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You took occasion to be quickly wooed To gripe the general sway into your hand; Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster; And, being fed by us, you used us so As that ungentle gull the cuckoo's bird 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 fly Out of your sight, and raise this present head: Whereby we stand opposéd by such means As you yourself have forged against yourself, By unkind usage, dangerous countenance, And violation of all faith and troth Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.

K. Hen. These things, indeed, you have articulated,

Proclaimed at market-crosses, read in churches,
To face the garment of rebellion

With some fine colour that may please the eye
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,
Nor moody beggars starving for a time
Of pellmell havock and confusion.

P. Hen. In both our armies there is many a soul
Shall pay full dearly for this encounter,
If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew
The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world
In praise of Henry Percy. By my hopes
(This present enterprise set off his head),
I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant, or more valiant-young,
More daring or more bold, is now alive
Το 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:
Yet this before my father's majesty,-
I am content that he shall take the odds

Of his great name and estimation,
And will, to save the blood on either side,
Try fortune with him in a single fight.

K. Hen. And, Prince of Wales, so dare we

venture thee,

Albeit considerations infinite

Do make against it.-No, good Worcester, no,
We love our people well; even those we love
That are misled upon your cousin's part:
And, will they take the offer of our grace,
Both he and they and you, yea, every man,
Shall be my friend again, and I'll be his.
So tell your cousin, and bring me word
What he will do.-But if he will not yield,

Rebuke and dread correction wait on us,
And they shall do their office. So, begone:
We will not now be troubled with reply.
We offer fair; take it advisédly.

[Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON.
P. Hen. It will not be accepted, on my life:
The Douglas and the Hotspur both together
Are confident against the world in arms.

K. Hen. 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.

[Exeunt KING, BLUNT, and PRINCE JOHN. Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so: 't is a point of friendship.

P. Hen. Nothing but a colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell. Fal. I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well. P. Hen. Why, thou owest Heaven a death.

[Exit.

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, 't is no matter: honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on; how then? Can honour set-to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. What is in that word honour? What is that honour? Air. A trim reckoning!-Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it.-Therefore I'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism.

SCENE II.-The Rebel Camp.

Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.

[Exit.

Wor. O no, my nephew must not know, Sir

Richard,

The liberal kind offer of the King.

Ver. "T were best he did.
Wor.

Then are we all undone.

It is not possible, it cannot be,

The King should keep his word in loving us :
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this offence in other faults.
Suspicion, all our lives, shall be stuck full of eyes:
For treason is but trusted like the fox;
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherished, and locked up,
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or sad or merrily,

Interpretation will misquote our looks;
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall,
The better cherished still the nearer death.
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-brained Hotspur, governed by a spleen.
All his offences live upon my head,

And on his father's:-we did train him on;
And his corruption being ta'en from us,
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.

Ver. Deliver what you will, I'll say 't is so. Here comes your cousin.

Enter HOTSPUR and DOUGLAS; Officers and Soldiers, behind.

Hot. My uncle is returned :-deliver up My lord of Westmorland.-Uncle, what news? Wor. The King will bid you battle presently. Doug. Defy him by the lord of Westmorland. Hot. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so. Doug. Marry and shall, and very willingly. [Exit. Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the King. Hot. Did you beg any? God forbid! Wor. I told him gently of our grievances, Of his oath-breaking: which he mended thus,— By now forswearing that he is forsworn. He calls us rebels, traitors; and will scourge With haughty arms this hateful name in us.

Re-enter DOUGLAS.

Doug. Arm, gentlemen, to arms! for I have

thrown

A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth,
And Westmorland that was engaged did bear it,
Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on.
Wor. The Prince of Wales stepped 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, How shewed his tasking; seemed it in contempt?

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. He gave you all the duties of a man; Trimmed 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: And (which became him like a prince indeed) He made a blushing cital of himself,

And chid his truant youth with such a grace
As if he mastered there a double spirit,
Of teaching and of learning, instantly.
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 enamouréd
Upon his follies: never did I hear
Of any prince so wild at liberty.
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.—
Arm, arm, with speed! And, fellows, soldiers,
friends,

Better consider what you have to do,
Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,
Can lift your blood up with persuasion.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My lord, here are letters for you.
Hot. I cannot read them now.-

O gentlemen, the time of life is short:
To spend that shortness basely were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings:
If die, brave death, when princes die with us!
Now for our consciences,-the arms are fair
When the intent of bearing them is just.

Enter another Messenger.

Mess. My lord, prepare: the King comes on

apace.

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 Ia sword Whose worthy temper I intend to stain With the best blood that I can meet withal In the adventure of this perilous day. Now, "Esperancé! Percy!" and set on.Sound all the lofty instruments of war, And by that music let us all embrace: For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall A second time do such a courtesy.

[The trumpets sound. They embrace, and

exeunt.

SCENE III.-Plain near Shrewsbury. Excursions, and parties fighting. Alarum to the battle. Then enter DOUGLAS and BLUNT, meeting.

Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus Thou crossest me? What honour dost thou seek Upon my head?

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.

Blunt. They tell thee true.

Doug. The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath

bought

Thy likeness: for, instead of thee, King Harry, This sword hath ended him. So shall it thee, Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner.

Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot: And thou shalt find a king that will revenge Lord Stafford's death.

[They fight, and BLUNT is slain.

Enter HOTSPur.

Hot. O Douglas, hadst thou fought at Holmedon thus,

I never had triumphed upon a Scot.

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.

A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt: Semblably furnished like the King himself.

Doug. A fool go with thy soul whither it goes! A borrowed title hast thou bought too dear. Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king? Hot. The King hath many marching in his coats. 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.

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Other Alarums. Enter FALSTAFF.

Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here: here's no scoring but upon the pate.-Soft: who art thou? Sir Walter Blunt:-there's honour for you! Here's no vanity!-I am as hot as molten lead, and as heavy too: Heaven keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels. I have led my ragamuffins where they are peppered: there's but three of my hundred and fifty left alive and they are for the town's-end, to beg during life. But who comes here?

Enter PRINCE HENRY.

P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here! lend me thy sword:

Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are unrevenged. Pr'y thee lend me
thy sword.

Fal. O Hal, I pr'y thee 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.

P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. I pr'y thee lend me thy sword.

Fal. Nay, before Heaven, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou gett'st not my sword: but take my pistol, if thou wilt.

P. Hen. Give it me. What, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal: 't is hot, 't is hot: there's that will sack a city.

[The PRINCE draws out a bottle of sack. P. Hen. What, is 't a time to jest and dally now? [Throws it at him, and exit. Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. If he do come in my way, so: if he do not, if I come in his willingly, 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. Anotner part of the Field. Alarums. Excursions. Enter the KING, PRINCE HENRY, PRINCE JOHN, and WESTMORLAND. K. Hen. I pr'y thee,

Harry, withdraw thyself: thou bleed'st too much. Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.

P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. P. Hen. I do beseech your majesty, make up, Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. K. Hen. I will do so.

My lord of Westmorland, lead him to his tent. West. Come, my lord, I will lead you to your tent.

P. Hen. Lead me, my lord! I do not need your help: And heaven forbid a shallow scratch should drive The Prince of Wales from such a field as this; Where stained nobility lies trodden on, And rebels' arms triumph in massacres.

P. John. We breathe too long.-Come, cousin Westmorland,

Our duty this way lies: for God's sake, come.

[Exeunt PRINCE JOHN and WESTMORLAND. P. Hen. By heaven, thou hast deceived me. Lancaster:

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.

K. Hen. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point,
With lustier maintenance than I did look for
Of such an ungrown warrior.

P. Hen.
O this boy
Lends mettle to us all!

[Exit.

Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS.

Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydras' heads:

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 met,
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.

Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit; 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, enter PRINCE HENRY.

P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like

Never to hold it up again! The spirits
Of Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms.
It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee;
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,
And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight.
K. Hen. Stay and breathe awhile.
Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion;
And shewed thou mak'st some tender of my life,
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.

P. Hen. O heaven! they did me too much injury

That ever said I hearkened for your death.
If it were so, I might have let alone
The insulting hand of Douglas over you;
Which would have been as speedy in your end
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And saved the treacherous labour of your son.
K. Hen. Make up to Clifton; I'll to Sir Nicholas
Gawsey.
[Exit KING HENRY.

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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;
But now two paces of the vilest earth

Is room enough.-This earth that bears thee dead,
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.
If thou wert sensible of courtesy,

I should not make so dear a show of zeal:
But let my favours hide thy mangled face:
And, even in thy behalf, I 'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven:
Thy ignom'y sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remembered in thy epitaph!-

[He sees FALSTAFF on the ground.
What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spared a better man.
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,
If I were much in love with vanity.
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.
Embowelled will I see thee by-and-by:
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie.

[Exit.

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Fal. [rising slowly.] Embowelled! If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me, and eat me too, to-morrow.-'S blood, 't was time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie, I am no counterfeit. To die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man: but to counterfeit dying when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valour is discretion: in the which better part I have saved my life.Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead. How if he should counterfeit too, and rise? I am afraid he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure: yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why may not he rise, as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah [stabbing him], with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.

[Takes HOTSPUR on his back.

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That plays upon our eyesight?-I pr'y thee speak We will not trust our eyes without our ears. Thou art not what thou seem'st.

Fal. No, that's certain: I am not a double man: but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There is Percy [throwing the body down]. If your father will do me any honour, so: if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you.

P. Hen. Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead.

Fal. Didst thou?-Lord, lord, how this world is given to lying!-I grant you I was down and out of breath, and so was he: but we rose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, 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 wound in the thigh: if the man were alive and would deny it, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.

P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard.

P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother John.Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back: For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have. [A retreat is sounded. The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours. Come, brother, let's to the highest of the field, To see what friends are living, who are dead.

[Exeunt PRINCE HENRY and PRINCE JOHN,

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