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;
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,

KING. 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, be gone;
We will not now be troubled with reply:
We offer fair; take it advisedly.

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110

For, on their answer, will we set on them:
And God befriend us, as our cause is just!

[Exeunt all but the Prince of Wales and Falstaff. FAL. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so; 't is a point of friendship.

PRINCE. Nothing but a colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell.

FAL. I would 't were bed-time, Hal, and all well.
PRINCE. Why, thou owest God a death.

120

[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. "'T is 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. [Exit. 140 Auction M

119 on their answer] on receiving their answer? 121 bestride] stand over and so protect. Cf. 2 Hen. VI, V, iii, 9: “I. .. bestrid him."

140 a mere scutcheon] mere heraldic blazonry.

SCENE II - THE REBEL CAMP

Enter WORCESTER and VERNON

WOR. O, no, my nephew must not know, Sir Richard, The liberal and 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 cherish'd and lock'd 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 cherish'd, 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-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen:

8 Suspicion] All the old editions wrongly read Supposition. The correction is due to Rowe.

13 misquote] misread, misunderstand.

18-19 an adopted. . . Hotspur] the assumed name of Hotspur (which implies a reckless temper) might be held to privilege or shield him (from censure for his acts of wildness).

19 govern'd. spleen] governed by whimsical temper. Cf. T. of Shrew, III, ii, 10: “a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen."

10

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

HOT. My uncle is return'd:

Deliver up my Lord of Westmoreland.

Uncle, what news?

20

30

WOR. The king will bid you

battle presently.

DOUG. Defy him by the Lord of Westmoreland.

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.

40

Re-enter Douglas

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;
Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on.

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,
How show'd his tasking? seem'd 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;
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;
And, which became him like a prince indeed,
He made a blushing cital of himself;

44 engaged] detained as a hostage. Cf. IV, iii, 95, supra.

51 How show'd his tasking?] What was the character of his searching criticism or censure?

56 He gave

man] He credited you with all the merits due to a man. 60 By still... with you] By disparaging the praise bestowed upon you when compared with your deserts.

50

60