North. Yet, for all this, say not that Percy's dead.I see a strange confession in thine eye: Thou shak'st thy head, and hold'st it fear, or sin, To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so; The tongue offends not, that reports his death: And he doth sin that doth belie the dead; Not he which says the dead is not alive. Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news Hath but a losing office; and his tongue Sounds ever after as a sullen bell, Remember'd knolling a departing friend. L. Bard. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead. Mor. I am sorry I should force you to believe That which I would to heaven I had not seen; But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state, Rendering faint quittance, wearied and outbreath'd, To Harry Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat down. The never-daunted Percy to the earth, 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 Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead: North. For this I shall have time enough to mourn. In poison there is physic; and these news, Out of his keeper's arms; even so my limbs, Are thrice themselves. Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch! A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, Must glove this hand: and hence, thou sickly quoif! But let one spirit of the first-born Cain Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set And darkness be the burier of the dead! Tra. This strainèd passion doth you wrong, my lord. 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 To stormy passion, must perforce decay. You cast the event of war, my noble lord, And summ'd the account of chance, before you said, Let us make head. It was your presurmise, That, in the dole of blows, your son might drop: Of wounds and scars, and that his forward spirit L. Bard. We all, that are engaged to this loss, Knew that we ventur'd on such dangerous seas, And since we are o'erset, venture again. Come, we will all put forth; body, and goods. As fish are in a pond. But now the bishop Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts, The aptest way for safety, and revenge : Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed; [Exeunt. Enter SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his sword and buckler. Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water? Page. He said, Sir, the water itself was a good healthy water; but, for the party that owed it, he might have more diseases than he knew for. Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me; the brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent, 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 before thee, like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. If the prince put thee into my service for any other reason than to set me off, why then, I have no judgment. Thou whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap, than to wait at my heels. I was never manned with an agate till now but I will set you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile apparel, and send you back again to your master, for a jewel,-the juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin is not yet fledged. I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand, than he shall get one on his cheek; and yet he will not stick to say, his face is a face-royal: God may finish it when he will, it is not a hair amiss yet: he may keep it still as a face-royal, for a barber shall never earn sixpence out of it; and yet he will be crowing, as if he had writ man ever since his father was a bachelor. He may keep his own grace, but he is almost out of mine, I can assure him.—What said master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak, and my slops? Page. He said, Sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph he would not take his bond and yours; he liked not the security. : Fal. Let him be damned, like the glutton! may his tongue be hotter! A whoreson Achitophel! a rascally yea-forsooth knave! to bear a gentleman in hand, and then stand upon security!-The whoreson smooth-pates do now wear nothing but high shoes, and bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is thorough with them in honest taking up, then they must stand upon security. I had as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth, as offer to stop it with security. I looked he should have sent me two-and-twenty yards of satin, as I am a true knight, and he sends me 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 lantern to light him.-Where's Bardolph? Page. He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship 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 were manned, horsed, and wived. Page. Sir, here comes the nobleman that committed the prince for striking him about Bardolph. Fal. Wait close; I will not see him. Enter the Lord Chief Justice and an Attendant. Ch. Just. What's he that goes there? Ch. Just. He that was in question for the robbery? Ch. Just. What, to York? Call him back again. 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. Atten. Sir John, Fal. What a young knave, and begging! Is there not wars? is there not employment? doth not the king lack subjects? do not the rebels need soldiers? Though it be a shame to be on any side but one, it is worse shame to beg than to be on the worst side, were it worse than the name of rebellion can tell how to make it. Atten. You mistake me, Sir. Fal. Why, Sir, did I say you were an honest man? setting my knighthood and my soldiership aside, I had lied in my throat, if I had said so. Atten. 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 honest man. Fal. I give thee leave to tell me so! I lay aside that which grows to me! If thou gett'st any leave of me, hang me; if thou takest leave, thou wert better be hanged. You hunt-counter, hence! avaunt! Atten. Sir, my lord would speak with you. Ch. Just. Sir John Falstaff, a word with you. Fal. My good lord!-God give your lordship good time of day. I am glad to see your lordship abroad: I heard say, your lordship was sick I hope, your lordship goes abroad by advice. Your lordship, though not clean past your youth, hath yet some smack of age in you, some relish of the saltness of time; and I most humbly beseech your lordship to have a reverend care of your health. Ch. Just. Sir John, I sent for you before your expedition to Shrewsbury. Fal. An't please your lordship, I hear his majesty is returned with some discomfort from Wales. 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 into this same whoreson apoplexy. Ch. Just. Well, heaven mend him!—I pray you, let me speak with you. |