring you witnesses,
Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,—275
Bast. Bastards, and else.[148]
K. John. To verify our title with their lives.
K. Phi. As many and as well-born bloods as those,—
K. Phi. Stand in his face to contradict his claim.280
First Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,
We for the worthiest hold the right from both.
K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls[149]
That to their everlasting residence,
Before the dew of evening fall, shall fleet,285
In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!
K. Phi. Amen, amen! Mount, chevaliers! to arms!
Bast. Saint George, that swinged the dragon, and e'er since[150]
Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door,[150][151]
Teach us some fence! [To Aust.] Sirrah, were I at home,[152]290
At your den, sirrah, with your lioness,
I would set an ox-head to your lion's hide,[153]
And make a monster of you.
Aust. Peace! no more.
Bast. O, tremble, for you hear the lion roar.
K. John. Up higher to the plain; where we'll set forth295
In best appointment all our regiments.
Bast. Speed then, to take advantage of the field.[154]
K. Phi. It shall be so; and at the other hill[155]
Command the rest to stand. God and our right! [Exeunt.
Here after excursions, enter the Herald of France, with trumpets,
to the gates.[156]
F. Her. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates,[157]300
And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in,[158]
Who by the hand of France this day hath made
Much work for tears in many an English mother,
[Pg 24]
Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground:[159]
Many a widow's husband grovelling lies,[160]305
Coldly embracing the discoloured earth;[161]
And victory, with little loss, doth play[162]
Upon the dancing banners of the French,
Who are at hand, triumphantly display'd,[163]
To enter conquerors and to proclaim310
Arthur of Bretagne England's king and yours.[158]
Enter English Herald, with trumpet.[164]
E. Her. Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells;
King John, your king and England's, doth approach,
Commander of this hot malicious day:
Their armours, that march'd hence so silver-bright,315
Hither return all gilt with Frenchmen's blood;[165]
There stuck no plume in any English crest
That is removed by a staff of France;[166]
Our colours do return in those same hands
That did display them when we first march'd forth;320
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Dyed in the dying slaughter of their foes:[167]
Open your gates and give the victors way.
First Cit. Heralds, from off our towers we might behold,[168]325
From first to last, the onset and retire
Of both your armies; whose equality
By our best eyes cannot be censured:
Blood hath bought blood and blows have answer'd blows;
Strength match'd with strength, and power confronted power:330
Both are alike; and both alike we like.
[Pg 25]
One must prove greatest: while they weigh so even,
We hold our town for neither, yet for both.
Re-enter the two Kings, with their powers, severally.[169]
K. John. France, hast thou yet more blood to cast away?[170]
Say, shall the current of our right run on?[171]335
Whose passage, vex'd with thy impediment,
Shall leave his native channel, and o'erswell
With course disturb'd even thy confining shores,
Unless thou let his silver water keep[172]
A peaceful progress to the ocean.340
K. Phi. England, thou hast not saved one drop of blood,
In this hot trial, more than we of France;
Rather, lost more. And by this hand I swear,
That sways the earth this climate overlooks,
Before we will lay down our just-borne arms,[173]345
We'll put thee down, 'gainst whom these arms we bear,
Or add a royal number to the dead,
Gracing the scroll that tells of this war's loss
With slaughter coupled to the name of kings.
Bast. Ha, majesty! how high thy glory towers,350
When the rich blood of kings is set on fire!
O, now doth Death line his dead chaps with steel;
The swords of soldiers are his teeth, his fangs;
And now he feasts, mousing the flesh of men,[174]
In undetermined differences of kings.355
Why stand these royal fronts amazed thus?
Cry, 'havoc!' kings; back to the stained field,
You equal potents, fiery kindled spirits![175]
[Pg 26]
Then let confusion of one part confirm
The other's peace; till then, blows, blood, and death!360
K. John. Whose party do the townsmen yet admit?
K. Phi. Speak, citizens, for England; who's your king?[176]
First Cit. The king of England, when we know the king.
K. Phi. Know him in us, that here hold up his right.
K. John. In us, that are our own great deputy,365
And bear possession of our person here,[177]
Lord of our presence, Angiers, and of you.[178]
First Cit. A greater power than we denies all this;[179]
And till it be undoubted, we do lock
Our former scruple in our strong-barr'd gates;370
King'd of our fears, until our fears, resolved,[180][181]
Be by some certain king purged and deposed.[181]
Bast. By heaven, these scroyles of Angiers flout you, kings,[182]
And stand securely on their battlements,
As in a theatre, whence they gape and point375
At your industrious scenes and acts of death.[183]
Your royal presences be ruled by me:[184]
Do like the mutines of Jerusalem,[185]
Be friends awhile and both conjointly bend[186]
Your sharpest deeds of malice on this town:380
By east and west let France and England mount
Their battering cannon charged to the mouths,
Till their soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd down
[Pg 27]
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city:
I'ld play incessantly upon these jades,385
Even till unfenced desolation
Leave them as naked as the vulgar air.
That done, dissever your united strengths,
And part your mingled colours once again;
Turn face to face and bloody point to point;390
Then, in a moment, Fortune shall cull forth
Out of one side her happy minion,
To whom in favour she shall give the day,
And kiss him with a glorious victory.
How like you this wild counsel, mighty states?395
Smacks it not something of the policy?[187]
K. John. Now, by the sky that hangs above our heads,
I like it well. France, shall we knit our powers
And lay this Angiers even with the ground;
Then after fight who shall be king of it?400
Bast. An if them hast the mettle of a king,[188]
Being wrong'd as we are by this peevish town,
Turn thou the mouth of thy artillery,
As we will ours, against these saucy walls;
And when that we have dash'd them to the ground,405
Why then defy each other, and pell-mell
Make work upon ourselves, for heaven or hell.
K. Phi. Let it be so. Say, where will you assault?
K. John. We from the west will send destruction
Into this city's bosom.410
Aust. I from the north.
K. Phi. Our thunder from the south[189]
Shall rain their drift of bullets on this town.
Bast. O prudent discipline! From north to south:[190]
Austria and France shoot in each other's mouth:[190]
I'll stir them to it. Come, away, away![190]415
[Pg 28]
First Cit. Hear us, great kings: vouchsafe awhile to stay,
And I shall show you peace and fair-faced league;
Win you this city without stroke or wound;
Rescue those breathing lives to die in beds,
That here come sacrifices for the field:420
Persever not, but hear me, mighty kings.
K. John. Speak on with favour; we are bent to hear.[191]
First Cit. That daughter there of Spain, the Lady Blanch,
Is niece to England: look upon the years[192]
Of Lewis the Dauphin and that lovely maid:[193]425
If lusty love should go in quest of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?
If zealous love should go in search of virtue,[194]
Where should he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love ambitious sought a match of birth,430
Whose veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch?
Such as she is, in beauty, virtue, birth,
Is the young Dauphin every way complete:[193]
If not complete of, say he is not she;[195]
And she again wants nothing, to name want,435
If want it be not that she is not he:[196]
He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she;[197]
And she a fair divided excellence,[198]
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him.440
O, two such silver currents, when they join,
Do glorify the banks that bound them in;
And two such shores to two such streams made one,
Two such controlling bounds shall you be, kings,
To these two princes, if you marry them.445
[Pg 29]
This union shall do more than battery can
To our fast-closed gates; for at this match,
With swifter spleen than powder can enforce,[199]
The mouth of passage shall we fling wide ope.
And give you entrance: but without this match,450
The sea enraged is not half so deaf,
Lions more confident, mountains and rocks[200]
More free from motion, no, not Death himself[200]
In mortal fury half so peremptory,
As we to keep this city.
Bast. Here's a stay[201]455
That shakes the rotten carcass of old Death
Out of his rags! Here's a large mouth, indeed,
That spits forth death and mountains, rocks and seas,
Talks as familiarly of roaring lions
As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs!460
What cannoneer begot this lusty blood?[202]
He speaks plain cannon fire, and smoke and bounce;[203]
He gives the bastinado with his tongue:
Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of his
But buffets better than a fist of France:465
Zounds! I was never so bethump'd with words
Since I first call'd my brother's father dad.[204]
Eli. Son, list to this conjunction, make this match;[205][206]
Give with our niece a dowry large enough:[206]
For by this knot thou shalt so surely tie[206]470
Thy now unsured assurance to the crown,[206][207]
That yon green boy shall have no sun to ripe[206]
The bloom that promiseth a mighty fruit.[206]
I see a yielding in the looks of France;[206]
Mark, how they whisper: urge them while their souls[206]475
[Pg 30]
Are capable of this ambition,[206]
Lest zeal, now melted by the windy breath[206][208]
Of soft petitions, pity and remorse,[206]
Cool and congeal again to what it was.[206]
First Cit. Why answer not the double majesties480
This friendly treaty of our threaten'd town?
K. Phi. Speak England first, that hath been forward first[209]
To speak unto this city: what say you?
K. John. If that the Dauphin there, thy princely son,[193]
Can in this book of beauty read 'I love,'485
Her dowry shall weigh equal with a queen:[210]
For Anjou, and fair Touraine, Maine, Poictiers,[211]
And all that we upon this side the sea,
Except this city now by us besieged,
Find liable to our crown and dignity,490
Shall gild her bridal bed and make her rich
In titles, honours and promotions,
As she in beauty, education, blood,[212]
Holds hand with any princess of the world.[213]
K. Phi. What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face.495
Lew. I do, my lord; and in her eye I find[214]
A wonder, or a wondrous miracle,
The shadow of myself form'd in her eye;[215]
Which, being but the shadow of your son,[215]
Becomes a sun and makes your son a shadow:[215][216]500
I do protest I never loved myself
Till now infixed I beheld myself[217]
Drawn in the flattering table of her eye.[218]
[Whispers with Blanch.
[Pg 31]
Bast. Drawn in the flattering table of her eye![219]
Hang'd in the frowning-wrinkle of her brow!505
And quarter'd in her heart! he doth espy
Himself love's traitor: this is pity now,
That, hang'd and drawn and quarter'd, there should be
In such a love so vile a lout as he.
Blanch. My uncle's will in this respect is mine:[220]510
If he see aught in you that makes him like,
That any thing he sees, which moves his liking,
I can with ease translate it to my will;[221]
Or if you will, to speak more properly,
I will enforce it easily to my love.[222]515
Further I will not flatter you, my lord,
That all I see in you is worthy love,
Than this; that nothing do I see in you,
Though churlish thoughts themselves should be your judge,
That I can find should merit any hate.520
K. John. What say these young ones? What say you, my niece?
Blanch. That she is bound in honour still to do
What you in wisdom still vouchsafe to say.[223]
K. John. Speak then, prince Dauphin; can you love this lady?
Lew. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love;525
For I do love her most unfeignedly.
K. John. Then do I give Volquessen, Touraine, Maine,
Poictiers, and Anjou, these five provinces,[224]
With her to thee; and this addition more,
Full thirty thousand marks of English coin.530
Philip of France, if thou be pleased withal,
Command thy son and daughter to join hands.
K. Phi. It likes us well; young princes, close your hands.[225]
[Pg 32]
Aust. And your lips too; for I am well assured[226]
That I did so when I was first assured.[226]535
K. Phi. Now, citizens of Angiers, ope your gates,[227]
Let in that amity which you have made;
For at Saint Mary's chapel presently
The rites of marriage shall be solemnized.
Is not the Lady Constance in this troop?540
I know she is not, for this match made up[228]
Her presence would have interrupted much:
Where is she and her son? tell me, who knows.[229]
Lew. She is sad and passionate at your highness' tent.[230]
K. Phil. And, by my faith, this league that we have made545
Will give her sadness very little cure.
Brother of England, how may we content
This widow lady? In her right we came;[231]
Which we, God knows, have turn'd another way,
To our own vantage.
K. John. We will heal up all;550
For we'll create young Arthur Duke of Bretagne[232]
And Earl of Richmond; and this rich fair town
We make him lord of. Call the Lady Constance;[233]
Some speedy messenger bid her repair
To our solemnity: I trust we shall,555
If not fill up the measure of her will,
Yet in some measure satisfy her so
That we shall stop her exclamation.
Go we, as well as haste will suffer us,
To this unlook'd for, unprepared pomp.560
[Exeunt all but the Bastard.[234]
Bast. Mad world! mad kings! mad composition![235]
John, to stop Arthur's title in the whole,
Hath willingly departed with a part,
[Pg 33]
And France, whose armour conscience buckled on,
Whom zeal and charity brought to the field565
As God's own soldier, rounded in the ear
With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil,
That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith,
That daily break-vow, he that wins of all,
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids,570
Who, having no external thing to lose[236]
But the word 'maid,' cheats the poor maid of that,[237]
That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling Commodity,
Commodity, the bias of the world,
The world, who of itself is peised well,[238]575
Made to run even upon even ground,
Till this advantage, this vile-drawing bias,[239]
This sway of motion, this Commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent:580
And this same bias, this Commodity,
This bawd, this broker, this all-changing word,[240]
Clapp'd on the outward eye of fickle France,
Hath drawn him from his own determined aid,[241]
From a resolved and honourable war,585
To a most base and vile-concluded peace.[242]
And why rail I on this Commodity?[243]
But for because he hath not woo'd me yet:
Not that I have the power to clutch my hand,[244]
When his fair angels would salute my palm;590
But for my hand, as unattempted yet,[245]
Like a poor beggar, raileth on the rich.
[Pg 34]
Well, whiles I am a beggar, I will rail[246]
And say there is no sin but to be rich;
And being rich, my virtue then shall be595
To say there is no vice but beggary.
Since kings break faith upon commodity,
Gain, be my lord, for I will worship thee.[247] [Exit.
Scene I. The French King's Pavilion.[248]
Enter Constance, Arthur, and Salisbury.
Const. Gone to be married! gone to swear a peace!
False blood to false blood join'd! gone to be friends!
Shall Lewis have Blanch, and Blanch those provinces?
It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard;
Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again:5
It cannot be; thou dost but say 'tis so:
I trust I may not trust thee; for thy word[249]
Is but the vain breath of a common man:
Believe me, I do not believe thee, man;[250]
I have a king's oath to the contrary.10
Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frighting me,
For I am sick and capable of fears,
Oppress'd with wrongs and therefore full of fears.
A widow, husbandless, subject to fears,
A woman, naturally born to fears;15
And though thou now confess thou didst but jest,[251]
With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce,[251][252]
But they will quake and tremble all this day.
What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?
[Pg 35]
Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?20
What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?
Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words?[253]
Then speak again; not all thy former tale,25
But this one word, whether thy tale be true.
Sal. As true as I believe you think them false[254]
That give you cause to prove my saying true.
Const. O, if thou teach me to believe this sorrow,
Teach thou this sorrow how to make me die,30
And let belief and life encounter so
As doth the fury of two desperate men
Which in the very meeting fall and die.
Lewis marry Blanch! O boy, then where art thou?[255]
France friend with England, what becomes of me?[256]35
Fellow, be gone: I cannot brook thy sight:
This news hath made thee a most ugly man.[257]
Sal. What other harm have I, good lady, done,[257]
But spoke the harm that is by others done?[257]
Const. Which harm within itself so heinous is[257]40
As it makes harmful all that speak of it.[257]
Arth. I do beseech you, madam, be content.[258]
Const. If thou, that bid'st me be content, wert grim,
Ugly and slanderous to thy mother's womb,
Full of unpleasing blots and sightless stains,[259]45
Lame, foolish, crooked, swart, prodigious,
Patch'd with foul moles and eye-offending marks,
I would not care, I then would be content,
For then I should not love thee, no, nor thou
Become thy great birth nor deserve a crown.50
But thou art fair, and at thy birth, dear boy,
Nature and Fortune join'd to make thee great:
Of Nature's gifts thou mayst with lilies boast
[Pg 36]
And with the half-blown rose. But Fortune, O,
She is corrupted, changed and won from thee;55
She adulterates hourly with thine uncle John,[260]
And with her golden hand hath pluck'd on France
To tread down fair respect of sovereignty.
And made his majesty the bawd to theirs.
France is a bawd to Fortune and King John,[261]60
That strumpet Fortune, that usurping John!
Tell me, thou fellow, is not France forsworn?
Envenom him with words, or get thee gone
And leave those woes alone which I alone[262]
Am bound to under-bear.
Sal. Pardon me, madam,65
I may not go without you to the kings.
Const. Thou mayst, thou shalt; I will not go with thee:
I will instruct my sorrows to be proud;[263]
For grief is proud and makes his owner stoop.[264]
To me and to the state of my great grief70
Let kings assemble; for my grief's so great
That no supporter but the huge firm earth[265]
Can hold it up: here I and sorrows sit;[266]
Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.
[Seats herself on the ground.[267]
Enter King John, King Philip, Lewis, Blanch, Elinor, the
Bastard, Austria, and Attendants.
K. Phi. 'Tis true, fair daughter; and this blessed day
Ever in France shall be kept festival:[268]75
To solemnize this day the glorious sun
[Pg 37]
Stays in his course and plays the alchemist,
Turning with splendour of his precious eye
The meagre cloddy earth to glittering gold:80
The yearly course that brings this day about
Shall never see it but a holiday.[269]
Const. A wicked day, and not a holy day! [Rising.[270]
What hath this day deserved? what hath it done,
That it in golden letters should be set85
Among the high tides in the calendar?
Nay, rather turn this day out of the week,
This day of shame, oppression, perjury.
Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child
Pray that their burthens may not fall this day,90
Lest that their hopes prodigiously be cross'd:
But on this day let seamen fear no wreck;[271]
No bargains break that are not this day made:
This day, all things begun come to ill end,
Yea, faith itself to hollow falsehood change![272]95
K. Phi. By heaven, lady, you shall have no cause
To curse the fair proceedings of this day:
Have I not pawn'd to you my majesty?
Const. You have beguiled me with a counterfeit
Resembling majesty, which, being touch'd and tried,[273]100
Proves valueless: you are forsworn, forsworn;
You came in arms to spill mine enemies' blood,[274]
But now in arms you strengthen it with yours:
The grappling vigour and rough frown of war
Is cold in amity and painted peace,[275]105
And our oppression hath made up this league.[276]
Arm, arm, you heavens, against these perjured kings![277]
[Pg 38]
A widow cries; be husband to me, heavens![278]
Let not the hours of this ungodly day
Wear out the day in peace; but, ere sunset,[279]110
Set armed discord 'twixt these perjured kings!
Hear me, O, hear me!
Aust. Lady Constance, peace!
Const. War! war! no peace! peace is to me a war.
O Lymoges! O Austria! thou dost shame
That bloody spoil: thou slave, thou wretch, thou coward!115
Thou little valiant, great in villany!
Thou ever strong upon the stronger side!
Thou Fortune's champion that dost never fight
But when her humorous ladyship is by
To teach thee safety! thou art perjured too,120
And soothest up greatness. What a fool art thou.
A ramping fool, to brag and stamp and swear[280]
Upon my party! Thou cold-blooded slave,
Hast thou not spoke like thunder on my side,
Been sworn my soldier, bidding me depend125
Upon thy stars, thy fortune and thy strength,
And dost thou now fall over to my foes?
Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for shame,
And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.[281]
Aust. O, that a man should speak those words to me![282]130
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.[283]
Aust. Thou darest not say so, villain, for thy life.
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on those recreant limbs.[283][284]
K. John. We like not this; thou dost forget thyself.
Enter Pandulph.[285]
K. Phi. Here comes the holy legate of the pope.135
[Pg 39]
Pand. Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven!
To thee, King John, my holy errand is.
I Pandulph, of fair Milan cardinal,
And from Pope Innocent the legate here,
Do in his name religiously demand140
Why thou against the church, our holy mother,
So wilfully dost spurn; and force perforce
Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop[286]
Of Canterbury, from that holy see?[287]
This, in our foresaid holy father's name,145
Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee.
K. John. What earthy name to interrogatories[288]
Can task the free breath of a sacred king?[289]
Thou canst not, cardinal, devise a name
So slight, unworthy and ridiculous,150
To charge me to an answer, as the pope.[290]
Tell him this tale; and from the mouth of England
Add thus much more, that no Italian priest
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions;
But as we, under heaven, are supreme head,[291]155
So under Him that great supremacy,[292]
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold,
Without the assistance of a mortal hand:
So tell the pope, all reverence set apart
To him and his usurp'd authority.160
K. Phi. Brother of England, you blaspheme in this.
K. John. Though you and all the kings of Christendom
Are led so grossly by this meddling priest,
Dreading the curse that money may buy out;
And by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust,165
Purchase corrupted pardon of a man,
Who in that sale sells pardon from himself,
Though you and all the rest so grossly led
This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish,
[Pg 40]
Yet I alone, alone do me oppose170
Against the pope and count his friends my foes.
Pand. Then, by the lawful power that I have,
Thou shalt stand cursed and excommunicate:
And blessed shall he be that doth revolt
From his allegiance to an heretic;175
And meritorious shall that hand be call'd,
Canonized and worshipp'd as a saint,[293]
That takes away by any secret course
Thy hateful life.
Const. O, lawful let it be
That I have room with Rome to curse awhile![294]180
Good father cardinal, cry thou amen
To my keen curses; for without my wrong
There is no tongue hath power to curse him right.
Pand. There's law and warrant, lady, for my curse.
Const. And for mine too: when law can do no right,[295]185
Let it be lawful that law bar no wrong:
Law cannot give my child his kingdom here,
For he that holds his kingdom holds the law;
Therefore, since law itself is perfect wrong,
How can the law forbid my tongue to curse?190
Pand. Philip of France, on peril of a curse,
Let go the hand of that arch-heretic;
And raise the power of France upon his head,
Unless he do submit himself to Rome.
Eli. Look'st thou pale, France? do not let go thy hand.195
Const. Look to that, devil; lest that France repent,[296]
And by disjoining hands, hell lose a soul.
Aust. King Philip, listen to the cardinal.
Bast. And hang a calf's-skin on his recreant limbs.[297]
[Pg 41]
Aust. Well, ruffian, I must pocket up these wrongs,200
Because—
Bast. Your breeches best may carry them.
K. John. Philip, what say'st thou to the cardinal?
Const. What should he say, but as the cardinal?
Lew. Bethink you, father; for the difference
Is purchase of a heavy curse from Rome,205
Or the light loss of England for a friend:
Forego the easier.
Blanch. That's the curse of Rome.[298]
Const. O Lewis, stand fast! the devil tempts thee here[299]
In likeness of a new untrimmed bride.[300]
Blanch. The Lady Constance speaks not from her faith,[301]210
But from her need.[301]
Const. O, if thou grant my need,[301]
Which only lives but by the death of faith,[301]
That need must needs infer this principle,[301]
That faith would live again by death of need.[301]
O then, tread down my need, and faith mounts up;[301]215
Keep my need up, and faith is trodden down![301]
K. John. The king is moved, and answers not to this.[301][302]
Const. O, be removed from him, and answer well![301]
Aust. Do so, King Philip; hang no more in doubt.[301]
Bast. Hang nothing but a calf's-skin, most sweet lout.[301]220
K. Phi. I am perplex'd, and know not what to say.
Pand. What canst thou say but will perplex thee more,
If thou stand excommunicate and cursed?
K. Phi. Good reverend father, make my person yours,
And tell me how you would bestow yourself.225
This royal hand and mine are newly knit,
And the conjunction of our inward souls
Married in league, coupled and link'd together
With all religious strength of sacred vows;
The latest breath that save the sound of words230
Was deep-sworn faith, peace, amity, true love
[Pg 42]
Between our kingdoms and our royal selves,
And even before this truce, but new before,[303]
No longer than we well could wash our hands
To clap this royal bargain up of peace,235
Heaven knows, they were besmear'd and overstain'd
With slaughter's pencil, where revenge did paint
The fearful difference of incensed kings:
And shall these hands, so lately purged of blood,
So newly join'd in love, so strong in both,240
Unyoke this seizure and this kind regreet?
Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven,
Make such unconstant children of ourselves,
As now again to snatch our palm from palm,
Unswear faith sworn, and on the marriage-bed245
Of smiling peace to march a bloody host,
And make a riot on the gentle brow
Of true sincerity? O, holy sir,
My reverend father, let it not be so!
Out of your grace, devise, ordain, impose250
Some gentle order; and then we shall be blest[304]
To do your pleasure and continue friends.
Pand. All form is formless, order orderless.
Save what is opposite to England's love.
Therefore to arms! be champion of our church,255
Or let the church, our mother, breathe her curse,
A mother's curse, on her revolting son.
France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue,
A chafed lion by the mortal paw,[305]
A fasting tiger safer by the tooth,260
Than keep in peace that hand which thou dost hold.
K. Phi. I may disjoin my hand, but not my faith.
Pand. So makest thou faith an enemy to faith;
And like a civil war set'st oath to oath,
Thy tongue against thy tongue. O, let thy vow265
First made to heaven, first be to heaven perform'd,
[Pg 43]
That is, to be the champion of our church.
What since thou sworest is sworn against thyself
And may not be performed by thyself,
For that which thou hast sworn to do amiss270
Is not amiss when it is truly done,[306]
And being not done, where doing tends to ill,
The truth is then most done not doing it:
The better act of purposes mistook
Is to mistake again; though indirect,[307]275
Yet indirection thereby grows direct,
And falsehood falsehood cures, as fire cools fire
Within the scorched veins of one new-burn'd.
It is religion that doth make vows kept;
But thou hast sworn against religion,280
By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st,[308]
And makest an oath the surety for thy truth[309]
Against an oath: the truth thou art unsure[309][310][311]
To swear, swears only not to be forsworn;[311][312]
Else what a mockery should it be to swear!285
But thou dost swear only to be forsworn;
And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.
Therefore thy later vows against thy first[313]
Is in thyself rebellion to thyself;
And better conquest never canst thou make290
Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts
Against these giddy loose suggestions:[314]
Upon which better part our prayers come in,
[Pg 44]
If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know
The peril of our curses light on thee[315]295
So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,
But in despair die under their black weight.
Aust. Rebellion, flat rebellion!
Bast. Will't not be?
Will not a calf's-skin stop that mouth of thine?
Lew. Father, to arms![316]
Blanch. Upon thy wedding-day?300
Against the blood that thou hast married?
What, shall our feast be kept with slaughtered men?[317]
Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,
Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp?
O husband, hear me! ay, alack, how new[318]305
Is husband in my mouth! even for that name,
Which till this time my tongue did ne'er pronounce,
Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms
Against mine uncle.
Const. O, upon my knee,[319]
Made hard with kneeling, I do pray to thee,[319]310
Thou virtuous Dauphin, alter not the doom[319]
Forethought by heaven![319]
Blanch. Now shall I see thy love: what motive may
Be stronger with thee than the name of wife?
Const. That which upholdeth him that thee upholds,315
His honour: O, thine honour, Lewis, thine honour!
Lew. I muse your majesty doth seem so cold,
When such profound respects do pull you on.
Pand. I will denounce a curse upon his head.
K. Phi. Thou shalt not need. England, I will fall from thee.[320]320
Const. O fair return of banish'd majesty!
[Pg 45]
Eli. O foul revolt of French inconstancy!
K. John. France, thou shalt rue this hour within this hour.
Bast. Old Time the clock-setter, that bald sexton Time,
Is it as he will? well then, France shall rue.325
Blanch. The sun's o'ercast with blood: fair day, adieu!
Which is the side that I must go withal?
I am with both: each army hath a hand;
And in their rage, I having hold of both,
They whirl asunder and dismember me.330
Husband, I cannot pray that thou mayst win;
Uncle, I needs must pray that thou mayst lose;
Father, I may not wish the fortune thine;
Grandam, I will not wish thy wishes thrive:
Whoever wins, on that side shall I lose;335
Assured loss before the match be play'd.
Lew. Lady, with me, with me thy fortune lies.[321]
Blanch. There where my fortune lives, there my life dies.
K. John. Cousin, go draw our puissance together.
[Exit Bastard.[322]
France, I am burn'd up with inflaming wrath;340
A rage whose heat hath this condition,
That nothing can allay, nothing but blood,[323]
The blood, and dearest-valued blood, of France.[324]
K. Phi. Thy rage shall burn thee up, and thou shalt turn
To ashes, ere our blood shall quench that fire:345
Look to thyself, thou art in jeopardy.
K. John. No more than he that threats. To arms let's hie! [Exeunt.
[Pg 46]
Scene II. The same. Plains near Angiers.[325]
Alarums, excursions. Enter the Bastard, with Austria's head.
Bast. Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;
Some airy devil hovers in the sky,[326]
And pours down mischief. Austria's head lie there,
While Philip breathes.
Enter King John, Arthur, and Hubert.[327]
K. John. Hubert, keep this boy. Philip, make up:[328]5
My mother is assailed in our tent,
And ta'en, I fear.
Bast. My lord, I rescued her;
Her highness is in safety, fear you not:
But on, my liege; for very little pains
Will bring this labour to an happy end. [Exeunt.[329]10
Scene III. The same.[330]
Alarums, excursions, retreat. Enter King John, Elinor, Arthur,
the Bastard, Hubert, and Lords.
K. John. [To Elinor] So shall it be; your grace shall stay behind[331]
So strongly guarded. [To Arthur] Cousin, look not sad:[332]
Thy grandam loves thee; and thy uncle will
As dear be to thee as thy father was.
[Pg 47]
Arth. O, this will make my mother die with grief!5
K. John. [To the Bastard] Cousin, away for England! haste before:[333]
And, ere our coming, see thou shake the bags
Of hoarding abbots; imprisoned angels[334]
Set at liberty: the fat ribs of peace[334][335]
Must by the hungry now be fed upon:[336]10
Use our commission in his utmost force.[337]
Bast. Bell, book, and candle shall not drive me back,
When gold and silver becks me to come on.[338]
I leave your highness. Grandam, I will pray,
If ever I remember to be holy,15
For your fair safety; so, I kiss your hand.
Eli. Farewell, gentle cousin.
K. John. Coz, farewell. [Exit Bastard.[339]
Eli. Come hither, little kinsman; hark, a word.[340]
K. John. Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert,[341]
We owe thee much! within this wall of flesh20
There is a soul counts thee her creditor,
And with advantage means to pay thy love:
And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath
Lives in this bosom, dearly cherished.
Give me thy hand. I had a thing to say,25
But I will fit it with some better time.[342]
By heaven, Hubert, I am almost ashamed[343]
To say what good respect I have of thee.
Hub. I am much bounden to your majesty.
[Pg 48]
K. John. Good friend, thou hast no cause to say so yet,[344]30
But thou shalt have; and creep time ne'er so slow,
Yet it shall come for me to do thee good.
I had a thing to say, but let it go:
The sun is in the heaven, and the proud day,
Attended with the pleasures of the world,35
Is all too wanton and too full of gawds[345]
To give me audience: if the midnight bell
Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth,[346]
Sound on into the drowsy race of night;[346][347]
If this same were a churchyard where we stand,40
And thou possessed with a thousand wrongs,
Or if that surly spirit, melancholy,
Had baked thy blood and made it heavy-thick,[348]
Which else runs tickling up and down the veins,[349]
Making that idiot, laughter, keep men's eyes[350]45
And strain their cheeks to idle merriment,
A passion hateful to my purposes,
Or if that thou couldst see me without eyes,
Hear me without thine ears, and make reply
Without a tongue, using conceit alone,50
Without eyes, ears and harmful sound of words;
Then, in despite of brooded watchful day,[351]
I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts:
But, ah, I will not! yet I love thee well;
And, by my troth, I think thou lovest me well.55
Hub. So well, that what you bid me undertake,
Though that my death were adjunct to my act,
By heaven, I would do it.[352]
[Pg 49]
K. John. Do not I know thou wouldst?
Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye
On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend,60
He is a very serpent in my way;
And wheresoe'er this foot of mine doth tread,
He lies before me: dost thou understand me?
Thou art his keeper.
Hub. And I'll keep him so,
That he shall not offend your majesty.[353]
K. John. A grave.
Hub. He shall not live.
K. John. Enough.
I could be merry now. Hubert, I love thee;
Well, I'll not say what I intend for thee:
Remember. Madam, fare you well:[355]
I'll send those powers o'er to your majesty.70
Eli. My blessing go with thee!
K. John. For England, cousin, go:[356]
Hubert shall be your man, attend on you[357]
With all true duty. On toward Calais, ho! [Exeunt.
Scene IV. The same. The French King's tent.
Enter King Philip, Lewis, Pandulph, and Attendants.[358]
K. Phi. So, by a roaring tempest on the flood,
A whole armado of convicted sail[359]
Is scattered and disjoin'd from fellowship.[360]
[Pg 50]
Pand. Courage and comfort! all shall yet go well.
K. Phi. What can go well, when we have run so ill?5
Are we not beaten? Is not Angiers lost?
Arthur ta'en prisoner? divers dear friends slain?
And bloody England into England gone,
O'erbearing interruption, spite of France?
Lew. What he hath won, that hath he fortified:10
So hot a speed with such advice disposed,
Such temperate order in so fierce a cause,[361]
Doth want example: who hath read or heard
Of any kindred action like to this?
K. Phi. Well could I bear that England had this praise,15
So we could find some pattern of our shame.
Enter Constance.
Look, who comes here! a grave unto a soul;[362]
Holding the eternal spirit, against her will,[363]
In the vile prison of afflicted breath.[364]
I prithee, lady, go away with me.20
Const. Lo, now! now see the issue of your peace.
K. Phi. Patience, good lady! comfort, gentle Constance!
Const. No, I defy all counsel, all redress,
But that which ends all counsel, true redress,[365]
Death, death; O amiable lovely death![365]25
Thou odoriferous stench! sound rottenness![366]
Arise forth from the couch of lasting night,[367]
Thou hate and terror to prosperity,
And I will kiss thy detestable bones[368]
And put my eyeballs in thy vaulty brows30
And ring these fingers with thy household worms
And stop this gap of breath with fulsome dust
[Pg 51]
And be a carrion monster like thyself:
Come, grin on me, and I will think thou smilest,
And buss thee as thy wife. Misery's love,[369]35
O, come to me!
K. Phil. O fair affliction, peace!
Const. No, no, I will not, having breath to cry:
O, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth!
Then with a passion would I shake the world;[370]
And rouse from sleep that fell anatomy40
Which cannot hear a lady's feeble voice,[371]
Which scorns a modern invocation.[371][372]
Pand. Lady, you utter madness, and not sorrow.
Const. Thou art not holy to belie me so;[373]
I am not mad: this hair I tear is mine;45
My name is Constance; I was Geffrey's wife;
Young Arthur is my son, and he is lost:
I am not mad: I would to heaven I were!
For then, 'tis like I should forget myself:
O, if I could, what grief should I forget!50
Preach some philosophy to make me mad,[374]
And thou shalt be canonized, cardinal;[374][375]
For being not mad but sensible of grief,[374]
My reasonable part produces reason[374]
How I may be deliver'd of these woes,[374]55
And teaches me to kill or hang myself:[374]
If I were mad, I should forget my son,[374]
Or madly think a babe of clouts were he:[374]
I am not mad; too well, too well I feel
The different plague of each calamity.60
[Pg 52]
K. Phi. Bind up those tresses. O, what love I note[376]
In the fair multitude of those her hairs![376]
Where but by chance a silver drop hath fallen,[376]
Even to that drop ten thousand wiry friends[376][377]
Do glue themselves in sociable grief,[376]65
Like true, inseparable, faithful loves,[376][378]
Sticking together in calamity.[376]
Const. To England, if you will.[376]
K. Phi. Bind up your hairs.[376]
Const. Yes, that I will; and wherefore will I do it?[376]
I tore them from their bonds and cried aloud[376]70
'O that these hands could so redeem my son,[376]
As they have given these hairs their liberty!'[376]
But now I envy at their liberty,[376]
And will again commit them to their bonds,[376]
Because my poor child is a prisoner.[376]75
And, father cardinal, I have heard you say[379]
That we shall see and know our friends in heaven:
If that be true, I shall see my boy again;[380]
For since the birth of Cain, the first male child,
To him that did but yesterday suspire,80
There was not such a gracious creature born.
But now will canker-sorrow eat my bud
And chase the native beauty from his cheek
And he will look as hollow as a ghost,
As dim and meagre as an ague's fit,85
And so he'll die; and, rising so again,
When I shall meet him in the court of heaven
I shall not know him: therefore never, never
Must I behold my pretty Arthur more.
Pand. You hold too heinous a respect of grief.90
Const. He talks to me that never had a son.
K. Phi. You are as fond of grief as of your child.
Const. Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
[Pg 53]
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,95
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form;
Then, have I reason to be fond of grief?[381]
Fare you well: had you such a loss as I,[382]
I could give better comfort than you do.100
I will not keep this form upon my head,[383]
When there is such disorder in my wit.
O Lord! my boy, my Arthur, my fair son!
My life, my joy, my food, my all the world!
My widow-comfort, and my sorrows' cure! [Exit.[384]105
K. Phi. I fear some outrage, and I'll follow her. [Exit.
Lew. There's nothing in this world can make me joy:[385]
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man;
And bitter shame hath spoil'd the sweet world's taste.[386]110
That it yields nought but shame and bitterness.[387]
Pand. Before the curing of a strong disease,
Even in the instant of repair and health,
The fit is strongest; evils that take leave,[388]
On their departure most of all show evil:[388]115
What have you lost by losing of this day?
Lew. All days of glory, joy and happiness.
Pand. If you had won it, certainly you had.
No, no; when Fortune means to men most good,
She looks upon them with a threatening eye.120
'Tis strange to think how much King John hath lost
In this which he accounts so clearly won:
Are not you grieved that Arthur is his prisoner?
Lew. As heartily as he is glad he hath him.
[Pg 54]
Pand. Your mind is all as youthful as your blood.125
Now hear me speak with a prophetic spirit;
For even the breath of what I mean to speak
Shall blow each dust, each straw, each little rub,
Out of the path which shall directly lead
Thy foot to England's throne; and therefore mark.130
John hath seized Arthur; and it cannot be
That, whiles warm life plays in that infant's veins,[389]
The misplaced John should entertain an hour,[390]
One minute, nay, one quiet breath of rest.[391]
A sceptre snatch'd with an unruly hand135
Must be as boisterously maintain'd as gain'd;
And he that stands upon a slippery place
Makes nice of no vile hold to stay him up:
That John may stand, then Arthur needs must fall;[392]
So be it, for it cannot be but so.140
Lew. But what shall I gain by young Arthur's fall?
Pand. You, in the right of Lady Blanch your wife,
May then make all the claim that Arthur did.
Lew. And lose it, life and all, as Arthur did.
Pand. How green you are and fresh in this old world! 145
John lays you plots; the times conspire with you;[393]
For he that steeps his safety in true blood
Shall find but bloody safety and untrue.
This act so evilly born shall cool the hearts[394]
Of all his people and freeze up their zeal,150
That none so small advantage shall step forth[395]
To check his reign, but they will cherish it;[396]
No natural exhalation in the sky,
No scope of nature, no distemper'd day,[397]
No common wind, no customed event,155
But they will pluck away his natural cause[398]
And call them meteors, prodigies and signs,
[Pg 55]
Abortives, presages and tongues of heaven,[399]
Plainly denouncing vengeance upon John.
Lew. May be he will not touch young Arthur's life,160
But hold himself safe in his prisonment.
Pand. O, sir, when he shall hear of your approach,
If that young Arthur be not gone already,
Even at that news he dies; and then the hearts[400]
Of all his people shall revolt from him165
And kiss the lips of unacquainted change
And pick strong matter of revolt and wrath
Out of the bloody fingers' ends of John.
Methinks I see this hurly all on foot:
And, O, what better matter breeds for you[401]170
Than I have named! The bastard Faulconbridge
Is now in England, ransacking the church,
Offending charity: if but a dozen French[402]
Were there in arms, they would be as a call
To train ten thousand English to their side,175
Or as a little snow, tumbled about,[403]
Anon becomes a mountain. O noble Dauphin,[404]
Go with me to the king: 'tis wonderful
What may be wrought out of their discontent,[405]
Now that their souls are topful of offence.[405]180
For England go: I will whet on the king.
Lew. Strong reasons make strong actions: let us go:[406]
If you say ay, the king will not say no. [Exeunt.
Scene I. A room in a castle.
Enter Hubert and Executioners.[407]
Hub. Heat me these irons hot; and look thou stand[408]
Within the arras: when I strike my foot
Upon the bosom of the ground, rush forth,
And bind the boy which you shall find with me
Fast to the chair: be heedful: hence, and watch.5
First Exec. I hope your warrant will bear out the deed.[409]
Hub. Uncleanly scruples! fear not you: look to't.[410]
[Exeunt Executioners.
Young lad, come forth; I have to say with you.
Enter Arthur.
Arth. Good morrow, Hubert.
Hub. Good morrow, little prince.[411]
Arth. As little prince, having so great a title10
To be more prince, as may be. You are sad.
Hub. Indeed, I have been merrier.
Arth. Mercy on me!
Methinks no body should be sad but I:
Yet, I remember, when I was in France,[412]
Young gentlemen would be as sad as night,15
Only for wantonness. By my Christendom.
So I were out of prison and kept sheep,
[Pg 57]
I should be as merry as the day is long;[413]
And so I would be here, but that I doubt
My uncle practises more harm to me:20
He is afraid of me and I of him:
Is it my fault that I was Geffrey's son?
No, indeed, is't not; and I would to heaven[414]
I were your son, so you would love me, Hubert.
Hub. [Aside] If I talk to him, with his innocent prate[415]25
He will awake my mercy which lies dead:
Therefore I will be sudden and dispatch.
Arth. Are you sick, Hubert? you look pale to-day:
In sooth, I would you were a little sick,
That I might sit all night and watch with you:30
I warrant I love you more than you do me.[416]
Hub. [Aside] His words do take possession of my bosom.[417]
Read here, young Arthur. [Showing a paper.
[Aside] How now, foolish rheum![418][419]
Turning dispiteous torture out of door![419][420]
I must be brief, lest resolution drop35
Out at mine eyes in tender womanish tears.
Can you not read it? is it not fair writ?[421]
Arth. Too fairly, Hubert, for so foul effect:[422]
Must you with hot irons burn out both mine eyes?[423]
Hub. Young boy, I must.
Arth. And will you?
Arth. Have you the heart? When your head did but ache,
I knit my handkercher about your brows,[424]
The best I had, a princess wrought it me,
And I did never ask it you again;
And with my hand at midnight held your head,45
And like the watchful minutes to the hour,
Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time,
Saying, 'What lack you?' and 'Where lies your grief?'
Or 'What good love may I perform for you?'
Many a poor man's son would have lien still[425]50
And ne'er have spoke a loving word to you;
But you at your sick service had a prince.[426]
Nay, you may think my love was crafty love
And call it cunning: do, an if you will:[427]
If heaven be pleased that you must use me ill,55
Why then you must. Will you put out mine eyes?
These eyes that never did nor never shall[428]
So much as frown on you.[429]
Hub. I have sworn to do it;
And with hot irons must I burn them out.
Arth. Ah, none but in this iron age would do it![430]60
The iron of itself, though heat red-hot,[430]
Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears[430]
And quench his fiery indignation[430][431]
Even in the matter of mine innocence;[430][432]
Nay, after that, consume away in rust,[430]65
But for containing fire to harm mine eye.[430]
Are you more stubborn-hard than hammer'd iron?[430][433]
An if an angel should have come to me[434]
And told me Hubert should put out mine eyes,
I would not have believed him,—no tongue but Hubert's.[435]70
[Pg 59]
Hub. Come forth. [Stamps.
Re-enter Executioners, with a cord, irons, &c.[436]
Do as I bid you do.
Arth. O, save me, Hubert, save me! my eyes are out
Even with the fierce looks of these bloody men.
Hub. Give me the iron, I say, and bind him here.[437]75
Arth. Alas, what need you be so boisterous-rough?[438]
I will not struggle, I will stand stone-still.[439]
For heaven sake, Hubert, let me not be bound![440]
Nay, hear me, Hubert, drive these men away,
And I will sit as quiet as a lamb;80
I will not stir, nor wince, nor speak a word,[441]
Nor look upon the iron angerly:[442]
Thrust but these men away, and I'll forgive you,
Whatever torment you do put me to.
Hub. Go, stand within; let me alone with him.85
First Exec. I am best pleased to be from such a deed.[409]
[Exeunt Executioners.[443]
Arth. Alas, I then have chid away my friend!
He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart:
Let him come back, that his compassion may
Give life to yours.
Hub. Come, boy, prepare yourself.90
Arth. Is there no remedy?
Hub. None, but to lose your eyes.
Arth. O heaven, that there were but a mote in yours,[444]
A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wandering hair,
Any annoyance in that precious sense!
[Pg 60]
Then feeling what small things are boisterous there,95
Your vile intent must needs seem horrible.
Hub. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue.
Arth. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues[445]
Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes:[445]
Let me not hold my tongue, let me not, Hubert;100
Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,
So I may keep mine eyes: O, spare mine eyes,
Though to no use but still to look on you!
Lo, by my troth, the instrument is cold
And would not harm me.
Hub. I can heat it, boy.105
Arth. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead with grief,
Being create for comfort, to be used
In undeserved extremes: see else yourself;
There is no malice in this burning coal;[446]
The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out[447]110
And strew'd repentant ashes on his head.[447]
Hub. But with my breath I can revive it, boy.
Arth. An if you do, you will but make it blush[448][449]
And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert:[448]
Nay, it perchance will sparkle in your eyes;[448]115
And like a dog that is compell'd to fight,[448]
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on.[448][450]
All things that you should use to do me wrong
Deny their office: only you do lack
That mercy which fierce fire and iron extends,[451]120
Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses.[452]
Hub. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eye[453]
For all the treasure that thine uncle owes:[454]
[Pg 61]
Yet am I sworn and I did purpose, boy,
With this same very iron to burn them out.125
Arth. O, now you look like Hubert! all this while
You were disguised.[455]
Hub. Peace; no more. Adieu.
Your uncle must not know but you are dead;
I'll fill these dogged spies with false reports:
And, pretty child, sleep doubtless and secure,130
That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world,
Will not offend thee.
Arth. O heaven! I thank you, Hubert.
Hub. Silence; no more: go closely in with me:
Much danger do I undergo for thee. [Exeunt.
Scene II. King John's palace.
Enter King John, Pembroke, Salisbury, and other Lords.[456]
K. John. Here once again we sit, once again crown'd,[457]
And looked upon, I hope, with cheerful eyes.
Pem. This 'once again,' but that your highness pleased,
Was once superfluous: you were crown'd before,
And that high royalty was ne'er pluck'd off,5
The faiths of men ne'er stained with revolt;
Fresh expectation troubled not the land
With any long'd-for change or better state.
Sal. Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp,
To guard a title that was rich before,10
To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,
To throw a perfume on the violet,
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
[Pg 62]
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,15
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.
Pem. But that your royal pleasure must be done,
This act is as an ancient tale new told,
And in the last repeating troublesome,
Being urged at a time unseasonable.20
Sal. In this the antique and well noted face
Of plain old form is much disfigured;
And, like a shifted wind unto a sail,
It makes the course of thoughts to fetch about,
Startles and frights consideration,25
Makes sound opinion sick and truth suspected,[458]
For putting on so new a fashion'd robe.
Pem. When workmen strive to do better than well,[459]
They do confound their skill in covetousness;[460]
And oftentimes excusing of a fault30
Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse,
As patches set upon a little breach
Discredit more in hiding of the fault[461]
Than did the fault before it was so patch'd.[461]
Sal. To this effect, before you were new crown'd,35
We breathed our counsel: but it pleased your highness
To overbear it, and we are all well pleased,[462]
Since all and every part of what we would
Doth make a stand at what your highness will.[463]
K. John. Some reasons of this double coronation40
I have possess'd you with and think them strong;
And more, more strong, then lesser is my fear,[464]
I shall indue you with: meantime but ask
[Pg 63]
What you would have reform'd that is not well,
And well shall you perceive how willingly45
I will both hear and grant you your requests.
Pem. Then I, as one that am the tongue of these
To sound the purposes of all their hearts,
Both for myself and them, but, chief of all,
Your safety, for the which myself and them[465]50
Bend their best studies, heartily request
The enfranchisement of Arthur; whose restraint
Doth move the murmuring lips of discontent
To break into this dangerous argument,—[466]
If what in rest you have in right you hold,[467]55
Why then your fears, which, as they say, attend[468]
The steps of wrong, should move you to mew up[468]
Your tender kinsman and to choke his days
With barbarous ignorance and deny his youth
The rich advantage of good exercise?60
That the time's enemies may not have this
To grace occasions, let it be our suit
That you have bid us ask his liberty;[469]
Which for our goods we do no further ask[470]
Than whereupon our weal, on you depending,[471]65
Counts it your weal he have his liberty.[472]
Enter Hubert.
K. John. Let it be so: I do commit his youth
To your direction. Hubert, what news with you?
[Taking him apart.[473]
Pem. This is the man should do the bloody deed;
He show'd his warrant to a friend of mine:70
The image of a wicked heinous fault
[Pg 64]
Lives in his eye; that close aspect of his
Does show the mood of a much troubled breast;[474]
And I do fearfully believe 'tis done,
What we so fear'd he had a charge to do.75
Sal. The colour of the king doth come and go
Between his purpose and his conscience,
Like heralds 'twixt two dreadful battles set:[475]
His passion is so ripe, it needs must break.
Pem. And when it breaks, I fear will issue thence80
The foul corruption of a sweet child's death.
K. John. We cannot hold mortality's strong hand:[476]
Good lords, although my will to give is living,
The suit which you demand is gone and dead:
He tells us Arthur is deceased to-night.85
Sal. Indeed we fear'd his sickness was past cure.
Pem. Indeed we heard how near his death he was
Before the child himself felt he was sick:
This must be answer'd either here or hence.
K. John. Why do you bend such solemn brows on me?90
Think you I bear the shears of destiny?
Have I commandment on the pulse of life?
Sal. It is apparent foul play; and 'tis shame[477]
That greatness should so grossly offer it:
So thrive it in your game! and so, farewell.95
Pem. Stay yet, Lord Salisbury; I'll go with thee,
And find the inheritance of this poor child,
His little kingdom of a forced grave.
That blood which owed the breadth of all this isle,[478]
Three foot of it doth hold: bad world the while!100
This must not be thus borne: this will break out
To all our sorrows, and ere long I doubt. [Exeunt Lords.[479]
K. John. They burn in indignation. I repent:[480][481]
There is no sure foundation set on blood,[481]
[Pg 65]
No certain life achieved by others' death.[481]105
Enter a Messenger.[482]
A fearful eye thou hast: where is that blood
That I have seen inhabit in those cheeks?
So foul a sky clears not without a storm:
Pour down thy weather: how goes all in France?
Mess. From France to England. Never such a power[483]110
For any foreign preparation
Was levied in the body of a land.
The copy of your speed is learn'd by them;
For when you should be told they do prepare,
The tidings comes that they are all arrived.[484]115
K. John. O, where hath our intelligence been drunk?
Where hath it slept? Where is my mother's care,[485]
That such an army could be drawn in France,
And she not hear of it?
Mess. My liege, her ear
Is stopp'd with dust; the first of April died120
Your noble mother: and, as I hear, my lord,
The Lady Constance in a frenzy died
Three days before: but this from rumour's tongue
I idly heard; if true or false I know not.
K. John. Withhold thy speed, dreadful occasion!125
O, make a league with me, till I have pleased
My discontented peers! What! mother dead![486]
How wildly then walks my estate in France!
Under whose conduct came those powers of France[487]
That thou for truth givest out are landed here?130
K. John. Thou hast made me giddy
With these ill tidings.
Enter the Bastard and Peter of Pomfret.[489]
Now, what says the world
To your proceedings? do not seek to stuff
My head with more ill news, for it is full.
Bast. But if you be afeard to hear the worst,[490]135
Then let the worst unheard fall on your head.
K. John. Bear with me, cousin; for I was amazed
Under the tide: but now I breathe again
Aloft the flood, and can give audience
To any tongue, speak it of what it will.140
Bast. How I have sped among the clergy-men,[491]
The sums I have collected shall express.
But as I travell'd hither through the land,
I find the people strangely fantasied;
Possess'd with rumours, full of idle dreams,145
Not knowing what they fear, but full of fear:
And here's a prophet, that I brought with me
From forth the streets of Pomfret, whom I found
With many hundreds treading on his heels;
To whom he sung, in rude harsh-sounding rhymes,150
That, ere the next Ascension-day at noon,
Your highness should deliver up your crown.
K. John. Thou idle dreamer, wherefore didst thou so?
Peter. Foreknowing that the truth will fall out so.
K. John. Hubert, away with him; imprison him;155
And on that day at noon, whereon he says
I shall yield up my crown, let him be hang'd.
Deliver him to safety; and return,
For I must use thee. [Exit Hubert with Peter.[492]
O my gentle cousin,
Hear'st thou the news abroad, who are arrived?160
[Pg 67]
Bast. The French, my lord; men's mouths are full of it:
Besides, I met Lord Bigot and Lord Salisbury,
With eyes as red as new-enkindled fire,
And others more, going to seek the grave
Of Arthur, whom they say is kill'd to-night[493][494]165
On your suggestion.[494]
K. John. Gentle kinsman, go,
And thrust thyself into their companies:[495]
I have a way to win their loves again;
Bring them before me.
Bast. I will seek them out.
K. John. Nay, but make haste; the better foot before.170
O, let me have no subject enemies,[496]
When adverse foreigners affright my towns
With dreadful pomp of stout invasion!
Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels,
And fly like thought from them to me again.175
Bast. The spirit of the time shall teach me speed. [Exit.
K. John. Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman.
Go after him; for he perhaps shall need
Some messenger betwixt me and the peers;
And be thou he.
Mess. With all my heart, my liege. [Exit.[497]180
K. John. My mother dead!
Re-enter Hubert.[498]
Hub. My lord, they say five moons were seen to-night;[499]
Four fixed, and the fifth did whirl about
The other four in wondrous motion.
K. John. Five moons!
Hub. Old men and beldams in the streets185
Do prophesy upon it dangerously:
Young Arthur's death is common in their mouths:
And when they talk of him, they shake their heads
[Pg 68]
And whisper one another in the ear;
And he that speaks doth gripe the hearer's wrist,190
Whilst he that hears makes fearful action,
With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.
I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news;195
Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,
Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contrary feet,
Told of a many thousand warlike French[500]
That were embattailed and rank'd in Kent:200
Another lean unwash'd artificer
Cuts off his tale and talks of Arthur's death.
K. John. Why seek'st thou to possess me with these fears?
Why urgest thou so oft young Arthur's death?
Thy hand hath murder'd him: I had a mighty cause[501]205
To wish him dead, but thou hadst none to kill him.
Hub. No had, my lord! why, did you not provoke me?[502]
K. John. It is the curse of kings to be attended
By slaves that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house of life,[503]210
And on the winking of authority
To understand a law, to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns
More upon humour than advised respect.
Hub. Here is your hand and seal for what I did.215
K. John. O, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth
Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal
Witness against us to damnation!
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Make deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by,[504]220
[Pg 69]
A fellow by the hand of nature mark'd,
Quoted and sign'd to do a deed of shame,
This murder had not come into my mind:
But taking note of thy abhorr'd aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villany,225
Apt, liable to be employ'd in danger,
I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death;
And thou, to be endeared to a king,
Made it no conscience to destroy a prince.[505]
Hub. My lord,—230
K. John. Hadst thou but shook thy head or made a pause
When I spake darkly what I purposed,
Or turn'd an eye of doubt upon my face,
As bid me tell my tale in express words,[506]
Deep shame had struck me dumb, made me break off,235
And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me:
But thou didst understand me by my signs
And didst in signs again parley with sin;[507]
Yea, without stop, didst let thy heart consent,
And consequently thy rude hand to act240
The deed, which both our tongues held vile to name.
Out of my sight, and never see me more!
My nobles leave me; and my state is braved,
Even at my gates, with ranks of foreign powers:
Nay, in the body of this fleshly land,[508]245
This kingdom, this confine of blood and breath,
Hostility and civil tumult reigns[509]
Between my conscience and my cousin's death.
Hub. Arm you against your other enemies,
I'll make a peace between your soul and you.250
Young Arthur is alive: this hand of mine
Is yet a maiden and an innocent hand,
[Pg 70]
Not painted with the crimson spots of blood.
Within this bosom never enter'd yet
The dreadful motion of a murderous thought;[510]255
And you have slander'd nature in my form,
Which, howsoever rude exteriorly,
Is yet the cover of a fairer mind
Than to be butcher of an innocent child.[511]
K. John. Doth Arthur live? O, haste thee to the peers,260
Throw this report on their incensed rage,
And make them tame to their obedience!
Forgive the comment that my passion made
Upon thy feature; for my rage was blind,
And foul imaginary eyes of blood[512]265
Presented thee more hideous than thou art.
O, answer not, but to my closet bring
The angry lords with all expedient haste.
I conjure thee but slowly; run more fast. [Exeunt.
Scene III. Before the castle.
Enter Arthur, on the walls.[513]
Arth. The wall is high, and yet will I leap down:
Good ground, be pitiful and hurt me not!
There's few or none do know me: if they did,
This ship-boy's semblance hath disguised me quite.
I am afraid; and yet I'll venture it.5
If I get down, and do not break my limbs,
I'll find a thousand shifts to get away:
As good to die and go, as die and stay. [Leaps down.[514]
[Pg 71]
O me! my uncle's spirit is in these stones:
Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones! [Dies.10
Enter Pembroke, Salisbury, and Bigot.
Sal. Lords, I will meet him at Saint Edmundsbury:[515]
It is our safety, and we must embrace
This gentle offer of the perilous time.
Pem. Who brought that letter from the cardinal?
Sal. The Count Melun, a noble lord of France;[516]15
Whose private with me of the Dauphin's love[517]
Is much more general than these lines import.
Big. To-morrow morning let us meet him then.
Sal. Or rather then set forward; for 'twill be
Two long days' journey, lords, or ere we meet.[518]20
Enter the Bastard.
Bast. Once more to-day well met, distemper'd lords!
The king by me requests your presence straight.
Sal. The king hath dispossess'd himself of us:
We will not line his thin bestained cloak[519]
With our pure honours, nor attend the foot25
That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks.
Return and tell him so: we know the worst.
Bast. Whate'er you think, good words, I think, were best.
Sal. Our griefs, and not our manners, reason now.
Bast. But there is little reason in your grief;30
Therefore 'twere reason you had manners now.
Bast. 'Tis true, to hurt his master, no man else.[520][521]
Sal. This is the prison. What is he lies here?
[Seeing Arthur.[522]
Pem. O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty!35
The earth had not a hole to hide this deed.
Sal. Murder, as hating what himself hath done,
Doth lay it open to urge on revenge.
Big. Or, when he doom'd this beauty to a grave,[523]
Found it too precious-princely for a grave.[524]40
Sal. Sir Richard, what think you? have you beheld,[525]
Or have you read or heard? or could you think?
Or do you almost think, although you see,
That you do see? could thought, without this object,[526]
Form such another? This is the very top,[527]45
The height, the crest, or crest unto the crest,
Of murder's arms: this is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savagery, the vilest stroke,
That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
Presented to the tears of soft remorse.50
Pem. All murders past do stand excused in this:
And this, so sole and so unmatchable,
Shall give a holiness, a purity,
To the yet unbegotten sin of times;[528]
And prove a deadly bloodshed but a jest,55
Exampled by this heinous spectacle.
Bast. It is a damned and a bloody work;
The graceless action of a heavy hand,
If that it be the work of any-hand.
Sal. If that it be the work of any hand![529]60
We had a kind of light what would ensue:
It is the shameful work of Hubert's hand;
The practice and the purpose of the king:
[Pg 73]
From whose obedience I forbid my soul,
Kneeling before this ruin of sweet life,65
And breathing to his breathless excellence[530]
The incense of a vow, a holy vow,
Never to taste the pleasures of the world,
Never to be infected with delight,
Nor conversant with ease and idleness,70
Till I have set a glory to this hand,[531]
By giving it the worship of revenge.
Pem. } Our souls religiously confirm thy words.
Big. }
Enter Hubert.
Hub. Lords, I am hot with haste in seeking you:[532]
Arthur doth live; the king hath sent for you.75
Sal. O, he is bold and blushes not at death.
Avaunt, thou hateful villain, get thee gone!
Hub. I am no villain.
Sal. Must I rob the law? [Drawing his sword.[533]
Bast. Your sword is bright, sir; put it up again.
Sal. Not till I sheathe it in a murderer's skin.80
Hub. Stand back, Lord Salisbury, stand back, I say;
By heaven, I think my sword's as sharp as yours:
I would not have you, lord, forget yourself,
Nor tempt the danger of my true defence;
Lest I, by marking of your rage, forget[534]85
Your worth, your greatness and nobility.
Big. Out, dunghill! darest thou brave a nobleman?
Hub. Not for my life: but yet I dare defend
My innocent life against an emperor.
Sal. Thou art a murderer.
Hub. Do not prove me so;[535]90
Yet I am none: whose tongue soe'er speaks false,
[Pg 74]
Not truly speaks; who speaks not truly, lies.
Pem. Cut him to pieces.
Bast. Keep the peace, I say.
Sal. Stand by, or I shall gall you, Faulconbridge.
Bast. Thou wert better gall the devil, Salisbury:95
If thou but frown on me, or stir thy foot,
Or teach thy hasty spleen to do me shame,
I'll strike thee dead. Put up thy sword betime;[536]
Or I'll so maul you and your toasting-iron,
That you shall think the devil is come from hell.100
Big. What wilt thou do, renowned Faulconbridge?[537]
Second a villain and a murderer?
Hub. Lord Bigot, I am none.
Big. Who kill'd this prince?
Hub. 'Tis not an hour since I left him well:
I honour'd him, I loved him, and will weep105
My date of life out for his sweet life's loss.
Sal. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes,
For villany is not without such rheum;[538]
And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorse and innocency.[539]110
Away with me, all you whose souls abhor
The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house;[540]
For I am stifled with this smell of sin.[541]
Big. Away toward Bury, to the Dauphin there!
Pem. There tell the king he may inquire us out.115
[Exeunt Lords.
Bast. Here's a good world! Knew you of this fair work?[542]
Beyond the infinite and boundless reach[543]
Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death,[543]
Art thou damn'd, Hubert.[543]
[Pg 75]
Hub. Do but hear me, sir.
Bast. Ha! I'll tell thee what;120
Thou'rt damn'd as black—nay, nothing is so black;[544]
Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer:
There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell
As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child.
Bast. If thou didst but consent125
To this most cruel act, do but despair;
And if thou want'st a cord, the smallest thread
That ever spider twisted from her womb
Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be a beam[546]
To hang thee on; or wouldst thou drown thyself,[547]130
Put but a little water in a spoon,
And it shall be as all the ocean,
Enough to stifle such a villain up.
I do suspect thee very grievously.
Hub. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought,135
Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath
Which was embounded in this beauteous clay,
Let hell want pains enough to torture me.
I left him well.
Bast. Go, bear him in thine arms.[548]
I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way140
Among the thorns and dangers of this world.
How easy dost thou take all England up![549]
From forth this morsel of dead royalty,[549]
The life, the right and truth of all this realm
Is fled to heaven; and England now is left145
To tug and scamble and to part by the teeth[550]
The unowed interest of proud-swelling state.[551]
Now for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty
[Pg 76]
Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest
And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace:150
Now powers from home and discontents at home
Meet in one line; and vast confusion waits,
As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast,[552]
The imminent decay of wrested pomp.[553]
Now happy he whose cloak and cincture can[554]155
Hold out this tempest. Bear away that child
And follow me with speed: I'll to the king:
A thousand businesses are brief in hand,[555]
And heaven itself doth frown upon the land. [Exeunt.[556]
Scene I. King John's palace.
Enter King John, Pandulph, and Attendants.[557]
K. John. Thus have I yielded up into your hand
The circle of my glory. [Giving the crown.[558]
Pand. Take again
From this my hand, as holding of the pope[559]
Your sovereign greatness and authority.
K. John. Now keep your holy word: go meet the French,5
And from his holiness use all your power
[Pg 77]
To stop their marches 'fore we are inflamed.[560]
Our discontented counties do revolt;
Our people quarrel with obedience,
Swearing allegiance and the love of soul[561]10
To stranger blood, to foreign royalty.
This inundation of mistemper'd humour[562]
Rests by you only to be qualified:
Then pause not; for the present time's so sick,
That present medicine must be minister'd,15
Or overthrow incurable ensues.[563]
Pand. It was my breath that blew this tempest up.
Upon your stubborn usage of the pope;
But since you are a gentle convertite,
My tongue shall hush again this storm of war20
And make fair weather in your blustering land.
On this Ascension-day, remember well,
Upon your oath of service to the pope,
Go I to make the French lay down their arms. [Exit.
K. John. Is this Ascension-day? Did not the prophet25
Say that before Ascension-day at noon
My crown I should give off? Even so I have:
I did suppose it should be on constraint;
But, heaven be thank'd, it is but voluntary.
Enter the Bastard.
Bast. All Kent hath yielded; nothing there holds out30
But Dover Castle: London hath received,
Like a kind host, the Dauphin and his powers:
Your nobles will not hear you, but are gone
To offer service to your enemy,
And wild amazement hurries up and down[564]35
The little number of your doubtful friends.[565]
K. John. Would not my lords return to me again,
After they heard young Arthur was alive?
[Pg 78]
Bast. They found him dead and cast into the streets.
An empty casket, where the jewel of life[566]40
By some damn'd hand was robb'd and ta'en away.
K. John. That villain Hubert told me he did live.
Bast. So, on my soul, he did, for aught he knew.
But wherefore do you droop? why look you sad?
Be great in act, as you have been in thought;45
Let not the world see fear and sad distrust[567]
Govern the motion of a kingly eye:
Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire;[568]
Threaten the threatener and outface the brow
Of bragging horror: so shall inferior eyes,50
That borrow their behaviours from the great,
Grow great by your example and put on
The dauntless spirit of resolution.
Away, and glister like the god of war,
When he intendeth to become the field:55
Show boldness and aspiring confidence.
What, shall they seek the lion in his den,
And fright him there? and make him tremble there?
O, let it not be said: forage, and run[569]
To meet displeasure farther from the doors,60
And grapple with him ere he comes so nigh.
K. John. The legate of the pope hath been with me,
And I have made a happy peace with him;
And he hath promised to dismiss the powers
Led by the Dauphin.
Bast. O inglorious league!65
Shall we, upon the footing of our land,
Send fair-play orders and make compromise,[570]
Insinuation, parley and base truce
To arms invasive? shall a beardless boy,
A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields,70
[Pg 79]
And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil,
Mocking the air with colours idly spread,[571]
And find no check? Let us, my liege, to arms:
Perchance the cardinal cannot make your peace;[572]
Or if he do, let it at least be said75
They saw we had a purpose of defence.
K. John. Have thou the ordering of this present time.
Bast. Away, then, with good courage! yet, I know,
Our party may well meet a prouder foe. [Exeunt.
Scene II. The Dauphin's Camp at St Edmundsbury.
Enter, in arms, Lewis, Salisbury, Melun, Pembroke, Bigot,
and Soldiers.[573]
Lew. My Lord Melun, let this be copied out,
And keep it safe for our remembrance:
Return the precedent to these lords again;
That, having our fair order written down,
Both they and we, perusing o'er these notes,5
May know wherefore we took the sacrament
And keep our faiths firm and inviolable.
Sal. Upon our sides it never shall be broken.
And, noble Dauphin, albeit we swear
A voluntary zeal and an unurged faith[574]10
To your proceedings; yet believe me, prince,
I am not glad that such a sore of time
Should seek a plaster by contemn'd revolt,[575]
And heal the inveterate canker of one wound
By making many. O, it grieves my soul,15
That I must draw this metal from my side
To be a widow-maker! O, and there
[Pg 80]
Where honourable rescue and defence
Cries out upon the name of Salisbury![576]
But such is the infection of the time,20
That, for the health and physic of our right,
We cannot deal but with the very hand
Of stern injustice and confused wrong.
And is't not pity, O my grieved friends,
That we, the sons and children of this isle,25
Were born to see so sad an hour as this;[577]
Wherein we step after a stranger march[578]
Upon her gentle bosom, and fill up
Her enemies' ranks,—I must withdraw and weep
Upon the spot of this enforced cause,—[579]30
To grace the gentry of a land remote,
And follow unacquainted colours here?
What, here? O nation, that thou couldst remove!
That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about,
Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself,[580]35
And grapple thee unto a pagan shore;[581]
Where these two Christian armies might combine
The blood of malice in a vein of league,[582]
And not to spend it so unneighbourly![583]
Lew. A noble temper dost thou show in this;40
And great affections wrestling in thy bosom[584]
Doth make an earthquake of nobility.[585]
O, what a noble combat hast thou fought[586]
Between compulsion and a brave respect![587]
Let me wipe off this honourable dew,45
[Pg 81]
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks:
My heart hath melted at a lady's tears,
Being an ordinary inundation;
But this effusion of such manly drops,
This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul,50
Startles mine eyes, and makes me more amazed
Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven
Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.
Lift up thy brow, renowned Salisbury,
And with a great heart heave away this storm:55
Commend these waters to those baby eyes[588]
That never saw the giant world enraged;
Nor met with fortune other than at feasts,
Full of warm blood, of mirth, of gossiping.[589]
Come, come; for thou shalt thrust thy hand as deep60
Into the purse of rich prosperity
As Lewis himself: so, nobles, shall you all,
That knit your sinews to the strength of mine.
And even there, methinks, an angel spake:
Enter Pandulph.[590]
Look, where the holy legate comes apace,65
To give us warrant from the hand of heaven,
And on our actions set the name of right
With holy breath.
Pand. Hail, noble prince of France![591]
The next is this, King John hath reconciled
Himself to Rome; his spirit is come in,70
That so stood out against the holy church,
The great metropolis and see of Rome:
Therefore thy threatening colours now wind up;
[Pg 82]
And tame the savage spirit of wild war,
That, like a lion foster'd up at hand,75
It may lie gently at the foot of peace,
And be no further harmful than in show.
Lew. Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back:
I am too high-born to be propertied,
To be a secondary at control,80
Or useful serving-man and instrument,
To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of wars[592]
Between this chastised kingdom and myself,
And brought in matter that should feed this fire;85
And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
You taught me how to know the face of right,
Acquainted me with interest to this land,[593]
Yea, thrust this enterprise into my heart;90
And come ye now to tell me John hath made
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I, by the honour of my marriage-bed,
After young Arthur, claim this land for mine;
And, now it is half-conquer'd, must I back95
Because that John hath made his peace with Rome?
Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne,
What men provided, what munition sent,
To underprop this action? Is't not I
That undergo this charge? who else but I,100
And such as to my claim are liable,
Sweat in this business and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out
'Vive le roi!' as I have bank'd their towns?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,105
To win this easy match play'd for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.[594]
[Pg 83]
Pand. You look but on the outside of this work.
Lew. Outside or inside, I will not return110
Till my attempt so much be glorified
As to my ample hope was promised
Before I drew this gallant head of war,
And cull'd these fiery spirits from the world,
To outlook conquest and to win renown115
Even in the jaws of danger and of death. [Trumpet sounds.[595]
What lusty trumpet thus doth summon us?
Enter the Bastard, attended.[596]
Bast. According to the fair play of the world,[597]
Let me have audience; I am sent to speak:[598]
My holy lord of Milan, from the king[598]120
I come, to learn how you have dealt for him;[598]
And, as you answer, I do know the scope
And warrant limited unto my tongue.
Pand. The Dauphin is too wilful-opposite,[599]
And will not temporize with my entreaties;[600]125
He flatly says he'll not lay down his arms.
Bast. By all the blood that ever fury breathed,
The youth says well. Now hear our English king;
For thus his royalty doth speak in me.
He is prepared, and reason too he should:[601]130
This apish and unmannerly approach,
This harness'd masque and unadvised revel,
This unhair'd sauciness and boyish troops,[602]
The king doth smile at; and is well prepared
To whip this dwarfish war, these pigmy arms,[603]135
From out the circle of his territories.
That hand which had the strength, even at your door,
[Pg 84]
To cudgel you and make you take the hatch,
To dive like buckets in concealed wells,
To crouch in litter of your stable planks,140
To lie like pawns lock'd up in chests and trunks,
To hug with swine, to seek sweet safety out[604]
In vaults and prisons, and to thrill and shake
Even at the crying of your nation's crow,[605]
Thinking his voice an armed Englishman;[606]145
Shall that victorious hand be feebled here,
That in your chambers gave you chastisement?
No: know the gallant monarch is in arms
And like an eagle o'er his aery towers,[607]
To souse annoyance that comes near his nest.150
And you degenerate, you ingrate revolts,[608]
You bloody Neroes, ripping up the womb
Of your dear mother England, blush for shame;
For your own ladies and pale-visaged maids
Like Amazons come tripping after drums,155
Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change,[609]
Their needles to lances, and their gentle hearts[610]
To fierce and bloody inclination.
Lew. There end thy brave, and turn thy face in peace;
We grant thou canst outscold us: fare thee well;[611]160
We hold our time too precious to be spent
With such a brabbler.[612]
Pand. Give me leave to speak.
Bast. No, I will speak.
Lew. We will attend to neither.
Strike up the drums; and let the tongue of war
Plead for our interest and our being here.165
Bast. Indeed, your drums, being beaten, will cry out;
And so shall you, being beaten: do but start
[Pg 85]
An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is ready braced
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine;[613]170
Sound but another, and another shall
As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder: for at hand,
Not trusting to this halting legate here,
Whom he hath used rather for sport than need,175
Is warlike John; and in his forehead sits
A bare-ribb'd death, whose office is this day[614]
To feast upon whole thousands of the French.
Lew. Strike up our drums, to find this danger out.
Bast. And thou shalt find it, Dauphin, do not doubt.180
[Exeunt.
Scene III. The field of battle.
Alarums. Enter King John and Hubert.[615]
K. John. How goes the day with us? O, tell me, Hubert.
Hub. Badly, I fear. How fares your majesty?
K. John. This fever, that hath troubled me so long,
Lies heavy on me; O, my heart is sick!
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord, your valiant kinsman, Faulconbridge,5
Desires your majesty to leave the field
And send him word by me which way you go.
K. John. Tell him, toward Swinstead, to the abbey there.[616]
Mess. Be of good comfort; for the great supply
That was expected by the Dauphin here,10
Are wreck'd three nights ago on Goodwin Sands.[617]
[Pg 86]
This news was brought to Richard but even now:
The French fight coldly, and retire themselves.
K. John. Ay me! this tyrant fever burns me up,[618]
And will not let me welcome this good news.15
Set on toward Swinstead: to my litter straight;[616]
Weakness possesseth me, and I am faint. [Exeunt.
Scene IV. Another part of the field.[619]
Enter Salisbury, Pembroke, and Bigot.
Sal. I did not think the king so stored with friends.
Pem. Up once again; put spirit in the French:[620]
If they miscarry, we miscarry too.[620]
Sal. That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge,
In spite of spite, alone upholds the day.5
Pem. They say King John sore sick hath left the field.
Enter Melun, wounded.
Mel. Lead me to the revolts of England here.
Sal. When we were happy we had other names.
Pem. It is the Count Melun.
Sal. Wounded to death.
Mel. Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold;10
Unthread the rude eye of rebellion[621]
And welcome home again discarded faith.
Seek out King John and fall before his feet;
For if the French be lords of this loud day,[622]
[Pg 87]
He means to recompense the pains you take15
By cutting off your heads: thus hath he sworn
And I with him, and many moe with me,[623]
Upon the altar at Saint Edmundsbury;[624]
Even on that altar where we swore to you
Dear amity and everlasting love.20
Sal. May this be possible? may this be true?
Mel. Have I not hideous death within my view,
Retaining but a quantity of life,
Which bleeds away, even as a form of wax
Resolveth from his figure 'gainst the fire?[625]25
What in the world should make me now deceive,
Since I must lose the use of all deceit?[626]
Why should I then be false, since it is true
That I must die here and live hence by truth?
I say again, if Lewis do win the day,[627]30
He is forsworn, if e'er those eyes of yours
Behold another day break in the east:
But even this night, whose black contagious breath
Already smokes about the burning crest[628]
Of the old, feeble and day-wearied sun,35
Even this ill night, your breathing shall expire,
Paying the fine of rated treachery[629]
Even with a treacherous fine of all your lives,
If Lewis by your assistance win the day.
Commend me to one Hubert with your king:40
The love of him, and this respect besides,
For that my grandsire was an Englishman,[630]
Awakes my conscience to confess all this.
In lieu whereof, I pray you, bear me hence
From forth the noise and rumour of the field,45
Where I may think the remnant of my thoughts
In peace, and part this body and my soul
[Pg 88]
With contemplation and devout desires.
Sal. We do believe thee: and beshrew my soul
But I do love the favour and the form50
Of this most fair occasion, by the which
We will untread the steps of damned flight,
And like a bated and retired flood,[631]
Leaving our rankness and irregular course,[632]
Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd[633]55
And calmly run on in obedience
Even to our ocean, to our great King John.
My arm shall give thee help to bear thee hence;
For I do see the cruel pangs of death[634]
Right in thine eye. Away, my friends! New flight;[635]60
And happy newness, that intends old right.[636]
[Exeunt, leading off Melun.
Scene V. The French camp.[637]
Enter Lewis and his train.
Lew. The sun of heaven methought was loath to set,
But stay'd, and made the western welkin blush,
When English measure backward their own ground[638]
In faint retire. O, bravely came we off,
When with a volley of our needless shot,5
After such bloody toil, we bid good night;
And wound our tattering colours clearly up,[639]
[Pg 89]
Last in the field, and almost lords of it!
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Where is my prince, the Dauphin?[640]
Lew. Here: what news?
Mess. The Count Melun is slain; the English lords10
By his persuasion are again fall'n off,[641]
And your supply, which you have wish'd so long,[642]
Are cast away and sunk on Goodwin Sands.
Lew. Ah, foul shrewd news! beshrew thy very heart!
I did not think to be so sad to-night[643]15
As this hath made me. Who was he that said
King John did fly an hour or two before
The stumbling night did part our weary powers?
Mess. Whoever spoke it, it is true, my lord.
Lew. Well; keep good quarter and good care to-night:20
The day shall not be up so soon as I,
To try the fair adventure of to-morrow. [Exeunt.
Scene VI. An open place in the neighbourhood of
Swinstead Abbey.[644]
Enter the Bastard and Hubert, severally.
Hub. Who's there? speak, ho! speak quickly, or I shoot.
Bast. A friend. What art thou?
Hub. Of the part of England.
[Pg 90]
Hub. What's that to thee? why may not I demand[646][647]
Of thine affairs, as well as thou of mine?[646][647]5
Hub. Thou hast a perfect thought:
I will upon all hazards well believe
Thou art my friend, that know'st my tongue so well.
Who art thou?
Bast. Who thou wilt: and if thou please,[648]
Thou mayst befriend me so much as to think10
I come one way of the Plantagenets.
Hub. Unkind remembrance! thou and eyeless night[649]
Have done me shame: brave soldier, pardon me,
That any accent breaking from thy tongue
Should 'scape the true acquaintance of mine ear.15
Bast. Come, come; sans compliment, what news abroad?
Hub. Why, here walk I in the black brow of night,
To find you out.
Bast. Brief, then; and what's the news?
Hub. O, my sweet sir, news fitting to the night,
Black, fearful, comfortless and horrible.20
Bast. Show me the very wound of this ill news:
I am no woman, I'll not swoon at it.[650]
Hub. The king, I fear, is poison'd by a monk:
I left him almost speechless; and broke out
To acquaint you with this evil, that you might25
The better arm you to the sudden time,
Than if you had at leisure known of this.[651]
Bast. How did he take it? who did taste to him?
Hub. A monk, I tell you; a resolved villain,
Whose bowels suddenly burst out: the king30
Yet speaks and peradventure may recover.
[Pg 91]
Bast. Who didst thou leave to tend his majesty?[652]
Hub. Why, know you not? the lords are all come back,[653]
And brought Prince Henry in their company;
At whose request the king hath pardon'd them,35
And they are all about his majesty.
Bast. Withhold thine indignation, mighty heaven,
And tempt us not to bear above our power!
I'll tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night,[654]
Passing these flats, are taken by the tide;40
These Lincoln Washes have devoured them;
Myself, well mounted, hardly have escaped.[655]
Away before: conduct me to the king;
I doubt he will be dead or ere I come.[656] [Exeunt.
Scene VII. The orchard in Swinstead Abbey.[657]
Enter Prince Henry, Salisbury, and Bigot.
P. Hen. It is too late: the life of all his blood
Is touch'd corruptibly, and his pure brain,[658]
Which some suppose the soul's frail dwelling-house,
Doth by the idle comments that it makes
Foretell the ending of mortality.5
Enter Pembroke.
Pem. His highness yet doth speak, and holds belief
That, being brought into the open air,
It would allay the burning quality
Of that fell poison which assaileth him.
P. Hen. Let him be brought into the orchard here.[659]10
Doth he still rage? [Exit Bigot.
[Pg 92]
Pem. He is more patient
Than when you left him; even now he sung.
P. Hen. O vanity of sickness! fierce extremes
In their continuance will not feel themselves.[660]
Death, having prey'd upon the outward parts,[661]15
Leaves them invisible, and his siege is now[662]
Against the mind, the which he pricks and wounds[663]
With many legions of strange fantasies,
Which, in their throng and press to that last hold,
Confound themselves. 'Tis strange that death should sing.20
I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan,[664]
Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death,
And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings
His soul and body to their lasting rest.[665]
Sal. Be of good comfort, prince; for you are born25
To set a form upon that indigest
Which he hath left so shapeless and so rude.
Enter Attendants, and Bigot, carrying King John in a chair.[666]
K. John. Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room;
It would not out at windows nor at doors.
There is so hot a summer in my bosom,30
That all my bowels crumble up to dust:
I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen
Upon a parchment, and against this fire[667]
Do I shrink up.[667]
[Pg 93]
P. Hen. How fares your majesty?
K. John. Poison'd,—ill fare—dead, forsook, cast off:[668]35
And none of you will bid the winter come
To thrust his icy fingers in my maw,
Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course
Through my burn'd bosom, nor entreat the north
To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips40
And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much,[669]
I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait[670]
And so ingrateful, you deny me that.[671]
P. Hen. O that there were some virtue in my tears,
That might relieve you!
K. John. The salt in them is hot.[672]45
Within me is a hell; and there the poison
Is as a fiend confined to tyrannize
On unreprieveable condemned blood.[673]
Enter the Bastard.
Bast. O, I am scalded with my violent motion,[674]
And spleen of speed to see your majesty!50
K. John. O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye:
The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burn'd,
And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail
Are turned to one thread, one little hair:
My heart hath one poor string to stay it by,55
Which holds but till thy news be uttered;
And then all this thou seest is but a clod
And module of confounded royalty.[675]
Bast. The Dauphin is preparing hitherward,
Where heaven He knows how we shall answer him;[676]60
For in a night the best part of my power,
As I upon advantage did remove,
Were in the Washes all unwarily[677]
[Pg 94]
Devoured by the unexpected flood. [The king dies.[678]
Sal. You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear.65
My liege! my lord! but now a king, now thus.
P. Hen. Even so must I run on, and even so stop.
What surety of the world, what hope, what stay,[679]
When this was now a king, and now is clay?[679]
Bast. Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind70
To do the office for thee of revenge,
And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven,
As it on earth hath been thy servant still.
Now, now, you stars that move in your right spheres,[680]
Where be your powers? show now your mended faiths,75
And instantly return with me again,
To push destruction and perpetual shame
Out of the weak door of our fainting land.
Straight let us seek, or straight we shall be sought;
The Dauphin rages at our very heels.80
Sal. It seems you know not, then, so much as we:
The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest,
Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin,
And brings from him such offers of our peace[681]
As we with honour and respect may take,85
With purpose presently to leave this war.
Bast. He will the rather do it when he sees
Ourselves well sinewed to our defence.[682]
Sal. Nay, it is in a manner done already;[683]
For many carriages he hath dispatch'd90
To the sea-side, and put his cause and quarrel
To the disposing of the cardinal:
With whom yourself, myself and other lords,
If you think meet, this afternoon will post
To consummate this business happily.95
[Pg 95]
Bast. Let it be so: and you, my noble prince,
With other princes that may best be spared,[684]
Shall wait upon your father's funeral.
P. Hen. At Worcester must his body be interr'd;[685]
For so he will'd it.
Bast. Thither shall it then:100
And happily may your sweet self put on
The lineal state and glory of the land!
To whom, with all submission, on my knee
I do bequeath my faithful services
And true subjection everlastingly.105
Sal. And the like tender of our love we make,
To rest without a spot for evermore.[686]
P. Hen. I have a kind soul that would give you thanks[687]
And knows not how to do it but with tears.
Bast. O, let us pay the time but needful woe,[688]110
Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs.
This England never did, nor never shall,[689]
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,
But when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,[690]115
Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue,[691]
If England to itself do rest but true. [Exeunt.
[Pg 96]
NOTES.
Dramatis Personæ. In our enumeration of the Dramatis Personæ
we have given no further description of each than might be
derived from the Play itself.
In the stage directions of the Folios Queen Elinor is variously
indicated as Elinor, Eli., Ele., Elen., Elea., Queen, Qu., Old Qu.,
and Qu. Mo.; Philip Faulconbridge as Philip or Phil. to I. 1. 132,
afterwards Bast, except in III. 1. 133, 135, where he is called Phil.;
King Philip is termed King or Kin., and, in the scenes where King
John is also present, France or Fra.; King John is designated as
K. John, John, and once, III. 1. 324, Eng.; Lewis is called in the
'entrances' Daulphin or Dolphin, and in the dialogue Lewis, Dol., or
Dolph. As we do not conceive our rule of modernizing the spelling
to apply to proper names we have not substituted Falconbridge for
Faulconbridge, the consistent spelling of the Folio. In the old play
it is spelt as consistently Fauconbridge.
Scene. We have not followed Capell and the more recent editors
in attempting to define the precise spot at which each scene took
place, where none is mentioned in the body of the play or in the
stage directions of the Folio. Nothing is gained by an attempt to
harmonize the plot with historical facts gathered from Holinshed and
elsewhere, when it is plain that Shakespeare was either ignorant of
them or indifferent to minute accuracy. For example, the second
scene of Act IV. is supposed to occur at the same place as the first
scene of that act, or, at all events, in the immediate neighbourhood[Pg 98]
(IV. 2. 85), and in England (II. 3. 71 and IV. 2. 110). But Holinshed
distinctly states that Arthur was imprisoned first at Falaise and then
at Rouen (pp. 554, 555. ed. 1577).
The whole play is divided into Acts and Scenes in the first Folio,
but arbitrarily. The second act is made to consist of a single scene of
74 lines, and ends in what Theobald has clearly shewn to be the
middle of a scene. He, with 'Gildon and others', once supposed the
close of the second act to be lost, but afterwards changed his mind
and adopted the arrangement we have followed.
I. 1. 20. This line must probably be scanned as an Alexandrine,
reading the first 'Controlment' in the time of a trisyllable and the
second as a quadrisyllable.
I. 1. 43. Here Steevens gives the same stage direction as Capell,
'Enter the Sheriff of Northamptonshire and whispers Essex,' changing
merely 'and' to 'who,' and, as usual, ignoring Capell, says in
a note that he had taken it from the Old Quarto. He convicts himself
of plagiarism, for the 'Old Quarto' has 'Enter the Shrive and
whispers the Earle of Salis. in the care.' It was Capell who changed
'Salis.' to 'Essex.' All the three editions of the Old Quarto agree in
this stage direction literatim, except that the edition of 1591 has
'Sals.' for 'Salis.' Salisbury introduces the sheriff thus: 'Please it
your Majesty, here is the shrive of Northampton-shire, &c.'
I. 1. 75. 'Whether.' Here the first three Folios read 'Where.'
In the Comedy of Errors, IV. 1. 60, all the Folios agreed in reading
'whe'r.' In both cases we spell 'whether.' The Folios are not consistent.
They have, for instance, 'Whether' in line 134 of the present
scene, 'Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge.' As we do
not contract the words 'either,' 'neither,' 'mother,' 'brother,' 'hither,'
'thither,' &c. when pronounced in the time of a monosyllable, so we
abstain from contracting 'whether', especially as such contraction
might cause ambiguity in the sense.
I. 1. 85. In Mr Wilbraham's MS. notes the following occurs:
'Trick' is a term in Heraldry for a 'copy.' In the Gentleman's
Magazine for 1803, Supplement, p. 1207, in an account of various[Pg 99]
memorandums of Receipts and Expenditures, &c., by some one at the
latter end of the 17th century, I find the three following ones:
| July 21st, 1691. |
Received of Mr Cole for a trick of Consure's arms. 2s. 6d. |
| — 25th — |
Mr Martyn, the Paynter, for a trick of the Lady Cath. Darnley's arms. 2s. 6d. |
| Dec. 18th — |
Received of Mr Gentry for a trick of Wyatt's arms. 2s. 6d. |
I. 1. 147. This discrepancy between the readings of the first and
second Folios had escaped Capell's notice. In Twelfth Night, II. 4.
88, all the Folios read 'It' for 'I.'
II. 1. 103. 'Large,' which was doubtless a misprint for 'huge' in
Rowe's edition, remained uncorrected by Pope, Theobald, Hanmer,
Warburton, and Johnson, though Grey noticed the mistake (Notes, 1.
p. 230). Capell restored the true reading. How great his services
were in the restoration of the text may be estimated by the following instances
collected from the present play alone. And the list might have
been very much extended if we had included all his minute corrections:
II. 1. 175, 'call not me;' II. 1. 176, 'dominations;' II. 1. 213, 'preparation;'
II. 1. 345, 'lay down;' III. 1. 24, 'signs;' III. 4. 35, 'buss;'
III. 4. 137, 'whiles;' III. 4. 139, 'one;' III. 4. 169, 'that;' IV. 1. 31, 'I
warrant;' IV. 3. 66, 'his;' IV. 3. 112, 'savours;' V. 7. 43, 'ingrateful.'
In V. 7. 45, however, he omitted to correct 'of them.'
II. 1. 149. This line is printed in the Folios as if it were a part of
Austria's speech. The objections are of course, first, that Lewis was
not a king, and secondly, that Austria would rather have appealed to
Lewis's father. Malone once thought that Austria appealed to both
'King,—Lewis, &c.' The objection to the usual emendation is that
throughout the scene King Philip is not designated in the stage
directions as King, but as Fran. or Fra.
[Pg 100]
II. 1. 187. The whole passage from line 185 to 188, inclusive, is
thus printed in F1:
'But God hath made her sinne and her, the plague
On this remoued issue, plagued for her,
And with her plague her sinne: his iniury
Her iniurie the Beadle to her sinne,'
Capell has it as follows:
'But God hath made her sin and her the plague
On this removed issue, plagu'd for her;
And, with her sin, her plague, his injury
Her injury, the beadle to her sin:'
Mr Roby, whose punctuation we have adopted, says, "I suppose
the sense to be: 'God hath made her sin and herself to be a plague
to this distant child, who is punished for her and with the punishment
belonging to her: God has made her sin to be an injury to Arthur,
and her injurious deeds to be the executioner to punish her sin; all
which (viz. her first sin and her now injurious deeds) are punished in
the person of this child.'"
Mr Lloyd, who, with the same punctuation, would read, 'her sin,
her injury,' interprets thus: 'Elinor's injuries to Arthur are God's
agents to punish him both for the sin of being her grandchild and for
the inherited guilt of these very injuries.'
The word 'sin' is twice printed by mistake for 'son' in Johnson's
note to this passage, Ed. 1765.
Malone supposed that two half lines had been lost after the words,
"And with her."
II. 1. 268. This line, with the substitution of 'this' for 'our,' is
taken from a prose passage of the old play, The troublesome Raigne of
King John, Sig. C. 3. recto, ed. 1622. The names of the provinces
given in II. 1. 525, 526, came also from the old play (Sig. D. verso).
The line, 'For that my grandsire was an Englishman,' V. 4. 42, is
found in the old play, Sig. K. 4. recto.
In a few other passages, as for instance in II. 1. 65, there is an
almost verbal identity between Shakespeare and his predecessor.
II. 1. 289. Capell's copy of the second Folio has sit's on's; that
which belonged to Dr Long has it' son's.
[Pg 101]
II. 1. 300. The word 'Heere,' used in the stage direction, seems to
indicate that the scene was supposed to continue. No new scene is
marked in the Folios. Mr Dyce and Mr Grant White have followed
their authority.
II. 1. 325. Mr Knight alone of modern editors retains Hubert,
supposing this citizen of Angiers to be the same person as Arthur's
gaoler. But in the old play the citizen who proposes the league to the
two kings is a distinct person from Hubert de Burgh. It is much
more probable that the name Hubert has crept in here from the fact
that the same actor who was to play Hubert played also the part of
'First citizen.'
III. 1. 69. In Boswell's edition (1821) the reading 'its owner stoop'
is derived from a misprint of Johnson, who quotes it as the reading of
the old editions. Mr Collier incorrectly attributes it to Malone.
III. 1. 133. Pope inserts after this line the following passage,
adapted from the old play of The troublesome Raigne of King John:
'Aust. Methinks that Richard's pride and Richard's fall
Should be a precedent to fright you, Sir.
Bast. What words are these? how do my sinews shake!
My father's foe clad in my father's spoil!
How doth Alecto whisper in my ears;
Delay not, Richard, kill the villain strait,
Disrobe him of the matchless monument,
Thy father's triumph o'er the savages—
Now by his soul I swear, my father's soul,
Twice will I not review the morning's rise,
Till I have torn that trophy from thy back,
And split thy heart, for wearing it so long.'
[Pg 102]
III. 1. 260. Mr Staunton says, in his note on this passage, 'Chafed
was first suggested by Mr Dyce.' It is found first in Theobald, who
is followed by Hanmer, Warburton, Johnson, and Capell. Steevens,
who mentioned it, returned to the old reading, 'cased.'
III. 1. 280-286. In the first Folio this passage stands thus:
'It is religion that doth make vowes kept,
But thou hast sworne against religion:
By what thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st,
And mak'st an oath the suretie for thy truth,
Against an oath the truth, thou art vnsure
To sweare, sweares onely not be forsworne,
Else what a mockerie should it be to sweare?'
Mr Staunton suggests the following as 'a probable reading of the
passage in its original form:'
'It is religion that doth make vows kept,
But thou hast sworn against religion:
By that, thou swear'st against the thing thou swear'st,
And mak'st an oath, the surety for thy truth,
Against an oath, the proof thou art unsure.
Who swears swears only not to be forsworn,
Else what a mockery should it be to swear!'
In line 285 Mr Halliwell appears to adopt swear'st in his note,
though he leaves swears in the text.
III. 2. 4. After this line Pope inserts the following from the old
play before quoted:
'Thus hath king Richard's son perform'd his vow,
And offer'd Austria's blood for sacrifice
Unto his father's ever-living soul.'
[Pg 103]
III. 4. 41, 42. Mr Lloyd writes to us with reference to the speech
of Constance: 'I think the two last lines are a first and second
draught, the latter intended to replace the former, and both printed
together by mistake.'
III. 4. 159. As Pope's correction, however ingenious and plausible,
cannot be pronounced certain, we, in accordance with the general
rule laid down in the Preface to Vol. I., p. xii, retain the reading of
the Folios. 'Scope of Nature' may mean anything which lies within
the limits of Nature's power.
IV. 1. 70. Warburton, after quoting Pope's reading, which he
adopts, remarks: "Thus Mr Pope found the line in the old editions....
Mr Theobald, by what authority I don't know, reads:
'I would not have believ'd him: no tongue, but Hubert's,'
which is spoiling the measure without much mending the sense."
Johnson adds, 'I do not see why the old reading may not stand.
Mr Theobald's alteration, as we find, injures the measure, &c.'
Neither Warburton nor Johnson could have consulted the Folios on
this passage, or they would have seen that Pope's reading is not the
reading of the old editions, and that Theobald's 'unauthorized alteration'
was merely a return to the original text.
IV. 2. 50. Sidney Walker (Criticisms, I. 279) questions the possibility
of Shakespeare having written so ungrammatically. The construction
is evidently incorrect, but it may be explained by supposing
that the offending word 'them,' following so closely upon 'my self,'
was suggested to the writer by the analogous pronoun 'themselves.'
[Pg 104]
IV. 2. 117. It is extremely doubtful whether the reading of the
first Folio in this passage is 'eare' or 'care'. The first letter of the
word is broken, but we are inclined to believe that is a broken 'e' and
not a broken 'c', and in this we are supported by the opinion of Sir
F. Madden and Mr Hamilton. Mr Staunton informs us that in Lord
Ellesmere's Folio, it is more like a defective Italic e than any other
letter, but in the two copies of F1 before us it is certainly Roman,
whether 'c' or 'e'. On the other hand, Mr Charles Wright is in
favour of an italic c. Under these circumstances, we have left 'care'
in the text.
IV. 3. 33. Mr Collier mentions that the Duke of Devonshire's copy
of the first Folio reads 'man' instead of 'mans,' which is in the
ordinary copies. The error was corrected no doubt while the sheet
was passing through the press, and after some copies had been struck
off, in accordance with the practice which was common in printing-offices
at the beginning of the 17th century.
V. 2. 64. 'And even there, methinks, an angel spake.' None of
the interpretations of this line hitherto suggested are at all satisfactory.
Surely the close proximity of 'purse,' 'nobles,' and 'angel,'
shews that Shakespeare has here yielded to the fascination of a jeu
de mots, which he was unable to resist, however unsuitable the occasion
might be. The Dauphin, we may suppose, speaks 'aside,' with an
accent and gesture which mark his contempt for the mercenary allies
whom he intends to get rid of as soon as may be. See V. 4. 30-39.
V. 3. 8, 17. There can be no doubt, as has been pointed out to us
by Mr Hopkinson of Stamford, that 'Swinstead' is an error for
'Swineshead,' the place of King John's death. The same fact was
communicated to Reed by Mr Dodd, the then vicar of Swineshead.
But as the mistake occurs in the old Quarto, which Shakespeare follows,
we have not felt justified in removing it from the text.
V. 4. 14. Sidney Walker (Criticisms, II. 234) suggests as another
solution of the difficulty in this passage that a line may have been[Pg 105]
lost after 'loud day.' Mr Keightley has independently made the same
conjecture. In support of the reading which we propose, 'lord' for
'lords,' we would refer to Hen. V. IV. 4, where 'the French' is used in
the singular; 'the French might have a good prey of us if he knew
of it.'
V. 5. 7. In Capell's copy of his own edition 'clearly' is corrected
to 'chearly,' in accordance with the conjecture in his notes. In the
same way he altered 'compulsion' to 'compunction' in V. 2. 44.
'Cleanly' is equivalent to 'neatly,' and seems to be appropriate as
antithetical to 'tottering' or 'tattering.'
V. 7. 2. Mr Grant White says that the Folio reads 'pore' for
'pure,' and this suggests his own reading, 'poor.' In all the copies
known to us the reading is 'pure.'
V. 7. 97. Sidney Walker (Criticisms, I. p. 293) is of opinion that
the word 'princes' is a corruption, the transcriber's or compositor's
eye having been caught by the word 'prince' in the preceding line.
Or the error may be in the word 'prince,' for which it would be easier
to suggest a substitute than for 'princes.' As an illustration of the
facility with which such mistakes may be made we may mention that
Sidney Walker himself, quoting King John, IV. 3. 44, 45:
'Could thought without this object
Form such another?'
wrote inadvertently 'such object.' In another place, as Mr Lettsom
remarks, he wrote 'Swings on his horse back' for 'Sits ...,' the word
'swinged' of the previous line being in his eye or his mind.
V. 7. 115. Mr Lloyd suspects that this line is spurious: 'A compliment
to Steenie and Baby Charles, who came back from Madrid in
the year that the first edition of King John was published, and thrust in
by the editors, or perhaps by the actors, in place of a line of similar
purport, but less applicable.'
[Pg 106]
[Pg 107]
[Pg 108]
KING RICHARD THE SECOND.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[C].
| King Richard the Second. |
| John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, |
uncles to the King. |
| Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, |
| Henry, surnamed Bolingbroke Duke of Hereford, son to John of Gaunt; afterwards King Henry IV. |
| Duke of Aumerle, son to the Duke of York. |
| Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. |
| Duke of Surrey. |
| Earl of Salisbury. |
| Lord Berkley[D]. |
| Bushy, |
servants to King Richard. |
| Bagot, |
| Green, |
| Earl of Northumberland. |
| Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, his son. |
| Lord Ross. |
| Lord Willoughby. |
| Lord Fitzwater. |
| Bishop of Carlisle. |
| Abbot of Westminster. |
| Lord Marshal[E]. |
| Sir Stephen Scroop. |
| Sir Pierce of Exton. |
Captain of a band of Welshmen[F].
|
| Queen to King Richard. |
| Duchess of York. |
| Duchess of Gloucester. |
| Lady attending on the Queen. |
| Lords, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, two Gardeners, Keeper,
Messenger, Groom, and other Attendants[G]. |
Scene: England and Wales[H].
THE TRAGEDY OF
KING RICHARD II.
ACT I.
Scene I. London. King Richard's palace.
Enter King Richard, John of Gaunt, with other Nobles and
Attendants.[692]
K. Rich. Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster,
Hast thou, according to thy oath and band,[693]
Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son,[694]
Here to make good the boisterous late appeal,
Which then our leisure would not let us hear,[695]5
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?[696]
Gaunt. I have, my liege.
K. Rich. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him,
If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;[697]
Or worthily, as a good subject should,10
On some known ground of treachery in him?
[Pg 110]
Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argument,
On some apparent danger seen in him
Aim'd at your highness, no inveterate malice.
K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face,[698]15
And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
The accuser and the accused freely speak:[699]
High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,
In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.
Enter Bolingbroke and Mowbray.[700]
Boling. Many years of happy days befal[701]20
My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege!
Mow. Each day still better other's happiness;
Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap,
Add an immortal title to your crown![702]
K. Rich. We thank you both: yet one but flatters us,25
As well appeareth by the cause you come;[703]
Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.[704]
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object
Against the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?
Boling. First, heaven be the record to my speech!30
In the devotion of a subject's love,[705]
Tendering the precious safety of my prince,
And free from other misbegotten hate,[706]
Come I appellant to this princely presence.[707]
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,35
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer it in heaven.[708]
Thou art a traitor and a miscreant,
Too good to be so and too bad to live,[709]40
[Pg 111]
Since the more fair and crystal is the sky,[709]
The uglier seem the clouds that in it fly.[709]
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,[709][710]
With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;[709]
And wish, so please my sovereign, ere I move,[709]45
What my tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove.[709]
Mow. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal:[711]
'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,
The bitter clamour of two eager tongues,
Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain;50
The blood is hot that must be cool'd for this:
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast
As to be hush'd and nought at all to say:[712]
First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;55
Which else would post until it had return'd[713]
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.[714]
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinsman to my liege,[715]
I do defy him, and I spit at him;[716]60
Call him a slanderous coward and a villain:
Which to maintain I would allow him odds,
And meet him, were I tied to run afoot[717]
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable,[718]65
Where ever Englishman durst set his foot.[719]
Mean time let this defend my loyalty,[720]
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.
[Pg 112]
Boling. Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,
Disclaiming here the kindred of the king;[721]70
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.
If guilty dread have left thee so much strength[722]
As to take up mine honour's pawn, then stoop:
By that and all the rites of knighthood else,[723]75
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.[724]
Mow. I take it up; and by that sword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,
I'll answer thee in any fair degree,80
Or chivalrous design of knightly trial:[725]
And when I mount, alive may I not light,[726]
If I be traitor or unjustly fight!
K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge?
It must be great that can inherit us[727]85
So much as of a thought of ill in him.
Boling. Look, what I speak, my life shall prove it true;[728]
That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles
In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers,
The which he hath detain'd for lewd employments,90
Like a false traitor and injurious villain.
Besides I say and will in battle prove,
Or here or elsewhere to the furthest verge
That ever was survey'd by English eye,
That all the treasons for these eighteen years[729]95
Complotted and contrived in this land
Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.[730]
Further I say and further will maintain
Upon his bad life to make all this good,[731]
[Pg 113]
That he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death,[732]100
Suggest his soon-believing adversaries,
And consequently, like a traitor coward,[733]
Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood:
Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,
Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,105
To me for justice and rough chastisement;
And, by the glorious worth of my descent,[734]
This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.
K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars!
Thomas of Norfolk, what say'st thou to this?[735]110
Mow. O, let my sovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,
Till I have told this slander of his blood,[736]
How God and good men hate so foul a liar.
K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears:115
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,[737]
As he is but my father's brother's son,[738]
Now, by my sceptre's awe, I make a vow,[739]
Such neighbour nearness to our sacred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize120
The unstooping firmness of my upright soul:[738]
He is our subject, Mowbray; so art thou:
Free speech and fearless I to thee allow.
Mow. Then, Bolingbroke, as low as to thy heart,
Through the false passage of thy throat, thou liest.125
Three parts of that receipt I had for Calais[740]
Disbursed I duly to his highness' soldiers;[741]
The other part reserved I by consent,
For that my sovereign liege was in my debt
Upon remainder of a dear account,[742]130
[Pg 114]
Since last I went to France to fetch his queen:
Now swallow down that lie. For Gloucester's death,[732]
I slew him not; but to my own disgrace[743]
Neglected my sworn duty in that case.
For you, my noble Lord of Lancaster,135
The honourable father to my foe,
Once did I lay an ambush for your life,[744]
A trespass that doth vex my grieved soul;
But ere I last received the sacrament[745]
I did confess it, and exactly begg'd140
Your grace's pardon, and I hope I had it.
This is my fault: as for the rest appeal'd,
It issues from the rancour of a villain,
A recreant and most degenerate traitor:
Which in myself I boldly will defend:145
And interchangeably hurl down my gage[746]
Upon this overweening traitor's foot,[747]
To prove myself a loyal gentleman
Even in the best blood chamber'd in his bosom.[748]
In haste whereof, most heartily I pray150
Your highness to assign our trial day.
K. Rich. Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me;[749]
Let's purge this choler without letting blood:
This we prescribe, though no physician;[750][751]
Deep malice makes too deep incision:[750]155
Forget, forgive; conclude and be agreed;[750]
Our doctors say this is no month to bleed.[750][752]
Good uncle, let this end where it begun;
[Pg 115]
We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son.
Gaunt. To be a make-peace shall become my age:160
Throw down, my son, the Duke of Norfolk's gage.
K. Rich. And, Norfolk, throw down his.
Gaunt. When, Harry, when?[753]
Obedience bids I should not bid again.
K. Rich. Norfolk, throw down, we bid; there is no boot.
Mow. Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot.165
My life thou shalt command, but not my shame:
The one my duty owes; but my fair name,
Despite of death that lives upon my grave,[754]
To dark dishonour's use thou shalt not have.
I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here;170
Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear,
The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood[755]
Which breathed this poison.
K. Rich. Rage must be withstood:
Give me his gage: lions make leopards tame.[756]
Mow. Yea, but not change his spots: take but my shame,[757]175
And I resign my gage. My dear dear lord,[758]
The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation: that away,
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.[759]
A jewel in a ten-times-barr'd-up chest[760]
Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.180
Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
[Pg 116]
Take honour from me, and my life is done:
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live and for that will I die.185
K. Rich. Cousin, throw up your gage; do you begin.[761]
Boling. O, God defend my soul from such deep sin![762]
Shall I seem crest-fallen in my father's sight?
Or with pale beggar-fear impeach my height[763]
Before this out-dared dastard? Ere my tongue[764]190
Shall wound my honour with such feeble wrong,[765]
Or sound so base a parle, my teeth shall tear[766]
The slavish motive of recanting fear,
And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace,
Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face.[767]195
[Exit Gaunt.
K. Rich. We were not born to sue, but to command;
Which since we cannot do to make you friends,
Be ready, as your lives shall answer it,[768]
At Coventry, upon Saint Lambert's day:[769]
There shall your swords and lances arbitrate200
The swelling difference of your settled hate:
Since we can not atone you, we shall see[770]
Justice design the victor's chivalry.[771]
Lord marshal, command our officers at arms[772]
Be ready to direct these home alarms. [Exeunt.[773]205
[Pg 117]
Scene II. The Duke of Lancaster's palace.[774]
Enter John of Gaunt with the Duchess of Gloucester.
Gaunt. Alas, the part I had in Woodstock's blood[775]
Doth more solicit me than your exclaims,
To stir against the butchers of his life!
But since correction lieth in those hands
Which made the fault that we cannot correct,5
Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven;
Who, when they see the hours ripe on earth,[776]
Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads.[777]
Duch. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur?
Hath love in thy old blood no living fire?10
Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven vials of his sacred blood,[778]
Or seven fair branches springing from one root:
Some of those seven are dried by nature's course,
Some of those branches by the Destinies cut;15
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester,
One vial full of Edward's sacred blood,
One flourishing branch of his most royal root,
Is crack'd, and all the precious liquor spilt,
Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded,[779]20
By envy's hand and murder's bloody axe.
Ah, Gaunt, his blood was thine! that bed, that womb,
That metal, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee[780]
[Pg 118]
Made him a man; and though thou livest and breathest,[781]
Yet art thou slain in him: thou dost consent25
In some large measure to thy father's death,
In that thou seest thy wretched brother die,
Who was the model of thy father's life.
Call it not patience, Gaunt; it is despair:
In suffering thus thy brother to be slaughter'd.30
Thou showest the naked pathway to thy life,[782]
Teaching stern murder how to butcher thee:
That which in mean men we intitle patience
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.[783]
What shall I say? to safeguard thine own life,[784]35
The best way is to venge my Gloucester's death.[785]
Gaunt. God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute,[786]
His deputy anointed in His sight,
Hath caused his death: the which if wrongfully,
Let heaven revenge; for I may never lift[787]40
An angry arm against His minister.
Duch. Where then, alas, may I complain myself?[788]
Gaunt. To God, the widow's champion and defence.[789]
Duch. Why, then, I will. Farewell, old Gaunt.[790]
Thou goest to Coventry, there to behold[791]45
Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight:[792]
O, sit my husband's wrongs on Hereford's spear,[792][793]
That it may enter butcher Mowbray's breast![794]
[Pg 119]
Or, if misfortune miss the first career,[795]
Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom,50
That they may break his foaming courser's back,
And throw the rider headlong in the lists,
A caitiff recreant to my cousin Hereford![792][796]
Farewell, old Gaunt: thy sometimes brother's wife[797]
With her companion grief must end her life.55
Gaunt. Sister, farewell; I must to Coventry:
As much good stay with thee as go with me!
Duch. Yet one word more: grief boundeth where it falls,[798]
Not with the empty hollowness, but weight:[799]
I take my leave before I have begun,60
For sorrow ends not when it seemeth done.
Commend me to thy brother, Edmund York.[800]
Lo, this is all:—nay, yet depart not so;
Though this be all, do not so quickly go;
I shall remember more. Bid him—ah, what?—[801]65
With all good speed at Plashy visit me.[802]
Alack, and what shall good old York there see[803]
But empty lodgings and unfurnish'd walls,
Unpeopled offices, untrodden stones?
And what hear there for welcome but my groans?[804]70
Therefore commend me; let him not come there,
To seek out sorrow that dwells every where.[805]
Desolate, desolate, will I hence and die:[806]
The last leave of thee takes my weeping eye. [Exeunt.
[Pg 120]
Scene III. The lists at Coventry.
Enter the Lord Marshal and the Duke of Aumerle.[807]
Mar. My Lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd?[808]
Aum. Yea, at all points; and longs to enter in.
Mar. The Duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold,[809]
Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet.[810]
Aum. Why, then, the champions are prepared and stay5
For nothing but his majesty's approach.
The trumpets sound, and the King enters with his nobles, Gaunt,
Bushy, Bagot, Green, and others. When they are set, enter
Mowbray in arms, defendant, with a Herald.[811]
K. Rich. Marshal, demand of yonder champion
The cause of his arrival here in arms:
Ask him his name and orderly proceed
To swear him in the justice of his cause.10
Mar. In God's name and the king's, say who thou art
And why thou comest thus knightly clad in arms,
Against what man thou comest, and what thy quarrel:[812]
Speak truly, on thy knighthood and thy oath;[813]
As so defend thee heaven and thy valour![814]15
Mow. My name is Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk;[815]
Who hither come engaged by my oath—[816]
Which God defend a knight should violate!—[817]
Both to defend my loyalty and truth
[Pg 121]
To God, my king and my succeeding issue,[818]20
Against the Duke of Hereford that appeals me;[819]
And, by the grace of God and this mine arm,
To prove him, in defending of myself,
A traitor to my God, my king, and me:
And as I truly fight, defend me heaven![820]25
The trumpets sound. Enter Bolingbroke, Appellant, in armour,
with a Herald.
K. Rich. Marshal, ask yonder knight in arms,[821]
Both who he is and why he cometh hither
Thus plated in habiliments of war,[822]
And formally, according to our law,[823]
Depose him in the justice of his cause.30
Mar. What is thy name? and wherefore comest thou hither,
Before King Richard in his royal lists?
Against whom comest thou? and what's thy quarrel?[824]
Speak like a true knight, so defend thee heaven!
Boling. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby[825]35
Am I; who ready here do stand in arms,[826]
To prove, by God's grace and my body's valour,[827]
In lists, on Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,[828]
That he is a traitor, foul and dangerous,[829]
To God of heaven, King Richard and to me;40
And as I truly fight, defend me heaven!
Mar. On pain of death, no person be so bold
Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists,[830]
Except the marshal and such officers
[Pg 122]
Appointed to direct these fair designs.45
Boling. Lord marshal, let me kiss my sovereign's hand,
And bow my knee before his majesty:
For Mowbray and myself are like two men
That vow a long and weary pilgrimage;
Then let us take a ceremonious leave50
And loving farewell of our several friends.
Mar. The appellant in all duty greets your highness,[831]
And craves to kiss your hand and take his leave.
K. Rich. We will descend and fold him in our arms.
Cousin of Hereford, as thy cause is right,[832]55
So be thy fortune in this royal fight!
Farewell, my blood; which if to-day thou shed,
Lament we may, but not revenge thee dead.[833]
Boling. O, let no noble eye profane a tear
For me, if I be gored with Mowbray's spear:[834]60
As confident as is the falcon's flight
Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight.
My loving lord, I take my leave of you;
Of you, my noble cousin, Lord Aumerle;
Not sick, although I have to do with death,[835]65
But lusty, young, and cheerly drawing breath.[835][836]
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet[835]
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet:[835][837]
O thou, the earthly author of my blood,[838]
Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,70
Doth with a twofold vigour lift me up[839]
To reach at victory above my head,[840]
Add proof unto mine armour with thy prayers;
And with thy blessings steel my lance's point,
That it may enter Mowbray's waxen coat,[841]75
And furbish new the name of John a Gaunt,[842]
[Pg 123]
Even in the lusty haviour of his son.[843]
Gaunt. God in thy good cause make thee prosperous![844]
Be swift like lightning in the execution;
And let thy blows, doubly redoubled,[845]80
Fall like amazing thunder on the casque
Of thy adverse pernicious enemy:[846]
Rouse up thy youthful blood, be valiant and live.[847]
Boling. Mine innocency and Saint George to thrive![848]
Mow. However God or fortune cast my lot,[844]85
There lives or dies, true to King Richard's throne,[849]
A loyal, just and upright gentleman:
Never did captive with a freer heart[850]
Cast off his chains of bondage and embrace
His golden uncontroll'd enfranchisement.90
More than my dancing soul doth celebrate[851]
This feast of battle with mine adversary.
Most mighty liege, and my companion peers,
Take from my mouth the wish of happy years:[852]
As gentle and as jocund as to jest[853]95
Go I to fight: truth hath a quiet breast.
K. Rich. Farewell, my lord: securely I espy
Virtue with valour couched in thine eye.
Order the trial, marshal, and begin.
Mar. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby,100
Receive thy lance; and God defend the right![844][854]
Boling. Strong as a tower in hope, I cry amen.
[Pg 124]
Mar. Go bear this lance to Thomas, Duke of Norfolk.[855]
First Her. Harry of Hereford, Lancaster and Derby,[856]
Stands here for God, his sovereign and himself,105
On pain to be found false and recreant,
To prove the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray,
A traitor to his God, his king and him;[857]
And dares him to set forward to the fight.[858]
Sec. Her. Here standeth Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,[859]110
On pain to be found false and recreant,
Both to defend himself and to approve[860]
Henry of Hereford, Lancaster, and Derby,
To God, his sovereign and to him disloyal;
Courageously and with a free desire115
Attending but the signal to begin.
Mar. Sound, trumpets; and set forward, combatants.
[A charge sounded.[861]
Stay, the king hath thrown his warder down.[862]
K. Rich. Let them lay by their helmets and their spears,
And both return back to their chairs again:120
Withdraw with us: and let the trumpets sound
While we return these dukes what we decree.
[A long flourish.[863]
Draw near,[864][865]
And list what with our council we have done.[865]
For that our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd125
With that dear blood which it hath fostered;[866]
[Pg 125]
And for our eyes do hate the dire aspect
Of civil wounds plough'd up with neighbours' sword;[867]
And for we think the eagle-winged pride[868]
Of sky-aspiring and ambitious thoughts,[868]130
With rival-hating envy, set on you[868][869]
To wake our peace, which in our country's cradle[868][870]
Draws the sweet infant breath of gentle sleep;[868][871]
Which so roused up with boisterous untuned drums,[872][873][874]
With harsh-resounding trumpets' dreadful bray,[874][875]135
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms,[874][876]
Might from our quiet confines fright fair peace,[873][874][877]
And make us wade even in our kindred's blood;[874][878]
Therefore, we banish you our territories:
You, cousin Hereford, upon pain of life,[879]140
Till twice five summers have enrich'd our fields[880]
Shall not regreet our fair dominions,[881]
But tread the stranger paths of banishment.
Boling. Your will be done: this must my comfort be,
That sun that warms you here shall shine on me;145
And those his golden beams to you here lent[882]
Shall point on me and gild my banishment.
K. Rich. Norfolk, for thee remains a heavier doom,[883]
Which I with some unwillingness pronounce:
[Pg 126]
The sly slow hours shall not determinate[884]150
The dateless limit of thy dear exile;[885]
The hopeless word of 'never to return'
Breathe I against thee, upon pain of life.[886]
Mow. A heavy sentence, my most sovereign liege,
And all unlook'd for from your highness' mouth:155
A dearer merit, not so deep a maim[887]
As to be cast forth in the common air,
Have I deserved at your highness' hands.
The language I have learn'd these forty years,[888]
My native English, now I must forego:160
And now my tongue's use is to me no more
Than an unstringed viol or a harp;
Or like a cunning instrument cased up,
Or, being open, put into his hands
That knows no touch to tune the harmony:165
Within my mouth you have engaol'd my tongue,[889][890]
Doubly portcullis'd with my teeth and lips;[889][891]
And dull unfeeling barren ignorance[889]
Is made my gaoler to attend on me.[889][892]
I am too old to fawn upon a nurse,170
Too far in years to be a pupil now:
What is thy sentence then but speechless death,[893]
Which robs my tongue from breathing native breath?
K. Rich. It boots thee not to be compassionate:[894]
After our sentence plaining comes too late.[895]175
Mow. Then thus I turn me from my country's light,
To dwell in solemn shades of endless night.[896]
[Pg 127]
K. Rich. Return again, and take an oath with thee.[897]
Lay on our royal sword your banish'd hands;
Swear by the duty that you owe to God—[898][899]180
Our part therein we banish with yourselves—
To keep the oath that we administer:
You never shall, so help you truth and God![899][900]
Embrace each other's love in banishment;
Nor never look upon each other's face;[901]185
Nor never write, regreet, nor reconcile[901][902]
This louring tempest of your home-bred hate;[903]
Nor never by advised purpose meet[901]
To plot, contrive, or complot any ill[904]
'Gainst us, our state, our subjects, or our land.190
Mow. And I, to keep all this.[906]
Boling. Norfolk, so far as to mine enemy:—[907]
By this time, had the king permitted us,
One of our souls had wander'd in the air,195
Banish'd this frail sepulchre of our flesh,
As now our flesh is banish'd from this land:
Confess thy treasons ere thou fly the realm;[908]
Since thou hast far to go, bear not along
The clogging burthen of a guilty soul.200
Mow. No, Bolingbroke: if ever I were traitor,
My name be blotted from the book of life,
And I from heaven banish'd as from hence!
[Pg 128]
But what thou art, God, thou, and I do know;[899]
And all too soon, I fear, the king shall rue.205
Farewell, my liege. Now no way can I stray;[909]
Save back to England, all the world's my way.[909][910] [Exit.
K. Rich. Uncle, even in the glasses of thine eyes[911]
I see thy grieved heart: thy sad aspect
Hath from the number of his banish'd years210
Pluck'd four away. [To Boling.] Six frozen winters spent,[912]
Return with welcome home from banishment.
Boling. How long a time lies in one little word!
Four lagging winters and four wanton springs
End in a word: such is the breath of kings.[913]215
Gaunt. I thank my liege, that in regard of me[914]
He shortens four years of my son's exile:
But little vantage shall I reap thereby;
For, ere the six years that he hath to spend[915]
Can change their moons and bring their times about,[916]220
My oil-dried lamp and time-bewasted light
Shall be extinct with age and endless night;[917]
My inch of taper will be burnt and done,[918]
And blindfold death not let me see my son.
K. Rich. Why, uncle, thou hast many years to live.225
Gaunt. But not a minute, king, that thou canst give:
Shorten my days thou canst with sullen sorrow,[919]
And pluck nights from me, but not lend a morrow;
Thou canst help time to furrow me with age,
But stop no wrinkle in his pilgrimage;230
Thy word is current with him for my death,
But dead, thy kingdom cannot buy my breath.
[Pg 129]
K. Rich. Thy son is banish'd upon good advice,[920]
Whereto thy tongue a party-verdict gave:[921]
Why at our justice seem'st thou then to lour?[922]235
Gaunt. Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour.[923]
You urged me as a judge; but I had rather[924]
You would have bid me argue like a father.
O, had it been a stranger, not my child,[925][926]
To smooth his fault I should have been more mild:[925][927]240
A partial slander sought I to avoid,[925][928]
And in the sentence my own life destroy'd.[925]
Alas, I look'd when some of you should say,
I was too strict to make mine own away;
But you gave leave to my unwilling tongue245
Against my will to do myself this wrong.
K. Rich. Cousin, farewell; and, uncle, bid him so:
Six years we banish him, and he shall go.
[Flourish. Exeunt King Richard and train.[929]
Aum. Cousin, farewell: what presence must not know,[930]
From where you do remain let paper show.250
Mar. My lord, no leave take I; for I will ride,
As far as land will let me, by your side.
Gaunt. O, to what purpose dost thou hoard thy words,
That thou return'st no greeting to thy friends?[931]
Boling. I have too few to take my leave of you,255
When the tongue's office should be prodigal
To breathe the abundant dolour of the heart.
Gaunt. Thy grief is but thy absence for a time.
Boling. Joy absent, grief is present for that time.
Gaunt. What is six winters? they are quickly gone.260
[Pg 130]
Boling. To men in joy; but grief makes one hour ten.[932]
Gaunt. Call it a travel that thou takest for pleasure.
Boling. My heart will sigh when I miscall it so,
Which finds it an inforced pilgrimage.
Gaunt. The sullen passage of thy weary steps265
Esteem as foil wherein thou art to set[933]
The precious jewel of thy home return.
Gaunt. All places that the eye of heaven visits[934]275
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens.[934][937]
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;[934]
There is no virtue like necessity.[934]
Think not the king did banish thee,[934][938][939]
But thou the king. Woe doth the heavier sit,[934][938][940]280
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.[934][938]
Go, say I sent thee forth to purchase honour[934]
And not the king exiled thee; or suppose[934]
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air[934]
And thou art flying to a fresher clime:[934]285
Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it[934]
To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou comest:[934]
Suppose the singing birds musicians,[934]
The grass whereon thou tread'st the presence strew'd,[934][941]
[Pg 131]
The flowers fair ladies, and thy steps no more[934]290
Than a delightful measure or a dance;[934]
For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite[934][942]
The man that mocks at it and sets it light.[934][942]
Boling. O, who can hold a fire in his hand[943]
By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?295
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite
By bare imagination of a feast?
Or wallow naked in December snow[944]
By thinking on fastastic summer's heat?
O, no! the apprehension of the good300
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse:[945]
Fell sorrow's tooth doth never rankle more[946]
Than when he bites, but lanceth not the sore.[947]
Gaunt. Come, come, my son, I'll bring thee on thy way:
Had I thy youth and cause, I would not stay.305
Boling. Then, England's ground, farewell; sweet soil, adieu;
My mother, and my nurse, that bears me yet![948]
Where'er I wander, boast of this I can,
Though banish'd, yet a trueborn Englishman. [Exeunt.[949]
[Pg 132]
Scene IV. The court.
Enter the King, with Bagot and Green at one door; and the
Duke of Aumerle at another.[950]
K. Rich. We did observe. Cousin Aumerle,[951]
How far brought you high Hereford on his way?
Aum. I brought high Hereford, if you call him so,
But to the next highway, and there I left him.
K. Rich. And say, what store of parting tears were shed?5
Aum. Faith, none for me; except the north-east wind,[952]
Which then blew bitterly against our faces,[953]
Awaked the sleeping rheum, and so by chance[954]
Did grace our hollow parting with a tear.
K. Rich. What said our cousin when you parted with him?[955]10
Aum. 'Farewell:'[956]
And, for my heart disdained that my tongue[956][957]
Should so profane the word, that taught me craft
To counterfeit oppression of such grief,
That words seem'd buried in my sorrow's grave.[958]15
Marry, would the word 'farewell' have lengthen'd hours[959]
And added years to his short banishment,
He should have had a volume of farewells;
[Pg 133]
But since it would not, he had none of me.
K. Rich. He is our cousin, cousin; but 'tis doubt,[960]20
When time shall call him home from banishment,
Whether our kinsman come to see his friends.[961][962]
Ourself and Bushy, Bagot here and Green[962]
Observed his courtship to the common people;
How he did seem to dive into their hearts25
With humble and familiar courtesy,
What reverence he did throw away on slaves.[963]
Wooing poor craftsmen with the craft of smiles[964]
And patient underbearing of his fortune,
As 'twere to banish their affects with him.[965]30
Off goes his bonnet to an oyster-wench;
A brace of draymen bid God speed him well
And had the tribute of his supple knee,
With 'Thanks, my countrymen, my loving friends;'
As were our England in reversion his,35
And he our subjects' next degree in hope.[966]
Green. Well, he is gone; and with him go these thoughts.
Now for the rebels which stand out in Ireland,
Expedient manage must be made, my liege,
Ere further leisure yield them further means[967]40
For their advantage and your highness' loss.
K. Rich. We will ourself in person to this war:
And, for our coffers, with too great a court
And liberal largess, are grown somewhat light,
We are inforced to farm our royal realm;45
The revenue whereof shall furnish us[968]
For our affairs in hand: if that come short,[968][969]
[Pg 134]
Our substitutes at home shall have blank charters;
Whereto, when they shall know what men are rich,
They shall subscribe them for large sums of gold50
And send them after to supply our wants;
For we will make for Ireland presently.
Enter Bushy.[970]
Bushy. Old John of Gaunt is grievous sick, my lord,[971]
Suddenly taken; and hath sent post haste55
To entreat your majesty to visit him.
K. Rich. Where lies he?[972]
Bushy. At Ely House.[973]
K. Rich. Now put it, God, in the physician's mind[974][975]
To help him to his grave immediately!60
The lining of his coffers shall make coats
To deck our soldiers for these Irish wars.
Come, gentlemen, let's all go visit him:
Pray God we may make haste, and come too late![974]
All. Amen. [Exeunt.[976]65
ACT II.
Scene I. Ely House.
Enter John of Gaunt sick, with the Duke of York, &c.[977]
Gaunt. Will the king come, that I may breathe my last
In wholesome counsel to his unstaid youth?
York. Vex not yourself, nor strive not with your breath;
For all in vain comes counsel to his ear.
Gaunt. O, but they say the tongues of dying men5
Enforce attention like deep harmony:
Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain,
For they breathe truth that breathe their words in pain.
He that no more must say is listen'd more[978]
Than they whom youth and ease have taught to glose;[978][979]10
More are men's ends mark'd than their lives before:[978]
The setting sun, and music at the close,[978][980]
As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last,[978][981]
Writ in remembrance more than things long past:[978]
Though Richard my life's counsel would not hear,[978][982]15
My death's sad tale may yet undeaf his ear.[978]
York. No; it is stopp'd with other flattering sounds,[983]
As praises, of whose taste the wise are fond,[984]
Lascivious metres, to whose venom sound[985]
[Pg 136]
The open ear of youth doth always listen;[986]20
Report of fashions in proud Italy,[987]
Whose manners still our tardy apish nation[988]
Limps after in base imitation.[989]
Where doth the world thrust forth a vanity—
So it be new, there's no respect how vile—25
That is not quickly buzz'd into his ears?[990]
Then all too late comes counsel to be heard,[991]
Where will doth mutiny with wit's regard.
Direct not him whose way himself will choose:[992]
'Tis breath thou lack'st, and that breath wilt thou lose.[992][993]30
Gaunt. Methinks I am a prophet new inspired
And thus expiring do foretell of him:
His rash fierce blaze of riot cannot last,
For violent fires soon burn out themselves;[994]
Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short;35
He tires betimes that spurs too fast betimes;
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder:
Light vanity, insatiate cormorant,[995]
Consuming means, soon preys upon itself.
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,[996]40
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,[996]
This other Eden, demi-paradise;[996][997]
This fortress built by Nature for herself[996]
Against infection and the hand of war;[996][998]
This happy breed of men, this little world,[996][999]45
[Pg 137]
This precious stone set in the silver sea,[996]
Which serves it in the office of a wall,[996]
Or as a moat defensive to a house,[996][1000]
Against the envy of less happier lands;[996][1001]
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,[996][1002]50
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,[996]
Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,[996][1003]
Renowned for their deeds as far from home,[996][1004][1005]
For Christian service and true chivalry,[996][1004][1006]
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry[996]55
Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's Son;
This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
Is now leased out, I die pronouncing it,
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:[1007]60
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege[1008]
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,[1009]
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:[1010]
That England, that was wont to conquer others,65
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself.
Ah, would the scandal vanish with my life,[1011]
How happy then were my ensuing death!
[Pg 138]
Enter King Richard and Queen, Aumerle, Bushy, Green,
Bagot, Ross, and Willoughby.[1012]
York. The king is come: deal mildly with his youth;[1013]
For young hot colts being raged do rage the more.[1014]70
Queen. How fares our noble uncle, Lancaster?
K. Rich. What comfort, man? how is't with aged Gaunt?
Gaunt. O, how that name befits my composition![1015]
Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being old:[1015]
Within me grief hath kept a tedious fast;[1015]75
And who abstains from meat that is not gaunt?[1015]
For sleeping England long time have I watch'd;[1015]
Watching breeds leanness, leanness is all gaunt:[1015]
The pleasure that some fathers feed upon,[1015]
Is my strict fast; I mean, my children's looks;[1015]80
And therein fasting, hast thou made me gaunt:[1015][1016]
Gaunt am I for the grave, gaunt as a grave,[1015]
Whose hollow womb inherits nought but bones.[1015]
K. Rich. Can sick men play so nicely with their names?[1015]
Gaunt. No, misery makes sport to mock itself:[1015]85
Since thou dost seek to kill my name in me,[1015]
I mock my name, great king, to flatter thee.[1015][1017]
K. Rich. Should dying men flatter with those that live?[1015][1018]
Gaunt. No, no, men living flatter those that die.[1015]
K. Rich. Thou, now a-dying, say'st thou flatterest me.[1015][1019]90
Gaunt. O, no! thou diest, though I the sicker be.[1015]
K. Rich. I am in health, I breathe, and see thee ill.[1015][1020]
Gaunt. Now, He that made me knows I see thee ill;[1015]
Ill in myself to see, and in thee seeing ill.[1021]
[Pg 139]
Thy death-bed is no lesser than thy land[1022]95
Wherein thou liest in reputation sick;
And thou, too careless patient as thou art,
Commit'st thy anointed body to the cure[1023]
Of those physicians that first wounded thee:
A thousand flatterers sit within thy crown,100
Whose compass is no bigger than thy head;[1024]
And yet, incaged in so small a verge,[1025]
The waste is no whit lesser than thy land.[1026]
O, had thy grandsire with a prophet's eye
Seen how his son's son should destroy his sons,105
From forth thy reach he would have laid thy shame,
Deposing thee before thou wert possess'd,
Which art possess'd now to depose thyself.[1027]
Why, cousin, wert thou regent of the world,[1028]
It were a shame to let this land by lease;[1029]110
But for thy world enjoying but this land,
Is it not more than shame to shame it so?
Landlord of England art thou now, not king:[1030]
Thy state of law is bondslave to the law;[1031]
And thou—
K. Rich. A lunatic lean-witted fool,[1032]115
Presuming on an ague's privilege,
Barest with thy frozen admonition
Make pale our cheek, chasing the royal blood[1033]
With fury from his native residence.[1034]
[Pg 140]
Now, by my seat's right royal majesty,120
Wert thou not brother to great Edward's son,
This tongue that runs so roundly in thy head
Should run thy head from thy unreverent shoulders.[1035]
Gaunt. O, spare me not, my brother Edward's son,[1036]
For that I was his father Edward's son;125
That blood already, like the pelican,
Hast thou tapp'd out and drunkenly caroused:[1037]
My brother Gloucester, plain well-meaning soul,
Whom fair befal in heaven 'mongst happy souls!
May be a precedent and witness good130
That thou respect'st not spilling Edward's blood:[1038]
Join with the present sickness that I have;
And thy unkindness be like crooked age,[1039][1040]
To crop at once a too long wither'd flower.[1039]
Live in thy shame, but die not shame with thee![1041]135
These words hereafter thy tormentors be!
Convey me to my bed, then to my grave:
Love they to live that love and honour have.
[Exit, borne off by his Attendants.[1042]
K. Rich. And let them die that age and sullens have;
For both hast thou, and both become the grave.[1043]140
York. I do beseech your majesty, impute his words[1044][1045]
To wayward sickliness and age in him:[1044]
He loves you, on my life, and holds you dear
As Harry Duke of Hereford, were he here.
[Pg 141]
K. Rich. Right, you say true: as Hereford's love, so his;145
As theirs, so mine; and all be as it is.[1046]
Enter Northumberland.[1047]
North. My liege, old Gaunt commends him to your majesty.
K. Rich. What says he?
North. Nay, nothing; all is said:[1048]
His tongue is now a stringless instrument;
Words life and all, old Lancaster hath spent.150
York. Be York the next that must be bankrupt so!
Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe.
K. Rich. The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he;
His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be.
So much for that. Now for our Irish wars:155
We must supplant those rough rug-headed kerns,[1049]
Which live like venom where no venom else
But only they have privilege to live.[1050]
And for these great affairs do ask some charge,
Towards our assistance we do seize to us160
The plate, coin, revenues and moveables,[1051]
Whereof our uncle Gaunt did stand possess'd.
York. How long shall I be patient? ah, how long[1052]
Shall tender duty make me suffer wrong?
Not Gloucester's death, nor Hereford's banishment,[1053]165
Not Gaunt's rebukes, nor England's private wrongs,
Nor the prevention of poor Bolingbroke
About his marriage, nor my own disgrace,
Have ever made me sour my patient cheek,
[Pg 142]
Or bend one wrinkle on my sovereign's face.170
I am the last of noble Edward's sons,[1054]
Of whom thy father, Prince of Wales, was first:
In war was never lion raged more fierce,[1055]
In peace was never gentle lamb more mild,
Than was that young and princely gentleman.175
His face thou hast, for even so look'd he,
Accomplish'd with the number of thy hours;[1056]
But when he frown'd, it was against the French
And not against his friends; his noble hand
Did win what he did spend and spent not that180
Which his triumphant father's hand had won;
His hands were guilty of no kindred blood,[1057]
But bloody with the enemies of his kin.
O Richard! York is too far gone with grief,
Or else he never would compare between.[1058]185
K. Rich. Why, uncle, what's the matter?[1059]
York. O my liege,[1059]
Pardon me, if you please; if not, I, pleased[1059][1060]
Not to be pardon'd, am content withal.[1059][1060]
Seek you to seize and gripe into your hands
The royalties and rights of banish'd Hereford?190
Is not Gaunt dead, and doth not Hereford live?
Was not Gaunt just, and is not Harry true?
Did not the one deserve to have an heir?
Is not his heir a well-deserving son?
Take Hereford's rights away, and take from time[1061]195
His charters and his customary rights;
Let not to-morrow then ensue to-day:
Be not thyself; for how art thou a king
But by fair sequence and succession?
[Pg 143]
Now, afore God—God forbid I say true!—[1062]200
If you do wrongfully seize Hereford's rights,[1063]
Call in the letters patents that he hath[1064]
By his attorneys-general to sue
His livery and deny his offer'd homage,
You pluck a thousand dangers on your head,205
You lose a thousand well-disposed hearts[1065]
And prick my tender patience to those thoughts
Which honour and allegiance cannot think.
K. Rich. Think what you will, we seize into our hands[1066]
His plate, his goods, his money and his lands.[1067]210
York. I'll not be by the while: my liege, farewell:
What will ensue hereof, there's none can tell;
But by bad courses may be understood
That their events can never fall out good. [Exit.
K. Rich. Go, Bushy, to the Earl of Wiltshire straight:215
Bid him repair to us to Ely House
To see this business. To-morrow next[1068]
We will for Ireland; and 'tis time, I trow:
And we create, in absence of ourself,
Our uncle York lord governor of England;220
For he is just and always loved us well.
Come on, our queen: to-morrow must we part;
Be merry, for our time of stay is short.
[Flourish. Exeunt King, Queen, Aumerle, Bushy, Green, and Bagot.[1069]
North. Well, lords, the Duke of Lancaster is dead.[1070]
Ross. And living too; for now his son is duke.225
North. Richly in both, if justice had her right.
Ross. My heart is great; but it must break with silence,
Ere't be disburden'd with a liberal tongue.
North. Nay, speak thy mind; and let him ne'er speak more230
That speaks thy words again to do thee harm!
Willo. Tends that thou wouldst speak to the Duke of Hereford?[1072]
If it be so, out with it boldly, man;
Quick is mine ear to hear of good towards him.
Ross. No good at all that I can do for him;235
Unless you call it good to pity him,
Bereft and gelded of his patrimony.
North. Now, afore God, 'tis shame such wrongs are borne[1073]
In him a royal prince and many moe[1074]
Of noble blood in this declining land.240
The king is not himself, but basely led
By flatterers; and what they will inform.
Merely in hate, 'gainst any of us all,[1075]
That will the king severely prosecute
'Gainst us, our lives, our children, and our heirs.[1075][1076]245
Ross. The commons hath he pill'd with grievous taxes,[1077]
And quite lost their hearts: the nobles hath he fined[1078]
For ancient quarrels, and quite lost their hearts.[1079]
Willo. And daily new exactions are devised,
As blanks, benevolences, and I wot not what:[1080]250
But what, o' God's name, doth become of this?[1081]
[Pg 145]
North. Wars have not wasted it, for warr'd he hath not,[1082][1083]
But basely yielded upon compromise[1082]
That which his noble ancestors achieved with blows:[1082][1084]
More hath he spent in peace than they in wars.[1082]255
Ross. The Earl of Wiltshire hath the realm in farm.
Willo. The king's grown bankrupt, like a broken man.[1085]
North. Reproach and dissolution hangeth over him.[1086]
Ross. He hath not money for these Irish wars,
His burthenous taxations notwithstanding,260
But by the robbing of the banish'd duke.
North. His noble kinsman: most degenerate king!
But, lords, we hear this fearful tempest sing,
Yet seek no shelter to avoid the storm;
We see the wind sit sore upon our sails,[1087]265
And yet we strike not, but securely perish.
Ross. We see the very wreck that we must suffer;
And unavoided is the danger now,[1088]
For suffering so the causes of our wreck.
North. Not so; even through the hollow eyes of death270
I spy life peering; but I dare not say[1089]
How near the tidings of our comfort is.
Willo. Nay, let us share thy thoughts, as thou dost ours.
Ross. Be confident to speak, Northumberland:
We three are but thyself; and, speaking so,275
Thy words are but as thoughts; therefore, be bold.[1090]
North. Then thus: I have from Port le Blanc, a bay[1091][1092]
In Brittany, received intelligence[1092][1093]
[Pg 146]
That Harry Duke of Hereford, Rainold Lord Cobham,[1094]
................................280
That late broke from the Duke of Exeter,
His brother, Archbishop late of Canterbury,[1095]
Sir Thomas Erpingham, Sir John Ramston,[1096]
Sir John Norbery, Sir Robert Waterton and Francis Quoint,[1097]
All these well furnish'd by the Duke of Bretagne285
With eight tall ships, three thousand men of war.
Are making hither with all due expedience
And shortly mean to touch our northern shore:
Perhaps they had ere this, but that they stay
The first departing of the king for Ireland.290
If then we shall shake off our slavish yoke,[1098]
Imp out our drooping country's broken wing,
Redeem from broking pawn the blemish'd crown,[1099]
Wipe off the dust that hides our sceptre's gilt[1100]
And make high majesty look like itself,295
Away with me in post to Ravenspurgh;[1101]
But if you faint, as fearing to do so,
Stay and be secret, and myself will go.
Ross. To horse, to horse! urge doubts to them that fear.
Willo. Hold out my horse, and I will first be there.300
[Exeunt.
[Pg 147]
Scene II. The palace.[1102]
Enter Queen, Bushy, and Bagot.
Bushy. Madam, your majesty is too much sad.[1103]
You promised, when you parted with the king,
To lay aside life-harming heaviness,[1104]
And entertain a cheerful disposition.
Queen. To please the king I did; to please myself5
I cannot do it; yet I know no cause
Why I should welcome such a guest as grief,
Save bidding farewell to so sweet a guest
As my sweet Richard: yet again, methinks,
Some unborn sorrow, ripe in fortune's womb,10
Is coming towards me, and my inward soul[1105]
With nothing trembles: at some thing it grieves,[1106]
More than with parting from my lord the king.
Bushy. Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows,[1107]
Which shows like grief itself, but is not so;[1108]15
For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears,[1109]
Divides one thing entire to many objects;
Like perspectives, which, rightly gazed upon,[1110]
Show nothing but confusion, eyed awry,[1110]
Distinguish form: so your sweet majesty,[1111]20
Looking awry upon your lord's departure,
[Pg 148]
Find shapes of grief, more than himself, to wail;[1112]
Which, look'd on as it is, is nought but shadows[1113]
Of what it is not. Then, thrice-gracious queen,[1114][1115]
More than your lord's departure weep not: more's not seen;[1115][1116]25
Or if it be, 'tis with false sorrow's eye,[1117]
Which for things true weeps things imaginary.[1118]
Queen. It may be so; but yet my inward soul
Persuades me it is otherwise: howe'er it be,[1119]
I cannot but be sad; so heavy sad,[1120]30
As, though on thinking on no thought I think,[1121][1122]
Makes me with heavy nothing faint and shrink.[1121][1123]
Bushy. 'Tis nothing but conceit, my gracious lady.
Queen. 'Tis nothing less: conceit is still derived[1124]
From some forefather grief; mine is not so,35
For nothing hath begot my something grief;[1125][1126]
Or something hath the nothing that I grieve:[1125][1127]
'Tis in reversion that I do possess;[1125][1128]
But what it is, that is not yet known; what[1125][1129]
I cannot name; 'tis nameless woe, I wot.[1125][1129]40
[Pg 149]
Enter Green.[1130]
Green. God save your majesty! and well met, gentlemen:[1131]
I hope the king is not yet shipp'd for Ireland.
Queen. Why hopest thou so? 'tis better hope he is;
For his designs crave haste, his haste good hope:[1132]
Then wherefore dost thou hope he is not shipp'd?45
Green. That he, our hope, might have retired his power,
And driven into despair an enemy's hope,[1133]
Who strongly hath set footing in this land:
The banish'd Bolingbroke repeals himself,
And with uplifted arms is safe arrived[1134]50
At Ravenspurgh.[1134][1135]
Queen. Now God in heaven forbid!
Green. Ah madam, 'tis too true: and that is worse,[1136]
The Lord Northumberland, his son young Henry Percy,[1137]
The Lords of Ross, Beaumond, and Willoughby,
With all their powerful friends, are fled to him.55
Bushy. Why have you not proclaim'd Northumberland
And all the rest revolted faction traitors?[1138]
Green. We have: whereupon the Earl of Worcester[1139]
Hath broke his staff, resign'd his stewardship,[1140]
And all the household servants fled with him[1141]60
To Bolingbroke.[1141][1142]
[Pg 150]
Queen. So, Green, thou art the midwife to my woe,[1143]
And Bolingbroke my sorrow's dismal heir:
Now hath my soul brought forth her prodigy,
And I, a gasping new-deliver'd mother,[1144]65
Have woe to woe, sorrow to sorrow join'd.
Bushy. Despair not, madam.
Queen. Who shall hinder me?
I will despair, and be at enmity
With cozening hope: he is a flatterer,[1145]
A parasite, a keeper back of death,70
Who gently would dissolve the bands of life,
Which false hope lingers in extremity.
Enter York.[1146]
Green. Here comes the Duke of York.[1147]
Queen. With signs of war about his aged neck;
O, full of careful business are his looks![1148]75
Uncle, for God's sake, speak comfortable words.[1149]
York. Should I do so, I should belie my thoughts:[1150]
Comfort's in heaven; and we are on the earth,
Where nothing lives but crosses, cares and grief.[1151]
Your husband, he is gone to save far off,80
Whilst others come to make him lose at home:[1152]
Here am I left to underprop his land,
Who, weak with age, cannot support myself:
Now comes the sick hour that his surfeit made;[1153]
Now shall he try his friends that flatter'd him.[1154]85
[Pg 151]
Enter a Servant.[1155]
Serv. My lord, your son was gone before I came.[1156]
York. He was? Why, so! go all which way it will!
The nobles they are fled, the commons they are cold,[1157]
And will, I fear, revolt on Hereford's side.
Sirrah, get thee to Plashy, to my sister Gloucester;[1158]90
Bid her send me presently a thousand pound:[1159]
Hold, take my ring.[1160]
Serv. An hour before I came, the duchess died.[1156]
York. God for his mercy! what a tide of woes[1165]
Comes rushing on this woeful land at once![1166]
I know not what to do: I would to God,[1165]100
So my untruth had not provoked him to it,
The king had cut off my head with my brother's.
What, are there no posts dispatch'd for Ireland?[1167]
How shall we do for money for these wars?
Come, sister,—cousin, I would say,—pray, pardon me.105
Go, fellow, get thee home, provide some carts[1168]
And bring away the armour that is there. [Exit Servant.[1169]
Gentlemen, will you go muster men?[1170]
If I know how or which way to order these affairs[1171]
Thus thrust disorderly into my hands,[1172]110
[Pg 152]
Never believe me. Both are my kinsmen:[1173]
The one is my sovereign, whom both my oath[1174]
And duty bids defend; the other again[1175]
Is my kinsman, whom the king hath wrong'd,[1176]
Whom conscience and my kindred bids to right.115
Well, somewhat we must do. Come, cousin, I'll[1177]
Dispose of you.[1177]
Gentlemen, go, muster up your men,[1177][1178]
And meet me presently at Berkeley.[1179]
I should to Plashy too;[1180]120
But time will not permit: all is uneven,[1180]
And every thing is left at six and seven.[1180]
[Exeunt York and Queen.[1181]
Bushy. The wind sits fair for news to go to Ireland,[1182]
But none returns. For us to levy power
Proportionable to the enemy[1183]125
Is all unpossible.[1183][1184]
Green. Besides, our nearness to the king in love
Is near the hate of those love not the king.
[Pg 153]
Bagot. And that's the wavering commons: for their love[1185]
Lies in their purses, and whoso empties them[1186]130
By so much fills their hearts with deadly hate.
Bushy. Wherein the king stands generally condemn'd.[1187]
Bagot. If judgement lie in them, then so do we,
Because we ever have been near the king.[1188]
Green. Well, I will for refuge straight to Bristol castle:[1189][1190]135
The Earl of Wiltshire is already there.
Bushy. Thither will I with you; for little office[1191]
The hateful commons will perform for us,[1192]
Except like curs to tear us all to pieces.[1193]
Will you go along with us?[1194]140
Bagot. No; I will to Ireland to his majesty.[1189][1195]
Farewell: if heart's presages be not vain,
We three here part that ne'er shall meet again.[1196]
Bushy. That's as York thrives to beat back Bolingbroke.
Green. Alas, poor duke! the task he undertakes[1197]145
Is numbering sands and drinking oceans dry:
Where one on his side fights, thousands will fly.
Farewell at once, for once, for all, and ever.[1198]
Bushy. Well, we may meet again.[1198]
Bagot. I fear me, never.[1198]
[Exeunt.[1199]
[Pg 154]
Scene III. Wilds in Gloucestershire.
Enter Bolingbroke and Northumberland, with Forces.[1200]
Boling. How far is it, my lord, to Berkeley now?
North. Believe me, noble lord,[1201]
I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire:[1202]
These high wild hills and rough uneven ways[1203]
Draws out our miles, and makes them wearisome;[1204]5
And yet your fair discourse hath been as sugar,[1205]
Making the hard way sweet and delectable.
But I bethink me what a weary way
From Ravenspurgh to Cotswold will be found[1206]
In Ross and Willoughby, wanting your company,[1207]10
Which, I protest, hath very much beguiled
The tediousness and process of my travel:
But theirs is sweetened with the hope to have
The present benefit which I possess;[1208]
And hope to joy is little less in joy[1209]15
Than hope enjoy'd: by this the weary lords
Shall make their way seem short, as mine hath done[1210]
By sight of what I have, your noble company.[1211]
Boling. Of much less value is my company
Than your good words. But who comes here?[1212][1213]20
[Pg 155]
Enter Henry Percy.[1214]
North. It is my son, young Harry Percy,[1214][1215]
Sent from my brother Worcester, whencesoever.[1216]
Harry, how fares your uncle?[1217]
Percy. I had thought, my lord, to have learn'd his health of you.[1217][1218]
Percy. No, my good Lord; he hath forsook the court,
Broken his staff of office and dispersed
The household of the king.
North. What was his reason?[1220]
He was not so resolved when last we spake together.[1220][1221]
Percy. Because your lordship was proclaimed traitor.30
But he, my lord, is gone to Ravenspurgh,
To offer service to the Duke of Hereford,
And sent me over by Berkeley, to discover[1222]
What power the Duke of York had levied there;
Then with directions to repair to Ravenspurgh.[1223]35
North. Have you forgot the Duke of Hereford, boy?[1224]
Percy. No, my good Lord, for that is not forgot
Which ne'er I did remember: to my knowledge,
I never in my life did look on him.
North. Then learn to know him now; this is the duke.40
Percy. My gracious lord, I tender you my service,
Such as it is, being tender, raw and young;
Which elder days shall ripen and confirm
To more approved service and desert.
Boling. I thank thee, gentle Percy; and be sure45
I count myself in nothing else so happy
[Pg 156]
As in a soul remembering my good friends;
And, as my fortune ripens with thy love,[1225]
It shall be still thy true love's recompense:
My heart this covenant makes, my hand thus seals it.50
North. How far is it to Berkeley? and what stir
Keeps good old York there with his men of war?
Percy. There stands the castle, by yon tuft of trees,[1226]
Mann'd with three hundred men, as I have heard;[1227]
And in it are the Lords of York, Berkeley, and Seymour;[1228]55
None else of name and noble estimate.
Enter Ross and Willoughby.[1229]
North. Here come the Lords of Ross and Willoughby,[1230]
Bloody with spurring, fiery-red with haste.
Boling. Welcome, my lords. I wot your love pursues
A banish'd traitor: all my treasury60
Is yet but unfelt thanks, which more enrich'd
Shall be your love and labour's recompense.
Ross. Your presence makes us rich, most noble lord.
Willo. And far surmounts our labour to attain it.
Boling. Evermore thanks, the exchequer of the poor;[1231]65
Which, till my infant fortune comes to years,
Stands for my bounty. But who comes here?[1232]
Enter Berkeley.
North. It is my Lord of Berkeley, as I guess.
Berk. My Lord of Hereford, my message is to you.[1233]
Boling. My lord, my answer is—to Lancaster;[1234]70
And I am come to seek that name in England;[1235]
And I must find that title in your tongue,[1236]
[Pg 157]
Before I make reply to aught you say.
Berk. Mistake me not, my Lord; 'tis not my meaning
To raze one title of your honour out:[1237]75
To you, my lord, I come, what lord you will,
From the most gracious regent of this land,[1238]
The Duke of York, to know what pricks you on
To take advantage of the absent time[1239]
And fright our native peace with self-born arms.80
Enter York attended.[1240]
Boling. I shall not need transport my words by you;[1241]
Here comes his grace in person.
My noble uncle! [Kneels.[1242]
York. Show me thy humble heart, and not thy knee,
Whose duty is deceiveable and false.
Boling. My gracious uncle—85
York. Tut, tut![1243]
Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle:[1243][1244]
I am no traitor's uncle; and that word 'grace'[1245]
In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs[1246]90
Dared once to touch a dust of England's ground?[1247]
But then more 'why?' why have they dared to march[1248]
So many miles upon her peaceful bosom,
[Pg 158]
Frighting her pale-faced villages with war
And ostentation of despised arms?[1249]95
Comest thou because the anointed king is hence?
Why, foolish boy, the king is left behind,
And in my loyal bosom lies his power.
Were I but now the lord of such hot youth[1250]
As when brave Gaunt, thy father, and myself[1251]100
Rescued the Black Prince, that young Mars of men,
From forth the ranks of many thousand French,[1252]
O, then how quickly should this arm of mine,
Now prisoner to the palsy, chastise thee[1253]
And minister correction to thy fault!105
Boling. My gracious uncle, let me know my fault:
On what condition stands it and wherein?[1254]
York. Even in condition of the worst degree,
In gross rebellion and detested treason:
Thou art a banish'd man, and here art come110
Before the expiration of thy time,
In braving arms against thy sovereign.[1255]
Boling. As I was banish'd, I was banish'd Hereford:
But as I come, I come for Lancaster.
And, noble uncle, I beseech your grace115
Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye:
You are my father, for methinks in you[1256]
I see old Gaunt alive; O, then, my father,[1257]
Will you permit that I shall stand condemn'd
A wandering vagabond; my rights and royalties120
Pluck'd from my arms perforce and given away
To upstart unthrifts? Wherefore was I born?
If that my cousin king be King of England,[1258]
It must be granted I am Duke of Lancaster.
You have a son, Aumerle, my noble cousin;[1259]125
[Pg 159]
Had you first died, and he been thus trod down.
He should have found his uncle Gaunt a father,
To rouse his wrongs and chase them to the bay.[1260]
I am denied to sue my livery here,
And yet my letters-patents give me leave:[1261]130
My father's goods are all distrain'd and sold;
And these and all are all amiss employ'd.[1262]
What would you have me do? I am a subject,
And I challenge law: attorneys are denied me;[1263]
And therefore personally I lay my claim135
To my inheritance of free descent.[1264]
North. The noble duke hath been too much abused.
Ross. It stands your grace upon to do him right.
Willo. Base men by his endowments are made great.
York. My lords of England, let me tell you this:140
I have had feeling of my cousin's wrongs
And laboured all I could to do him right;
But in this kind to come, in braving arms,[1265]
Be his own carver and cut out his way,
To find out right with wrong, it may not be;[1266]145
And you that do abet him in this kind
Cherish rebellion and are rebels all.
North. The noble duke hath sworn his coming is[1267]
But for his own; and for the right of that
We all have strongly sworn to give him aid;150
And let him ne'er see joy that breaks that oath![1268]
York. Well, well, I see the issue of these arms:
I cannot mend it, I must needs confess,
Because my power is weak and all ill left:
But if I could, by Him that gave me life,155
I would attach you all and make you stoop
Unto the sovereign mercy of the king;
But since I cannot, be it known to you
[Pg 160]
I do remain as neuter. So, fare you well;[1269]
Unless you please to enter in the castle160
And there repose you for this night.[1270]
Boling. An offer, uncle, that we will accept:
But we must win your grace to go with us
To Bristol castle, which they say is held[1271]
By Bushy, Bagot and their complices,[1272]165
The caterpillars of the commonwealth,
Which I have sworn to weed and pluck away.
York. It may be I will go with you: but yet I'll pause;[1273]
For I am loath to break our country's laws.
Nor friends nor foes, to me welcome you are:[1274]170
Things past redress are now with me past care. [Exeunt.[1275]
Scene IV. A camp in Wales.
Enter Salisbury and a Welsh Captain.[1276]
Cap. My Lord of Salisbury, we have stay'd ten days,[1277]
And hardly kept our countrymen together,[1278]
And yet we hear no tidings from the king;
Therefore we will disperse ourselves: farewell.[1279]
Sal. Stay yet another day, thou trusty Welshman:5
The king reposeth all his confidence in thee.[1280]
[Pg 161]
Cap. 'Tis thought the king is dead; we will not stay.
The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd[1281]
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;[1282]
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth10
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change;
Rich men look sad and ruffians dance and leap,[1283]
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war:[1284]
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.[1285]15
Farewell: our countrymen are gone and fled,
As well assured Richard their king is dead. [Exit.[1286]
Sal. Ah, Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind[1287][1288]
I see thy glory like a shooting star[1288]
Fall to the base earth from the firmament.20
Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west,[1289]
Witnessing storms to come, woe and unrest:
Thy friends are fled to wait upon thy foes,
And crossly to thy good all fortune goes. [Exit.[1286]
ACT III.
Scene I. Bristol. Before the Castle.
Enter Bolingbroke, York, Northumberland, Ross, Percy,
Willoughby, with Bushy and Green, prisoners.[1290]
Boling. Bring forth these men.
Bushy and Green, I will not vex your souls—
Since presently your souls must part your bodies—
[Pg 162]
With too much urging your pernicious lives,[1291]
For 'twere no charity; yet, to wash your blood5
From off my hands, here in the view of men
I will unfold some causes of your deaths.[1292]
You have misled a prince, a royal king,
A happy gentleman in blood and lineaments,
By you unhappied and disfigured clean:10
You have in manner with your sinful hours
Made a divorce betwixt his queen and him,
Broke the possession of a royal bed[1293]
And stain'd the beauty of a fair queen's cheeks
With tears drawn from her eyes by your foul wrongs.[1294]15
Myself, a prince by fortune of my birth,
Near to the king in blood, and near in love
Till you did make him misinterpret me,[1295]
Have stoop'd my neck under your injuries,
And sigh'd my English breath in foreign clouds,[1296]20
Eating the bitter bread of banishment;
Whilst you have fed upon my signories,[1297]
Dispark'd my parks and fell'd my forest woods,
From my own windows torn my household coat,[1298]
Razed out my imprese, leaving me no sign,[1299]25
Save men's opinions and my living blood,
To show the world I am a gentleman.
This and much more, much more than twice all this,
Condemns you to the death. See them deliver'd over[1300]
To execution and the hand of death.30
Bushy. More welcome is the stroke of death to me
Than Bolingbroke to England. Lords, farewell.[1301]
Green. My comfort is that heaven will take our souls
And plague injustice with the pains of hell.
[Pg 163]
Boling. My Lord Northumberland, see them dispatch'd.35
[Exeunt Northumberland and others, with the prisoners.[1302]
Uncle, you say the queen is at your house;
For God's sake, fairly let her be entreated:[1303]
Tell her I send to her my kind commends;
Take special care my greetings be deliver'd.[1304]
York. A gentleman of mine I have dispatch'd40
With letters of your love to her at large.
Boling. Thanks, gentle uncle. Come, lords, away,[1305]
To fight with Glendower and his complices:[1306]
Awhile to work, and after holiday. [Exeunt.
Scene II. The coast of Wales. A castle in view.
Drums: flourish and colours. Enter King Richard, the Bishop
of Carlisle, Aumerle, and Soldiers.[1307]
K. Rich. Barkloughly castle call they this at hand?[1308]
Aum. Yea, my lord. How brooks your grace the air,[1309]
After your late tossing on the breaking seas?[1310]
K. Rich. Needs must I like it well: I weep for joy
To stand upon my kingdom once again.5
Dear earth, I do salute thee with my hand,
Though rebels wound thee with their horses' hoofs:
[Pg 164]
As a long-parted mother with her child[1311]
Plays fondly with her tears and smiles in meeting,[1312]
So, weeping, smiling, greet I thee, my earth,[1313]10
And do thee favours with my royal hands.[1314]
Feed not thy sovereign's foe, my gentle earth,
Nor with thy sweets comfort his ravenous sense;
But let thy spiders, that suck up thy venom,
And heavy-gaited toads lie in their way,15
Doing annoyance to the treacherous feet
Which with usurping steps do trample thee:
Yield stinging nettles to mine enemies;
And when they from thy bosom pluck a flower.[1315]
Guard it, I pray thee, with a lurking adder[1316]20
Whose double tongue may with a mortal touch
Throw death upon thy sovereign's enemies.
Mock not my senseless conjuration, lords:
This earth shall have a feeling and these stones
Prove armed soldiers, ere her native king25
Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.[1317]
Car. Fear not, my lord: that Power that made you king
Hath power to keep you king in spite of all.
The means that heaven yields must be embraced,[1318][1319]
And not neglected; else, if heaven would,[1318][1320]30
And we will not, heaven's offer we refuse,[1318][1321]
The proffer'd means of succour and redress.[1318][1322]
[Pg 165]
Aum. He means, my lord, that we are too remiss;
Whilst Bolingbroke, through our security,[1323]
Grows strong and great in substance and in power.[1324]35
K. Rich. Discomfortable cousin! know'st thou not[1325]
That when the searching eye of heaven is hid,[1326]
Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,[1326][1327]
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen
In murders and in outrage, boldly here;[1328]40
But when from under this terrestrial ball[1329]
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines
And darts his light through every guilty hole,[1330]
Then murders, treasons and detested sins,
The cloak of night being pluck'd from off their backs,45
Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?
So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke,
Who all this while hath revell'd in the night
Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes,[1331]
Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,50
His treasons will sit blushing in his face,[1332]
Not able to endure the sight of day,
But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.[1333]
Not all the water in the rough rude sea[1334]
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king;[1335]55
The breath of worldly men cannot depose[1336]
The deputy elected by the Lord:
For every man that Bolingbroke hath press'd[1337]
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,[1338]
God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay[1339]60
[Pg 166]
A glorious angel: then, if angels fight,
Weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right.
Enter Salisbury.
Welcome, my lord: how far off lies your power?[1340]
Sal. Nor near nor farther off, my gracious lord,
Than this weak arm: discomfort guides my tongue65
And bids me speak of nothing but despair.
One day too late, I fear me, noble lord,[1341]
Hath clouded all thy happy days on earth:[1342]
O, call back yesterday, bid time return,
And thou shalt have twelve thousand fighting men![1343]70
To-day, to-day, unhappy day, too late,
O'erthrows thy joys, friends, fortune and thy state:[1344]
For all the Welshmen, hearing thou wert dead,
Are gone to Bolingbroke, dispersed and fled.[1345]
Aum. Comfort, my liege: why looks your grace so pale?75
K. Rich. But now the blood of twenty thousand men[1346]
Did triumph in my face, and they are fled;
And, till so much blood thither come again,[1347]
Have I not reason to look pale and dead?[1347]
All souls that will be safe fly from my side,80
For time hath set a blot upon my pride.
Aum. Comfort, my liege; remember who you are.
K. Rich. I had forgot myself: am I not king?
Awake, thou coward majesty! thou sleepest.[1348]
Is not the king's name twenty thousand names?[1349]85
Arm, arm, my name! a puny subject strikes
At thy great glory. Look not to the ground,
[Pg 167]
Ye favourites of a king: are we not high?
High be our thoughts: I know my uncle York
Hath power enough to serve our turn. But who comes here?[1350]90
Enter Scroop.
Scroop. More health and happiness betide my liege[1351]
Than can my care-tuned tongue deliver him!
K. Rich. Mine ear is open and my heart prepared:
The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold.
Say, is my kingdom lost? why, 'twas my care;95
And what loss is it to be rid of care?
Strives Bolingbroke to be as great as we?
Greater he shall not be; if he serve God,
We'll serve Him too and be his fellow so:
Revolt our subjects? that we cannot mend;100
They break their faith to God as well as us:
Cry woe, destruction, ruin and decay;[1352]
The worst is death, and death will have his day.
Scroop. Glad am I that your highness is so arm'd
To bear the tidings of calamity.105
Like an unseasonable stormy day,
Which makes the silver rivers drown their shores,[1353]
As if the world were all dissolved to tears,
So high above his limits swells the rage[1354]
Of Bolingbroke, covering your fearful land110
With hard bright steel and hearts harder than steel.[1355]
White-beards have arm'd their thin and hairless scalps[1356]
Against thy majesty; boys, with women's voices,[1357]
Strive to speak big and clap their female joints[1358]
In stiff unwieldy arms against thy crown:[1359]115
[Pg 168]
Thy very beadsmen learn to bend their bows[1360]
Of double-fatal yew against thy state;[1361]
Yea, distaff-women manage rusty bills[1362]
Against thy seat: both young and old rebel,[1362]
And all goes worse than I have power to tell.120
K. Rich. Too well, too well thou tell'st a tale so ill.
Where is the Earl of Wiltshire? where is Bagot?[1363]
What is become of Bushy? where is Green?
That they have let the dangerous enemy
Measure our confines with such peaceful steps?125
If we prevail, their heads shall pay for it:[1364]
I warrant they have made peace with Bolingbroke.[1365]
Scroop. Peace have they made with him indeed, my lord.[1366]
K. Rich. O villains, vipers, damn'd without redemption!
Dogs, easily won to fawn on any man![1367]130
Snakes, in my heart-blood warm'd, that sting my heart!
Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas!
Would they make peace? terrible hell make war
Upon their spotted souls for this offence![1368]
Scroop. Sweet love, I see, changing his property,[1369]135
Turns to the sourest and most deadly hate:
Again uncurse their souls; their peace is made
With heads, and not with hands: those whom you curse[1370]
Have felt the worst of death's destroying wound[1371]
[Pg 169]
And lie full low, graved in the hollow ground.[1372]140
Aum. Is Bushy, Green and the Earl of Wiltshire dead?
Scroop. Ay, all of them at Bristol lost their heads.[1373]
Aum. Where is the duke my father with his power?
K. Rich. No matter where; of comfort no man speak:
Let's talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs;145
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.[1374]
Let's choose executors and talk of wills:
And yet not so, for what can we bequeath
Save our deposed bodies to the ground?150
Our lands, our lives and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth[1375]
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground[1376]155
And tell sad stories of the death of kings:
How some have been deposed; some slain in war;
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;[1377]
Some poison'd by their wives; some sleeping kill'd;
All murder'd: for within the hollow crown160
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court and there the antique sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,165
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable, and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin[1378]
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king![1379]170
[Pg 170]
Cover your heads and mock not flesh and blood[1380]
With solemn reverence: throw away respect,[1380]
Tradition, form and ceremonious duty,[1381]
For you have but mistook me all this while:
I live with bread like you, feel want,[1382]175
Taste grief, need friends: subjected thus,[1382][1383][1384]
How can you say to me, I am a king?[1382][1384][1385]
Car. My lord, wise men ne'er sit and wail their woes,[1386]
But presently prevent the ways to wail.
To fear the foe, since fear oppresseth strength,180
Gives in your weakness strength unto your foe,
And so your follies fight against yourself.[1387]
Fear, and be slain; no worse can come to fight:[1388][1389]
And fight and die is death destroying death;[1388][1390]
Where fearing dying pays death servile breath.[1388]185
Aum. My father hath a power; inquire of him,[1388]
And learn to make a body of a limb.[1388]
K. Rich. Thou chidest me well: proud Bolingbroke, I come
To change blows with thee for our day of doom.[1391]
This ague fit of fear is over-blown;[1391]190
An easy task it is to win our own.[1391]
Say, Scroop, where lies our uncle with his power?
Speak sweetly, man, although thy looks be sour.[1392]
[Pg 171]
Scroop. Men judge by the complexion of the sky[1392]
The state and inclination of the day:[1392]195
So may you by my dull and heavy eye,[1392]
My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say.[1392]
I play the torturer, by small and small
To lengthen out the worst that must be spoken:
Your uncle York is join'd with Bolingbroke,[1393]200
And all your northern castles yielded up
And all your southern gentlemen in arms
Upon his party.
K. Rich. Thou hast said enough.[1394]
Beshrew thee, cousin, which didst lead me forth [To Aumerle.[1395]
Of that sweet way I was in to despair!205
What say you now? what comfort have we now?
By heaven, I'll hate him everlastingly
That bids me be of comfort any more.
Go to Flint castle: there I'll pine away;
A king, woe's slave, shall kingly woe obey.210
That power I have, discharge; and let them go[1396]
To ear the land that hath some hope to grow,[1397]
For I have none: let no man speak again
To alter this, for counsel is but vain.
Aum. My liege, one word.
K. Rich. He does me double wrong215
That wounds me with the flatteries of his tongue.
Discharge my followers: let them hence away,[1398]
From Richard's night to Bolingbroke's fair day.[1399] [Exeunt.
[Pg 172]
Scene III. Wales. Before Flint castle.
Enter, with drum and colours, Bolingbroke, York,
Northumberland, Attendants, and forces.[1400]
Boling. So that by this intelligence we learn
The Welshmen are dispersed; and Salisbury
Is gone to meet the king, who lately landed
With some few private friends upon this coast.
North. The news is very fair and good, my lord:5
Richard not far from hence hath hid his head.
York. It would beseem the Lord Northumberland
To say 'King Richard': alack the heavy day[1401]
When such a sacred king should hide his head.
North. Your grace mistakes; only to be brief,[1402]10
Left I his title out.[1403]
York. The time hath been,[1404]
Would you have been so brief with him, he would[1404][1405]
Have been so brief with you, to shorten you,[1406][1407]
For taking so the head, your whole head's length.[1406][1408]
Boling. Mistake not, uncle, further than you should.[1409]15
York. Take not, good cousin, further than you should,[1409]
Lest you mistake the heavens are o'er our heads.[1410]
[Pg 173]
Boling. I know it, uncle, and oppose not myself[1411]
Against their will. But who comes here?[1412]
Enter Percy.
Welcome, Harry: what, will not this castle yield?[1413]20
Percy. The castle royally is mann'd, my lord,[1414]
Against thy entrance.[1415]
Percy. Yes, my good lord,
It doth contain a king; King Richard lies[1417]25
Within the limits of yon lime and stone:[1418]
And with him are the Lord Aumerle, Lord Salisbury,[1419]
Sir Stephen Scroop, besides a clergyman
Of holy reverence; who, I cannot learn.
North. O, belike it is the Bishop of Carlisle.[1420][1421]30
Boling. Noble lords,[1421][1422]
Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle;
Through brazen trumpet send the breath of parley[1423]
Into his ruin'd ears, and thus deliver:[1424]
Henry Bolingbroke[1424][1425][1426]35
On both his knees doth kiss King Richard's hand[1426][1427]
[Pg 174]
And sends allegiance and true faith of heart[1428]
To his most royal person; hither come[1429]
Even at his feet to lay my arms and power,[1430]
Provided that my banishment repeal'd40
And lands restored again be freely granted:
If not, I'll use the advantage of my power
And lay the summer's dust with showers of blood
Rain'd from the wounds of slaughter'd Englishmen:[1431]
The which, how far off from the mind of Bolingbroke[1432]45
It is, such crimson tempest should bedrench[1433]
The fresh green lap of fair King Richard's land,
My stooping duty tenderly shall show.
Go, signify as much, while here we march
Upon the grassy carpet of this plain.50
Let's march without the noise of threatening drum,[1434]
That from this castle's tatter'd battlements[1435]
Our fair appointments may be well perused.
Methinks King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror than the elements55
Of fire and water, when their thundering shock[1436]
At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.
Be he the fire, I'll be the yielding water:[1437]
The rage be his, whilst on the earth I rain[1437][1438]
My waters; on the earth, and not on him.[1437][1439]60
March on, and mark King Richard how he looks.
[Pg 175]
Parle without, and answer within. Then a flourish. Enter on the
walls, King Richard, the Bishop of Carlisle, Aumerle,
Scroop, and Salisbury.[1440]
See, see, King Richard doth himself appear,[1441]
As doth the blushing discontented sun
From out the fiery portal of the east,
When he perceives the envious clouds are bent65
To dim his glory and to stain the track[1442]
Of his bright passage to the occident.
York. Yet looks he like a king: behold, his eye,
As bright as is the eagle's, lightens forth
Controlling majesty: alack, alack, for woe,[1443]70
That any harm should stain so fair a show![1444]
K. Rich. We are amazed; and thus long have we stood
To watch the fearful bending of thy knee, [To North.[1445]
Because we thought ourself thy lawful king:[1446]
And if we be, how dare thy joints forget[1447]75
To pay their awful duty to our presence?[1448]
If we be not, show us the hand of God
That hath dismiss'd us from our stewardship;
For well we know, no hand of blood and bone
Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre,80
Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp.
And though you think that all, as you have done,
Have torn their souls by turning them from us,
And we are barren and bereft of friends;
Yet know, my master, God omnipotent,[1449]85
Is mustering in his clouds on our behalf
[Pg 176]
Armies of pestilence; and they shall strike
Your children yet unborn and unbegot,
That lift your vassal hands against my head
And threat the glory of my precious crown.90
Tell Bolingbroke—for yond methinks he stands—[1450]
That every stride he makes upon my land[1451]
Is dangerous treason: he is come to open[1452]
The purple testament of bleeding war;
But ere the crown he looks for live in peace,[1453]95
Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons
Shall ill become the flower of England's face,[1454][1455]
Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace[1455][1456]
To scarlet indignation and bedew
Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood.[1457]100
North. The king of heaven forbid our lord the king
Should so with civil and uncivil arms
Be rush'd upon! Thy thrice noble cousin[1458]
Harry Bolingbroke doth humbly kiss thy hand;[1459]
And by the honourable tomb he swears,105
That stands upon your royal grandsire's bones,
And by the royalties of both your bloods,
Currents that spring from one most gracious head,
And by the buried hand of warlike Gaunt,[1460]
And by the worth and honour of himself,110
Comprising all that may be sworn or said,
His coming hither hath no further scope
Than for his lineal royalties and to beg
Enfranchisement immediate on his knees:
[Pg 177]
Which on thy royal party granted once,115
His glittering arms he will commend to rust,
His barbed steeds to stables, and his heart
To faithful service of your majesty.
This swears he, as he is a prince, is just;[1461]
And, as I am a gentleman, I credit him.[1462]120
K. Rich. Northumberland, say thus the king returns:[1463]
His noble cousin is right welcome hither;
And all the number of his fair demands
Shall be accomplish'd without contradiction:[1464]
With all the gracious utterance thou hast[1464][1465]125
Speak to his gentle hearing kind commends.[1466]
We do debase ourselves, cousin, do we not, [To Aumerle.[1467]
To look so poorly and to speak so fair?
Shall we call back Northumberland, and send
Defiance to the traitor, and so die?130
Aum. No, good my lord; let's fight with gentle words[1468]
Till time lend friends and friends their helpful swords.[1469]
K. Rich. O God, O God! that e'er this tongue of mine,
That laid the sentence of dread banishment
On yon proud man, should take it off again[1470]135
With words of sooth! O that I were as great
As is my grief, or lesser than my name!
Or that I could forget what I have been,
Or not remember what I must be now!
Swell'st thou, proud heart? I'll give thee scope to beat,140
Since foes have scope to beat both thee and me.
Aum. Northumberland comes back from Bolingbroke.
[Pg 178]
K. Rich. What must the king do now? must he submit?
The king shall do it: must he be deposed?
The king shall be contented: must he lose145
The name of king? o' God's name, let it go:[1471]
I'll give my jewels for a set of beads,
My gorgeous palace for a hermitage,
My gay apparel for an almsman's gown,[1472]
My figured goblets for a dish of wood,150
My sceptre for a palmer's walking-staff,
My subjects for a pair of carved saints
And my large kingdom for a little grave,
A little little grave, an obscure grave;
Or I'll be buried in the king's highway,155
Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet[1473]
May hourly trample on their sovereign's head;
For on my heart they tread now whilst I live;[1474]
And buried once, why not upon my head?[1474]
Aumerle, thou weep'st, my tender-hearted cousin![1475]160
We'll make foul weather with despised tears;
Our sighs and they shall lodge the summer corn,
And make a dearth in this revolting land.
Or shall we play the wantons with our woes,
And make some pretty match with shedding tears?[1476]165
As thus, to drop them still upon one place,[1477]
Till they have fretted us a pair of graves
Within the earth; and, therein laid,—there lies[1478][1479]
Two kinsmen digg'd their graves with weeping eyes.[1478]
Would not this ill do well? Well, well, I see[1478]170
I talk but idly, and you laugh at me.[1478][1480]
Most mighty prince, my Lord Northumberland,
[Pg 179]
What says King Bolingbroke? will his majesty
Give Richard leave to live till Richard die?
You make a leg, and Bolingbroke says ay.175
North. My lord, in the base court he doth attend
To speak with you; may it please you to come down.[1481]
K. Rich. Down, down I come; like glistering Phaeton,
Wanting the manage of unruly jades.[1482]
In the base court? Base court, where kings grow base,[1483][1484]180
To come at traitors' calls and do them grace.[1483]
In the base court? Come down? Down, court! down, king![1483][1485]
For night-owls shriek where mounting larks should sing.[1483]
[Exeunt from above.[1486]
Boling. What says his majesty?
North. Sorrow and grief of heart[1487]
Makes him speak fondly, like a frantic man:185
Yet he is come.[1488]
Enter King Richard and his attendants below.[1488][1489]
K. Rich. Fair cousin, you debase your princely knee[1491]190
To make the base earth proud with kissing it:
Me rather had my heart might feel your love
Than my unpleased eye see your courtesy.
Up, cousin, up; your heart is up, I know,[1492][1493]
Thus high at least, although your knee be low.[1492][1494]195
[Pg 180]
Boling. My gracious lord, I come but for mine own.
K. Rich. Your own is yours, and I am yours, and all.
Boling. So far be mine, my most redoubted lord,
As my true service shall deserve your love.
K. Rich. Well you deserve: they well deserve to have,[1495]200
That know the strong'st and surest way to get.
Uncle, give me your hands: nay, dry your eyes;[1496]
Tears show their love, but want their remedies.
Cousin, I am too young to be your father,
Though you are old enough to be my heir.[1497]205
What you will have, I'll give, and willing too;
For do we must what force will have us do.
Set on towards London, cousin, is it so?[1498]
Boling. Yea, my good lord.
K. Rich. Then I must not say no.
[Flourish. Exeunt.[1499]
Scene IV. Langley. The Duke of York's garden.
Enter the Queen and two Ladies.[1500]
Queen. What sport shall we devise here in this garden,
To drive away the heavy thought of care?
Lady. Madam, we'll play at bowls.[1501]
Queen. 'Twill make me think the world is full of rubs,
And that my fortune runs against the bias.5
[Pg 181]
Lady. Madam, we'll dance.
Queen. My legs can keep no measure in delight,
When my poor heart no measure keeps in grief:
Therefore, no dancing, girl; some other sport.
Lady. Madam, we'll tell tales.[1502]10
Lady. Of either, madam.
Queen. Of neither, girl:[1504]
For if of joy, being altogether wanting,
It doth remember me the more of sorrow;
Or if of grief, being altogether had,[1505]15
It adds more sorrow to my want of joy:
For what I have I need not to repeat;
And what I want it boots not to complain.[1506]
Lady. Madam, I'll sing.
Queen. 'Tis well that thou hast cause;
But thou shouldst please me better, wouldst thou weep.20
Lady. I could weep, madam, would it do you good.
Enter a Gardener, and two Servants.
But stay, here come the gardeners:[1510]
Let's step into the shadow of these trees.25
My wretchedness unto a row of pins,[1511]
They'll talk of state; for every one doth so
Against a change; woe is forerun with woe.
[Pg 182]
[Queen and Ladies retire.[1512]
Gard. Go, bind thou up yon dangling apricocks,[1513]
Which, like unruly children, make their sire30
Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight:
Give some supportance to the bending twigs.
Go thou, and like an executioner,
Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprays,[1514]
That look too lofty in our commonwealth:35
All must be even in our government.
You thus employ'd, I will go root away
The noisome weeds, which without profit suck[1515]
The soil's fertility from wholesome flowers.
Serv. Why should we in the compass of a pale[1516]40
Keep law and form and due proportion,
Showing, as in a model, our firm estate,[1517]
When our sea-walled garden, the whole land,
Is full of weeds; her fairest flowers choked up,
Her fruit-trees all unpruned, her hedges ruin'd,45
Her knots disorder'd and her wholesome herbs[1518]
Swarming with caterpillars?
Gard. Hold thy peace:
He that hath suffer'd this disorder'd spring[1518][1519]
Hath now himself met with the fall of leaf:
The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves did shelter,[1520]50
That seem'd in eating him to hold him up,
Are pluck'd up root and all by Bolingbroke,[1521]
I mean the Earl of Wiltshire, Bushy, Green.
[Pg 183]
Serv. What, are they dead?
Gard. They are; and Bolingbroke[1522]
Hath seized the wasteful king. O, what pity is it[1522][1523]55
That he had not so trimm'd and dress'd his land[1522][1524]
As we this garden! We at time of year[1522][1525]
Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees,[1525]
Lest, being over-proud in sap and blood,
With too much riches it confound itself:60
Had he done so to great and growing men,
They might have lived to bear and he to taste
Their fruits of duty: superfluous branches[1526]
We lop away, that bearing boughs may live:[1527]
Had he done so, himself had borne the crown,65
Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown down.[1528]
Serv. What, think you then the king shall be deposed?[1529]
Gard. Depress'd he is already, and deposed
'Tis doubt he will be: letters came last night[1530][1531]
To a dear friend of the good Duke of York's,[1530][1532]70
That tell black tidings.[1533]
[Pg 184]
Queen. O, I am press'd to death through want of speaking![1533][1534]
[Coming forward.
Thou, old Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden,[1533][1535]
How dares thy harsh rude tongue sound this unpleasing news?[1533][1536]
What Eve, what serpent, hath suggested thee75
To make a second fall of cursed man?
Why dost thou say King Richard is deposed?
Darest thou, thou little better thing than earth,
Divine his downfal? Say, where, when, and how,
Camest thou by this ill tidings? speak, thou wretch.[1537]80
Gard. Pardon me, madam: little joy have I
To breathe this news; yet what I say is true.[1538]
King Richard, he is in the mighty hold
Of Bolingbroke: their fortunes both are weigh'd:
In your lord's scale is nothing but himself,[1539]85
And some few vanities that make him light;
But in the balance of great Bolingbroke,
Besides himself, are all the English peers,
And with that odds he weighs King Richard down.
Post you to London, and you will find it so;[1540]90
I speak no more than every one doth know.
Queen. Nimble mischance, that art so light of foot,
Doth not thy embassage belong to me,
And am I last that knows it? O, thou think'st[1541]
To serve me last, that I may longest keep95
Thy sorrow in my breast. Come, ladies, go,[1542]
To meet at London London's king in woe.
What, was I born to this, that my sad look
Should grace the triumph of great Bolingbroke?
Gardener, for telling me these news of woe,[1543]100
[Pg 185]
Pray God the plants thou graft'st may never grow.
[Exeunt Queen and Ladies.[1544]
Gard. Poor queen! so that thy state might be no worse,
I would my skill were subject to thy curse.
Here did she fall a tear; here in this place[1545]
I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace:[1546]105
Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen,
In the remembrance of a weeping queen. [Exeunt.[1547]
ACT IV.
Scene I. Westminster Hall.
Enter as to the Parliament, Bolingbroke, Aumerle, Northumberland,
Percy, Fitzwater, Surrey, the Bishop of Carlisle,
the Abbot of Westminster, and another Lord, Herald, Officers,
and Bagot.[1548]
Boling. Call forth Bagot.[1549]
Now, Bagot, freely speak thy mind;[1550]
What thou dost know of noble Gloucester's death;
Who wrought it with the king, and who perform'd
The bloody office of his timeless end.5
Bagot. Then set before my face the Lord Aumerle.
Boling. Cousin, stand forth, and look upon that man.
[Pg 186]
Bagot. My Lord Aumerle, I know your daring tongue
Scorns to unsay what once it hath deliver'd.[1551]
In that dead time when Gloucester's death was plotted,10
I heard you say, 'Is not my arm of length,
That reacheth from the restful English court
As far as Calais, to mine uncle's head?'[1552]
Amongst much other talk, that very time,
I heard you say that you had rather refuse[1553]15
The offer of an hundred thousand crowns
Than Bolingbroke's return to England;[1554][1555]
Adding withal, how blest this land would be[1555][1556]
In this your cousin's death.[1555]
Aum. Princes and noble lords,[1557]
What answer shall I make to this base man?20
Shall I so much dishonour my fair stars,[1558]
On equal terms to give him chastisement?[1559]
Either I must, or have mine honour soil'd[1560]
With the attainder of his slanderous lips.[1561]
There is my gage, the manual seal of death,25
That marks thee out for hell: I say, thou liest,[1562]
And will maintain what thou hast said is false[1563]
In thy heart-blood, though being all too base[1564]
To stain the temper of my knightly sword.
Boling. Bagot, forbear; thou shalt not take it up.30
[Pg 187]
Aum. Excepting one, I would he were the best
In all this presence that hath moved me so.
Fitz. If that thy valour stand on sympathy,[1565]
There is my gage, Aumerle, in gage to thine:
By that fair sun which shows me where thou stand'st,[1566]35
I heard thee say, and vauntingly thou spakest it,
That thou wert cause of noble Gloucester's death.
If thou deny'st it twenty times, thou liest;[1567]
And I will turn thy falsehood to thy heart,
Where it was forged, with my rapier's point.40
Aum. Thou darest not, coward, live to see that day.[1568]
Fitz. Now, by my soul, I would it were this hour.
Aum. Fitzwater, thou art damn'd to hell for this.[1569]
Percy. Aumerle, thou liest; his honour is as true
In this appeal as thou art all unjust;45
And that thou art so, there I throw my gage,
To prove it on thee to the extremest point
Of mortal breathing: seize it, if thou darest.
Aum. An if I do not, may my hands rot off[1570]
And never brandish more revengeful steel50
Over the glittering helmet of my foe!
Another Lord. I task the earth to the like, forsworn Aumerle;[1571][1572]
And spur thee on with full as many lies[1571]
As may be holloa'd in thy treacherous ear[1571][1573]
From sun to sun: there is my honour's pawn;[1571][1574]55
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.[1571]
Aum. Who sets me else? by heaven, I'll throw at all:[1571]
I have a thousand spirits in one breast,[1571]
[Pg 188]
To answer twenty thousand such as you.[1571]
Fitz. 'Tis very true: you were in presence then;[1578]
And you can witness with me this is true.
Surrey. As false, by heaven, as heaven itself is true.[1579]
Fitz. Surrey, thou liest.[1580]
Surrey. Dishonourable boy![1581]65
That lie shall lie so heavy on my sword,[1581]
That it shall render vengeance and revenge
Till thou the lie-giver and that lie do lie[1582]
In earth as quiet as thy father's skull:
In proof whereof, there is my honour's pawn;[1583]70
Engage it to the trial, if thou darest.
Fitz. How fondly dost thou spur a forward horse!
If I dare eat, or drink, or breathe, or live,[1584]
I dare meet Surrey in a wilderness,
And spit upon him, whilst I say he lies,75
And lies, and lies: there is my bond of faith,[1585]
To tie thee to my strong correction.
As I intend to thrive in this new world,[1586]
Aumerle is guilty of my true appeal:
Besides, I heard the banish'd Norfolk say,[1587]80
That thou, Aumerle, didst send two of thy men
To execute the noble duke at Calais.
Aum. Some honest Christian trust me with a gage,
That Norfolk lies: here do I throw down this,
If he may be repeal'd, to try his honour.[1588]85
[Pg 189]
Boling. These differences shall all rest under gage
Till Norfolk be repeal'd: repeal'd he shall be,
And, though mine enemy, restored again
To all his lands and signories: when he's return'd,[1589]
Against Aumerle we will enforce his trial.90
Car. That honourable day shall ne'er be seen.[1590]
Many a time hath banish'd Norfolk fought
For Jesu Christ in glorious Christian field,[1591]
Streaming the ensign of the Christian cross
Against black pagans, Turks, and Saracens;95
And toil'd with works of war, retired himself[1592]
To Italy; and there at Venice gave
His body to that pleasant country's earth,[1593]
And his pure soul unto his captain Christ,
Under whose colours he had fought so long.100
Boling. Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead?[1594]
Car. As surely as I live, my lord.[1595]
Boling. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to the bosom[1596][1597]
Of good old Abraham! Lords appellants,[1597][1598]
Your differences shall all rest under gage[1597]105
Till we assign you to your days of trial.
Enter York, attended.[1599]
York. Great Duke of Lancaster, I come to thee[1600]
From plume-pluck'd Richard; who with willing soul
Adopts thee heir, and his high sceptre yields[1601]
[Pg 190]
To the possession of thy royal hand:110
Ascend his throne, descending now from him;
And long live Henry, fourth of that name![1602]
Boling. In God's name, I'll ascend the regal throne.
Car. Marry, God forbid![1603][1604]
Worst in this royal presence may I speak,[1605]115
Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth.[1606]
Would God that any in this noble presence[1607]
Were enough noble to be upright judge
Of noble Richard! then true noblesse would[1608]
Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong.120
What subject can give sentence on his king?
And who sits here that is not Richard's subject?[1609]
Thieves are not judged but they are by to hear,
Although apparent guilt be seen in them;
And shall the figure of God's majesty,125
His captain, steward, deputy, elect,[1610]
Anointed, crowned, planted many years,[1611]
Be judged by subject and inferior breath,[1612]
And he himself not present? O, forfend it, God,[1613]
That in a Christian climate souls refined130
Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed!
I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God, thus boldly for his king.[1604]
My Lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:135
And if you crown him, let me prophesy;
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
[Pg 191]
And future ages groan for this foul act;[1614]
Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars140
Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
O, if you raise this house against this house,[1615]145
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
Prevent it, resist it, let it not be so,[1616]
Lest child, child's children, cry against you 'woe!'[1617]
North. Well have you argued, sir; and, for your pains,150
Of capital treason we arrest you here.
My Lord of Westminster, be it your charge
To keep him safely till his day of trial.
May it please you, lords, to grant the commons' suit.[1618][1619]
Boling. Lords, you that here are under our arrest,[1618][1622]
Procure your sureties for your days of answer.[1618]
Little are we beholding to your love,[1618][1623]160
And little look'd for at your helping hands.[1618][1624]
[Pg 192]
Re-enter York, with Richard, and Officers bearing the regalia.[1618][1625]
K. Rich. Alack, why am I sent for to a king,[1618][1626]
Before I have shook off the regal thoughts[1618]
Wherewith I reign'd? I hardly yet have learn'd[1618]
To insinuate, flatter, bow, and bend my limbs:[1618][1627]165
Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me[1618][1628][1629]
To this submission. Yet I well remember[1618][1628][1630]
The favours of these men: were they not mine?[1618][1628]
Did they not sometime cry, 'all hail!' to me?[1618][1628][1631]
So Judas did to Christ: but he, in twelve,[1618][1628]170
Found truth in all but one; I, in twelve thousand, none.[1618]
God save the king! Will no man say amen?[1618][1632]
Am I both priest and clerk? well then, amen.[1618][1632]
God save the king! although I be not he;[1618][1632]
And yet, amen, if heaven do think him me.[1618][1632]175
To do what service am I sent for hither?[1618]
York. To do that office of thine own good will[1618]
Which tired majesty did make thee offer,[1618]
The resignation of thy state and crown[1618]
To Henry Bolingbroke.[1618][1633]180
Boling. I thought you had been willing to resign.[1618][1638]190
Boling. Part of your cares you give me with your crown.[1618][1638]
Boling. Are you contented to resign the crown?[1618][1638]200
K. Rich. Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be;[1618][1638][1641]
Therefore no no, for I resign to thee.[1618][1638][1642]
Now mark me, how I will undo myself:[1618]
I give this heavy weight from off my head[1618]
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,[1618]205
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;[1618]
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,[1618][1643]
With mine own hands I give away my crown,[1618]
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,[1618]
With mine own breath release all duty's rites:[1618][1644]210
All pomp and majesty I do forswear;[1618]
My manors, rents, revenues I forego;[1618][1645]
My acts, decrees, and statutes I deny:[1618]
God pardon all oaths that are broke to me![1618]
God keep all vows unbroke that swear to thee![1618][1646]215
[Pg 194]
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved,[1618]
And thou with all pleased, that hast all achieved![1618]
Long mayst thou live in Richard's seat to sit,[1618][1647]
And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit![1618][1647][1648]
God save King Harry, unking'd Richard says,[1618][1647][1649]220
And send him many years of sunshine days![1618][1647][1650]
What more remains?[1618]
North. No more, but that you read[1618][1651]
These accusations and these grievous crimes[1618]
Committed by your person and your followers[1618]
Against the state and profit of this land;[1618]225
That, by confessing them, the souls of men[1618]
May deem that you are worthily deposed.[1618]
K. Rich. Must I do so? and must I ravel out[1618]
My weaved-up folly? Gentle Northumberland,[1618][1652]
If thy offences were upon record,[1618]230
Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop[1618]
To read a lecture of them? If thou wouldst,[1618][1653]
There shouldst thou find one heinous article,[1618]
Containing the deposing of a king[1618]
And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,[1618]235
Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven:[1618]
Nay, all of you that stand and look upon,[1618][1654]
Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,[1618][1655]
Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands[1618]
Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates[1618][1656]240
Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross,[1618][1657]
And water cannot wash away your sin.[1618]
K. Rich. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see:[1618]
And yet salt water blinds them not so much[1618]245
But they can see a sort of traitors here.[1618]
Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself,[1618]
I find myself a traitor with the rest;[1618]
For I have given here my soul's consent[1618]
To undeck the pompous body of a king;[1618][1658]250
Made glory base and sovereignty a slave,[1618][1659]
Proud majesty a subject, state a peasant.[1618]
K. Rich. No lord of thine, thou haught insulting man,[1618][1660]
Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,[1618][1661]255
No, not that name was given me at the font,[1618]
But 'tis usurp'd: alack the heavy day,[1618]
That I have worn so many winters out,[1618]
And know not now what name to call myself![1618]
O that I were a mockery king of snow,[1618][1662]260
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,[1618]
To melt myself away in water-drops![1618]
Good king, great king, and yet not greatly good,[1618][1663]
An if my word be sterling yet in England,[1618][1664]
Let it command a mirror hither straight,[1618][1665]265
That it may show me what a face I have,[1618]
Since it is bankrupt of his majesty.[1618][1666]
Boling. Go some of you and fetch a looking-glass.[1618]
[Exit an attendant.[1618][1667]
North. Read o'er this paper while the glass doth come.[1618]
K. Rich. Fiend, thou torment'st me ere I come to hell![1618][1668]270
North. The commons will not then be satisfied.[1618]
K. Rich. They shall be satisfied: I'll read enough,[1618]
When I do see the very book indeed[1618]
Where all my sins are writ, and that's myself.[1618]275
Re-enter Attendant, with a glass.[1618][1669]
[Dashes the glass against the ground.[1618][1678][1680]
Boling. The shadow of your sorrow hath destroy'd[1618]
The shadow of your face.[1618]
K. Rich. Whither you will, so I were from your sights.[1618][1693]315
Boling. Go, some of you convey him to the Tower.[1618]
[Exeunt King Richard, some Lords, and a Guard.
Boling. On Wednesday next we solemnly set down[1697]
Our coronation: lords, prepare yourselves.[1697]320
[Pg 198]
[Exeunt all except the Bishop of Carlisle, the
Abbot of Westminster, and Aumerle.[1698]
Abbot. A woeful pageant have we here beheld.[1699]
Car. The woe's to come; the children yet unborn[1700]
Shall feel this day as sharp to them as thorn.
Aum. You holy clergymen, is there no plot
To rid the realm of this pernicious blot?325
Abbot. My lord,[1701]
Before I freely speak my mind herein,
You shall not only take the sacrament
To bury mine intents, but also to effect[1702]
Whatever I shall happen to devise.330
I see your brows are full of discontent,
Your hearts of sorrow and your eyes of tears:[1703]
Come home with me to supper; and I'll lay[1704]
A plot shall show us all a merry day.[1704] [Exeunt.
ACT V.
Scene I. London. A street leading to the Tower.
Enter Queen and Ladies.[1705]
Queen. This way the king will come; this is the way
To Julius Cæsar's ill-erected tower,
To whose flint bosom my condemned lord
[Pg 199]
Is doom'd a prisoner by proud Bolingbroke:
Here let us rest, if this rebellious earth5
Have any resting for her true king's queen.
Enter Richard and Guard.[1706]
But soft, but see, or rather do not see,
My fair rose wither: yet look up, behold,
That you in pity may dissolve to dew,
And wash him fresh again with true-love tears.10
Ah, thou, the model where old Troy did stand,[1707]
Thou map of honour, thou King Richard's tomb,
And not King Richard; thou most beauteous inn,
Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodged in thee,
When triumph is become an alehouse guest?15
K. Rich. Join not with grief, fair woman, do not so,
To make my end too sudden: learn, good soul,
To think our former state a happy dream;
From which awaked, the truth of what we are
Shows us but this: I am sworn brother, sweet,[1708]20
To grim Necessity, and he and I
Will keep a league till death. Hie thee to France[1709]
And cloister thee in some religious house:
Our holy lives must win a new world's crown,
Which our profane hours here have stricken down.[1710]25
Queen. What, is my Richard both in shape and mind[1711]
Transform'd and weaken'd? hath Bolingbroke deposed[1712]
Thine intellect? hath he been in thy heart?
The lion dying thrusteth forth his paw,
And wounds the earth, if nothing else, with rage30
To be o'erpower'd; and wilt thou, pupil-like,
Take thy correction mildly, kiss the rod,[1713]
[Pg 200]
And fawn on rage with base humility,
Which art a lion and a king of beasts?[1714]
K. Rich. A king of beasts, indeed; if aught but beasts.[1715]35
I had been still a happy king of men.
Good sometime queen, prepare thee hence for France:[1716]
Think I am dead, and that even here thou takest,
As from my death-bed, thy last living leave.[1717]
In winter's tedious nights sit by the fire40
With good old folks and let them tell thee tales[1718]
Of woeful ages long ago betid;[1719]
And ere thou bid good night, to quit their griefs,[1720]
Tell thou the lamentable tale of me[1721]
And send the hearers weeping to their beds:45
For why, the senseless brands will sympathize[1722][1723]
The heavy accent of thy moving tongue[1722][1724]
And in compassion weep the fire out;[1722]
And some will mourn in ashes, some coal-black,[1722]
For the deposing of a rightful king.[1722]50
Enter Northumberland and others.[1725]
North. My lord, the mind of Bolingbroke is changed;[1726]
You must to Pomfret, not unto the Tower.
And, madam, there is order ta'en for you;
With all swift speed you must away to France.
[Pg 201]
K. Rich. Northumberland, thou ladder wherewithal55
The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne,
The time shall not be many hours of age
More than it is, ere foul sin gathering head
Shall break into corruption: thou shalt think,[1727]
Though he divide the realm, and give thee half,60
It is too little, helping him to all;
And he shall think that thou, which know'st the way[1728]
To plant unrightful kings, wilt know again,[1729]
Being ne'er so little urged, another way[1730]
To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne.65
The love of wicked men converts to fear;[1731]
That fear to hate, and hate turns one or both
To worthy danger and deserved death.
North. My guilt be on my head, and there an end.[1732]
Take leave and part; for you must part forthwith.70
K. Rich. Doubly divorced! Bad men, you violate[1733]
A twofold marriage; 'twixt my crown and me,[1734]
And then betwixt me and my married wife.
Let me unkiss the oath 'twixt thee and me;[1735]
And yet not so, for with a kiss 'twas made.75
Part us, Northumberland; I towards the north,
Where shivering cold and sickness pines the clime;
My wife to France: from whence, set forth in pomp,[1736]
She came adorned hither like sweet May,
Sent back like Hallowmas or short'st of day.[1737]80
Queen. And must we be divided? must we part?
K. Rich. Ay, hand from hand, my love, and heart from heart.[1738]
[Pg 202]
Queen. Banish us both and send the king with me.
North. That were some love but little policy.[1739]
Queen. Then whither he goes, thither let me go.[1740]85
K. Rich. So two, together weeping, make one woe.[1740]
Weep thou for me in France, I for thee here;[1740][1741]
Better far off than near, be ne'er the near.[1740][1742]
Go, count thy way with sighs; I mine with groans.[1740]
Queen. So longest way shall have the longest moans.[1740]90
K. Rich. Twice for one step I'll groan, the way being short,[1740]
And piece the way out with a heavy heart.[1740]
Come, come, in wooing sorrow let's be brief,[1740]
Since, wedding it, there is such length in grief:[1740]
One kiss shall stop our mouths, and dumbly part;[1740][1743]95
Thus give I mine, and thus take I thy heart.[1744]
Queen. Give me mine own again; 'twere no good part[1745]
To take on me to keep and kill thy heart.[1746]
So, now I have mine own again, be gone,
That I may strive to kill it with a groan.100
K. Rich. We make woe wanton with this fond delay:
Once more, adieu; the rest let sorrow say. [Exeunt.
[Pg 203]
Scene II. The Duke of York's palace.
Enter York and his Duchess.[1747]
Duch. My lord, you told me you would tell the rest,
When weeping made you break the story off[1748]
Of our two cousins coming into London.
York. Where did I leave?
Duch. At that sad stop, my lord,
Where rude misgovern'd hands from windows' tops[1749]5
Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head.
York. Then, as I said, the duke, great Bolingbroke,
Mounted upon a hot and fiery steed
Which his aspiring rider scem'd to know,
With slow but stately pace kept on his course,10
Whilst all tongues cried 'God save thee, Bolingbroke!'[1750]
You would have thought the very windows spake,
So many greedy looks of young and old
Through casements darted their desiring eyes
Upon his visage, and that all the walls15
With painted imagery had said at once
'Jesu preserve thee! welcome, Bolingbroke!'[1751]
Whilst he, from the one side to the other turning,[1752]
Bareheaded, lower than his proud steed's neck,
Bespake them thus; 'I thank you, countrymen:'[1753]20
And thus still doing, thus he pass'd along.
Duch. Alack, poor Richard! where rode he the whilst?[1754]
York. As in a theatre, the eyes of men,
After a well-graced actor leaves the stage,
[Pg 204]
Are idly bent on him that enters next,25
Thinking his prattle to be tedious;
Even so, or with much more contempt, men's eyes
Did scowl on gentle Richard; no man cried 'God save him!'[1755]
No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home:
But dust was thrown upon his sacred head;30
Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off,
His face still combating with tears and smiles,
The badges of his grief and patience,
That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd
The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted35
And barbarism itself have pitied him.
But heaven hath a hand in these events,
To whose high will we bound our calm contents.[1756]
To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now,[1757]
Whose state and honour I for aye allow.[1758]40
Duch. Here comes my son Aumerle.[1759]
York. Aumerle that was;
But that is lost for being Richard's friend,
And, madam, you must call him Rutland now:
I am in parliament pledge for his truth
And lasting fealty to the new made king.45
Enter Aumerle.[1760]
Duch. Welcome, my son: who are the violets now[1761]
That strew the green lap of the new come spring?[1762]
Aum. Madam, I know not, nor I greatly care not:[1763]
God knows I had as lief be none as one.
York. Well, bear you well in this new spring of time,50
Lest you be cropp'd before you come to prime.
What news from Oxford? hold those justs and triumphs?[1764]
[Pg 205]
Aum. For aught I know, my lord, they do.[1765]
York. You will be there, I know.[1766]
Aum. If God prevent not, I purpose so.[1767]55
York. What seal is that, that hangs without thy bosom?
Yea, look'st thou pale? let me see the writing.[1768]
Aum. My lord, 'tis nothing.
York. No matter, then, who see it:[1769]
I will be satisfied; let me see the writing.
Aum. I do beseech your grace to pardon me:60
It is a matter of small consequence,
Which for some reasons I would not have seen.
York. Which for some reasons, sir, I mean to see.
I fear, I fear,—
Duch. What should you fear?[1770]
'Tis nothing but some band, that he is enter'd into[1771]65
For gay apparel 'gainst the triumph day.[1772]
York. Bound to himself! what doth he with a bond
That he is bound to? Wife, thou art a fool.[1773]
Boy, let me see the writing.
Aum. I do beseech you, pardon me; I may not show it.[1774]70
York. I will be satisfied; let me see it, I say.[1775]
[He plucks it out of his bosom and reads it.
[Pg 206]
Treason! foul treason! Villain! traitor! slave!
Duch. What is the matter, my lord?[1776]
York. Ho! who is within there?
Enter a Servant.
Saddle my horse.[1777]
God for his mercy, what treachery is here![1778]75
Duch. Why, what is it, my lord?[1779]
York. Give me my boots, I say; saddle my horse.
[Exit Servant.[1780]
Now, by mine honour, by my life, by my troth,[1781]
I will appeach the villain.
Duch. What is the matter?[1782]
York. Peace, foolish woman.[1783]80
Duch. I will not peace. What is the matter, Aumerle?[1784]
Aum. Good mother, be content; it is no more
Than my poor life must answer.
Duch. Thy life answer!
York. Bring me my boots: I will unto the king.
Re-enter Servant with boots.[1785]
Duch. Strike him, Aumerle. Poor boy, thou art amazed.85
Hence, villain! never more come in my sight.[1786]
York. Give me my boots, I say.[1787]
Duch. Why, York, what wilt thou do?
Wilt thou not hide the trespass of thine own?[1788]
Have we more sons? or are we like to have?90
Is not my teeming date drunk up with time?
And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age,
[Pg 207]
And rob me of a happy mother's name?
Is he not like thee? is he not thine own?
York. Thou fond mad woman,[1789]95
Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy?
A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament,
And interchangeably set down their hands,[1790]
To kill the king at Oxford.
Duch. He shall be none;[1791]
We'll keep him here: then what is that to him?[1791]100
York. Away, fond woman! were he twenty times my son,[1792][1793]
I would appeach him.[1792]
Duch. Hadst thou groan'd for him[1794]
As I have done, thou wouldst be more pitiful.[1794][1795]
But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect
That I have been disloyal to thy bed,105
And that he is a bastard, not thy son:
Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind:
He is as like thee as a man may be,
Not like to me, or any of my kin,[1796]
And yet I love him.
York. Make way, unruly woman! [Exit.110
Duch. After, Aumerle! mount thee upon his horse;
Spur post, and get before him to the king,[1797]
And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee.
I'll not be long behind; though I be old,
I doubt not but to ride as fast as York:115
And never will I rise up from the ground
Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee. Away, be gone![1798]
[Exeunt.
[Pg 208]
Scene III. A royal Palace.
Enter Bolingbroke, Percy, and other Lords.[1799]
Boling. Can no man tell me of my unthrifty son?[1800]
'Tis full three months since I did see him last:
If any plague hang over us, 'tis he.
I would to God, my lords, he might be found:[1801]
Inquire at London, 'mongst the taverns there,5
For there, they say, he daily doth frequent,
With unrestrained loose companions,
Even such, they say, as stand in narrow lanes,
And beat our watch, and rob our passengers;[1802]
Which he, young wanton and effeminate boy,[1803]10
Takes on the point of honour to support[1804]
So dissolute a crew.[1804][1805]
Percy. My lord, some two days since I saw the prince,
And told him of those triumphs held at Oxford.[1806]
Boling. And what said the gallant?15
Percy. His answer was, he would unto the stews,[1807]
And from the common'st creature pluck a glove,[1808]
And wear it as a favour; and with that
He would unhorse the lustiest challenger.
Boling. As dissolute as desperate; yet through both[1809]20
I see some sparks of better hope, which elder years[1809][1810]
May happily bring forth. But who comes here?[1809][22]
[Pg 209]
Enter Aumerle.[1811]
Aum. Where is the king?
Aum. God save your grace! I do beseech your majesty,
To have some conference with your grace alone.
Boling. Withdraw yourselves, and leave us here alone.
[Exeunt Percy and Lords.[1814]
What is the matter with our cousin now?
Aum. For ever may my knees grow to the earth,[1815]30
My tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth,
Unless a pardon ere I rise or speak.
Boling. Intended or committed was this fault?
If on the first, how heinous e'er it be,[1816]
To win thy after-love I pardon thee.35
Aum. Then give me leave that I may turn the key,[1817]
That no man enter till my tale be done.[1818]
Boling. Have thy desire.[1819]
York. [Within] My liege, beware; look to thyself;[1820]
Thou hast a traitor in thy presence there.[1821]40
Boling. Villain, I'll make thee safe.[1822] [Drawing.
Aum. Stay thy revengeful hand; thou hast no cause to fear.[1822][1823]
York. [Within] Open the door, secure, foolhardy king:[1824]
Shall I for love speak treason to thy face?
[Pg 210]
Open the door, or I will break it open.45
Enter York.
Boling. What is the matter, uncle? speak;[1825][1826][1827]
Recover breath; tell us how near is danger,[1826]
That we may arm us to encounter it.
York. Peruse this writing here, and thou shalt know
The treason that my haste forbids me show.[1828]50
Aum. Remember, as thou read'st, thy promise pass'd:
I do repent me; read not my name there;
My heart is not confederate with my hand.
York. It was, villain, ere thy hand did set it down.[1829]
I tore it from the traitor's bosom, king;[1830]55
Fear, and not love, begets his penitence:[1831]
Forget to pity him, lest thy pity prove
A serpent that will sting thee to the heart.[1832]
Boling. O heinous, strong and bold conspiracy!
O loyal father of a treacherous son!60
Thou sheer, immaculate and silver fountain,[1833]
From whence this stream through muddy passages
Hath held his current and denied himself![1834]
Thy overflow of good converts to bad,[1835]
And thy abundant goodness shall excuse[1836]65
This deadly blot in thy digressing son.[1837]
York. So shall my virtue be his vice's bawd;
And he shall spend mine honour with his shame,
As thriftless sons their scraping fathers' gold.
Mine honour lives when his dishonour dies,70
[Pg 211]
Or my shamed life in his dishonour lies:
Thou kill'st me in his life; giving him breath,
The traitor lives, the true man's put to death.
Duch. [Within] What ho, my liege! for God's sake, let me in.[1838]
Boling. What shrill-voiced suppliant makes this eager cry.[1839]75
Duch. A woman, and thy aunt, great king; 'tis I.[1840]
Speak with me, pity me, open the door:
A beggar begs that never begg'd before.
Boling. Our scene is alter'd from a serious thing,[1841][1842]
And now changed to 'The Beggar and the King.'[1841][1842]80
My dangerous cousin, let your mother in:
I know she is come to pray for your foul sin.[1843]
York. If thou do pardon, whosoever pray,
More sins for this forgiveness prosper may.[1844]
This fester'd joint cut off, the rest rest sound;[1845]85
This let alone will all the rest confound.
Enter Duchess.
Duch. O king, believe not this hard-hearted man![1846]
Love loving not itself none other can.
York. Thou frantic woman, what dost thou make here?[1847]
Shall thy old dugs once more a traitor rear?90
Duch. Sweet York, be patient. Hear me, gentle liege. [Kneels.
Duch. Not yet, I thee beseech:
For ever will I walk upon my knees,[1848]
And never see day that the happy sees,
Till thou give joy; until thou bid me joy,[1849]95
By pardoning Rutland, my transgressing boy.
Aum. Unto my mother's prayers I bend my knee.
York. Against them both my true joints bended be.
Ill mayst thou thrive, if thou grant any grace![1850]
Duch. Pleads he in earnest? look upon his face;100
His eyes do drop no tears, his prayers are in jest;[1851]
His words come from his mouth, ours from our breast:[1852]
He prays but faintly and would be denied;
We pray with heart and soul and all beside:
His weary joints would gladly rise, I know;105
Our knees shall kneel till to the ground they grow:[1853]
His prayers are full of false hypocrisy;
Ours of true zeal and deep integrity.
Our prayers do out-pray his; then let them have[1854]
That mercy which true prayer ought to have.[1855]110
Boling. Good aunt, stand up.[1856]
Duch. Nay, do not say, 'stand up;'
Say 'pardon' first, and afterwards 'stand up.'[1857]
An if I were thy nurse, thy tongue to teach,[1858]
'Pardon' should be the first word of thy speech.
I never long'd to hear a word till now;115
Say 'pardon,' king; let pity teach thee how:[1859]
The word is short, but not so short as sweet;[1860]
No word like 'pardon' for kings' mouths so meet.[1860][1861]
[Pg 213]
York. Speak it in French, king; say, 'pardonne moi.'[1860][1862]
Duch. Dost thou teach pardon pardon to destroy?[1860][1863]120
Ah, my sour husband, my hard-hearted lord,[1860]
That set'st the word itself against the word![1860][1864]
Speak 'pardon' as 'tis current in our land;[1860]
The chopping French we do not understand.[1860]
Thine eye begins to speak, set thy tongue there:[1860]125
Or in thy piteous heart plant thou thine ear;[1860]
That hearing how our plaints and prayers do pierce,[1860]
Pity may move thee 'pardon' to rehearse.[1860][1865]
Boling. Good aunt, stand up.
Duch. I do not sue to stand;
Pardon is all the suit I have in hand.130
Boling. I pardon him, as God shall pardon me.[1866]
Duch. O happy vantage of a kneeling knee!
Yet am I sick for fear: speak it again;
Twice saying 'pardon' doth not pardon twain,
But makes one pardon strong.
Duch. A god on earth thou art.
Boling. But for our trusty brother-in-law, and the abbot,[1868]
With all the rest of that consorted crew,
Destruction straight shall dog them at the heels.
Good uncle, help to order several powers140
To Oxford, or where'er these traitors are:[1869]
They shall not live within this world, I swear,[1870]
But I will have them, if I once know where.[1870][1871]
[Pg 214]
Uncle, farewell: and, cousin too, adieu:[1870][1872]
Your mother well hath pray'd, and prove you true.[1870]145
Duch. Come, my old son: I pray God make thee new.[1866][1870]
[Exeunt.[1873]
Scene IV. The same.
Enter Exton and Servant.[1874]
Exton. Didst thou not mark the king, what words he spake,[1875]
'Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?'
Was it not so?
Exton. 'Have I no friend?' quoth he: he spake it twice.[1878]
And urged it twice together, did he not?5
Exton. And speaking it, he wistly look'd on me;[1879]
As who should say, 'I would thou wert the man[1880]
That would divorce this terror from my heart;'
Meaning the king at Pomfret. Come, let's go:10
I am the king's friend, and will rid his foe. [Exeunt.[1881]
[Pg 215]
Scene V. Pomfret castle.
Enter King Richard.[1882]
K. Rich. I have been studying how I may compare[1883]
This prison where I live unto the world:
And for because the world is populous
And here is not a creature but myself,
I cannot do it; yet I'll hammer it out.[1884]5
My brain I'll prove the female to my soul,[1885]
My soul the father; and these two beget
A generation of still-breeding thoughts,
And these same thoughts people this little world,
In humours like the people of this world,10
For no thought is contented. The better sort,[1886]
As thoughts of things divine, are intermix'd
With scruples and do set the word itself[1887]
Against the word:[1887][1888][1889]
As thus, 'Come, little ones,' and then again,[1888]15
'It is as hard to come as for a camel
To thread the postern of a small needle's eye.'[1890]
Thoughts tending to ambition, they do plot
Unlikely wonders; how these vain weak nails
May tear a passage through the flinty ribs[1891]20
Of this hard world, my ragged prison walls,
And, for they cannot, die in their own pride.
Thoughts tending to content flatter themselves
That they are not the first of fortune's slaves,
[Pg 216]
Nor shall not be the last; like silly beggars[1892]25
Who sitting in the stocks refuge their shame,[1893]
That many have and others must sit there;[1894]
And in this thought they find a kind of ease,
Bearing their own misfortunes on the back[1895]
Of such as have before endured the like.30
Thus play I in one person many people,[1896]
And none contented: sometimes am I king;[1897]
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,[1898]
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;35
Then am I king'd again: and by and by[1899]
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,[1900]
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased[1901]40
With being nothing. Music do I hear? [Music.[1902]
Ha, ha! keep time: how sour sweet music is,
When time is broke and no proportion kept!
So is it in the music of men's lives.
And here have I the daintiness of ear[1903]45
To check time broke in a disorder'd string;[1904]
But for the concord of my state and time
Had not an ear to hear my true time broke.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me;
For now hath time made me his numbering clock:[1905]50
My thoughts are minutes; and with sighs they jar[1906]
[Pg 217]
Their watches on unto mine eyes, the outward watch,[1907]
Whereto my finger, like a dial's point,
Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears.
Now sir, the sound that tells what hour it is[1908]55
Are clamorous groans, which strike upon my heart,[1909]
Which is the bell: so sighs and tears and groans[1910]
Show minutes, times, and hours: but my time[1911]
Runs, posting on in Bolingbroke's proud joy,
While I stand fooling here, his Jack o' the clock.[1912]60
This music mads me; let it sound no more;[1913]
For though it have holp madmen to their wits,
In me it seems it will make wise men mad.[1914]
Yet blessing on his heart that gives it me!
For 'tis a sign of love; and love to Richard65
Is a strange brooch in this all-hating world.
Enter a Groom of the Stable.[1915]
Groom. Hail, royal prince![1916]
K. Rich. Thanks, noble peer;[1917]
The cheapest of us is ten groats too dear.[1917][1918]
What art thou? and how comest thou hither,[1919]
Where no man never comes, but that sad dog[1920]70
That brings me food to make misfortune live?
[Pg 218]
Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, king,
When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York,
With much ado at length have gotten leave
To look upon my sometimes royal master's face.[1921]75
O, how it yearn'd my heart when I beheld[1922]
In London streets, that coronation-day,
When Bolingbroke rode on roan Barbary,
That horse that thou so often hast bestrid,[1923]
That horse that I so carefully have dress'd!80
K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend,
How went he under him?
Groom. So proudly as if he disdain'd the ground.[1924]
K. Rich. So proud that Bolingbroke was on his back!
That jade hath eat bread from my royal hand;85
This hand hath made him proud with clapping him.
Would he not stumble? would he not fall down,
Since pride must have a fall, and break the neck
Of that proud man that did usurp his back?
Forgiveness, horse! why do I rail on thee,90
Since thou, created to be awed by man,
Wast born to bear? I was not made a horse;
And yet I bear a burthen like an ass,
Spurr'd, gall'd and tired by jauncing Bolingbroke.
Enter Keeper, with a dish.[1925]
Keep. Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay.[1926]95
K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away.
Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say.
[Pg 219]
[Exit.[1927]
Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to?[1928]
K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do.[1929]
Keep. My lord, I dare not: sir Pierce of Exton, who[1930][1931]100
lately came from the king, commands the contrary.[1930][1932]
K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee![1933]
Patience is stale, and I am weary of it. [Beats the Keeper.[1934]
Keep. Help, help, help!
Enter Exton and Servants, armed.[1935]
K. Rich. How now! what means death in this rude assault?[1936]105
Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instrument.
[Snatching an axe from a Servant and killing him.[1937]
Go thou, and fill another room in hell.
[He kills another. Then Exton strikes him down.[1938]
That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire
That staggers thus my person. Exton, thy fierce hand[1939]
Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's own land.110
Mount, mount, my soul! thy seat is up on high;
Whilst my gross flesh sinks downward, here to die. [Dies.[1940]
Exton. As full of valour as of royal blood:
Both have I spill'd; O would the deed were good![1941]
[Pg 220]
For now the devil, that told me I did well,115
Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.
This dead king to the living king I'll bear:
Take hence the rest, and give them burial here. [Exeunt.[1942]
Scene VI. Windsor castle.
Flourish. Enter Bolingbroke, York, with other Lords, and
Attendants.[1943]
Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear[1944]
Is that the rebels have consumed with fire
Our town of Cicester in Gloucestershire;[1945]
But whether they be ta'en or slain we hear not.
Enter Northumberland.[1946]
North. First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness.[1947]
The next news is, I have to London sent
The heads of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent:[1949]
The manner of their taking may appear
At large discoursed in this paper here.10
Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains;
And to thy worth will add right worthy gains.
[Pg 221]
Enter Fitzwater.[1950]
Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London
The heads of Brocas and Sir Bennet Seely,[1951]
Two of the dangerous consorted traitors15
That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow.
Boling. Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot;[1952]
Right noble is thy merit, well I wot.[1953]
Enter Percy, and the Bishop of Carlisle.
Percy. The grand conspirator, Abbot of Westminster,
With clog of conscience and sour melancholy20
Hath yielded up his body to the grave;
But here is Carlisle living, to abide[1954]
Thy kingly doom and sentence of his pride.
Boling. Carlisle, this is your doom:[1955]
Choose out some secret place, some reverend room,[1956]25
More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life;[1957]
So as thou livest in peace, die free from strife:
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.
Enter Exton, with persons bearing a coffin.[1958]
Exton. Great king, within this coffin I present30
Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies
The mightiest of thy greatest enemies,[1959]
Richard of Bordeaux, by me hither brought.[1960]
Boling. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought
A deed of slander, with thy fatal hand,[1961]35
[Pg 222]
Upon my head and all this famous land.
Exton. From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed.[1962]
Boling. They love not poison that do poison need,
Nor do I thee: though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murdered.40
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word nor princely favour:
With Cain go wander thorough shades of night,[1963]
And never show thy head by day nor light.[1964]
Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe,45
That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow:[1965]
Come, mourn with me for that I do lament,[1966]
And put on sullen black incontinent:[1967]
I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land,[1968]
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand:50
March sadly after; grace my mournings here;[1969]
In weeping after this untimely bier. [Exeunt.[1970]
NOTES.
Dramatis Personæ. We have made some slight changes in
the titles and order of the dramatis personæ in accordance with the
suggestion of Mr George Russell French, who writes to us: "Why
should Edmund Langley be placed before his elder brother John
of Gaunt? The title of 'Berkely' should be simply 'Lord,' as that
family were not made Earls till the time of Charles II. Shakespeare
only calls him 'Lorde Barkley.' I would recommend that the
name of 'Sir Pierce Exton' should be placed after that of 'Sir Stephen
Scroop,' as the latter was actually a baron of Parliament. The
'Duchess of York' should have precedence over the 'Duchess of
Gloucester,' whose husband was the youngest son of Edward III."
I. 1. 2. Band is given by Minsheu with the sense of 'obligation'
(Guide into Tongues, 1617). Both words band and bond were concurrently
in use with the same sense. In this play, V. 2. 65, the first
four Quartos read band, the Folios and the fifth Quarto bond, while
in the 67th line both Quartos and Folios agree in bond.
I. 1. 149. In this place and in several others Capell in his Various
Readings has attributed the reading of the fourth Quarto to the third.
The same error is found 34. 5, Brittaine; 46. 22, two; 46. 31, profession;
47. 11, impresse; 48. 21, from my; 49. 26, can cannot; 78. 17,
night; 88. 30, the how; 92. 18, have holp.
[Pg 224]
Scene II. As usual, there is no division into Acts and Scenes
in the Quartos. We follow generally the Folios in their arrangement,
carefully noting the exceptions.
I. 2. 1. We retain here the reading of the Quartos which is
doubtless what Shakespeare wrote. Probably it was altered for the
stage, because 'Thomas of Woodstock' was better known to the
audience by his title 'Duke of Gloucester.'
I. 2. 70. Notwithstanding the paramount authority of the first
Quarto we conceive that the antithesis between there see, line 67, and
hear there, is too marked to admit of a doubt that the reading of the
second is to be preferred in this place.
I. 3. 7. The stage direction in the text is made up of those given
in the Quartos and Folios. The first Quarto has: The trumpets sound
and the King enters with his nobles; when they are set, enter the
Duke of Norfolke in armes defendant.
The first Folio has: Flourish. Enter King, Gaunt, Bushy,
Bagot, Greene, and others: Then Mowbray in Armor, and Harrold.
At I. 3. 25, the first Quarto gives as the stage direction, The trumpets
sound. Enter Duke of Hereford appellant in armour. The first
Folio has simply, Tucket. Enter Hereford, and Harold.
I. 3. 20. Notwithstanding that the emendation of the Folios yields
an easier sense, we follow the reading of the Quartos, which may be
explained, inasmuch as the Duke of Norfolk's 'succeeding issue'
would be involved in the forfeiture incurred by disloyalty to his king.
It may also be noted that King Richard had never any issue.
[Pg 225]
I. 3. 127. Capell's copy of the first Quarto has cruell. Another
copy is said, in the Variorum edition of 1821, to have the reading
civil (or civill), but we have been unable to trace it. Mr George
Daniel, who possesses the only known copy besides Capell's, informs
us that it has cruell.
I. 3. 129-133. Pope first restored to the text the five lines omitted
in the Folios and the fifth Quarto. He found them in the Quarto
of 1598, which he took to be 'the first edition.' Warburton 'put them,'
as he says, 'into hooks, not as spurious, but as rejected on the
author's revise.' Capell omitted the five lines next following. ''Tis
probable,' he says, 'that the lines now omitted were left negligently in
the MS. from which the Quarto was printed; that a mark was set on
them when the Folio came out, but mistook by the printer of it, who
changed the sound for the unsound.'
I. 3. 150. Some commentators have quoted the second Folio as
reading 'slye slow.' In Capell's copy and in Long's it is certainly
'flye slow.' Mr Collier in a letter to Notes and Queries mentions
that he has found 'flye slow' in other copies.
I. 3. 239-242. Pope introduced the two last of the lines he
omitted in this place at the end of Gaunt's speech after line 245.
Theobald restored lines 239, 240 to their original place, but left lines
241, 242 as he found them in Pope.
II. 1. 40-55. This royal throne ... stubborn Jewry. This passage,
with the exception of line 50, is quoted in England's Parnassus,
p. 348 (1600), and is there attributed to M. Dr., i.e. Michael Drayton,
whose England's Heroical Epistles had been published two years
before. The three lines I. 1. 177-179 are also quoted at p. 113 of
the same collection.
[Pg 226]
II. 1. 254. The Folios omitted noble, in order to correct the
redundant line. But Alexandrines occur too frequently in this play
to admit of the supposition that they are all due to printers' or transcribers'
errors. The author probably found the occasional recurrence
of a six foot line no stumbling-block in the even road of his
blank verse.
II. 1. 277, 278. Pope makes a bold emendation here:
'Then thus, my friends. I have from Port le Blanc,
A bay in Bretagne, had intelligence, &c.'
The first Quarto reads thus:
'Then thus, I have from le Port Blan
A Bay in Brittaine receiude intelligence, &c.'
And, excepting that Q3 reads 'Brittanie,' the rest are substantially the
same.
The first Folio has 'Port le Blan' and 'Britaine.'
The arrangement of the lines in the text agrees with Capell's.
II. 1. 279 sqq. This passage stands thus in the first Quarto:
'That Harry duke of Herford, Rainold L. Cobham
That late broke from the Duke of Exeter
His brother, archbishop late of Canterburie,
Sir Thomas Erpingham, sir John Ramston
Sir Iohn Norbery, sir Robert Waterton and Francis Coines:'
and the three following are almost the same to a letter.
For 'Ramston' and 'Coines' the first Folio has 'Rainston' and
'Quoint.'
According to Holinshed it was not Lord Cobham but 'Thomas
Arundell' who escaped from the Duke of Exeter's house, where he
was kept.
In order to make Shakespeare and the Chronicler agree, Capell
reads:
'That Harry Hereford, Reignold lord Cobham;
The archbishop late of Canterbury; his nephew
That late broke from the duke of Exeter; &c.'
[Pg 227]
Malone introduces within brackets the following line:
'[The son of Richard earl of Arundel].'
His view that a line is lost seems to us more probable than
Capell's transpositions, omission, and insertion. And as Shakespeare
evidently wrote with Holinshed before him, it is not probable
that he would have made such an error as we find in the printed
text.
Ritson proposed to fill up the gap with
'[The son and heir of the late earl of Arundel],'
which is taken almost verbatim from Holinshed.
II. 2. 109. The Quarto of 1597 reads the lines thus:
'Gentlemen, will you go muster men?
If I know how or which way to order these affayres
Thus, &c.'
The other editions have the same arrangement (the Folios omitting
'go' in the first line).
Pope reads:
'Gentlemen, will you go and muster men?
If I know how to order these affairs,
Disorderly thrust, &c.'
Capell reads:
'Gentlemen, will you muster men? if I know
How, or which way, to order these affairs
Thus most disorderly thrust, &c.'
Mr Dyce has:
'Gentlemen, will you go muster men? if I know
How, or which way, &c.'
Mr Staunton says in a note: The redundant or which way I have
always suspected to be an interlineation of the poet's, who had not
decided whether to read 'how to order these affairs,' or 'which way
to order.'
Perhaps the author in expressing York's agitation and perplexity,
instinctively broke into irregular rhythm, and the rest of the speech
might be printed as prose.
[Pg 228]
II. 3. 5. The fact that Drawes (not Draws) is the reading of
the first Quarto tends to show that the singular is not a misprint
for the plural. The construction is not unfrequent in Shakespeare
nor in colloquial language even at the present time. It is as if the
author had said, 'Travelling over these high wild hills, &c. Draws....'
III. 2. 70. Theobald in a letter to Warburton, Nichols' Illustrations,
Vol. II. p. 398, suggests that in lines 70, 76, 85, we should read
'forty thousand,' because Holinshed says that Lord Salisbury raised
forty thousand men in Wales for the King.
But the proposed reading would not suit the metre in line 70; and
it is difficult to see how the mistake should have arisen in two places
if the poet had written 'forty' originally in all three.
III. 3. 52. Capell seems to have printed 'the castle's' by mistake
for 'this castle's'—the reading of all the old copies. The mistake
was copied in several subsequent editions.
III. 4. 22. 'And I could sing, would weeping do me good,
And never borrow any tear of thee.'
Although most editors have acquiesced in Pope's conjecture 'weep'
for 'sing,' we retain 'sing,' which all the Quartos and Folios agree in.
The mistake is not one which a transcriber or printer would be likely
to make, and the original reading yields a very good sense. The
Queen speaks with an emphasis on 'sing:' 'And I could even sing for
joy if my troubles were only such as weeping could alleviate, and
then I would not ask you to weep for me.'
IV. 1. 52. Pope added to Aumerle's speech three lines he found in
the Quarto, beginning 'Who sets me else ...?' without intimating that[Pg 229]
it contained other five lines, 'I task thee ... thou dar'st,' which he
omitted. The omission escaped the notice of Theobald and Warburton.
Johnson was the first to supply it. He added in a note:
'This speech I have restored from the first edition in humble imitation
of former editors, though, I believe, against the mind of the authour.
For the earth I suppose we ought to read, thy oath.'
IV. 1. 280 sqq. The third and fourth Quartos (the earliest editions
which contain this scene) read here:
'... prosperitie.
Was this the face that euery day vnder his
Houshold roofe did keepe ten thousand men?
Was this the face that faast so many follies,
And was ...'
The first Folio has:
'... prosperitie,
Thou do'st beguile me. Was this Face, the Face
That every day, vnder his House-hold Roofe,
Did keepe ten thousand men? Was this the Face,
That like the Sunne, did make beholders winke?
Is this the Face, which fac'd so many follyes,
That was ...'
V. 1. 88. Sidney Walker (Criticisms, Vol. I. p. 189-193) has collected
instances of 'near' and 'far' used in the sense of 'nearer' and
'farther.' For an instance of the latter, see Winter's Tale, IV. 4. 420,
'Far than Deucalion off.'
V. 2. 28. Possibly 'God save him' should be printed in a line by
itself.
V. 2. 57. Malone says of this passage: 'Perhaps like many other
speeches in this scene it was not intended for verse.'
V. 3. 12. Mr Staunton thinks that the words 'So dissolute a crew'
were part of a line which was intended to be cancelled, or to supply
the place of 'even such they say,' line 8.
[Pg 230]
V. 3. 21-24. Capell's arrangement is as follows:
'As dissolute as desperate: yet through both,
I see some sparkles of a better hope,
Which elder years may happily bring forth.
But who comes here?'
V. 3. 66. Steevens, in his edition of 1778, says, 'The modern editors
read:—transgressing.' The only edition in which we have found
this reading is that of Johnson and Steevens, 1773.
V. 3. 137. Theobald reads:
'But for our trusty brother-in-law,—the Abbot,'
and adds in a note: 'Without these marks of disjunction, ... the abbot
here mention'd and Bolingbroke's brother-in-law seem to be one and
the same person: but this was not the case.... The brother-in-law,
meant, was John Duke of Exeter and Earl of Huntingdon, (own brother
to King Richard II.) and who had married with the lady Elizabeth
sister to Henry of Bolingbroke.'
V. 3. 144. 'Cousin too, adieu,' which is generally attributed to
Theobald, is really the reading of the Quarto of 1634 (Q5).
Perhaps the line may be amended thus:
'Uncle, farewell; farewell, aunt; cousin, adieu.'
Many as harsh-sounding lines may be found, and it seems only consonant
with good manners that the king should take leave of his aunt
as well as of the others. There is a propriety too in his using a
colder form of leave-taking to his guilty cousin than to his uncle and
aunt.
V. 4. 94. Mr Staunton says that Q1 reads 'Spurn'd, gall'd.' Our
copy has 'Spurrde, galld.' Though 'Spur-gall'd' is an extremely
probable correction, we adhere to our rule of following the higher
authority whenever it seems to yield a reasonable sense.
[Pg 231]
THE FIRST PART OF
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
[Pg 232]
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[I].
| King Henry the Fourth. |
| Henry, Prince of Wales, |
sons to the King. |
| John of Lancaster, |
| Earl of Westmoreland. |
| Sir Walter Blunt. |
| Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester. |
| Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. |
| Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, his son. |
| Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. |
| Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York. |
| Archibald, Earl of Douglas. |
| Owen Glendower. |
| Sir Richard Vernon. |
| Sir John Falstaff. |
| Sir Michael, a friend to the Archbishop of York. |
| Poins. |
| Gadshill. |
| Peto. |
| Bardolph. |
| Lady Percy, wife to Hotspur, and sister to Mortimer. |
| Lady Mortimer, daughter to Glendower, and wife to Mortimer. |
| Mistress Quickly, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap. |
| Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, two Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants. |
Scene: England.
THE FIRST PART OF
KING HENRY IV.
ACT I.
Scene I. London. The palace.
Enter King Henry, Lord John of Lancaster, the Earl of Westmoreland,
Sir Walter Blunt, and others.[1971]
King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care,[1972]
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
To be commenced in stronds afar remote.[1973]
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil[1974]5
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;[1975]
No more shall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs[1976][1977]
Of hostile paces: those opposed eyes,[1977][1978]
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,10
[Pg 234]
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil butchery
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,[1979]
March all one way and be no more opposed15
Against acquaintance, kindred and allies:[1980]
The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross[1981]20
We are impressed and engaged to fight,
Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;[1982]
Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' womb[1983]
To chase these pagans in those holy fields[1984]
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet25
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter cross.
But this our purpose now is twelve month old,[1985]
And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:
Therefore we meet not now. Then let me hear30
Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
What yesternight our council did decree
In forwarding this dear expedience.[1986]
West. My liege, this haste was hot in question,
And many limits of the charge set down35
But yesternight: when all athwart there came
A post from Wales loaden with heavy news;
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight[1987]
Against the irregular and wild Glendower,40
[Pg 235]
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken,[1988]
A thousand of his people butchered;[1989]
Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,[1990]
Such beastly shameless transformation,[1991]
By those Welshwomen done, as may not be45
Without much shame retold or spoken of.[1992]
King. It seems then that the tidings of this broil
Brake off our business for the Holy Land.
West. This match'd with other did, my gracious lord;[1993]
For more uneven and unwelcome news[1994]50
Came from the north and thus it did import:[1995]
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon met,[1996][1997]55
Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour;[1996]
As by discharge of their artillery,
And shape of likelihood, the news was told;[1998]
For he that brought them, in the very heat[1999]
And pride of their contention did take horse,60
Uncertain of the issue any way.
King. Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,[2000]
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each soil[2001]
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;[2002]65
[Pg 236]
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.[2003]
The Earl of Douglas is discomfited:
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,[2004]
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see[2005]
On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur took[2006]70
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son[2007]
To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol,[2008][2009]
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith:[2009][2010]
And is not this an honourable spoil?
A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?[2011]75
West. In faith,[2011]
It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.[2011]
King. Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin
In envy that my Lord Northumberland
Should be the father to so blest a son,[2012]80
A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride:
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and dishonour stain the brow85
Of my young Harry. O that it could be proved[2013]
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,[2014]
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet![2015]
[Pg 237]
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.90
But let him from my thoughts. What think you, coz,[2016]
Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath surprised,
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.95
West. This is his uncle's teaching: this is Worcester,
Malevolent to you in all aspects;
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up[2017]
The crest of youth against your dignity.
King. But I have sent for him to answer this;100
And for this cause awhile we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we[2018]
Will hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:[2018][2019]
But come yourself with speed to us again;105
For more is to be said and to be done[2020]
Than out of anger can be uttered.
West. I will, my liege. [Exeunt.
Scene II. London. An apartment of the Prince's.
Enter the Prince of Wales and Falstaff.[2021]
Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?
Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old[2022]
sack and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon
benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand[2023]
[Pg 238]
that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil5
hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours
were cups of sack and minutes capons and clocks the
tongues of bawds and dials the signs of leaping-houses
and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured
taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so[2024]10
superfluous to demand the time of the day.
Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that[2025]
take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not[2026]
by Phœbus, he, 'that wandering knight so fair.' And, I
prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save[2027]15
thy grace,—majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have
none,—
Prince. What, none?
Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to[2028]
be prologue to an egg and butter.20
Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.
Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let
not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves
of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen[2029]
of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we25
be men of good government, being governed, as the sea
is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose
countenance we steal.[2030]
Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for
the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and30
flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the
moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely[2031]
snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on
Tuesday morning; got with swearing 'Lay by' and spent[2032]
with crying 'Bring in;' now in as low an ebb as the foot of35
the ladder and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of[2033]
[Pg 239]
the gallows.
Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not[2034]
my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?[2035]
Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the[2036]40
castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of
durance?
Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy
quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with
a buff jerkin?45
Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess
of the tavern?
Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many[2037]
a time and oft.
Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?50
Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all
there.
Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would
stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit.
Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent[2038]55
that thou art heir apparent—But, I prithee, sweet[2039]
wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou
art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty[2040]
curb of old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou
art king, hang a thief.[2041]60
Prince. No; thou shalt.
Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave[2042]
judge.
Prince. Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou
shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a65
rare hangman.
[Pg 240]
Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with
my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you.
Prince. For obtaining of suits?
Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman70
hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a[2043]
gib cat or a lugged bear.[2044]
Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.
Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.[2045]
Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy75
of Moor-ditch?
Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art[2046]
indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young[2047]
prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with
vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity[2048]80
of good names were to be bought. An old lord of
the council rated me the other day in the street about you,[2049]
sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked very[2049]
wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked wisely,[2050]
and in the street too.[2051]85
Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the[2052]
streets, and no man regards it.[2052][2053]
Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed[2054]
able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon[2055]
me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee,90
Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should[2056]
speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must
give over this life, and I will give it over: by the Lord, an[2057]
I do not, I am a villain: I'll be damned for never a king's
[Pg 241]
son in Christendom.95
Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack?
Fal. 'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an[2058]
I do not, call me villain and baffle me.
Prince. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from
praying to purse-taking.100
Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for
a man to labour in his vocation.
Enter Poins.[2059]
Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match.[2060][2061]
O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell
were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent105
villain that ever cried 'Stand' to a true man.
Prince. Good morrow, Ned.
Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur
Remorse? what says Sir John Sack and Sugar?[2062]
Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that[2062][2063]110
thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira
and a cold capon's leg?
Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall
have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs:[2064]
he will give the devil his due.[2065]115
Poins. Then art thou damned for keeping thy word
with the devil.
Prince. Else he had been damned for cozening the[2066]
devil.
Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by120
four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going to[2067]
Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London
with fat purses: I have vizards for you all; you have
[Pg 242]
horses for yourselves: Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester:
I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we[2068]125
may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff
your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home[2069]
and be hanged.
Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go[2070]
not, I'll hang you for going.130
Poins. You will, chops?
Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?
Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.[2071]
Fal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship
in thee, nor thou earnest not of the blood royal, if[2072]135
thou darest not stand for ten shillings.[2073]
Prince. Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap.
Fal. Why, that's well said.
Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.
Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou[2074]140
art king.
Prince. I care not.
Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me[2075]
alone: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure
that he shall go.145
Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and[2076]
him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may[2076]
move and what he hears may be believed, that the true[2077]
prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the
poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: you150
shall find me in Eastcheap.
Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, Allhallown[2078]
summer! [Exit Falstaff.[2079]
[Pg 243]
Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us
to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage155
alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill shall rob[2080]
those men that we have already waylaid; yourself and I
will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you
and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders.[2081]
Prince. How shall we part with them in setting[2082]160
forth?
Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and
appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure
to fail, and then will they adventure upon the exploit
themselves; which they shall have no sooner achieved, but[2083]165
we'll set upon them.
Prince. Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by[2084]
our horses, by our habits and by every other appointment,
to be ourselves.
Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see; I'll tie170
them in the wood; our vizards we will change after we[2085]
leave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the[2086]
nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.
Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us.[2087]
Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as[2088][2089]175
true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third,[2089]
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:[2090]
how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what[2091]180
blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of[2092]
this lies the jest.[2093]
Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things
necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap;[2094]
[Pg 244]
there I'll sup. Farewell.185
Poins. Farewell, my lord. [Exit.
Prince. I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds190
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.195
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 off200
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;[2095]
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,205
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.[2096]
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will. [Exit.[2097]
[Pg 245]
Scene III. London. The palace.[2098]
Enter the King, Northumberland, Worcester, Hotspur,
Sir Walter Blunt, with others.
King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate,
Unapt to stir at these indignities,
And you have found me; for accordingly[2099]
You tread upon my patience: but be sure[2100]
I will from henceforth rather be myself,5
Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition;[2101]
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down,[2102]
And therefore lost that title of respect[2103]
Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud.[2104]
Wor. Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves10
The scourge of greatness to be used on it;
And that same greatness too which our own hands
Have holp to make so portly.[2105]
King. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see[2107]15
Danger and disobedience in thine eye:
O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory,[2108]
And majesty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a servant brow.[2109]
You have good leave to leave us: when we need20
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. [Exit Wor.[2110]
You were about to speak. [To North.
[Pg 246]
North. Yea, my good lord.[2111]
Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded,[2112]
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,[2113]
Were, as he says, not with such strength denied[2114]25
As is deliver'd to your majesty:[2115]
Either envy, therefore, or misprision[2116]
Is guilty of this fault and not my son.[2117]
Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
But I remember, when the fight was done,30
When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd,[2118]
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;35
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;[2119]
Who therewith angry, when it next came there,[2119]40
Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talk'd,[2119][2120]
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,[2121]
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.45
With many holiday and lady terms[2122]
He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded[2123]
My prisoners in your majesty's behalf.
I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,[2124]
[Pg 247]
To be so pester'd with a popinjay,[2125][2126]50
Out of my grief and my impatience,[2125]
Answer'd neglectingly I know not what,
He should, or he should not; for he made me mad[2127]
To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman55
Of guns and drums and wounds,—God save the mark!—
And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth[2128]
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,
This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd[2129]60
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier.[2130]
This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,65
I answer'd indirectly, as I said;[2131]
And I beseech you, let not his report[2132]
Come current for an accusation
Betwixt my love and your high majesty.
Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my lord,70
Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said[2133]
To such a person and in such a place,
At such a time, with all the rest re-told,
May reasonably die and never rise
To do him wrong or any way impeach75
What then he said, so he unsay it now.[2134]
King. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners,[2135]
But with proviso and exception,
[Pg 248]
That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;80
Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd[2136]
The lives of those that he did lead to fight
Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower,[2137]
Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March[2138]
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then,85
Be emptied to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treason? and indent with fears,[2139]
When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
No, on the barren mountains let him starve;[2140]
For I shall never hold that man my friend90
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,[2141]
But by the chance of war: to prove that true[2141][2142]95
Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds,[2143]
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took,
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,[2144]
In single opposition, hand to hand,
He did confound the best part of an hour100
In changing hardiment with great Glendower:
Three times they breathed 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,105
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank[2145]
Bloodstained with these valiant combatants.
Never did base and rotten policy[2146]
[Pg 249]
Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
Nor never could the noble Mortimer[2147]110
Receive so many, and all willingly:
Then let not him be slander'd with revolt.[2148]
King. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;[2149]
He never did encounter with Glendower:
I tell thee,[2150]115
He durst as well have met the devil alone
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.
Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth[2151]
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer:
Send me your prisoners with the speediest means,120
Or you shall hear in such a kind from me
As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland,[2152]
We license your departure with your son.
Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it.
[Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train.[2153]
Hot. An if the devil come and roar for them,[2154]125
I will not send them: I will after straight
And tell him so; for I will ease my heart,
Albeit I make a hazard of my head.[2155]
North. What, drunk with choler? stay and pause awhile:
Here comes your uncle.
[Pg 250]
Re-enter Worcester.[2156]
Hot. Speak of130
'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul[2157]
Want mercy, if I do not join with him:
Yea, on his part I'll empty all these veins,[2158]
And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust,[2159]
But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer[2160]135
As high in the air as this unthankful king,[2161]
As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke.
North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.
Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was gone?
Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners;140
And when I urged the ransom once again
Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale,
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.
Wor. I cannot blame him: was not he proclaim'd[2162]145
By Richard that dead is the next of blood?[2163]
North. He was; I heard the proclamation:
And then it was when the unhappy king,—
Whose wrongs in us God pardon!—did set forth
Upon his Irish expedition;150
From whence he intercepted did return
To be deposed and shortly murdered.
Wor. And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth
Live scandalized and foully spoken of.[2164]
Hot. But, soft, I pray you; did King Richard then155
Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer[2165]
Heir to the crown?
[Pg 251]
North. He did; myself did hear it.
Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king,
That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve.[2166]
But shall it be, that you, that set the crown160
Upon the head of this forgetful man
And for his sake wear the detested blot[2167]
Of murderous subornation, shall it be,[2168]
That you a world of curses undergo,
Being the agents, or base second means,165
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather?[2169]
O, pardon me that I descend so low,[2170]
To show the line and the predicament
Wherein you range under this subtle king;
Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,170
Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
That men of your nobility and power
Did gage them both in an unjust behalf,[2171]
As both of you—God pardon it!—have done,
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,175
And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke?
And shall it in more shame be further spoken,
That you are fool'd, discarded and shook off
By him for whom these shames ye underwent?
No; yet time serves wherein you may redeem180
Your banish'd honours and restore yourselves[2172]
Into the good thoughts of the world again,
Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
Of this proud king, who studies day and night
To answer all the debt he owes to you[2173]185
Even with the bloody payment of your deaths:[2174]
Therefore, I say,—
Wor. Peace, cousin, say no more:
And now I will unclasp a secret book,[2175]
[Pg 252]
And to your quick-conceiving discontents[2176]
I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,[2177]190
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud[2178]
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.[2179]
Hot. If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim:[2180]
Send danger from the east unto the west,195
So honour cross it from the north to south,[2181]
And let them grapple: O, the blood more stirs[2182]
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
North. Imagination of some great exploit
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.200
Hot. By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap,[2183]
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;205
So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
Without corrival all her dignities:[2184]
But out upon this half-faced fellowship!
Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here,
But not the form of what he should attend.[2185]210
Good cousin, give me audience for a while.[2186]
Hot. I cry you mercy.
Hot. I'll keep them all;
By God, he shall not have a Scot of them;[2188]
No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not:215
I'll keep them, by this hand.
Wor. You start away
And lend no ear unto my purposes.
Those prisoners you shall keep.
Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat:[2189]
He said he would not ransom Mortimer;
Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer;220
But I will find him when he lies asleep,
And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer!'[2190]
Nay,[2191]
I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak[2191]
Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him,[2192]225
To keep his anger still in motion.
Wor. Hear you, cousin; a word.[2193]
Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy,
Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke:
And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales,230
But that I think his father loves him not
And would be glad he met with some mischance,
I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale.[2194]
Wor. Farewell, kinsman: I'll talk to you[2195]
When you are better temper'd to attend.235
North. Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool[2196]
Art thou to break into this woman's mood,
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own![2197]
[Pg 254]
Hot. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods,
Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear240
Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.
In Richard's time,—what do you call the place?—[2198]
A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire;[2199]
'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept.
His uncle York; where I first bow'd my knee245
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,—[2200]
'Sblood!—[2201]
When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh.
North. At Berkley-castle.
Hot. You say true:250
Why, what a candy deal of courtesy[2202]
This fawning greyhound then did proffer me![2203]
Look, 'when his infant fortune came to age,'[2204]
And 'gentle Harry Percy,' and 'kind cousin;'
O, the devil take such cozeners! God forgive me![2205]255
Good uncle, tell your tale; I have done.[2206][2207]
Hot. I have done, i' faith.[2210]
Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
Deliver them up without their ransom straight,260
And make the Douglas' son your only mean[2211]
For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons
Which I shall send you written, be assured,
Will easily be granted. You, my lord,[2212] [To Northumberland.
Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,265
[Pg 255]
Shall secretly into the bosom creep[2213]
Of that same noble prelate, well beloved,
The archbishop.
Hot. Of York, is it not?[2214]
Wor. True; who bears hard270
His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop.[2215]
I speak not this in estimation,
As what I think might be, but what I know
Is ruminated, plotted and set down,
And only stays but to behold the face275
Of that occasion that shall bring it on.
Hot. I smell it: upon my life, it will do well.[2216]
North. Before the game is a-foot, thou still let'st slip.[2217]
Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot:[2218]
And then the power of Scotland and of York,280
To join with Mortimer, ha?
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;
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,285
The king will always think him in our debt,
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,[2220]
Till he hath found a time to pay us home:[2221]
And see already how he doth begin[2222]
To make us strangers to his looks of love.290
Hot. He does, he does: we'll be revenged on him.
Wor. Cousin, farewell: no further go in this
Than I by letters shall direct your course.[2223]
[Pg 256]
When time is ripe, which will be suddenly,[2223]
I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer;[2224]295
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.300
Hot. Uncle, adieu: O, let the hours be short[2225]
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport! [Exeunt.[2226]
ACT II.
Scene I. Rochester. An inn yard.
Enter a Carrier with a lantern in his hand.[2227]
First Car. Heigh-ho! an it be not four by the day,[2228]
I'll be hanged: Charles' wain is over the new chimney, and
yet our horse not packed. What, ostler!
Ost. [Within] Anon, anon.[2229]
First Car. I prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a5
few flocks in the point; poor jade, is wrung in the withers[2230]
out of all cess.
Enter another Carrier.[2231]
Sec. Car. Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog,[2232]
and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots: this[2233]
house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died.[2234]10
[Pg 257]
First Car. Poor fellow, never joyed since the price of[2235]
oats rose; it was the death of him.
Sec. Car. I think this be the most villanous house in[2236]
all London road for fleas: I am stung like a tench.[2237]
First Car. Like a tench! by the mass, there is ne'er a[2237][2238]15
king christen could be better bit than I have been since[2239]
the first cock.
Sec. Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a jordan, and[2240]
then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds[2241]
fleas like a loach.20
First Car. What, ostler! come away and be hanged!
come away.
Sec. Car. I have a gammon of bacon and two razes of[2242]
ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing-cross.
First Car. God's body! the turkeys in my pannier are[2243]25
quite starved. What, ostler! A plague on thee! hast thou
never an eye in thy head? canst not hear? An 'twere not[2244]
as good deed as drink, to break the pate on thee, I am a[2245]
very villain. Come, and be hanged! hast no faith in thee?
Enter Gadshill.[2246]
Gads. Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock?30
First Car. I think it be two o'clock.
Gads. I prithee, lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding
in the stable.
First Car. Nay, by God, soft; I know a trick worth[2247]
two of that, i' faith.[2248]35
Sec. Car. Ay, when? canst tell? Lend me thy lantern,
quoth he? marry, I'll see thee hanged first.[2250]
Gads. Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come
to London?40
Sec. 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. [Exeunt Carriers.[2251]
Gads. What, ho! chamberlain![2252]45
Cham. [Within] At hand, quoth pick-purse.[2253]
Gads. That's even as fair as—at hand, quoth the[2254]
chamberlain; for thou variest no more from picking of
purses than giving direction doth from labouring; thou
layest the plot how.[2255]50
Enter Chamberlain.
Cham. Good morrow, Master Gadshill. It holds current
that I told you yesternight: there's a franklin 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 abundance55
of charge too, God knows what. They are up already, and
call for eggs and butter: they will away presently.
Gads. Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas'
clerks, I'll give thee this neck.
Cham. No, I'll none of it: I pray thee, keep that for[2256]60
the hangman; for I know thou worshippest Saint Nicholas
as truly as a man of falsehood may.
Gads. What talkest thou to me of the hangman? if I
hang, I'll make a fat pair of gallows; for if I hang, old Sir
John hangs with me, and thou knowest he is no starveling[2257]65
Tut! there are other Trojans that thou dreamest
not of, the which for sport sake are content to do the profession
[Pg 259]
some grace; that would, if matters should be looked
into, for their own credit sake, make all whole. I am joined[2258]
with no foot-land rakers, no long-staff sixpenny strikers,[2259]70
none of these mad mustachio purple-hued malt-worms; but[2260]
with nobility and tranquillity, burgomasters and great oneyers,[2261][2262]
such as can hold in, such as will strike sooner than[2262][2263]
speak, and speak sooner than drink, and drink sooner than[2263][2264]
pray: and yet, 'zounds, I lie; for they pray continually to[2265]75
their saint, the commonwealth; or rather, not pray to her,[2266][2267]
but prey on her, for they ride up and down on her and[2267][2268]
make her their boots.[2268]
Cham. What, the commonwealth their boots? will she
hold out water in foul way?80
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 beholding[2269]
to the night than to fern-seed for your walking invisible.[2270]85
Gads. Give me thy hand: thou shalt have a share in
our purchase, as I am a true man.[2271]
Cham. Nay, rather let me have it, as you are a false
thief.
[Pg 260]
Gads. Go to; 'homo' is a common name to all men.90
Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of the stable. Farewell,[2272]
you muddy knave. [Exeunt.[2273]
Scene II. The highway, near Gadshill.
Enter Prince Henry and Poins.[2274]
Poins. Come, shelter, shelter: I have removed Falstaff's
horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet.
Prince. Stand close.
Enter Falstaff.[2275]
Fal. Poins! Poins, and be hanged! Poins!
Prince. Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal! what a brawling[2276]5
dost thou keep!
Fal. Where's Poins, Hal?[2277]
Prince. He is walked up to the top of the hill: I'll go
seek him.[2278]
Fal. I am accursed to rob in that thief's company: the[2279]10
rascal hath removed my horse, and tied him I know not[2280]
where. If I travel but four foot by the squier further afoot,[2281]
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[2282]15
twenty years, and yet I am bewitched with the rogue's[2282][2283]
company. If the rascal have not given me medicines to
[Pg 261]
make me love him, I'll be hanged; it could not be else; I
have drunk medicines. Poins! Hal! a plague upon you[2284]
both! Bardolph! Peto! I'll starve ere I'll rob a foot further.[2285]20
An 'twere not as good a deed as drink, to turn true[2286]
man and to leave these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that[2287]
ever chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven ground
is threescore and ten miles afoot with me; and the stony-hearted
villains know it well enough: a plague upon it[2288]25
when thieves cannot be true one to another! [They whistle.][2289]
Whew! A plague upon you all! Give me my horse, you[2290]
rogues; give me my horse, and be hanged!
Prince. Peace, ye fat-guts! lie down; lay thine ear
close to the ground and list if thou canst hear the tread of[2291]30
travellers.
Fal. Have you any levers to lift me up again, being
down? 'Sblood, I'll not bear mine own flesh so far afoot[2292]
again for all the coin in thy father's exchequer. What a
plague mean ye to colt me thus?35
Prince. Thou liest; thou art not colted, thou art uncolted.
Fal. I prithee, good Prince Hal, help me to my horse,
good king's son.
Prince. Out, ye rogue! shall I be your ostler?[2293]40
Fal. Go, hang thyself in thine own heir-apparent garters![2294]
If I be ta'en, I'll peach for this. An I have not ballads made[2295]
on you all and sung to filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my[2296]
poison: when a jest is so forward, and afoot too! I hate it.[2297]
[Pg 262]
Enter Gadshill, Bardolph and Peto with him.[2298]
Gads. Stand.45
Fal. So I do, against my will.
Poins. O, 'tis our setter: I know his voice. Bardolph,[2299]
what news?[2299]
Bard. Case ye, case ye; on with your vizards: there's[2300]
money of the king's coming down the hill; 'tis going to the50
king's exchequer.
Fal. You lie, ye rogue; 'tis going to the king's tavern.[2301]
Gads. There's enough to make us all.[2302]
Fal. To be hanged.
Prince. Sirs, you four shall front them in the narrow[2303]55
lane; Ned Poins and I will walk lower: if they 'scape from[2304]
your encounter, then they light on us.
Peto. How many be there of them?[2305]
Gads. Some eight or ten.
Fal.'Zounds, will they not rob us?[2306]60
Prince. What, a coward, Sir John Paunch?
Fal. Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your grandfather;[2307]
but yet no coward, Hal.
Prince. Well, we leave that to the proof.[2308]
Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind the hedge:65
when thou needest him, there thou shalt find him. Farewell,[2309]
and stand fast.
Fal. Now cannot I strike him, if I should be hanged.
Prince. Ned, where are our disguises?
Poins. Here, hard by: stand close.70
[Exeunt Prince and Poins.[2310]
[Pg 263]
Fal. Now, my masters, happy man be his dole, say I:[2311]
every man to his business.
Enter the Travellers.[73]
Fal. Strike; down with them; cut the villains' throats:[2314]
ah! whoreson caterpillars! bacon-fed knaves! they hate us[2314][2317]
youth: down with them; fleece them.[2314]80
Travellers. O, we are undone, both we and ours for ever![2314]
Fal. Hang ye, gorbellied knaves, are ye undone? No,[2314][2318]
ye fat chuffs; I would your store were here! On, bacons,[2314]
on! What, ye knaves! young men must live. You are[2314][2319]
grandjurors, are ye? we'll jure ye, 'faith.[2314]85
[Here they rob them and bind them. Exeunt.
Re-enter Prince Henry and Poins.[2320]
Prince. The thieves have bound the true men. Now[2321]
could thou and I rob the thieves and go merrily to London,
it would be argument for a week, laughter for a
month and a good jest for ever.
Poins. Stand close; I hear them coming.[2322]90
[Pg 264]
Enter the Thieves again.[2323]
Fal. Come, my masters, let us share, and then to
horse before day. An the Prince and Poins be not two[2295]
arrant cowards, there's no equity stirring: there's no more[2324]
valour in that Poins than in a wild-duck.
Prince. Your money!95
Poins. Villains!
[As they are sharing, the Prince and Poins set
upon them; they all run away; and Falstaff,
after a blow or two, runs away too, leaving the
booty behind them.[2325]
Prince. Got with much ease. Now merrily to horse:
The thieves are all scatter'd and possess'd with fear[2326][2327]
So strongly that they dare not meet each other;[2326]
Each takes his fellow for an officer.[2326][2328]100
Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death,[2326][2329]
And lards the lean earth as he walks along:[2326]
Were 't not for laughing, I should pity him.[2326]
Poins. How the rogue roar'd! [Exeunt.
Scene III. Warkworth Castle.[2330]
Enter Hotspur solus, reading a letter.
Hot. 'But, for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented
to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house.' He[2331]
could be contented: why is he not, then? In respect of[2332]
the love he bears our house: he shows in this, he loves
[Pg 265]
his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me5
see some more. 'The purpose you undertake is dangerous;'—why,
that's certain: 'tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to
drink; but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle,
danger, we pluck this flower, safety. 'The purpose you undertake[2333]
is dangerous; the friends you have named uncertain; the time[2334]10
itself unsorted; and your whole plot too light for the counterpoise
of so great an opposition.' Say you so, say you so? I say
unto you again, you are a shallow cowardly hind, and you
lie. What a lack-brain is this! By the Lord, our plot is[2335]
a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant:[2336]15
a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation;
an excellent plot, very good friends. What a frosty-spirited
rogue is this! Why, my lord of York commends the plot
and the general course of the action. 'Zounds, an I were[2337]
now by this rascal, I could brain him with his lady's fan.20
Is there not my father, my uncle, and myself? lord
Edmund Mortimer, my lord of York, and Owen Glendower?
is there not besides the Douglas? have I not all
their letters to meet me in arms by the ninth of the next
month? and are they not some of them set forward already?[2338]25
What a pagan rascal is this! an infidel! Ha! you shall[2339]
see now in very sincerity of fear and cold heart, will he to
the king, and lay open all our proceedings. O, I could
divide myself, and go to buffets, for moving such a dish of
skim milk with so honourable an action! Hang him! let[2340]30
him tell the king: we are prepared. I will set forward[2341]
to-night.
[Pg 266]
Enter Lady Percy.[2342]
How now, Kate! I must leave you within these two hours.[2343]
Lady. O, my good Lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offence have I this fortnight been35
A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is 't that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,[2344]
And start so often when thou sit'st alone?40
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks;
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd,[2345]
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;[2346]45
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed;
Cry 'Courage! to the field!' And thou hast talk'd
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,[2347]
Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,[2348]
Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,50
Of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers slain,[2349]
And all the currents of a heady fight.[2350]
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war[2351]
And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep,[2352]
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow,[2353]55
Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;[2354]
And in thy face strange motions have appear'd,
[Pg 267]
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden hest. O, what portents are these?[2355]
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,60
And I must know it, else he loves me not.
Hot. What, ho!
Enter Servant.[2356]
Is Gilliams with the packet gone?
Serv. He is, my lord, an hour ago.[2357]
Hot. Hath Butler brought those horses from the sheriff?[2358]
Serv. One horse, my lord, he brought even now.[2359]65
Hot. That roan shall be my throne.[2362]
Well, I will back him straight: O esperance![2362][2363]
Bid Butler lead him forth into the park.[2362][2364] [Exit Servant.
Lady. But hear you, my lord.70
Hot. What say'st thou, my lady?
Lady. What is it carries you away?
Hot. Why, my horse, my love, my horse.[2365]
Lady. Out, you mad-headed ape![2366]
A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen[2366]75
As you are toss'd with. In faith,[2366][2367]
I'll know your business, Harry, that I will.[2366]
[Pg 268]
I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir[2366]
About his title, and hath sent for you[2366]
To line his enterprize: but if you go,—[2366]80
Hot. So far afoot, I shall be weary, love.
Lady. Come, come, you paraquito, answer me[2368]
Directly unto this question that I ask:[2368][2369]
In faith, I'll break thy little finger, Harry,[2368][2370]
An if thou wilt not tell me all things true.[2368][2371]85
Hot. Away,[2372]
Away, you trifler! Love! I love thee not,[2372][2373]
I care not for thee, Kate: this is no world
To play with mammets and to tilt with lips:[2374]
We must have bloody noses and crack'd crowns,90
And pass them current too. God's me, my horse!
What say'st thou, Kate? what would'st thou have with me?[2375]
Lady. Do you not love me? do you not, indeed?[2376]
Well, do not then; for since you love me not,
I will not love myself. Do you not love me?95
Nay, tell me if you speak in jest or no.[2377]
Hot. Come, wilt thou see me ride?[2378]
And when I am o' horseback, I will swear[2379]
I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate;
I must not have you henceforth question me100
Whither I go, nor reason whereabout:[2380]
Whither I must, I must; and, to conclude,[2380]
This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate.[2381]
[Pg 269]
I know you wise, but yet no farther wise[2382]
Than Harry Percy's wife: constant you are,105
But yet a woman: and for secrecy,
No lady closer; for I well believe[2383]
Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know;
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.[2384]
Hot. Not an inch further. But hark you, Kate:[2386]
Whither I go, thither shall you go too;
To-day will I set forth, to-morrow you.[2387]
Will this content you, Kate?
Lady. It must of force. [Exeunt.
Scene IV. The Boar's-Head Tavern, Eastcheap.[2388]
Enter the Prince, and Poins.
Prince. Ned, prithee, come out of that fat room, and[2389]
lend me thy hand to laugh a little.
Poins. Where hast been, Hal?
Prince. With three or four loggerheads amongst three[2390]
or fourscore hogsheads. I have sounded the very base-string[2391]5
of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn brother to a leash
of drawers; and can call them all by their christen[2392]
names, as Tom, Dick, and Francis. They take it already
upon their salvation, that though I be but Prince of Wales,[2393]
yet I am the king of courtesy; and tell me flatly I am no[2394]10
[Pg 270]
proud Jack, like Falstaff, but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle,[2395]
a good boy, by the Lord, so they call me, and when I am[2396]
king of England, I shall command all the good lads in
Eastcheap. They call drinking deep, dyeing scarlet; and
when you breathe in your watering, they cry 'hem!' and[2397]15
bid you play it off. To conclude, I am so good a proficient
in one quarter of an hour, that I can drink with any
tinker in his own language during my life. I tell thee,[2398]
Ned, thou hast lost much honour, that thou wert not with
me in this action. But, sweet Ned,—to sweeten which20
name of Ned, I give thee this pennyworth of sugar,
clapped even now into my hand by an under-skinker, one
that never spake other English in his life than 'Eight
shillings and sixpence,' and 'You are welcome,' with this[2399]
shrill addition, 'Anon, anon, sir! Score a pint of bastard[2400]25
in the Half-moon,' or so. But, Ned, to drive away the[2401]
time till Falstaff come, I prithee, do thou stand in some[2401]
by-room, while I question my puny drawer to what end he
gave me the sugar; and do thou never leave calling[2402]
'Francis,' that his tale to me may be nothing but 'Anon.'30
Step aside, and I'll show thee a precedent.[2403]
Poins. Francis!
Prince. Thou art perfect.
Poins. Francis! [Exit Poins.[2404]
[Pg 271]
Enter Francis.
Fran. Anon, anon, sir. Look down into the Pomgarnet,[2405]35
Ralph.
Prince. Come hither, Francis.
Fran. My lord?
Prince. How long hast thou to serve, Francis?
Fran. Forsooth, five years, and as much as to—40
Poins. [Within] Francis![2406]
Fran. Anon, anon, sir.
Prince. Five year! by'r lady, a long lease for the[2407]
clinking of pewter. But, Francis, darest thou be so valiant[2408]
as to play the coward with thy indenture and show it a45
fair pair of heels and run from it?[2409]
Fran. O Lord, sir, I'll be sworn upon all the books in[2410]
England, I could find in my heart.[2411]
Poins. [Within] Francis![2406]
Prince. How old art thou, Francis?
Fran. Let me see—about Michaelmas next I shall be—
Poins. [Within] Francis![2406]
Fran. Anon, sir. Pray stay a little, my lord.[2413]
Prince. Nay, but hark you, Francis: for the sugar55
thou gavest me, 'twas a pennyworth, was't not?[2414]
Fran. O Lord, I would it had been two![2415]
Prince. I will give thee for it a thousand pound: ask
me when thou wilt, and thou shalt have it.
Poins. [Within] Francis![2406]60
Fran. Anon, anon.
Prince. Anon, Francis? No, Francis; but to-morrow,
Francis; or Francis, o' Thursday; or indeed, Francis,[2416]
[Pg 272]
when thou wilt. But, Francis!
Fran. My lord?65
Prince. Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, crystal-button,
not-pated, agate-ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter,[2417]
smooth-tongue, Spanish-pouch,—
Fran. O lord, sir, who do you mean?
Prince. Why, then, your brown bastard is your only70
drink; for look you, Francis, your white canvas doublet
will sully: in Barbary, sir, it cannot come to so much.[2418]
Fran. What, sir?
Poins. [Within] Francis![2406]
Prince. Away, you rogue! dost thou not hear them[2419]75
call?
[Here they both call him; the drawer stands amazed, not knowing which way to go.[2420]
Enter Vintner.
Vint. What, standest thou still, and hearest such a
calling? Look to the guests within. [Exit Francis.] My[2421]
lord, old Sir John, with half-a-dozen more, are at the door:
shall I let them in?80
Prince. Let them alone awhile, and then open the[2422]
door. [Exit Vintner.] Poins![2423]
Re-enter Poins.
Poins. Anon, anon, sir.
Prince. Sirrah, Falstaff and the rest of the thieves are
at the door: shall we be merry?85
Poins. As merry as crickets, my lad. But hark ye;
what cunning match have you made with this jest of the
drawer? come, what's the issue?
[Pg 273]
Prince. I am now of all humours that have showed
themselves humours since the old days of goodman Adam90
to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight.[2424]
Re-enter Francis.
What's o'clock, Francis?
Fran. Anon, anon, sir. [Exit.[2425]
Prince. That ever this fellow should have fewer
words than a parrot, and yet the son of a woman! His industry95
is up-stairs and down-stairs; his eloquence the
parcel of a reckoning. I am not yet of Percy's mind, the
Hotspur of the north; he that kills me some six or seven
dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says[2426]
to his wife 'Fie upon this quiet life! I want work.' 'O100
my sweet Harry,' says she, 'how many hast thou killed to-day?'
'Give my roan horse a drench,' says he; and answers
'Some fourteen,' an hour after; 'a trifle, a trifle.' I
prithee, call in Falstaff: I'll play Percy, and that damned
brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his wife. 'Rivo!' says[2427]105
the drunkard. Call in ribs, call in tallow.
Enter Falstaff, Gadshill, Bardolph, and Peto; Francis
following with wine.[2428]
Poins. Welcome, Jack: where hast thou been?
Fal. A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance
too! marry, and amen! Give me a cup of sack, boy.
Ere I lead this life long, I'll sew nether stocks and mend[2429]110
them and foot them too. A plague of all cowards! Give[2430]
me a cup of sack, rogue. Is there no virtue extant? [He drinks.[2431]
Fal. You rogue, here's lime in this sack too: there is
nothing but roguery to be found in villanous man: yet[2436]
a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime in it. A[2437]
villanous coward! Go thy ways, old Jack; die when thou
wilt, if manhood, good manhood, be not forgot upon the120
face of the earth, then am I a shotten herring. There live
not three good men unhanged in England; and one of
them is fat, and grows old: God help the while! a bad
world, I say. I would I were a weaver; I could sing
psalms or any thing. A plague of all cowards, I say still.[2438]125
Prince. How now, wool-sack! what mutter you?
Fal. A king's son! If I do not beat thee out of thy
kingdom with a dagger of lath, and drive all thy subjects
afore thee like a flock of wild-geese, I'll never wear hair on
my face more. You Prince of Wales!130
Prince. Why, you whoreson round man, what's the[2439]
matter?
Fal. Are not you a coward? answer me to that: and[2440]
Poins there?
Poins. 'Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward,[2441]135
by the Lord, I'll stab thee.[2442]
Fal. I call thee coward! I'll see thee damned ere I
call thee coward: but I would give a thousand pound I
could run as fast as thou canst. You are straight enough
in the shoulders, you care not who sees your back: call you140
[Pg 275]
that backing of your friends? A plague upon such backing!
give me them that will face me. Give me a cup of
sack: I am a rogue, if I drunk to-day.
Prince. O villain! thy lips are scarce wiped since thou
drunkest last.145
Fal. All's one for that. [He drinks.] A plague of all[2443]
cowards, still say I.
Prince. What's the matter?
Fal. What's the matter! there be four of us here have[2444]
ta'en a thousand pound this day morning.[2445]150
Prince. Where is it, Jack? where is it?
Fal. Where is it! taken from us it is: a hundred upon
poor four of us.[2446]
Prince. What, a hundred, man?
Fal. I am a rogue, if I were not at half-sword with a[2447]155
dozen of them two hours together. I have 'scaped by miracle.[2448]
I am eight times thrust through the doublet, four
through the hose; my buckler cut through and through;
my sword hacked like a hand-saw—ecce signum! I never
dealt better since I was a man: all would not do. A160
plague of all cowards! Let them speak: if they speak
more or less than truth, they are villains and the sons of
darkness.
Prince. Speak, sirs; how was it?[2449]
Fal. Sixteen at least, my lord.
Peto. No, no, they were not bound.
Fal. You rogue, they were bound, every man of them;
or I am a Jew else, an Ebrew Jew.[2452]170
[Pg 276]
Gads. As we were sharing, some six or seven fresh[2450][2453]
men set upon us—
Fal. And unbound the rest, and then come in the[2454]
other.[2455]
Prince. What, fought you with them all?[2456]175
Fal. All! I know not what you call all; but if I fought[2457]
not with fifty of them, I am a bunch of radish: if there were[2458]
not two or three and fifty upon poor old Jack, then am I
no two-legged creature.
Prince. Pray God you have not murdered some of[2459]180
them.
Fal. Nay, that's past praying for: I have peppered
two of them; two I am sure I have paid, two rogues in
buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, if I tell thee a lie,
spit in my face, call me horse. Thou knowest my old185
ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point. Four rogues[2460]
in buckram let drive at me—
Prince. What, four? thou saidst but two even now.
Fal. Four, Hal; I told thee four.
Poins. Ay, ay, he said four.190
Fal. These four came all a-front, and mainly thrust
at me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven[2461]
points in my target, thus.[2462]
Prince. Seven? why, there were but four even now.
Poins. Ay, four, in buckram suits.
Fal. Seven, by these hilts, or I am a villain else.
Prince. Prithee, let him alone; we shall have more
anon.
Fal. Dost thou hear me, Hal?200
[Pg 277]
Prince. Ay, and mark thee too, Jack.
Fal. Do so, for it is worth the listening to. These
nine in buckram that I told thee of—
Prince. So, two more already.
Fal. Their points being broken,—205
Poins. Down fell their hose.[2464]
Fal. Began to give me ground: but I followed me[2465]
close, came in foot and hand; and with a thought seven of
the eleven I paid.
Prince. O monstrous! eleven buckram men grown out210
of two!
Fal. But, as the devil would have it, three misbegotten
knaves in Kendal green came at my back and let drive at
me; for it was so dark, Hal, that thou couldst not see thy
hand.215
Prince. These lies are like their father that begets[2466]
them; gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Why, thou
clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson,[2467]
obscene, greasy tallow-catch,—[2468]
Fal. What, art thou mad? art thou mad? is not the220
truth the truth?
Prince. Why, how couldst thou know these men in
Kendal green, when it was so dark thou couldst not see
thy hand? come, tell us your reason: what sayest thou to
this?225
Poins. Come, your reason, Jack, your reason.
Fal. What, upon compulsion? 'Zounds, an I were at[2469]
the strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would not
tell you on compulsion. Give you a reason on compulsion!
if reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no[2470]230
man a reason upon compulsion, I.
Prince. I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this sanguine
[Pg 278]
coward, this bed-presser, this horse-back-breaker,[2471]
this huge hill of flesh,—
Fal. 'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried[2472]235
neat's tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! O for[2473]
breath to utter what is like thee! you tailor's-yard, you[2474]
sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing-tuck,—
Prince. Well, breathe awhile, and then to it again:[2475]
and when thou hast tired thyself in base comparisons, hear[2476]240
me speak but this.[2477]
Poins. Mark, Jack.
Prince. We two saw you four set on four and bound[2478]
them, and were masters of their wealth. Mark now, how
a plain tale shall put you down. Then did we two set on[2479]245
you four; and, with a word, out-faced you from your prize,[2480]
and have it; yea, and can show it you here in the house:[2481]
and, Falstaff, you carried your guts away as nimbly, with
as quick dexterity, and roared for mercy and still run and[2482]
roared, as ever I heard bull-calf. What a slave art thou, to[2483]250
hack thy sword as thou hast done, and then say it was in
fight! What trick, what device, what starting-hole, canst
thou now find out to hide thee from this open and apparent
shame?
Poins. Come, let's hear, Jack; what trick hast thou255
now?
Fal. By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made[2484]
ye. Why, hear you, my masters: was it for me to kill the[2485]
heir-apparent? should I turn upon the true prince? why,
[Pg 279]
thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware instinct;[2486]260
the lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is
a great matter; I was now a coward on instinct. I shall[2487]
think the better of myself and thee during my life; I for
a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. But, by the
Lord, lads, I am glad you have the money. Hostess, clap[2485]265
to the doors: watch to-night, pray to-morrow. Gallants,[2488]
lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship[2489]
come to you! What, shall we be merry? shall we have a
play extempore?[2490]
Prince. Content; and the argument shall be thy270
running away.
Fal. Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me!
Enter Hostess.[2491]
Host. O Jesu, my lord the prince![2492]
Prince. How now, my lady the hostess! what sayest
thou to me?275
Host. Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman of the[2493]
court at door would speak with you: he says he comes
from your father.
Prince. Give him as much as will make him a royal
man, and send him back again to my mother.280
Fal. What manner of man is he?
Host. An old man.
Fal. What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight?
Shall I give him his answer?
Prince. Prithee, do, Jack.285
Fal. 'Faith, and I'll send him packing. [Exit.
[Pg 280]
Prince. Now, sirs: by'r lady, you fought fair; so did[2494]
you, Peto; so did you, Bardolph: you are lions too, you[2495]
ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true prince;
no, fie!290
Bard. Faith, I ran when I saw others run.
Prince. Faith, tell me now in earnest, how came Falstaff's[2496]
sword so hacked?
Peto. Why, he hacked it with his dagger, and said he
would swear truth out of England but he would make you295
believe it was done in fight, and persuaded us to do the like.
Bard. Yea, and to tickle our noses with spear-grass to[2497]
make them bleed, and then to beslubber our garments[2498]
with it and swear it was the blood of true men. I did
that I did not this seven year before, I blushed to hear his[2499]300
monstrous devices.[2500]
Prince. O villain, thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen
years ago, and wert taken with the manner, and ever since[2501]
thou hast blushed extempore. Thou hadst fire and sword
on thy side, and yet thou rannest away: what instinct305
hadst thou for it?
Bard. My lord, do you see these meteors? do you
behold these exhalations?
Prince. I do.
Bard. What think you they portend?310
Prince. Hot livers and cold purses.
Bard. Choler, my lord, if rightly taken.
Prince. No, if rightly taken, halter.
Re-enter Falstaff.[2502]
Here comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone. How now,[2503]
my sweet creature of bombast! How long is't ago, Jack,[2504]315
[Pg 281]
since thou sawest thine own knee?
Fal. My own knee! when I was about thy years, Hal,
I was not an eagle's talon in the waist; I could have crept[2505]
into any alderman's thumb-ring: a plague of sighing and[2506]
grief! it blows a man up like a bladder. There's villanous320
news abroad: here was Sir John Bracy from your father;[2507]
you must to the court in the morning. That same mad[2508]
fellow of the north, Percy, and he of Wales, that gave
Amamon the bastinado and made Lucifer cuckold and[2509]
swore the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh325
hook—what a plague call you him?
Fal. Owen, Owen, the same; and his son-in-law Mortimer,[2511]
and old Northumberland, and that sprightly Scot[2512]
of Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill[2513]330
perpendicular,—
Prince. He that rides at high speed and with his[2514]
pistol kills a sparrow flying.
Fal. You have hit it.
Prince. So did he never the sparrow.335
Fal. Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him; he[2515]
will not run.
Prince. Why, what a rascal art thou then, to praise
him so for running!
Fal. O' horseback, ye cuckoo; but afoot he will not[2516]340
budge a foot.
Prince. Yes, Jack, upon instinct.
[Pg 282]
Fal. I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is there too,
and one Mordake, and a thousand blue-caps more: Worcester
is stolen away to-night; thy father's beard is turned[2517]345
white with the news: you may buy land now as cheap as
stinking mackerel.
Prince. Why, then, it is like, if there come a hot[2518]
June and this civil buffeting hold, we shall buy maidenheads[2519]
as they buy hob-nails, by the hundreds.[2520]350
Fal. By the mass, lad, thou sayest true; it is like we
shall have good trading that way. But tell me, Hal, art not[2521][2522]
thou horrible afeard? thou being heir-apparent, could the[2522][2523]
world pick thee out three such enemies again as that fiend
Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? art355
thou not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at it?[2524]
Prince. Not a whit, i' faith; I lack some of thy instinct.[2525]
Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to-morrow when[2526]
thou comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an[2527]
answer.360
Prince. Do thou stand for my father, and examine
me upon the particulars of my life.
Fal. Shall I? content: this chair shall be my state,
this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion my crown.
Prince. Thy state is taken for a joined-stool, thy[2528]365
golden sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich
crown for a pitiful bald crown!
Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of[2529]
thee, now shalt thou be moved. Give me a cup of sack to
make my eyes look red, that it may be thought I have[2530]370
wept; for I must speak in passion, and I will do it in King
[Pg 283]
Cambyses' vein.
Prince. Well, here is my leg.[2531]
Fal. And here is my speech. Stand aside, nobility.
Host. O Jesu, this is excellent sport, i' faith![2532]375
Fal. Weep not, sweet queen; for trickling tears are vain.[2533]
Host. O, the father, how he holds his countenance![2534]
Fal. For God's sake, lords, convey my tristful queen;[2535]
For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes.
Host. O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry[2536]380
players as ever I see!
Fal. Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain.
Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time,
but also how thou art accompanied: for though the camomile,
the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet[2537]385
youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears. That thou[2538]
art my son, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my
own opinion, but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and[2539]
a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me.[2540]
If then thou be son to me, here lies the point; why, being[2541]390
son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall the blessed sun[2542]
of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries? a question
not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief
and take purses? a question to be asked. There is a thing,
Harry, which thou hast often heard of and it is known to395
many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient
writers do report, doth defile; so doth the company thou
keepest: for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink
but in tears, not in pleasure but in passion, not in words
only, but in woes also: and yet there is a virtuous man400
[Pg 284]
whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not
his name.
Prince. What manner of man, an it like your majesty?[2543]
Fal. A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent; of[2544]
a cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble carriage;405
and, as I think, his age some fifty, or, by'r lady, inclining to
three score; and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff:
if that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for,[2545]
Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree may be[2546]
known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, then,[2546]410
peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff: him keep
with, the rest banish. And tell me now, thou naughty[2547]
varlet, tell me, where hast thou been this month?
Prince. Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand
for me, and I'll play my father.415
Fal. Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so[2548]
majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the[2549]
heels for a rabbit-sucker or a poulter's hare.[2550]
Prince. Well, here I am set.
Fal. And here I stand: judge, my masters.420
Prince. Now, Harry, whence come you?
Fal. My noble lord, from Eastcheap.
Prince. The complaints I hear of thee are grievous.
Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false: nay, I'll tickle ye[2551]
for a young prince, i' faith.[2552]425
Prince. Swearest thou, ungracious boy? henceforth
ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from
grace: there is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an old[2553]
fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou[2553]
converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of[2554]430
[Pg 285]
beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard
of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted
Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that[2555]
reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that[2556]
vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack435
and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon
and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty,
but in villany? wherein villanous, but in all things? wherein
worthy, but in nothing?
Fal. I would your grace would take me with you:440
whom means your grace?
Prince. That villanous abominable misleader of youth,
Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan.[2557]
Fal. My lord, the man I know.
Prince. I know thou dost.445
Fal. But to say I know more harm in him than in myself,
were to say more than I know. That he is old, the
more the pity, his white hairs do witness it; but that he is,[2558]
saving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny.
If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked! if to be[2559]450
old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know
is damned: if to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean
kine are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto,
banish Bardolph, banish Poins: but for sweet Jack Falstaff,
kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff,455
and therefore more valiant, being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff,
banish not him thy Harry's company, banish not him[2560]
thy Harry's company: banish plump Jack, and banish all
the world.
Prince. I do, I will. [A knocking-heard.[2561]460
[Exeunt Hostess, Francis, and Bardolph.
[Pg 286]
Re-enter Bardolph, running.[2562]
Bard. O, my lord, my lord! the sheriff with a most[2563]
monstrous watch is at the door.[2564]
Fal. Out, ye rogue! Play out the play: I have much[2565]
to say in the behalf of that Falstaff.
Re-enter the Hostess.[2566]
Host. O Jesu, my lord, my lord!—[2567]465
Prince. Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a[2568]
fiddlestick: what's the matter?
Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door:
they are come to search the house. Shall I let them in?
Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of gold[2569]470
a counterfeit: thou art essentially mad, without seeming so.[2570]
Prince. And thou a natural coward, without instinct.[2571]
Fal. I deny your major: if you will deny the sheriff, so;
if not, let him enter: if I become not a cart as well as another
man, a plague on my bringing up! I hope I shall as475
soon be strangled with a halter as another.
Prince. Go, hide thee behind the arras: the rest walk
up above. Now, my masters, for a true face and good[2572]
conscience.
Fal. Both which I have had: but their date is out, and480
therefore I'll hide me.
Prince. Call in the sheriff.
[Exeunt all except the Prince and Peto.
Enter Sheriff and the Carrier.[2573]
Sher. First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and cry[2575]
Hath follow'd certain men unto this house.[2575]485
Prince. What men?
Car. As fat as butter.
Prince. The man, I do assure you, is not here;
For I myself at this time have employ'd him.490
And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee[2578]
That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time,
Send him to answer thee, or any man,
For any thing he shall be charged withal:
And so let me entreat you leave the house.495
Sher. I will, my lord. There are two gentlemen
Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks.[2579]
Prince. It may be so: if he have robb'd these men,
He shall be answerable; and so farewell.
Sher. Good night, my noble lord.500
Prince. I think it is good morrow, is it not?
Sher. Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock.
[Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier.[2580]
Prince. This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's.
Go, call him forth.
Peto. Falstaff!—Fast asleep behind the arras, and[2581]505
snorting like a horse.
Prince. Hark, how hard he fetches breath. Search[2582]
his pockets. [He searcheth his pockets, and findeth certain[2583]
papers.] What hast thou found?
Peto. Nothing but papers, my lord.[2581]510
Peto. [reads] Item, A capon, 2s. 2d.[2585]
Item, Sauce, 4d.
Item, Sack, two gallons, 5s. 8d.
Item, Anchovies and sack after supper, 2s. 6d.[2586]515
Item, Bread, ob.[2587]
Prince. O monstrous! but one half-pennyworth of bread
to this intolerable deal of sack! What there is else, keep
close; we'll read it at more advantage: there let him sleep
till day. I'll to the court in the morning. We must all to520
the wars, and thy place shall be honourable. I'll procure
this fat rogue a charge of foot; and I know his death will
be a march of twelve-score. The money shall be paid back[2588]
again with advantage. Be with me betimes in the morning;
and so, good morrow, Peto.[2589] [Exeunt.525
Peto. Good morrow, good my lord.[2581]
ACT III.
Scene I. Bangor. The Archdeacon's house.
Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Mortimer, and Glendower.[2590]
Mort. These promises are fair, the parties sure,
And our induction full of prosperous hope.
Glend. No, here it is.[2592]
Sit, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hotspur,[2592]
For by that name as oft as Lancaster[2592][2593]
Doth speak of you, his cheek looks pale and with[2592][2594]
A rising sigh he wisheth you in heaven.[2592][2595]10
Glend. I cannot blame him: at my nativity[2598]
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets; and at my birth[2599][2600]15
The frame and huge foundation of the earth[2599][2601]
Shaked like a coward.[2599][2602]
Glend. I say the earth did shake when I was born.
Hot. And I say the earth was not of my mind,[2607]
If you suppose as fearing you it shook.
Glend. The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.
Hot. O, then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire,[2608]25
And not in fear of your nativity.
Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth
In strange eruptions; oft the teeming earth[2609]
Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd
By the imprisoning of unruly wind30
Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving,
[Pg 290]
Shakes the old beldam earth and topples down[2610]
Steeples and moss-grown towers. At your birth[2611]
Our grandam earth, having this distemperature,[2612]
In passion shook.
Glend. Cousin, of many men35
I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave[2613]
To tell you once again that at my birth
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds
Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields.[2614]40
These signs have mark'd me extraordinary;
And all the courses of my life do show
I am not in the roll of common men.[2615]
Where is he living, clipp'd in with the sea[2616]
That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales,[2617]45
Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me?
And bring him out that is but woman's son[2618]
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art[2619]
And hold me pace in deep experiments.[2620]
Mort. Peace, cousin Percy; you will make him mad.[2624]
Glend. I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hot. Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?55
Hot. And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil[2627]
By telling truth: tell truth, and shame the devil.[2628]
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither,60
And I 'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence.
O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil!
Mort. Come, come, no more of this unprofitable chat.[2629]
Glend. Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head
Against my power; thrice from the banks of Wye[2630]65
And sandy-bottom'd Severn have I sent him[2631][2632]
Bootless home and weather-beaten back.[2632][2633]
Hot. Home without boots, and in foul weather too![2634]
How 'scapes he agues, in the devil's name?[2635]
Glend. Come, here's the map: shall we divide our right[2636]70
According to our threefold order ta'en?
Mort. The archdeacon hath divided it[2637]
Into three limits very equally:
England, from Trent and Severn hitherto,
By south and east is to my part assign'd:75
All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore.
And all the fertile land within that bound.
To Owen Glendower: and, dear coz, to you[2638]
The remnant northward, lying off from Trent.
And our indentures tripartite are drawn;[2639]80
Which being sealed interchangeably,
A business that this night may execute,
To-morrow, cousin Percy, you and I[2640]
And my good Lord of Worcester will set forth
[Pg 292]
To meet your father and the Scottish power,85
As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury.
My father Glendower is not ready yet,
Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days.
Within that space you may have drawn together[2641]
Your tenants, friends, and neighbouring gentlemen.90
Glend. A shorter time shall send me to you, lords:
And in my conduct shall your ladies come;
From whom you now must steal and take no leave,
For there will be a world of water shed[2642]
Upon the parting of your wives and you.95
Hot. Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here,[2643]
In quantity equals not one of yours:
See how this river comes me cranking in,[2644]
And cuts me from the best of all my land
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out.[2645]100
I'll have the current in this place damm'd up;[2646]
And here the smug and silver Trent shall run
In a new channel, fair and evenly;
It shall not wind with such a deep indent,
To rob me of so rich a bottom here.105
Glend. Not wind? it shall, it must; you see it doth.
Mort. Yea, but[2647][2648]
Mark how he bears his course, and runs me up[2647][2648]
With like advantage on the other side;[2647]
Gelding the opposed continent as much[2647]110
As on the other side it takes from you.[2647]
Wor. Yea, but a little charge will trench him here
And on this north side win this cape of land;
And then he runs straight and even.[2649]
[Pg 293]
Hot. I'll have it so: a little charge will do it.115
Glend. I'll not have it alter'd.[2650]
Hot. Will not you?
Glend. No, nor you shall not.
Hot. Who shall say me nay?
Glend. Why, that will I.
Glend. I can speak English, lord, as well as you;
For I was train'd up in the English court;
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp[2653]
Many an English ditty lovely well
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament,125
A virtue that was never seen in you.
Hot. Marry,[2654]
And I am glad of it with all my heart:[2654]
I had rather be a kitten and cry mew
Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers;[2655]130
I had rather hear a brazen canstick turn'd,[2656]
Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree;
And that would set my teeth nothing on edge,[2657]
Nothing so much as mincing poetry:
'Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag.135
Glend. Come, you shall have Trent turn'd.
[Pg 294]
Hot. I do not care: I'll give thrice so much land[2658]
To any well-deserving friend;[2658][2659]
But in the way of bargain, mark ye me,
I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.140
Are the indentures drawn? shall we be gone?
Glend. The moon shines fair; you may away by night:[2660]
I'll haste the writer, and withal[2661][2662]
Break with your wives of your departure hence:[2662]
I am afraid my daughter will run mad,145
So much she doteth on her Mortimer. [Exit.
Mort. Fie, cousin Percy! how you cross my father![2663]
Hot. I cannot choose: sometime he angers me[2664]
With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,[2665]
Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies,[2666]150
And of a dragon and a finless fish,
A clip-wing'd griffin and a moulten raven,[2667]
A couching lion and a ramping cat,[2668]
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith. I tell you what,—155
He held me last night at least nine hours[2669]
In reckoning up the several devils' names
That were his lackeys: I cried 'hum,' and 'well, go to,'[2670]
But mark'd him not a word. O, he is as tedious[2671]
As a tired horse, a railing wife;[2672]160
[Pg 295]
Worse than a smoky house: I had rather live
With cheese and garlic in a windmill, far,
Than feed on cates and have him talk to me
In any summer-house in Christendom.
Mort. In faith, he is a worthy gentleman,[2673]165
Exceedingly well read, and profited[2674]
In strange concealments, valiant as a lion[2675]
And wondrous affable and as bountiful[2675][2676]
As mines of India. Shall I tell you, cousin?[2675][2677]
He holds your temper in a high respect[2675]170
And curbs himself even of his natural scope[2678]
When you come 'cross his humour; faith, he does:[2679]
I warrant you, that man is not alive
Might so have tempted him as you have done,
Without the taste of danger and reproof:175
But do not use it oft, let me entreat you.
Wor. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame;[2680]
And since your coming hither have done enough
To put him quite beside his patience.[2681]
You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault:180
Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, blood,—[2682]
And that's the dearest grace it renders you,—
Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage,
Defect of manners, want of government,
Pride, haughtiness, opinion and disdain:185
The least of which haunting a nobleman[2683]
[Pg 296]
Loseth men's hearts and leaves behind a stain[2684]
Upon the beauty of all parts besides,[2685]
Beguiling them of commendation.
Hot. Well, I am school'd: good manners be your speed![2686]190
Here come our wives, and let us take our leave.
Re-enter Glendower with the ladies.[2687]
Mort. This is the deadly spite that angers me;[2688]
My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh.
Glend. My daughter weeps: she will not part with you;[2689]
She'll be a soldier too, she'll to the wars.195
Mort. Good father, tell her that she and my aunt Percy[2690]
Shall follow in your conduct speedily.
[Glendower speaks to her in Welsh, and she
answers him in the same.[2691]
Glend. She is desperate here; a peevish self-will'd harlotry,[2692][2693]
one that no persuasion can do good upon.[2693][2694]
[The lady speaks in Welsh.
Mort. I understand thy looks: that pretty Welsh200
Which thou pour'st down from these swelling heavens[2695]
I am too perfect in; and, but for shame,
In such a parley should I answer thee.
[Pg 297]
[The lady speaks again in Welsh.[2696]
I understand thy kisses and thou mine,
And that's a feeling disputation:[2697]205
But I will never be a truant, love,
Till I have learn'd thy language; for thy tongue
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn'd,[2698]
Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower,
With ravishing division, to her lute.210
Glend. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.[2699]
[The lady speaks again in Welsh.
Mort. O, I am ignorance itself in this!
Glend. She bids you on the wanton rushes lay you down[2700]
And rest your gentle head upon her lap,
And she will sing the song that pleaseth you215
And on your eyelids crown the god of sleep,
Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness,
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep[2701]
As is the difference betwixt day and night
The hour before the heavenly-harness'd team220
Begins his golden progress in the east.[2702]
Mort. With all my heart I'll sit and hear her sing:
By that time will our book, I think, be drawn.
Glend. Do so;
And those musicians that shall play to you[2703]225
Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence,[2704]
And straight they shall be here: sit, and attend.[2705]
[Pg 298]
Hot. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down:[2706]
come, quick, quick, that I may lay my head in thy lap.[2706]
Lady P. Go, ye giddy goose.230
[The music plays.[2707]
Hot. Now I perceive the devil understands Welsh;[2708]
And 'tis no marvel he is so humorous.[2708]
By'r lady, he is a good musician.[2708]
Lady P. Then should you be nothing but musical, for[2708][2709]
you are altogether governed by humours. Lie still, ye[2708][2710]235
thief, and hear the lady sing in Welsh.[2708]
Hot. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish.[2711]
Lady P. Wouldst thou have thy head broken?[2712]
Hot. No.
Lady P. Then be still.240
Hot. Neither; 'tis a woman's fault.
Lady P. Now God help thee!
Hot. To the Welsh lady's bed.
Lady P. What's that?
Hot. Peace! she sings.245
[Here the lady sings a Welsh song.
Hot. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too.[2713]
Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth.
Hot. Not yours, in good sooth! Heart! you swear[2714][2715]
like a comfit-maker's wife. 'Not you, in good sooth,' and[2716]
'as true as I live,' and 'as God shall mend me,' and 'as[2717]250
sure as day,'[2714]
And givest such sarcenet surety for thy oaths,
[Pg 299]
As if thou never walk'st further than Finsbury.[2718]
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art,
A good mouth-filling oath, and leave 'in sooth,'255
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread,[2719]
To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens.
Come, sing.
Lady P. I will not sing.
Hot. 'Tis the next way to turn tailor, or be red-breast[2720]260
teacher. An the indentures be drawn, I'll away within these[2721]
two hours; and so, come in when ye will.[2722] [Exit.
Glend. Come, come, Lord Mortimer; you are as slow[2723]
As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go.[2724]
By this our book is drawn; we'll but seal,[2725]265
And then to horse immediately.[2725]
Mort. With all my heart. [Exeunt.
Scene II. London. The palace.[2726]
Enter the King, Prince of Wales, and others.
King. Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Wales and I[2727]
Must have some private conference: but be near at hand,[2727][2728]
For we shall presently have need of you. [Exeunt Lords.
[Pg 300]
I know not whether God will have it so,[2729]
For some displeasing service I have done,5
That, in his secret doom, out of my blood
He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
But thou dost in thy passages of life[2730]
Make me believe that thou art only mark'd
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven10
To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else,
Could such inordinate and low desires,
Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts,[2731]
Such barren pleasures, rude society,
As thou art match'd withal and grafted to,[2732]15
Accompany the greatness of thy blood
And hold their level with thy princely heart?
Prince. So please your majesty, I would I could[2733]
Quit all offences with as clear excuse
As well as I am doubtless I can purge20
Myself of many I am charged withal:
Yet such extenuation let me beg,
As, in reproof of many tales devised,[2734]
Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers,25
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,
Find pardon on my true submission.
King. God pardon thee! yet let me wonder, Harry,[2735]
At thy affections, which do hold a wing30
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost,
Which by thy younger brother is supplied,
And art almost an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood:35
The hope and expectation of thy time
[Pg 301]
Is ruin'd, and the soul of every man
Prophetically do forethink thy fall.[2736]
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,40
So stale and cheap to vulgar company,
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession
And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark nor likelihood.45
By being seldom seen, I could not stir[2737]
But like a comet I was wonder'd at;
That men would tell their children 'This is he;'
Others would say 'Where, which is Bolingbroke?'
And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,50
And dress'd myself in such humility
That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned king.[2738]
Thus did I keep my person fresh and new;[2739]55
My presence, like a robe pontifical,
Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state,
Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast
And wan by rareness such solemnity.[2740]
The skipping king, he ambled up and down60
With shallow jesters and rash bavin wits,[2741]
Soon kindled and soon burnt; carded his state,[2742]
Mingled his royalty with capering fools,[2743]
Had his great name profaned with their scorns
And gave his countenance, against his name,65
To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push[2744]
Of every beardless vain comparative,
[Pg 302]
Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity;[2745]
That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,70
They surfeited with honey and began[2746]
To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little[2746][2747]
More than a little is by much too much.
So when he had occasion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,75
Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes
As, sick and blunted with community,
Afford no extraordinary gaze,[2748]
Such as is bent on sun-like majesty
When it shines seldom in admiring eyes;80
But rather drowzed and hung their eyelids down,[2749]
Slept in his face and render'd such aspect[2750]
As cloudy men use to their adversaries,[2751]
Being with his presence glutted, gorged and full.
And in that very line, Harry, standest thou;[2752]85
For thou hast lost thy princely privilege
With vile participation: not an eye
But is a-weary of thy common sight,
Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;
Which now doth that I would not have it do,[2753]90
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.
Prince. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord,
Be more myself.
King. For all the world[2754]
As thou art to this hour was Richard then[2755]
When I from France set foot at Ravenspurgh,[2756]95
[Pg 303]
And even as I was then is Percy now.
Now, by my sceptre and my soul to boot,
He hath more worthy interest to the state[2757]
Than thou the shadow of succession;[2758]
For of no right, nor colour like to right,100
He doth fill fields with harness in the realm,
Turns head against the lion's armed jaws,
And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on[2759]
To bloody battles and to bruising arms.105
What never-dying honour hath he got
Against renowned Douglas! whose high deeds,[2760]
Whose hot incursions and great name in arms
Holds from all soldiers chief majority[2761]
And military title capital110
Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ:
Thrice hath this Hotspur, Mars in swathling clothes,[2762]
This infant warrior, in his enterprizes
Discomfited great Douglas, ta'en him once,[2763]
Enlarged him and made a friend of him,115
To fill the mouth of deep defiance up[2764]
And shake the peace and safety of our throne.
And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
The Archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,[2765]
Capitulate against us and are up.120
But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?
Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
Which art my near'st and dearest enemy?[2766]
Thou that art like enough, through vassal fear,[2767]
Base inclination and the start of spleen,125
[Pg 304]
To fight against me under Percy's pay,
To dog his heels and curtsy at his frowns,
o show how much thou art degenerate.[2768]
Prince. Do not think so; you shall not find it so:
And God forgive them that so much have sway'd[2769]130
Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!
I will redeem all this on Percy's head
And in the closing of some glorious day
Be bold to tell you that I am your son;
When I will wear a garment all of blood135
And stain my favours in a bloody mask,[2770]
Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it:
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this same child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,140
And your unthought-of Harry chance to meet.
For every honour sitting on his helm,[2771]
Would they were multitudes, and on my head[2772]
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,[2773]
That I shall make this northern youth exchange145
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;[2774]
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up,150
Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,[2775]
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
This, in the name of God, I promise here:[2776]
The which if He be pleased I shall perform,[2777]
I do beseech your majesty may salve155
[Pg 305]
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:[2778]
If not, the end of life cancels all bands;[2779]
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths[2780]
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.
King. A hundred thousand rebels die in this:160
Thou shalt have charge and sovereign trust herein.
Enter Blunt.[2781]
How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.[2782]
Blunt. So hath the business that I come to speak of.[2783]
Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word
That Douglas and the English rebels met165
The eleventh of this month at Shrewsbury:
A mighty and a fearful head they are,
If promises be kept on every hand,
As ever offer'd foul play in a state.
King. The Earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day;[2784]170
With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster;
For this advertisement is five days old:
On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set forward;[2785]
On Thursday we ourselves will march: our meeting[2786]
Is Bridgenorth: and, Harry, you shall march[2786][2787]175
Through Gloucestershire; by which account,[2786][2788]
Our business valued, some twelve days hence[2788]
Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet.
Our hands are full of business: let's away;
Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay.[2789] [Exeunt.180
[Pg 306]
Scene III. Eastcheap. The Boar's-Head Tavern.[2790]
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.
Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this
last action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my skin
hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown; I am withered
like an old apple-john. Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly,
while I am in some liking; I shall be out of heart5
shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An[2791]
I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is made of,
I am a peppercorn, a brewer's horse: the inside of a church!
Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.
Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot live long.10
Fal. Why, there is it: come sing me a bawdy song;
make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman[2792]
need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced not above
seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house not above once[2793]
in a quarter—of an hour; paid money that I borrowed,[2794]15
three or four times; lived well, and in good compass: and
now I live out of all order, out of all compass.[2795]
Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you must
needs be out of all compass, out of all reasonable compass,
Sir John.20
Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life:[2796]
thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the poop,[2797]
but 'tis in the nose of thee; thou art the Knight of the[2798]
Burning Lamp.
[Pg 307]
Bard. Why, Sir John, my face does you no harm.[2799]25
Fal. No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use of it as
many a man doth of a Death's-head or a memento mori:
I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire, and Dives that
lived in purple; for there he is in his robes, burning,[2800]
burning. If thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear[2801]30
by thy face; my oath should be, 'By this fire, that's God's[2802]
angel:' but thou art altogether given over; and wert indeed,[2802]
but for the light in thy face, the son of utter darkness.[2803]
When thou rannest up Gadshill in the night to catch my[2804]
horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus[2805]35
or a ball of wildfire, there's no purchase in money. O, thou
art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light! Thou[2806]
hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches,
walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern:
but the sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me40
lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe.[2807]
I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire any[2808]
time this two and thirty years; God reward me for it![2809]
Bard. 'Sblood, I would my face were in your belly![2810]
Fal. God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heartburned.[2811]45
Enter Hostess.[2812]
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, I50
have inquired, so has my husband, man by man, boy by
[Pg 308]
boy, servant by servant: the tithe of a hair was never lost[2813]
in my house before.
Fal. Ye lie, hostess: Bardolph was shaved, and lost
many a hair; and I'll be sworn my pocket was picked.[2814]55
Go to, you are a woman, go.[2815]
Host. Who, I? no; I defy thee: God's light, I was[2816]
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.60
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, filthy dowlas: I have given them away to
bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them.[2817]65
Host. Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight[2818]
shillings an ell. You owe money here besides, Sir John,[2818]
for your diet and by-drinkings, and money lent you, four[2819][2820]
and twenty pound.[2820][2821]
Fal. He had his part of it; let him pay.70
Host. He? alas, he is poor; he hath nothing.
Fal. How! poor? look upon his face; what call you
rich? let them coin his nose, let them coin his cheeks: I'll[2822]
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 my75
pocket picked? I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's
worth forty mark.
Host. O Jesu, I have heard the prince tell him, I know[2823]
not how oft, that that ring was copper![2824]
Fal. How! the prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup: 'sblood,[2825]80
an he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog, if he would[2826]
[Pg 309]
say so.
Enter the Prince and Peto, marching, and Falstaff meets them
playing on his truncheon like a fife.[2827]
Bard. Yea, two and two, Newgate fashion.[2830]85
Host. My lord, I pray you, hear me.
Prince. What sayest thou, Mistress Quickly? How
doth thy husband? I love him well; he is an honest man.[2831]
Host. Good my lord, hear me.
Fal. Prithee, let her alone, and list to me.90
Prince. What sayest thou, Jack?
Fal. The other night I fell asleep here behind the
arras, and had my pocket picked: this house is turned
bawdy-house; they pick pockets.
Prince. What didst thou lose, Jack?95
Fal. Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four bonds
of forty pound a-piece, and a seal-ring of my grandfather's.[2832]
Prince. 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 of100
you, like a foul-mouthed man as he is; and said he would[2833]
cudgel you.
Prince. What! he did not?
Host. There's neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in
me else.105
Fal. There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed[2834]
prune; nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox; and[2835]
for womanhood, Maid Marian may be the deputy's wife of
[Pg 310]
the ward to thee. Go, you thing, go.[2836]
Host. Say, what thing? what thing?110
Fal. What thing! why, a thing to thank God on.[2837]
Host. I am no thing to thank God on, I would thou[2837][2838]
shouldst know it; 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 beast115
to say otherwise.
Host. Say, what beast, thou knave, thou?
Fal. What beast! why, an otter.
Prince. An otter, Sir John! why an otter?
Fal. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh; a man knows120
not where to have her.
Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so: thou or[2839]
any man knows where to have me, thou knave, thou!
Prince. Thou sayest true, hostess; and he slanders
thee most grossly.125
Host. So he doth you, my lord; and said this other
day you ought him a thousand pound.[2840]
Prince. 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.130
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.135
Prince. I say 'tis copper: darest thou be as good as
thy word now?
Fal. Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art but man, I[2841]
dare: but as thou art prince, I fear thee as I fear the roaring[2842]
of the lion's whelp.140
Prince. And why not as the lion?
[Pg 311]
Fal. The king himself is to be feared as the lion: dost
thou think I'll fear thee as I fear thy father? nay, an I do,[2843]
I pray God my girdle break.[2844]
Prince. O, if it should, how would thy guts fall about145
thy knees! But, sirrah, there's no room for faith, truth,
nor honesty in this bosom of thine; it is all filled up with[2845]
guts and midriff. Charge an honest woman with picking[2846]
thy pocket! why, thou whoreson, impudent, embossed
rascal, if there were anything in thy pocket but150
tavern-reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houses, 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?155
Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? thou knowest in the state
of innocency Adam fell; and what should poor Jack Falstaff[2847]
do in the days of villany? Thou seest I have more
flesh than another man; and therefore more frailty. You
confess then, you picked my pocket?160
Prince. It appears so by the story.
Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee: go, make ready breakfast;[2848]
love thy husband, look to thy servants, cherish thy[2848][2849]
guests: thou shalt find me tractable to any honest reason:[2848][2850]
thou seest I am pacified still. Nay, prithee, be gone.[2848][2851]165
[Exit Hostess.] Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the[2852]
robbery, lad, how is that answered?
Fal. O, I do not like that paying back; 'tis a double170
labour.
Prince. I am good friends with my father, and may
do any thing.
Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou doest,
and do it with unwashed hands too.175
Bard. Do, my lord.
Prince. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot.
Fal. I would it had been of horse. Where shall I find
one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, of the age of[2855]
two and twenty or thereabouts! I am heinously[2856]180
unprovided. Well, God be thanked for these rebels, they offend[2857]
none but the virtuous: I laud them, I praise them.
Prince. Bardolph!
Bard. My lord?
Prince. Go bear this letter to Lord John of Lancaster,[2858]185
to my brother John; this to my Lord of Westmoreland.[2858][2859]
[Exit Bardolph.] Go, Peto, to horse, to horse; for thou and[2858][2860]
I have thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner time. [Exit Peto.][2858][2861]
Jack, meet me to-morrow in the temple hall at two o'clock[2858]
in the afternoon.[2858][2862]190
There shalt thou know thy charge; and there receive[2863]
Money and order for their furniture.[2863]
The land is burning; Percy stands on high;
And either we or they must lower lie. [Exit.[2864]
[Pg 313]
Fal. Rare words! brave world! Hostess, my breakfast, come![2865]195
O, I could wish this tavern were my drum! [Exit.[2866]
ACT IV.
Scene I. The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.
Enter Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas.[2867]
Hot. Well said, my noble Scot: if speaking truth[2868]
In this fine age were not thought flattery,[2869]
Such attribution should the Douglas have,
As not a soldier of this season's stamp
Should go so general current through the world.5
By God, I cannot flatter; I do defy[2870]
The tongues of soothers; but a braver place[2871]
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself:
Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.
Doug. Thou art the king of honour:[2872]10
No man so potent breathes upon the ground[2873]
But I will beard him.[2873]
[Pg 314]
Enter a Messenger with letters.[2875][2876]
What letters hast thou there?—I can but thank you.[2875][2877]
Mess. These letters come from your father.[2878]
Hot. Letters from him! why comes he not himself?[2879]15
Mess. He cannot come, my lord; he is grievous sick.[2879][2880]
Hot. 'Zounds! how has he the leisure to be sick[2881]
In such a justling time? Who leads his power?
Under whose government come they along?
Mess. His letters bear his mind, not I, my lord.[2882]20
Wor. I prithee, tell me, doth he keep his bed?
Mess. He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth;
And at the time of my departure thence
He was much fear'd by his physicians.[2883]
Wor. I would the state of time had first been whole[2884]25
Ere he by sickness had been visited:
His health was never better worth than now.
Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect
The very life-blood of our enterprise;
'Tis catching hither, even to our camp.30
He writes me here, that inward sickness—[2885]
And that his friends by deputation could not[2886]
So soon be drawn, nor did he think it meet[2886]
To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
[Pg 315]
On any soul removed but on his own.35
Yet doth he give us bold advertisement,
That with our small conjunction we should on,
To see how fortune is disposed to us;
For, as he writes, there is no quailing now,
Because the king is certainly possess'd40
Of all our purposes. What say you to it?
Wor. Your father's sickness is a maim to us.
Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off:
And yet, in faith, it is not; his present want[2887]
Seems more than we shall find it: were it good[2888]45
To set the exact wealth of all our states[2888][2889]
All at one cast? to set so rich a main[2889][2890]
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?[2891]
It were not good; for therein should we read[2892][2893]
The very bottom and the soul of hope,[2893][2894]50
The very list, the very utmost bound
Of all our fortunes.[2895]
Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
If that the devil and mischance look big
Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.
Wor. But yet I would your father had been here.60
The quality and hair of our attempt[2900]
Brooks no division: it will be thought[2901]
By some, that know not why he is away,
That wisdom, loyalty and mere dislike
Of our proceedings kept the earl from hence:65
And think how such an apprehension
May turn the tide of fearful faction
And breed a kind of question in our cause;
For well you know we of the offering side[2902]
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement,70
And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us:
This absence of your father's draws a curtain,[2903]
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear
Before not dreamt of.
Hot. You strain too far.[2904]75
I rather of his absence make this use:
It lends a lustre and more great opinion,
A larger dare to our great enterprise,[2905]
Than if the earl were here; for men must think,
If we without his help can make a head80
To push against a kingdom, with his help[2906]
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down.[2907]
Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
[Pg 317]
Doug. As heart can think: there is not such a word[2908]
Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear.[2908][2909]85
Enter Sir Richard Vernon.
Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul.[2910]
Ver. Pray God my news be worth a welcome, lord.
The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong,
Is marching hitherwards; with him Prince John.[2911]
Hot. No harm: what more?
Ver. And further, I have90
The king himself in person is set forth,[2912]
Or hitherwards intended speedily,[2913]
With strong and mighty preparation.
Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son,[2914]
The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,[2915]95
And his comrades, that daff'd the world aside,[2916]
And bid it pass?
Ver. All furnish'd, all in arms;[2917]
All plumed like estridges that with the wind[2918][2919]
Baited like eagles having lately bathed;[2919][2920]
Glittering in golden coats, like images;100
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer;
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.[2921]
[Pg 318]
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,[2922]
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,[2923]105
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat,[2924]
As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds,[2925]
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
And witch the world with noble horsemanship.110
Hot. No more, no more: worse than the sun in March,[2926]
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:115
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit[2927]
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh
And yet not ours. Come, let me taste my horse,[2928]
Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt120
Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales:
Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,[2929]
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,125
He cannot draw his power this fourteen days.[2930]
Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet.[2931]
Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound.
Hot. What may the king's whole battle reach unto?
Hot. Forty let it be:130
My father and Glendower being both away,
The powers of us may serve so great a day.[2932]
Come, let us take a muster speedily:[2933]
Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily.
Doug. Talk not of dying: I am out of fear135
Of death or death's hand for this one half-year. [Exeunt.[2934]
Scene II. A public road near Coventry.[2935]
Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.
Fal. Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry; fill me a
bottle of sack: our soldiers shall march through; we'll to
Sutton Co'fil' to-night.[2936]
Bard. Will you give me money, captain?
Fal. Lay out, lay out.5
Bard. This bottle makes an angel.
Fal. An if it do, take it for thy labour; and if it[2937]
make twenty, take them all; I'll answer the coinage. Bid
my lieutenant Peto meet me at town's end.[2938]
Bard. I will, captain: farewell. [Exit.10
Fal. If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused[2939]
gurnet. I have misused the king's press damnably. I have
got, in exchange of a hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred[2940]
and odd pounds. I press me none but good householders,[2941]
yeoman's sons; inquire me out contracted bachelors,[2941]15
such as had been asked twice on the banns; such a[2942]
[Pg 320]
commodity of warm slaves, as had as lieve hear the devil
as a drum; such as fear the report of a caliver worse than a[2943]
struck fowl or a hurt wild-duck. I pressed me none but[2944]
such toasts-and-butter, with hearts in their bellies no bigger20
than pins'-heads, and they have bought out their services;[2945]
and now my whole charge consists of ancients, corporals,
lieutenants, gentlemen of companies, slaves as ragged as
Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the glutton's dogs licked[2946]
his sores; and such as indeed were never soldiers, but25
discarded unjust serving-men, younger sons to younger
brothers, revolted tapsters and ostlers trade-fallen, the cankers[2947]
of a calm world and a long peace, ten times more[2948]
dishonourable ragged than an old faced ancient: and such have I, to[2949]
fill up the rooms of them that have bought out their[2950]30
services, that you would think that I had a hundred and fifty[2951]
tattered prodigals lately come from swine-keeping, from[2952]
eating draff and husks. A mad fellow met me on the way
and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and pressed
the dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows. I'll35
not march through Coventry with them, that's flat: nay,[2953]
and the villains march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had[2954]
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[2955]
half shirt is two napkins tacked together and thrown over40
the shoulders like an herald's coat without sleeves; and the
[Pg 321]
shirt, to say the truth, stolen from my host at Saint Alban's,[2956]
or the red-nose innkeeper of Daventry. But that's all one;[2957]
they'll find linen enough on every hedge.
Enter the Prince and Westmoreland.[2958]
Prince. How now, blown Jack! how now, quilt!45
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 were50
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.[2959]
Fal. Tut, never fear me: I am as vigilant as a cat to[2960]
steal cream.
Prince. I think, to steal cream indeed, for thy theft55
hath already made thee butter. But tell me, Jack, whose
fellows are these that come after?
Fal. Mine, Hal, mine.
Prince. I did never see such pitiful rascals.
Fal. Tut, tut; good enough to toss; food for powder,60
food for powder; they'll fill a pit as well as better: tush,[2961]
man, mortal men, mortal men.
West. Ay, but, Sir John, methinks they are exceeding
poor and bare, too beggarly.
Fal. Faith, for their poverty, I know not where they65
had that; and for their bareness, I am sure they never
learned that of me.
Prince. No, I'll be sworn; unless you call three fingers
on the ribs bare. But, sirrah, make haste: Percy is already[2962]
in the field.70
[Pg 322]
Fal. What, is the king encamped?
West. He is, Sir John: I fear we shall stay too long.[2963]
Fal. Well,[2964]
To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast[2965]
Fits a dull fighter and a keen guest.[2964] [Exeunt.75
Scene III. The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.[2966]
Enter Hotspur, Worcester, Douglas, and Vernon.
Hot. We'll fight with him to-night.
Wor. It may not be.
Doug. You give him then advantage.
Ver. Not a whit.
Hot. Why say you so? looks he not for supply?
Ver. So do we.
Hot. His is certain, ours is doubtful.[2967]
Wor. Good cousin, be advised; stir not to-night.5
Ver. Do not, my lord.
Doug. You do not counsel well:
You speak it out of fear and cold heart.[2968]
Ver. Do me no slander, Douglas: by my life,[2969]
And I dare well maintain it with my life,
If well-respected honour bid me on,[2970]10
I hold as little counsel with weak fear
As you, my lord, or any Scot that this day lives:[2971]
Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle[2972][2973]
Which of us fears.[2972]
[Pg 323]
Ver. Content.
Hot. To-night, say I.15
Ver. Come, come, it may not be. I wonder much,[2975]
Being men of such great leading as you are,[2975][2976]
That you foresee not what impediments
Drag back our expedition: certain horse[2977]
Of my cousin Vernon's are not yet come up:20
Your uncle Worcester's horse came but to-day;[2978]
And now their pride and mettle is asleep,
Their courage with hard labour tame and dull,
That not a horse is half the half of himself.[2979]
Hot. So are the horses of the enemy25
In general, journey-bated and brought low:
The better part of ours are full of rest.
Wor. The number of the king exceedeth ours:[2980]
For God'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,[2981]30
If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect.
Hot. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt; and would to God
You were of our determination!
Some of us love you well; and even those some
Envy your great deservings and good name,35
Because you are not of our quality,
But stand against us like an enemy.
Blunt. And God defend but still I should stand so,[2982]
So long as out of limit and true rule
You stand against anointed majesty.40
[Pg 324]
But to my charge. The king hath sent to know[2983]
The nature of your griefs, and whereupon
You conjure from the breast of civil peace[2984]
Such bold hostility, teaching his duteous land[2985]
Audacious cruelty. If that the king45
Have any way your good deserts forgot,[2986]
Which he confesseth to be manifold,
He bids you name your griefs; and with all speed[2987]
You shall have your desires with interest[2988]
And pardon absolute for yourself and these50
Herein misled by your suggestion.
Hot. The king is kind; and well we know the king[2989]
Knows at what time to promise, when to pay.
My father and my uncle and myself[2990]
Did give him that same royalty he wears;55
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;
And when he heard him swear and vow to God60
He came but to be Duke of Lancaster,[2991]
To sue his livery and beg his peace,[2992]
With tears of innocency and terms of zeal,[2993]
My father, in kind heart and pity moved,[2994]
Swore him assistance and perform'd it too.[2995]65
Now when the lords and barons of the realm
Perceived Northumberland did lean to him,
The more and less came in with cap and knee;[2996]
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages,
[Pg 325]
Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,[2997]70
Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths,
Gave him their heirs, as pages follow'd him[2998]
Even at the heels in golden multitudes.
He presently, as greatness knows itself,
Steps me a little higher than his vow75
Made to my father, while his blood was poor,
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurgh;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts and some strait decrees
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth,[2999]80
Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country's wrongs; and by this face,[3000]
This seeming brow of justice, did he win
The hearts of all that he did angle for;
Proceeded further; cut me off the heads85
Of all the favourites that the absent king
In deputation left behind him here,
When he was personal in the Irish war.
Blunt. Tut, I came not to hear this.[3001]
Hot. Then to the point.
In short time after, he deposed the king;90
Soon after that, deprived him of his life;
And in the neck of that, task'd the whole state;[3002]
To make that worse, suffer'd his kinsman March,
Who is, if every owner were well placed,[3003]
Indeed his king, to be engaged in Wales,[3004]95
There without ransom to lie forfeited;
Disgraced me in my happy victories,
Sought to entrap me by intelligence;
Rated mine uncle from the council-board;[3005]
[Pg 326]
In rage dismiss'd my father from the court;100
Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong,[3006]
And in conclusion drove us to seek out
This head of safety; and withal to pry
Into his title, the which we find[3007]
Too indirect for long continuance.105
Blunt. Shall I return this answer to the king?
Hot. Not so, Sir Walter: we'll withdraw awhile.[3008]
Go to the king; and let there be impawn'd
Some surety for a safe return again,[3009]
And in the morning early shall my uncle110
Bring him our purposes: and so farewell.[3010]
Blunt. I would you would accept of grace and love.
Hot. And may be so we shall.
Blunt. Pray God you do. [Exeunt.[3011]
Scene IV. York. The Archbishop's palace.
Enter the Archbishop of York and Sir Michael.[3012]
Arch. Hie, good Sir Michael; bear this sealed brief[3013]
With winged haste to the lord marshal;[3014]
This to my cousin Scroop, and all the rest
To whom they are directed. If you knew[3015]
How much they do import, you would make haste.[3015]5
[Pg 327]
Arch. Like enough you do.[3018]
To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day
Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Must bide the touch; for, sir, at Shrewsbury,10
As I am truly given to understand,
The king with mighty and quick-raised power
Meets with Lord Harry: and, I fear, Sir Michael,
What with the sickness of Northumberland,
Whose power was in the first proportion,15
And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence,[3019]
Who with them was a rated sinew too[3020]
And comes not in, o'er-ruled by prophecies,[3021]
I fear the power of Percy is too weak
To wage an instant trial with the king.20
Arch. No, Mortimer is not there.[3025]
Sir M. But there is Mordake, Vernon, Lord Harry Percy,[3026]
And there is my Lord of Worcester and a head[3027][3028]25
Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.[3027]
Arch. And so there is: but yet the king hath drawn
The special head of all the land together:
The Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster,
The noble Westmoreland and warlike Blunt;30
And many moe corrivals and dear men[3029]
[Pg 328]
Of estimation and command in arms.
Sir M. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well opposed.[3030]
Arch. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear;
And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed:35
For if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the king[3031]
Dismiss his power, he means to visit us,
For he hath heard of our confederacy,[3032]
And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him:
Therefore make haste. I must go write again40
To other friends; and so farewell, Sir Michael. [Exeunt.
ACT V.
Scene I. The King's camp near Shrewsbury.
Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster,
Earl of Westmoreland, Sir Walter Blunt, and Falstaff.[3033]
King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale[3034]
At his distemperature.
Prince. The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes,
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves[3035]5
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.
King. Then with the losers let it sympathise,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win.
[Pg 329]
[The trumpet sounds.
Enter Worcester and Vernon.[3036]
How now, my Lord of Worcester! 'tis not well
That you and I should meet upon such terms10
As now we meet. You have deceived our trust,
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:[3037]
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to it? will you again unknit15
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war?
And move in that obedient orb again[3038]
Where you did give a fair and natural light,
And be no more an exhaled meteor,
A prodigy of fear and a portent20
Of broached mischief to the unborn times?
Wor. Hear me, my liege:
For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for, I do protest,[3039]25
I have not sought the day of this dislike.
King. You have not sought it! how comes it, then?[3040]
Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.
Prince. Peace, chewet, peace![3041]
Wor. It pleased your majesty to turn your looks30
Of favour from myself and all our house;
And yet I must remember you, my lord,
We were the first and dearest of your friends.
For you my staff of office did I break
In Richard's time; and posted day and night35
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.
[Pg 330]
It was myself, my brother, and his son,
That brought you home, and boldly did outdare[3042]40
The dangers of the time. You swore to us,[3043]
And you did swear that oath at Doncaster,[3044]
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;[3045]
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right,
The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster:45
To this we swore our aid. But in short space[3046]
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head;
And such a flood of greatness fell on you,
What with our help, what with the absent king,
What with the injuries of a wanton time,[3047]50
The seeming sufferances that you had borne,
And the contrarious winds that held the king
So long in his unlucky Irish wars[3048]
That all in England did repute him dead:
And from this swarm of fair advantages[3049]55
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand;
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;[3050]
And being fed by us you used us so
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,[3051]60
Useth the sparrow; did oppress our nest;
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk
That even our love durst not come near your sight
For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing
We were enforced, for safety sake, to fly65
Out of your sight and raise this present head;
Whereby we stand opposed by such means[3052]
[Pg 331]
As you yourself have forged against yourself
By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,
And violation of all faith and troth70
Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.[3053]
King. These things indeed you have articulate,[3054]
Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches,
To face the garment of rebellion
With some fine colour that may please the eye75
Of fickle changelings and poor discontents,
Which gape and rub the elbow at the news
Of hurlyburly innovation:
And never yet did insurrection want
Such water-colours to impaint his cause;80
Nor moody beggars, starving for a time[3055]
Of pellmell havoc and confusion.
Prince. In both your armies there is many a soul[3056]
Shall pay full dearly for this encounter,[3057]
If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew,85
The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world
In praise of Henry Percy: by my hopes,[3058]
This present enterprise set off his head,[3059]
I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant or more valiant-young,[3060]90
More daring or more bold, is now alive
To grace this latter age with noble deeds.
For my part, I may speak it to my shame,
I have a truant been to chivalry;
And so I hear he doth account me too;95
Yet this before my father's majesty—
I am content that he shall take the odds
[Pg 332]
Of his great name and estimation,
And will, to save the blood on either side,
Try fortune with him in a single fight.[3061]100
King. And, Prince of Wales, so dare we venture thee,[3062]
Albeit considerations infinite
Do make against it. No, good Worcester, no,[3063]
We love our people well; even those we love
That are misled upon your cousin's part;105
And, will they take the offer of our grace,[3064]
Both he and they and you, yea, every man
Shall be my friend again and I'll be his:[3065]
So tell your cousin, and bring me word[3066]
What he will do: but if he will not yield,[3067]110
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us[3068]
And they shall do their office. So, be gone;
We will not now be troubled with reply:
We offer fair; take it advisedly.
[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon.[3069]
Prince. It will not be accepted, on my life:115
The Douglas and the Hotspur both together
Are confident against the world in arms.
King. Hence, therefore, every leader to his charge;
For, on their answer, will we set on them:
And God befriend us, as our cause is just!120
[Exeunt all but the Prince of Wales and Falstaff.[3070]
Prince. Nothing but a colossus can do thee that[3072]
friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell.[3072]
Fal. I would 'twere bed-time, Hal, and all well.[3072][3074]125
Prince. Why, thou owest God a death. [Exit.[3075]
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?[3076]130
how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no:[3077]
or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no
skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What[3078]
is in that word honour? what is that honour? air. A trim[3078]
reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o' Wednesday.[3079]135
Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. 'Tis insensible,[3080]
then. Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living?[3081]
no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I'll none
of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my
catechism. [Exit.140
[Pg 334]
Scene II. The Rebel Camp.
Enter Worcester and Vernon.[3082]
Wor. O, no, my nephew must not know, Sir Richard,
The liberal and kind offer of the king.[3083]
Ver. 'Twere best he did.
Wor. Then are we all undone.[3084]
It is not possible, it cannot be,
The king should keep his word in loving us;[3085]5
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this offence in other faults:[3086]
Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes;[3087]
For treason is but trusted like the fox,[3088]
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd and lock'd up,[3089]10
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or sad or merrily,[3090]
Interpretation will misquote our looks,
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall,
The better cherish'd, still the nearer death.[3091]15
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot;
It hath the excuse of youth and heat of blood;
And an adopted name of privilege,
A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen:
All his offences live upon my head20
And on his father's; we did train him on,
[Pg 335]
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,[3092]
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all.
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know,
In any case, the offer of the king.25
Enter Hotspur and Douglas.[3095]
Hot. My uncle is return'd:[3096]
Deliver up my Lord of Westmoreland.[3096]
Uncle, what news?[3096]30
Wor. The king will bid you battle presently.
Doug. Defy him by the Lord of Westmoreland.[3097]
Doug. Marry, and shall, and very willingly.[3099] [Exit.
Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the king.35
Wor. I told him gently of our grievances,[3101][3102]
Of his oath-breaking; which he mended thus,
By now forswearing that he is forsworn:[3103]
He calls us rebels, traitors; and will scourge40
With haughty arms this hateful name in us.
Re-enter Douglas.[3104]
Doug. Arm, gentlemen; to arms! for I have thrown
A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth,
And Westmoreland, that was engaged, did bear it;
[Pg 336]
Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on.45
Wor. The Prince of Wales stepp'd forth before the king,
And, nephew, challenged you to single fight.
Hot. O, would the quarrel lay upon our heads,
And that no man might draw short breath to-day
But I and Harry Monmouth! Tell me, tell me,50
How show'd his tasking? seem'd it in contempt?[3105]
Ver. No, by my soul; I never in my life
Did hear a challenge urged more modestly,
Unless a brother should a brother dare
To gentle exercise and proof of arms.55
He gave you all the duties of a man;
Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue,
Spoke your deservings like a chronicle,
Making you ever better than his praise
By still dispraising praise valued with you:[3106]60
And, which became him like a prince indeed,
He made a blushing cital of himself;
And chid his truant youth with such a grace[3107]
As if he master'd there a double spirit[3108]
Of teaching and of learning instantly.65
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 enamoured70
On his follies: never did I hear[3109]
Of any prince so wild a libertine.[3110]
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.75
[Pg 337]
Arm, arm with speed: and, fellows, soldiers, friends,[3111]
Better consider what you have to do
Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,[3112]
Can lift your blood up with persuasion.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord, here are letters for you.[3113]80
Hot. I cannot read them now.[3113]
O gentlemen, the time of life is short!
To spend that shortness basely were too long,[3114]
If life did ride upon a dial's point,[3115]
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.[3116]85
An if we live, we live to tread on kings;[3117]
If die, brave death, when princes die with us!
Now, for our consciences, the arms are fair,[3118]
When the intent of bearing them is just.
Enter another Messenger.[3119]
Mess. My Lord, prepare; the king comes on apace.90
Hot. I thank him, that he cuts me from my tale,
For I profess not talking; only this—
Let each man do his best: and here draw I[3120][3121]
A sword, whose temper I intend to stain[3121][3122]
With the best blood that I can meet withal95
In the adventure of this perilous day.
Now, Esperance! Percy! and set on.[3123]
[Pg 338]
Sound all the lofty instruments of war,
And by that music let us all embrace;
For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall[3124]100
A second time do such a courtesy.
[The trumpets sound. They embrace, and exeunt.[3125]
Scene III. Plain between the camps.[3126]
The King enters with his power. Alarum to the battle. Then
enter Douglas and Sir Walter Blunt.
Doug. Know then, my name is Douglas;
And I do haunt thee in the battle thus
Because some tell me that thou art a king.[3131]5
Blunt. They tell thee true.
Doug. The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath bought[3132]
Thy likeness, for instead of thee, King Harry,
This sword hath ended him: so shall it thee,
Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner.[3133]10
[Pg 339]
Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot;[3134]
And thou shalt find a king that will revenge
Lord Stafford's death. [They fight. Douglas kills Blunt.
Enter Hotspur.[3135]
Hot. O Douglas, hadst thou fought at Holmedon thus,[3136]
I never had triumph'd upon a Scot.[3137]15
Doug. All's done, all's won; here breathless lies the king.
Hot. Where?
Doug. Here.
Hot. This, Douglas? no: I know this face full well:[3138]
A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt;20
Semblably furnish'd like the king himself.
Doug. A fool go with thy soul, whither it goes![3139]
A borrowed title hast thou bought too dear:[3140]
Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king?
Hot. The king hath many marching in his coats.[3141]25
Doug. Now, by my sword, I will kill all his coats;
I'll murder all his wardrobe, piece by piece,
Until I meet the king.
Hot. Up, and away!
Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day. [Exeunt.
Alarum. Enter Falstaff, solus.[3142]
Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at London, I fear30
the shot here; here's no scoring but upon the pate. Soft!
who are you? Sir Walter Blunt: there's honour for you![3143]
[Pg 340]
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[3144]
weight than mine own bowels. I have led my ragamuffins[3145]35
where they are peppered: there's not three of my hundred[3146][3147]
and fifty left alive; and they are for the town's end, to beg[3147][3148]
during life. But who comes here?
Enter the Prince.
Prince. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend me thy sword:[3149]
Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff[3150]40
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are yet unrevenged: I prithee, lend me thy sword.[3151]
Fal. O Hal, I prithee, give me leave to breathe awhile.
Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done
this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure.[3152]45
Prince. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. I[3153]
prithee, lend me thy sword.[3154]
Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou[3155]
get'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt.[3156]
Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's that will sack a[3158]
city.
[The Prince draws it out, and finds it to be
a bottle of sack.[3159]
Prince. What, is it a time to jest and dally now?
[He throws the bottle at him. Exit.[3160]
Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. If he do[3161]
come in my way, so: if he do not, if I come in his willingly,[3162]55
let him make a carbonado of me. I like not such grinning
honour as Sir Walter hath: give me life: which if I can
save, so; if not, honour comes unlooked for, and there's an
end. [Exit.
Scene IV. Another part of the field.
Alarum. Excursions. Enter the King, the Prince, Lord John of
Lancaster, and Earl of Westmoreland.[3163]
King. I prithee,[3164]
Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.[3164][3165]
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.[3164]
Lan. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
Prince. I beseech your majesty, make up,[3166]5
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.[3167]
West. Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent.[3169]
Prince. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help:10
And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive[3170]
The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,
Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on,[3171]
And rebels' arms triumph in massacres!
Lan. We breathe too long: come, cousin Westmoreland,15
Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come.
[Exeunt Prince John and Westmoreland.[3172]
Prince. By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster;[3170]
I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:
Before, I loved thee as a brother, John;
But now, I do respect thee as my soul.20
King. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point
With lustier maintenance than I did look for
Of such an ungrown warrior.
Prince. O, this boy[3173]
Lends mettle to us all![3173] [Exit.
Enter Douglas.[3174]
Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads:25
I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
That wear those colours on them: what art thou,
That counterfeit'st the person of a king?
K. Hen. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart
So many of his shadows thou hast met30
And not the very king. I have two boys
Seek Percy and thyself about the field:
But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee: so, defend thyself.[3175]
[Pg 343]
Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit;35
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king:
But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be,
And thus I win thee.
[They fight; the King being in
danger, re-enter Prince of Wales.[3176]
Prince. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like[3177]
Never to hold it up again! the spirits40
Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:[3178]
It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee;[3179]
Who never promiseth but he means to pay.
[They fight: Douglas flies.
Cheerly, my lord: how fares your grace?
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent,45
And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight.
King. Stay, and breathe awhile:[3180]
Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion,[3181]
And show'd thou makest some tender of my life,
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.50
Prince. O God! they did me too much injury[3182]
That ever said I hearken'd for your death.[3183]
If it were so, I might have let alone
The insulting hand of Douglas over you,
Which would have been as speedy in your end55
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And saved the treacherous labour of your son.
King. Make up to Clifton: I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey.[3184] [Exit.
[Pg 344]
Enter Hotspur.
Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.[3185]
Prince. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.[3186]60
Hot. My name is Harry Percy.
Prince. Why, then I see[3187]
A very valiant rebel of the name.[3187][3188]
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;65
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[3189]
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!70
Prince. I'll make it greater ere I part from thee;
And all the budding honours on thy crest[3190]
I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities. [They fight.[3191]
Enter Falstaff.
Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal! Nay, you shall find75
no boy's play here, I can tell you.
Re-enter Douglas; he fights with Falstaff, who falls down as if he
were dead, and exit Douglas. Hotspur is wounded, and falls.[3192]
Hot. O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth![3193]
I better brook the loss of brittle life[3194]
Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh:[3195]80
[Pg 345]
But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;[3196]
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death[3197]
Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust,85
And food for— [Dies.
Prince. For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart![3198]
Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound;90
But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough: this earth that bears thee dead[3199]
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.
If thou wert sensible of courtesy,
I should not make so dear a show of zeal:[3200]95
But let my favours hide thy mangled face;[3201]
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.[3202]
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,[3203]100
But not remember'd in thy epitaph!
[He spieth Falstaff on the ground.[3204]
What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spared a better man:
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,105
If I were much in love with vanity!
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,[3205]
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.
[Pg 346]
Embowell'd will I see thee by and by:
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. [Exit.110
Fal. [Rising up] Embowelled! if thou embowel me[3206]
to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too
to-morrow. 'Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot[3207]
termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I[3208]
lie, I am no counterfeit: to die, is to be a counterfeit; for[3208]115
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[3209]120
afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead: how, if[3210]
he should counterfeit too, and rise? by my faith, I am[3211]
afraid he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore
I'll make him sure; yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why[3212]
may not he rise as well as I? Nothing confutes me but125
eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah [stabbing[3213]
him], with a new wound in your thigh, come you along[3214]
with me. [Takes up Hotspur on his back.
Re-enter the Prince of Wales and Lord John of Lancaster.[3215]
Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd[3216]
Thy maiden sword.
Lan. But, soft! whom have we here?[3217]130
Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
Prince. I did; I saw him dead,[3218]
Breathless and bleeding on the ground. Art thou alive?[3218][3219]
[Pg 347]
Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?[3218]
I prithee, speak; we will not trust our eyes[3218]135
Without our ears: thou art not what thou seem'st.[3218]
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[3220]
[throwing the body down]: if your father will do me any[3221]
honour, so; if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I[3222]140
look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you.
Prince. Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead.[3223]
Fal. Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given[3224]
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 long145
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[3225]
wound in the thigh: if the man were alive, and would deny
it, 'zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.[3226]150
Lan. This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.[3227]
Prince. This is the strangest fellow, brother John.
Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back:
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.155
[A retreat is sounded.[3228]
The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours.[3229]
Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field,
To see what friends are living, who are dead.[3230]
[Exeunt Prince of Wales and Lancaster.
Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards
[Pg 348]
me, God reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow[3231]160
less; for I'll purge, and leave sack, and live cleanly as a
nobleman should do. [Exit.[3232]
Scene V. Another part of the field.
The trumpets sound. Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord
John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, with Worcester
and Vernon prisoners.[3233]
King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.[3234]
Ill-spirited Worcester! did not we send grace,[3235]
Pardon and terms of love to all of you?
And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenour of thy kinsman's trust?5
Three knights upon our party slain to-day,
A noble earl and many a creature else
Had been alive this hour,[3236]
If like a Christian thou hadst truly borne
Betwixt our armies true intelligence.10
Wor. What I have done my safety urged me to;
And I embrace this fortune patiently,
Since not to be avoided it falls on me.[3237]
King. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon too:[3238]
Other offenders we will pause upon.15
[Pg 349]
[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon, guarded.[3239]
How goes the field?
Prince. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he saw[3240]
The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him,[3241]
The noble Percy slain, and all his men
Upon the foot of fear, fled with the rest;20
And falling from a hill, he was so bruised
That the pursuers took him. At my tent
The Douglas is; and I beseech your grace
I may dispose of him.
King. With all my heart.
Prince. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you[3242]25
This honourable bounty shall belong:[3242]
Go to the Douglas, and deliver him
Up to his pleasure, ransomless and free:
His valour shown upon our crests to-day[3243]
Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds[3243][3244]30
Even in the bosom of our adversaries.
Lan. I thank your grace for this high courtesy,[3245]
Which I shall give away immediately.[3245][3246]
King. Then this remains, that we divide our power.
You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland35
Towards York shall bend you with your dearest speed,[3247]
To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop,[3248]
Who, as we hear, are busily in arms:
Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales,[3249]
To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March.40
Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway,[3250]
[Pg 350]
Meeting the check of such another day:
And since this business so fair is done,[3251]
Let us not leave till all our own be won. [Exeunt.
NOTES.
A list of Dramatis Personæ in MS. of an early time is prefixed to
Capell's copy of the sixth Quarto.
'Falstaff' is spelt 'Falstaffe' or 'Falstalffe' in the Quartos, but
consistently 'Falstaffe' in the first Folio.
'Poins' is spelt 'Poines' or 'Poynes' in the Quartos, and occasionally,
in the Folio, 'Pointz,' as it is in The Merry Wives of
Windsor, III. 2. 63.
'Bardolph,' spelt thus, or 'Bardolfe,' in the Folio, is 'Bardoll' or
'Bardol' in the Quartos. We retain the spelling which is most
familiar in names so well known.
I. 1. 28. Mr Staunton says that 'now is twelve months old' is the
reading of the first Quarto. Capell's copy has 'now is twelue month
old.'
I. 1. 62. We take this opportunity of reminding our readers that
we have not recorded minute variations of spelling except where they
seemed to have importance as helping to determine the text. We
give as a general rule the spelling of the earliest copy.
I. 1. 73. Capell says: "Too hasty a perusal of a passage in Holinshed
betray'd Shakespeare into a mistake in this place. The 'earl of[Pg 352]
Fife' was not 'son to Douglas' but to a duke of Albany, as the same
chronicler tells us soon after; and in this passage too, was it rightly
pointed, and a little attended to: for that duke was then governour;
i.e. of Scotland; and the word governour should have a comma after
it, or (rather) a semi-colon." He goes on to say that the mistake is
repeated I. 3. 261, and proposes to give historical truth to both these
passages by reading:
(1) 'Prisoners to Hotspur are
Mordake the earl of Fife; and he himself
The beaten Douglas; and with him, &c.'
(2) 'And make the regent's son your only mean
For powers in Scotland.'
That is (says Capell) by delivering him, as it appears they did by
some words of the Poet himself, p. 85 (i.e. IV. 4. 23), where the earl of
Fife is spoken of as making a part of Hotspur's army at Shrewsbury.
I. 1. 75-77. The first and second Quartos read:
'A gallant prize? Ha coosen, is it not? In faith it is.
West. A conquest for a Prince to boast of,'
leaving a blank between 'not?' and 'In faith.' The subsequent
Quartos and the Folios have the same reading without the blank.
Pope reads:
'A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?
West. In faith, a conquest for a prince to boast of.'
Rann has, for the second line,
'West. 'Faith 'tis a conquest for a prince to boast of,'
a reading which Malone by mistake assigns to Pope.
Malone himself gives:
'West. In faith, it is a conquest for a prince
To boast of.'
Capell reads:
'West. It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.'
Dr Nicholson proposes:
'A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not,
In faith?
West. A conquest for a prince to boast of.'
For, he says, 'In faith' sounds too familiar to be addressed by a subject
to his king.
[Pg 353]
I. 2. 56. "Here," says Mr Dyce, "all the old copies, I believe,
have '—when thou art a king' &c. but erroneously." Four of the
Quartos, the first, second, seventh and eighth, have 'when thou art
king,' which is unquestionably the right reading.
I. 2. 97. The first and second Quartos read as in the text. The
third and following Quartos and the Folios print Poines in italics, as
if the words 'Now shall we know ... true man' were spoken by him.
I. 2. 148. Theobald was the first to suggest that Harvey and Rossill
were the names of the actors who performed the parts of Peto and
Bardolph. But in II. 4. 165, 167, 171 for 'Ross.' which is found in the
Quartos the Folios substitute not 'Bard.' but 'Gad.' i.e. 'Gadshill.'
I. 2. 175. Steevens claimed as his own conjecture the reading 'to-night,'
which Capell had adopted in his text. Mr Knight punctuates,
'and meet me. To-morrow night, &c.'
II. I. 6, 11. Either the article or the pronoun was intentionally
omitted in these passages, in order to give rusticity to the carriers'
language. The Folios supply the article in the former passage,
but leave the latter untouched.
II. I. 72. We have recorded Jackson's conjecture in this passage
as a curiosity. Its full value can only be appreciated by reading his[Pg 354]
own explanation. In many other cases the emendations of Becket and
Jackson are quoted as amusing instances of the licence which they
permitted themselves.
II. 2. 46, 47. The first and second Quartos here read 'Bardoll,
what newes?' as part of Poins's speech, and in the same line with it.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth have, 'Bardol what newes?' the
seventh and eighth, Bardol, what newes?' Bardol being in italics.
In the Folios, 'Bardolfe, what newes?' is put in a separate line, and
this arrangement appears to have suggested Johnson's conjecture. We
have omitted, as unnecessary, many of the stage directions which
editors have introduced into this scene, because the whole affair takes
place in the dark.
II. 4. 245. Capell's misprint, 'how plain a tale,' which he corrected
in MS. as well as in his notes, was followed by Malone and other
editors.
II. 4. 481. Johnson was the first to suggest that Poins and not
Peto should remain with the Prince. 'I cannot but suspect,' he says,
'that for Peto we should read Poins: what had Peto done that his
place should be honourable, or that he should be trusted with the plot
against Falstaff? Poins has the prince's confidence, and is a man of
courage. This alteration clears the whole difficulty, they all retired
but Poins, who, with the prince, having only robbed the robbers, had
no need to conceal himself from the travellers.' Johnson's last-mentioned
reason for the alteration has less weight when we consider
that they all wore vizards. In favour of his conjecture we find that
the Dering MS. has 'Poynes' for 'Peto' in line 523, and in the stage
directions to lines 504, 508, 524. On the other hand, the formal
'Good morrow, good my lord' is appropriate to Peto rather than to
Poins, who was on much more familiar terms with the prince, and
rarely addresses him in this play except as 'Hal.' We have therefore
left the old text undisturbed.
[Pg 355]
III. 2. 174-176. The first Quarto, whose arrangement is followed
in all the other Quartos, reads:
'On thursday we our selues will march. Our meeting
Is Bridgenorth, and Harry, you shall march
Through Glocestershire, by which account ...'
The first Folio has:
'On Thursday, wee our selues will march.
Our meeting is Bridgenorth: and Harry, you shall march
Through Glocestershire: by which account....'
Pope altered the passage thus:
'On Thursday we ourselves will march: our meeting
Is at Bridgenorth; and Harry, you shall march
Through Glo'stershire: by which, some twelve days hence
Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet.'
Capell's arrangement, taking in the previous line, is as follows:
'On Wednesday next, son Harry, you shall set
Forward; on thursday, we ourselves will march.
Our meeting is Bridgnorth and, Harry, you
Shall march through Glocestershire; by which account....'
III. 3. 81. Theobald was the first to insert the words 'and Peto'
in the stage directions. They are omitted in the Quartos and Folios,
and Steevens following Johnson's conjecture, changed them to 'and
Pointz.' This alteration is supported by the reading of the Dering
MS. in line 186, 'Poynes' for 'Peto.' But 'Peto' is found in the text
in III. 3. 186. It is true, as Johnson points out, that Peto is afterwards
(IV. 2. 9) mentioned as Falstaff's lieutenant, but this may be the
honourable place which the prince had promised him (II. 4. 519).
III. 3. 187. Steevens adopted, without acknowledgement, Capell's
arrangement:
'Jack,
Meet me to-morrow in the Temple hall.'
[Pg 356]
IV. 1. 54. It is not improbable that a line may have been lost
after reversion.
IV. 1. 99. We leave this obscure passage as it stands in the old
copies. Possibly, as Steevens suggested, a line has dropped out after
wind. The phrase 'wing the wind' seems to apply to ostriches (for
such is unquestionably the meaning of 'estridges') less than to any
other birds. Mr Dyce quotes a passage from Claudian (In Eutropium,
II. 310-313) to justify it:
'Vasta velut Libyæ venantum vocibus ales
Cum premitur, calidas cursu transmittit arenas,
Inque modum veli sinuatis flamine pennis
Pulverulenta volat.'
But this means that the bird spreads its wings like a sail bellying with
the wind—a different thing from 'winging the wind.'
Malone, agreeing with Steevens that a line might have been lost,
suggested the following:
'All plum'd like estridges, that with the wind
Run on, in gallant trim they now advance:
Bated like eagles, &c.'
IV. 4. 22. We leave these lines as they are in the Quartos and
Folios. Pope read the passage, perhaps rightly, as prose. Steevens
smoothed the lines thus:
'Gent. Why, good my lord, you need not fear; there's Douglas,
And Mortimer.
Arch. No, Mortimer's not there.'
V. 1. We have followed the Quartos, Folios, and all editors till
Capell's time, in leaving the 'Earl of Westmoreland' among the persons
entering. He does not speak, indeed, but it might be intended
that he should be present as a mute person for the nonce. On the
same principle we have left 'Lord John of Lancaster' in the stage
direction of I. 1.
[Pg 357]
V. 2. 72. Mr Collier reads 'wild o' liberty,' observing in a note
that the three oldest Quartos have this reading. The true reading of
these Quartos, and the fourth, is what we have given in the foot-note,
'wild a libertie.' Mr Grant White retains it in his text, interpreting
'never did I hear so wild a liberty reported of any prince.' Pope also
adopted this reading without any note of explanation. Theobald
restored what he called 'the reading of the old copies' and punctuated
thus: 'Of any prince, so wild, at liberty.'
V. 2. 101. The stage direction of the first Quarto is literally as follows:
Here they embrace the trumpets sound, the King enters with his
power, alarme to the battel, then enter Douglas, and Sir Walter Blunt.
The Folios have substantially the same, omitting the word 'Here.'
They indicate no change of scene in this place. The Quartos do not,
either here or elsewhere, mark any division into act or scene.
V. 4. 136, sqq. Pope reads thus:
'I did, I saw him dead
And breathless on the ground: art thou alive,
Or is it Fancy plays upon our eye-sight?
I pr'ythee speak, we will not trust our eyes
Without our ears: thou art not what thou seem'st.'
Capell thus:
'I did; I saw him dead, breathless and bleeding
Upon the ground.—
Art thou alive? or is it fantasy,
That plays upon our eye-sight? I pr'ythee, speak;
We will not trust our eyes without our ears:
Thou art not what thou seem'st.'
V. 5. 30. Malone reads 'shewn' on the authority of the Quarto of
1598. But Capell's copy of that edition has 'taught,' and this is the
reading of Malone's own copy, now in the Bodleian Library.
[Pg 358]
[Pg 359]
THE SECOND PART OF
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
[Pg 360]
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[J].
| Rumour, the Presenter. |
| King Henry the Fourth. |
| Henry, Prince of Wales, afterwards King Henry V., |
his sons. |
| Thomas, Duke of Clarence, |
| Prince John of Lancaster, |
| Prince Humphrey of Gloucester, |
| Earl of Warwick. |
| Earl of Westmoreland. |
| Earl of Surrey. |
| Gower. |
| Harcourt. |
| Blunt. |
| Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench. |
| A Servant of the Chief-Justice. |
| Earl of Northumberland. |
| Scroop, Archbishop of York. |
| Lord Mowbray. |
| Lord Hastings. |
| Lord Bardolph. |
| Sir John Colville.. |
| Travers and Morton, retainers of Northumberland. |
| Sir John Falstaff. |
| His Page. |
| Bardolph. |
| Pistol. |
| Poins. |
| Peto. |
| Shallow, |
country justices. |
| Silence, |
| Davy, Servant to Shallow. |
| Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, and Bullcalf, recruits. |
| Fang and Snare, sheriff's officers. |
| Lady Northumberland. |
| Lady Percy. |
| Mistress Quickly, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap. |
| Doll Tearsheet. |
| Lords and Attendants; Porter[K], Drawers, Beadles, Grooms, &c. |
| A Dancer, speaker of the epilogue. |
Scene: England.
THE SECOND PART OF
KING HENRY IV.
INDUCTION.
Warkworth. Before the castle.
Enter Rumour, painted full of tongues.[3252]
Rum. Open your ears; for which of you will stop
The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth:5
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,[3253]
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.[3254]
I speak of peace, while covert enmity
Under the smile of safety wounds the world:10
And who but Rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful musters and prepared defence,
Whiles the big year, swoln with some other grief,[3255]
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe15
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,[3256]
[Pg 362]
And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wavering multitude,[3257]
Can play upon it. But what need I thus20
My well-known body to anatomize[3258]
Among my household? Why is Rumour here?
I run before King Harry's victory;
Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,25
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels' blood. But what mean I
To speak so true at first? my office is[3259]
To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword,30
And that the king before the Douglas' rage
Stoop'd his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns[3260]
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury[3261]
And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,[3262]35
Where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,[3263]
Lies crafty-sick: the posts come tiring on,[3264]
And not a man of them brings other news
Than they have learn'd of me: from Rumour's tongues[3265]
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs.[3266]40
[Exit.
ACT I.
Scene I. The same.
Enter Lord Bardolph.[3267]
L. Bard. Who keeps the gate here, ho?[3268]
The Porter opens the gate.
Where is the earl?
Port. What shall I say you are?
L. Bard. Tell thou the earl
That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here.
Port. His lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard:
Please it your honour, knock but at the gate,5
And he himself will answer.
Enter Northumberland.
L. Bard. Here comes the earl.
[Exit Porter.[3269]
North. What news, Lord Bardolph? every minute now
Should be the father of some stratagem:
The times are wild; contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose10
And bears down all before him.
L. Bard. Noble earl,
I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.
L. Bard. As good as heart can wish:
The king is almost wounded to the death;
And, in the fortune of my lord your son,15
Prince Harry slain outright; and both the Blunts
Kill'd by the hand of Douglas; young Prince John
And Westmoreland and Stafford fled the field;
And Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk Sir John,
Is prisoner to your son: O, such a day,20
So fought, so follow'd and so fairly won.
Came not till now to dignify the times,
Since Cæsar's fortunes!
North. How is this derived?
Saw you the field? came you from Shrewsbury?
L. Bard. I spake with one, my lord, that came from thence,[3271]25
A gentleman well bred and of good name,
That freely render'd me these news for true.
North. Here comes my servant Travers, whom I sent[3272]
On Tuesday last to listen after news.
Enter Travers.[3273]
L. Bard. My lord, I over-rode him on the way;30
And he is furnish'd with no certainties
More than he haply may retail from me.[3274]
North. Now, Travers, what good tidings comes with you?[3275]
Tra. My lord, Sir John Umfrevile turn'd me back[3276]
With joyful tidings; and, being better horsed,35
Out-rode me. After him came spurring hard[3277]
A gentleman, almost forspent with speed,
That stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse.
He ask'd the way to Chester; and of him
I did demand what news from Shrewsbury:40
[Pg 365]
He told me that rebellion had bad luck[3278]
And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold.
With that, he gave his able horse the head,
And bending forward struck his armed heels[3279]
Against the panting sides of his poor jade45
Up to the rowel-head, and starting so
He seem'd in running to devour the way,
Staying no longer question.
North. Ha! Again:
Said he young Harry Percy's spur was cold?
Of Hotspur Coldspur? that rebellion[3280]50
Had met ill luck?[3280]
L. Bard. My lord, I'll tell you what;[3281]
If my young lord your son have not the day,
Upon mine honour, for a silken point
I'll give my barony: never talk of it.[3282]
North. Why should that gentleman that rode by Travers[3283]55
Give then such instances of loss?
L. Bard. Who, he?
He was some hilding fellow that had stolen[3284]
The horse he rode on, and, upon my life,
Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news.[3285]
Enter Morton.
North. Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf,[3286]60
Foretells the nature of a tragic volume:
So looks the strond whereon the imperious flood[3287]
Hath left a witness'd usurpation.
[Pg 366]
Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury?
Mor. I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord;65
Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask
To fright our party.
North. How doth my son and brother?
Thou tremblest; and the whiteness in thy cheek
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.
Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,70
So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,[3288]
Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him half his Troy was burnt;
But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue,[3289]
And I my Percy's death ere thou report'st it.75
This thou wouldst say, 'Your son did thus and thus;
Your brother thus: so fought the noble Douglas:'
Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds:
But in the end, to stop my ear indeed,[3290]
Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,80
Ending with 'Brother, son, and all are dead.'
Mor. Douglas is living, and your brother, yet;[3291]
But, for my lord your son,—
North. Why, he is dead.[3292]
See what a ready tongue suspicion hath!
He that but fears the thing he would not know85
Hath by instinct knowledge from others' eyes[3293]
That what he fear'd is chanced. Yet speak, Morton;[3294]
Tell thou an earl his divination lies,[3295]
And I will take it as a sweet disgrace,
And make thee rich for doing me such wrong.90
Mor. You are too great to be by me gainsaid:
Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain.
[Pg 367]
North. Yet, for all this, say not that Percy's dead.[3296]
I see a strange confession in thine eye:[3296]
Thou shakest thy head, and hold'st it fear or sin[3296]95
To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so;[3296][3297]
The tongue offends not that reports his death:[3296]
And he doth sin that doth belie the dead;[3296]
Not he which says the dead is not alive.[3296]
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news[3296]100
Hath but a losing office, and his tongue[3296]
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,[3296]
Remember'd tolling a departing friend.[3296][3298]
L. Bard. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead.
Mor. I am sorry I should force you to believe[3299]105
That which I would to God I had not seen;[3300]
But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,
Rendering faint quittance, wearied and outbreathed,
To Harry Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat down[3301]
The never-daunted Percy to the earth,110
From whence with life he never more sprung up.
In few, his death, whose spirit lent a fire
Even to the dullest peasant in his camp,
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away
From the best-temper'd courage in his troops;115
For from his metal was his party steel'd;[3302]
Which once in him abated, all the rest[3303]
Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead:
And as the thing that's heavy in itself,
Upon enforcement flies with greatest speed,120
So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss,
Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear
That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim[3304]
Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety,
[Pg 368]
Fly from the field. Then was that noble Worcester[3305]125
Too soon ta'en prisoner; and that furious Scot,[3306]
The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword
Had three times slain the appearance of the king,
'Gan vail his stomach and did grace the shame
Of those that turn'd their backs, and in his flight,130
Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all
Is that the king hath won, and hath sent out
A speedy power to encounter you, my lord,
Under the conduct of young Lancaster
And Westmoreland. This is the news at full.135
North. For this I shall have time enough to mourn.
In poison there is physic; and these news,[3307]
Having been well, that would have made me sick,[3308]
Being sick, have in some measure made me well:[3309]
And as the wretch, whose fever-weaken'd joints,140
Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life,[3310]
Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire
Out of his keeper's arms, even so my limbs,
Weaken'd with grief, being now enraged with grief,[3311]
Are thrice themselves. Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch![3312]145
A scaly gauntlet now with joints of steel
Must glove this hand: and hence, thou sickly quoif!
Thou art a guard too wanton for the head
Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit.[3313]
Now bind my brows with iron; and approach150
The ragged'st hour that time and spite dare bring[3314]
To frown upon the enraged Northumberland!
Let heaven kiss earth! now let not Nature's hand
Keep the wild flood confined! let order die!
And let this world no longer be a stage[3315]155
To feed contention in a lingering act;
[Pg 369]
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,
And darkness be the burier of the dead!160
Tra. This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.[3316]
L. Bard. Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour.
Mor. The lives of all your loving complices
Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er[3317]
To stormy passion, must perforce decay.165
You cast the event of war, my noble lord,[3318]
And summ'd the account of chance, before you said[3318]
'Let us make head.' It was your presurmise,[3318]
That, in the dole of blows, your son might drop:[3318]
You knew he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge,[3318]170
More likely to fall in than to get o'er;[3318]
You were advised his flesh was capable[3318]
Of wounds and scars and that his forward spirit[3318]
Would lift him where most trade of danger ranged:[3318]
Yet did you say 'Go forth;' and none of this,[3318]175
Though strongly apprehended, could restrain[3318]
The stiff-borne action: what hath then befallen,[3318]
Or what hath this bold enterprise brought forth,[3318][3319]
More than that being which was like to be?[3318]
L. Bard. We all that are engaged to this loss180
Knew that we ventured on such dangerous seas
That if we wrought out life 'twas ten to one;[3320]
And yet we ventured, for the gain proposed[3321]
Choked the respect of likely peril fear'd;
And since we are o'erset, venture again.185
Come, we will all put forth, body and goods.[3322]
[Pg 370]
Mor. 'Tis more than time: and, my most noble lord,
I hear for certain, and do speak the truth,[3323]
The gentle Archbishop of York is up[3324]
With well-appointed powers: he is a man[3324]190
Who with a double surety binds his followers.[3324]
My lord your son had only but the corpse,[3324][3325]
But shadows and the shows of men, to fight;[3324]
For that same word, rebellion, did divide[3324]
The action of their bodies from their souls;[3324]195
And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd,[3324]
As men drink potions, that their weapons only[3324]
Seem'd on our side; but, for their spirits and souls,[3324]
This word, rebellion, it had froze them up,[3324]
As fish are in a pond. But now the bishop[3324][3326]200
Turns insurrection to religion:[3324]
Supposed sincere and holy in his thoughts,[3324]
He's followed both with body and with mind;[3324]
And doth enlarge his rising with the blood[3324][3327]
Of fair King Richard, scraped from Pomfret stones;[3324]205
Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause;[3324]
Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land,[3324]
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke;[3324]
And more and less do flock to follow him.[3324]
North. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth,210
This present grief had wiped it from my mind.
Go in with me; and counsel every man
The aptest way for safety and revenge:
Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed:
Never so few, and never yet more need.[3328] [Exeunt.215
[Pg 371]
Scene II. London. A street.
Enter Falstaff, with his Page bearing his sword and
buckler.[3329]
Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my
water?
Page. He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy[3330]
water; but, for the party that owed it, he might have more[3331]
diseases than he knew for.[3332]5
Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me: the
brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to[3333]
invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent[3334]
or is invented on me: I am not only witty in myself, but
the cause that wit is in other men. I do here walk before10
thee like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one.[3335]
If the prince put thee into my service for any other reason
than to set me off, why then I have no judgement. Thou
whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap
than to wait at my heels. I was never manned with an[3336]15
agate till now: but I will inset you neither in gold nor silver,[3337]
but in vile apparel, and send you back again to your master,[3338]
for a jewel,—the juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin[3338]
is not yet fledged. I will sooner have a beard grow in the[3339]
palm of my hand than he shall get one on his cheek; and[3340]20
yet he will not stick to say his face is a face-royal: God[3341]
may finish it when he will, 'tis not a hair amiss yet: he may[3342]
keep it still at a face-royal, for a barber shall never earn[3343]
[Pg 372]
sixpence out of it; and yet he'll be crowing as if he had[3344]
writ man ever since his father was a bachelor. He may25
keep his own grace, but he's almost out of mine, I can[3345]
assure him. What said Master Dombledon about the satin[3346]
for my short cloak and my slops?[3347]
Page. He said, sir, you should procure him better
assurance than Bardolph: he would not take his band[3348]30
and yours; he liked not the security.
Fal. Let him be damned, like the glutton! pray God[3349]
his tongue be hotter! A whoreson Achitophel! a rascally[3350]
yea-forsooth knave! to bear a gentleman in hand, and then
stand upon security! The whoreson smooth-pates do now[3351]35
wear nothing but high shoes, and bunches of keys at their
girdles; and if a man is through with them in honest taking[3352]
up, then they must stand upon security. I had as lief they[3353]
would put ratsbane in my mouth as offer to stop it with
security. I looked a' should have sent me two and twenty[3354]40
yards of satin, as I am a true knight, and he sends me[3355]
security. Well, he may sleep in security; for he hath the
horn of abundance, and the lightness of his wife shines
through it: and yet cannot he see, though he have his own
lanthorn to light him. Where's Bardolph?[3356]45
Page. He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship[3357]
a horse.
Fal. I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse
in Smithfield: an I could get me but a wife in the stews, I[3358]
were manned, horsed, and wived.50
[Pg 373]
Enter the Lord Chief Justice and Servant.[3359]
Page. Sir, here comes the nobleman that committed[3360]
the prince for striking him about Bardolph.
Fal. Wait close; I will not see him.[3361]
Ch. Just. What's he that goes there?
Serv. Falstaff, an't please your lordship.[3362]55
Ch. Just. He that was in question for the robbery?
Serv. He, my lord: but he hath since done good service
at Shrewsbury; and, as I hear, is now going with some
charge to the Lord John of Lancaster.
Ch. Just. What, to York? Call him back again.60
Serv. Sir John Falstaff!
Fal. Boy, tell him I am deaf.
Page. You must speak louder; my master is deaf.
Ch. Just. I am sure he is, to the hearing of any thing
good. Go, pluck him by the elbow; I must speak with him.65
Serv. Sir John!
Fal. What! a young knave, and begging! Is there not[3363]
wars? is there not employment? doth not the king lack[3364]
subjects? do not the rebels need soldiers? Though it be a[3365]
shame to be on any side but one, it is worse shame to beg70
than to be on the worst side, were it worse than the name
of rebellion can tell how to make it.
Serv. You mistake me, sir.
Fal. Why, sir, did I say you were an honest man?[3366]
setting my knighthood and my soldiership aside, I had lied in75
my throat, if I had said so.[3367]
Serv. I pray you, sir, then set your knighthood and
your soldiership aside; and give me leave to tell you, you
lie in your throat, if you say I am any other than an[3368]
honest man.80
[Pg 374]
Fal. I give thee leave to tell me so! I lay aside that
which grows to me! If thou gettest any leave of me, hang
me; if thou takest leave, thou wert better be hanged. You
hunt counter: hence! avaunt![3369]
Serv. Sir, my lord would speak with you.85
Ch. Just. Sir John Falstaff, a word with you.
Fal. My good lord! God give your lordship good time[3370]
of day. I am glad to see your lordship abroad: I heard say[3371]
your lordship was sick: I hope your lordship goes abroad
by advice. Your lordship, though not clean past your90
youth, hath yet some smack of age in you, some relish of[3372]
the saltness of time; and I most humbly beseech your[3373]
lordship to have a reverend care of your health.
Ch. Just. Sir John, I sent for you before your expedition[3374]
to Shrewsbury.95
Fal. An't please your lordship, I hear his majesty is[3375]
returned with some discomfort from Wales.[3376]
Ch. Just. I talk not of his majesty: you would not
come when I sent for you.
Fal. And I hear, moreover, his highness is fallen into100
this same whoreson apoplexy.
Ch. Just. Well, God mend him! I pray you, let me[3377]
speak with you.
Fal. This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy,
an't please your lordship; a kind of sleeping in the blood,[3378]105
a whoreson tingling.
Ch. Just. What tell you me of it? be it as it is.
Fal. It hath its original from much grief, from study[3379]
and perturbation of the brain: I have read the cause of his[3380]
effects in Galen: it is a kind of deafness.[3380]110
[Pg 375]
Ch. Just. I think you are fallen into the disease; for
you hear not what I say to you.
Fal. Very well, my lord, very well: rather, an't please[3381]
you, it is the disease of not listening, the malady of not
marking, that I am troubled withal.115
Ch. Just. To punish you by the heels would amend the
attention of your ears; and I care not if I do become your[3382]
physician.
Fal. I am as poor as Job, my lord, but not so patient:
your lordship may minister the potion of imprisonment to120
me in respect of poverty; but how I should be your patient
to follow your prescriptions, the wise may make some dram
of a scruple, or indeed a scruple itself.
Ch. Just. I sent for you, when there were matters
against you for your life, to come speak with me.[3383]125
Fal. As I was then advised by my learned counsel in[3384]
the laws of this land-service, I did not come.
Ch. Just. Well, the truth is, Sir John, you live in great
infamy.
Fal. He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in less.[3385]130
Ch. Just. Your means are very slender, and your waste[3386]
is great.[3387]
Fal. I would it were otherwise; I would my means
were greater, and my waist slenderer.[3388]
Ch. Just. You have misled the youthful prince.135
Fal. The young prince hath misled me: I am the fellow[3389]
with the great belly, and he my dog.
Ch. Just. Well, I am loath to gall a new-healed wound:
your day's service at Shrewsbury hath a little gilded over
your night's exploit on Gads-hill: you may thank the unquiet140
time for your quiet o'er-posting that action.
Ch. Just. But since all is well, keep it so: wake not a
sleeping wolf.
Fal. To wake a wolf is as bad as to smell a fox.[3391]145
Ch. Just. What! you are as a candle, the better part
burnt out.
Fal. A wassail candle, my lord, all tallow: if I did say[3392]
of wax, my growth would approve the truth.
Ch. Just. There is not a white hair on your face but150
should have his effect of gravity.
Fal. His effect of gravy, gravy, gravy.
Ch. Just. You follow the young prince up and down,
like his ill angel.[3393]
Fal. Not so, my lord; your ill angel is light; but I[3394]155
hope he that looks upon me will take me without[3395]
weighing: and yet, in some respects, I grant, I cannot go: I[3396]
cannot tell. Virtue is of so little regard in these[3396][3397]
costermonger times that true valour is turned bear-herd: pregnancy[3397][3398]
is made a tapster, and hath his quick wit wasted in giving[3399]160
reckonings: all the other gifts appertinent to man, as the
malice of this age shapes them, are not worth a gooseberry.[3400]
You that are old consider not the capacities of us that are
young; you do measure the heat of our livers with the[3401]
bitterness of your galls: and we that are in the vaward of our165
youth, I must confess, are wags too.
Ch. Just. Do you set down your name in the scroll of
youth, that are written down old with all the characters of
age? Have you not a moist eye? a dry hand? a yellow
cheek? a white beard? a decreasing leg? an increasing170
belly? is not your voice broken? your wind short? your[3402]
chin double? your wit single? and every part about you[3402]
[Pg 377]
blasted with antiquity? and will you yet call yourself[3403]
young? Fie, fie, fie, Sir John!
Fal. My lord, I was born about three of the clock in the[3404]175
afternoon, with a white head and something a round belly.[3404]
For my voice, I have lost it with halloing and singing of[3405]
anthems. To approve my youth further, I will not: the[3406]
truth is, I am only old in judgement and understanding;
and he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let180
him lend me the money, and have at him. For the box of[3407]
the ear that the prince gave you, he gave it like a rude[3407][3408]
prince, and you took it like a sensible lord. I have checked
him for it; and the young lion repents; marry, not in
ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack.185
Ch. Just. Well, God send the prince a better[3409]
companion!
Fal. God send the companion a better prince! I cannot[3409]
rid my hands of him.
Ch. Just. Well, the king hath severed you and Prince[3410]190
Harry: I hear you are going with Lord John of Lancaster[3410]
against the Archbishop and the Earl of Northumberland.
Fal. Yea; I thank your pretty sweet wit for it. But[3411]
look you pray, all you that kiss my lady Peace at home,
that our armies join not in a hot day; for, by the Lord, I[3412]195
take but two shirts out with me, and I mean not to sweat[3413]
extraordinarily: if it be a hot day, and I brandish any[3414]
thing but a bottle, I would I might never spit white again.[3415]
There is not a dangerous action can peep out his head, but
I am thrust upon it: well, I cannot last ever: but it was[3416][3417]200
alway yet the trick of our English nation, if they have a[3417][3418]
[Pg 378]
good thing, to make it too common. If ye will needs say[3417][3419]
I am an old man, you should give me rest. I would to[3417]
God my name were not so terrible to the enemy as it is:[3417]
I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be[3417][3420]205
scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.[3417]
Ch. Just. Well, be honest, be honest; and God bless[3421]
your expedition!
Fal. Will your lordship lend me a thousand pound to
furnish me forth?210
Ch. Just. Not a penny, not a penny; you are too impatient
to bear crosses. Fare you well: commend me to
my cousin Westmoreland.
[Exeunt Chief-Justice and Servant.[3422]
Fal. If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle. A man
can no more separate age and covetousness than a' can[3423]215
part young limbs and lechery: but the gout galls the one,
and the pox pinches the other; and so both the degrees[3424]
prevent my curses. Boy!
Page. Sir?
Fal. What money is in my purse?220
Page. Seven groats and two pence.
Fal. I can get no remedy against this consumption of
the purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but
the disease is incurable. Go bear this letter to my Lord of
Lancaster; this to the prince; this to the Earl of225
Westmoreland; and this to old Mistress Ursula, whom I have
weekly sworn to marry since I perceived the first white
hair on my chin. About it: you know where to find me.[3425]
[Exit Page.] A pox of this gout! or, a gout of this pox![3426]
for the one or the other plays the rogue with my great toe.[3427]230
'Tis no matter if I do halt; I have the wars for my colour,[3428]
and my pension shall seem the more reasonable. A good
[Pg 379]
wit will make use of any thing: I will turn diseases to
commodity. [Exit.[3429]
Scene III. York. The Archbishop's Palace.
Enter the Archbishop, the Lords Hastings, Mowbray, and
Bardolph.[3430]
Arch. Thus have you heard our cause and known our means;[3431]
And, my most noble friends, I pray you all,[3432]
Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes:
And first, lord marshal, what say you to it?
Mowb. I well allow the occasion of our arms;[3433]5
But gladly would be better satisfied
How in our means we should advance ourselves
To look with forehead bold and big enough
Upon the power and puissance of the king.
Hast. Our present musters grow upon the file10
To five and twenty thousand men of choice;
And our supplies live largely in the hope[3434]
Of great Northumberland, whose bosom burns
With an incensed fire of injuries.
L. Bard. The question then. Lord Hastings, standeth thus;15
Whether our present five and twenty thousand
May hold up head without Northumberland?
[Pg 380]
Hast. With him, we may.
L. Bard. Yea, marry, there's the point:[3435]
But if without him we be thought too feeble,
My judgement is, we should not step too far20
Till we had his assistance by the hand;[3436]
For in a theme so bloody-faced as this[3436]
Conjecture, expectation, and surmise[3436]
Of aids incertain should not be admitted.[3436][3437]
Arch. 'Tis very true, Lord Bardolph; for indeed25
It was young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury.
L. Bard. It was, my lord; who lined himself with hope,
Eating the air on promise of supply,[3438]
Flattering himself in project of a power[3439]
Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts:30
And so, with great imagination
Proper to madmen, led his powers to death
And winking leap'd into destruction.
Hast. But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt
To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope.35
L. Bard. Yes, if this present quality of war,[3440][3441]
Indeed the instant action: a cause on foot,[3440][3441]
Lives so in hope, as in an early spring[3440][3441]
We see the appearing buds; which to prove fruit,[3440]
Hope gives not so much warrant as despair[3440]40
That frosts will bite them. When we mean to build,[3440]
We first survey the plot, then draw the model;[3440]
And when we see the figure of the house,[3440]
Then must we rate the cost of the erection;[3440]
Which if we find outweighs ability,[3440]45
What do we then but draw anew the model;[3440]
In fewer offices, or at least desist[3440][3442]
To build at all? Much more, in this great work,[3440]
[Pg 381]
Which is almost to pluck a kingdom down[3440]
And set another up, should we survey[3440]50
The plot of situation and the model,[3440][3443]
Consent upon a sure foundation,[3440][3444]
Question surveyors, know our own estate,[3440]
How able such a work to undergo,[3440][3445]
To weigh against his opposite; or else[3440][3446]55
We fortify in paper and in figures,[3447]
Using the names of men instead of men:
Like one that draws the model of a house[3448]
Beyond his power to build it; who, half through,[3449]
Gives o'er and leaves his part-created cost[3450]60
A naked subject to the weeping clouds,
And waste for churlish winter's tyranny.
Hast. Grant that our hopes, yet likely of fair birth,
Should be still-born, and that we now possess'd[3451]
The utmost man of expectation,65
I think we are a body strong enough,[3452]
Even as we are, to equal with the king.
L. Bard. What, is the king but five and twenty thousand?
Hast. To us no more; nay, not so much, Lord Bardolph.
For his divisions, as the times do brawl,70
Are in three heads: one power against the French,[3453]
And one against Glendower; perforce a third
Must take up us: so is the unfirm king
In three divided; and his coffers sound
With hollow poverty and emptiness.75
[Pg 382]
Arch. That he should draw his several strengths together
And come against us in full puissance,
Need not be dreaded.[3454]
L. Bard. Who is it like should lead his forces hither?
Hast. The Duke of Lancaster and Westmoreland;
Against the Welsh, himself and Harry Monmouth:
But who is substituted 'gainst the French,[3457]
I have no certain notice.
Arch. Let us[3458]85
And publish the occasion of our arms.[3458]
The commonwealth is sick of their own choice;[3458][3459]
Their over-greedy love hath surfeited:[3458][3459]
An habitation giddy and unsure[3458]
Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart.[3458]90
O thou fond many, with what loud applause[3458][3460]
Didst thou beat heaven with blessing Bolingbroke,[3458]
Before he was what thou wouldst have him be![3458]
And being now trimm'd in thine own desires,[3458][3461]
Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of him,[3458]95
That thou provokest thyself to cast him up.[3458]
So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge[3458]
Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard;[3458]
And now thou wouldst eat thy dead vomit up,[3458]
And howl'st to find it. What trust is in these times?[3458]100
They that, when Richard lived, would have him die,[3458][3462]
Are now become enamour'd on his grave:[3458][3462]
Thou, that threw'st dust upon his goodly head[3458]
When through proud London he came sighing on[3458]
[Pg 383]
After the admired heels of Bolingbroke,[3458]105
Criest now 'O earth, yield us that king again,[3458]
And take thou this!' O thoughts of men accursed![3458]
Past and to come seems best; things present, worst.[3458][3463]
Mowb. Shall we go draw our numbers, and set on?[3464]
Hast. We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone.110
[Exeunt.[3465]
ACT II.
Scene I. London. A street.
Enter Hostess, Fang and his Boy with her, and Snare following.[3466]
Host. Master Fang, have you entered the action?[3467]
Host. Where's your yeoman? Is't a lusty yeoman?[3469]
will a' stand to't?[3470]
Fang. Sirrah, where's Snare?5
Host. O Lord, ay! good Master Snare.[3471]
Snare. Here, here.
Fang. Snare, we must arrest Sir John Falstaff.
Host. Yea, good Master Snare; I have entered him[3472]
and all.10
Snare. It may chance cost some of us our lives, for he[3473]
will stab.
[Pg 384]
Host. Alas the day! take heed of him; he stabbed me
in mine own house, and that most beastly: in good faith,[3474]
he cares not what mischief he does, if his weapon be out:[3475]15
he will foin like any devil; he will spare neither man,
woman, nor child.
Fang. If I can close with him, I care not for his thrust.
Host. No, nor I neither: I'll be at your elbow.
Fang. An I but fist him once; an a' come but within[3476]20
my vice,—[3477]
Host. I am undone by his going; I warrant you, he's[3478]
an infinitive thing upon my score. Good Master Fang, hold
him sure: good Master Snare, let him not 'scape. A' comes[3479]
continuantly to Pie-corner—saving your manhoods—to buy[3480]25
a saddle; and he is indited to dinner to the Lubber's-head
in Lumbert street, to Master Smooth's the silkman: I pray[3481]
ye, since my exion is entered and my case so openly[3482]
known to the world, let him be brought in to his answer.
A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to[3483]30
bear: and I have borne, and borne, and borne; and have
been fubbed off, and fubbed off, and fubbed off, from this[3484]
day to that day, that it is a shame to be thought on. There
is no honesty in such dealing; unless a woman should be
made an ass and a beast, to bear every knave's wrong.35
Yonder he comes; and that arrant malmsey-nose knave,[3485]
Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do your offices: Master
Fang and Master Snare, do me, do me, do me your offices.[3486]
[Pg 385]
Enter Falstaff, Page, and Bardolph.[3487]
Fal. How now! whose mare's dead? what's the matter?
Fal. Away, varlets! Draw, Bardolph: cut me off the
villain's head: throw the quean in the channel.[3490]
Host. Throw me in the channel! I'll throw thee in the[3490][3491]
channel. Wilt thou? wilt thou? thou bastardly rogue![3491][3492]45
Murder, murder! Ah, thou honey-suckle villain! wilt thou[3493]
kill God's officers and the king's? Ah, thou honey-seed[3493]
rogue! thou art a honey-seed, a man-queller, and a woman-queller.
Fal. Keep them off, Bardolph.50
Fang. A rescue! a rescue!
Host. Good people, bring a rescue or two. Thou wo't,[3494][3495]
wo't thou? thou wo't, wo't ta? do, do, thou rogue! do,[3495][3496]
thou hemp-seed!
Fal. Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian![3497][3498]55
I'll tickle your catastrophe.
Enter the Lord Chief-Justice, and his men.[3499]
Ch. Just. What is the matter? keep the peace here, ho![3500]
Host. Good my lord, be good to me. I beseech you,
stand to me.
[Pg 386]
Ch. Just. How now, Sir John! what are you brawling here?[3501][3502]60
Doth this become your place, your time and business?[3502]
You should have been well on your way to York.[3502]
Stand from him, fellow: wherefore hang'st upon him?[3502][3503]
Host. O my most worshipful lord, an't please your
grace, I am a poor widow of Eastcheap, and he is arrested65
at my suit.
Ch. Just. For what sum?
Host. It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all,[3504]
all I have. He hath eaten me out of house and home; he[3504]
hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his: but I70
will have some of it out again, or I will ride thee o'nights
like the mare.
Fal. I think I am as like to ride the mare, if I have
any vantage of ground to get up.
Ch. Just. How comes this, Sir John? Fie! what man[3505]75
of good temper would endure this tempest of exclamation?
Are you not ashamed to enforce a poor widow to so rough
a course to come by her own?
Fal. What is the gross sum that I owe thee?
Host. Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself and the80
money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt[3506]
goblet, sitting in my Dolphin-chamber, at the round table, by
a sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday in Wheeson week, when[3507]
the prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-man[3508]
of Windsor, thou didst swear to me then, as I was85
washing thy wound, to marry me and make me my lady thy
wife. Canst thou deny it? Did not goodwife Keech, the
butcher's wife, come in then and call me gossip Quickly?
coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar; telling us she had
a good dish of prawns; whereby thou didst desire to eat90
[Pg 387]
some; whereby I told thee they were ill for a green wound?
And didst thou not, when she was gone down stairs, desire[3509]
me to be no more so familiarity with such poor people;[3510]
saying that ere long they should call me madam? And didst
thou not kiss me and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings? I[3511]95
put thee now to thy book-oath: deny it, if thou canst.
Fal. My lord, this is a poor mad soul; and she says[3512]
up and down the town that her eldest son is like you: she
hath been in good case, and the truth is, poverty hath distracted
her. But for these foolish officers, I beseech you I100
may have redress against them.
Ch. Just. Sir John, Sir John, I am well acquainted
with your manner of wrenching the true cause the false
way. It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words
that come with such more than impudent sauciness from105
you, can thrust me from a level consideration: you have,[3513]
as it appears to me, practised upon the easy-yielding spirit[3513]
of this woman, and made her serve your uses both in purse[3513]
and in person.[3513]
Host. Yea, in truth, my lord.[3514]110
Ch. Just. Pray thee, peace. Pay her the debt you owe[3515]
her, and unpay the villany you have done her: the one[3516]
you may do with sterling money, and the other with current
repentance.
Fal. My lord, I will not undergo this sneap without115
reply. You call honourable boldness impudent sauciness:
if a man will make courtesy and say nothing, he is virtuous:[3517]
no, my lord, my humble duty remembered, I will[3518]
not be your suitor. I say to you, I do desire deliverance[3519]
from these officers, being upon hasty employment in the[3520]120
[Pg 388]
king's affairs.
Ch. Just. You speak as having power to do wrong:
but answer in the effect of your reputation, and satisfy the[3521]
poor woman.
Fal. Come hither, hostess.125
Enter Gower.[3522]
Ch. Just. Now, Master Gower, what news?[3523]
Gow. The king, my lord, and Harry Prince of Wales[3524]
Are near at hand: the rest the paper tells.[3525]
Fal. As I am a gentleman.
Host. Faith, you said so before.[3526]130
Fal. As I am a gentleman. Come, no more words
of it.
Host. By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be
fain to pawn both my plate and the tapestry of my
dining-chambers.135
Fal. Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking: and for thy
walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the Prodigal,
or the German hunting in water-work, is worth a thousand[3527]
of these bed-hangings and these fly-bitten tapestries. Let[3528]
it be ten pound, if thou canst. Come, an 'twere not for[3529]140
thy humours, there's not a better wench in England. Go,[3530]
wash thy face, and draw the action. Come, thou must not[3531]
be in this humour with me; dost not know me? come,[3532]
come, I know thou wast set on to this.
[Pg 389]
Host. Pray thee, Sir John, let it be but twenty nobles:[3533]145
i' faith, I am loath to pawn my plate, so God save me, la![3534]
Fal. Let it alone; I'll make other shift: you'll be a[3535]
fool still.
Host. Well, you shall have it, though I pawn my[3536]
gown. I hope you'll come to supper. You'll pay me150
all together?[3537]
Fal. Will I live? [To Bardolph] Go, with her, with[3538]
her; hook on, hook on.
Host. Will you have Doll Tearsheet meet you at
supper?155
Fal. No more words; let's have her.
[Exeunt Hostess, Bardolph, Officers, and Boy.[3539]
Ch. Just. I have heard better news.[3540]
Fal. What's the news, my lord?[3541]
Ch. Just. Where lay the king last night?[3542]
Fal. I hope, my lord, all's well: what is the news, my
lord?
Ch. Just. Come all his forces back?
Gow. No; fifteen hundred foot, five hundred horse,[3543][3545]
Are march'd up to my lord of Lancaster,[3545]165
Against Northumberland and the Archbishop.[3545]
Fal. Comes the king back from Wales, my noble lord?
Ch. Just. You shall have letters of me presently:
Come, go along with me, good Master Gower.
Ch. Just. What's the matter?
Fal. Master Gower, shall I entreat you with me to[3547]
dinner?
Gow. I must wait upon my good lord here; I thank
you, good Sir John.175
Ch. Just. Sir John, you loiter here too long, being you[3548]
are to take soldiers up in counties as you go.[3548][3549]
Fal. Will you sup with me, Master Gower?
Ch. Just. What foolish master taught you these
manners, Sir John?180
Fal. Master Gower, if they become me not, he was a
fool that taught them me. This is the right fencing grace,
my lord; tap for tap, and so part fair.
Ch. Just. Now the Lord lighten thee! thou art a great
fool. [Exeunt.[3550]185
Scene II. London. Another street.
Enter Prince Henry and Poins.[3551]
Prince. Before God, I am exceeding weary.[3552]
Poins. Is't come to that? I had thought weariness[3553]
durst not have attached one of so high blood.
Prince. Faith, it does me; though it discolours the[3554]
complexion of my greatness to acknowledge it. Doth it5
not show vilely in me to desire small beer?
Poins. Why, a prince should not be so loosely studied
as to remember so weak a composition.
Prince. Belike then my appetite was not princely got;
for, by my troth, I do now remember the poor creature,[3555]10
[Pg 391]
small beer. But, indeed, these humble considerations make
me out of love with my greatness. What a disgrace is it
to me to remember thy name! or to know thy face
tomorrow! or to take note how many pair of silk stockings[3556]
thou hast, viz. these, and those that were thy peach-coloured[3557]15
ones! or to bear the inventory of thy shirts, as, one for[3558]
superfluity, and another for use! But that the[3559]
tennis-court-keeper knows better than I; for it is a low ebb of linen with
thee when thou keepest not racket there; as thou hast not[3560]
done a great while, because the rest of thy low countries[3561]20
have made a shift to eat up thy holland: and God knows[3562][3563]
whether those that bawl out the ruins of thy linen shall[3563][3564]
inherit his kingdom: but the midwives say the children[3563]
are not in the fault; whereupon the world increases, and[3563]
kindreds are mightily strengthened.[3563]25
Poins. How ill it follows, after you have laboured so
hard, you should talk so idly! Tell me, how many good
young princes would do so, their fathers being so sick as[3565]
yours at this time is?[3566]
Prince. Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins?30
Poins. Yes, faith; and let it be an excellent good thing.[3567]
Prince. It shall serve among wits of no higher breeding
than thine.
Poins. Go to; I stand the push of your one thing that
you will tell.[3568]35
Prince. Marry, I tell thee, it is not meet that I should[3569]
be sad, now my father is sick: albeit I could tell to thee, as
to one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend,
[Pg 392]
I could be sad, and sad indeed too.
Poins. Very hardly upon such a subject.40
Prince. By this hand, thou thinkest me as far in the[3570]
devil's book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and persistency:
let the end try the man. But I tell thee, my heart
bleeds inwardly that my father is so sick: and keeping such[3571]
vile company as thou art hath in reason taken from me all45
ostentation of sorrow.
Prince. What wouldst thou think of me, if I should
weep?
Poins. I would think thee a most princely hypocrite.50
Prince. It would be every man's thought; and thou art
a blessed fellow to think as every man thinks: never a man's
thought in the world keeps the road-way better than thine:
every man would think me an hypocrite indeed. And what
accites your most worshipful thought to think so?[3573]55
Poins. Why, because you have been so lewd, and so[3574]
much engraffed to Falstaff.
Prince. And to thee.
Poins. By this light, I am well spoke on; I can hear it[3575]
with mine own ears: the worst that they can say of me is[3576]60
that I am a second brother, and that I am a proper fellow
of my hands; and those two things, I confess, I cannot
help. By the mass, here comes Bardolph.[3577]
Enter Bardolph and Page.[3578]
Prince. And the boy that I gave Falstaff: a' had him[3579]
from me Christian; and look, if the fat villain have not[3580]65
[Pg 393]
transformed him ape.
Bard. God save your grace![3581]
Prince. And yours, most noble Bardolph!
Bard. Come, you virtuous ass, you bashful fool, must[3582]
you be blushing? wherefore blush you now? What a70
maidenly man-at-arms are you become! Is't such a[3583]
matter to get a pottle-pot's maidenhead?
Page. A' calls me e'en now, my lord, through a red[3584]
lattice, and I could discern no part of his face from the
window: at last I spied his eyes; and methought he had75
made two holes in the ale-wife's new petticoat and so[3585]
peeped through.
Page. Away, you rascally Althæa's dream, away!80
Prince. Instruct us, boy; what dream, boy?
Page. Marry, my lord, Althæa dreamed she was[3589]
delivered of a fire-brand; and therefore I call him her dream.
Prince. A crown's worth of good interpretation: there
'tis, boy.[3590]85
Poins. O, that this good blossom could be kept from[3591]
cankers! Well, there is sixpence to preserve thee.
Bard. An you do not make him hanged among you,[3592]
the gallows shall have wrong.[3593]
Prince. And how doth thy master, Bardolph?90
[Pg 394]
Bard. Well, my lord. He heard of your grace's coming[3594]
to town: there's a letter for you.
Poins. Delivered with good respect. And how doth[3595]
the martlemas, your master?
Bard. In bodily health, sir.95
Poins. Marry, the immortal part needs a physician; but
that moves not him: though that be sick, it dies not.
Prince. I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me
as my dog; and he holds his place; for look you how he[3596]
writes.100
Poins. [Reads] 'John Falstaff, knight,'—every man must[3597]
know that, as oft as he has occasion to name himself: even[3598]
like those that are kin to the king; for they never prick
their finger but they say, 'There's some of the king's blood[3599]
spilt.' 'How comes that?' says he, that takes upon him105
not to conceive. The answer is as ready as a borrower's[3600]
cap, 'I am the king's poor cousin, sir.'[3600]
Prince. Nay, they will be kin to us, or they will fetch[3601]
it from Japhet. But to the letter:[3602]
Poins. [Reads] 'Sir John Falstaff, knight, to the son of the[3603]110
king, nearest his father, Harry Prince of Wales, greeting.' Why,[3604]
this is a certificate.
Prince. Peace!
Poins. [Reads] 'I will imitate the honourable Romans in[3605]
brevity:' he sure means brevity in breath, short-winded. 'I[3606]115
commend me to thee, I commend thee, and I leave thee. Be not[3607]
too familiar with Poins; for he misuses thy favours so much, that he
swears thou art to marry his sister Nell. Repent at idle times as thou
[Pg 395]
mayest; and so, farewell.
'Thine, by yea and no, which is as much as to say, as120
thou usest him, Jack Falstaff with my[3608]
familiars, John with my brothers and sisters, and Sir[3609]
John with all Europe.'
My lord, I'll steep this letter in sack, and make him eat it.[3610]
Prince. That's to make him eat twenty of his words.[3611]125
But do you use me thus, Ned? must I marry your sister?
Poins. God send the wench no worse fortune! But I[3612]
never said so.
Prince. Well, thus we play the fools with the time;[3613]
and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.130
Is your master here in London?
Prince. Where sups he? doth the old boar feed in the[3615]
old frank?
Bard. At the old place, my lord, in Eastcheap.135
Prince. What company?
Page. Ephesians, my lord, of the old church.
Prince. Sup any women with him?
Page. None, my lord, but old Mistress Quickly and
Mistress Doll Tearsheet.140
Prince. What pagan may that be?
Page. A proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinswoman of
my master's.
Prince. Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the[3616]
town bull. Shall we steal upon them, Ned, at supper?145
Poins. I am your shadow, my lord; I'll follow you.
Prince. Sirrah, you boy, and Bardolph, no word to
your master that I am yet come to town: there's for your[3617]
[Pg 396]
silence.
Bard. I have no tongue, sir.150
Page. And for mine, sir, I will govern it.
Prince. Fare you well; go. [Exeunt Bardolph and Page.][3618]
This Doll Tearsheet should be some road.[3619]
Poins. I warrant you, as common as the way between
Saint Alban's and London.155
Prince. How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night
in his true colours, and not ourselves be seen?[3620]
Poins. Put on two leathern jerkins and aprons, and[3621]
wait upon him at his table as drawers.[3622]
Prince. From a God to a bull? a heavy descension! it[3623][3624]160
was Jove's case. From a prince to a prentice? a low[3624][3625]
transformation! that shall be mine; for in every thing the[3624]
purpose must weigh with the folly. Follow me, Ned.
[Exeunt.
Scene III. Warkworth. Before the castle.
Enter Northumberland, Lady Northumberland, and
Lady Percy.[3626]
North. I pray thee, loving wife, and gentle daughter,[3627]
Give even way unto my rough affairs:[3628]
Put not you on the visage of the times,
And be like them to Percy troublesome.
[Pg 397]
Lady N. I have given over, I will speak no more:[3629]5
Do what you will; your wisdom be your guide.
North. Alas, sweet wife, my honour is at pawn;
And, but my going, nothing can redeem it.
Lady P. O yet, for God's sake, go not to these wars![3630]
The time was, father, that you broke your word,[3631]10
When you were more endear'd to it than now;[3632]
When your own Percy, when my heart's dear Harry,[3633]
Threw many a northward look to see his father
Bring up his powers; but he did long in vain.[3634]
Who then persuaded you to stay at home?15
There were two honours lost, yours and your son's.
For yours, the God of heaven brighten it![3635]
For his, it stuck upon him as the sun
In the grey vault of heaven, and by his light
Did all the chivalry of England move20
To do brave acts: he was indeed the glass
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves:
He had no legs that practised not his gait;[3636]
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,[3636]
Became the accents of the valiant;[3636]25
For those that could speak low and tardily[3636][3637]
Would turn their own perfection to abuse,[3636]
To seem like him: so that in speech, in gait,[3636]
In diet, in affections of delight,[3636]
In military rules, humours of blood,[3636]30
He was the mark and glass, copy and book,[3636]
That fashion'd others. And him, O wondrous him![3636][3638]
O miracle of men! him did you leave,[3636]
Second to none, unseconded by you,[3636][3639]
To look upon the hideous god of war[3636]35
In disadvantage; to abide a field[3636][3640]
[Pg 398]
Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name[3636]
Did seem defensible: so you left him.[3636][3641]
Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong[3636]
To hold your honour more precise and nice[3636]40
With others than with him! let them alone:[3636]
The marshal and the archbishop are strong:[3636]
Had my sweet Harry had but half their numbers,[3636][3642]
To-day might I, hanging on Hotspur's neck,[3636]
Have talk'd of Monmouth's grave.[3636]
North. Beshrew your heart,45
Fair daughter, you do draw my spirits from me
With new lamenting ancient oversights.
But I must go and meet with danger there,
Or it will seek me in another place
And find me worse provided.
Lady N. O, fly to Scotland,[3629][3643]50
Till that the nobles and the armed commons
Have of their puissance made a little taste.
Lady P. If they get ground and vantage of the king,[3644]
Then join you with them, like a rib of steel,
To make strength stronger; but, for all our loves,55
First let them try themselves. So did your son;
He was so suffer'd: so came I a widow;
And never shall have length of life enough
To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes,
That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven,60
For recordation to my noble husband.
North. Come, come, go in with me. 'Tis with my mind
As with the tide swell'd up unto his height,
That makes a still-stand, running neither way:[3645]
Fain would I go to meet the archbishop,65
But many thousand reasons hold me back.[3646]
I will resolve for Scotland: there am I,
[Pg 399]
Till time and vantage crave my company. [Exeunt.
Scene IV. London. The Boar's-head Tavern in Eastcheap.
Enter two Drawers.[3647]
First Draw. What the devil hast thou brought there?[3648]
apple-johns? thou knowest Sir John cannot endure an
apple-john.
Sec. Draw. Mass, thou sayest true. The prince once[3649]
set a dish of apple-johns before him, and told him there5
were five more Sir Johns; and, putting off his hat, said 'I
will now take my leave of these six dry, round, old, withered[3650]
knights.' It angered him to the heart: but he hath forgot
that.
First Draw. Why, then, cover, and set them down: and10
see if thou canst find out Sneak's noise; Mistress Tearsheet
would fain hear some music. Dispatch: the room where[3651][3652]
they supped is too hot; they'll come in straight.[3652]
Sec. Draw. Sirrah, here will be the prince and Master[3652]
Poins anon; and they will put on two of our jerkins and15
aprons; and Sir John must not know of it: Bardolph hath
brought word.[3653]
First Draw. By the mass, here will be old utis: it will[3654]
be an excellent stratagem.
[Pg 400]
Sec. Draw. I'll see if I can find out Sneak. [Exit.20
Enter Hostess and Doll Tearsheet.[3655]
Host. I'faith, sweetheart, methinks now you are in an[3656]
excellent good temperality: your pulsidge beats as extraordinarily
as heart would desire; and your colour, I warrant
you, is as red as any rose, in good truth, la! But, i'[3657]
faith, you have drunk too much canaries; and that's a[3658]25
marvellous searching wine, and it perfumes the blood ere
one can say 'What's this?' How do you now?[3659]
Dol. Better than I was: hem!
Host. Why, that's well said; a good heart's worth[3660]
gold. Lo, here comes Sir John.30
Enter Falstaff.[3661]
Fal. [Singing] 'When Arthur first in court'—Empty[3662]
the jordan. [Exit First Drawer].—[Singing] 'And was a[3662][3663]
worthy king.' How now, Mistress Doll!
Host. Sick of a calm; yea, good faith.[3664]
Fal. So is all her sect; an they be once in a calm, they[3665]35
are sick.
Dol. You muddy rascal, is that all the comfort you[3666]
give me?
Fal. You make fat rascals, Mistress Doll.
Dol. I make them! gluttony and diseases make them;[3667]40
I make them not.
Fal. If the cook help to make the gluttony, you help[3668]
to make the diseases, Doll: we catch of you, Doll, we catch
[Pg 401]
of you; grant that, my poor virtue, grant that.[3669]
Dol. Yea, joy, our chains and our jewels.[3670]45
Fal. 'Your brooches, pearls, and ouches:' for to serve[3671]
bravely is to come halting off, you know: to come off the
breach with his pike bent bravely, and to surgery bravely;
to venture upon the charged chambers bravely,—
Dol. Hang yourself, you muddy conger, hang yourself![3672]50
Host. By my troth, this is the old fashion; you two[3673]
never meet but you fall to some discord: you are both,
i' good truth, as rheumatic as two dry toasts; you cannot[3674]
one bear with another's confirmities. What the good-year![3675]
one must bear, and that must be you: you are the weaker55
vessel, as they say, the emptier vessel.
Dol. Can a weak empty vessel bear such a huge full
hogshead? there's a whole merchant's venture of Bourdeaux
stuff in him; you have not seen a hulk better stuffed in the
hold. Come, I'll be friends with thee, Jack: thou art going60
to the wars; and whether I shall ever see thee again or no,
there is nobody cares.
Re-enter First Drawer.[3676]
First Draw. Sir, Ancient Pistol's below, and would[3677]
speak with you.
Dol. Hang him, swaggering rascal! let him not come65
hither: it is the foul-mouthedst rogue in England.
Host. If he swagger, let him not come here: no, by my[3678]
faith; I must live among my neighbours; I'll no swaggerers:[3678][3679]
I am in good name and fame with the very best:
[Pg 402]
shut the door; there comes no swaggerers here: I have70
not lived all this while, to have swaggering now: shut the
door, I pray you.
Fal. Dost thou hear, hostess?
Host. Pray ye, pacify yourself, Sir John: there comes[3680]
no swaggerers here.75
Fal. Dost thou hear? it is mine ancient.
Host. Tilly-fally, Sir John, ne'er tell me: your ancient[3681]
swaggerer comes not in my doors. I was before Master
Tisick, the debuty, t'other day; and, as he said to me, 'twas[3682]
no longer ago than Wednesday last, 'I' good faith,[3683]80
neighbour Quickly,' says he; Master Dumbe, our minister, was[3684]
by then; 'neighbour Quickly,' says he, 'receive those that
are civil; for,' said he, 'you are in an ill name:' now a' said[3685]
so, I can tell whereupon; 'for,' says he, 'you are an honest
woman, and well thought on; therefore take heed what85
guests you receive: receive,' says he, 'no swaggering
companions.' There comes none here: you would bless you to[3686]
hear what he said: no, I'll no swaggerers.
Fal. He's no swaggerer, hostess; a tame cheater, i'[3687][3688]
faith; you may stroke him as gently as a puppy greyhound:[3688]90
he'll not swagger with a Barbary hen, if her[3689]
feathers turn back in any show of resistance. Call him
up, drawer. [Exit First Drawer.
Host. Cheater, call you him? I will bar no honest man
my house, nor no cheater: but I do not love swaggering,95
by my troth; I am the worse, when one says swagger: feel,[3690]
masters, how I shake; look you, I warrant you.[3691]
Host. Do I? yea, in very truth, do I, an 'twere an[3692]
aspen leaf: I cannot abide swaggerers.100
Enter Pistol, Bardolph, and Page.[3693]
Pist. God save you, Sir John![3694]
Fal. Welcome, Ancient Pistol. Here, Pistol, I charge
you with a cup of sack: do you discharge upon mine
hostess.
Pist. I will discharge upon her, Sir John, with two105
bullets.
Fal. She is pistol-proof, sir; you shall hardly offend her.[3695]
Host. Come, I'll drink no proofs nor no bullets: I'll[3696]
drink no more than will do me good, for no man's
pleasure, I.110
Pist. Then to you, Mistress Dorothy; I will charge you.
Dol. Charge me! I scorn you, scurvy companion. What!
you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away,
you mouldy rogue, away! I am meat for your master.
Pist. I know you, Mistress Dorothy.115
Dol. Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung,
away! by this wine, I'll thrust my knife in your mouldy
chaps, an you play the saucy cuttle with me. Away, you[3697]
bottle-ale rascal! you basket-hilt stale juggler, you! Since
when, I pray you, sir? God's light, with two points on[3698]120
your shoulder? much![3699]
Pist. God let me not live, but I will murder your ruff[3700]
for this.
Fal. No more, Pistol; I would not have you go off[3701]
here: discharge yourself of our company, Pistol.[3701]125
Host. No, good Captain Pistol; not here, sweet captain.
Dol. Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, art
thou not ashamed to be called captain? An captains were[3702]
[Pg 404]
of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking[3703]
their names upon you before you have earned them. You130
a captain! you slave, for what? for tearing a poor whore's
ruff in a bawdy-house? He a captain! hang him, rogue!
he lives upon mouldy stewed prunes and dried cakes. A
captain! God's light, these villains will make the word as[3704][3705]
odious as the word 'occupy;' which was an excellent good[3705]135
word before it was ill sorted: therefore captains had need[3705]
look to't.[3706]
Bard. Pray thee, go down, good ancient.
Fal. Hark thee hither, Mistress Doll.
Pist. Not I: I tell thee what, Corporal Bardolph, I140
could tear her: I'll be revenged of her.[3707]
Page. Pray thee, go down.
Pist. I'll see her damned first; to Pluto's damned[3708]
lake, by this hand, to the infernal deep, with Erebus and[3708][3709]
tortures vile also. Hold hook and line, say I. Down,[3708]145
down, dogs! down, faitors! Have we not Hiren here?[3708][3710]
Host. Good Captain Peesel, be quiet; 'tis very late,[3711]
i' faith: I beseek you now, aggravate your choler.[3712]
Host. By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words.
Bard. Be gone, good ancient: this will grow to a brawl
anon.
Pist. Die men like dogs! give crowns like pins! Have[3718]
we not Hiren here?160
Host. O' my word, captain, there's none such here.[3719]
What the good-year! do you think I would deny her? For[3720][3721]
God's sake, be quiet.[3721]
Pist. Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis. Come,
give's some sack.[3722]165
'Si fortune me tormente, sperato me contento.'[3723]
Fear we broadsides? no, let the fiend give fire:[3724]
Give me some sack: and, sweetheart, lie thou there.[3724]
[Laying down his sword.[3724][3725]
Come we to full points here; and are etceteras nothing?[3724][3726]
Fal. Pistol, I would be quiet.170
Pist. Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif: what! we have[3727]
seen the seven stars.
Dol. For God's sake, thrust him down stairs: I cannot[3728]
endure such a fustian rascal.
Pist. Thrust him down stairs! know we not Galloway175
nags?
Fal. Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shove-groat[3729]
shilling: nay, an a' do nothing but speak nothing, a' shall[3730]
be nothing here.
[Pg 406]
Bard. Come, get you down stairs.180
Pist. What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrue?[3731]
[Snatching up his sword.[3731]
Then death rock me asleep, abridge my doleful days![3731]
Why, then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds[3731]
Untwine the Sisters Three! Come, Atropos, I say![3731][3732]
Host. Here's goodly stuff toward![3733]185
Fal. Give me my rapier, boy.
Dol. I pray thee, Jack, I pray thee, do not draw.[3734]
Fal. Get you down stairs.
[Drawing, and driving Pistol out.[3735]
Host. Here's a goodly tumult! I'll forswear keeping
house, afore I'll be in these tirrits and frights. So; murder,190
I warrant now. Alas, alas! put up your naked weapons, put
up your naked weapons. [Exeunt Pistol and Bardolph.[3736]
Dol. I pray thee, Jack, be quiet; the rascal's gone.[3737]
Ah, you whoreson little valiant villain, you!
Host. Are you not hurt i' the groin? methought a'[3738]195
made a shrewd thrust at your belly.
Re-enter Bardolph.[3739]
Fal. Have you turned him out o' doors?[3740]
Bard. Yea, sir. The rascal's drunk: you have hurt[3741]
him, sir, i' the shoulder.[3742]
Fal. A rascal! to brave me!200
Dol. Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! Alas, poor ape,
how thou sweatest! come, let me wipe thy face; come on,
you whoreson chops: ah, rogue! i' faith, I love thee:[3743]
thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon,
[Pg 407]
and ten times better than the Nine Worthies: ah,[3744]205
villain![3744]
Fal. A rascally slave! I will toss the rogue in a blanket.[3745]
Dol. Do, an thou darest for thy heart: an thou dost, I'll[3746][3747]
canvass thee between a pair of sheets.[3746]
Enter Music.
Page. The music is come, sir.210
Fal. Let them play. Play, sirs. Sit on my knee,
Doll. A rascal bragging slave! the rogue fled from me
like quicksilver.
Dol. I' faith, and thou followedst him like a church.[3748]
Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig, when[3749]215
wilt thou leave fighting o' days and foining o' nights, and[3750]
begin to patch up thine old body for heaven?
Enter, behind, Prince Henry and Poins, disguised.[3751]
Fal. Peace, good Doll! do not speak like a death's-head;[3752]
do not bid me remember mine end.
Dol. Sirrah, what humour's the prince of?[3753]220
Fal. A good shallow young fellow: a' would have[3754]
made a good pantler, a' would ha' chipped bread well.[3754][3755]
Dol. They say Poins has a good wit.[3756]
Fal. He a good wit? hang him, baboon! his wit's as[3753]
thick as Tewksbury mustard; there's no more conceit in[3753]225
[Pg 408]
him than is in a mallet.
Dol. Why does the prince love him so, then?[3757]
Fal. Because their legs are both of a bigness; and a'
plays at quoits well; and eats conger and fennel; and
drinks off candles' ends for flap-dragons; and rides the230
wild-mare with the boys; and jumps upon joined-stools;
and swears with a good grace; and wears his boots very[3758]
smooth, like unto the sign of the leg; and breeds no bate
with telling of discreet stories; and such other gambol[3759]
faculties a' has, that show a weak mind and an able body,[3760]235
for the which the prince admits him: for the prince himself
is such another; the weight of a hair will turn the scales[3761]
between their avoirdupois.[3762]
Prince. Would not this nave of a wheel have his ears
cut off?240
Poins. Let's beat him before his whore.[3763]
Prince. Look, whether the withered elder hath not[3764]
his poll clawed like a parrot.
Poins. Is it not strange that desire should so many
years outlive performance?245
Fal. Kiss me, Doll.
Prince. Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction!
what says the almanac to that?
Poins. And, look, whether the fiery Trigon, his man,[3765]
be not lisping to his master's old tables, his note-book,[3766]250
his counsel-keeper.
Fal. Thou dost give me flattering busses.
Dol. By my troth, I kiss thee with a most constant heart.[3767]
Dol. I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy young255
boy of them all.
Fal. What stuff wilt have a kirtle of? I shall receive[3768]
money o' Thursday: shalt have a cap to-morrow. A[3769]
merry song, come: it grows late; we'll to bed. Thou'lt[3770][3771]
forget me when I am gone.260
Dol. By my troth, thou'lt set me a-weeping, an thou[3771][3772]
sayest so: prove that ever I dress myself handsome till thy
return: well, hearken at the end.[3773]
Fal. Some sack, Francis.
Prince. } Anon, anon, sir. [Coming forward.[3774]265
Poins. }
Fal. Ha! a bastard son of the king's? And art not
thou Poins his brother?[3775]
Prince. Why, thou globe of sinful continents, what
a life dost thou lead!
Fal. A better than thou: I am a gentleman; thou270
art a drawer.
Prince. Very true, sir; and I come to draw you out
by the ears.
Host. O, the Lord preserve thy good grace! by my[3776][3777]
troth, welcome to London. Now, the Lord bless that[3777][3778]275
sweet face of thine! O Jesu, are you come from Wales?[3779]
Fal. Thou whoreson mad compound of majesty, by[3780]
this light flesh and corrupt blood, thou art welcome.[3781]
Dol. How, you fat fool! I scorn you.
Poins. My lord, he will drive you out of your revenge280
and turn all to a merriment, if you take not the heat.
[Pg 410]
Prince. You whoreson candle-mine, you, how vilely
did you speak of me even now before this honest, virtuous,[3782]
civil gentlewoman!
Host. God's blessing of your good heart! and so she[3783]285
is, by my troth.[3784]
Fal. Didst thou hear me?
Prince. Yea, and you knew me, as you did when you[3785]
ran away by Gad's-hill: you knew I was at your back, and
spoke it on purpose to try my patience.290
Fal. No, no, no; not so; I did not think thou wast
within hearing.
Prince. I shall drive you then to confess the wilful
abuse; and then I know how to handle you.
Fal. No abuse, Hal, o' mine honour; no abuse.[3786]295
Prince. Not to dispraise me, and call me pantler and[3787]
bread-chipper and I know not what?[3788]
Fal. No abuse, Hal.
Poins. No abuse?
Fal. No abuse, Ned, i' the world; honest Ned, none.300
I dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked might
not fall in love with him; in which doing, I have done the[3789]
part of a careful friend and a true subject, and thy father is[3790]
to give me thanks for it. No abuse, Hal: none, Ned, none:
no, faith, boys, none.[3791]305
Prince. See now, whether pure fear and entire cowardice
doth not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to close[3792]
with us? is she of the wicked? is thine hostess here of the
wicked? or is thy boy of the wicked? or honest Bardolph,[3793]
whose zeal burns in his nose, of the wicked?310
Poins. Answer, thou dead elm, answer.
Fal. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecoverable;
[Pg 411]
and his face is Lucifer's privy-kitchen, where he doth
nothing but roast malt-worms. For the boy, there is a
good angel about him; but the devil outbids him too.[3794]315
Prince. For the women?
Fal. For one of them, she is in hell already, and burns[3795][3796]
poor souls. For the other, I owe her money; and whether[3796]
she be damned for that, I know not.
Host. No, I warrant you.320
Fal. No, I think thou art not; I think thou art quit
for that. Marry, there is another indictment upon thee, for
suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house, contrary to the
law; for the which I think thou wilt howl.
Host. All victuallers do so: what's a joint of mutton[3797]325
or two in a whole Lent?
Prince. You, gentlewoman,—
Dol. What says your grace?
Fal. His grace says that which his flesh rebels against.
[Knocking within.[3798]
Host. Who knocks so loud at door? Look to the330
door there, Francis.
Enter Peto.[3799]
Prince. Peto, how now! what news?[3800]
Peto. The king your father is at Westminster;
And there are twenty weak and wearied posts
Come from the north: and, as I came along,335
I met and overtook a dozen captains,
Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns,
And asking every one for Sir John Falstaff.
Prince. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame,[3801]
So idly to profane the precious time;340
When tempest of commotion, like the south[3802]
Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt,
[Pg 412]
And drop upon our bare unarmed heads.
Give me my sword and cloak. Falstaff, good night.
[Exeunt Prince Henry, Poins, Peto, and Bardolph.[3803]
Fal. Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night, and345
we must hence, and leave it unpicked. [Knocking within.][3804]
More knocking at the door!
Re-enter Bardolph.[3805]
How now! what's the matter?
Bard. You must away to court, sir, presently;[3806]
A dozen captains stay at door for you.[3806]350
Fal. [To the Page] Pay the musicians, sirrah. Farewell,[3807]
hostess; farewell, Doll. You see, my good wenches, how
men of merit are sought after: the undeserver may sleep,
when the man of action is called on. Farewell, good wenches:
if I be not sent away post, I will see you again ere I go.355
Dol. I cannot speak; if my heart be not ready to burst,—well,
sweet Jack, have a care of thyself.
Fal. Farewell, farewell. [Exeunt Falstaff and Bardolph.[3808]
Host. Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these
twenty nine years, come peascod-time; but an honester and360
truer-hearted man,—well, fare thee well.
Bard. [Within] Mistress Tearsheet![3809]
Host. What's the matter?
Bard. [Within] Bid Mistress Tearsheet come to my[3809]
master.365
Host. O, run, Doll, run; run, good Doll: come. [She[3810]
comes blubbered.] Yea, will you come, Doll?[3810] [Exeunt.
ACT III.
Scene I. Westminster. The palace.
Enter the King in his nightgown, with a Page.[3811]
King. Go call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;
But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
And well consider of them: make good speed. [Exit Page.[3812]
How many thousand of my poorest subjects[3813]
Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep,[3814]5
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 thee,[3815]10
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,[3816]
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,[3817]
And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?[3818]
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile15
In loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch
A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?[3819]
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast[3820]
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge,20
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,[3821]
Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,[3822]
[Pg 414]
That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?25
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose[3823]
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;[3824]
And in the calmest and most stillest night,[3825]
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down![3826]30
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
Enter Warwick and Surrey.[3827]
War. Many good morrows to your majesty![3828]
King. Is it good morrow, lords?[3829]
War. 'Tis one o'clock, and past.
King. Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords.[3830]35
Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?[3831]
War. We have, my liege.
King. Then you perceive the body of our kingdom
How foul it is; what rank diseases grow,
And with what danger, near the heart of it.40
War. It is but as a body yet distemper'd;[3832]
Which to his former strength may be restored
With good advice and little medicine:
My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.[3833]
King. O God! that one might read the book of fate,[3834]45
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent,
[Pg 415]
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
Into the sea! and, other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the ocean50
Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,[3835]
And changes fill the cup of alteration
With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,[3836]
The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,[3836][3837]
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,[3836]55
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.[3836][3838]
'Tis not ten years gone[3839]
Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends,[3840]
Did feast together, and in two years after[3841]
Were they at wars: it is but eight years since60
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 him defiance. But which of you was by—[3842]65
You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember— [To Warwick.
When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,[3843]
Then check'd and rated by Northumberland,
Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy?
'Northumberland, thou ladder by the which70
My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;'
Though then, God knows, I had no such intent,[3844]
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,[3845]75
'The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head,[3845]
Shall break into corruption:' so went on,[3846]
[Pg 416]
Foretelling this same time's condition,
And the division of our amity.
War. There is a history in all men's lives,80
Figuring the nature of the times deceased;[3847]
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life, which in their seeds[3848]
And weak beginnings lie intreasured.[3849]85
Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
And by the necessary form of this[3850]
King Richard might create a perfect guess
That great Northumberland, then false to him,
Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness;90
Which should not find a ground to root upon,
Unless on you.
King. Are these things then necessities?[3851]
Then let us meet them like necessities:[3852]
And that same word even now cries out on us:
They say the bishop and Northumberland95
Are fifty thousand strong.
War. It cannot be, my lord;[3853]
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your grace
To go to bed. Upon my soul, my lord,[3854]
The powers that you already have sent forth100
Shall bring this prize in very easily.[3855]
To comfort you the more, I have received
A certain instance that Glendower is dead.
Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill;
And these unseason'd hours perforce must add105
Unto your sickness.
[Pg 417]
K. Hen. I will take your counsel:
And were these inward wars once out of hand,
We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land. [Exeunt.[3856]
Scene II. Gloucestershire. Before Justice Shallow's
house.
Enter Shallow and Silence, meeting; Mouldy, Shadow, Wart,
Feeble, Bullcalf, a Servant or two with them.[3857]
Shal. Come on, come on, come on, sir; give me your[3858]
hand, sir, give me your hand, sir: an early stirrer, by the[3859]
rood! And how doth my good cousin Silence?[3859][3860]
Sil. Good morrow, good cousin Shallow.
Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow? and5
your fairest daughter and mine, my god-daughter Ellen?
Sil. Alas, a black ousel, cousin Shallow![3861]
Shal. By yea and nay, sir, I dare say my cousin William[3862]
is become a good scholar: he is at Oxford still, is he not?
Sil. Indeed, sir, to my cost.10
Shal. A' must, then, to the inns o'court shortly: I was[3863]
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[3864]15
have done any thing indeed too, and roundly too. There[3865]
was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George
Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele, a Cotswold[3866][3867]
man; you had not four such swinge-bucklers in all the inns[3867][3868]
o'court again: and I may say to you, we knew where the[3869]20
[Pg 418]
bona-robas were and had the best of them all at[3870]
commandment. Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy, and[3871]
page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.
Sil. This Sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon about[3872]
soldiers?25
Shal. The same Sir John, the very same. I see him[3873]
break Skogan's head at the court-gate, when a' was a crack[3874]
not thus high: and the very same day did I fight with one[3875]
Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn. Jesu,[3876]
Jesu, the mad days that I have spent! and to see how many[3876]30
of my old acquaintance are dead![3877]
Sil. We shall all follow, cousin.
Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: death,
as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die. How[3878]
a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair?[3879]35
Sil. By my troth, I was not there.[3880]
Shal. Death is certain. Is old Double of your town
living yet?
Sil. Dead, sir.
Shal. Jesu, Jesu, dead! a' drew a good bow; and[3881]40
dead! a' shot a fine shoot: John a Gaunt loved him well,[3882]
and betted much money on his head. Dead! a' would have
clapped i' the clout at twelve score; and carried you a fore-hand
shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would[3883]
have done a man's heart good to see. How a score of ewes45
now?
Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may
be worth ten pounds.
[Pg 419]
Shal. And is old Double dead?
Sil. Here come two of Sir John Falstaff's men, as I think.50
Enter Bardolph and one with him.[3884]
Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you,[3885]
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[3886]
your good pleasure with me?[3887]55
Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you; my
captain, Sir John Falstaff, a tall gentleman, by heaven, and a[3888]
most gallant leader.
Shal. He greets me well, sir. I knew him a good backsword[3889]
man. How doth the good knight? may I ask how60
my lady his wife doth?
Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated[3890]
than with a wife.
Shal. It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is well said[3891]
indeed too. Better accommodated! it is good; yea, indeed,[3892]65
is it: good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable.[3893]
Accommodated! it comes of 'accommodo:'[3892]
very good; a good phrase.
Bard. Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase[3894]
call you it? by this good day, I know not the phrase; but[3895]70
I will maintain the word with my sword to be a soldier-like
word, and a word of exceeding good command, by heaven.[3896]
Accommodated; that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated;[3892]
or when a man is, being, whereby a' may be[3892][3897]
[Pg 420]
thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing.[3892][3897]75
Shal. It is very just.
Enter Falstaff.[3898]
Look, here comes good Sir John. Give me your good hand,[3899]
give me your worship's good hand: by my troth, you like[3900]
well and bear your years very well: welcome, good Sir
John.80
Fal. I am glad to see you well, good Master Robert
Shallow: Master Surecard, as I think?[3901]
Shal. No, Sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission[3902]
with me.
Fal. Good Master Silence, it well befits you should be[3902]85
of the peace.
Sil. Your good worship is welcome.
Fal. Fie! this is hot weather, gentlemen. Have you[3903]
provided me here half a dozen sufficient men?[3904]
Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit?90
Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you.
Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the
roll? Let me see, let me see, let me see. So, so, so, so, so,[3905]
so, so: yea, marry, sir: Ralph Mouldy! Let them appear as[3906]
I call; let them do so, let them do so. Let me see; where95
is Mouldy?
Moul. Here, an't please you.[3907]
Shal. What think you, Sir John? a good-limbed fellow;
young, strong, and of good friends.
Moul. Yea, an't please you.[3908]
Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used.
Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i' faith! things that[3909]
are mouldy lack use: very singular good! in faith, well[3910]
said, Sir John; very well said.105
Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you could[3912]
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 out110
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 you115
where you are? For the other, Sir John: let me see:[3913][3914]
Simon Shadow![3914]
Fal. Yea, marry, let me have him to sit under: he's[3915]
like to be a cold soldier.
Shal. Where's Shadow?120
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:125
it is often so, indeed; but much of the father's substance![3916]
Shal. Do you like him, Sir John?
Fal. Shadow will serve for summer; prick him, for we[3917]
have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book.[3918]
Fal. Where's he?
Wart. Here, sir.
Fal. Is thy name Wart?
Wart. Yea, sir.
Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart.135
Shal. Shall I prick him down, Sir John?[3919]
Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon[3920]
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: I140
commend you well. Francis Feeble!
Fee. Here, sir.
Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble?
Fee. A woman's tailor, sir.
Shal. Shall I prick him, sir?145
Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor,
he'ld ha' pricked you. Wilt thou make as many holes in an[3921]
enemy's battle as thou hast done 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,150
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.[3922]
Fee. I would Wart might have gone, sir.
Fal. I would thou wert a man's tailor, that thou mightst155
mend him and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a[3923]
private soldier, that is the leader of so many thousands: let
that suffice, most forcible Feeble.
Fee. It shall suffice, sir.[3924]
Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble. Who is160
next?[3925]
Shal. Peter Bullcalf o' the green!
Fal. Yea, marry, let's see Bullcalf.
Fal. 'Fore God, a likely fellow! Come, prick me[3926]165
Bullcalf till he roar again.
Bull. O Lord! good my lord captain,—[3927]
Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked?[3928]
Bull. O Lord, sir! I am a diseased man.[3927]
Fal. What disease hast thou?170
Bull. A whoreson cold, sir, a cough, sir, which I caught
with ringing in the king's affairs upon his coronation-day,
sir.
Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we
will have away thy cold; and I will take such order that175
thy friends shall ring for thee. Is here all?
Shal. Here is two more called than your number; you[3929]
must have but four here, sir: and so, I pray you, go in with
me to dinner.
Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot180
tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, by my troth, Master[3930]
Shallow.
Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember since we lay all
night in the windmill in Saint George's field?[3931]
Fal. No more of that, good Master Shallow, no more[3932]185
of that.[3932]
Shal. Ha! 'twas a merry night. And is Jane
Nightwork alive?
Fal. She lives, Master Shallow.
Shal. She never could away with me.[3933]190
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[3934]
was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well?
Fal. Old, old, Master Shallow.195
Shal. Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose but be
old; certain she's old; and had Robin Nightwork by old
[Pg 424]
Nightwork before I came to Clement's Inn.[3935]
Sil. That's fifty five year ago.[3936]
Shal. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that200
that this knight and I have seen! Ha, Sir John, said I
well?
Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master
Shallow.
Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; in[3937]205
faith, Sir John, we have: our watch-word was 'Hem boys!'[3938]
Come, let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner: Jesus, the[3939]
days that we have seen! Come, come.
[Exeunt Falstaff and the Justices.[3940]
Bull. Good Master Corporate Bardolph, stand my
friend; and here's four Harry ten shillings in French210
crowns for you. In very truth, sir, I had as lief be hanged,
sir, as go: and yet, for mine 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.215
Bard. Go to; stand aside.
Moul. And, good master corporal captain, for my old[3941]
dame's sake, stand my friend: she has nobody to do any[3942]
thing about her when I am gone; and she is old, and cannot
help herself: you shall have forty, sir.[3943]220
Bard. Go to; stand aside.
Fee. By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once:[3944]
we owe God a death: I'll ne'er bear a base mind: an't[3945][3946]
be my destiny, so; an't be not, so: no man is too good to[3946]
[Pg 425]
serve's prince; and let it go which way it will, he that dies[3947]225
this year is quit for the next.
Bard. Well said; thou'rt a good fellow.[3948]
Fee. Faith, I'll bear no base mind.
Re-enter Falstaff and the Justices.[3949]
Fal. Come, sir, which men shall I have?
Shal. Four of which you please.230
Bard. Sir, a word with you: I have three pound to
free Mouldy and Bullcalf.
Fal. Go to; well.
Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you have?
Fal. Do you choose for me.235
Shal. Marry, then, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble and
Shadow.[3950]
Fal. Mouldy and Bullcalf: for you, Mouldy, stay at[3951]
home till you are past service: and for your part, Bullcalf,[3952]
grow till you come unto it: I will none of you.240
Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong: they
are your likeliest men, and I would have you served with
the best.
Fal. Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose
a man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk,245
and big assemblance of a man! Give me the spirit, Master[3953]
Shallow. Here's Wart; you see what a ragged appearance[3954]
it is: a' 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 same250
half-faced fellow, Shadow; give me this man: he presents no
mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim
level at the edge of a penknife. And for a retreat; how[3955]
[Pg 426]
swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor run off! O, give
me the spare men, and spare me the great ones. Put me a255
caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.
Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus.[3956]
Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So: very well:
go to: very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a
little, lean, old, chapt, bald shot. Well said, i' faith, Wart;[3957]260
thou'rt a good scab: hold, there's a tester for thee.[3957]
Shal. He is not his craft's-master; he doth not do it[3958]
right. I remember at Mile-end Green, when I lay at Clement's
Inn,—I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's
show,—there was a little quiver fellow, and a' would manage you[3959]265
his piece thus; and a' would about and about, and come[3959]
you in and come you in: 'rah, tah, tah,' would a' say;[3959]
'bounce' would a' say; and away again would a' go, and[3959]
again would a' come: I shall ne'er see such a fellow.[3959][3960]
Fal. These fellows will do well, Master Shallow. God[3961][3962]270
keep you, Master Silence: I will not use many words with[3961][3962][3963]
you. Fare you well, gentlemen both: I thank you: I must[3962]
a dozen mile to-night. Bardolph, give the soldiers coats.
Shal. Sir John, the Lord bless you! God prosper your[3964]
affairs! God send us peace! At your return visit our[3965][3966]275
house; let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure[3966]
I will with ye to the court.[3967]
[Pg 427]
Fal. 'Fore God, I would you would, Master Shallow.[3968]
Shal. Go to; I have spoke at a word. God keep you.[3969]
Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. [Exeunt[3970]280
Justices.] On, Bardolph; lead the men away. [Exeunt[3971]
Bardolph, Recruits, &c.] As I return, I will fetch off these
justices: I do see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Lord,[3972]
Lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying![3972]
This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to[3973]285
me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done
about Turnbull Street; and every third word a lie, duer[3974]
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 a' was naked, he was, for all the290
world, like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carved
upon it with a knife: a' was so forlorn, that his dimensions
to any thick sight were invincible: a' was the very genius[3975]
of famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores[3976]
called him mandrake: a' came ever in the rearward of the[3976][3977]295
fashion, and sung those tunes to the overscutched huswives[3978][3979]
that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware they were his[3978]
fancies or his good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger[3978][3980]
become a squire, and talks as familiarly of John a Gaunt[3981]
as if he had been sworn brother to him; and I'll be sworn300
a' ne'er saw him but once in the Tilt-yard; and then he[3982]
burst his head for crowding among the marshal's men.[3983]
I saw it, and told John a Gaunt he beat his own name;
for you might have thrust him and all his apparel into an[3984]
[Pg 428]
eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for305
him, a court: and now has he land and beefs. Well, I'll[3985]
be acquainted with him, if I return; and it shall go hard[3986]
but I will make him a philosopher's two stones to me:[3987]
if the young dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no
reason in the law of nature but I may snap at him. Let[3988]310
time shape, and there an end. [Exit.[3989]
ACT IV.
Scene I. Yorkshire. Gaultree Forest.
Enter the Archbishop of York, Mowbray, Hastings, and others.[3990]
Arch. What is this forest call'd?[3991]
Hast. 'Tis Gaultree Forest, an't shall please your grace.[3992]
Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send discoverers forth
To know the numbers of our enemies.[3993]
Hast. We have sent forth already.
Arch. 'Tis well done.5
My friends and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have received
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus:[3994]
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers[3995]10
As might hold sortance with his quality,
[Pg 429]
The which he could not levy; whereupon
He is retired, to ripe his growing fortunes,
To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers
That your attempts may overlive the hazard15
And fearful meeting of their opposite.
Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground
And dash themselves to pieces.
Enter a Messenger.[3996]
Hast. Now, what news?
Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile,
In goodly form comes on the enemy;20
And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number
Upon or near the rate of thirty thousand.
Mowb. The just proportion that we gave them out.
Let us sway on and face them in the field.[3997]
Arch. What well-appointed leader fronts us here?25
Enter Westmoreland.[3998]
Mowb. 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:[3999]
What doth concern your coming?[3999]
West. Then, my[4000]30
Unto your grace do I in chief address
The substance of my speech. If that rebellion
Came like itself, in base and abject routs,
Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rags,[4001]
And countenanced by boys and beggary,35
[Pg 430]
I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd,[4002]
In his true, native and most proper shape,
You, reverend father, and these noble lords
Had not been here, to dress the ugly form[4003]
Of base and bloody insurrection40
With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,[4004]
Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd,[4005]
Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd,
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd,
Whose white investments figure innocence,[4006]45
The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself
Out of the speech of peace that bears such grace,
Into the harsh and boisterous tongue of war;
Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,[4007]50
Your pens to lances and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet and a point of war?[4008]
Arch. Wherefore do I this? so the question stands.
Briefly to this end: we are all diseased,
And with our surfeiting and wanton hours[4009]55
Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,[4009]
And we must bleed for it; of which disease[4009]
Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.[4009]
But, my most noble Lord of Westmoreland,[4009]
I take not on me here as a physician,[4009]60
Nor do I as an enemy to peace[4009]
Troop in the throngs of military men;[4009]
But rather show awhile like fearful war,[4009]
To diet rank minds sick of happiness[4009]
And purge the obstructions which begin to stop[4009]65
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.[4009]
I have in equal balance justly weigh'd[4009]
[Pg 431]
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer.[4009]
And find our griefs heavier than our offences.[4009]
We see which way the stream of time doth run,[4009]70
And are enforced from our most quiet there[4009][4010]
By the rough torrent of occasion;[4009]
And have the summary of all our griefs,[4009]
When time shall serve, to show in articles;[4009]
Which long ere this we offer'd to the king,[4009]75
And might by no suit gain our audience:[4009][4011]
When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs,[4009]
We are denied access unto his person[4009]
Even by those men that most have done us wrong.[4009]
The dangers of the days but newly gone,[4012]80
Whose memory is written on the earth
With yet appearing blood, and the examples
Of every minute's instance, present now,[4013]
Hath put us in these ill-beseeming arms,[4014]
Not to break peace or any branch of it,85
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,90
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forged rebellion with a seal divine
And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?[4015]
Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth,[4016]
To brother born an household cruelty;[4017]95
I make my quarrel in particular.
[Pg 432]
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,100
And suffer the condition of these times
To lay a heavy and unequal hand[4018][4019]
Upon our honours?[4018]
West. O, my good Lord Mowbray,[4020]
Construe the times to their necessities,[4020]
And you shall say indeed, it is the time,[4020]105
And not the king, that doth you injuries.[4020]
Yet for your part, it not appears to me[4020]
Either from the king or in the present time[4020][4021]
That you should have an inch of any ground[4020]
To build a grief on: were you not restored[4020]110
To all the Duke of Norfolk's signories,[4020]
Your noble and right well remember'd father's?[4020]
Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost,[4020]
That need to be revived and breathed in me?[4020]
The king that loved him, as the state stood then,[4020]115
Was force perforce compell'd to banish him:[4020][4022]
And then that Henry Bolingbroke and he,[4020][4023][4024]
Being mounted and both roused in their seats,[4020][4024]
Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,[4020][4024][4025]
Their armed staves in charge, their beavers down,[4020][4024]120
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel[4020][4024][4026]
And the loud trumpet blowing them together,[4020][4024]
Then, then, when there was nothing could have stay'd[4020][4024]
My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,[4020][4024]
O, when the king did throw his warder down,[4020][4024][4027]125
His own life hung upon the staff he threw;[4020]
[Pg 433]
Then threw he down himself and all their lives[4020]
That by indictment and by dint of sword[4020][4028]
Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.[4020]
West. You speak, Lord Mowbray, now you know not what.[4020]130
The Earl of Hereford was reputed then[4020][4029]
In England the most valiant gentleman:[4020]
Who knows on whom fortune would then have smiled?[4020]
But if your father had been victor there,[4020]
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry:[4020]135
For all the country in a general voice[4020]
Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers and love[4020][4030]
Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on[4020][4031]
And bless'd and graced indeed, more than the king.[4020][4032]
But this is mere digression from my purpose.[4033]140
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,[4034]
You shall enjoy them, every thing set off[4034]145
That might so much as think you enemies.[4035]
Mowb. But he hath forced 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:150
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 arms,155
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;
Then reason will our hearts should be as good:[4036]
[Pg 434]
Say you not then our offer is compell'd.
Mowb. Well, by my will we shall admit no parley.[4037]
West. That argues but the shame of your offence:160
A rotten case abides no handling.[4038]
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?165
West. That is intended in the general's name:[4039]
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,170
All members of our cause, both here and hence,[4040]
That are insinewed to this action,[4040][4041]
Acquitted by a true substantial form,[4040]
And present execution of our wills[4040][4042]
To us and to our purposes confined,[4043]175
We come within our awful banks again,[4044]
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.[4045]
West. This will I show the general. Please you, lords,
In sight of both our battles we may meet;[4046]
And either end in peace, which God so frame![4046][4047]180
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.
Which must decide it.
[Pg 435]
Arch. My lord, we will do so. [Exit West.
Mowb. There is a thing within my bosom tells me[4048]
That no conditions of our peace can stand.[4049]
Hast. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace[4050]185
Upon such large terms and so absolute
As our conditions shall consist upon,[4051]
Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
Mowb. Yea, but our valuation shall be such[4052]
That every slight and false-derived cause,190
Yea, every idle, nice and wanton reason
Shall to the king taste of this action;
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,[4053]
We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind
That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff195
And good from bad find no partition.
Arch. No, no, my lord. Note this; the king is weary[4054]
Of dainty and such picking grievances:[4054][4055]
For he hath found to end one doubt by death
Revives two greater in the heirs of life,200
And therefore will he wipe his tables clean
And keep no tell-tale to his memory
That may repeat and history his loss
To new remembrance; for full well he knows
He cannot so precisely weed this land205
As his misdoubts present occasion:
His foes are so enrooted with his friends
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfasten so and shake a friend.[4056]
So that this land, like an offensive wife210
That hath enraged him on to offer strokes,[4057]
As he is striking, holds his infant up
And hangs resolved correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.
[Pg 436]
Hast. Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods215
On late offenders, that he now doth lack
The very instruments of chastisement:
So that his power, like to a fangless lion,
May offer, but not hold.
Arch. 'Tis very true:
And therefore be assured, my good lord marshal,220
If we do now make our atonement well,
Our peace will, like a broken limb united,
Grow stronger for the breaking.
Mowb. Be it so.[4058]
Here is return'd my Lord of Westmoreland.[4058]
Re-enter Westmoreland.[4059]
West. The prince is here at hand: pleaseth your lordship225
To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies.
Mowb. Your grace of York, in God's name, then, set forward.[4060]
Arch. Before, and greet his grace: my lord, we come. [Exeunt.[4061]
[Pg 437]
Scene II. Another part of the forest.
Enter, from one side, Mowbray, attended; afterwards the Archbishop,
Hastings, and others: from the other side, Prince
John of Lancaster, and Westmoreland; Officers, and others
with them.[4062]
Lan. You are well encounter'd here, my cousin Mowbray:[4063]
Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop;[4064]
And so to you, Lord Hastings, and to all.
My Lord of York, it better show'd with you
When that your flock, assembled by the bell,5
Encircled you to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text
Than now to see you here an iron man,[4065]
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to sword and life to death.10
That man that sits within a monarch's heart,
And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,
Would he abuse the countenance of the king,
Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach
In shadow of such greatness! With you, lord bishop,15
It is even so. Who hath not heard it spoken
How deep you were within the books of God?[4066]
To us the speaker in his parliament;
To us the imagined voice of God himself;[4067]
The very opener and intelligencer20
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven
And our dull workings. O, who shall believe
But you misuse the reverence of your place,
[Pg 438]
Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,[4068]
As a false favourite doth his prince's name,25
In deeds dishonourable? You have ta'en up,[4069]
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,[4070]
The subjects of his substitute, my father,[4071]
And both against the peace of heaven and him
Have here up-swarm'd them.
Arch. Good my Lord of Lancaster,30
I am not here against your father's peace;
But, as I told my Lord of Westmoreland,
The time misorder'd doth, in common sense,[4072]
Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form,
To hold our safety up. I sent your grace35
The parcels and particulars of our grief,
The which hath been with scorn shoved from the court,[4073]
Whereon this Hydra son of war is born;[4074]
Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep
With grant of our most just and right desires,[4075]40
And true obedience, of this madness cured,
Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.
Mowb. If not, we ready are to try our fortunes
To the last man.
Hast. And though we here fall down,
We have supplies to second our attempt:45
If they miscarry, theirs shall second them;
And so success of mischief shall be born[4076]
And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up[4077]
Whiles England shall have generation.[4078]
Lan. You are too shallow, Hastings, much too shallow,[4079]50
To sound the bottom of the after-times.
[Pg 439]
West. Pleaseth your grace to answer them directly
How far forth you do like their articles.
Lan. I like them all, and do allow them well;
And swear here, by the honour of my blood,55
My father's purposes have been mistook;
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning and authority.
My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress'd;
Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you,[4080]60
Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
As we will ours: and here between the armies
Let's drink together friendly and embrace,
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home
Of our restored love and amity.65
Arch. I take your princely word for these redresses.[4081][4082]
Lan. I give it you, and will maintain my word:[4081]
And thereupon I drink unto your grace.[4083]
Hast. Go, captain, and deliver to the army[4084]
This news of peace: let them have pay, and part:70
I know it will well please them. Hie thee, captain.
[Exit Officer.[4085]
Arch. To you, my noble Lord of Westmoreland.[4086]
West. I pledge your grace; and, if you knew what pains[4087]
I have bestow'd to breed this present peace,[4087]
You would drink freely: but my love to ye[4088]75
Shall show itself more openly hereafter.
Arch. I do not doubt you.
West. I am glad of it.
Health to my lord and gentle cousin, Mowbray.
[Pg 440]
Mowb. You wish me health in very happy season;
For I am, on the sudden, something ill.80
Arch. Against ill chances men are ever merry;
But heaviness foreruns the good event.
West. Therefore be merry, coz; since sudden sorrow
Serves to say thus, 'some good thing comes to-morrow.'[4089]
Arch. Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.85
Mowb. So much the worse, if your own rule be true.
[Shouts within.[4090]
Lan. The word of peace is render'd: hark, how they shout![4091]
Mowb. This had been cheerful after victory.
Arch. A peace is of the nature of a conquest;
For then both parties nobly are subdued,90
And neither party loser.
Lan. Go, my lord,
And let our army be discharged too. [Exit Westmoreland.[4092]
And, good my lord, so please you, let our trains[4093]
March by us, that we may peruse the men
We should have coped withal.
Arch. Go, good Lord Hastings,95
And, ere they be dismiss'd, let them march by. [Exit Hastings.[4094]
Lan. I trust, lords, we shall lie to-night together.
Re-enter Westmoreland.[4095]
Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still?[4096]
West. The leaders, having charge from you to stand,
Will not go off until they hear you speak.100
Lan. They know their duties.
[Pg 441]
Re-enter Hastings.[4097]
Hast. My lord, our army is dispersed already:[4098]
Like youthful steers unyoked, they take their courses[4099]
East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up,
Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place.[4100]105
West. Good tidings, my Lord Hastings; for the which
I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason:
And you, lord archbishop, and you, lord Mowbray,
Of capital treason I attach you both.
Mowb. Is this proceeding just and honourable?110
West. Is your assembly so?
Arch. Will you thus break your faith?
Lan. I pawn'd thee none:[4101]
I promised you redress of these same grievances[4102]
Whereof you did complain; which, by mine honour,
I will perform with a most Christian care.115
But for you, rebels, look to taste the due
Meet for rebellion and such acts as yours.[4103]
Most shallowly did you these arms commence,
Fondly brought here and foolishly sent hence.
Strike up our drums, pursue the scatter'd stray:120
God, and not we, hath safely fought to-day.[4104]
Some guard these traitors to the block of death,[4105]
Treason's true bed and yielder up of breath. [Exeunt.
[Pg 442]
Scene III. Another part of the forest.
Alarum. Excursions. Enter Falstaff and Colevile, meeting.[4106]
Fal. What's your name, sir? of what condition are you,
and of what place, I pray?[4107]
Cole. I am a knight, sir; and my name is Colevile of[4108]
the dale.[4108]
Fal. Well, then, Colevile is your name, a knight is your5
degree, and your place the dale: Colevile shall be still your
name, a traitor your degree, and the dungeon your place,[4109]
a place deep enough; so shall you be still Colevile of the[4110]
dale.
Cole. Are not you Sir John Falstaff?10
Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye
yield, sir? or shall I sweat for you? If I do sweat, they are
the drops of thy lovers, and they weep for thy death: therefore
rouse up fear and trembling, and do observance to my
mercy.15
Cole. I think you are Sir John Falstaff, and in that
thought yield me.
Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of
mine, and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word
but my name. An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I20
were simply the most active fellow in Europe: my womb,
my womb, my womb, undoes me. Here comes our general.
Enter Prince John of Lancaster, Westmoreland, Blunt,
and others.[4111]
Lan. The heat is past; follow no further now:[4112]
Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland. [Exit Westmoreland.
[Pg 443]
Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while?25
When every thing is ended, then you come:[4113]
These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,
One time or other break some gallows' back.
Fal. I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus:
I never knew yet but rebuke and check was the reward of30
valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a bullet?
have I, in my poor and old motion, the expedition of
thought? I have speeded hither with the very extremest[4114]
inch of possibility; I have foundered nine score and odd[4115]
posts: and here, travel-tainted as I am, have, in my pure35
and immaculate valour, taken Sir John Colevile of the
dale, a most furious knight and valorous enemy. But
what of that? he saw me, and yielded; that I may justly
say, with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, 'I came, saw, and[4116]
overcame.'40
Lan. It was more of his courtesy than your deserving.
Fal. I know not: here he is, and here I yield him: and
I beseech your grace, let it be booked with the rest of this
day's deeds; or, by the Lord, I will have it in a particular[4117]45
ballad else, with mine own picture on the top on't, Colevile[4118]
kissing my foot: to the which course if I be enforced, if you
do not all show like gilt two-pences to me, and I in the
clear sky of fame o'ershine you as much as the full moon
doth the cinders of the element, which show like pins' heads50
to her, believe not the word of the noble: therefore let me
have right, and let desert mount.
Lan. Thine's too heavy to mount.
Lan. Thine's too thick to shine.55
Fal. Let it do something, my good lord, that may do
me good, and call it what you will.
Lan. Is thy name Colevile?
Cole. It is, my lord.
Lan. A famous rebel art thou, Colevile.60
Fal. And a famous true subject took him.
Cole. I am, my lord, but as my betters are
That led me hither: had they been ruled by me,
You should have won them dearer than you have.[4119]
Fal. I know not how they sold themselves: but thou,65
like a kind fellow, gavest thyself away gratis; and I thank[4120]
thee for thee.
Re-enter Westmoreland.[4121]
Lan. Now, have you left pursuit?[4122]
West. Retreat is made and execution stay'd.
Lan. Send Colevile with his confederates[4123]70
To York, to present execution:
Blunt, lead him hence; and see you guard him sure.
[Exeunt Blunt and others with Colevile.[4124]
And now dispatch we toward the court, my lords:
I hear the king my father is sore sick:
Our news shall go before us to his majesty,75
Which, cousin, you shall bear to comfort him;
And we with sober speed will follow you.
Fal. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go[4125][4126]
Through Gloucestershire: and, when you come to court,[4125]
Stand my good lord, pray, in your good report.[4125][4127]80
Lan. Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition,[4128]
Shall better speak of you than you deserve.[4128]
[Pg 445]
[Exeunt all except Falstaff.[4129]
Fal. I would you had but the wit: 'twere better than[4130]
your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded
boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh;[4131]85
but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There's never none[4132]
of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth[4133]
so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that[4133]
they fall into a kind of male green-sickness; and then, when
they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and90
cowards; which some of us should be too, but for inflammation.
A good sherris-sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It
ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and[4134]
dull and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive,[4134][4135]
quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and delectable95
shapes; which, delivered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which[4136]
is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of[4137]
your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which,
before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which
is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris100
warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts
extreme: it illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives[4138]
warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm;
and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster
me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puffed105
up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this[4139]
valour comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is
nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and learning
a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences[4140]
it and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it that Prince110
Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit
[Pg 446]
of his father, he hath, like lean sterile and bare land,
manured, husbanded and tilled with excellent endeavour
of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he
is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons,115
the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to[4141]
forswear thin potations, and to addict themselves to sack.
Enter Bardolph.[4142]
How now, Bardolph?
Bard. The army is discharged all and gone.
Fal. Let them go. I'll through Gloucestershire; and120
there will I visit Master Robert Shallow, esquire: I have him
already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and
shortly will I seal with him. Come away. [Exeunt.[4143]
Scene IV. Westminster. The Jerusalem Chamber.
Enter the King, the Princes Thomas of Clarence and
Humphrey of Gloucester, Warwick, and others.[4144]
King. Now, lords, if God doth give successful end[4145]
To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,[4146]
We will our youth lead on to higher fields
And draw no swords but what are sanctified.
Our navy is address'd, our power collected,5
Our substitutes in absence well invested,
And every thing lies level to our wish:
Only, we want a little personal strength;
[Pg 447]
And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot,
Come underneath the yoke of government.10
War. Both which we doubt not but your majesty
Shall soon enjoy.
King. Humphrey, my son of Gloucester,[4147]
Where is the prince your brother?[4147]
Glou. I think he's gone to hunt, my lord, at Windsor.
King. And how accompanied?
Glou. I do not know, my lord.15
King. Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with him?
Glou. No, my good lord; he is in presence here.
Clar. What would my lord and father?
King. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence.
How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?20
He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas;
Thou hast a better place in his affection
Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy,
And noble offices thou mayst effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,25
Between his greatness and thy other brethren:
Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love,
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace
By seeming cold or careless of his will;
For he is gracious, if he be observed:30
He hath a tear for pity and a hand
Open as day for melting charity:[4148]
Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint,
As humorous as winter and as sudden[4149]
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.[4150]35
His temper, therefore, must be well observed:
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth;
[Pg 448]
But, being moody, give him line and scope,[4151]
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,40
Confound themselves with working. Learn this, Thomas,
And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends,
A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in,
That the united vessel of their blood,
Mingled with venom of suggestion—45
As, force perforce, the age will pour it in—
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong[4152]
As aconitum or rash gunpowder.
Clar. I shall observe him with all care and love.
King. Why art thou not at Windsor with him, Thomas?50
Clar. He is not there to-day; he dines in London.[4153]
King. And how accompanied? canst thou tell that?[4154]
Clar. With Poins, and other his continual followers.[4153]
King. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds;
And he, the noble image of my youth,55
Is overspread with them: therefore my grief
Stretches itself beyond the hour of death:
The blood weeps from my heart when I do shape
In forms imaginary the unguided days
And rotten times that you shall look upon60
When I am sleeping with my ancestors.
For when his headstrong riot hath no curb,
When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,
When means and lavish manners meet together,
O, with what wings shall his affections fly65
Towards fronting peril and opposed decay!
War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite:
The prince but studies his companions
Like a strange tongue, wherein, to gain the language,
'Tis needful that the most immodest word70
Be look'd upon and learn'd; which once attain'd,
Your highness knows, comes to no further use[4155]
[Pg 449]
But to be known and hated. So, like gross terms,
The prince will in the perfectness of time
Cast off his followers; and their memory75
Shall as a pattern or a measure live,
By which his grace must mete the lives of others,[4156]
Turning past evils to advantages.
King. 'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb[4157]
In the dead carrion.
Enter Westmoreland.[4158]
Who's here? Westmoreland?80
West. Health to my sovereign, and new happiness[4159]
Added to that that I am to deliver![4160]
Prince John your son doth kiss your grace's hand:
Mowbray, the Bishop Scroop, Hastings and all[4161]
Are brought to the correction of your law;85
There is not now a rebel's sword unsheath'd,
But Peace puts forth her olive every where.
The manner how this action hath been borne
Here at more leisure may your highness read,
With every course in his particular.[4162]90
King. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird,
Which ever in the haunch of winter sings
The lifting up of day.
Enter Harcourt.[4163]
Look, here's more news.
Har. From enemies heaven keep your majesty;[4164]
And, when they stand against you, may they fall95
As those that I am come to tell you of!
The Earl Northumberland and the Lord Bardolph,
With a great power of English and of Scots,
[Pg 450]
Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown:[4165]
The manner and true order of the fight,100
This packet, please it you, contains at large.[4166]
King. And wherefore should these good news make me sick?[4167]
Will Fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in foulest letters?[4168]
She either gives a stomach and no food;105
Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast
And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,[4169]
That have abundance and enjoy it not.
I should rejoice now at this happy news;
And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy:110
O me! come near me; now I am much ill.[4170]
Glou. Comfort, your majesty![4171]
Clar. O my royal father!
West. My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself, look up.
War. Be patient, princes; you do know, these fits
Are with his highness very ordinary.115
Stand from him, give him air; he'll straight be well.[4172]
Clar. No, no, he cannot long hold out these pangs:[4173]
The incessant care and labour of his mind
Hath wrought the mure, that should confine it in,
So thin that life looks through and will break out.[4174]120
Glou. The people fear me; for they do observe[4175]
Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature:[4176]
The seasons change their manners, as the year
Had found some months asleep and leap'd them over.[4177]
[Pg 451]
Clar. The river hath thrice flow'd, no ebb between;125
And the old folk, time's doting chronicles,
Say it did so a little time before
That our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.[4178]
War. Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers.
Glou. This apoplexy will ceitain be his end.[4179]130
King. I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence
Into some other chamber: softly, pray.[4180]
Scene V. Another Chamber.
The King lying on a bed: Clarence, Gloucester, Warwick,
and others in attendance.[4181]
King. Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;
Unless some dull and favourable hand[4182]
Will whisper music to my weary spirit.
War. Call for the music in the other room.
King. Set me the crown upon my pillow here.5
Clar. His eye is hollow, and he changes much.
War. Less noise, less noise!
Enter Prince Henry.[4183]
Prince. Who saw the Duke of Clarence?
Clar. I am here, brother, full of heaviness.
Glou. Exceeding ill.
Glou. He alter'd much upon the hearing it.[4187]
War. Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince, speak low;[4190]
The king your father is disposed to sleep.
Clar. Let us withdraw into the other room.
War. Will't please your grace to go along with us?
Prince. No; I will sit and watch here by the king.20
[Exeunt all except the Prince.[4191]
Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,
Being so troublesome a bedfellow?
O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night! sleep with it now![4192]25
Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet[4193]
As he whose brow with homely biggen bound[4194]
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,30
That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath[4195]
There lies a downy feather which stirs not:[4196]
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down[4197]
Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my father![4198]
[Pg 453]
This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep,35
That from this golden rigol hath divorced[4199]
So many English kings. Thy due from me[4200]
Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously:40
My due from thee is this imperial crown,[4201]
Which, as immediate from thy place and blood,
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,[4202]
Which God shall guard: and put the world's whole strength[4203][4204]
Into one giant arm, it shall not force[4203]45
This lineal honour from me: this from thee[4203]
Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me.[4203] [Exit.
King. Warwick! Gloucester! Clarence!
Re-enter Warwick, Gloucester, Clarence, and the rest.[4205]
Clar. Doth the king call?
War. What would your majesty? How fares your grace?[4206]50
King. Why did you leave me here alone, my lords?
Clar. We left the prince my brother here, my liege,[4207]
Who undertook to sit and watch by you.[4207]
King. The Prince of Wales! Where is he? let me see him:[4207]
He is not here.[4207][4208]55
War. This door is open; he is gone this way.[4209]
Glou. He came not through the chamber where we stay'd.
[Pg 454]
King. Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow?
War. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here.
King. The prince hath ta'en it hence: go, seek him out.[4210]60
Is he so hasty that he doth suppose[4210]
My sleep my death?[4210]
Find him, my Lord of Warwick; chide him hither.[4210]
[Exit Warwick.[4210]
This part of his conjoins with my disease,[4210]
And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you are![4210]65
How quickly nature falls into revolt
When gold becomes her object![4211]
For this the foolish over-careful fathers
Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care,[4212][4213]
Their bones with industry;[4212]70
For this they have engrossed and piled up[4214]
The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold;
For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts and martial exercises:
When, like the bee, culling from every flower[4215]75
The virtuous sweets,[4216][4217][4218]
Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey,[4217][4218][4219]
We bring it to the hive; and, like the bees,[4218][4220]
[Pg 455]
Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste[4218]
Yield his engrossments to the ending father.[4218]80
Re-enter Warwick.[4221]
Now, where is he that will not stay so long
Till his friend sickness hath determined me?[4222]
War. My lord, I found the prince in the next room,
Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks,
With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow85
That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood,
Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife
With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.
King. But wherefore did he take away the crown?
Re-enter Prince Henry.[4223]
Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry.90
Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.
[Exeunt Warwick and the rest.[4224]
Prince. I never thought to hear you speak again.
King. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:
I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.
Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair[4225]95
That thou wilt needs invest thee with my honours[4226]
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!
Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity
Is held from falling with so weak a wind100
That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.
Thou hast stolen that which after some few hours
Were thine without offence; and at my death
Thou hast seal'd up my expectation:
Thy life did manifest thou lovedst me not,105
[Pg 456]
And thou wilt have me die assured of it.
Thou hidest a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,[4227]
Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart,[4228]
To stab at half an hour of my life.[4229]
What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour?110
Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself,
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear[4230]
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse
Be drops of balm to sanctify thy head:115
Only compound me with forgotten dust;
Give that which gave thee life unto the worms.
Pluck down my officers, break my decrees;
For now a time is come to mock at form:
Harry the fifth is crown'd: up, vanity![4231]120
Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence!
And to the English court assemble now,
From every region, apes of idleness!
Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum:
Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance,[4232]125
Revel the night, rob, murder, and commit
The oldest sins the newest kind of ways?[4233]
Be happy, he will trouble you no more;
England shall double gild his treble guilt,[4234]
England shall give him office, honour, might;130
For the fifth Harry from curb'd license plucks[4235]
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.[4236]
O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
When that my care could not withhold thy riots,135
What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?
[Pg 457]
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,
Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!
Prince. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my tears,[4237]
The moist impediments unto my speech,[4238]140
I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke
Ere you with grief had spoke and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your crown;[4239]
And He that wears the crown immortally
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more145
Than as your honour and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
Which my most inward true and duteous spirit[4240]
Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending.[4241][4242]
God witness with me, when I here came in,[4242]150
And found no course of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die
And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed!155
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,
I spake unto this crown as having sense,[4243]
And thus upbraided it: 'The care on thee depending
Hath fed upon the body of my father;160
Therefore, thou best of gold art worst of gold:[4244]
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,[4245]
Preserving life in medicine potable;
But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,
Hast eat thy bearer up.' Thus, my most royal liege,[4246]165
[Pg 458]
Accusing it, I put it on my head,
To try with it, as with an enemy
That had before my face murder'd my father,
The quarrel of a true inheritor.
But if it did infect my blood with joy,170
Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine
Did with the least affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to the might of it,[4247]
Let God for ever keep it from my head[4248]175
And make me as the poorest vassal is
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
King. O my son,[4249]
God put it in thy mind to take it hence,[4248][4250]
That thou mightst win the more thy father's love,[4251]180
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it!
Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. God knows, my son,[4248]
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways[4252]185
I met this crown; and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head.
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;
For all the soil of the achievement goes190
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me
But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances;
Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,[4253]195
Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears[4254]
[Pg 459]
Thou see'st with peril I have answered;
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument: and now my death
Changes the mode; for what in me was purchased,[4255]200
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;[4256]
So thou the garland wear'st successively.[4257]
Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green;
And all my friends, which thou must make thy friends,[4258]205
Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;[4259]
By whose fell working I was first advanced
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displaced: which to avoid,
I cut them off; and had a purpose now[4260]210
To lead out many to the Holy Land,[4261]
Lest rest and lying still might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,[4262]
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out,[4263]215
May waste the memory of the former days.[4264]
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O God forgive;[4248][4265]
And grant it may with thee in true peace live![4265]220
Prince. My gracious liege,[4266]
You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
[Pg 460]
Then plain and right must my possession be:
Which I with more than with a common pain
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.225
Enter Lord John of Lancaster.[4267]
King. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster.[4268]
Lan. Health, peace, and happiness to my royal father![4269]
King. Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, son John;[4270]
But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare wither'd trunk: upon thy sight230
My worldly business makes a period.
Where is my Lord of Warwick?
Prince. My Lord of Warwick!
Enter Warwick, and others.[4271]
King. Doth any name particular belong
Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?
War. 'Tis call'd Jerusalem, my noble lord.235
King. Laud be to God! even there my life must end.[4248][4272]
It hath been prophesied to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerusalem;
Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land:
But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie;240
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die. [Exeunt.[4273]
ACT V.
Scene I. Gloucestershire. Shallow's house.
Enter Shallow, Falstaff, Bardolph, and Page.[4274]
Shal. By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away to-night.[4275]
What, Davy, I say!
Fal. You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.
Shal. I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused;
excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve;5
you shall not be excused. Why, Davy!
Enter Davy.
Davy. Here, sir.
Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, Davy; let[4276]
me see, Davy; let me see: yea, marry, William cook, bid[4277]
him come hither. Sir John, you shall not be excused.10
Davy. Marry, sir, thus; those precepts cannot be served:
and, again, sir, shall we sow the headland with wheat?[4278]
Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook:
are there no young pigeons?
Davy. Yes, sir. Here is now the smith's note for shoeing[4279][4280]15
and plough-irons.[4280]
Shal. Let it be cast and paid. Sir John, you shall not
be excused.
Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be[4281]
had: and, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages,20
about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair?[4282]
[Pg 462]
Shal. A' shall answer it. Some pigeons, Davy, a couple
of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any pretty little
tiny kickshaws, tell William cook.[4283]
Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir?25
Shal. Yea, Davy. I will use him well: a friend i' the[4284]
court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well,
Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite.
Davy. No worse than they are backbitten, sir; for they[4285]
have marvellous foul linen.[4286]30
Shal. Well conceited, Davy: about thy business, Davy.
Davy. I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor
of Woncot against Clement Perkes of the hill.[4287]
Shal. There is many complaints, Davy, against that[4288]
Visor: that Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.35
Davy. I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but
yet, God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance[4289]
at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to
speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served your
worship truly, sir, this eight years; and if I cannot once[4290]40
or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest
man, I have but a very little credit with your worship.[4291]
The knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech
your worship, let him be countenanced.[4292]
Shal. Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. Look[4293]45
about, Davy. [Exit Davy] Where are you, Sir John?[4293][4294]
Come, come, come, off with your boots. Give me your[4293][4295]
hand, Master Bardolph.[4293]
Bard. I am glad to see your worship.
Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master[4296]50
Bardolph: and welcome, my tall fellow [to the Page.][4297]
[Pg 463]
Come, Sir John.
Fal. I'll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow. [Exit[4298]
Shallow.] Bardolph, look to our horses. [Exeunt Bardolph[4298][4299]
and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should make[4299]55
four dozen of such bearded hermits' staves as Master Shallow.[4300]
It is a wonderful thing to see the sembable coherence of
his men's spirits and his: they, by observing of him, do bear[4301]
themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them,
is turned into a justice-like serving-man: their spirits are so60
married in conjunction with the participation of society that
they flock together in consent, like so many wild-geese. If I[4302]
had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humour his men with
the imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I
would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better65
command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing
or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of
another: therefore let men take heed of their company. I
will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince
Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of six fashions,[4303]70
which is four terms, or two actions, and a' shall laugh[4304]
without intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a slight[4305]
oath and a jest with a sad brow will do with a fellow that
never had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see
him laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up!75
Shal. [Within] Sir John![4306]
Fal. I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master Shallow.
[Exit.[4307]
[Pg 464]
Scene II. Westminster. The palace.
Enter Warwick and the Lord Chief Justice, meeting.[4308]
War. How now, my lord chief justice! whither away?[4309]
Ch. Just. How doth the king?
War. Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended.[4310]
Ch. Just. I hope, not dead.
War. He's walk'd the way of nature;
And to our purposes he lives no more.5
Ch. Just. I would his majesty had call'd me with him:
The service that I truly did his life
Hath left me open to all injuries.
War. Indeed I think the young king loves you not.
Ch. Just. I know he doth not, and do arm myself10
To welcome the condition of the time,
Which cannot look more hideously upon me[4311]
Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.
Enter Lancaster, Clarence, Gloucester, Westmoreland,
and others.[4312]
War. Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry:
O that the living Harry had the temper15
Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen![4313]
How many nobles then should hold their places,
That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort!
[Pg 465]
Ch. Just. O God, I fear all will be overturn'd![4314]
Lan. Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.[4315]20
Glou. } Good morrow, cousin.[4316]
Clar. }
Lan. We meet like men that had forgot to speak.
War. We do remember; but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk.
Lan. Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!25
Ch. Just. Peace be with us, lest we be heavier!
Glou. O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed;[4317]
And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of sceming sorrow, it is sure your own.
Lan. Though no man be assured what grace to find,30
You stand in coldest expectation:
I am the sorrier; would 'twere otherwise.
Clar. Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair;
Which swims against your stream of quality.
Ch. Just. Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honour,35
Led by the impartial conduct of my soul;[4318]
And never shall you see that I will beg
A ragged and forestall'd remission.[4319][4320]
If truth and upright innocency fail me,[4320][4321]
I'll to the king my master that is dead,40
And tell him who hath sent me after him.
War. Here comes the prince.
Enter King Henry the fifth, attended.[4322]
King. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,[4324]
Sits not so easy on me as you think.45
Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear:[4325]
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,[4326]
But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, by my faith, it very well becomes you:[4327]50
Sorrow so royally in you appears
That I will deeply put the fashion on
And wear it in my heart: why then, be sad;
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.55
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,
I'll be your father and your brother too;
Let me but bear your love. I'll bear your cares:
Yet weep that Harry's dead; and so will I;[4328]
But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears60
By number into hours of happiness.
Princes. We hope no other from your majesty.[4329]
King. You all look strangely on me: and you most;[4330]
You are, I think, assured I love you not.
Ch. Just. I am assured, if I be measured rightly,65
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
King. No![4331]
How might a prince of my great hopes forget[4331]
So great indignities you laid upon me?[4332]
What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison70
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?[4333]
Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me:
[Pg 467]
And, in the administration of his law,75
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgement;80
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,[4334]
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,[4334]
To have a son set your decrees at nought,[4335]85
To pluck down justice from your awful bench.[4335]
To trip the course of law and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person;[4335]
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image
And mock your workings in a second body.[4335]90
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father and propose a son,
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;95
And then imagine me taking your part[4336]
And in your power soft silencing your son:[4337]
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,100
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.
King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;
Therefore still bear the balance and the sword:
And I do wish your honours may increase,
Till you do live to see a son of mine105
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words:
[Pg 468]
'Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son;
And not less happy, having such a son,[4338]110
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice.' You did commit me:[4339]
For which, I do commit into your hand
The unstained sword that you have used to bear;
With this remembrance, that you use the same115
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.
You shall be as a father to my youth:
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will stoop and humble my intents120
To your well-practised wise directions.
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you;
My father is gone wild into his grave,[4340][4341]
For in his tomb lie my affections;[4340]
And with his spirit sadly I survive,[4342]125
To mock the expectation of the world,
To frustrate prophecies and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down[4343]
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me[4344]
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:130
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods[4345]
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament:
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,135
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us;
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.[4346]140
[Pg 469]
Our coronation done, we will accite,
As I before remember'd, all our state:
And, God consigning to my good intents,[4347]
No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,
God shorten Harry's happy life one day! [Exeunt.[4348]145
Scene III. Gloucestershire. Shallow's orchard.
Enter Falstaff, Shallow, Silence, Davy, Bardolph, and
the Page.[4349]
Shal. Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an[4350]
arbour, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing,[4351]
with a dish of caraways, and so forth: come, cousin Silence:
and then to bed.
Fal. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and[4352]5
a rich.
Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all,
Sir John: marry, good air. Spread, Davy; spread, Davy:
well said, Davy.[4353]
Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your10
serving-man and your husband.[4354]
Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet,
Sir John: by the mass, I have drunk too much sack at[4355]
supper: a good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down:
come, cousin.15
Fal. There's a merry heart! Good Master Silence,[4364]
I'll give you a health for that anon.[4365]
Shal. Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy.[4366]25
Davy. Sweet sir, sit; I'll be with you anon; most
sweet sir, sit. Master page, good master page, sit. Proface![4367]
What you want in meat, we'll have in drink: but[4368]
you must bear; the heart's all. [Exit.[4369]
Shal. Be merry, Master Bardolph; and, my little30
soldier there, be merry.
Fal. I did not think Master Silence had been a man of
this mettle.[4374]
Sil. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once ere
now.40
[Pg 471]
Re-enter Davy.[4375]
Davy. There's a dish of leather-coats for you.
[To Bardolph.[4376]
Shal. Davy!
Davy. Your worship! I'll be with you straight [to[4377]
Bardolph.] A cup of wine, sir?[4377]
Sil. A cup of wine that's brisk and fine,[4359][4378] [Singing.45
And drink unto the leman mine;[4378]
And a merry heart lives long-a.[4378]
Fal. Well said, Master Silence.
Fal. Health and long life to you, Master Silence.
Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: if thou wantest any
thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart. Welcome, my55
little tiny thief [to the Page], and welcome indeed too. I'll[4385]
drink to Master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleros about[4386]
London.
Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die.[4387]
Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,—[4388]60
Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together, ha![4389]
will you not, Master Bardolph?
Bard. Yea, sir, in a pottle-pot.[4390]
Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir.
Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be
merry. [Knocking within.] Look who's at door there, ho![4394]
who knocks? [Exit Davy.[4395]70
Fal. Why, now you have done me right.[4396]
[To Silence, seeing him take off a bumper.
Fal. 'Tis so.
Sil. Is't so? Why then, say an old man can do somewhat.[4399]
Re-enter Davy.[4400]
Davy. An't please your worship, there's one Pistol[4401]
come from the court with news.80
Fal. From the court! let him come in.
Enter Pistol.[4402]
Pist. Sir John, God save you![4404]
Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?
Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.[4405]85
Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in
this realm.[4406]
[Pg 473]
Sil. By'r lady, I think a' be, but goodman Puff of[4407]
Barson.[4408]
Pist. Puff!90
Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base![4409]
Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend,[4409]
And helter-skelter have I rode to thee,[4409][4410]
And tidings do I bring and lucky joys[4409]
And golden times and happy news of price.[4409]95
Fal. I pray thee now, deliver them like a man of this[4411]
world.
Pist. A foutre for the world and worldlings base![4412][4413]
I speak of Africa and golden joys.[4413]
Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?[4413]100
Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.[4413][4414]
Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.[4413][4415] [Singing.
Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons?[4413]
And shall good news be baffled?[4413]
Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.[4413][4416]105
Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.[4417]
Pist. Why then, lament therefore.
Shal. Give me pardon, sir: if, sir, you come with news[4418]
from the court, I take it there's but two ways, either to[4419]
utter them, or to conceal them. I am, sir, under the king,[4420]110
in some authority.
Pist. Under which king, Besonian? speak, or die.[4421]
Shal. Under King Harry.
Pist. Harry the fourth? or fifth?
Pist. A foutre for thine office![4422]
Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king;[4423]115
Harry the fifth's the man. I speak the truth:[4423]
When Pistol lies, do this; and fig me, like[4423]
The bragging Spaniard.[4423]
Fal. What, is the old king dead?
Pist. As nail in door: the things I speak are just.[4424]120
Fal. Away, Bardolph! saddle my horse. Master[4425]
Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land,[4425]
'tis thine. Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities.[4425]
Bard. O joyful day!
I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.[4426]125
Pist. What! I do bring good news.[4427]
Fal. Carry Master Silence to bed. Master Shallow,
my Lord Shallow,—be what thou wilt; I am fortune's
steward—get on thy boots: we'll ride all night. O sweet[4428]
Pistol! Away, Bardolph! [Exit Bard.] Come, Pistol, utter[4429]130
more to me; and withal devise something to do thyself
good. Boot, boot, Master Shallow: I know the young[4430]
king is sick for me. Let us take any man's horses; the
laws of England are at my commandment. Blessed are[4431]
they that have been my friends; and woe to my lord chief-justice![4431][4432]135
Pist. Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also!
'Where is the life that late I led?' say they:[4433]
Why, here it is; welcome these pleasant days! [Exeunt.[4434]
[Pg 475]
Scene IV. London. A street.
Enter Beadles, dragging in Hostess Quickly and Doll Tearsheet.[4435]
Host. No, thou arrant knave; I would to God that I[4436]
might die, that I might have thee hanged: thou hast drawn
my shoulder out of joint.
First Bead. The constables have delivered her over to[4437]
me; and she shall have whipping-cheer enough, I warrant[4438]5
her: there hath been a man or two lately killed about her.[4439]
Dol. Nut-hook, nut-hook, you lie. Come on; I'll tell[4440]
thee what, thou damned tripe-visaged rascal, an the child[4441]
I now go with do miscarry, thou wert better thou hadst[4442]
struck thy mother, thou paper-faced villain.10
Host. O the Lord, that Sir John were come! he would[4443]
make this a bloody day to somebody. But I pray God the[4444]
fruit of her womb miscarry![4445]
First Bead. If it do, you shall have a dozen of cushions
again; you have but eleven now. Come, I charge you both15
go with me; for the man is dead that you and Pistol beat
amongst you.[4446]
Dol. I'll tell you what, you thin man in a censer, I[4447]
will have you as soundly swinged for this,—you blue-bottle[4448]
rogue, you filthy famished correctioner, if you be not20
[Pg 476]
swinged, I'll forswear half-kirtles.
First Bead. Come, come, you she knight-errant, come.[4449]
Host. O God, that right should thus overcome might![4450]
Well, of sufferance comes ease.
Dol. Come, you rogue, come; bring me to a justice.25
Host. Ay, come, you starved blood-hound.[4451]
Dol. Goodman death, goodman bones!
Dol. Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal.
First Bead. Very well. [Exeunt.30
Scene V. A public place near Westminster Abbey.
Enter two Grooms, strewing rushes.[4453]
First Groom. More rushes, more rushes.[4454]
Sec. Groom. The trumpets have sounded twice.
First Groom. 'Twill be two o'clock ere they come from[4455]
the coronation: dispatch, dispatch. [Exeunt.
Enter Falstaff, Shallow, Pistol, Bardolph and Page.[4456]
Fal. Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow; I will[4457]5
make the king do you grace: I will leer upon him as a'
comes by; and do but mark the countenance that he will
[Pg 477]
give me.
Pist. God bless thy lungs, good knight.[4458]
Fal. Come here, Pistol; stand behind me. O, if I had10
had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed
the thousand pound I borrowed of you. But 'tis no matter;[4459]
this poor show doth better: this doth infer the zeal I had
to see him.
Fal. It shows my earnestness of affection,—[4461]
Fal. My devotion,—
Shal. It doth, it doth, it doth.[4462]
Fal. As it were, to ride day and night; and not to20
deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift
me,—
Shal. It is best, certain.[4463]
Fal. But to stand stained with travel, and sweating[4464]
with desire to see him; thinking of nothing else, putting[4464]25
all affairs else in oblivion, as if there were nothing else to[4464][4465]
be done but to see him.[4464]
Pist. 'Tis 'semper idem,' for 'obsque hoc nihil est:'[4466]
'tis all in every part.[4467]
Shal. 'Tis so, indeed.30
Fal. I will deliver her.
[Shouts within, and the trumpets sound.[4472]
Pist. There roar'd the sea, and trumpet-clangor sounds.40
Enter the King and his train, the Lord Chief-Justice among them.[4473]
Fal. God save thy grace, King Hal! my royal Hal![4474][4475]
Pist. The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal
imp of fame!
Fal. God save thee, my sweet boy![4475]
King. My lord chief-justice, speak to that vain man.45
Ch. Just. Have you your wits? know you what 'tis you speak?[4476]
Fal. My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!
King. I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers;
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester![4477]
I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,[4478]50
So surfeit-swell'd, so old, and so profane;
But, being awaked, I do despise my dream.[4479]
Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace;
Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape
For thee thrice wider than for other men.55
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest:
Presume not that I am the thing I was;
For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,[4480]
That I have turn'd away my former self;
So will I those that kept me company.60
When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,
[Pg 479]
The tutor and the feeder of my riots:
Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,
As I have done the rest of my misleaders,65
Not to come near our person by ten mile.[4481]
For competence of life I will allow you,
That lack of means enforce you not to evil:[4482]
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,[4483]
We will, according to your strengths and qualities,[4484]70
Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord,[4485]
To see perform'd the tenour of our word.[4486][4487]
Set on.[4486] [Exeunt King, &c.[4488]
Fal. Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pound.[4489]
Shal. Yea, marry, Sir John; which I beseech you to[4490]75
let me have home with me.
Fal. That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not
you grieve at this; I shall be sent for in private to him:
look you, he must seem thus to the world: fear not your
advancements; I will be the man yet that shall make you[4491]80
great.
Shal. I cannot well perceive how, unless you should[4492]
give me your doublet, and stuff me out with straw. I beseech
you, good Sir John, let me have five hundred of my
thousand.85
Fal. Sir, I will be as good as my word: this that you
heard was but a colour.
Shal. A colour that I fear you will die in, Sir John.[4493]
Fal. Fear no colours: go with me to dinner: come,[4494]
Lieutenant Pistol; come, Bardolph: I shall be sent for soon[4494]90
at night.[4494]
[Pg 480]
Re-enter Prince John, the Lord Chief-Justice; Officers with them.[4495]
Ch. Just. Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet:
Take all his company along with him.
Fal. My lord, my lord,—
Ch. Just. I cannot now speak: I will hear you soon.95
Take them away.
Pist. Si fortuna me tormenta, spero contenta.
[Exeunt all but Prince John and the Chief-Justice.[4496]
Lan. I like this fair proceeding of the king's:
He hath intent his wonted followers
Shall all be very well provided for;[4497]100
But all are banish'd till their conversations[4497]
Appear more wise and modest to the world.[4498]
Ch. Just. And so they are.
Lan. The king hath call'd his parliament, my lord.
Ch. Just. He hath.105
Lan. I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,
We bear our civil swords and native fire
As far as France: I heard a bird so sing,[4499]
Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the king.
Come, will you hence? [Exeunt.110
EPILOGUE.
Spoken by a Dancer.[4500]
First my fear; then my courtesy; last my speech. My[4501]
fear is, your displeasure; my courtesy, my duty; and my
speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech
now, you undo me: for what I have to say is of mine own
making; and what indeed I should say will, I doubt, prove[4502]5
mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the
venture. Be it known to you, as it is very well, I was
lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to pray your
patience for it and to promise you a better. I meant[4503]
indeed to pay you with this; which, if like an ill venture10
it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle
creditors, lose. Here I promised you I would be and
here I commit my body to your mercies: bate me some
and I will pay you some and, as most debtors do, promise
you infinitely.[4504]15
If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you
command me to use my legs? and yet that were but light
payment, to dance out of your debt. But a good conscience
will make any possible satisfaction, and so would I. All[4505]
the gentlewomen here have forgiven me: if the gentlemen[4506]20
will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen,
which was never seen before in such an assembly.[4507]
One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too
much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue
the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry25
with fair Katharine of France: where, for anything I know,
Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already a' be killed[4508]
with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and[4509]
this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs
are too, I will bid you good night: and so kneel down[4510]30
before you; but, indeed, to pray for the queen.[4510]
NOTES.
The list of Dramatis Personæ given in the first Folio differs but
slightly from that prefixed to our text. Thus Northumberland, &c.
are classed as 'Opposites against King Henrie the Fourth:' Warwick,
&c. as 'Of the king's partie,' and Pointz, &c. as 'Irregular Humorists.'
The Dancer who speaks the Epilogue is called 'Epilogue.' As Blunt
is mentioned as present (iv. 3. 73), we have inserted his name in the
list. Coleridge, with an especial reference to II. 2. 153, proposes to
change 'Doll Tearsheet,' into 'Doll Tearstreet,' and Sidney Walker
approves of the suggestion (Criticisms, III. 135). The Servant of the
Lord Chief-Justice, called by Capell his 'Gentleman,' is not in the list
of the Folio.
Induction. As usual in the Quarto there is no division into acts
and scenes. In the Folios the 'Induction' is reckoned as the first
scene, the second scene beginning with the entry of Lord Bardolph.
We have followed Pope.
I. 2. 113. Theobald refers to the stage direction of the Quarto in
this place as a proof that Falstaff was originally called Oldcastle, and
that 'the play being printed from the stage-manuscript, Oldcastle had
been all along alter'd into Falstaff, except in this single place by an
oversight: of which the printers not being aware, continued these
initial traces of the original name.' Steevens suggested that Old.
might have been the beginning of some actor's name, but this supposition
is rejected by Malone, who maintains that 'there is no proof
whatsoever that Falstaff ever was called Oldcastle in these plays.'
'The letters prefixed to this speech crept into the first Quarto copy,'
he adds, 'I have no doubt, merely from Oldcastle being, behind the
scenes, the familiar theatrical appellation of Falstaff, who was his
stage-successor.'
[Pg 484]
I. 3. 36-38. We have left this passage as it stands in the Folios,
agreeing with Mr Staunton that something has been lost or misprinted.
Pope read:
'Yes, if this present quality of war
Impede the instant act; a cause on foot
Lives &c.'
Johnson suggested:
'Yes, in this present quality of war,
Indeed of instant action. A cause &c.'
Capell read:
'Yes, if the present quality of war
Impede the present action. A cause &c.'
Malone, partially adopting Johnson's emendation:
'Yes, in this present quality of war;—
Indeed the instant action, (a cause on foot)
Lives &c.'
Monck Mason proposes:
'Yes, if this prescient quality of war
Induc'd the instant action &c.'
Becket:
'Yes, in this present quality of war
Instance the instant action &c.'
Mr Knight retains the old reading with a new punctuation:
'Yes;—if this present quality of war,—
(Indeed the instant action, a cause on foot,)
Lives &c.'
Mr Collier, following the MS. corrector, in his second edition, reads:
'Yes, in this present quality of war:
Indeed the instant act and cause on foot
Lives &c.'
For 'Indeed' Steevens suggested 'Impel,' and Mason and Henley
'Induc'd.' For 'instant' Tollet would read 'instanc'd.' Delius thinks
emendation unnecessary.
II. 2. 101. In the quarto no distinction is made between the letter
of Falstaff and the speaker's remarks, but in the Folios the letter is
printed in italics.
[Pg 485]
II. 4. 166. As the quotation is made by Pistol, who has just spoken
of 'Cannibals' (for 'Hannibals') and of 'Trojan Greeks,' we have left
it uncorrected. It would be scarcely consistent to put correct Italian,
or Spanish, into his mouth. All the editors assume that Italian is the
language meant, and give it, as such, more or less correctly. If Pistol's
sword were a Toledo blade, the motto would be Spanish. In
that case 'Si' and 'me' would need no alteration. Mr Douce mentions
a sword inscribed with a French version of the motto. On the
same ground we have left 'obsque,' for 'absque,' (v. 5. 28).
II. 4. 221 sqq. We follow the Quarto in writing 's for is, i' for in,
'll for will, an for if, a' for he, &c. as it seems to represent better the
language of the speakers, and from this point we cease to record such
minute discrepancies between it and the Folios.
II. 4. 342. At this point commences an important variation between
different copies of the Quarto. In the earlier impression, which
we call Q1, the whole of Act III. Sc. 1, was omitted, but inserted
in the latter (Q2), and in order to make room for this insertion two new
leaves were added to sheet E, but as the new matter did not exactly
fill up the two leaves required, the pagination was altered. Hence in
Q2, Sig. E 3 recto is made to terminate at 'how now, what's the
matter?' (II. 4. 342) which is seven lines from the bottom in Q1. The
two become again identical at 'strong and of good friends' (III. 2. 99),
the first line of Sig. F.
III. 2. 126. We retain the reading of the Quarto, understanding
'much' in the ironical sense in which it is often found. See As You
Like It, IV. 3. 2, and the present play, II. 4. 121.
III. 2. 293 and 310. Here there are variations in different copies of
the Quarto, in line 293, between genius and gemies, and, in line 310,
between Let and Till. A variation is found also, V. 2. 140, between
you and your.
[Pg 486]
IV. I. 93, 95. These lines are omitted in the Folios and in some
copies of the Quarto. With regard to the former line, Theobald says
that his copy of the Quarto read, 'And consecrate Commotion's civil
Edge:' in his text he altered 'civil edge' to 'civil page.'
IV. I. 94. Mr Singer supposed that after commonwealth a line had
been lost, something to the following effect:
'Whose wrongs do loudly call out for redress.'
Mr Julius Lloyd writes to us: "I am sure the lines are transposed
and should be read thus:
'I make my quarrel in particular
My brother; general, the commonwealth.'
"The transposition is proved, further, by the separation of the
doubtful lines:
'And consecrate commotion's bitter edge
To brother born an household cruelty,'
which are plainly continuous."
Mr Spedding writes: "I think some lines have been lost. If
'And consecrate commotion's bitter edge'
belongs to Westmoreland's speech, there must have been another line
following, to complete the cadence both in sound and sense. And
again, if
'There is no need of any such redress'
is the beginning of his next speech, it is equally clear that something
about 'redress' must have been said between. The opposition between
'brother general' and 'brother born' reads to me like Shakespeare,
and not likely to have come in by accident: and though the transposition
of the lines [as suggested by Mr Lloyd] is ingenious and intelligible
and in another context might be natural, it does not come
naturally in the context proposed. Conjecture seems hopeless in
such a case."
On the whole, we are of opinion that several lines have been
omitted, and those which remain displaced, and that this is one of
the many passages in which the true text is irrecoverable.
IV. 2. 27. The reading 'seal,' which has been attributed to Mr
Collier's MS. corrector, we have assigned to Capell, considering that
we are justified in doing so, because in his Various Readings (part I.[Pg 487]
p. 52) he has the note 'Seal 1st F.—.' We think it clear that he
inadvertently attributed a conjecture of his own to the first and following
Folios. The manner in which the entry is made in his MS.,
which we have consulted, confirms this view.
IV. 4, and IV. 5. The Jerusalem Chamber in which the king died
belonged, as Holinshed tells us (p. 1162, col. 2, ed. 1577), to the Abbot
of Westminster. The same authority states that he was first taken ill
not in the Jerusalem Chamber, as Shakespeare says (IV. 5. 233, 234),
but when paying his devotions at the shrine of S. Edward.
Although neither the Folios nor any more recent editors make a
change of scene after line 132, we have ventured to do so, for, as Mr
Dyce says, 'In fact the audience of Shakespeare's time were to suppose
that a change of scene took place as soon as the king was laid on
the bed.' (On the same principle, all editors except Rowe have made
a new scene to begin after IV. I. 228, where no change is marked in
the Folios.)
Capell's stage direction is not satisfactory, for it implies a change
of scene, though none is indicated in the text. The king's couch
would not be placed in a recess at the back of the stage, because he
has to make speeches from it of considerable length. He must therefore
be lying in front of the stage where he could be seen and heard
by the audience.
IV. 5. 60, &c. We give Pope's arrangement of this passage in full:
'K. Henry. The Prince hath ta'en it hence; go seek him out.
Is he so hasty, that he doth suppose
My sleep my death? find him, my lord of Warwick,
And chide him hither strait; this part of his
Conjoins with my disease, and helps to end me.
See, sons, what things you are! how quickly nature
Falls to revolt, when gold becomes her object?
For this, the foolish over-careful fathers
Have broke their sleeps with thought, their brains with care,
Their bones with industry: for this engrossed
The canker'd heaps of strange-atchieved gold:
For this, they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts and martial exercises:
When, like the Bee, culling from ev'ry Flow'r,
Our thighs are packt with wax, our mouths with honey &c.'
[Pg 488]
V. 3. 36. This, like all Silence's snatches of song, is printed as
prose in the Quarto, and ends shrovetide, be mery, be mery. The
Folios print these words in te same line, but with a full stop at
Shrovetide. Rowe, and all subsequent editors to Johnson inclusive,
printed the last four words as if they were spoken, not sung. Capell
corrected the error, and printed, Be merry, be merry, &c. In line
75, the word Samingo is printed as if spoken, and not sung, by all
editors down to Malone.
V. 4. 1. 'Sincklo.' See note (IV.) to The Taming of the Shrew.
Note XVII.
V. 5. 1. The Quarto prefixes the numbers 1, 2, 3, to the first
three speeches of this scene. Mr Dyce conjectures that the speech
given to the first groom at line 3, might be distributed thus:
'Third Groom. It will be two of the clock ere they come from the
coronation.
First Groom. Dispatch, dispatch.'
V. 5. 4. It seems probable from the stage-direction of the Quarto,
that the king first crossed the stage in procession to his coronation,
which is supposed to take place during the dialogue between Falstaff
and the others, and that on his second entrance he appeared with the
crown on his head.
[Pg 489]
[Pg 490]
KING HENRY THE FIFTH.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[L].
| King Henry the Fifth. |
| Duke of Gloucester, |
brothers to the King. |
| Duke of Bedford, |
| Duke of Exeter, uncle to the King. |
| Duke of York, cousin to the King. |
| Earls of Salisbury, Westmoreland, and Warwick. |
| Archbishop of Canterbury. |
| Bishop of Ely. |
| Earl of Cambridge. |
| Lord Scroop. |
| Sir Thomas Grey. |
| Sir Thomas Erpingham, Gower, Fluellen, Macmorris, Jamy, officers in King Henry's army. |
| Bates, Court, Williams, soldiers in the same. |
| Pistol, Nym, Bardolph. |
| Boy. |
| A Herald. |
| Charles the Sixth, king of France. |
| Lewis, the Dauphin. |
| Dukes of Burgundy, Orleans, and Bourbon. |
| The Constable of France. |
| Rambures and Grandpre, French Lords. |
| Governor of Harfleur. |
| Montjoy, a French Herald. |
| Ambassadors to the King of England. |
| Isabel, Queen of France. |
| Katharine, daughter to Charles and Isabel. |
| Alice, a lady attending on her. |
| Hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap, formerly Mistress Quickly, and now married to Pistol. |
| Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, and Attendants. |
| Chorus. |
Scene: England; afterwards France.
THE LIFE OF
KING HENRY V.
PROLOGUE.
Enter Chorus.[4511]
Chor. O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,5
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,[4512]
The flat unraised spirits that have dared[4513]
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth10
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram[4514]
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may15
Attest in little place a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
[Pg 492]
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,[4515]20
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:[4516]
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance;25
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;[4517]
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,[4518]
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years30
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play. [Exit.
ACT I.
Scene I. London. An ante-chamber in the King's palace.
Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of Ely.[4519]
Cant. My lord, I'll tell you; that self bill is urged,
Which in the eleventh year of the last king's reign
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
But that the scambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of farther question.[4520]5
Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?
[Pg 493]
Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us,
We lose the better half of our possession:[4521]
For all the temporal lands which men devout
By testament have given to the church10
Would they strip from us; being valued thus:
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
And, to relief of lazars and weak age,15
Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil,
A hundred almshouses right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the king beside,
A thousand pounds by the year: thus runs the bill.[4522]
Ely. This would drink deep.
Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all.20
Ely. But what prevention?
Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.[4523]
Cant. The courses of his youth promised it not.[4524]
The breath no sooner left his father's body,25
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment
Consideration, like an angel, came
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise,30
To envelope and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made;
Never came reformation in a flood,
With such a heady currance, scouring faults;[4525]
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness[4526]35
So soon did lose his seat and all at once[4527]
As in this king.
Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity,
And all-admiring with an inward wish
You would desire the king were made a prelate:40
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You would say it hath been all in all his study:[4529]
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music:
Turn him to any cause of policy,[4530]45
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter: that, when he speaks,[4531]
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;50
So that the art and practic part of life[4532]
Must be the mistress to this theoric:[4533]
Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain,
His companies unletter'd, rude and shallow,55
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports,
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.
Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle60
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:
And so the prince obscured his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,65
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.[4534]
Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceased;
And therefore we must needs admit the means
How things are perfected.
Ely. But, my good lord,
How now for mitigation of this bill70
Urged by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?
[Pg 495]
Cant. He seems indifferent,
Or rather swaying more upon our part
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us;
For I have made an offer to his majesty,75
Upon our spiritual convocation[4535]
And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his grace at large,
As touching France, to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet80
Did to his predecessors part withal.
Ely. How did this offer seem received, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty;
Save that there was not time enough to hear,
As I perceived his grace would fain have done,85
The severals and unhidden passages[4536]
Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms
And generally to the crown and seat of France[4537]
Derived from Edward, his great-grandfather.
Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?90
Cant. The French ambassador upon that instant
Craved audience; and the hour, I think, is come
To give him hearing: is it four o'clock?
Ely. It is.
Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy;95
Which I could with a ready guess declare,
Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.[4538]
Ely. I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it. [Exeunt.
[Pg 496]
Scene II. The same. The Presence chamber.
Enter King Henry, Gloucester, Bedford, Exeter, Warwick,
Westmoreland, and Attendants.[4539]
K. Hen. Where is my gracious Lord of Canterbury?
Exe. Not here in presence.
K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle.
West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?
K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin: we would be resolved,
Before we hear him, of some things of weight5
That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.
Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Ely.[4540]
Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred throne,[4541]
And make you long become it!
K. Hen. Sure, we thank you.
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed
And justly and religiously unfold10
Why the law Salique that they have in France[4542]
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim:
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul15
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know how many now in health
Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence shall incite us to.20
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,[4543]
How you awake our sleeping sword of war:[4544]
[Pg 497]
We charge you, in the name of God, take heed;
For never two such kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops[4545]25
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords[4546][4547]
That make such waste in brief mortality.[4547]
Under this conjuration speak, my lord;[4548]
For we will hear, note and believe in heart[4549]30
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
As pure as sin with baptism.[4550]
Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,
That owe yourselves, your lives and services[4551]
To this imperial throne. There is no bar35
To make against your highness' claim to France
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
'In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant:'[4552]
'No woman shall succeed in Salique land:'
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze40
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm
That the land Salique is in Germany,[4553]
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe;[4554]45
Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women
For some dishonest manners of their life,[4555]
Establish'd then this law; to wit, no female[4556]50
Should be inheritrix in Salique land:
[Pg 498]
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,[4554]
Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen.
Then doth it well appear the Salique law[4557]
Was not devised for the realm of France;55
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years
After defunction of King Pharamond,
Idly supposed the founder of this law;
Who died within the year of our redemption60
Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great
Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,65
Did, as heir general, being descended
Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,[4558]
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, who usurp'd the crown[4559]
Of Charles the duke of Lorraine, sole heir male70
Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,
To find his title with some shows of truth,[4560]
Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,[4561]
Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare,[4562]
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son75
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son[4563]
Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the tenth,[4564]
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied80
That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,
Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorraine:[4565]
[Pg 499]
By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great[4566]
Was re-united to the crown of France.85
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear[4567]
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;[4568]90
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law
To bar your highness claiming from the female,
And rather choose to hide them in a net
Than amply to imbar their crooked titles[4569]
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.95
K. Hen. May I with right and conscience make this claim?
Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,[4570]
When the man dies, let the inheritance[4571]
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,100
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back into your mighty ancestors:[4572]
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,[4573]
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince,[4574]105
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France,
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill[4575]
Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.[4576]110
O noble English, that could entertain
[Pg 500]
With half their forces the full pride of France[4577]
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work and cold for action![4578]
Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead115
And with your puissant arm renew their feats:
You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;
The blood and courage that renowned them
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,120
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
Exc. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,
As did the former lions of your blood.
West. They know your grace hath cause and means and might;[4579][4580]125
So hath your highness; never king of England[4580]
Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects,
Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.[4581]
Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,[4582]130
With blood and sword and fire to win your right;[4582][4583]
In aid whereof we of the spiritualty[4584]
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum
As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.135
K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the French,
But lay down our proportions to defend[4585]
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.
[Pg 501]
Cant. They of those marches, gracious sovereign,[4586]140
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
Our inland from the pilfering borderers.
K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers only,[4587]
But fear the main intendment of the Scot,
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;[4588]145
For you shall read that my great-grandfather
Never went with his forces into France[4589]
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breach,
With ample and brim fulness of his force,150
Galling the gleaned land with hot assays,[4590]
Girding with grievous siege castles and towns;
That England, being empty of defence,
Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood.[4591]
Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my liege;155
For hear her but exampled by herself:[4592]
When all her chivalry hath been in France
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended
But taken and impounded as a stray160
The King of Scots; whom she did send to France,
To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner kings[4593]
And make her chronicle as rich with praise[4594]
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea[4595]
With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries.165
West. But there's a saying very old and true,[4596]
'If that you will France win,[4597]
Then with Scotland first begin:'[4597]
For once the eagle England being in prey,
[Pg 502]
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot170
Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,
Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,
To tear and havoc more than she can eat.[4598]
Exe. It follows then the cat must stay at home:[4599]
Yet that is but a crush'd necessity,[4600]175
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.[4601]
While that the armed hand cloth fight abroad,
The advised head defends itself at home;
For government, though high and low and lower,[4602]180
Put into parts, cloth keep in one consent,[4603]
Congreeing in a full and natural close,[4604]
Like music.
Cant. Therefore doth heaven divide[4605]
The state of man in divers functions,
Setting endeavour in continual motion;185
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience: for so work the honey-bees,
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach[4606]
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.[4607]
They have a king and officers of sorts;[4608]190
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,[4609]
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds,[4610]
Which pillage they with merry march bring home195
[Pg 503]
To the tent-royal of their emperor;
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys[4611]
The singing masons building roofs of gold,[4612]
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,[4613]
The poor mechanic porters crowding in200
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,
That many things, having full reference205
To one consent, may work contrariously:
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;[4614]
As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;[4615]
As many lines close in the dial's centre;210
So may a thousand actions, once afoot,[4616]
End in one purpose, and be all well borne[4617]
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.[4618]
Divide your happy England into four;
Whereof take you one quarter into France,215
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
If we, with thrice such powers left at home,
Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,
Let us be worried and our nation lose
The name of hardiness and policy.220
K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin.[4619]
[Exeunt some Attendants.
Now are we well resolved; and, by God's help,
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,
[Pg 504]
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe,
Or break it all to pieces: or there we'll sit,[4620]225
Ruling in large and ample empery
O'er France and all her almost kingly dukedoms,
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,
Tombless, with no remembrance over them:
Either our history shall with full mouth[4621]230
Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,[4622]
Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.
Enter Ambassadors of France.[4623]
Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure[4624]
Of our fair cousin Dauphin; for we hear235
Your greeting is from him, not from the king.
First Amb. May't please your majesty to give us leave[4625]
Freely to render what we have in charge;
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The Dauphin's meaning and our embassy?240
K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons:[4626]
Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.
First Amb. Thus, then, in few.[4627]245
Your highness, lately sending into France,
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
Of your great predecessor, King Edward the third.[4628]
In answer of which claim, the prince our master
Says that you savour too much of your youth,250
And bids you be advised there's nought in France[4629]
[Pg 505]
That can be with a nimble galliard won;
You cannot revel into dukedoms there.
He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,
This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this,255
Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.[4630]
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?
Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege.
K. Hen. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;
His present and your pains we thank you for:260
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler[4631]
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd265
With chaces. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
Not measuring what use we made of them.
We never valued this poor seat of England;
And therefore, living hence, did give ourself[4632]270
To barbarous license; as 'tis ever common
That men are merriest when they are from home.
But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state,
Be like a king and show my sail of greatness[4633]
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:275
For that I have laid by my majesty[4634]
And plodded like a man for working-days,
But I will rise there with so full a glory
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.280
And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance
[Pg 506]
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows[4635]
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;285
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;
And some are yet ungotten and unborn[4636]
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal; and in whose name290
Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on.
To venge me as I may and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.
So get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin
His jest will savour but of shallow wit,295
When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.[4637]
Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well.[4638]
[Exeunt Ambassadors.
Exe. This was a merry message.
K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it.[4639]
Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour300
That may give furtherance to our expedition;
For we have now no thought in us but France,[4640]
Save those to God, that run before our business.
Therefore let our proportions for these wars
Be soon collected and all things thought upon[4641]305
That may with reasonable swiftness add[4642]
More feathers to our wings; for, God before,
We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.
Therefore let every man now task his thought,
That this fair action may on foot be brought.[4643]310
[Exeunt. Flourish.
ACT II.
Enter Chorus.
Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire,[4645]
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:
Now thrive the armorers, and honour's thought[4646]
Reigns solely in the breast of every man:
They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,5
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air,
And hides a sword from hilts unto the point
With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets,10
Promised to Harry and his followers.
The French, advised by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.15
O England! model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,
What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural!
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out[4647]20
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills[4647][4648]
With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,
One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the second,
Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,25
Have, for the gilt of France,—O guilt indeed!—
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
[Pg 508]
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,[4649]
If hell and treason hold their promises,[4649]
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.[4649][4650]30
Linger your patience on; and we'll digest[4649][4651][4652]
The abuse of distance; force a play:[4649][4651][4653]
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;[4649][4654]
The king is set from London; and the scene[4649]
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton;[4649]35
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,
We'll not offend one stomach with our play.40
But, till the king come forth, and not till then,[4655]
Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. [Exit.
Scene I. London. A street.[4656]
Enter Corporal Nym and Lieutenant Bardolph.
Bard. Well met, Corporal Nym.
Nym. Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph.
Bard. What, are Ancient Pistol and you friends yet?
Nym. For my part, I care not: I say little; but when
time shall serve, there shall be smiles; but that shall be as[4657]5
[Pg 509]
it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink and hold out
mine iron: it is a simple one; but what though? it will
toast cheese, and it will endure cold as another man's
sword will: and there's an end.[4658]
Bard. I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends;10
and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France: let it be[4659]
so, good Corporal Nym.
Nym. Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the
certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will
do as I may: that is my rest, that is the rendezvous[4660]15
of it.
Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell
Quickly: and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were
troth-plight to her.
Nym. I cannot tell: things must be as they may: men20
may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at[4661]
that time; and some say knives have edges. It must be
as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet she will[4662]
plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell.
Enter Pistol and Hostess.[4663]
Bard. Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife: good25
corporal, be patient here. How now, mine host Pistol!
Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me host?[4664][4665]
Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term;[4665]
Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.[4665]
Host. No, by my troth, not long; for we cannot lodge30
and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live
honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought
we keep a bawdy house straight. [Nym and Pistol draw.][4666]
[Pg 510]
O well a day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! we shall see[4667]
wilful adultery and murder committed.35
Bard. Good lieutenant! good corporal! offer nothing[4668]
here.
Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland![4670]
Host. Good Corporal Nym, show thy valour, and put[4671]40
up your sword.
Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you solus.[4672]
Pist. 'Solus,' egregious dog? O viper vile![4673]
The 'solus' in thy most mervailous face;[4673][4674]
The 'solus' in thy teeth, and in thy throat,[4673]45
And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy,[4673]
And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth![4673][4675]
1 do retort the 'solus' in thy bowels;[4673]
For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up,[4673][4676]
And flashing fire will follow.[4673]50
Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I
have an humour to knock you indifferently well. If you
grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier,
as I may, in fair terms: if you would walk off, I would
prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may: and55
that's the humour of it.
Pist. O braggart vile and damned furious wight!
The grave doth gape, and doting death is near;[4677]
[Pg 511]
Therefore exhale.[4678]
Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say: he that strikes the60
first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier.
[Draws.[4679]
Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate.
Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give:[4680]
Thy spirits are most tall.[4680][4681]
Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair65
terms: that is the humour of it.
Pist. 'Couple a gorge!'[4682]
That is the word. I thee defy again.[4683][4684]
O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get?[4683]
No; to the spital go,[4683]70
And from the powdering-tub of infamy[4683]
Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,[4683]
Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse:[4683]
I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly[4683]
For the only she; and—pauca, there's enough.[4683]
Go to.[4683]75
Enter the Boy.[4683][4685]
Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master,[4686]
and you, hostess: he is very sick, and would to bed.
Good Bardolph, put thy face between his sheets, and do[4687]
the office of a warming-pan. Faith, he's very ill.80
Bard. Away, you rogue!
Host. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one
of these days. The king has killed his heart. Good husband,
come home presently. [Exeunt Hostess and Boy.[4688]
[Pg 512]
Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends? We must85
to France together: why the devil should we keep knives
to cut one another's throats?
Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on!
Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you
at betting?90
Pist. Base is the slave that pays.
Nym. That now I will have: that's the humour of it.
Pist. As manhood shall compound: push home.
[They draw.[4689]
Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust,
I'll kill him; by this sword, I will.95
Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.[4690]
Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be[4690]
friends: an thou wilt not, why, then, be enemies with me
too. Prithee, put up.
Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;[4692]
And liquor likewise will I give to thee,[4692]
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood:[4692][4693]
I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;[4692]105
Is not this just? for I shall sutler be[4692]
Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.[4692]
Give me thy hand.[4692]
Nym. I shall have my noble?
Pist. In cash most justly paid.110
Nym. Well, then, that's the humour of't.
Re-enter Hostess.[4694]
Host. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to[4695]
Sir John. Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning[4696]
[Pg 513]
quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold.
Sweet men, come to him.115
Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the knight;
that's the even of it.
Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right;[4697]
His heart is fracted and corroborate.[4697]
Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as it120
may; he passes some humours and careers.
Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins we will[4698]
live.
Scene II. Southampton. A council-chamber.[4699]
Enter Exeter, Bedford, and Westmoreland.
Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.
Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by.
West. How smooth and even they do bear themselves!
As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.5
Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend,
By interception which they dream not of.
Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,[4700]
Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours,[4700][4701]
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell[4700]10
His sovereign's life to death and treachery.[4700]
Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge, Grey,
and Attendants.[4702]
K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.
My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham,[4703]
[Pg 514]
And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts:
Think you not that the powers we bear with us15
Will cut their passage through the force of France,
Doing the execution and the act
For which we have in head assembled them?[4704]
Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.
K. Hen. I doubt not that; since we are well persuaded20
We carry not a heart with us from hence
That grows not in a fair consent with ours,[4705]
Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish[4706]
Success and conquest to attend on us.
Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd and loved[4707]25
Than is your majesty: there's not, I think, a subject[4708]
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness
Under the sweet shade of your government.
Grey. True: those that were your father's enemies[4709]
Have steep'd their galls in honey and do serve you[4710]30
With hearts create of duty and of zeal.
K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of thankfulness;
And shall forget the office of our hand,
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit
According to the weight and worthiness.[4711]35
Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil,
And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
To do your grace incessant services.
K. Hen. We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter,
Enlarge the man committed yesterday,40
That rail'd against our person: we consider
It was excess of wine that set him on;
And on his more advice we pardon him.[4712]
Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security:
Let him be punish'd, sovereign, lest example45
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
[Pg 515]
K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful.[4713]
Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too.
Grey. Sir,[4714]
You show great mercy, if you give him life,[4714]50
After the taste of much correction.
K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me
Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch!
If little faults, proceeding on distemper,
Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye55
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd and digested,
Appear before us? We'll yet enlarge that man,[4715]
Though Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, in their dear care
And tender preservation of our person,
Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes:[4716]60
Who are the late commissioners?[4717]
Cam. I one, my lord:
Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. So did you me, my liege.
Grey. And I, my royal sovereign.[4718]65
K. Hen. Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;
There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,[4719]
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:
Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.
My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,70
We will aboard to night. Why, how now, gentlemen!
What see you in those papers that you lose
So much complexion? Look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper. Why, what read you there,
That hath so cowarded and chased your blood[4720]75
Out of appearance?
Cam. I do confess my fault;[4721]
And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
[Pg 516]
Grey. } To which we all appeal.
Scroop. }
K. Hen. The mercy that was quick in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:80
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,[4722]
As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.[4723]
See you, my princes and my noble peers,
These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here,[4724]85
You know how apt our love was to accord
To furnish him with all appertinents[4725]
Belonging to his honour; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspired,
And sworn unto the practices of France,90
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But, O,
What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!95
Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold,
Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use,
May it be possible, that foreign hire100
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil
That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange,
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross[4726]
As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.[4727]
Treason and murder ever kept together,105
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause,[4728]
That admiration did not whoop at them:[4729]
But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
[Pg 517]
Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:[4730]110
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was
That wrought upon thee so preposterously[4731]
Hath got the voice in hell for excellence:[4732]
All other devils that suggest by treasons[4733]
Do botch and bungle up damnation115
With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd[4734]
From glistering semblances of piety;
But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up,[4735]
Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,
Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.120
If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,[4736]
He might return to vasty Tartar back,
And tell the legions 'I can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.'125
O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?
Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned?[4737]
Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?130
Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet,
Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,[4738]
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,[4739]
Not working with the eye without the ear,[4740]135
And but in purged judgement trusting neither?
Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man and best indued[4741]
[Pg 518]
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;[4741][4742]140
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man. Their faults are open:
Arrest them to the answer of the law;
And God acquit them of their practices!
Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of145
Richard Earl of Cambridge.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry[4743]
Lord Scroop of Masham.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas
Grey, knight, of Northumberland.[4744]150
Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd;
And I repent my fault more than my death;
Which I beseech your highness to forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.
Cam. For me, the gold of France did not seduce;[4745]155
Although I did admit it as a motive
The sooner to effect what I intended:
But God be thanked for prevention;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,[4746]
Beseeching God and you to pardon me.160
Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself,
Prevented from a damned enterprise:
My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.165
K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.
You have conspired against our royal person,
[Pg 519]
Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd and from his coffers[4747]
Received the golden earnest of our death;
Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,170
His princes and his peers to servitude,
His subjects to oppression and contempt
And his whole kingdom into desolation.[4748]
Touching our person seek we no revenge;
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,175
Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws[4749]
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,[4750]
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
The taste whereof, God of his mercy give
You patience to endure, and true repentance180
Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.
[Exeunt Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, guarded.[4751]
Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,[4752]
Since God so graciously hath brought to light185
This dangerous treason lurking in our way[4753]
To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now[4754]
But every rub is smoothed on our way.[4755]
Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,190
Putting it straight in expedition.
Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:[4756]
No king of England, if not king of France, [Exeunt.
[Pg 520]
Scene III. London. Before a Tavern.[4757]
Enter Pistol, Hostess, Nym, Bardolph, and Boy.
Host. Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee[4758]
to Staines.
Bard. Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is,
either in heaven or in hell![4763]
Host. Nay, sure, he's not in hell: he's in Arthur's bosom,[4764]
if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. A' made a[4765]10
finer end and went away an it had been any christom[4765][4766]
child; a' parted even just between twelve and one, even at[4767][4768]
the turning o' the tide: for after I saw him fumble with[4768][4769]
the sheets and play with flowers and smile upon his[4770]
fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose[4771]15
was as sharp as a pen, and a' babbled of green fields.[4772]
'How now, Sir John!' quoth I: 'what, man! be o' good[4773]
[Pg 521]
cheer.' So a' cried out 'God, God, God!' three or four
times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him a' should not
think of God; I hoped there was no need to trouble himself20
with any such thoughts yet. So a' bade me lay more
clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed and felt
them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to[4774]
his knees, and they were as cold as any stone, and so[4775]
upward and upward, and all was as cold as any stone.[4776]25
Nym. They say he cried out of sack.[4777]
Host. Ay, that a' did.
Host. Nay, that a' did not.
Boy. Yes, that a' did; and said they were devils[4779]30
incarnate.
Host. A' could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour[4780]
he never liked.
Boy. A' said once, the devil would have him about[4781]
women.35
Host. A' did in some sort, indeed, handle women; but
then he was rheumatic, and talked of the whore of Babylon.
Boy. Do you not remember, a' saw a flea stick upon
Bardolph's nose, and a' said it was a black soul burning in
hell-fire?[4782]40
Bard. Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire:
that's all the riches I got in his service.
Nym. Shall we shog? the king will be gone from
Southampton.
[Pg 522]
Pist. Come, let's away. My love, give me thy lips.[4783]45
Look to my chattels and my movables:[4783]
Let senses rule; the word is 'Pitch and Pay:'[4783][4784]
Trust none;[4783]
For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes,[4783]
And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck:[4783]50
Therefore, Caveto be thy counsellor.[4783][4785]
Go, clear thy crystals. Yoke-fellows in arms,[4783][4786]
Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys,[4783]
To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck![4783]
Boy. And that's but unwholesome food, they say.[4787]55
Pist. Touch her soft mouth, and march.
Bard. Farewell, hostess. [Kissing her.[4788]
Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but, adieu.
Pist. Let housewifery appear: keep close, I thee command.
Host. Farewell; adieu. [Exeunt.60
Scene IV. France. The King's Palace.
Flourish. Enter the French King, the Dauphin, the Dukes of
Berri and Bretagne, the Constable, and others.[4789]
Fr. King. Thus comes the English with full power upon us;[4790]
And more than carefully it us concerns[4791]
To answer royally in our defences.
[Pg 523]
Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne,
Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth,[4792]5
And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch,
To line and new repair our towns of war
With men of courage and with means defendant;
For England his approaches makes as fierce
As waters to the sucking of a gulf.10
It fits us then to be as provident
As fear may teach us out of late examples
Left by the fatal and neglected English[4793]
Upon our fields.
Dau. My most redoubted father,
It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe;15
For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom,
Though war nor no known quarrel were in question,
But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintain'd, assembled and collected,
As were a war in expectation.20
Therefore, I say 'tis meet we all go forth
To view the sick and feeble parts of France:
And let us do it with no show of fear;[4794]
No, with no more than if we heard that England
Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance:25
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,
Her sceptre so fantastically borne
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,[4795]
That fear attends her not.
Con. O peace, Prince Dauphin!
You are too much mistaken in this king:30
Question your grace the late ambassadors,
With what great state he heard their embassy,
How well supplied with noble counsellors,
How modest in exception, and withal
How terrible in constant resolution,35
And you shall find his vanities forespent
[Pg 524]
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
That shall first spring and be most delicate.40
Dau. Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable;
But though we think it so, it is no matter:[4796]
In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh[4797]
The enemy more mighty than he seems:
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;45
Which of a weak and niggardly projection[4798]
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth.
Fr. King. Think we King Harry strong;
And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;50
And he is bred out of that bloody strain
That haunted us in our familiar paths:[4799]
Witness our too much memorable shame
When Cressy battle fatally was struck,
And all our princes captived by the hand55
Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales;
Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing,[4800]
Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,[4801]
Saw his heroical seed, and smiled to see him,[4802]
Mangle the work of nature and deface60
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him.[4803]
[Pg 525]
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Ambassadors from Harry King of England[4804]65
Do crave admittance to your majesty.
Fr. King. We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them.
[Exeunt Messenger and certain Lords.[4805]
You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends.
Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs
Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten70
Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,[4806]
Take up the English short, and let them know[4807]
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.
Re-enter Lords, with Exeter and train.
Fr. King. From our brother England?[4808]75
Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majesty.
He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
That you divest yourself, and lay apart
The borrow'd glories that by gift of heaven,
By law of nature and of nations, 'long[4809]80
To him and to his heirs; namely, the crown
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain
By custom and the ordinance of times
Unto the crown of France. That you may know
'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim,85
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the dust of old oblivion raked,
He sends you this most memorable line,[4810]
In every branch truly demonstrative;[4811]
[Pg 526]
Willing you overlook this pedigree:[4812]90
And when you find him evenly derived
From his most famed of famous ancestors,
Edward the third, he bids you then resign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.95
Fr. King. Or else what follows?
Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,[4813]
In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove,100
That, if requiring fail, he will compel;[4814]
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,[4815]
Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy
On the poor souls for whom this hungry war
Opens his vasty jaws; and on your head[4816]105
Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,[4817][4818]
The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans,[4818][4819]
For husbands, fathers and betrothed lovers,
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threatening and my message;110
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
To whom expressly I bring greeting too.[4820]
Fr. King. For us, we will consider of this further:
To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother England.[4821]
Dau. For the Dauphin,115
I stand here for him: what to him from England?
[Pg 527]
Exe. Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt,
And any thing that may not misbecome
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.
Thus says my king; an if your father's highness[4822]120
Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
He'll call you to so hot an answer of it,[4823]
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass and return your mock[4824]125
In second accent of his ordnance.[4825]
Dau. Say, if my father render fair return,[4826]
It is against my will; for I desire
Nothing but odds with England: to that end,[4827]
As matching to his youth and vanity,[4827]130
I did present him with the Paris balls.[4828]
Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,[4829]
Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe:
And, be assured, you'll find a difference,
As we his subjects have in wonder found,135
Between the promise of his greener days
And these he masters now: now he weighs time[4830]
Even to the utmost grain: that you shall read[4831]
In your own losses, if he stay in France.[4832]
Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our mind at full.[4833]140
Exe. Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king
Come here himself to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.
Fr. King. You shall be soon dispatch'd with fair conditions:
A night is but small breath and little pause[4834]145
[Pg 528]
To answer matters of this consequence. [Flourish. Exeunt.[4835]
ACT III.
PROLOGUE.
Enter Chorus.[4836]
Chor. Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies
In motion of no less celerity[4837]
Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen[4837]
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier[4838]
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet5
With silken streamers the young Phœbus fanning:[4839]
Play with your fancies, and in them behold
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,10
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,[4840]
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
You stand upon the rivage and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;15
For so appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow:[4841]
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,[4842]
And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Guarded with grandsires, babies and old women,20
Either past or not arrived to pith and puissance;[4843]
[Pg 529]
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;25
Behold the ordnance on their carriages,[4844]
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;[4845]
Tells Harry that the king doth offer him
Katharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry,30
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
With linstock now the devilish cannon touches,
[Alarum, and chambers go off.[4846]
And down goes all before them. Still be kind,[4847]
And eke out our performance with your mind. [Exit.[4848]35
Scene I. France. Before Harfleur.
Alarum. Enter King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, Gloucester,
and Soldiers, with scaling-ladders.[4849]
K. Hen. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;[4850][4851]
Or close the wall up with our English dead.[4851]
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,5
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
[Pg 530]
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,[4852]
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let it pry through the portage of the head10
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it[4853]
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,[4854]
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,[4855]15
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,[4856]
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof![4857]
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought20
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,[4858]
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen,25
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear[4859]
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.30
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:[4860]
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'
[Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off.[4861]
[Pg 531]
Scene II. The same.
Enter Nym, Bardolph, Pistol, and Boy.[4862]
Bard. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!
Nym. Pray thee, corporal, stay: the knocks are too[4863]
hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives: the
humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-song of it.
Pist. The plain-song is most just; for humours do5
abound:[4864]
Boy. Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would10
give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.[4867]
[Pg 532]
Enter Fluellen.[4867][4873]
[Driving them forward.[4867][4874][4876]
Boy. As young as I am, I have observed these three
swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they three,[4881]
though they would serve me, could not be man to me; for
indeed three such antics do not amount to a man. For
Bardolph, he is white-livered and red-faced; by the means30
whereof a' faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol, he hath
a killing tongue and a quiet sword; by the means whereof
a' breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym, he
hath heard that men of few words are the best men; and
therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest a' should be35
thought a coward: but his few bad words are matched with
as few good deeds; for a' never broke any man's head but his
own, and that was against a post when he was drunk. They
will steal any thing, and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a
lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for three half-pence.40
Nym and Bardolph are sworn brothers in filching,
and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel: I knew by that piece
of service the men would carry coals. They would have me
as familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or their hand-kerchers:
which makes much against my manhood, if I[4882]45
should take from another's pocket to put into mine; for it[4882][4883]
[Pg 533]
is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I must leave them, and
seek some better service: their villany goes against my weak
stomach, and therefore I must cast it up. [Exit.
Re-enter Fluellen, Gower following.[4884]
Gow. Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to50
the mines; the Duke of Gloucester would speak with you.
Flu. To the mines! tell you the duke, it is not so good
to come to the mines; for, look you, the mines is not according
to the disciplines of the war: the concavities of it[4885]
is not sufficient; for, look you, th' athversary, you may discuss55
unto the duke, look you, is digt himself four yard[4886]
under the countermines: by Cheshu, I think a' will plow
up all, if there is not better directions.
Gow. The Duke of Gloucester, to whom the order of
the siege is given, is altogether directed by an Irishman, a60
very valiant gentleman, i' faith.
Flu. It is Captain Macmorris, is it not?[4887]
Gow. I think it be.
Flu. By Cheshu, he is an ass, as in the world: I will[4888]
verify as much in his beard: he has no more directions in65
the true disciplines of the wars, look you, of the Roman
disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.
Enter Macmorris and Captain Jamy.[4889]
Gow. Here a' comes; and the Scots captain, Captain
Jamy, with him.
Flu. Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gentleman,[4890]70
that is certain; and of great expedition and knowledge in
th' aunchient wars, upon my particular knowledge of his
[Pg 534]
directions: by Cheshu, he will maintain his argument as
well as any military man in the world, in the disciplines of
the pristine wars of the Romans.75
Jamy. I say gud-day, Captain Fluellen.[4891]
Flu. God-den to your worship, good Captain James.[4892]
Gow. How now, Captain Macmorris! have you quit[4893]
the mines? have the pioners given o'er?[4894]
Mac. By Chrish, la! tish ill done: the work ish give[4895]80
over, the trompet sound the retreat. By my hand, I swear,
and my father's soul, the work ish ill done; it ish give
over: I would have blowed up the town, so Chrish save
me, la! in an hour: O, tish ill done, tish ill done; by my
hand, tish ill done!85
Flu. Captain Macmorris, I beseech you now, will you
voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations with you, as partly
touching or concerning the disciplines of the war, the Roman[4896]
wars, in the way of argument, look you, and friendly
communication; partly to satisfy my opinion, and partly90
for the satisfaction, look you, of my mind, as touching the
direction of the military discipline; that is the point.
Jamy. It sall be vary gud, gud feith, gud captains
bath: and I sall quit you with gud leve, as I may pick
occasion; that sall I, marry.95
Mac. It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the
day is hot, and the weather, and the wars, and the king,
and the dukes: it is no time to discourse. The town is beseeched,[4897]
and the trumpet call us to the breach; and we
talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing: 'tis shame for us all: so100
God sa' me, 'tis shame to stand still; it is shame, by my
hand: and there is throats to be cut, and works to be done;
and there ish nothing done, so Chrish sa' me, la!
Jamy. By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine take themselves
[Pg 535]
to slomber, ay'll de gud service, or ay'll lig i' the[4898]105
grund for it; ay, or go to death; and ay'll pay 't as valorously[4898]
as I may, that sall I suerly do, that is the breff and[4899]
the long. Marry, I wad full fain hear some question 'tween[4900]
you tway.
Flu. Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under your110
correction, there is not many of your nation—[4901]
Mac. Of my nation! What ish my nation? Ish a villain,[4902]
and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal. What ish[4902]
my nation? Who talks of my nation?[4902]
Flu. Look you, if you take the matter otherwise than115
is meant, Captain Macmorris, peradventure I shall think
you do not use me with that affability as in discretion you
ought to use me, look you; being as good a man as yourself,
both in the disciplines of war, and in the derivation of
my birth, and in other particularities.120
Mac. I do not know you so good a man as myself: so
Chrish save me, I will cut off your head.
Gow. Gentlemen both, you will mistake each other.[4903]
Jamy. A! that's a foul fault.
[A parley sounded.[4904]
Gow. The town sounds a parley.125
Flu. Captain Macmorris, when there is more better
opportunity to be required, look you, I will be so bold
as to tell you I know the disciplines of war; and there is[4905]
an end. [Exeunt.
[Pg 536]
Scene III. The same. Before the gates.
The Governor and some Citizens on the walls; the English forces
below. Enter King Henry and his train.[4906]
K. Hen. How yet resolves the governor of the town?
This is the latest parle we will admit:[4907]
Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves;
Or like to men proud of destruction
Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,[4908]5
A name that in my thoughts becomes me best,
If I begin the battery once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
Till in her ashes she lie buried.
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,10
And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,
In liberty of bloody hand shall range
With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass
Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants.[4909]
What is it then to me, if impious war,15
Array'd in flames like to the prince of fiends,[4910]
Do, with his smirch'd complexion, all fell feats
Enlink'd to waste and desolation?
What is't to me, when you yourselves are cause,
If your pure maidens fall into the hand20
Of hot and forcing violation?
What rein can hold licentious wickedness
When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
We may as bootless spend our vain command
Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil25
[Pg 537]
As send precepts to the leviathan[4911][4912]
To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,[4911]
Take pity of your town and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;[4913]
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace[4913]30
O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds[4914]
Of heady murder, spoil and villany.[4915]
If not, why, in a moment look to see
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;[4916]35
Your fathers taken by the silver beards,
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls,
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry40
At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid,
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?[4917]
Gov. Our expectation hath this day an end:
The Dauphin, whom of succours we entreated,[4918]45
Returns us that his powers are yet not ready[4919]
To raise so great a siege. Therefore, great king,[4920]
We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy.
Enter our gates; dispose of us and ours;
For we no longer are defensible.50
K. Hen. Open your gates. Come, uncle Exeter,
Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,[4921]
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French:
Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,[4922]
[Pg 538]
The winter coming on and sickness growing55
Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais.[4923]
To-night in Harfleur we will be your guest;
To-morrow for the march are we addrest.
[Flourish. The King and his train enter the town.[4924]
Scene IV. The French King's Palace.
Enter Katharine and Alice.[4925]
Kath. Alice, tu as été en Angleterre, et tu parles bien[4926]
le langage.
Alice. Un peu, madame.
Kath. Je te prie, m'enseignez; il faut que j'apprenne à
parler. Comment appelez-vous la main en Anglois?5
Alice. La main? elle est appelée de hand.
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?
Alice. Les doigts? ma foi, j'oublie les doigts; mais je
me souviendrai. Les doigts? je pense qu'ils sont appelés
de fingres; oui, de fingres.10
Kath. La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres. Je
pense que je suis le bon écolier; j'ai gagné deux mots
d'Anglois vîtement. Comment appelez-vous les ongles?
Alice. Les ongles? nous les appelons de nails.
Kath. De nails. Ecoutez; dites-moi, si je parle bien:15
de hand, de fingres, et de nails.
Alice. C'est bien dit, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.
Kath. Dites-moi l'Anglois pour le bras.
Kath. Et le coude?20
Alice. De elbow.
Kath. De elbow. Je m'en fais la répétition de tous
les mots que vous m'avez appris dès à présent.
Alice. Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.
Kath. Excusez-moi, Alice; écoutez: de hand, de fingres,25
de nails, de arma, de bilbow.
Alice. De elbow, madame.
Kath. O Seigneur Dieu, je m'en oublie! de elbow.
Comment appelez-vous le col?
Alice. De neck, madame.30
Kath. De nick. Et le menton?
Alice. De chin.
Kath. De sin. Le col, de nick; le menton, de sin.
Alice. Oui. Sauf votre honneur, en vérité, vous
prononcez les mots aussi droit que les natifs d'Angleterre.35
Kath. Je ne doute point d'apprendre, par la grace de
Dieu, et en peu de temps.
Alice. N'avez vous pas déjà oublié ce que je vous ai[4927]
enseigné?
Kath. Non, je reciterai à vous promptement: de hand,40
de fingres, de mails,—[4928]
Alice. De nails, madame.
Kath. De nails, de arm, de ilbow.
Alice. Sauf votre honneur, de elbow.
Kath. Ainsi dis-je; de elbow, de nick, et de sin.45
Comment appelez-vous le pied et la robe?
Alice. De foot, madame; et de coun.
Kath. De foot et de coun! O Seigneur Dieu! ce sont
mots de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et non
pour les dames d'honneur d'user: je ne voudrais prononcer50
ces mots devant les seigneurs de France pour tout le monde.
Foh! le foot et le coun! Néanmoins, je reciterai une autre[4929]
fois ma leçon ensemble: de hand, de fingres, de nails, de
arm, de elbow, de nick, de sin, de foot, de coun.
[Pg 540]
Alice. Excellent, madame!55
Kath. C'est assez pour une fois: allons-nous à dîner.
[Exeunt.[4930]
Scene V. The same.
Enter the King of France, the Dauphin, the Duke of Bourbon,
the Constable of France, and others.[4931]
Fr. King. 'Tis certain he hath pass'd the river Somme.
Con. And if he be not fought withal, my lord,[4932]
Let us not live in France; let us quit all,
And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.
Dau. O Dieu vivant! shall a few sprays of us,5
The emptying of our fathers' luxury,[4933]
Our scions, put in wild and savage stock,[4934]
Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds,[4935]
And overlook their grafters?[4936]
Bour. Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards![4937]10
Mort de ma vie! if they march along[4938]
Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom,
To buy a slobbery and a dirty farm[4939]
In that nook-shotten isle of Albion.[4940]
Con. Dieu de batailles! where have they this mettle?[4941]15
Is not their climate foggy, raw and dull,
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,[4942]
Killing their fruit with frowns? Can sodden water,
A drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley-broth,
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?20
[Pg 541]
And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine,
Seem frosty? O, for honour of our land,
Let us not hang like roping icicles[4943]
Upon our houses' thatch, whiles a more frosty people[4944]
Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields!—[4945]25
Poor we may call them in their native lords.[4946]
Dau. By faith and honour,
Our madams mock at us, and plainly say
Our mettle is bred out and they will give
Their bodies to the lust of English youth30
To new-store France with bastard warriors.
Bour. They bid us to the English dancing-schools,[4937]
And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos;[4947]
Saying our grace is only in our heels,
And that we are most lofty runaways.35
Fr. King. Where is Montjoy the herald? speed him hence:
Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.
Up, princes! and, with spirit of honour edged
More sharper than your swords, hie to the field:[4948]
Charles Delabreth, high constable of France;[4949]40
You Dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berri,
Alençon, Brabant, Bar, and Burgundy;
Jaques Chatillon, Rambures, Vaudemont,
Beaumont, Grandpré, Roussi, and Fauconberg,[4950]
Foix, Lestrale, Bouciqualt, and Charolois;[4951]45
High dukes, great princes, barons, lords and knights,[4952]
For your great seats now quit you of great shames.[4953]
[Pg 542]
Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our land
With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur:
Rush on his host, as doth the melted snow50
Upon the valleys, whose low vassal seat
The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon:
Go down upon him, you have power enough,
And in a captive chariot into Rouen[4954]
Bring him our prisoner.
Con. This becomes the great.55
Sorry am I his numbers are so few,
His soldiers sick and famish'd in their march,
For I am sure, when he shall see our army,
He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear
And for achievement offer us his ransom.[4955]60
Fr. King. Therefore, lord constable, haste on Montjoy,
And let him say to England that we send
To know what willing ransom he will give.
Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen.[4954]
Dau. Not so, I do beseech your majesty.65
Fr. King. Be patient, for you shall remain with us.
Now forth, lord constable and princes all,
And quickly bring us word of England's fall. [Exeunt.
Scene VI. The English camp in Picardy.
Enter Gower and Fluellen, meeting.[4956]
Gow. How now, Captain Fluellen! come you from the bridge?
[Pg 543]
Flu. I assure you, there is very excellent services[4957]
committed at the bridge.
Gow. Is the Duke of Exeter safe?5
Flu. The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon;
and a man that I love and honour with my soul,
and my heart, and my duty, and my life, and my living,[4958]
and my uttermost power: he is not—God be praised and[4959]
blessed!—any hurt in the world; but keeps the bridge most[4960]10
valiantly, with excellent discipline. There is an aunchient[4961]
lieutenant there at the pridge, I think in my very conscience[4961]
he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is
a man of no estimation in the world; but I did see him do
as gallant service.[4962]15
Gow. What do you call him?
Flu. He is called Aunchient Pistol.
Gow. I know him not.
Enter Pistol.
Pist. Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours:[4964]20
The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well.[4964]
Flu. Ay, I praise God; and I have merited some love
at his hands.
Flu. By your patience, Aunchient Pistol. Fortune is
painted blind, with a muffler afore her eyes, to signify to[4969]30
you that Fortune is blind; and she is painted also with a
wheel, to signify to you, which is the moral of it, that she is
turning, and inconstant, and mutability, and variation: and[4970]
her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls,
and rolls, and rolls: in good truth, the poet makes a most[4971]35
excellent description of it: Fortune is an excellent moral.[4971][4972]
Pist. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him;[4973]
For he hath stolen a pax, and hanged must a' be:[4973][4974]
A damned death![4973][4975]
Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free[4973]40
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate:[4973]
But Exeter hath given the doom of death[4973]
For pax of little price.[4973][4974]
Therefore, go speak; the duke will hear thy voice;[4973]
And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut[4973]45
With edge of penny cord and vile reproach:[4973]
Speak, captain, for his life, and I will thee requite.[4973]
Flu. Aunchient Pistol, I do partly understand your
meaning.
Pist. Why then, rejoice therefore.50
Flu. Certainly, aunchient, it is not a thing to rejoice at:
for if, look you, he were my brother, I would desire the
duke to use his good pleasure, and put him to execution;[4976]
[Pg 545]
for discipline ought to be used.[4976]
Pist. Die and be damn'd! and figo for thy friendship![4977]55
Flu. It is well.
Pist. The fig of Spain! [Exit.
Flu. Very good.
Gow. Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal; I remember
him now; a bawd, a cutpurse.60
Flu. I'll assure you, a' uttered as brave words at the[4978]
bridge as you shall see in a summer's day. But it is very
well; what he has spoke to me, that is well, I warrant
you, when time is serve.
Gow. Why, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue, that now and65
then goes to the wars, to grace himself at his return into
London under the form of a soldier. And such fellows are[4979]
perfect in the great commanders' names: and they will learn[4980]
you by rote where services were done; at such and such a
sconce, at such a breach, at such a convoy; who came off70
bravely, who was shot, who disgraced, what terms the enemy
stood on; and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war,[4981]
which they trick up with new-tuned oaths: and what a[4982]
beard of the general's cut and a horrid suit of the camp[4983]
will do among foaming bottles and ale-washed wits, is wonderful75
to be thought on. But you must learn to know such
slanders of the age, or else you may be marvellously mistook.
Flu. I tell you what, Captain Gower; I do perceive he
is not the man that he would gladly make show to the
world he is: if I find a hole in his coat, I will tell him80
my mind. [Drum heard.] Hark you, the king is coming,[4984]
and I must speak with him from the pridge.[4985]
[Pg 546]
Drum and Colours. Enter King Henry, Gloucester, and Soldiers.[4986]
God pless your majesty!
K. Hen. How now, Fluellen! camest thou from the[4987]
bridge?
Flu. Ay, so please your majesty. The Duke of Exeter85
has very gallantly maintained the pridge: the French is gone
off, look you; and there is gallant and most prave passages:
marry, th' athversary was have possession of the pridge; but
he is enforced to retire, and the Duke of Exeter is master of
the pridge: I can tell your majesty, the duke is a prave man.90
K. Hen. What men have you lost, Fluellen?
Flu. The perdition of th' athversary hath been very
great, reasonable great: marry, for my part, I think the[4988]
duke hath lost never a man, but one that is like to be[4989]
executed for robbing a church, one Bardolph, if your majesty95
know the man: his face is all bubukles, and whelks, and[4990]
knobs, and flames o' fire: and his lips blows at his nose,[4991]
and it is like a coal of fire, sometimes plue and sometimes
red; but his nose is executed, and his fire's out.
K. Hen. We would have all such offenders so cut off:[4992]100
and we give express charge, that in our marches through[4992]
the country, there be nothing compelled from the villages,[4992]
nothing taken but paid for, none of the French upbraided[4992]
or abused in disdainful language; for when lenity and[4992][4993]
cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the[4992]105
soonest winner.[4992]
Tucket. Enter Montjoy.
K. Hen. Well then I know thee: what shall I know of thee?
Mont. My master's mind.
K. Hen. Unfold it.110
Mont. Thus says my king: Say thou to Harry of[4994]
England: Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep:[4994][4995]
advantage is a better soldier than rashness. Tell him we could[4994]
have rebuked him at Harfleur, but that we thought not[4994]
good to bruise an injury till it were full ripe: now we[4994]115
speak upon our cue, and our voice is imperial: England[4994][4996]
shall repent his folly, see his weakness, and admire our[4994]
sufferance. Bid him therefore consider of his ransom;[4994]
which must proportion the losses we have borne, the[4994]
subjects we have lost, the disgrace we have digested; which[4994]120
in weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under.[4994]
For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the effusion[4994]
of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too faint a[4994]
number; and for our disgrace, his own person, kneeling at our[4994]
feet, but a weak and worthless satisfaction. To this add[4994]125
defiance: and tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his[4994]
followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far my[4994]
king and master; so much my office.[4994]
K. Hen. What is thy name? I know thy quality.
Mont. Montjoy.130
K. Hen. Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back,
And tell thy king I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment: for, to say the sooth,
Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much135
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,
My people are with sickness much enfeebled,
My numbers lessened, and those few I have
Almost no better than so many French;
Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,[4997]140
I thought upon one pair of English legs
Did march three Frenchmen. Yet, forgive me, God,
[Pg 548]
That I do brag thus! This your air of France
Hath blown that vice in me; I must repent.
Go therefore, tell thy master here I am;145
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk,
My army but a weak and sickly guard;
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself and such another neighbour
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.[4998]150
Go, bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour: and so, Montjoy, fare you well.
The sum of all our answer is but this:155
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it:[4999]
So tell your master.
Mont. I shall deliver so. Thanks to your highness.
[Exit.[5000]
Glou. I hope they will not come upon us now.160
K. Hen. We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs.
March to the bridge; it now draws toward night:
Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves,
And on to-morrow bid them march away. [Exeunt.
Scene VII. The French camp, near Agincourt.[5001]
Enter the Constable of France, the Lord Rambures, Orleans,
Dauphin, with others.
Con. Tut! I have the best armour of the world.
Would it were day![5002]
[Pg 549]
Orl. You have an excellent armour; but let my horse
have his due.
Con. It is the best horse of Europe.5
Orl. Will it never be morning?
Dau. My Lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable,
you talk of horse and armour?[5003]
Orl. You are as well provided of both as any prince in
the world.10
Dau. What a long night is this! I will not change my
horse with any that treads but on four pasterns. Ça, ha![5004]
he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; le[5005][5006]
cheval volant, the Pegasus, chez les narines de feu! When[5006][5007]
I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the15
earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof
is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.
Orl. He's of the colour of the nutmeg.[5008]
Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for
Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of20
earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient
stillness while his rider mounts him: he is indeed a horse;
and all other jades you may call beasts.[5009]
Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and
excellent horse.25
Dau. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like
the bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces
homage.
Orl. No more, cousin.
Dau. Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the30
rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved
praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as fluent as the sea: turn[5010]
the sands into eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument
for them all: 'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and
[Pg 550]
for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on; and for the world,35
familiar to us and unknown to lay apart their particular[5011]
functions and wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in his
praise, and began thus: 'Wonder of nature,'—
Orl. I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress.
Dau. Then did they imitate that which I composed to40
my courser, for my horse is my mistress.
Orl. Your mistress bears well.
Dau. Me well; which is the prescript praise and[5012]
perfection of a good and particular mistress.
Con. Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress[5013]45
shrewdly shook your back.
Dau. So perhaps did yours.
Con. Mine was not bridled.
Dau. O then belike she was old and gentle; and you
rode, like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in50
your strait strossers.[5014]
Con. You have good judgement in horsemanship.
Dau. Be warned by me, then: they that ride so and
ride not warily, fall into foul bogs. I had rather have my
horse to my mistress.55
Con. I had as lief have my mistress a jade.
Dau. I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears his own[5015]
hair.
Con. I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a
sow to my mistress.60
Dau. 'Le chien est retourné à son propre vomissement,
et la truie lavée au bourbier:' thou makest use of any thing.[5016]
Con. Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress, or
any such proverb so little kin to the purpose.
Ram. My lord constable, the armour that I saw in65
your tent to-night, are those stars or suns upon it?
[Pg 551]
Con. Stars, my lord.
Dau. Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.
Con. And yet my sky shall not want.
Dau. That maybe, for you bear a many superfluously,[5017]70
and 'twere more honour some were away.
Con. Even as your horse bears your praises; who would
trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.
Dau. Would I were able to load him with his desert!
Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and75
my way shall be paved with English faces.
Con. I will not say so, for fear I should be faced out
of my way: but I would it were morning; for I would
fain be about the ears of the English.
Ram. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty[5018]80
prisoners?[5019]
Con. You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you
have them.
Dau. 'Tis midnight; I'll go arm myself. [Exit.
Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning.[5020]85
Ram. He longs to eat the English.
Con. I think he will eat all he kills.
Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant prince.
Con. Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath.
Orl. He is simply the most active gentleman of France.90
Con. Doing is activity; and he will still be doing.
Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of.
Con. Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that
good name still.
Orl. I know him to be valiant.95
Con. I was told that by one that knows him better
than you.
Orl. What's he?
Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he
cared not who knew it.100
Con. By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it[5021]
but his lackey: 'tis a hooded valour; and when it appears,[5021]
it will bate.[5021]
Orl. Ill will never said well.[5021]105
Con. I will cap that proverb with 'There is flattery in[5021]
friendship.'[5021]
Orl. And I will take up that with, 'Give the devil his due.'[5021]
Con. Well placed: there stands your friend for the devil:[5021]
have at the very eye of that proverb with 'A pox of[5021]110
the devil.'[5021]
Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much[5021]
'A fool's bolt is soon shot.'[5021]
Con. You have shot over.[5021]
Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were overshot.[5021]115
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord high constable, the English lie within[5022]
fifteen hundred paces of your tents.
Con. Who hath measured the ground?
Mess. The Lord Grandpré.
Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would120
it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not
for the dawning as we do.
Orl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is this King
of England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so far[5023]
out of his knowledge!125
Con. If the English had any apprehension, they would
run away.
Orl. That they lack; for if their heads had any
intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy head-pieces.
Ram. That island of England breeds very valiant130
creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.
Orl. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of
a Russian bear and have their heads crushed like rotten
apples! You may as well say, that's a valiant flea that
[Pg 553]
dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.[5024]135
Con. Just, just; and the men do sympathize with the
mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on, leaving their
wits with their wives: and then give them great meals of
beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight
like devils.140
Orl. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef.
Con. Then shall we find to-morrow they have only
stomachs to eat and none to fight. Now is it time to arm:
come, shall we about it?
Orl. It is now two o'clock: but, let me see, by ten[5025]145
We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. [Exeunt.
ACT IV.
Enter Chorus.
Chor. Now entertain conjecture of a time
When creeping murmur and the poring dark
Fills the wide vessel of the universe.
From camp to camp through the foul womb of night
The hum of either army stilly sounds,5
That the fixed sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other's watch:
Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd face;
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs10
Piercing the night's dull ear, and from the tents
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
[Pg 554]
Give dreadful note of preparation:
The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,15
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.[5027]
Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,
The confident and over-lusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice;[5028]
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night[5029]20
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp
So tediously away. The poor condemned English,[5030]
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires
Sit patiently and inly ruminate
The morning's danger, and their gesture sad25
Investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats[5031]
Presenteth them unto the gazing moon[5032]
So many horrid ghosts. O now, who will behold[5033]
The royal captain of this ruin'd band
Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,30
Let him cry 'Praise and glory on his head!'
For forth he goes and visits all his host,
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile
And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note[5034]35
How dread an army hath enrounded him;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watched night,
But freshly looks and over-bears attaint
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty;40
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
[Pg 555]
A largess universal like the sun
His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,[5035]45
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.[5036]
And so our scene must to the battle fly;
Where—O for pity!—we shall much disgrace
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,50
Right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous,
The name of Agincourt. Yet sit and see,
Minding true things by what their mockeries be. [Exit.
Scene I. The English camp at Agincourt.
Enter King Henry, Bedford, and Gloucester.[5037]
K. Hen. Gloucester, 'tis true that we are in great danger;
The greater therefore should our courage be.
Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty!
There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out.5
For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both healthful and good husbandry:
Besides, they are our outward consciences,
And preachers to us all, admonishing
That we should dress us fairly for our end.[5038]10
Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
And make a moral of the devil himself.
Enter Erpingham.
Good morrow, old Sir Thomas Erpingham:
A good soft pillow for that good white head
[Pg 556]
Were better than a churlish turf of France.15
Erp. Not so, my liege: this lodging likes me better,
Since I may say 'Now lie I like a king.'
K. Hen. 'Tis good for men to love their present pains[5039]
Upon example; so the spirit is eased:[5040]
And when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt,20
The organs, though defunct and dead before,
Break up their drowsy grave and newly move,
With casted slough and fresh legerity.[5041]
Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas. Brothers both,
Commend me to the princes in our camp;25
Do my good morrow to them, and anon
Desire them all to my pavilion.
Glou. We shall, my liege.
Erp. Shall I attend your grace?
K. Hen. No, my good knight;
Go with my brothers to my lords of England:30
I and my bosom must debate a while,
And then I would no other company.
Erp. The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble Harry!
[Exeunt all but King.[5042]
K. Hen. God-a-mercy, old heart! thou speak'st cheerfully.
Enter Pistol.
K. Hen. A friend.
Pist. Discuss unto me; art thou officer?[5044]
Or art thou base, common, and popular?[5044]
K. Hen. I am a gentleman of a company.
Pist. Trail'st thou the puissant pike?40
[Pg 557]
K. Hen. Even so. What are you?
Pist. As good a gentleman as the emperor.
K. Hen. Then you are a better than the king.[5045]
Pist. The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold,[5046]
A lad of life, an imp of fame;[5046][5047]45
Of parents good, of fist most valiant:[5046]
I kiss his dirty shoe, and from heart-string[5046][5048]
I love the lovely bully. What is thy name?[5046][5049]
K. Hen. Harry le Roy.
Pist. Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of Cornish crew?50
K. Hen. No, I am a Welshman.
Pist. Know'st thou Fluellen?
K. Hen. Yes.
Pist. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate[5050]
Upon Saint Davy's day.[5050][5051]55
K. Hen. Do not you wear your dagger in your cap
that day, lest he knock that about yours.
Pist. Art thou his friend?
K. Hen. And his kinsman too.
Pist. The figo for thee, then!60
K. Hen. I thank you: God be with you!
Pist. My name is Pistol call'd. [Exit.
K. Hen. It sorts well with your fierceness.
Enter Fluellen and Gower.[5052]
Gow. Captain Fluellen!
Flu. So! in the name of Jesu Christ, speak lower. It[5053]65
is the greatest admiration in the universal world, when the
true and aunchient prerogatifes and laws of the wars is not
kept: if you would take the pains but to examine the wars
of Pompey the Great, you shall find, I warrant you, that
[Pg 558]
there is no tiddle taddle nor pibble pabble in Pompey's70
camp; I warrant you, you shall find the ceremonies of the
wars, and the cares of it, and the forms of it, and the sobriety[5054]
of it, and the modesty of it, to be otherwise.
Gow. Why, the enemy is loud; you hear him all night.
Flu. If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating75
coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look
you, be an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb? in your
own conscience, now?
Gow. I will speak lower.
Flu. I pray you and beseech you that you will.80
[Exeunt Gower and Fluellen.[5055]
K. Hen. Though it appear a little out of fashion,
There is much care and valour in this Welshman.
Enter three soldiers, John Bates, Alexander Court, and
Michael Williams.
Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the morning[5056]
which breaks yonder?
Bates. I think it be: but we have no great cause to85
desire the approach of day.
Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I
think we shall never see the end of it. Who goes there?
K. Hen. A friend.
Will. Under what captain serve you?90
K. Hen. Under Sir Thomas Erpingham.[5057]
Will. A good old commander and a most kind
gentleman: I pray you, what thinks he of our estate?
K. Hen. Even as men wrecked upon a sand, that look
to be washed off the next tide.95
Bates. He hath not told his thought to the king?
K. Hen. No; nor it is not meet he should. For, though[5058]
I speak it to you, I think the king is but a man, as I am: the
[Pg 559]
violet smells to him as it doth to me; the element shows to
him as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions;100
his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears
but a man; and though his affections are higher mounted
than ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like
wing. Therefore when he sees reason of fears, as we do, his
fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as ours are: yet, in105
reason, no man should possess him with any appearance
of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his army.
Bates. He may show what outward courage he will; but
I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish himself in
Thames up to the neck; and so I would he were, and I by[5059]110
him, at all adventures, so we were quit here.
K. Hen. By my troth, I will speak my conscience of
the king: I think he would not wish himself any where but
where he is.
Bates. Then I would he were here alone; so should he[5060]115
be sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives saved.[5061]
K. Hen. I dare say you love him not so ill, to wish him
here alone, howsoever you speak this to feel other men's
minds: methinks I could not die any where so contented as
in the king's company; his cause being just and his quarrel120
honourable.
Will. That's more than we know.
Bates. Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we[5062]
know enough, if we know we are the king's subjects: if his
cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime125
of it out of us.
Will. But if the cause be not good, the king himself
hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and
arms and heads, chopped off in a battle, shall join together[5063]
at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place;' some130
swearing, some crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives
left poor behind them, some upon the debts they owe,
some upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are
[Pg 560]
few die well that die in a battle; for how can they charitably[5064]
dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument?135
Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter
for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey were[5065]
against all proportion of subjection.
K. Hen. So, if a son that is by his father sent about
merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the[5066]140
imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be
imposed upon his father that sent him: or if a servant, under his
master's command transporting a sum of money, be assailed
by robbers and die in many irreconciled iniquities, you
may call the business of the master the author of the145
servant's damnation: but this is not so: the king is not bound
to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father
of his son, nor the master of his servant; for they purpose
not their death, when they purpose their services. Besides,[5067]
there is no king, be his cause never so spotless, if it come to150
the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all unspotted
soldiers: some peradventure have on them the guilt of premeditated
and contrived murder; some, of beguiling virgins
with the broken seals of perjury; some, making the wars
their bulwark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of155
peace with pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have
defeated the law and outrun native punishment, though they
can outstrip men, they have no wings to fly from God: war
is his beadle, war is his vengeance; so that here men are
punished for before-breach of the king's laws in now the[5068][5069]160
king's quarrel: where they feared the death, they have borne[5069]
life away; and where they would be safe, they perish: then
if they die unprovided, no more is the king guilty of their
damnation than he was before guilty of those impieties
for the which they are now visited. Every subject's duty is165
the king's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore
should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his[5070]
[Pg 561]
bed, wash every mote out of his conscience: and dying so,[5071]
death is to him advantage; or not dying, the time was
blessedly lost wherein such preparation was gained: and in[5072]170
him that escapes, it were not sin to think that, making God[5073]
so free an offer, He let him outlive that day to see His
greatness and to teach others how they should prepare.
Will. 'Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill upon[5074]
his own head, the king is not to answer it.175
Bates. I do not desire he should answer for me; and
yet I determine to fight lustily for him.
K. Hen. I myself heard the king say he would not be
ransomed.
Will. Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheerfully: but180
when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed, and we
ne'er the wiser.
K. Hen. If I live to see it, I will never trust his word
after.
Will. You pay him then. That's a perilous shot out[5075]185
of an elder-gun, that a poor and private displeasure can[5076]
do against a monarch! you may as well go about to turn
the sun to ice with fanning in his face with a peacock's
feather. You'll never trust his word after! come, 'tis a
foolish saying.190
K. Hen. Your reproof is something too round: I should
be angry with you, if the time were convenient.
Will. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you live.
K. Hen. I embrace it.
Will. How shall I know thee again?195
K. Hen. Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it
in my bonnet: then, if ever thou darest acknowledge it, I
will make it my quarrel.
Will. Here's my glove: give me another of thine.
[Pg 562]
K. Hen. There.200
Will. This will I also wear in my cap: if ever thou
come to me and say, after to-morrow, 'This is my glove,'
by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear.[5077]
K. Hen. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it.
Will. Thou darest as well be hanged.205
K. Hen. Well, I will do it, though I take thee in the
king's company.
Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well.
Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be friends: we
have French quarrels enow, if you could tell how to reckon.210
K. Hen. Indeed, the French may lay twenty French[5078]
crowns to one, they will beat us; for they bear them on[5078]
their shoulders: but it is no English treason to cut French[5078]
crowns, and to-morrow the king himself will be a clipper.[5078]
[Exeunt Soldiers.[5079]
Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,[5080][5081]215
Our debts, our careful wives,[5081]
Our children and our sins lay on the king![5081]
We must bear all. O hard condition,[5081][5082]
Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath[5081][5083]
Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel[5081]220
But his own wringing! What infinite heart's-ease[5081][5084]
Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy![5081]
And what have kings, that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?[5085]
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?225
[Pg 563]
What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more
Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?
What are thy rents? what are thy comings in?[5086]
O ceremony, show me but thy worth![5086][5087]
What is thy soul of adoration?[5088]230
Art thou aught else but place, degree and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men?
Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd
Than they in fearing.
What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,235
But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatness,
And bid thy ceremony give thee cure!
Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out[5089]
With titles blown from adulation?
Will it give place to flexure and low bending?[5090]240
Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play'st so subtly with a king's repose;[5091]
I am a king that find thee, and I know
'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball,245
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
The farced title running 'fore the king,
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this world,250
No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony,[5092]
Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave,[5093]
[Pg 564]
Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind
Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread;[5094]255
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,[5095]
But, like a lackey, from the rise to set[5096]
Sweats in the eye of Phœbus and all night
Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn,
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,[5097]260
And follows so the ever-running year,
With profitable labour, to his grave:
And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep,
Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king.[5098]265
The slave, a member of the country's peace,
Enjoys it; but in gross brain little wots
What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace,
Whose hours the peasant best advantages.
Enter Erpingham.
Erp. My lord, your nobles, jealous of your absence,[5099]270
Seek through your camp to find you.
K. Hen. Good old knight,[5100]
Collect them all together at my tent:
I'll be before thee.[5100]
Erp. I shall do't, my lord. [Exit.
K. Hen. O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
Possess them not with fear; take from them now275
The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers[5101]
Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, O Lord,[5101][5102]
[Pg 565]
O, not to-day, think not upon the fault[5103]
My father made in compassing the crown!
I Richard's body have interred new;280
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood:
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a-day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built[5104]285
Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests[5104]
Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do;[5104]
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,[5105]
Imploring pardon.290
Enter Gloucester.
Glou. My liege!
K. Hen. My brother Gloucester's voice? Ay;[5106][5107]
I know thy errand, I will go with thee:[5107]
The day, my friends and all things stay for me.[5108]
[Exeunt.
[Pg 566]
Scene II. The French camp.[5109]
Enter the Dauphin, Orleans, Rambures, and others.
Orl. The sun doth gild our armour; up, my lords![5110]
Dau. Montez à cheval! My horse! varlet! laquais! ha![5111][5112]
Enter Constable.[5111]
Con. Hark, how our steeds for present service neigh![5111]
Dau. Mount them, and make incision in their hides,[5111]
That their hot blood may spin in English eyes,[5111]10
And dout them with superfluous courage, ha![5111][5116]
Ram. What, will you have them weep our horses' blood?[5111]
How shall we, then, behold their natural tears?[5111]
Enter Messenger.[5111]
Mess. The English are embattled, you French peers.[5111][5117]
Con. To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse!15
Do but behold yon poor and starved band,
[Pg 567]
And your fair show shall suck away their souls,
Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
There is not work enough for all our hands;
Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins20
To give each naked curtle-axe a stain,[5118]
That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,
And sheathe for lack of sport: let us but blow on them,[5119]
The vapour of our valour will o'erturn them.
'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions, lords,[5120]25
That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants,
Who in unnecessary action swarm
About our squares of battle, were enow[5121]
To purge this field of such a hilding foe,
Though we upon this mountain's basis by30
Took stand for idle speculation:
But that our honours must not. What's to say?
A very little little let us do,
And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
The tucket sonance and the note to mount;[5122]35
For our approach shall so much dare the field
That England shall couch down in fear and yield.
Enter Grandpre.
Grand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France?
Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones,
Ill-favouredly become the morning field:40
Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,
And our air shakes them passing scornfully:
Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host
And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps:
The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,45
With torch-staves in their hand; and their poor jades[5123]
[Pg 568]
Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips,[5124]
The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes,
And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit[5125]
Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless;50
And their executors, the knavish crows,
Fly o'er them, all impatient for their hour.[5126]
Description cannot suit itself in words
To demonstrate the life of such a battle[5127]
In life so lifeless as it shows itself.[5128]55
Con. They have said their prayers, and they stay for death.[5129]
Dau. Shall we go send them dinners and fresh suits
And give their fasting horses provender,
And after fight with them?
Con. I stay but for my guidon: to the field![5130][5131]60
I will the banner from a trumpet take,[5130]
And use it for my haste. Come, come, away!
The sun is high, and we outwear the day. [Exeunt.
Scene III. The English camp.[5132]
Enter Gloucester, Bedford, Exeter, Erpingham, with all this
host: Salisbury and Westmoreland.
Glou. Where is the king?
Bed. The king himself is rode to view their battle.
[Pg 569]
West. Of fighting men they have full three score thousand.
Exe. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh.[5133]
Sal. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds.5
God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge:[5134]
If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,
Then, joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford,
My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter,
And my kind kinsman, warriors all, adieu!10
Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go with thee!
Exe. Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day:
And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,[5135]
For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.[5135]
[Exit Salisbury.[5136]
Bed. He is as full of valour as of kindness;15
Princely in both.
Enter the King.
West. O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!
K. Hen. What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:[5137]
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow[5138]20
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,[5139]
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;25
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
[Pg 570]
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:[5140]30
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more![5141]
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,35
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian:40
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,[5142]
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,[5143]45
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'[5144]
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,[5145]
But he'll remember with advantages[5145]50
What feats he did that day: then shall our names,[5146]
Familiar in his mouth as household words,[5147]
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
[Pg 571]
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.55
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;60
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,65
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks[5148]
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
Re-enter Salisbury.[5149]
Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed:
The French are bravely in their battles set,[5150]
And will with all expedience charge on us.70
K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds be so.
West. Perish the man whose mind is backward now!
K. Hen. Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?[5151]
West. God's will! my liege, would you and I alone,
Without more help, could fight this royal battle![5152]75
K. Hen. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men;[5153]
Which likes me better than to wish us one.
You know your places: God be with you all!
Tucket. Enter Montjoy.
Mont. Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,[5154]
If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,80
[Pg 572]
Before thy most assured overthrow:
For certainly thou art so near the gulf,
Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy,[5155]
The constable desires thee thou wilt mind
Thy followers of repentance; that their souls85
May make a peaceful and a sweet retire
From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor bodies
Must lie and fester.
K. Hen. Who hath sent thee now?
Mont. The Constable of France.
K. Hen. I pray thee, bear my former answer back:90
Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.
Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus?
The man that once did sell the lion's skin
While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
A many of our bodies shall no doubt[5156]95
Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
Shall witness live in brass of this day's work:
And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,
They shall be famed; for there the sun shall greet them,100
And draw their honours reeking up to heaven;
Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,
The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
Mark then abounding valour in our English,[5157][5158]
That being dead, like to the bullet's grazing,[5157][5159]105
Break out into a second course of mischief,[5157]
Killing in relapse of mortality.[5157][5160]
Let me speak proudly: tell the constable
We are but warriors for the working-day;
Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd110
With rainy marching in the painful field;
[Pg 573]
There's not a piece of feather in our host—
Good argument, I hope, we will not fly—
And time hath worn us into slovenry:
But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim;115
And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night
They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck[5161]
The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads
And turn them out of service. If they do this,—[5162]
As, if God please, they shall,—my ransom then[5163]120
Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;[5164]
Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald:
They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;
Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,[5165]
Shall yield them little, tell the constable.[5166]125
Mont. I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well:
Thou never shalt hear herald any more. [Exit.
K. Hen. I fear thou'lt once more come again for ransom.[5167]
Enter York.
York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg
The leading of the vaward.130
K. Hen. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, march away:
And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day! [Exeunt.
[Pg 574]
Scene IV. The field of battle.[5168]
Alarum. Excursions. Enter Pistol, French Soldier, and Boy.
Pist. Yield, cur!
Fr. Sol. Je pense que vous êtes gentilhomme de bonne[5169]
qualité.
Pist. Qualtitie calmie custure me! Art thou a gentleman?[5170]
what is thy name? discuss.5
Fr. Sol. O Seigneur Dieu!
Pist. O, Signieur Dew should be a gentleman:[5171]
Perpend my words, O Signieur Dew, and mark;[5171]
O Signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,[5171][5172]
Except, O signieur, thou do give to me[5171]10
Egregious ransom.[5171]
Fr. Sol. O, prenez miséricorde! ayez pitié de moi!
Pist. Moy shall not serve; I will have forty moys;[5173]
Or I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat[5173][5174]
In drops of crimson blood.[5173]15
Fr. Sol. Est-il impossible d'échapper la force de ton
bras?
Fr. Sol. O pardonnez moi!
Pist. Say'st thou me so? is that a ton of moys?[5176]
Come hither, boy: ask me this slave in French[5176]
What is his name.[5176]
Boy. Écoutez: comment êtes-vous appelé?25
Fr. Sol. Monsieur le Fer.
Boy. He says his name is Master Fer.
Pist. Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk him, and ferret
him: discuss the same in French unto him.
Boy. I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and30
firk.
Pist. Bid him prepare; for I will cut his throat.
Fr. Sol. Que dit-il, monsieur?
Boy. Il me commande de vous dire que vous faites
vous prèt; car ce soldat ici est disposé tout à cette heure[5177]35
de couper votre gorge.
Pist. Owy, cuppele gorge, permafoy,[5178]
Peasant, unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns;[5178][5179]
Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword.[5178]
Fr. Sol. O, je vous supplie, pour l'amour de Dieu, me40
pardonner! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne maison: gardez[5180]
ma vie, et je vous donnerai deux cents écus.
Pist. What are his words?
Boy. He prays you to save his life: he is a gentleman
of a good house; and for his ransom he will give you two45
hundred crowns.
Pist. Tell him my fury shall abate, and I[5181]
The crowns will take.[5181]
Fr. Sol. Petit monsieur, que dit-il?
Boy. Encore qu'il est centre son jurement de pardonner50
aucun prisonnier, néanmoins, pour les écus que vous
l'avez promis, il est content de vous donner la liberté, le
franchisement.
[Pg 576]
Fr. Sol. Sur mes genoux je vous donne mille remercîmens;
et je m'estime heureux que je suis tombé entre les[5182]55
mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le plus brave, vaillant, et
très distingué seigneur d'Angleterre.
Pist. Expound unto me, boy.
Boy. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks;
and he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen into the[5183]60
hands of one, as he thinks, the most brave, valorous, and
thrice-worthy signieur of England.
Pist. As I suck blood, I will some mercy show.[5184]
Follow me![5185]
Boy. Suivez-vous le grand capitaine. [Exeunt Pistol,[5186]65
and French Soldier.] I did never know so full a voice[5187]
issue from so empty a heart: but the saying is true, 'The[5188]
empty vessel makes the greatest sound.' Bardolph and
Nym had ten times more valour than this roaring devil i'
the old play, that every one may pare his nails with a[5189]70
wooden dagger; and they are both hanged; and so would[5190]
this be, if he durst steal any thing adventurously. I must
stay with the lackeys, with the luggage of our camp: the
French might have a good prey of us, if he knew of it; for[5191]
there is none to guard it but boys. [Exit.75
Scene V. Another part of the field.
Enter Constable, Orleans, Bourbon, Dauphin, and Rambures.[5192]
Con. O diable!
Orl. O seigneur! le jour est perdu, tout est perdu!
[Pg 577]
Dau. Mort de ma vie! all is confounded, all![5193]
Reproach and everlasting shame[5194]
Sits mocking in our plumes. O méchante fortune![5195]5
Do not run away.[5195] [A short alarum.
Con. Why, all our ranks are broke.
Dau. O perdurable shame! let's stab ourselves.
Be these the wretches that we play'd at dice for?
Orl. Is this the king we sent to for his ransom?
Bour. Shame and eternal shame, nothing but shame!10
Let us die in honour: once more back again;[5196]
And he that will not follow Bourbon now,[5197]
Let him go hence, and with his cap in hand,
Like a base pander, hold the chamber-door
Whilst by a slave, no gentler than my dog,[5198]15
His fairest daughter is contaminated.[5199]
Con. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now!
Let us on heaps go offer up our lives.[5200]
Orl. We are enow yet living in the field[5201]
To smother up the English in our throngs,20
If any order might be thought upon.
Bour. The devil take order now! I'll to the throng:
Let life be short; else shame will be too long. [Exeunt.
[Pg 578]
Scene VI. Another part of the field.
Alarums. Enter King Henry and forces, Exeter, and others.[5202]
K. Hen. Well have we done, thrice valiant countrymen:
But all's not done; yet keep the French the field.[5203]
Exe. The Duke of York commends him to your majesty.
K. Hen. Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour
I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting;5
From helmet to the spur all blood he was.[5204]
Exe. In which array, brave soldier, doth he lie,
Larding the plain; and by his bloody side,[5205]
Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds,
The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies.10
Suffolk first died: and York, all haggled over,
Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd,
And takes him by the beard; kisses the gashes
That bloodily did yawn upon his face;
And cries aloud 'Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk![5206]15
My soul shall thine keep company to heaven;[5207]
Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast,
As in this glorious and well-foughten field
We kept together in our chivalry!'
Upon these words I came and cheer'd him up:20
He smiled me in the face, raught me his hand,[5208]
And, with a feeble gripe, says 'Dear my lord,
Commend my service to my sovereign.'
So did he turn and over Suffolk's neck
He threw his wounded arm and kiss'd his lips;25
And so espoused to death, with blood he seal'd
A testament of noble-ending love.[5209]
[Pg 579]
The pretty and sweet manner of it forced
Those waters from me which I would have stopp'd;
But I had not so much of man in me,30
And all my mother came into mine eyes[5210]
and gave me up to tears.
K. Hen. I blame you not;
For, hearing this, I must perforce compound
With mistful eyes, or they will issue too.[5211] [Alarum.
But, hark! what new alarum is this same?[5212]35
The French have reinforced their scatter'd men:[5213][5214]
Then every soldier kill his prisoners;[5213][5215]
Give the word through. [Exeunt.[5216]
Scene VII. Another part of the field.
Enter Fluellen and Gower.[5217]
Flu. Kill the poys and the luggage! 'tis expressly against
the law of arms: 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you
now, as can be offer't; in your conscience, now, is it not?[5218]
Gow. 'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive; and the
cowardly rascals that ran from the battle ha' done this5
slaughter: besides, they have burned and carried away all[5219]
that was in the king's tent; wherefore the king, most worthily,
hath caused every soldier to cut his prisoner's throat.
O, 'tis a gallant king!
Flu. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, Captain Gower.10
What call you the town's name where Alexander the Pig
[Pg 580]
was born?
Gow. Alexander the Great.
Flu. Why, I pray you, is not pig great? the pig, or
the great, or the mighty, or the huge, or the magnanimous,15
are all one reckonings, save the phrase is a little
variations.
Gow. I think Alexander the Great was born in Macedon:
his father was called Philip of Macedon, as I take it.
Flu. I think it is in Macedon where Alexander is porn.20
I tell you, captain, if you look in the maps of the 'orld, I
warrant you sall find, in the comparisons between Macedon[5220]
and Monmouth, that the situations, look you, is both
alike. There is a river in Macedon; and there is also moreover[5221]
a river at Monmouth: it is called Wye at Monmouth;25
but it is out of my prains what is the name of the other
river; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike as my fingers is to my fingers,[5222]
and there is salmons in both. If you mark Alexander's
life well, Harry of Monmouth's life is come after
it indifferent well; for there is figures in all things. Alexander,30
God knows, and you know, in his rages, and his
furies, and his wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and
his displeasures, and his indignations, and also being a
little intoxicates in his prains, did, in his ales and his angers,
look you, kill his best friend, Cleitus.[5223]35
Gow. Our king is not like him in that: he never killed
any of his friends.
Flu. It is not well done, mark you now, to take the
tales out of my mouth, ere it is made and finished. I[5224]
speak but in the figures and comparisons of it: as Alexander[5225]40
killed his friend Cleitus, being in his ales and his[5223]
cups; so also Harry Monmouth, being in his right wits and
his good judgements, turned away the fat knight with the[5226]
great belly-doublet: he was full of jests, and gipes, and
[Pg 581]
knaveries, and mocks; I have forgot his name.[5227]45
Gow. Sir John Falstaff.
Flu. That is he: I'll tell you there is good men porn
at Monmouth.
Gow. Here comes his majesty.
Alarum. Enter King Henry, and forces; Warwick, Gloucester,
Exeter, and others.[5228]
K. Hen. I was not angry since I came to France[5229][5230]50
Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald;[5230]
Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill:[5230]
If they will fight with us, bid them come down,[5230]
Or void the field; they do offend our sight:[5230]
If they'll do neither, we will come to them,[5230]55
And make them skirr away, as swift as stones[5230][5231]
Enforced from the old Assyrian slings:[5230]
Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have,[5230]
And not a man of them that we shall take[5230]
Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so.[5230]60
Enter Montjoy.
Exe. Here comes the herald of the French, my liege.
Glo. His eyes are humbler than they used to be.
K. Hen. How now! what means this, herald? know'st thou not[5232]
That I have fined these bones of mine for ransom?
Comest thou again for ransom?
Mont. No, great king:65
I come to thee for charitable license,
That we may wander o'er this bloody field
To look our dead, and then to bury them;[5233]
[Pg 582]
To sort our nobles from our common men.
For many of our princes—woe the while!—70
Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood;
So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs
In blood of princes; and their wounded steeds[5234]
Fret fetlock deep in gore and with wild rage
Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters,75
Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king,
To view the field in safety and dispose
Of their dead bodies!
K. Hen. I tell thee truly, herald,
I know not if the day be ours or no;
For yet a many of your horsemen peer[5235]80
And gallop o'er the field.
Mont. The day is yours.
K. Hen. Praised be God, and not our strength, for it!
What is this castle call'd that stands hard by?
Mont. They call it Agincourt.
K. Hen. Then call we this the field of Agincourt,85
Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.
Flu. Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please
your majesty, and your great-uncle Edward the Plack
Prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a
most prave pattle here in France.90
K. Hen. They did, Fluellen.
Flu. Your majesty says very true: if your majesties[5236]
is remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a
garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth
caps; which, your majesty know, to this hour is an[5237]95
honourable badge of the service; and I do believe your majesty
takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day.
K. Hen. I wear it for a memorable honour;
For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.
[Pg 583]
Flu. All the water in Wye cannot wash your majesty's100
Welsh plood out of your pody, I can tell you that: God
pless it and preserve it, as long as it pleases his grace, and[5238]
his majesty too!
K. Hen. Thanks, good my countryman.[5239]
Flu. By Jeshu, I am your majesty's countryman, I105
care not who know it; I will confess it to all the 'orld: I
need not to be ashamed of your majesty, praised be God,
so long as your majesty is an honest man.
K. Hen. God keep me so! Our heralds go with him:[5240]
Bring me just notice of the numbers dead110
On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither.
[Points to Williams. Exeunt Heralds with Montjoy.[5241]
Exe. Soldier, you must come to the king.[5242]
K. Hen. Soldier, why wearest thou that glove in thy cap?
Will. An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage of one[5243]
that I should fight withal, if he be alive.115
K. Hen. An Englishman?
Will. An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered[5243]
with me last night; who, if alive and ever dare to challenge[5244]
this glove, I have sworn to take him a box o' th' ear: or if I[5245]
can see my glove in his cap, which he swore, as he was a120
soldier, he would wear if alive, I will strike it out soundly.
K. Hen. What think you, Captain Fluellen? is it fit
this soldier keep his oath?
Flu. He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your[5246]
majesty, in my conscience.125
K. Hen. It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great
sort, quite from the answer of his degree.
Flu. Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is,
as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look your
grace, that he keep his vow and his oath: if he be perjured,130
[Pg 584]
see you now, his reputation is as arrant a villain and a
Jacksauce, as ever his black shoe trod upon God's ground[5247]
and his earth, in my conscience, la!
K. Hen. Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meetest
the fellow.135
Will. So I will, my liege, as I live.
K. Hen. Who servest thou under?
Will. Under Captain Gower, my liege.
Flu. Gower is a good captain, and is good knowledge
and literatured in the wars.[5248]140
K. Hen. Call him hither to me, soldier.
Will. I will, my liege. [Exit.
K. Hen. Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me
and stick it in thy cap: when Alençon and myself were
down together, I plucked this glove from his helm: if any145
man challenge this, he is a friend to Alençon, and an enemy
to our person; if thou encounter any such, apprehend him,
an thou dost me love.[5249]
Flu. Your grace doo's me as great honours as can be[5250]
desired in the hearts of his subjects: I would fain see the150
man, that has but two legs, that shall find himself aggriefed[5251]
at this glove; that is all; but I would fain see it once,[5252]
an please God of his grace that I might see.[5253]
K. Hen. Knowest thou Gower?
Flu. He is my dear friend, an please you.[5254]155
K. Hen. Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my
tent.
Flu. I will fetch him. [Exit.
K. Hen. My Lord of Warwick, and my brother Gloucester,
Follow Fluellen closely at the heels:160
The glove which I have given him for a favour
[Pg 585]
May haply purchase him a box o' th' ear;[5245]
It is the soldier's; I by bargain should
Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin Warwick:
If that the soldier strike him, as I judge165
By his blunt bearing he will keep his word,[5255]
Some sudden mischief may arise of it;
For I do know Fluellen valiant
And, touched with choler, hot as gunpowder,
And quickly will return an injury:[5256]170
Follow, and see there be no harm between them.[5257]
Go you with me, uncle of Exeter.[5258] [Exeunt.
Scene VIII. Before King Henry's pavilion.[5259]
Enter Gower and Williams.
Will. I warrant it is to knight you, captain.
Enter Fluellen.
Flu. God's will and his pleasure, captain, I beseech you
now, come apace to the king: there is more good toward
you peradventure than is in your knowledge to dream of.
Will. Sir, know you this glove?5
Flu. Know the glove! I know the glove is a glove.
Will. I know this; and thus I challenge it.
[Strikes him.
Flu. 'Sblood! an arrant traitor as any is in the universal[5260]
world, or in France, or in England![5261]
Gow. How now, sir! you villain!10
Will. Do you think I'll be forsworn?
[Pg 586]
Flu. Stand away, Captain Gower; I will give treason
his payment into plows, I warrant you.[5262]
Will. I am no traitor.
Flu. That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you in his15
majesty's name, apprehend him: he's a friend of the Duke
Alençon's.
Enter Warwick and Gloucester.
War. How now, how now! what's the matter?
Flu. My Lord of Warwick, here is—praised be God for
it!—a most contagious treason come to light, look you, as20
you shall desire in a summer's day. Here is his majesty.[5263]
Enter King Henry and Exeter.
K. Hen. How now! what's the matter?
Flu. My liege, here is a villain and a traitor, that, look
your grace, has struck the glove which your majesty is
take out of the helmet of Alençon.25
Will. My liege, this was my glove; here is the fellow
of it; and he that I gave it to in change promised to wear
it in his cap: I promised to strike him, if he did: I met
this man with my glove in his cap, and I have been as[5264]
good as my word.30
Flu. Your majesty hear now, saving your majesty's
manhood, what an arrant, rascally, beggarly, lousy knave
it is: I hope your majesty is pear me testimony and witness,[5265]
and will avouchment, that this is the glove of Alençon,[5265]
that your majesty is give me; in your conscience, now?35
Flu. An please your majesty, let his neck answer for[5270]40
it, if there is any martial law in the world.
K. Hen. How canst thou make me satisfaction?
Will. All offences, my lord, come from the heart:[5271]
never came any from mine that might offend your majesty.
K. Hen. It was ourself thou didst abuse.45
Will. Your majesty came not like yourself: you appeared
to me but as a common man; witness the night, your
garments, your lowliness; and what your highness suffered
under that shape, I beseech you take it for your own fault[5272]
and not mine: for had you been as I took you for, I made[5273]50
no offence; therefore, I beseech your highness, pardon me.
K. Hen. Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns,
And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow;[5274]
And wear it for an honour in thy cap
Till I do challenge it. Give him the crowns:55
And, captain, you must needs be friends with him.
Flu. By this day and this light, the fellow has mettle
enough in his belly. Hold, there is twelve pence for you;[5275]
and I pray you to serve Got, and keep you out of prawls,
and prabbles, and quarrels, and dissensions, and, I warrant60
you, it is the better for you.
Will. I will none of your money.
Flu. It is with a good will; I can tell you, it will serve
you to mend your shoes: come, wherefore should you be
so pashful? your shoes is not so good: 'tis a good silling, 65
I warrant you, or I will change it.
Enter an English Herald.[5276]
K. Hen. Now, herald, are the dead number'd?[5277]
Her. Here is the number of the slaughter'd French.[5278]
K. Hen. What prisoners of good sort are taken, uncle?
Exe. Charles Duke of Orleans, nephew to the king;70
John Duke of Bourbon, and Lord Bouciqualt:[5279]
[Pg 588]
Of other lords and barons, knights and squires,
Full fifteen hundred, besides common men.
K. Hen. This note doth tell me of ten thousand French
That in the field lie slain: of princes, in this number,[5280]75
And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead
One hundred twenty six: added to these,
Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen,
Eight thousand and four hundred; of the which,
Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights:80
So that, in these ten thousand they have lost,
There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries;
The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires,
And gentlemen of blood and quality.
The names of those their nobles that lie dead:85
Charles Delabreth, high constable of France;
Jaques of Chatillon, admiral of France;[5281]
The master of the cross-bows, Lord Rambures;
Great Master of France, the brave Sir Guichard Dolphin,
John Duke of Alençon, Anthony Duke of Brabant,[5282]90
The brother to the Duke of Burgundy,
And Edward Duke of Bar: of lusty earls,
Grandpré and Roussi, Fauconberg and Foix,[5283]
Beaumont and Marie, Vaudemont and Lestrale.[5284]
Here was a royal fellowship of death!95
Where is the number of our English dead?
[Herald shews him another paper.[5285]
Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk,[5286]
Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire:[5286]
None else of name; and of all other men[5286]
But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here;[5286][5287]100
And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
Ascribe we all! When, without stratagem,
[Pg 589]
But in plain shock and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss[5288]
On one part and on th' other? Take it, God,[5288]105
For it is none but thine![5289]
Exe. 'Tis wonderful!
K. Hen. Come, go we in procession to the village:[5290]
And be it death proclaimed through our host
To boast of this or take that praise from God
Which is his only.110
Flu. Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to tell[5291]
how many is killed?
K. Hen. Yes, captain; but with this acknowledgement,
That God fought for us.
Flu. Yes, my conscience, he did us great good.115
K. Hen. Do we all holy rites;
Let there be sung 'Non nobis' and 'Te Deum;'
The dead with charity enclosed in clay:[5292]
And then to Calais; and to England then;[5293]
Where ne'er from France arrived more happy men.[5294]120
[Exeunt.
ACT V.
Enter Chorus.
Chor. Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story,[5296]
That I may prompt them: and of such as have,[5297]
I humbly pray them to admit the excuse
Of time, of numbers and due course of things,
Which cannot in their huge and proper life5
[Pg 590]
Be here presented. Now we bear the king
Toward Calais: grant him there; there seen,[5298]
Heave him away upon your winged thoughts
Athwart the sea. Behold, the English beach
Pales in the flood with men, with wives and boys,[5299]10
Whose shouts and claps out-voice the deep-mouth'd sea,
Which like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king
Seems to prepare his way: so let him land,
And solemnly see him set on to London.
So swift a pace hath thought that even now15
You may imagine him upon Blackheath;
Where that his lords desire him to have borne
His bruised helmet and his bended sword
Before him through the city: he forbids it,
Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride;20
Giving full trophy, signal and ostent
Quite from himself to God. But now behold,
In the quick forge and working-house of thought,
How London doth pour out her citizens!
The mayor and all his brethren in best sort,25
Like to the senators of the antique Rome,[5300]
With the plebeians swarming at their heels,
Go forth and fetch their conquering Cæsar in:
As, by a lower but loving likelihood,[5301]
Were now the general of our gracious empress,30
As in good time he may, from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit,
To welcome him! much more, and much more cause,
Did they this Harry. Now in London place him;35
As yet the lamentation of the French[5302]
Invites the King of England's stay at home;[5303]
The emperor's coming in behalf of France,[5304]
[Pg 591]
To order peace between them; and omit[5305]
All the occurrences, whatever chanced,40
Till Harry's back-return again to France:
There must we bring him; and myself have play'd
The interim, by remembering you 'tis past.
Then brook abridgement, and your eyes advance,
After your thoughts, straight back again to France. [Exit.45
Scene I. France. The English Camp.[5306]
Enter Fluellen and Gower.
Gow. Nay, that's right; but why wear you your leek
to-day? Saint Davy's day is past.[5307]
Flu. There is occasions and causes why and wherefore
in all things: I will tell you, asse my friend, Captain Gower:[5308]
the rascally, scald, beggarly, lousy, pragging knave, Pistol,5
which you and yourself and all the world know to be no[5309]
petter than a fellow, look you now, of no merits, he is
come to me and prings me pread and salt yesterday, look
you, and bid me eat my leek: it was in a place where I
could not breed no contention with him; but I will be so[5310]10
bold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again, and
then I will tell him a little piece of my desires.
Enter Pistol.
Gow. Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock.
Flu. 'Tis no matter for his swellings nor his turkey-cocks.[5311]
God pless you, Aunchient Pistol! you scurvy, lousy knave,[5312]15
God pless you!
[Pg 592]
Pist. Ha! art thou bedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,[5313][5314]
To have me fold up Parca's fatal web?[5313]
Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek.[5313]
Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy, lousy knave, at[5315]20
my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to eat, look
you, this leek: because, look you, you do not love it, nor[5316]
your affections and your appetites and your disgestions[5317]
doo's not agree with it, I would desire you to eat it.[5318]
Pist. Not for Cadwallader and all his goats.25
Flu. There is one goat for you. [Strikes him.] Will[5319]
you be so good, scauld knave, as eat it?
Pist. Base Trojan, thou shalt die.
Flu. You say very true, scauld knave, when God's will
is: I will desire you to live in the mean time, and eat your30
victuals: come, there is sauce for it. [Strikes him.] You[5320]
called me yesterday mountain-squire; but I will make you
to-day a squire of low degree. I pray you, fall to: if you[5321]
can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.
Gow. Enough, captain: you have astonished him.35
Flu. I say, I will make him eat some part of my leek,
or I will peat his pate four days. Bite, I pray you; it is[5322]
good for your green wound and your ploody coxcomb.
Pist. Must I bite?
Flu. Yes, certainly, and out of doubt and out of question[5323]40
too, and ambiguities.
Flu. Eat, I pray you: will you have some more sauce
to your leek? there is not enough leek to swear by.45
Pist. Quiet thy cudgel; thou dost see I eat.
Flu. Much good do you, scauld knave, heartily. Nay,
pray you, throw none away; the skin is good for your
broken coxcomb. When you take occasions to see leeks
hereafter, I pray you, mock at 'em; that is all.[5326]50
Pist. Good.
Flu. Ay, leeks is good: hold you, there is a groat to
heal your pate.
Pist. Me a groat!
Flu. Yes, verily and in truth, you shall take it; or I55
have another leek in my pocket, which you shall eat.
Pist. I take thy groat in earnest of revenge.
Flu. If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in cudgels:
you shall be a woodmonger, and buy nothing of me
but cudgels. God b' wi' you, and keep you, and heal your[5327]60
pate. [Exit.
Pist. All hell shall stir for this.
Gow. Go, go; you are a counterfeit cowardly knave.
Will you mock at an ancient tradition, begun upon an[5328]
honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of65
predeceased valour and dare not avouch in your deeds
any of your words? I have seen you gleeking and galling
at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because
he could not speak English in the native garb, he could not
therefore handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwise;[5329]70
and henceforth let a Welsh correction teach you a good
English condition. Fare ye well.[5330] [Exit.
Pist. Doth Fortune play the huswife with me now?[5331]
News have I, that my Doll is dead i' the spital[5331][5332]
Of malady of France;[5331][5333]75
And there my rendezvous is quite cut off.[5331]
[Pg 594]
Old I do wax; and from my weary limbs[5331]
Honour is cudgelled. Well, bawd I'll turn,[5331][5334]
And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand.[5331]
To England will I steal, and there I'll steal:80
And patches will I get unto these cudgell'd scars,[5335]
And swear I got them in the Gallia wars.[5336] [Exit.
Scene II. France. A royal palace.
Enter, at one door, King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, Gloucester,
Warwick, Westmoreland, and other Lords; at another, the
French King, Queen Isabel, the Princess Katharine, Alice
and other Ladies; the Duke of Burgundy, and his train.[5337]
K. Hen. Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met!
Unto our brother France, and to our sister,
Health and fair time of day; joy and good wishes
To our most fair and princely cousin Katharine;
And, as a branch and member of this royalty,5
By whom this great assembly is contrived,
We do salute you, Duke of Burgundy;[5338]
And, princes French, and peers, health to you all!
Fr. King. Right joyous are we to behold your face,
Most worthy brother England; fairly met:[5339]10
So are you, princes English, every one.
[Pg 595]
Q. Isa. So happy be the issue, brother England,[5340]
Of this good day and of this gracious meeting,
As we are now glad to behold your eyes;
Your eyes, which hitherto have borne in them[5341]15
Against the French, that met them in their bent,[5341]
The fatal balls of murdering basilisks:
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope,
Have lost their quality, and that this day[5342]
Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.20
K. Hen. To cry amen to that, thus we appear.
Q. Isa. You English princes all, I do salute you.
Bur. My duty to you both, on equal love,
Great Kings of France and England! That I have labour'd,[5343]
With all my wits, my pains and strong endeavours,25
To bring your most imperial majesties
Unto this bar and royal interview,
Your mightiness on both parts best can witness.[5344]
Since then my office hath so far prevail'd
That, face to face and royal eye to eye,30
You have congreeted, let it not disgrace me,
If I demand, before this royal view,
What rub or what impediment there is,
Why that the naked, poor and mangled Peace,
Dear nurse of arts, plenties and joyful births,35
Should not in this best garden of the world
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?[5345]
Alas, she hath from France too long been chased,
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in its own fertility.[5346]40
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies; her hedges even-pleach'd,[5347]
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair,
[Pg 596]
Put forth disorder'd twigs; her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock and rank fumitory[5348]45
Doth root upon, while that the coulter rusts[5349]
That should deracinate such savagery;
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled cowslip, burnet and green clover,
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,[5350]50
Conceives by idleness and nothing teems
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,[5351]
Losing both beauty and utility.
And as our vineyards, fallows, meads and hedges,[5352][5353]
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness,[5353][5354]55
Even so our houses and ourselves and children,
Have lost, or do not learn for want of time,
The sciences that should become our country;
But grow like savages,—as soldiers will[5355]
That nothing do but meditate on blood,—60
To swearing and stern looks, diffused attire[5356]
And every thing that seems unnatural,
Which to reduce into our former favour
You are assembled: and my speech entreats
That I may know the let, why gentle Peace65
Should not expel these inconveniences
And bless us with her former qualities.
K. Hen. If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,[5357]
Whose want gives growth to the imperfections
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace70
With full accord to all our just demands;
Whose tenours and particular effects[5358]
You have enscheduled briefly in your hands.
[Pg 597]
Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which as yet
There is no answer made.
K. Hen. Well then the peace,75
Which you before so urged, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a cursorary eye[5359]
O'erglanced the articles: pleaseth your grace
To appoint some of your council presently
To sit with us once more, with better heed[5360]80
To re-survey them, we will suddenly
Pass our accept and peremptory answer.[5361]
K. Hen. Brother, we shall. Go, uncle Exeter,
And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloucester,[5362]
Warwick and Huntingdon, go with the king;[5363]85
And take with you free power to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wisdoms best
Shall see advantageable for our dignity,[5364]
Any thing in or out of our demands;[5365]
And we'll consign thereto. Will you, fair sister,90
Go with the princes, or stay here with us?
Q. Isa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them:
Haply a woman's voice may do some good,[5366]
When articles too nicely urged be stood on.
K. Hen. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us:95
She is our capital demand, comprised
Within the fore-rank of our articles.
Q. Isa. She hath good leave.
[Exeunt all except Henry, Katharine, and Alice.[5367]
K. Hen. Fair Katharine, and most fair,
Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms
Such as will enter at a lady's ear100
[Pg 598]
And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?
Kath. Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak
your England.
K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly
with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it105
brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?
Kath. Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is 'like me.'[5368]
K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like
an angel.
Kath. Que dit-il? que je suis semblable à les anges?110
Alice. Oui, vraiment, sauf votre grace, ainsi dit-il.
K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not
blush to affirm it.
Kath. O bon Dieu! les langues des homines sont
pleines de tromperies.115
K. Hen. What says she, fair one? that the tongues of[5369]
men are full of deceits?
Alice. Oui, dat de tongues of de mans is be full of
deceits: dat is de princess.[5370]
K. Hen. The princess is the better Englishwoman. I'120
faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am
glad thou canst speak no better English; for, if thou couldst,
thou wouldst find me such a plain king that thou wouldst
think I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no
ways to mince it in love, but directly to say 'I love you:'125
then if you urge me farther than to say 'do you in faith?'
I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; i' faith, do:
and so clap hands and a bargain: how say you, lady?
Kath. Sauf votre honneur, me understand vell.[5371]
K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses or to130
dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one,
I have neither words nor measure, and for the other, I
have no strength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in
strength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting[5372]
into my saddle with my armour on my back, under the135
[Pg 599]
correction of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap
into a wife. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my
horse for her favours, I could lay on like a butcher and
sit like a jack-an-apes, never off. But, before God, Kate,
I cannot look greenly nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I140
have no cunning in protestation; only downright oaths,[5373]
which I never use till urged, nor never break for urging.[5374]
If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face
is not worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for
love of any thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook.145
I speak to thee plain soldier: if thou canst love me for this,[5375]
take me; if not, to say to thee that I shall die, is true; but
for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And[5376]
while thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined[5377]
constancy; for he perforce must do thee right,150
because he hath not the gift to woo in other places: for[5378]
these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves
into ladies' favours, they do always reason themselves out
again. What! a speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a
ballad. A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a155
black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald;
a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow: but a
good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the
sun, and not the moon; for it shines bright and never
changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou would have[5379]160
such a one, take me; and take me, take a soldier; take a[5380]
soldier, take a king. And what sayest thou then to my
love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee.
Kath. Is it possible dat I sould love de enemy of
France?165
K. Hen. No; it is not possible you should love the
enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love
the friend of France; for I love France so well that I will
[Pg 600]
not part with a village of it; I will have it all mine: and,
Kate, when France is mine and I am yours, then yours is[5381]170
France and you are mine.
Kath. I cannot tell vat is dat.[5382]
K. Hen. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French; which
I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a new-married[5383]
wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. Je[5384]175
quand sur le possession de France, et quand vous avez[5384][5385]
le possession de moi,—let me see, what then? Saint Denis[5385]
be my speed!—done votre est France et vous êtes mienne.
It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom as
to speak so much more French: I shall never move thee in180
French, unless it be to laugh at me.
Kath. Sauf votre honneur, le François que vous parlez,
il est meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle.[5386]
K. Hen. No, faith, is't not, Kate: but thy speaking of
my tongue, and I thine, most truly-falsely, must needs be[5387]185
granted to be much at one. But, Kate, dost thou understand
thus much English, canst thou love me?
Kath. I cannot tell.
K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll
ask them. Come, I know thou lovest me: and at night,190
when you come into your closet, you'll question this gentlewoman
about me; and I know, Kate, you will to her
dispraise those parts in me that you love with your heart:
but, good Kate, mock me mercifully; the rather, gentle
princess, because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou beest195
mine, Kate, as I have a saving faith within me tells me
thou shalt, I get thee with scambling, and thou must
therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder: shall not
[Pg 601]
thou and I, between Saint Denis and Saint George, compound
a boy, half French, half English, that shall go to200
Constantinople and take the Turk by the beard? shall we
not? what sayest thou, my fair flower-de-luce?
Kath. I do not know dat.
K. Hen. No; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to promise:
do but now promise, Kate, you will endeavour for your205
French part of such a boy; and for my English moiety take
the word of a king and a bachelor. How answer you, la plus
belle Katharine du monde, mon très cher et devin déesse?[5388]
Kath. Your majestee ave fausse French enough to[5389]
deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France.[5390]210
K. Hen. Now, fie upon my false French! By mine
honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by which
honour I dare not swear thou lovest me; yet my blood
begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding the
poor and untempering effect of my visage. Now, beshrew[5391]215
my father's ambition! he was thinking of civil wars
when he got me: therefore was I created with a stubborn
outside, with an aspect of iron, that, when I come to woo
ladies, I fright them. But, in faith, Kate, the elder I wax,
the better I shall appear: my comfort is, that old age, that220
ill layer up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face:
thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst; and thou
shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better: and
therefore tell me, most fair Katharine, will you have me?
Put off your maiden blushes; avouch the thoughts of your225
heart with the looks of an empress; take me by the hand,
and say 'Harry of England, I am thine:' which word thou
shalt no sooner bless mine ear withal, but I will tell thee
aloud 'England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine,
and Henry Plantagenet is thine;' who, though I speak it230
before his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou[5392]
shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your
[Pg 602]
answer in broken music; for thy voice is music and thy
English broken; therefore, queen of all, Katherine, break[5393]
thy mind to me in broken English; wilt thou have me?235
Kath. Dat is as it sall please de roi mon père.[5394]
K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall
please him, Kate.
Kath. Den it sail also content me.[5394]
K. Hen. Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you240
my queen.
Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez: ma foi, je
ne veux point que vous abaissiez votre grandeur en baisant
la main d'une de votre seigneurie indigne serviteur;[5395]
excusez-moi, je vous supplie, mon très-puissant seigneur.245
K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.
Kath. Les dames et demoiselles pour être baisées
devant leur noces, il n'est pas la coutume de France.[5396]
K. Hen. Madam my interpreter, what says she?
Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of250
France,—I cannot tell vat is baiser en Anglish.[5397]
K. Hen. To kiss.
Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre que moi.
K. Hen. It is not a fashion for the maids in France to[5398]
kiss before they are married, would she say?255
Alice. Oui, vraiment.
K. Hen. O Kate, nice customs courtesy to great kings.[5399]
Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak
list of a country's fashion: we are the makers of manners,
Kate; and the liberty that follows our places stops the260
mouth of all find-faults; as I will do yours, for upholding[5400]
the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss:
[Pg 603]
therefore, patiently and yielding. [Kissing her.] You have[5401]
witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in
a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French[5402]265
council; and they should sooner persuade Harry of England
than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes
your father.
Re-enter the French King and his Queen, Burgundy, and other
Lords.[5403]
Bur. God save your majesty! my royal cousin, teach[5404][5405]
you our princess English?[5405]270
K. Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how
perfectly I love her; and that is good English.
K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition[5407]
is not smooth; so that, having neither the voice nor the275
heart of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit[5408]
of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.
Bur. Pardon the frankness of my mirth, if I answer
you for that. If you would conjure in her, you must make
a circle; if conjure up love in her in his true likeness, he280
must appear naked and blind. Can you blame her then,
being a maid yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of[5409]
modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy
in her naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard condition
for a maid to consign to.285
K. Hen. Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind
and enforces.
Bur. They are then excused, my lord, when they see
not what they do.
[Pg 604]
K. Hen. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to290
consent winking.[5410]
Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you
will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, well summered[5411]
and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide,
blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will295
endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.
K. Hen. This moral ties me over to time and a hot[5412]
summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the
latter end and she must be blind too.
Bur. As love is, my lord, before it loves.300
K. Hen. It is so: and you may, some of you, thank
love for my blindness, who cannot see many a fair French
city for one fair French maid that stands in my way.
Fr. King. Yes, my lord, you see them perspectively,
the cities turned into a maid; for they are all girdled with305
maiden walls that war hath never entered.[5413]
K. Hen. Shall Kate be my wife?
Fr. King. So please you.
K. Hen. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk
of may wait on her: so the maid that stood in the way for[5414]310
my wish shall show me the way to my will.[5414]
Fr. King. We have consented to all terms of reason.
K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England?
West. The king hath granted every article:
His daughter first, and then in sequel all,[5415]315
According to their firm proposed natures.[5416]
Exe. Only he hath not yet subscribed this:
Where your majesty demands, that the King of France,
having any occasion to write for matter of grant, shall name
your highness in this form and with this addition, in French,320
Notre très-cher fils Henri, Roi d'Angleterre, Hèritier de[5417]
France; and thus in Latin, Præclarissimus filius noster[5418]
[Pg 605]
Henricus, Rex Angliæ, et Hæres Franciæ.
Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied,[5419]
But your request shall make me lot it pass.325
K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear alliance,
Let that one article rank with the rest;
And thereupon give me your daughter.[5420]
Fr. King. Take her, fair, son and from her blood raise up
Issue to me; that the contending kingdoms[5421]330
Of France and England, whose very shores look pale[5422]
With envy of each other's happiness,
May cease their hatred, and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and Christian-like accord
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance[5423]335
His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France.
K. Hen. Now, welcome, Kate: and bear me witness all,
That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. [Flourish.
Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages,340
Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one!
As man and wife, being two, are one in love,
So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal,
That never may ill office, or fell jealousy,
Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage,345
Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms,[5425]
To make divorce of their incorporate league;
That English may as French, French Englishmen,[5426]
Receive each other. God speak this Amen!
K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage: on which day,
My Lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath,
And all the peers', for surety of our leagues.[5428]
Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me;
[Pg 606]
And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be!360
[Sennet. Exeunt.[5429]
Epilogue.
Enter Chorus.[5430]
Chor. Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen,
Our bending author hath pursued the story,[5431]
In little room confining mighty men,
Mangling by starts the full course of their glory.
Small time, but in that small most greatly lived5
This star of England: Fortune made his sword;
By which the world's best garden he achieved,
And of it left his son imperial lord.[5432]
Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King
Of France and England, did this king succeed;10
Whose state so many had the managing,
That they lost France and made his England bleed:[5433]
Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake,
In your fair minds let this acceptance take. [Exit.[5434]
NOTES.
Dramatis Personæ. In Rowe's list, which remained uncorrected
by any editor before Capell, the Duke of Clarence is introduced
and the Duke of York is called 'Uncle to the king.' The list we have
given differs in a few other unimportant points from that of Rowe.
In the first Folio the title of the play is The Life of Henry the Fift.
The second Folio has The Life of King Henry the Fift. In the Folios
the play is divided into acts, but not into scenes, although they prefix
Actus Primus, Scena Prima, to the first act. The division was first
made by Pope.
Act II. Prologue, 31, 32. Mr Knight says, "The passage is evidently
corrupt; and we believe that the two lines were intended to be
erased from the author's copy; for 'the abuse of distance' is inapplicable
as the lines stand." Mr Keightley proposes to read,
'and we'll digest
The abuse of distance as we forge our play.'
We have left the reading of the Folios, as no proposed emendation
can be regarded as entirely satisfactory.
II. 2. 139, 140. Malone misquotes the reading of Pope in this passage,
and his error is repeated without correction in subsequent editions.
Mr Mitford in the Gentleman's Magazine, Nov. 1844, proposes
to read, 'To mark the full-fraught man and least inclined,' &c., quoting
'inclined' as if it were the received text. Perhaps it is a printer's
error.
[Pg 608]
II. 2. 176. Mr Collier in a note which has remained uncorrected in
his second edition says, "Malone, without any authority from Quartos
or Folios, printed 'Whose ruin you three sought.'" The fact is that this
is the reading of every Folio, except the first, and of every edition,
without exception, which had appeared before Malone's.
II. 3. 16. Here is Pope's note on this famous passage: 'These
words and a table of green fields are not to be found in the old editions
of 1600 and 1608. This nonsense got into all the following editions by
a pleasant mistake of the Stage-editors, who printed from the common
piecemeal-written parts in the Play-house. A Table was here directed
to be brought in (it being a scene in a tavern where they drink at
parting) and this direction crept into the text from the margin. Greenfield
was the name of the Property-man in that time who furnished
implements &c. for the actors. A table of Greenfield's.'
Theobald's emendation was suggested, he says, by a marginal conjecture
in an edition of Shakespeare 'by a gentleman sometime
deceased.' Shakespeare Restored, p. 138.
Mr Spedding approves of talked as being nearer to the ductus
literarum, according to the handwriting of the time. The reading
talked derives some support from the following passage in the Quartos:
'His nose was as sharpe as a pen:
For when I saw him fumble with the sheetes,
And talk of floures, and smile vpo his fingers ends
I knew there was no way but one.'
II. 4. 1. We retain the reading comes which is authorized by the
Folios. It is an example of the idiom mentioned in the note to King
John, V. 4. 14. So we find in the passage of the first and third
Quartos, corresponding to II. 4. 72, 'Cut up this English short,' and
again in that corresponding to IV. 3. 69, 'The French is in the field.'
See, also, IV. 4. 74.
[Pg 609]
III. 2. 18. The Quartos here read 'breaches,' not 'preaches,' and
the Folios 'breach,' not 'preach.' Throughout the speeches of Fluellen
the old copies sometimes mark the peculiarity of his pronunciation, by
using 'p' for 'b,' and 't' for 'd,' sometimes not; an inconsistency,
which Hanmer and others have attempted to correct. As a rule, we
have silently followed the first Folio. See Merry Wives of Windsor,
Note II. The same will apply to the Scotch of Jamy and the Irish of
Macmorris; for these dialects, which could not be represented by the
printer, were left to the actor's power of imitation.
Ritson, in his Remarks, p. 108, says, 'In the Folio, it is the duke of
Exeter and not Fluellen, who enters and to whom Pistol addresses himself.
Shakespeare had made the alteration and the player editors inserted
it in the text, but inadvertently, left Fluellen in possession of the
margin.' No copy of any Folio with which we are acquainted bears out
Ritson's assertion. All have Enter Fluellen, as well as Flu. in the
margin. It seems to us that there is some comic humour in making
Pistol, almost beside himself with fright, endeavour to propitiate the
captain by giving him high sounding titles. The language, too, of the
exhortation is more suitable to the choleric Fluellen than to the stately
Exeter.
III. 1. 112-114. Mr Knight, at the suggestion of a friend, transposes
this passage thus: 'Of my nation? What ish my nation? What
ish my nation? Who talks of my nation ish a villain, a bastard, and
a knave, and a rascal.' We agree with Mr Staunton's suggestion, that
'the incoherence of the original was designed to mark the impetuosity
of the speaker.'
III. 3. 32. The editor of the variorum edition of 1803, adopting the
emendation 'deadly,' which was really Capell's conjecture, though
Malone appropriates it, makes it appear, as if on the authority of
Malone, that 'deadly' is the reading of the second Folio. We have
left unnoticed many similar errors, which run, uncorrected, through
the successive variorum editions.
[Pg 610]
III. 4. 1. We content ourselves with a few specimens of the
errors and variations of the old copies in this scene. The French
was set right, or nearly so, by successive alterations made by Rowe,
Pope, Theobald, Warburton, and Capell. Some obvious corrections
in the distribution of the dialogue were made by Theobald.
III. 5. 1. The stage direction of the Folios is as follows:
Enter the King of France, the Dolphin, the Constable of France,
and others. To the speeches which commence lines 10 and 32 they
prefix Brit. But as the Duke of 'Britaine' does not appear elsewhere
in the play, and as the stage direction of the Quartos runs: Enter King
of France, Bourbon, Dolphin, and others, we have followed Theobald
in introducing Bourbon among the persons who enter and in assigning
the two speeches to him. 'Bourbon,' and not 'Britaine,' is mentioned
among the lords in line 41. In Holinshed (p. 1077, ed. 1577), the
Dukes of Berry and Britaine are mentioned as belonging to the French
king's council, and not the Duke of Bourbon. Shakespeare probably
first intended to introduce the Duke of Britaine, and then changed his
mind, but forgot to substitute Bour. for Brit. before the two speeches.
Rowe omitted to insert the Duke of 'Britaine' in his list of Dramatis
Personæ.
III. 5. 40. As the metre will not allow us to set Delabreth right by
reading D'Albret, we do not see what is gained by substituting De-la-bret,
which is as erroneous as the word which Shakespeare copied from
Holinshed. The same chronicler afterwards calls him Dalbreth.
(Holinshed, ed. 1577, p. 1175 and 1176).
III. 6. 100-106. Pope, following the Quarto to a certain extent,
alters the whole passage thus:
'We would have such offenders so cut off,
And give express charge that in all our march
[Pg 611]
There shall be nothing taken from the villages
But shall be paid for, and no French upbraided
Or yet abused in disdainful language;
When lenity and cruelty play for kingdoms
The gentler gamester is the soonest winner.'
III. 6. 111-128. Pope gives the speech as follows:
'Thus says my King: say thou to Harry England,
Although we seemed dead, we did but sleep:
Advantage is a better soldier than rashness.
Tell him we could at Harfleur have rebuk'd him,
But that we thought not good to bruise an injury
Till it were ripe. Now speak we on our cue,
With voice imperial: England shall repent
His folly, see his weakness, and admire
Our suff'rance. Bid him therefore to consider
What must the ransom be, which must proportion
The losses we have born, the subjects we
Have lost, and the disgrace we have digested;
To answer which, his pettiness would bow under.
First for our loss, too poor is his Exchequer;
For the effusion of our blood, his army
Too faint a number; and for our disgrace,
Ev'n his own person kneeling at our feet
A weak and worthless satisfaction.
To this defiance add; and for conclusion,
Tell him he hath betray'd his followers,
Whose condemnation is pronounc'd. So far
My King and master; and so much my office.'
IV. Prol. 45. Theobald's reading of this obscure passage is as
follows:
'Then, mean and gentle, all
Behold, (as may unworthiness define)
A little touch, &c.'
In his note he says: 'The poet, first, expatiates on the real influence
that Harry's eye had on the camp: and then addressing himself[Pg 612]
to every degree of his audience, he tells them, he'll shew (as well as
his unworthy pen and powers can describe it) a little touch, or sketch
of this hero in the night.'
Hanmer reads,
'Then mean and gentle all
Behold, &c.'
Capell, following substantially Theobald, reads,
'Then, mean and gentle all,
Behold, &c.'
Theobald supports his reading by two quotations from previous
speeches of the chorus (I. prol. 8; II. prol. 35) in which the audience
are addressed as 'gentles;' but this does not justify the supposition
that he would address any of them as 'mean.' The phrase 'mean and
gentle' appears to us to refer to the various ranks of the English army
who are mentioned in the previous line. Delius's conjecture that a
line is lost after the word 'all' seems very probable.
IV. 1. 274, 275. Theobald says, "The poet might intend, 'Take
from them the sense of reckoning those opposed numbers; which
might pluck their courage from them.' But the relative not being
expressed, the sense is very obscure; and the following verb seems a
petition, in the imperative mood."
Perhaps a line has been lost, which, by help of the Quartos, we
might supply thus:
'Take from them now
The sense of reckoning of the opposed numbers,
Lest that the multitudes which stand before them
Pluck their hearts from them.'
IV. 2. 60. The conjectural reading, guidon: for guard: on, which
we have adopted, and which is attributed by recent editors to Dr
Thackeray, late Provost of King's College, Cambridge, is found in
Rann's edition, without any name attached. Dr Thackeray probably
made the conjecture independently. We find it written in pencil on
the margin of his copy of Nares's Glossary, under the word 'Guard.'
IV. 3. 13, 14. Thirlby's emendation, which indeed seems absolutely
to be required by the context, is supported by the corresponding
passage in the Quartos:
[Pg 613]
'Clar. Farewell kind Lord, fight valiantly to day,
And yet in truth, I do thee wrong,
For thou art made on the true sparkes of honour.'
IV. 3. 52. We retain his mouth, because it gives a very complete
sense, and because the authority of the Folio is greatly superior to that
of the Quarto. The names of the King, Bedford, &c. were to be familiar
as household words in the mouth of the old veteran, that is, spoken
of every day, not on one day of the year only. The neighbours, who
had no personal recollections connected with those names, were only
reminded of them by their host on St Crispin's day.
V. 1. 73. Although it appears from line 75, 'And there my rendezvous
is quite cut off,' that Capell's emendation is what Shakespeare
ought to have written, yet as the reading 'Doll' is found throughout
both the Quartos and Folios, it is probable that the mistake is the
author's own, and therefore, in accordance with our principle, we have
allowed it to remain.
V. 2. 174. Warburton's printer by mistake gave 'married' for 'new-married.'
Johnson says: "Every wife is a married wife: I suppose
we should read 'new-married,'" which is in fact the reading of every
edition before Warburton's. In line 149, he omitted to correct Warburton's
misprint of 'Kate' for 'dear Kate.' The Doctor seems to
have collated the older editions by fits and starts, with long intervals
of laziness.
V. 2. 176. As it is clear that the king is meant to speak bad French,
we leave uncorrected what we find in the Folios. His French is much
worse in the Quartos. In line 208, most editors, somewhat inconsistently,
leave 'mon' for 'ma' while they change 'cher' and 'devin' to
'chère' and 'divine.'
[Pg 614]
V. 2. 276. This curious misprint, 'hatred' for 'flattery', escaped the
notice of Pope, who repeated it in both his editions. Theobald first
pointed it out in his Letters to Warburton, Nichols' Illustrations,
Vol. II. p. 429.
V. 2. 322. Shakespeare copied both French and Latin from Holinshed,
where by mistake 'Præclarissimus' is printed for 'Præcharissimus'
(p. 1207, ed. 1577). The same error is found in Hall, Henry V.
fol. 39 b (ed. 1550).
V. 2. 360. The printer of the second Folio when he misread 'Sonet'
for 'Senet,' probably supposed it to be the title of the poem of fourteen
lines, which the Chorus speaks, though the position of the word is ambiguous.
The printer of the fourth Folio and Rowe place it as if it
belonged to the Enter Chorus rather than to the Exeunt. Pope omitted
the word altogether, and it did not reappear till Mr Dyce restored
it.
[Pg 615]
The Chronicle Historie
of Henry the fift: with his battel fought
at AginCourt in France. Togither with
Auncient Pistoll.
[Sc. I.]
Enter King Henry, Exeter, 2. Bishops, Clarence, and other
Attendants.
Exeter. Shall I call in Thambassadors my Liege?
King. Not yet my Cousin, til we be resolude
Of some serious matters touching vs and France.
Bi. God and his Angels guard your sacred throne,
And make you long become it.5
King. Shure we thank you. And good my Lord proceed[5435]
Why the Lawe Salicke which they haue in France,
Or should or should not, stop vs in our clayme:[5436]
And God forbid my wise and learned Lord,
That you should fashion, frame, or wrest the same.10
For God doth know how many now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation,
Of what your reuerence shall incite vs too.
Therefore take heed how you impawne our person,
How you awake the sleeping sword of warre:15
We charge you in the name of God take heed.
After this coniuration, speake my Lord:
And we will iudge, note, and beleeue in heart,
That what you speake, is washt as pure
As sin in baptisme.20
[Bish.
[Pg 616]
Then heare me gracious soueraigne, and you peeres,[5437]
Which owe your liues, your faith and seruices
To this imperiall throne.
There is no bar to stay your highnesse claime to France
But one, which they produce from Faramount,25
No female shall succeed in salicke land,
Which salicke land the French vniustly gloze
To be the realme of France:
And Faramont the founder of this law and female barre:
Yet their owne writers faithfully affirme30
That the land salicke lyes in Germany,
Betweene the flouds of Sabeck and of Elme,
Where Charles the fift hauing subdude the Saxons,
There left behind, and setled certaine French,
Who holding in disdaine the Germaine women,35
For some dishonest maners of their liues,
Establisht there this lawe. To wit,
No female shall succeed in salicke land:
Which salicke land as I said before,[5438]
Is at this time in Germany called Mesene:40
Thus doth it well appeare the salicke lawe
Was not deuised for the realme of France,
Nor did the French possesse the salicke land,
Vntill 400. one and twentie yeares
After the function of king Faramont,45
Godly supposed the founder of this lawe:
Hugh Capet also that vsurpt the crowne,
To fine his title with some showe of truth,
When in pure truth it was corrupt and naught:
Conuaid himselfe as heire to the Lady Inger,[5439]50
Daughter to Charles, the foresaid Duke of Lorain,
So that as cleare as is the sommers Sun,
King Pippins title and Hugh Capets claime,
King Charles his satisfaction all appeare,
To hold in right and title of the female:55
So do the Lords of France vntil this day,
Howbeit they would hold vp this salick lawe
To bar your highnesse claiming from the female,
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Then amply to imbace their crooked causes,[5440]60
Vsurpt from you and your progenitors.
K. May we with right & conscience make this claime?
[Pg 617]
Bi. The sin vpon my head dread soueraigne.
For in the booke of Numbers is it writ,[5441]
When the sonne dyes, let the inheritance65
Descend vnto the daughter.
Noble Lord stand for your owne,
Vnwinde your bloody flagge,
Go my dread Lord to your great graunsirs graue,[5442]
From whom you clayme:70
And your great Vncle Edward the blacke Prince,
Who on the French ground playd a Tragedy
Making defeat on the full power of France,
Whilest his most mighty father on a hill,
Stood smiling to behold his Lyons whelpe,75
Foraging blood of French Nobilitie.[5443]
O Noble English that could entertaine
With halfe their Forces the full power of France:
And let an other halfe stand laughing by,
All out of worke, and cold for action.80
King. We must not onely arme vs against the French,[5444]
But lay downe our proportion for the Scot,[5445]
Who will make rode vpon vs with all aduantages.
Bi. The Marches gracious soueraigne, shalbe sufficient
To guard your England from the pilfering borderers.85
King. We do not meane the coursing sneakers onely,
But feare the mayne entendement of the Scot,
For you shall read, neuer my great grandfather
Vnmaskt his power for France,
But that the Scot on his vnfurnisht Kingdome,90
Came pouring like the Tide into a breach,
That England being empty of defences,
Hath shooke and trembled at the brute hereof.
Bi. She hath bin then more feared then hurt my Lord:
For heare her but examplified by her selfe,95
When all her chiualry hath bene in France
And she a mourning widow of her Nobles,
She hath her selfe not only well defended,
But taken and impounded as a stray, the king of Scots,
Whom like a caytiffe she did leade to France,100
Filling your Chronicles as rich with praise
As is the owse and bottome of the sea
With sunken wrack and shiplesse treasurie.
[Pg 618]
Lord. There is a saying very old and true,
If you will France win,105
Then with Scotland first begin:
For once the Eagle, England being in pray,
To his vnfurnish nest the weazel Scot[5446]
Would suck her egs, playing the mouse in absence of the cat:
To spoyle and hauock more then she can eat.110
Exe. It followes then, the cat must stay at home,
Yet that is but a curst necessitie,
Since we haue trappes to catch the petty theeues:
Whilste that the armed hand doth fight abroad
The aduised head controlles at home:115
For gouernment though high or lowe, being put into parts,[5447]
Congrueth with a mutuall consent like musicke.
Bi. True: therefore doth heauen diuide the fate of man in diuers functions.
Whereto is added as an ayme or but, obedience:
For so liue the honey Bees, creatures that by awe120
Ordaine an act of order to a peopeld Kingdome:
They haue a King and officers of sort,
Where some like Magistrates correct at home:
Others like Marchants venture trade abroad:
Others like souldiers armed in their stings,125
Make boote vpon the sommers veluet bud:
Which pillage they with mery march bring home
To the tent royall of their Emperour;
Who busied in his maiestie, behold
The singing masons building roofes of gold:130
The ciuell citizens lading vp the honey,
The sad eyde Iustice with his surly humme,
Deliuering vp to executors pale, the lazy caning Drone.
This I infer, that 20. actions once a foote,
May all end in one moment.135
As many Arrowes losed seuerall wayes, flye to one marke:
As many seuerall wayes meete in one towne:
As many fresh streames run in one selfe sea:
As many lines close in the dyall center:
So may a thousand actions once a foote,140
End in one moment, and be all well borne without defect.
Therefore my Liege to France,
Diuide your happy England into foure,
Of which take you one quarter into France,
And you withall, shall make all Gallia shake.145
If we with thrice that power left at home,
[Pg 619]
Cannot defend our owne doore from the dogge,
Let vs be beaten, and from henceforth lose
The name of pollicy and hardinesse.
Ki. Call in the messenger sent frō the Dolphin.150
And by your ayde, the noble sinewes of our land,
France being ours, weele bring it to our awe,
Or breake it all in peeces:
Eyther our Chronicles shal with full mouth speak
Freely of our acts,155
Or else like toonglesse mutes
Not worshipt with a paper Epitaph:
Enter Thambassadors from France.
Now are we well prepared to know the Dolphins pleasure,
For we heare your comming is from him.
Ambassa. Pleaseth your Maiestie to giue vs leaue160
Freely to render what we haue in charge:
Or shall I sparingly shew a farre off,
The Dolphins pleasure and our Embassage?
King. We are no tyrant, but a Christian King,
To whom our spirit is as subiect,165
As are our wretches fettered in our prisons.
Therefore freely and with vncurbed boldnesse
Tell vs the Dolphins minde.
Ambas. Then this in fine the Dolphin saith,
Whereas you clayme certaine Townes in France,170
From your predecessor king Edward the third,
This he returnes.
He saith, theres nought in France that can be with a nimble
Galliard wonne: you cannot reuel into Dukedomes there:
Therefore he sendeth meeter for your study,175
This tunne of treasure: and in lieu of this,
Desires to let the Dukedomes that you craue
Heare no more from you: This the Dolphin saith.
King. What treasure Vncle?
Exe. Tennis balles my Liege.180
King. We are glad the Dolphin is so pleasant with vs,
Your message and his present we accept:
When we haue matched our rackets to these balles,
We will by Gods grace play such a set,[5448]
Shall strike his fathers crowne into the hazard.185
Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler,
That all the Courts of France shall be disturbd with chases.
And we vnderstand him well, how he comes ore vs
[Pg 620]
With our wilder dayes, not measuring what vse we made of them.
We neuer valued this poore seate of England.190
And therefore gaue our selues to barbarous licence:
As tis common seene that men are merriest when they are from home.
But tell the Dolphin we will keepe our state,
Be like a King, mightie and commaund,
When we do rowse vs in throne of France:[5449]195
For this haue we laid by our Maiestie:[5450]
And plodded lide a man for working dayes.[5451]
But we will rise there with so full of glory,[5452]
That we will dazell all the eyes of France,
I strike the Dolphin blinde to looke on vs,200
And tell him this, his mock hath turnd his balles to gun stones,
And his soule shall sit sore charged for the wastfull vengeance
That shall flye from them. For this his mocke
Shall mocke many a wife out of their deare husbands.
Mocke mothers from their sonnes, mocke Castles downe,205
I some are yet vngotten and vnborne,
That shall haue cause to curse the Dolphins scorne.
But this lyes all within the wil of God, to whom we doo appeale,
And in whose name tel you the Dolphin we are coming on
To venge vs as we may, and to put forth our hand210
In a rightfull cause: so get you hence, and tell your Prince,[5453]
His Iest will sauour but of shallow wit,
When thousands weepe, more then did laugh at it.
Conuey them with safe conduct: see them hence.
Exe. This was a merry message.215
King. We hope to make the sender blush at it:
Therfore let our collectiō for the wars be soone prouided:
For God before, weell check the Dolphin at his fathers doore.
Therefore let euery man now taske his thought,
That this faire action may on foote be brought.220
[Exeunt omnes.
[Sc. II.]
Enter Nim and Bardolfe.
Nim. Godmorrow Lieftenant Bardolfe.[5454]
Bar. What is antient Pistoll and thee friends yet?
Nim. I cannot tell, things must be as they may:
I dare not fight, but I will winke and hold out mine Iron:5
It is a simple one, but what tho; it will serue to toste cheese,[5455]
And it will endure cold as an other mans sword will,
And theres the humor of it.
Bar. Yfaith mistresse quickly did thee great wrong,[5456]
For thou weart troth plight to her.10
Nim. I must do as I may, tho patience be a tyred mare,
Yet sheel plod, and some say kniues haue edges,
And men may sleepe and haue their throtes about them
At that time, and there is the humour of it.
Bar. Come yfaith. Il bestow a breakfast to make Pistoll15
And thee friendes. What a plague should we carrie kniues
To cut our owne throates.
Nim. Yfaith Il liue as long as I may, thats the certaine of it.
And when I cannot liue any longer, Il do as I may,
And theres my rest, and the randeuous of it.20
Enter Pistoll and Hostes Quickly, his wife.[5457]
Bar. Godmorrow ancient Pistoll.[5454]
Heere comes ancient Pistoll, I prithee Nim be quiet.
Nim. How do you my Hoste?
Pist. Base slaue, callest thou me hoste?
Now by gads lugges I sweare, I scorne the title,25
Nor shall my Nell keepe lodging.
Host. No by my troath not I,
For we cānot bed nor boord half a score honest gētlewomē[5458]
That liue honestly by the prick of their needle,
But it is thought straight we keepe a bawdy-house.30
O Lord heeres Corporall Nims, now shall[5459]
We haue wilful adultry and murther committed:
Good Corporall Nim shew the valour of a man,
And put vp your sword.
Nim. Push.35
Pist. What dost thou push, thou prickeard cur of Iseland?
Nim. Will you shog off? I would haue you solus.
Pist. Solus egregious dog, that solus in thy throte,
And in thy lungs, and which is worse, within
Thy mesfull mouth, I do retort that solus in thy40
Bowels, and in thy law, perdie: for I can talke,
[Pg 622]
And Pistolls flashing firy cock is vp.
Nim. I am not Barbasom, you cannot coniure me:[5460]
I haue an humour Pistoll to knock you indifferently well,
And you fall foule with me Pistoll, Il scoure you with my45
Rapier in faire termes. If you will walke off a little,
Ile pricke your guts a little in good termes,
And theres the humour of it.
Pist. O braggard vile, and damned furious wight,
The Graue doth gape, and groaning50
Death is neare, therefore exall.
They drawe.
Bar. Heare me, he that strikes the first blow,
Ile kill him, as I am a souldier.
Pist. An oath of mickle might, and fury shall abate.
Nim. He cut your throat at one time or an other in faire termes,55
And theres the humor of it.
Post. Couple gorge is the word, I thee defie agen:
A damned hound, thinkst thou my spouse to get?
No, to the powdering tub of infamy,
Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cresides kinde,60
Doll Tear-sheete, she by name, and her espowse
I haue, and I will hold, the quandom quickly,
For the onely she and Paco, there it is inough.
Enter the Boy.
Boy. Hostes you must come straight to my maister,
And you Host Pistoll. Good Bardolfe65
Put thy nose betweene the sheetes, and do the office of a warming pan.[5461]
Host. By my troath heele yeeld the crow a pudding one of these dayes,
Ile go to him, husband youle come?
Bar. Come Pistoll be friends.
Nim prithee be friends, and if thou wilt not be70
Enemies with me too.
Ni. I shal haue my eight shillings I woon of you at beating?[5462]
Pist. Base is the slaue that payes.
Nim. That now I will haue, and theres the humor of it.
Pist. As manhood shall compound. They draw.75
Bar. He that strikes the first blow,
Ile kill him by this sword.
[Pg 623]
Pist. Sword is an oath, and oathes must haue their course.
Nim. I shall haue my eight shillings I wonne of you at
beating?[5462]
Pist. A noble shalt thou haue, and readie pay,80
And liquor likewise will I giue to thee,
And friendship shall combind and brotherhood:[5463]
Ile liue by Nim as Nim shall liue by me:
Is not this iust? for I shall Sutler be[5464]
Vnto the Campe, and profit will occrue.85
Nim. I shall haue my noble?
Pist. In cash most truly paid.
Nim. Why theres the humour of it.
Enter Hostes.
Hostes. As euer you came of men come in,
Sir Iohn poore soule is so troubled90
With a burning tashan contigian feuer, tis wonderfull.
Pist. Let vs condoll the knight: for lamkins we will liue.[5465]
[Exeunt omnes.
[Sc. III.]
Enter Exeter and Gloster.
Glost. Before God my Lord, his Grace is too bold to trust these traytors.
Exe. They shalbe apprehended by and by.
Glost. I but the man that was his bedfellow
Whom he hath cloyed and graced with princely fauours
That he should for a forraine purse, to sell5
His Soueraignes life to death and trechery.
Exe. O the Lord of Massham.
Enter the King and three Lords.
King. Now sirs the windes faire, and we wil aboord;[5466]
My Lord of Cambridge, and my Lord of Massham,
And you my gentle Knight, giue me your thoughts,10
Do you not thinke the power we beare with vs,
Will make vs conquerors in the field of France?
Masha. No doubt my Liege, if each man do his best.
Cam. Neuer was Monarch better feared and loued then is your maiestie.
Gray. Euen those that were your fathers enemies15
Haue steeped their galles in honey for your sake.
[Pg 624]
King. We therefore haue great cause of thankfulnesse,
And shall forget the office of our hands:
Sooner then reward and merit,[5467]
According to their cause and worthinesse.20
Masha. So seruice shall with steeled sinewes shine,
And labour shall refresh it selfe with hope
To do your Grace incessant seruice.
King. Vncle of Exeter, enlarge the man
Committed yesterday, that rayled against our person,25
We consider it was the heate of wine that set him on,
And on his more aduice we pardon him.
Masha. That is mercie, but too much securitie:
Let him bee punisht Soueraigne, least the example of him,
Breed more of such a kinde.30
King. O let vs yet be mercifull.
Cam. So may your highnesse, and punish too.
Gray. You shew great mercie if you giue him life,
After the taste of his correction.
King. Alas your too much care and loue of me35
Are heauy orisons gainst the poore wretch,[5468]
If litle faults proceeding on distemper should not bee winked at,
How should we stretch our eye, when capitall crimes,
Chewed, swallowed and disgested, appeare before vs:[5469]
Well yet enlarge the man, tho Cambridge and the rest40
In their deare loues, and tender preseruation of our state,
Would haue him punisht.
Now to our French causes.
Who are the late Commissioners?
Cam. Me one my Lord, your highnesse bad me aske for it to day. 45
Mash. So did you me my Soueraigne.
Gray. And me my Lord.
King. Then Richard Earle of Cambridge there is yours.
There is yours my Lord of Masham.
And sir Thomas Gray knight of Northumberland, this same is yours:50
Read them, and know we know your worthinesse.
Vnckle Exeter, I will aboord to night.
Why how now Gentlemen, why change you colour?
What see you in those papers
That hath so chased your blood out of apparance?55
Cam. I do confesse my fault, and do submit me
To your highnesse mercie.
[Pg 625]
Mash. To which we all appeale.
King. The mercy which was quit in us but late,
By your owne reasons is forestald and done:60
You must not dare for shame to aske for mercy,
For your owne conscience turne upon your bosomes,
As dogs upon their maisters worrying them.
See you my Princes, and my noble Peeres,
These English monsters:65
My Lord of Cambridge here,
You know how apt we were to grace him,
In all things belonging to his honour:
And this vilde man hath for a fewe light crownes,
Lightly conspired and sworne vnto the practices of France:70
To kill vs here in Hampton. To the which,
This knight no lesse in bountie bound to vs
Then Cambridge is, haah likewise sworne.[5470]
But oh what shall I say to thee false man,
Thou cruell ingratefull and inhumane creature,75
Thou that didst beare the key of all my counsell,
That knewst the very secrets of my heart,
That almost mightest a coyned me into gold,[5471]
Wouldest thou a practisde on me for thy vse:[5472]
Can it be possible that out of thee80
Should proceed one sparke that might annoy my finger?
Tis so strange, that tho the truth doth showe as grose
As black from white, mine eye wil scarcely see it.
Their faults are open, arrest them to the answer of the lawe,
And God acquit them of their practises.85
Exe. I arrest thee of high treason,
By the name of Richard, Earle of Cambridge.
I arest thee of high treason.
By the name of Henry, Lord of Masham.
I arest thee of high treason,90
By the name of Thomas Gray, knight of Northumberland.
Mash. Our purposes God iustly hath discouered,
And I repent my fault more then my death,
Which I beseech your maiestie forgiue,
Altho my body pay the price of it.95
King. God quit you in his mercy. Heare your sentence.[5473]
You haue conspired against our royall person,
Ioyned with an enemy proclaimed and fixed.
And frō his coffers receiued the golden earnest of our death
Touching our person we seeke no redresse.
[Pg 626]
But we our kingdomes safetie must so tender101
Whose ruine you haue sought,
That to our lawes we do deliuer you.
Get ye therefore hence: poore miserable creatures to your death,[5474]
The taste whereof, God in his mercy giue you105
Patience to endure, and true repentance of all your deeds amisse:
Beare them hence.
Exit three Lords.
Now Lords to France. The enterprise whereof,
Shall be to you as us, successiuely.
Since God cut off this dangerous treason lurking in our way110
Cheerly to sea, the signes of war aduance:
No King of England, if not King of France.
Exit omnes.
[Sc. IV.]
Enter Nim, Pistoll, Bardolfe, Hostes and a Boy.
Host. I prethy sweete heart, let me bring thee so farre as Stanes.
Pist. No fur, no fur.
Bar. Well sir Iohn is gone. God be with him.
Host. I, he is in Arthors bosom, if euer any were:
He went away as if it were a crysombd childe,[5475]5
Betweene twelue and one,
Iust at turning of the tide:
His nose was as sharpe as a pen:
For when I saw him fumble with the sheetes,
And talk of floures and smile vpō his fingers ends10
I knew there was no way but one.
How now sir Iohn quoth I?
And he cryed three times, God, God, God,
Now I to comfort him, bad him not think of God,
I hope there was no such need.15
Then he bad me put more cloathes at his feete:[5476]
And I felt to them, and they were as cold as any stone:
And to his knees, and they were as cold as any stone.
And so vpward, and vpward, and all was as cold as any stone.[5477]
Nim. They say he cride out on Sack.20
Host. I that he did.
Boy. And of women.
Host. No that he did not.
Boy. Yes that he did: and he sed they were diuels incarnat.[5478]
[Pg 627]
Host. Indeed carnation was a colour he neuer loued.
Nim. Well he did cry out on women.26
Host. Indeed he did in some sort handle women,
But then he was rumaticke, and talkt of the whore of Babylon.
Boy. Hostes do you remember he saw a Flea stand
Vpon Bardolfes Nose, and sed it was a blacke soule30
Burning in hell fire?[5479]
Bar. Well, God be with him,
That was all the wealth I got in his seruice.
Nim. Shall we shog off?
The king wil be gone from Southampton.35
Pist. Cleare vp thy cristalles,
Looke to my chattels and my moueables.
Trust none: the word is pitch and pay:[5480]
Mens words are wafer cakes,
And holdfast is the onely dog my deare.40
Therefore cophetua be thy counsellor,
Touch her soft lips and part.
Bar. Farewell hostes.
Nim. I cannot kis: and theres the humor of it.
But adieu.45
Pist. Keepe fast thy buggle boe.
Exit omnes.
[Sc. V.]
Enter King of France, Bourbon, Dolphin,
and others.
King. Now you Lords of Orleance,
Of Bourbon, and of Berry,
You see the King of England is not slack,
For he is footed on this land alreadie.
Dolphin. My gratious Lord, tis meete we all goe foorth,5
And arme vs against the foe:
And view the weak & sickly parts of France:
But let vs do it with no show of feare,
No with no more, then if we heard
England were busied with a Moris dance.[5481]10
For my good Lord, she is so idely kingd,
Her scepter so fantastically borne,
So guided by a shallow humorous youth,
That feare attends her not.
Con. O peace Prince Dolphin, you deceiue your selfe,15
Question your grace the late Embassador,
[Pg 628]
With what regard he heard his Embassage,
How well supplied with aged Counsellours,
And how his resolution andswered him.
You then would say that Harry was not wilde.20
King. Well thinke we Harry strong:
And strongly arme us to preuent the foe.
Con. My Lord here is an Embassador
From the King of England.
Kin. Bid him come in.25
You see this chase is hotly followed Lords.
Dol. My gracious father, cut up this English short.
Selfeloue my liege is not so vile a thing,
As selfe neglecting.
Enter Exeter.
King. From our brother England?[5482]30
Exe. From him, and thus he greets your Maiestie:
He wils you in the name of God Almightie,
That you deuest your selfe and lay apart
That borrowed tytle, which by gift of heauen,
Of lawe of nature, and of nations, longs[5483]35
To him and to his heires, namely the crmvne
And all wide stretched titles that belongs
Unto the Crowne of France, that you may know
Tis no sinister, nor no awkeward claime,
Pickt from the wormeholes of old vanisht dayes,40
Nor from the dust of old obliuion rackte,
He sends you these most memorable lynes,
In euery branch truly demonstrated:
Willing you ouerlooke this pedigree,
And when you finde him euenly deriued45
From his most famed and famous ancestors,
Edward the third, he bids you then resigne
Your crowne and kingdome, indirectly held
From him, the natiue and true challenger.
King. If not, what followes?50
Exe. Bloody costraint, for if you hide the crown
Euen in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
Therefore in fierce tempest is he comming,
In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Ioue,
That if requiring faile, he will compell it:55
And on your heads turnes he the widowes teares,
The Orphanes cries, the dead mens bones,[5484]
[Pg 629]
The pining maydens grones.
For husbands, fathers, and distressed louers,
Which shall be swallowed in this controuersie.60
This is his claime, his threatning, and my message.[5485]
Vnles the Dolphin be in presence here,
To whom expresly we bring greeting too.
Dol. For the Dolphin? I stand here for him,
What to heare from England.65
Exe. Scorn & defiance, slight regard, contempt,
And any thing that may not misbecome
The mightie sender, doth he prise you at:
Thus saith my king. Vnles your fathers highnesse
Sweeten the bitter mocke you sent his Maiestie,70
Heele call you to so loud an answere for it,
That caues and wombely vaultes of France
Shall chide your trespasse, and return your mock,
In second accent of his ordenance.
Dol. Say that my father render faire reply,75
It is against my will:
For I desire nothing so much,
As oddes with England.
And for that cause according to his youth
I did present him with those Paris balles.80
Exe. Heele make your Paris Louer shake for it,
Were it the mistresse Court of mightie Europe.
And be assured, youle finde a difference
As we his subiects haue in wonder found:
Betweene his yonger dayes and these he musters now,85
Now he wayes time euen to the latest graine,
Which you shall finde in your owne losses
If he stay in France.[5486]
King. Well for vs, you shall returne our answere backe
To our brother England.[5482]90
Exit omnes.
[Sc. VI.]
Enter Nim, Bardolfe, Pistoll, Boy.
Nim. Before God here is hote seruice.[5487]
Pist. Tis hot indeed, blowes go and come,
Gods vassals drop and die.
Nim. Tis honor, and theres the humor of it.
[Pg 630]
Boy. Would I were in London:
Ide giue all my honor for a pot of Ale.6
Pist. And I. If wishes would preuaile,
I would not stay, but thither would I hie.
Enter Flewellen and beates them in.
Flew. Godes plud vp to the breaches
You rascals, will you not vp to the breaches?10
Nim. Abate thy rage sweete knight,
Abate thy rage.
Boy. Well I would I were once from them:
They would haue me as familiar
With mens pockets, as their gloues, and their15
Handkerchers, they will steale any thing.
Bardolfe stole a Lute case, carryed it three mile,
And sold it for three hapence.[5488]
Nim stole a fier shouell.
I knew by that, they meant to carry coales:20
Well, if they will not leaue me,
I meane to leaue them.
Exit Nim, Bardolfe, Pistoll, and the Boy.
Enter Gower.
Gower. Gaptain Flewellen, you must come strait[5489]
To the Mines, to the Duke of Gloster.25
Flew. Looke you, tell the Duke it is not so good
To come to the mines: the concuaueties is otherwise,
You may discusse to the Duke, the enemy is digd
Himselfe fiue yardes vnder the countermines:
By Iesus I thinke heele blowe up all[5490]30
If there be no better direction.
[Sc. VII.]
Enter the King and his Lords alarum.
King. How yet resolues the Gouernour of the Towne?
This is the latest parley weele admit:
Therefore to our best mercie giue your selues,
Or like to men proud of destruction, defie vs to our worst,
For as I am a souldier, a name that in my thoughts5
Becomes me best, if we begin the battery once againe
I will not leaue the halfe atchieued Harflew,
Till in her ashes she be buried,
[Pg 631]
The gates of mercie are all shut vp.
What say you, will you yeeld and this auoyd,10
Or guiltie in defence be thus destroyd?
Enter Gouernour.
Gouer. Our expectation hath this day an end:
The Dolphin whom of succour we entreated,
Returnes vs word, his powers are not yet ready,
To raise so great a siege: therefore dread King,15
We yeeld our towne and liues to thy soft mercie:
Enter our gates, dispose of vs and ours,
For we no longer are defensiue now.
[Sc. VIII.]
Enter Katherine, Allice.
Kate. Allice venecia, vous aues cates en,
Vou parte fort bon Angloys englatara,
Coman sae palla vou la main en francoy.
Allice. La main madam de han.
Kate. E da bras.5
Allice. De arma madam.
Kate. Le main da han la bras de arma.
Allice. Owye madam.
Kate. E Coman sa pella vow la menton a la coll.
Allice. De neck, e de cin, madam.10
Kate. E de neck, e de cin, e de code.
Allice. De cudie ma foy Ie oblye, mais Ie remembre,
Le tude, o de elbo madam.
Kate. Ecowte Ie rehersera, towt cella que Iac apoandre,
De han, de arma, de neck, du cin, e de bilbo.15
Allice. De elbo madam.
Kate. O Iesu, Iea obloye ma foy, ecoute Ie recontera
De han, de arma, de neck, de cin, e de elbo, e ca bon.
Allice. Ma foy madam, vow parla au se bon Angloys
Asie vous aues ettue en Englatara.20
Kate. Par la grace de deu an petty tanes. Ie parle milleur
Coman se pella vou le peid e le robe.
Allice. Le foot, e le con.
Kate. Le fot, e le con, ô Iesu! Ie ne vew poinct parle,
Sie plus deuant le che cheualires de franca,25
Pur one million ma foy.
Allice. Madame, de foote, e le con.
Kate. O et ill ausie, ecowte Allice, de han, de arma,
De neck, de cin, le foote, e de con.
[Pg 632]
Allice. Cet fort bon madam.
Kate. Aloues a diner.31
Exit omnes.
[Sc. IX.]
Enter King of France, Lord Constable, the Dolphin,
and Burbon.
King. Tis certaine he is past the Riuer Some.
Con. Mordeu ma via: Shall a few spranes of vs,
The emptying of our fathers luxerie,
Outgrow their grafters.
Bur. Normanes, basterd Normanes, mor du5
And if they passe vnfought withall,
Ile sell my Dukedom for a foggy farme
In that short nooke Ile of England.
Const. Why whence haue they this mettall?
Is not their clymate raw, foggy and colde.10
On whom as in disdaine, the Sunne lookes pale?
Can barley broath, a drench for swolne lades
Their sodden water decockt such liuely blood?
And shall our quicke blood spirited with wine
Seeme frosty? O for honour of our names,15
Let vs not hang like frozen Iicesickles
Vpon our houses tops, while they a more frosty clymate
Sweate drops of youthfull blood.
King. Constable dispatch, send Montioy forth,
To know what willing raunsome he will giue?20
Sonne Dolphin you shall stay in Rone with me.[5491]
Dol. Not so I do beseech your Maiestie.[5492]
King. Well, I say it shalbe so.
Exeunt omnes.
[Sc. X.]
Enter Gower.[5493]
Go. How now Captain Flewellen, come you frō the bridge?
Flew. By Iesus thers excellēt seruice cōmitted at ye bridge.
Gour. Is the Duke of Exeter safe?
Flew. The duke of Exeter is a mā whom I loue, & I honor,
And I worship, with my soule, and my heart, and my life,5
And my lands and my liuings,
And my vttermost powers.
The Duke is looke you,
God be praised and pleased for it, no harme in the worell.
He is maintain the bridge very gallently: there is an Ensigne[5494]10
[Pg 633]
There, I do not know how you call him, but by Iesus I think He is as[5495]
valient a man as Marke Anthonie, he doth maintain the bridge most[5496]
gallantly: yet he is a man of no reckoning: But I did see him do gallant
seruice.
Gouer. How do you call him?15
Flew. His name is ancient Pistoll.
Gouer. I know him not.
Enter Ancient Pistoll.
Flew. Do you not know him, here comes the man.
Pist. Captaine, I thee beseech to do me fauour,
The Duke of Exeter doth loue thee well.20
Flew. I, and I praise God I haue merrited some loue at his hands.
Pist. Bardolfe a souldier, one of buxsome valour,
Hath by furious fate
And giddy Fortunes fickle wheele,
That Godes blinde that stands vpon the rowling restlesse stone.[5497]25
Flew. By your patience ancient Pistoll,
Fortune, looke you is painted,
Plind with a mufler before her eyes,
To signifie to you, that Fortune is plind:
And she is moreouer painted with a wheele,30
Which is the morall that Fortune is turning,
And inconstant, and variation; and mutabilities:
And her fate is fixed at a sphericall stone
Which roules, and roules, and roules:
Surely the Poet is make an excellēt descriptiō of Fortune.35
Fortune looke you is and excellent morall.[5498]
Pist. Fortune is Bardolfes foe, and frownes on him,
For he hath stolne a packs, and hanged must he be:[5499]
A damned death, let gallowes gape for dogs,
Let man go free, and let not death his windpipe stop.40
But Exeter hath giuen the doome of death,
For packs of pettie price:
Therefore go speake, the Duke will heare thy voyce,
And let not Bardolfes vitall threed be cut,
With edge of penny cord, and vile approach.45
Speake Captaine for his life, and I will thee requite.
[Pg 634]
Flew. Captain Pistoll, I partly vnderstand your meaning.
Pist. Why then reioyce therefore.
Flew. Certainly Antient Pistol, tis not a thing to reioyce at,
For if he were my owne brother, I would wish the Duke50
To do his pleasure, and put him to executions: for look you,
Disciplines ought to be kept, they ought to be kept.
Pist. Die and be damned, and figa for thy friendship.[5500]
Flew. That is good.
Pist. The figge of Spaine within thy Iawe.55
Flew. That is very well.
Pist. I say the fig within thy bowels and thy durty maw.
Exit Pistoll.
Fle. Captaine Gour, cannot you hear it lighten & thunder?
Gour. Why is this the Ancient you told me of?
I remember him now, he is a bawd, a cutpurse.60
Flew. By Iesus hee is vtter as praue words vpon the bridge
As you shall desire to see in a sommers day, but its all one,
What he hath sed to me,
looke you, is all one.
Go. Why this is a gull, a foole, a rogue that goes to the wars
Onely to grace himselfe at his returne to London:65
And such fellowes as he,
Are perfect in great Commaunders names.
They will learne by rote where seruices were done,
At such and such a sconce, at such a breach,
At such a conuoy: who came off brauely, who was shot,70
Who disgraced, what termes the enemie stood on.
And this they con perfectly in phrase of warre,[5501]
Which they trick vp with new tuned oathes, & what a berd
Of the Generalls cut, and a horid shout of the campe
Will do among the foming bottles and alewasht wits75
Is wonderfull to be thought on: but you must learne
To know such slaunders of this age,
Or else you may maruellously be mistooke.
Flew. Certain captain Gower, it is not the man, looke you,
That I did take him to be: but when time shall serue,80
I shall tell him a litle of my desires: here comes his Maiestie.
Enter King, Clarence, Gloster and others.
King. How now Flewellen, come you from the bridge?
Flew. I and it shall please your Maiestie,
There is excellent seruice at the bridge.
King. What men haue you lost Flewellen?85
[Pg 635]
Flew. And it shall please your Maiestie,
The partition of the aduersarie hath bene great,
Very reasonably great: but for our own parts, like you now,[5502]
I thinke we haue lost neuer a man, vnlesse it be one
For robbing of a church, one Bardolfe, if your Maiestie90
Know the man, his face is full of whelkes and knubs,
And pumples, and his breath blowes at his nose
Like a cole, sometimes red, sometimes plew:
But god be praised, now his nose is executed, & his fire out.
King. We would haue all offenders so cut off,95
And we here giue expresse commaundment,[5503]
That there be nothing taken from the villages but paid for,
None of the French abused,
Or abraided with disdainfull language:[5504]
For when cruelty and lenitie play for a Kingdome,100
The gentlest gamester is the sooner winner.
Enter French Herauld.
Hera. You know me by my habit.
Ki. Well thē, we know thee, what shuld we know of thee?
Hera. My maisters minde.
King. Vnfold it.105
Heral. Go thee vnto Harry of England, and tell him,
Aduantage is a better souldier then rashnesse:
Altho we did seeme dead, we did but slumber.
Now we speake vpon our kue, and our voyce is imperiall,
England shall repent her folly: see her rashnesse,[5505]110
And admire our sufferance. Which to raunsome,
His pettinesse would bow vnder:
For the effusion of our blood, his army is too weake:
For the disgrace we haue borne, himselfe
Kneeling at our feete, a weake and worthlesse satisfaction.115
To this, adde defyance. So much from the king my maister.
King. What is thy name? we know thy qualitie.
Herald. Montioy.
King. Thou dost thy office faire, returne thee backe,
And tell thy King, I do not seeke him now:[5506]120
But could be well content, without impeach,
To march on to Callis: for to say the sooth,
Though tis no wisdome to confesse so much
Vnto an enemie of craft and vantage.
My souldiers are with sicknesse much infeebled,125
[Pg 636]
My Army lessoned, and those few I haue,[5507]
Almost no better then so many French:
Who when they were in heart, I tell thee Herauld,
I thought vpon one paire of English legges,
Did march three French mens.130
Yet forgiue me God, that I do brag thus:[5508]
Your heire of France hath blowne this vice in me.[5509]
I must repent, go tell thy maister here I am,
My raunsome is this frayle and worthlesse body,
My Army but a weake and sickly guarde.135
Yet God before, we will come on,
If France and such an other neighbour stood in our way:
If we may passe, we will: if we be hindered,
We shal your tawny ground with your red blood discolour.
So Montioy get you gone, there is for your paines:[5510]140
The sum of all our answere is but this,
We would not seeke a battle as we are:
Nor as we are, we say we will not shun it.[5511]
Herauld. I shall deliuer so: thanks to your Maiestie.
Glos. My Liege, I hope they will not come vpon vs now.145
King. We are in Gods hand brother, not in theirs:
To night we will encampe beyond the bridge,
And on to morrow bid them march away.
[Sc. XI.]
Enter Burbon, Constable, Orleance, Gebon.
Const. Tut I haue the best armour in the world.
Orleance. You haue an excellent armour,
But let my horse haue his due.
Burbon. Now you talke of a horse, I haue a steed like the
Palfrey of the sun, nothing but pure ayre and fire,5
And hath none of this dull element of earth within him.
Orleance. He is of the colour of the Nutmeg.
Bur. And of the heate, a the Ginger.[5512]
Turne all the sands into eloquent tongues,
And my horse is argument for them all:10
I once writ a Sonnet in the praise of my horse,[5513]
And began thus. Wonder of nature.
Con. I haue heard a Sonnet begin so,
In the praise of ones Mistresse.
[Pg 637]
Burb. Why then did they immitate that15
Which I writ in praise of my horse,
For my horse is my mistresse.
Con. Ma foy the other day, me thought
Your mistresse shooke you shrewdly.
Bur. I bearing me. I tell thee Lord Constable,20
My mistresse weares her owne haire.
Con. I could make as good a boast of that,
If I had had a sow to my mistresse.[5514]
Bur. Tut thou wilt make vse of any thing.
Con. Yet I do not vse my horse for my mistresse.25
Bur. Will it neuer be morning?
Ile ride too morrow a mile,
And my way shalbe paued with English faces.
Con. By my faith so will not I,
For feare I be outfaced of my way.30
Bur. Well ile go arme my selfe, hay.
Gebon. The Duke of Burbon longs for morning.
Or. I he longs to eate the English.
Con. I thinke heele eate all he killes.
Orle. O peace, ill will neuer said well.35
Con. Ile cap that prouerbe,
With there is flattery in friendship.[5515]
Or. O sir, I can answere that,
With giue the diuel his due.
Con. Haue at the eye of that prouerbe,40
With a logge of the diuel.
Or. Well the Duke of Burbon, is simply,
The most actiue Gentleman of France.
Con. Doing his actiuitie, and heele stil be doing.
Or. He neuer did hurt as I heard off.45
Con. No I warrant you, nor neuer will.
Or. I hold him to be exceeding valiant.
Con. I was told so by one that knows him better the[n] you.
Or. Whose that?
Con. Why he told me so himselfe:50
And said he cared not who knew it.
Or. Well who will go with me to hazard,
For a hundred English prisoners?
Con. You must go to hazard your selfe,
Before you haue them.55
[Pg 638]
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My Lords, the English lye within a hundred
Paces of your Tent.
Con. Who hath measured the ground?
Mess. The Lord Granpeere.
Con. A valiant man, a. an expert Gentleman.[5516]60
Come, come away:
The Sun is hie, and we weare out the day. Exit omnes.
[Sc. XII.]
Enter the King disguised, to him Pistoll.[5517]
Pist. Ke ve la?
King. A friend.
Pist. Discus vnto me, art thou Gentleman?
Or art thou common, base, and popeler?
King. No sir, I am a Gentleman of a Company.5
Pist. Trailes thou the puissant pike?
King. Euen so sir. What are you?
Pist. As good a gentleman as the Emperour.
King. O then thou art better then the King?
Pist. The kings a bago, and a hart of gold.10
Pist. A lad of life, an impe of fame:[5518]
Of parents good, of fist most valiant:
I kis his durtie shoe: and from my hart strings
I loue the louely bully. What is thy name?
King. Harry le Roy.15
Pist. Le Roy, a Cornish man:
Art thou of Cornish crew?
Kin. No sir, I am a Wealchman.
Pist. A Wealchman: knowst thou Flewellen?
Kin. I sir, he is my kinsman.20
Pist. Art thou his friend?
Kin. I sir.
Pist. Figa for thee then: my name is Pistoll.
Kin. It sorts well with your fiercenesse.
Pist. Pistoll is my name.25
Exit Pistoll.
Enter Gower and Flewellen.
Flew. In the name of Iesu speake lewer.[5519]
It is the greatest folly in the worell, when the auncient
Prerogatiues of the warres be not kept.
I warrant you, if you looke into the warres of the Romanes,30
You shall finde no tittle tattle, nor bible bable there:
But you shall finde the cares, and the feares,
And the ceremonies, to be otherwise.
Gour. Why the enemy is loud: you heard him all night.
Flew. Godes sollud, if the enemy be an Asse & a Foole,35
And a prating cocks-come, is it meet that we be also a foole,
And a prating cocks-come, in your conscience now?
Gour. Ile speake lower.
Flew. I beseech you do, good Captaine Gower.
Exit Gower, and Flewellen.
Kin. Tho it appeare a litle out of fashion,40
Yet theres much care in this.
Enter three Souldiers.
1. Soul. Is not that the morning yonder?
2. Soul. I we see the beginning,
God knowes whether we shall see the end or no.
3. Soul. Well I thinke the king could wish himselfe45
Vp to the necke in the middle of the Thames,
And so I would he were, at all aduentures, and I with him.
Kin. Now masters god morrow, what cheare?[5520]
3. S. Ifaith small cheer some of vs is like to haue,
Ere this day ende.[5521]50
Kin. Why fear nothing man, the king is frolike.
2. S. I he may be, for he hath no cause as we.[5522]
Kin. Nay say not so, he is a man as we are.
The Violet smels to him as to vs:[5523]
Therefore if he see reasons, he feares as we do.55
2. Sol. But the king hath a heauy reckoning to make,
If his cause be not good: when all those soules
Whose bodies shall be slaughtered here,
Shall ioyne together at the latter day,
And say I dyed at such a place. Some swearing:60
Some their wiues rawly left:
Some leauing their children poore behind them.
Now if his cause be bad, I think it will be a greeuous matter to him.
[Pg 640]
King. Why so you may say, if a man send his seruant
As Factor into another Countrey,65
And he by any meanes miscarry,
You may say the businesse of the maister,
Was the author of his seruants misfortune.
Or if a sonne be imployd by his father,
And he fall into any leaud action, you may say the father70
Was the author of his sonnes damnation.
But the master is not to answere for his seruants,
The father for his sonne, nor the king for his subiects:
For they purpose not their deaths, whē they craue their seruices:
Some there are that haue the gift of premeditated75
Murder on them:
Others the broken scale of Forgery, in beguiling maydens.
Now if these outstrip the lawe,
Yet they cannot escape Gods punishment.
War is Gods Beadel. War is Gods vengeance:80
Euery mans seruice is the kings:
But euery mans soule is his owne.
Therfore I would haue euery souldier examine himselfe,
And wash euery moath out of his conscience:
That in so doing, he may be the readier for death:85
Or not dying, why the time was well spent,
Wherein such preparation was made.
3. Lord. Yfaith he saies true:[5524]
Euery mans fault on his owne head,[5525]
I would not haue the king answere for me.90
Yet I intend to fight lustily for him.
King. Well, I heard the king, he wold not be ransomde.[5526]
2. L. I he said so, to make vs fight:[5527]
But when our throates be cut, he may be ransomde,
And we neuer the wiser.95
King. If I liue to see that, Ile neuer trust his word againe.
2. Sol. Mas youle pay him then, tis a great displeasure
That an elder gun, can do against a cannon,
Or a subiect against a monarke.
Youle nere take his word again, your a nasse goe.[5528]100
King. Your reproofe is somewhat too bitter:
Were it not at this time I could be angry.
2. Sol. Why let it be a quarrell if thou wilt.
[Pg 641]
King. How shall I know thee?
2. Sol. Here is my gloue, which if euer I see in thy hat,[5529]105
Ile challenge thee, and strike thee.
Kin. Here is likewise another of mine,
And assure thee ile weare it.[5530]
2. Sol. Thou dar'st as well be hangd.
3. Sol. Be friends you fooles,110
We haue French quarrels anow in hand:[5531]
We haue no need of English broyles.
Kin. Tis no treason to cut French crownes,
For to morrow the king himselfe wil be a clipper.
Exit the souldiers.
[Sc. XIII.]
Enter the King, Gloster, Epingam, and
Attendants.[5532]
K. O God of battels steele my souldiers harts,
Take from them now the sence of rekconing,
That the apposed multitudes which stand before them,
May not appall their courage.
O not to day, not to day ô God,5
Thinke on the fault my father made,
In compassing the crowne.
I Richards bodie haue interred new,
And on it hath bestowd more contrite teares,
Then from it issued forced drops of blood:10
A hundred men haue I in yearly pay,
Which euery day their withered hands hold vp
To heauen to pardon blood,
And I haue built two chanceries, more wil I do:
Tho all that I can do, is all too litle.15
Enter Gloster.
Glost. My Lord.
King. My brother Glosters voyce.
Glost. My Lord, the Army stayes vpon your presence.
King. Stay Gloster stay, and I will go with thee,
The day my friends, and all things stayes for me.20
[Pg 642]
[Sc. XIV.]
Enter Clarence, Gloster, Exeter, and Salisburie.
War. My Lords the French are very strong.
Exe. There is fiue to one, and yet they all are fresh.[5533]
War. Of fighting men they haue full fortie thousand.
Sal. The oddes is all too great. Farwell kind Lords:
Braue Clarence, and my Lord of Gloster,5
My Lord of Warwicke, and to all farewell.
Clar. Farewell kind Lord, fight valiantly to day,
And yet in truth, I do thee wrong,
For thou art made on the rrue sparkes of honour.[5534]
Enter King.
War. O would we had but ten thousand men10
Now at this instant, that doth not worke in England.
Kin. Whose that, that wishes so, my Cousen Warwick?
Gods will, I would not loose the honour
One man would share from me,
Not for my Kingdome.15
No faith my Cousen, wish not one man more,
Rather proclaime it presently through our campe,
That he that hath no stomacke to this feast,
Let him depart, his pasport shall bee drawne,
And crownes for conuoy put into his purse,20
We would not die in that mans company,
That feares his fellowship to die with vs.
This day is called the day of Cryspin,
He that outliues this day, and sees old age,
Shall stand a tiptoe when this day is named,25
And rowse him at the name of Cryspin.
He that outliues this day, and comes safe home,
Shall yearely on the vygill feast his friends,
And say, to morrow is S. Cryspines day:
Then shall we in their flowing bowles30
Be newly remembred. Harry the King,
Bedford and Exeter, Clarence and Gloster,
Warwick and Yorke.
Familiar in their mouthes as houshold words.
This story shall the good man tell his sonne,35
And from this day, vnto the generall doome:
But we in it shall be remembred.
We fewe, we happie fewe, we bond of brothers,
For he to day that sheads his blood by mine,
[Pg 643]
Shalbe my brother, be he nere so base,40
This day shall gentle his condition.
Then shall he strip his sleeues, and shew his skars,
And say, these wounds I had on Crispines day:
And Gentlemen in England now a bed,
Shall thinke themselues accurst,45
And hold their manhood cheape,[5535]
While any speake that fought with vs[5535]
Vpon Saint Crispines day.[5536]
Glost. My gracious Lord,
The French is in the field.50
Kin. Why all things are ready, if our minds be so.
War. Perish the man whose mind is backward now.
King. Thou dost not wish more helpe frō England, cousen?
War. Gods will my Liege, would you and I alone,
Without more helpe, might fight this battle out.55
Why well said. That doth please me better,
Then to wish me one. You know your charge,
God be with you all.
Enter the Herald from the French.
Herald. Once more I come to know of thee king Henry,
What thou wilt giue for raunsome?60
Kin. Who hath sent thee now?
Her. The Constable of France.
Kin. I prethy beare my former answer backe:
Bid them atchieue me, and then sell my bones.
Good God, why should they mock good fellows thus?65
The man that once did sell the Lions skin,
While the beast liued, was kild with hunting him.
A many of our bodies shall no doubt[5537]
Finde graues within your realme of France:
Tho buried in your dunghils, we shalbe famed,70
For there the Sun shall greete them,
And draw vp their honors reaking vp to heauen,
Leauing their earthly parts to choke your clyme:
The smel wherof, shall breed a plague in France:
Marke then abundant valour in our English,75
That being dead, like to the bullets erasing,
Breakes forth into a second course of mischiefe,
Killing in relaps of mortalitie:
Let me speake proudly,
[Pg 644]
Ther's not a peece of feather in our campe,80
Good argument I hope we shall not flye:
And time hath worne vs into flouendry.
But by the mas, our hearts are in the trim,[5538]
And my poore souldiers tel me, yet ere night
Thayle be in fresher robes, or they will plucke85
The gay new cloathes ore your French souldiers eares,
And turne them out of seruice. If they do this,
As if it please God they shall,
Then shall our ransome soone be leuied.[5539]
Saue thou thy labour Herauld:90
Come thou no more for ransom, gentle Herauld.
They shall haue nought I sweare, but these my bones:
Which if they haue, as I will leaue am them,[5540]
Will yeeld them litle, tell the Constable.
Her. I shall deliuer so.95
Exit Herauld.
Yorke. My gracious Lord, vpon my knee I craue,
The leading of the vaward.
Kin. Take it braue Yorke. Come souldiers lets away:
And as thou pleasest God, dispose the day.
Exit.
[Sc. XV.]
Enter the foure French Lords.
Ge. O diabello.
Const. Mor du ma vie.
Or. O what a day is this!
Bur. O Iour dei houte all is gone, all is lost.
Con. We are inough yet liuing in the field,[5541]5
To smother up the English,
If any order might be thought vpon.
Bur. A plague of order, once more to the field,[5542]
And he that will not follow Burbon now,
Let him go home, and with his cap in hand,10
Like a bace leno hold the chamber doore,[5543]
Why least by a slaue no gentler then my dog,
His fairest daughter is contamuracke.
Con. Disorder that hath spoyld vs, right vs now,
Come we in heapes, weele offer vp our liues15
Vnto these English, or else die with fame.
Come, come along,
[Pg 645]
Lets dye with honour, our shame doth last too long.
Exit omnes.
[Sc. XVI.]
Enter Pistoll, the French man, and the Boy.
Pist. Eyld cur, eyld cur.
French. O Monsire, ie vous en pree aues petie de moy.
Pist. Moy shall not serue. I will haue fortie moys.
Boy aske him his name.[5544]
Boy. Comant ettes vous apelles?5
French. Monsier Fer.
Boy. He saies his name is Master Fer.
Pist. Ile Fer him, and ferit him, and ferke him:
Boy discus the same in French.
Boy. Sir I do not know, whats French10
For fer, ferit and fearkt.[5545]
Pist. Bid him prepare, for I wil cut his throate.
Boy. Feate, vou preat, ill voulles coupele votre gage.[5546]
Pist. Ony e ma foy couple la gorge.[5547]
Vnlesse thou giue to me egregious raunsome, dye.15
One poynt of a foxe.[5548]
French. Qui dit ill monsiere.
Ill ditye si vou ny vouly pa domy luy.
Boy. La gran ransome, ill vou tueres.
French. O lee vous en pri pettit gentelhome, parle20
A cee, gran capataine, pour auez mercie[5549]
A moy, ey lee donerees pour mon ransome
Cinquante ocios. Ie suyes vngentelhome de France.
Pist. What sayes he boy?
Boy. Marry sir he sayes, he is a Gentleman of a great25
House, of France: and for his ransome,
He will giue you 500. crownes.
Pist. My fury shall abate,
And I the Crownes will take.
And as I suck blood, I will some mercie shew,30
Follow me cur.
Exit omnes.
[Pg 646]
[Sc. XVII.]
Enter the King and his Nobles, Pistoll.[5550]
King. What the French retire?
Yet all is not done, yet keepe the French the field.[5551]
Exe. The Duke of Yorke commends him to your Grace.
King. Liues he good Vnckle, twise I sawe him downe,
Twise vp againe:5
From helmet to the spurre, all bleeding ore.
Exe. In which aray, braue souldier doth he lye,
Larding the plaines, and by his bloody side,
Yoake fellow to his honour dying wounds,
The noble Earle of Suffolke also lyes.[5552]10
Suffolke first dyde, and Yorke all hasted ore,[5553]
Comes to him where in blood he lay steept,[5554]
And takes him by the beard, kisses the gashes
That bloodily did yane vpon his face,
And cryde aloud, tary deare cousin Suffolke:15
My soule shall thine keep company in heauen:
Tary deare soule awhile, then flie to rest:
And in this glorious and well foughten field,
We kept togither in our chiualdry.
Vpon these words I came and cheerd them vp,20
He tooke me by the hand, said dear my Lord,
Commend my seruice to my soueraigne.
So did he turne, and ouer Suffolkes necke
He threw his wounded arme, and so espoused to death,
With blood he sealed. An argument25
Of neuer ending loue. The pretie and sweet maner of it,
Forst those waters from me, which I would haue stopt,
But I not so much of man in me,[5555]
But all my mother came into my eyes,
And gaue me vp to teares.30
Kin. I blame you not: for hearing you,
I must conuert to teares.
Alarum soundes.
What new alarum is this?
Bid euery souldier kill his prisoner.
Pist. Couple gorge. Exit omnes.35
[Pg 647]
[Sc. XVIII.]
Enter Flewellen, and Captaine Gower.
Flew. Godes plud kil the boyes and the lugyge,
Tis the arrants peece of knauery as can be desired,
In the worell now, in your conscience now.
Gour. Tis certaine, there is not a Boy left aliue,[5556]
And the cowerdly rascals that ran from the battell,5
Themselues haue done this slaughter:
Beside, they haue carried away and burnt,
All that was in the kings Tent:
Whervpon the king caused euery prisoners
Throat to be cut. O he is a worthy king.10
Flew. I he was born at Monmorth;[5557]
Captain Gower, what call you the place where
Alexander the big was borne?
Gour. Alexander the great.
Flew. Why I pray, is nat big great?[5558]15
As if I say, big, or great, or magnanimous,
I hope it is all one reconing,[5559]
Saue the frase is a little varation.
Gour. I thinke Alexander the great
Was borne at Macedon.20
His father was called Philip of Macedon,
As I take it.
Flew. I thinke it was Macedon indeed where Alexander
Was borne: looke you captaine Gower,
And if you looke into the mappes of the worell well,25
You shall finde litle difference betweene
Macedon and Monmorth. Looke you, there is
A Riuer in Macedon, and there is also a Riuer
In Monmorth, the Riuers name at Monmorth
Is called Wye.30
But tis out of my braine, what is the name of the other:
But tis all one, tis so like, as my fingers is to my fingers,[5560]
And there is Samons in both.
Looke you captaine Gower, and you marke it,
You shall finde our King is come after Alexander.35
God knowes, and you know, that Alexander in his
Bowles, and his alles, and his wrath, and his displeasures,
And indignations, was kill his friend Clitus.
Gow. I but our King is not like him in that,
For he neuer killd any of his friends.40
[Pg 648]
Flew. Looke you, tis not well done to take the tale out
O a mans mouth, ere it is made an end and finished:
I speake in the comparisons, as Alexander is kill
His friend Clitus: so our King being in his ripe
Wits and iudgements, is turne away, the fat knite45
With the great belly doublet: I am forget his name.
Gower. Sir Iohn Falstaffe.
Flew. I, I thinke it is Sir Iohn Falstaffe indeed,
I can tell you, theres good men borne at Monmorth.
Enter King and the Lords.[5561]
King. I was not angry since I came into France,[5562]50
Vntill this houre.
Take a trumpet Herauld,
And ride vnto the horsmen on yon hill:
If they will fight with vs bid them come downe,
Or leaue the field, they do offend our sight:55
Will they do neither, we will come to them,
And make them skyr away, as fast
As stones enforst from the old Assirian slings.
Besides, weele cut the throats of those we haue,
And not one aliue shall taste our mercy.60
Enter the Herauld.
Gods will what meanes this? knowst thou not
That we haue fined these bones of ours for ransome?
Herald. I come great king for charitable fauour,
To sort our Nobles from our common men,
We may haue leaue to bury all our dead,65
Which in the field lye spoyled and troden on.
Kin. I tell thee truly Herauld, I do not know whether[5563]
The day be ours or no:
For yet a many of your French do keep the field.
Hera. The day is yours.70
Kin. Praised be God therefore.
What Castle call you that?
Hera. We call it Agincourt.
Kin. Then call we this the field of Agincourt.
Fought on the day of Cryspin, Cryspin.[5564]75
Flew. Your grandfather of famous memorie,
If your grace be remembred,
Is do good seruice in France.
[Pg 649]
Kin. Tis true Flewellen.
Flew. Your Maiestie sayes verie true.80
And it please your Maiestie,
The Wealchmen there was do good seruice,
In a garden where Leekes did grow.
And I thinke your Maiestie wil take no scorne,[5565]
To weare a Leake in your cap vpon S. Dauies day.85
Kin. No Flewellen, for I am wealch as well as you.
Flew. All the water in Wye wil not wash your wealch
Blood out of you, God keep it, and preserue it,
To his graces will and pleasure.
Kin. Thankes good countryman.90
Flew. By Iesus I am your Maiesties countryman:
I care not who know it, so long as your maiesty is an honest man.
K. God keep me so. Our Herald go with him,
And bring us the number of the scattred French.
Exit Heralds.
Call yonder souldier hither.95
Flew. You fellow come to the king.
Kin. Fellow why doost thou weare that gloue in thy hat?
Soul. And please your maiestie, tis a rascals that swagard
With me the other day: and he hath one of mine,
Which if euer I see, I haue sworne to strike him.[5566]100
So hath he sworne the like to mee.[5567]
K. How think you Flewellen, is it lawfull he keep his oath?[5568]
Fl. And it please your maiesty, tis lawful he keep his vow.[5568]
If he be periur'd once, he is as arrant a beggerly knaue,
As treads vpon too blacke shues.105
Kin. His enemy may be a gentleman of worth.
Flew. And if he be as good a gentleman as Lucifer
And Belzebub, and the diuel himselfe,
Tis meete he keepe his vowe.
Kin. Well sirrha keep your word.110
Vnder what Captain seruest thou?
Soul. Vnder Captaine Gower.
Flew. Captaine Gower is a good Captaine:
And hath good littrature in the warres.[5569]
Kin. Go call him hither.115
Soul. I will my lord.
Kin. Captain Flewellen, when Alonson and I was[5570]
Downe together, I tooke this gloue off from his helmet,[5571]
Here Flewellen, weare it. If any do challenge it,[5572]
He is a friend of Alonsons,120
And an enemy to mee.
Fle. Your maiestie doth me as great a fauour
As can be desired in the harts of his subiects.
I would see that man now that should chalenge this gloue:[5573]
And it please God of his grace. I would but see him,125
That is all.
Kin. Flewellen knowst thou Captaine Gower?
Fle. Captaine Gower is my friend.
And if it like your maiestie, I know him very well.
Kin. Go call him hither.130
Flew. I will and it shall please your maiestie.
Kin. Follow Flewellen closely at the heeles,
The gloue he weares, it was the souldiers:
It may be there will be harme betweene them,
For I do know Flewellen valiant,135
And being toucht, as hot as gunpowder:
And quickly will returne an iniury.
Go see there be no harme betweene them.
[Sc. XIX.]
Enter Gower, Flewellen, and the Souldier.[5574]
Flew. Captain Gower, in the name of Iesu,
Come to his Maiestie, there is more good toward you,[5575]
Then you can dreame off.
Soul. Do you heare you sir? do you know this gloue?[5576]
Flew. I know the the gloue is a gloue.[5577]5
Soul. Sir I know this, and thus I challenge it.
[He strikes him.
Flew. Gode plut, and his. Captain Gower stand away:[5578]
Ile giue treason his due presently.
Enter the King, Warwicke, Clarence, and Exeter.
Flew. And it shall please your Maiestie,
Here is the the notablest peece of treason come to light,11
As you shall desire to see in a sommers day.
Here is a rascall, beggerly rascall, is strike the gloue,
Which your Maiestie tooke out of the helmet of Alonson:[5580]
And your Maiestie will beare me witnes, and testimony,[5581]15
And auouchments, that this is the gloue.
Soul. And it please your Maiestie, that was my gloue.
He that I gaue it too in the night,[5582]
Promised me to weare it in his hat:
I promised to strike him if he did.20
I met that Gentleman, with my gloue in his hat,[5583]
And I thinke I haue bene as good as my word.
Flew. Your Maiestie heares, vnder your Maiesties
Manhood, what a beggerly lowsie knaue it is.
Kin. Let me see thy gloue. Looke you,25
This is the fellow of it.
It was I indeed you promised to strike.
And thou thou hast giuen me most bitter words.[5584]
How canst thou make vs amends?
Flew. Let his necke answere it,30
If there be any marshals lawe in the worell.
Soul. My Liege, all offences come from the heart:
Neuer came any from mine to offend your Maiestie.
You appeard to me as a common man:[5585]
Witnesse the night, your garments, your lowlinesse,35
And whatsoeuer you receiued vnder that habit,
I beseech your Maiestie impute it to your owne fault
And not mine. For your selfe came not like your selfe:[5586]
Had you bene as you seemed, I had made no offence.[5587]
Therefore I beseech your grace to pardon me.40
Kin. Vnckle, fill the gloue with crownes,
And giue it to the souldier. Weare it fellow,
As an honour in thy cap, till I do challenge it.
Giue him the crownes. Come Captaine Flewellen,
I must needs haue you friends.45
Flew. By Iesus, the fellow hath mettall enough
In his belly. Harke you souldier, there is a shilling for you,[5588]
And keep your selfe out of brawles & brables, & dissentiōs,
[Pg 652]
And looke you, it shall be the better for you.
Soul. Ile none of your money sir, not I.50
Flew. Why tis a good shilling man.[5588]
Why should you be queamish? Your shoes are not so good:
It will serue you to mend your shoes.[5589]
Kin. What men of sort are taken vnckle?
Exe. Charles Duke of Orleance, Nephew to the King,55
Iohn Duke of Burbon, and Lord Bowchquall.[5590]
Of other Lords and Barrons, Knights and Squiers,
Full fifteene hundred, besides common men.
This note doth tell me of ten thousand
French, that in the field lyes slaine.60
Of Nobles bearing banners in the field,
Charles de le Brute, his Constable of France.[5591]
Iaques of Chatillian, Admirall of France.
The Maister of the crosbows, Iohn Duke Alōson.
Lord Ranbieres, hie Maister of France.65
The braue sir Gwigzard, Dolphin. Of Nobelle Charillas,
Gran Prie, and Rosse, Fawconbridge and Foy.
Gerard and Verton. Vandemant and Lestra.
Here was a royall fellowship of death.[5592]
Where is the number of our English dead?70
Edward the Duke of Yorke, the Earle of Suffolke,[5593]
Sir Richard Ketly, Dauy Gam Esquier:[5594]
And of all other, but fiue and twentie.[5595]
O God thy arme was here,[5596]
And vnto thee alone, ascribe we praise.75
When without strategem,
And in euen shock of battle, was euer heard[5597]
So great, and litle losse, on one part and an other?
Take it God, for it is onely thine.[5598]
Exe. Tis wonderfull.80
King. Come let vs go on procession through the camp:
Let it be death proclaimed to any man,
To boast hereof, or take the praise from God,
Which is his due.
Flew. Is it lawfull, and it please your Maiestie,85
To tell how many is kild?
[Pg 653]
King. Yes Flewellen, but with this acknowledgement,
That God fought for vs.
Flew. Yes in my conscience, he did vs great good.
King. Let there be sung, Nououes and te Deum.90
The dead with charitie enterred in clay:
Weele then to Calice, and to England then,
Where nere from France, arriude more happier men.
Exit omnes.
[Sc. XX.]
Enter Gower, and Flewellen.
Gower. But why do you weare your Leeke to day?
Saint Dauies day is past?[5599]
Flew. There is occasion Captaine Gower,
Looke you why, and wherefore,
The other day looke you, Pistolles5
Which you know is a man of no merites
In the worell, is come where I was the other day,
And brings bread and sault, and bids me
Eate my Leeke: twas in a place, looke you,
Where I could moue no discentions:[5600]10
But if I can see him, I shall tell him
A litle of my desires.
Gow. Here a comes, swelling like a Turkecocke.[5601]
Enter Pistoll.
Flew. Tis no matter for his swelling, and his turkecockes.
God plesse you Antient Pistoll, you scall,15
Beggerly, lowsie knaue, God plesse you.
Pist. Ha, art thou bedlem?
Dost thou thurst base Troyan,
To haue me folde vp Parcas fatall web?
Hence, I am qualmish at the smell of Leeke.20
Flew. Antient Pistoll. I would desire you because
It doth not agree with your stomacke, and your appetite,[5602]
And your digestions, to eate this Leeke.
Pist. Not for Cadwalleder and all his goates.
Flew. There is one goate for you, ancient Pistol.25
Pist. Bace Troyan, thou shalt dye.[5603]
Flew. I, I know I shall dye, meane time, I would[5604]
Desire you to line and eate this Leeke.
Gower. Inough Captaine, you haue astonisht him.[5605]
Flew. Astonisht him, by Iesu, Ile beate his head30
Foure dayes, and foure nights, but Ile[5606]
Make him eate some part of my Leeke.
Pist. Well must I byte?
Flew. I out of question or doubt, or ambiguities
You must byte.[5607]35
Pistol. Good good.
Flew. I Leekes are good, Antient Pistoll.
There is a shilling for you to heale your bloody coxkome.[5608]
Pist. Me a shilling.
Flew. If you will not take it,40
I haue an other Leeke for you.
Pist. I take thy shilling in earnest of reconing.
Flew. If I owe you any thing, ile pay you in cudgels,[5609]
You shalbe a woodmonger,
And by cudgels, God bwy you,[5610]45
Antient Pistoll, God blesse you,[5611]
And heale your broken pate.
Antient Pistoll, if you see Leekes an other time,
Mocke at them, that is all: God bwy you.
Exit Flewellen.
Pist. All hell shall stirre for this.50
Doth Fortune play the huswye with me now?[5612]
Is honour cudgeld from my warlike lines?[5613]
Well France farwell, newes haue I certainly
That Doll is sicke. One mallydie of France,
The warres affordeth nought, home will I trug.55
Bawd will I turne, and vse the slyte of hand:[5614]
To England will I steale,
And there Ile steale.
And patches will I get vnto these skarres,
And sweare I gat them in the Gallia warres.60
[Exit Pistoll.
[Pg 655]
[Sc. XXI.]
Enter at one doore, the King of England and his Lords. And at
the other doore, the King of France, Queene Katherine,
the Duke of Burbon, and others.
Harry. Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met.
And to our brorher France, Faire time of day.[5615]
Faire health vnto our louely cousen Katherine.
And as a branch, and member of this stock:
We do salute you Duke of Burgondie.5
Fran. Brother of England, right ioyous are we to behold
Your face, so are we Princes English euery one.
Duk. With pardon vnto both your mightines.[5616]
Let it not displease you, if I demaund
What rub or bar hath thus far hindred you,10
To keepe you from the gentle speech of peace?
Har. If Duke of Burgondy, you wold haue peace,
You must buy that peace,
According as we haue drawne our articles.
Fran. We haue but with a cursenary eye,[5617]15
Oreviewd them: pleaseth your Grace,
To let some of your Counsell sit with vs,
We shall returne our peremptory answere.
Har. Go Lords, and sit with them,
And bring vs answere backe.20
Yet leaue our cousen Katherine here behind.
France. Withall our hearts.
Exit King and the Lords. Manet, Hrry, Katherine,
and the Gentlewoman.
Hate. Now Kate, you haue a blunt wooer here[5618][5619]
Left with you.
If I could win thee at leapfrog,25
Or with vawting with my armour on my backe,
Into my saddle,
Without brag be it spoken,
Ide make compare with any.
But leauing that Kate,30
If thou takest me now,
Thou shalt haue me at the worst:
And in wearing, thou shalt haue me better and better,
[Pg 656]
Thou shalt haue a face that is not worth sun-burning.
But doost thou thinke, that thou and I,35
Betweene Saint Denis,
And Saint George, shall get a boy,
That shall goe to Constantinople,
And take the great Turke by the beard, ha Kate?
Kate. Is it possible dat me sall40
Loue de enemie de France.
Harry. No Kate, tis vnpossible
You should loue the enemie of France:[5620]
For Kate, I loue France so well,
That Ile not leaue a Village,45
Ile haue it all mine: then Kate,
When France is mine,
And I am yours,
Then France is yours,
And you are mine.50
Kate. I cannot tell what is dat.
Harry. No Kate,
Why Ile tell it you in French,[5621]
Which will hang vpon my tongue, like a bride
On her new married Husband.55
Let me see, Saint Dennis be my speed.
Quan France et mon.
Kate. Dat is, when France is yours.
Harry. Et vous ettes amoy.
Kate. And I am to you.60
Harry. Douck France ettes a vous:
Kate. Den France sall be mine.
Harry. Et Ie suyues a vous.
Kate. And you will be to me.
Har. Wilt beleeue me Kate? tis easier for me65
To conquer the kingdome, thē to speak so much
More French.
Kate. A your Maiesty has false France inough
To deceiue de best Lady in France.
Harry. No faith Kate not I. But Kate,[5622]70
In plaine termes, do you loue me?[5623]
Kate. I cannot tell.
Harry. No, can any of your neighbours tell?
Ile aske them.
Come Kate, I know you loue me.75
And soone when you are in your closset,
[Pg 657]
Youle question this Lady of me.
But I pray thee sweete Kate, vse me mercifully,
Because I loue thee cruelly.
That I shall dye Kate, is sure:80
But for thy loue, by the Lord neuer.
What Wench,
A straightbacke will growe crooked,
A round eye will growe hollowe,
A great leg will waxe small,85
A curld pate proue balde:
But a good heart Kate, is the sun and the moone,
And rather the Sun and not the Moone:
And therefore Kate take me,
Take a souldier: take a souldier,90
Take a King.
Therefore tell me Kate, wilt thou haue me?
Kate. Dat is as please the King my father.
Harry. Nay it will please him:[5624]
Nay it shall please him Kate.95
And vpon that condition Kate Ile kisse you.
Ka. O mon du Ie ne voudroy faire quelke chosse[5625]
Pour toute le monde,
Ce ne poynt votree fachion en fouor.
Harry. What saies she Lady?[5626]100
Lady. Dat it is not de fasion en France,
For de maides, before da be married to[5627]
May foy ie oblye, what is to bassie?
Har. To kis, to kis. O that tis not the
Fashion in Frannce for the maydes to kis105
Before they are married.
Lady. Owye see votree grace.
Har. Well, weele breake that custome.
Therefore Kate patience perforce and yeeld.
Before God Kate, you haue witchcraft110
In your kisses:
And may perswade with me more,
Then all the French Councell.
Your father is returned.
Enter the King of France, and
the Lordes.
Fran. Brother of England,
We haue orered the Articles,[5628]
And haue agreed to all that we in sedule had.
Exe. Only he hath not subscribed this,
Where your maiestie demaunds,120
That the king of France hauing any occasion
To write for matter of graunt,
Shall name your highnesse, in this forme:
And with this addition in French.
Nostre tresher fils, Henry Roy D'anglaterre,125
E heare de France. And thus in Latin:
Preclarissimus filius noster Henricus Rex Anglie,
Et heres Francie.
Fran. Nor this haue we so nicely stood vpon,
But you faire brother may intreat the same.130
Har. Why then let this among the rest,
Haue his full course: And withall,
Your daughter Katherine in mariage.
Fran. This and what else,
Your maiestie shall craue:135
God that disposeth all, giue you much ioy.
Har. Why then faire Katherine,
Come giue me thy hand:
Our manage will we present solemnise,
And end our hatred by a bond of loue.140
Then will I sweare to Kate, and Kate to mee:
And may our vowes once made, vnbroken bee.
FINIS.
CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Made all corrections noted in ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA on p. xv.
Retained line wrapping in plays to retain prose line numbering.
Converted linenotes to footnotes anchored at line ends.
Assigned anchors to linenotes lacking line references.
Retained incorrect line numbers, e.g. there are often more than 5 lines (or occasionally less than 5) between increments of 5.
Added missing line numbers.
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
