<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE PLAY SYSTEM "play.dtd">

<PLAY>
<TITLE>The Second Part of Henry the Fourth</TITLE>

<FM>
<P>ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992.</P>
<P>SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994.</P>
<P>XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1999.</P>
<P>The XML markup in this version is Copyright &#169; 1999 Jon Bosak.
This work may freely be distributed on condition that it not be
modified or altered in any way.</P>
</FM>

<PERSONAE>
<TITLE>Dramatis Personae</TITLE>

<PERSONA>RUMOUR, the Presenter.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>KING HENRY, the Fourth. </PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>PRINCE HENRY OF WALES afterwards KING HENRY V.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>THOMAS, DUKE OF, CLARENCE</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PRINCE HUMPHREY, OF GLOUCESTER</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>sons of King Henry.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>EARL OF WARWICK</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF WESTMORELAND</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF SURREY</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>GOWER</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>HARCOURT</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>BLUNT</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Servant of the Chief-Justice.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SCROOP, ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD MOWBRAY</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD HASTINGS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LORD BARDOLPH</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SIR JOHN COLEVILE</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>TRAVERS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>MORTON</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>retainers of Northumberland.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>SIR JOHN FALSTAFF</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>His Page. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>BARDOLPH</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PISTOL</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>POINS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PETO</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>SHALLOW</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SILENCE</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>country justices.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>DAVY, servant to Shallow.</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>MOULDY</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SHADOW</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>WART</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>FEEBLE</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>BULLCALF</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>recruits.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>FANG</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>SNARE</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>sheriff's officers.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>LADY NORTHUMBERLAND</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>LADY PERCY</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>MISTRESS QUICKLY, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DOLL TEARSHEET</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Lords and Attendants; Porter, Drawers, Beadles, Grooms, &amp;c.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>A Dancer, speaker of the epilogue.</PERSONA>
</PERSONAE>

<SCNDESCR>SCENE  England.</SCNDESCR>

<PLAYSUBT>2 KING HENRY IV</PLAYSUBT>

<INDUCT><TITLE>INDUCTION</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Warkworth. Before the castle</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter RUMOUR, painted full of tongues</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>RUMOUR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Open your ears; for which of you will stop</LINE>
<LINE>The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks?</LINE>
<LINE>I, from the orient to the drooping west,</LINE>
<LINE>Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold</LINE>
<LINE>The acts commenced on this ball of earth:</LINE>
<LINE>Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,</LINE>
<LINE>The which in every language I pronounce,</LINE>
<LINE>Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.</LINE>
<LINE>I speak of peace, while covert enmity</LINE>
<LINE>Under the smile of safety wounds the world:</LINE>
<LINE>And who but Rumour, who but only I,</LINE>
<LINE>Make fearful musters and prepared defence,</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles the big year, swoln with some other grief,</LINE>
<LINE>Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,</LINE>
<LINE>And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe</LINE>
<LINE>Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures</LINE>
<LINE>And of so easy and so plain a stop</LINE>
<LINE>That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,</LINE>
<LINE>The still-discordant wavering multitude,</LINE>
<LINE>Can play upon it. But what need I thus</LINE>
<LINE>My well-known body to anatomize</LINE>
<LINE>Among my household? Why is Rumour here?</LINE>
<LINE>I run before King Harry's victory;</LINE>
<LINE>Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury</LINE>
<LINE>Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,</LINE>
<LINE>Quenching the flame of bold rebellion</LINE>
<LINE>Even with the rebel's blood. But what mean I</LINE>
<LINE>To speak so true at first? my office is</LINE>
<LINE>To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell</LINE>
<LINE>Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword,</LINE>
<LINE>And that the king before the Douglas' rage</LINE>
<LINE>Stoop'd his anointed head as low as death.</LINE>
<LINE>This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns</LINE>
<LINE>Between that royal field of Shrewsbury</LINE>
<LINE>And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,</LINE>
<LINE>Where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,</LINE>
<LINE>Lies crafty-sick: the posts come tiring on,</LINE>
<LINE>And not a man of them brings other news</LINE>
<LINE>Than they have learn'd of me: from Rumour's tongues</LINE>
<LINE>They bring smooth comforts false, worse than</LINE>
<LINE>true wrongs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>
<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</INDUCT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT I</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  The same.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter LORD BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who keeps the gate here, ho?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>The Porter opens the gate</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Where is the earl?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Porter</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What shall I say you are?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell thou the earl</LINE>
<LINE>That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Porter</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard;</LINE>
<LINE>Please it your honour, knock but at the gate,</LINE>
<LINE>And he himself wilt answer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter NORTHUMBERLAND</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes the earl.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Porter</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What news, Lord Bardolph? every minute now</LINE>
<LINE>Should be the father of some stratagem:</LINE>
<LINE>The times are wild: contention, like a horse</LINE>
<LINE>Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose</LINE>
<LINE>And bears down all before him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Noble earl,</LINE>
<LINE>I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good, an God will!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As good as heart can wish:</LINE>
<LINE>The king is almost wounded to the death;</LINE>
<LINE>And, in the fortune of my lord your son,</LINE>
<LINE>Prince Harry slain outright; and both the Blunts</LINE>
<LINE>Kill'd by the hand of Douglas; young Prince John</LINE>
<LINE>And Westmoreland and Stafford fled the field;</LINE>
<LINE>And Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk Sir John,</LINE>
<LINE>Is prisoner to your son: O, such a day,</LINE>
<LINE>So fought, so follow'd and so fairly won,</LINE>
<LINE>Came not till now to dignify the times,</LINE>
<LINE>Since Caesar's fortunes!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How is this derived?</LINE>
<LINE>Saw you the field? came you from Shrewsbury?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I spake with one, my lord, that came from thence,</LINE>
<LINE>A gentleman well bred and of good name,</LINE>
<LINE>That freely render'd me these news for true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes my servant Travers, whom I sent</LINE>
<LINE>On Tuesday last to listen after news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter TRAVERS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I over-rode him on the way;</LINE>
<LINE>And he is furnish'd with no certainties</LINE>
<LINE>More than he haply may retail from me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, Travers, what good tidings comes with you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TRAVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, Sir John Umfrevile turn'd me back</LINE>
<LINE>With joyful tidings; and, being better horsed,</LINE>
<LINE>Out-rode me. After him came spurring hard</LINE>
<LINE>A gentleman, almost forspent with speed,</LINE>
<LINE>That stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse.</LINE>
<LINE>He ask'd the way to Chester; and of him</LINE>
<LINE>I did demand what news from Shrewsbury:</LINE>
<LINE>He told me that rebellion had bad luck</LINE>
<LINE>And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold.</LINE>
<LINE>With that, he gave his able horse the head,</LINE>
<LINE>And bending forward struck his armed heels</LINE>
<LINE>Against the panting sides of his poor jade</LINE>
<LINE>Up to the rowel-head, and starting so</LINE>
<LINE>He seem'd in running to devour the way,</LINE>
<LINE>Staying no longer question.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha! Again:</LINE>
<LINE>Said he young Harry Percy's spur was cold?</LINE>
<LINE>Of Hotspur Coldspur? that rebellion</LINE>
<LINE>Had met ill luck?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I'll tell you what;</LINE>
<LINE>If my young lord your son have not the day,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon mine honour, for a silken point</LINE>
<LINE>I'll give my barony: never talk of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why should that gentleman that rode by Travers</LINE>
<LINE>Give then such instances of loss?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, he?</LINE>
<LINE>He was some hilding fellow that had stolen</LINE>
<LINE>The horse he rode on, and, upon my life,</LINE>
<LINE>Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter MORTON</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf,</LINE>
<LINE>Foretells the nature of a tragic volume:</LINE>
<LINE>So looks the strand whereon the imperious flood</LINE>
<LINE>Hath left a witness'd usurpation.</LINE>
<LINE>Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MORTON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord;</LINE>
<LINE>Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask</LINE>
<LINE>To fright our party.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How doth my son and brother?</LINE>
<LINE>Thou tremblest; and the whiteness in thy cheek</LINE>
<LINE>Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.</LINE>
<LINE>Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,</LINE>
<LINE>So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,</LINE>
<LINE>Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,</LINE>
<LINE>And would have told him half his Troy was burnt;</LINE>
<LINE>But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue,</LINE>
<LINE>And I my Percy's death ere thou report'st it.</LINE>
<LINE>This thou wouldst say, 'Your son did thus and thus;</LINE>
<LINE>Your brother thus: so fought the noble Douglas:'</LINE>
<LINE>Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds:</LINE>
<LINE>But in the end, to stop my ear indeed,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,</LINE>
<LINE>Ending with 'Brother, son, and all are dead.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MORTON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Douglas is living, and your brother, yet;</LINE>
<LINE>But, for my lord your son--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, he is dead.</LINE>
<LINE>See what a ready tongue suspicion hath!</LINE>
<LINE>He that but fears the thing he would not know</LINE>
<LINE>Hath by instinct knowledge from others' eyes</LINE>
<LINE>That what he fear'd is chanced. Yet speak, Morton;</LINE>
<LINE>Tell thou an earl his divination lies,</LINE>
<LINE>And I will take it as a sweet disgrace</LINE>
<LINE>And make thee rich for doing me such wrong.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MORTON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are too great to be by me gainsaid:</LINE>
<LINE>Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yet, for all this, say not that Percy's dead.</LINE>
<LINE>I see a strange confession in thine eye:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou shakest thy head and hold'st it fear or sin</LINE>
<LINE>To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so;</LINE>
<LINE>The tongue offends not that reports his death:</LINE>
<LINE>And he doth sin that doth belie the dead,</LINE>
<LINE>Not he which says the dead is not alive.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news</LINE>
<LINE>Hath but a losing office, and his tongue</LINE>
<LINE>Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,</LINE>
<LINE>Remember'd tolling a departing friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MORTON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am sorry I should force you to believe</LINE>
<LINE>That which I would to God I had not seen;</LINE>
<LINE>But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,</LINE>
<LINE>Rendering faint quittance, wearied and out-breathed,</LINE>
<LINE>To Harry Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat down</LINE>
<LINE>The never-daunted Percy to the earth,</LINE>
<LINE>From whence with life he never more sprung up.</LINE>
<LINE>In few, his death, whose spirit lent a fire</LINE>
<LINE>Even to the dullest peasant in his camp,</LINE>
<LINE>Being bruited once, took fire and heat away</LINE>
<LINE>From the best temper'd courage in his troops;</LINE>
<LINE>For from his metal was his party steel'd;</LINE>
<LINE>Which once in him abated, all the rest</LINE>
<LINE>Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead:</LINE>
<LINE>And as the thing that's heavy in itself,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon enforcement flies with greatest speed,</LINE>
<LINE>So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss,</LINE>
<LINE>Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear</LINE>
<LINE>That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim</LINE>
<LINE>Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety,</LINE>
<LINE>Fly from the field. Then was the noble Worcester</LINE>
<LINE>Too soon ta'en prisoner; and that furious Scot,</LINE>
<LINE>The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword</LINE>
<LINE>Had three times slain the appearance of the king,</LINE>
<LINE>'Gan vail his stomach and did grace the shame</LINE>
<LINE>Of those that turn'd their backs, and in his flight,</LINE>
<LINE>Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all</LINE>
<LINE>Is that the king hath won, and hath sent out</LINE>
<LINE>A speedy power to encounter you, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Under the conduct of young Lancaster</LINE>
<LINE>And Westmoreland. This is the news at full.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For this I shall have time enough to mourn.</LINE>
<LINE>In poison there is physic; and these news,</LINE>
<LINE>Having been well, that would have made me sick,</LINE>
<LINE>Being sick, have in some measure made me well:</LINE>
<LINE>And as the wretch, whose fever-weaken'd joints,</LINE>
<LINE>Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life,</LINE>
<LINE>Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire</LINE>
<LINE>Out of his keeper's arms, even so my limbs,</LINE>
<LINE>Weaken'd with grief, being now enraged with grief,</LINE>
<LINE>Are thrice themselves. Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch!</LINE>
<LINE>A scaly gauntlet now with joints of steel</LINE>
<LINE>Must glove this hand: and hence, thou sickly quoif!</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art a guard too wanton for the head</LINE>
<LINE>Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit.</LINE>
<LINE>Now bind my brows with iron; and approach</LINE>
<LINE>The ragged'st hour that time and spite dare bring</LINE>
<LINE>To frown upon the enraged Northumberland!</LINE>
<LINE>Let heaven kiss earth! now let not Nature's hand</LINE>
<LINE>Keep the wild flood confined! let order die!</LINE>
<LINE>And let this world no longer be a stage</LINE>
<LINE>To feed contention in a lingering act;</LINE>
<LINE>But let one spirit of the first-born Cain</LINE>
<LINE>Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set</LINE>
<LINE>On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,</LINE>
<LINE>And darkness be the burier of the dead!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TRAVERS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MORTON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The lives of all your loving complices</LINE>
<LINE>Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er</LINE>
<LINE>To stormy passion, must perforce decay.</LINE>
<LINE>You cast the event of war, my noble lord,</LINE>
<LINE>And summ'd the account of chance, before you said</LINE>
<LINE>'Let us make head.' It was your presurmise,</LINE>
<LINE>That, in the dole of blows, your son might drop:</LINE>
<LINE>You knew he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge,</LINE>
<LINE>More likely to fall in than to get o'er;</LINE>
<LINE>You were advised his flesh was capable</LINE>
<LINE>Of wounds and scars and that his forward spirit</LINE>
<LINE>Would lift him where most trade of danger ranged:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet did you say 'Go forth;' and none of this,</LINE>
<LINE>Though strongly apprehended, could restrain</LINE>
<LINE>The stiff-borne action: what hath then befallen,</LINE>
<LINE>Or what hath this bold enterprise brought forth,</LINE>
<LINE>More than that being which was like to be?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We all that are engaged to this loss</LINE>
<LINE>Knew that we ventured on such dangerous seas</LINE>
<LINE>That if we wrought our life 'twas ten to one;</LINE>
<LINE>And yet we ventured, for the gain proposed</LINE>
<LINE>Choked the respect of likely peril fear'd;</LINE>
<LINE>And since we are o'erset, venture again.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, we will all put forth, body and goods.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MORTON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis more than time: and, my most noble lord,</LINE>
<LINE>I hear for certain, and do speak the truth,</LINE>
<LINE>The gentle Archbishop of York is up</LINE>
<LINE>With well-appointed powers: he is a man</LINE>
<LINE>Who with a double surety binds his followers.</LINE>
<LINE>My lord your son had only but the corpse,</LINE>
<LINE>But shadows and the shows of men, to fight;</LINE>
<LINE>For that same word, rebellion, did divide</LINE>
<LINE>The action of their bodies from their souls;</LINE>
<LINE>And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd,</LINE>
<LINE>As men drink potions, that their weapons only</LINE>
<LINE>Seem'd on our side; but, for their spirits and souls,</LINE>
<LINE>This word, rebellion, it had froze them up,</LINE>
<LINE>As fish are in a pond. But now the bishop</LINE>
<LINE>Turns insurrection to religion:</LINE>
<LINE>Supposed sincere and holy in his thoughts,</LINE>
<LINE>He's followed both with body and with mind;</LINE>
<LINE>And doth enlarge his rising with the blood</LINE>
<LINE>Of fair King Richard, scraped from Pomfret stones;</LINE>
<LINE>Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause;</LINE>
<LINE>Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land,</LINE>
<LINE>Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke;</LINE>
<LINE>And more and less do flock to follow him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I knew of this before; but, to speak truth,</LINE>
<LINE>This present grief had wiped it from my mind.</LINE>
<LINE>Go in with me; and counsel every man</LINE>
<LINE>The aptest way for safety and revenge:</LINE>
<LINE>Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed:</LINE>
<LINE>Never so few, and never yet more need.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  London. A street.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his sword
and buckler</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy</LINE>
<LINE>water; but, for the party that owed it, he might</LINE>
<LINE>have more diseases than he knew for.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me: the</LINE>
<LINE>brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not</LINE>
<LINE>able to invent anything that tends to laughter, more</LINE>
<LINE>than I invent or is invented on me: I am not only</LINE>
<LINE>witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other</LINE>
<LINE>men. I do here walk before thee like a sow that</LINE>
<LINE>hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. If the</LINE>
<LINE>prince put thee into my service for any other reason</LINE>
<LINE>than to set me off, why then I have no judgment.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn</LINE>
<LINE>in my cap than to wait at my heels. I was never</LINE>
<LINE>manned with an agate till now: but I will inset you</LINE>
<LINE>neither in gold nor silver, but in vile apparel, and</LINE>
<LINE>send you back again to your master, for a jewel,--</LINE>
<LINE>the juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin is</LINE>
<LINE>not yet fledged. I will sooner have a beard grow in</LINE>
<LINE>the palm of my hand than he shall get one on his</LINE>
<LINE>cheek; and yet he will not stick to say his face is</LINE>
<LINE>a face-royal: God may finish it when he will, 'tis</LINE>
<LINE>not a hair amiss yet: he may keep it still at a</LINE>
<LINE>face-royal, for a barber shall never earn sixpence</LINE>
<LINE>out of it; and yet he'll be crowing as if he had</LINE>
<LINE>writ man ever since his father was a bachelor. He</LINE>
<LINE>may keep his own grace, but he's almost out of mine,</LINE>
<LINE>I can assure him. What said Master Dombledon about</LINE>
<LINE>the satin for my short cloak and my slops?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He said, sir, you should procure him better</LINE>
<LINE>assurance than Bardolph: he would not take his</LINE>
<LINE>band and yours; he liked not the security.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let him be damned, like the glutton! pray God his</LINE>
<LINE>tongue be hotter! A whoreson Achitophel! a rascally</LINE>
<LINE>yea-forsooth knave! to bear a gentleman in hand,</LINE>
<LINE>and then stand upon security! The whoreson</LINE>
<LINE>smooth-pates do now wear nothing but high shoes, and</LINE>
<LINE>bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is</LINE>
<LINE>through with them in honest taking up, then they</LINE>
<LINE>must stand upon security. I had as lief they would</LINE>
<LINE>put ratsbane in my mouth as offer to stop it with</LINE>
<LINE>security. I looked a' should have sent me two and</LINE>
<LINE>twenty yards of satin, as I am a true knight, and he</LINE>
<LINE>sends me security. Well, he may sleep in security;</LINE>
<LINE>for he hath the horn of abundance, and the lightness</LINE>
<LINE>of his wife shines through it: and yet cannot he</LINE>
<LINE>see, though he have his own lanthorn to light him.</LINE>
<LINE>Where's Bardolph?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship a horse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse in</LINE>
<LINE>Smithfield: an I could get me but a wife in the</LINE>
<LINE>stews, I were manned, horsed, and wived.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter the Lord Chief-Justice and Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, here comes the nobleman that committed the</LINE>
<LINE>Prince for striking him about Bardolph.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wait, close; I will not see him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's he that goes there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Falstaff, an't please your lordship.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He that was in question for the robbery?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He, my lord: but he hath since done good service at</LINE>
<LINE>Shrewsbury; and, as I hear, is now going with some</LINE>
<LINE>charge to the Lord John of Lancaster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, to York? Call him back again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John Falstaff!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Boy, tell him I am deaf.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You must speak louder; my master is deaf.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am sure he is, to the hearing of any thing good.</LINE>
<LINE>Go, pluck him by the elbow; I must speak with him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! a young knave, and begging! Is there not</LINE>
<LINE>wars? is there not employment? doth not the king</LINE>
<LINE>lack subjects? do not the rebels need soldiers?</LINE>
<LINE>Though it be a shame to be on any side but one, it</LINE>
<LINE>is worse shame to beg than to be on the worst side,</LINE>
<LINE>were it worse than the name of rebellion can tell</LINE>
<LINE>how to make it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You mistake me, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, sir, did I say you were an honest man? setting</LINE>
<LINE>my knighthood and my soldiership aside, I had lied</LINE>
<LINE>in my throat, if I had said so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray you, sir, then set your knighthood and our</LINE>
<LINE>soldiership aside; and give me leave to tell you,</LINE>
<LINE>you lie in your throat, if you say I am any other</LINE>
<LINE>than an honest man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I give thee leave to tell me so! I lay aside that</LINE>
<LINE>which grows to me! if thou gettest any leave of me,</LINE>
<LINE>hang me; if thou takest leave, thou wert better be</LINE>
<LINE>hanged. You hunt counter: hence! avaunt!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, my lord would speak with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John Falstaff, a word with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My good lord! God give your lordship good time of</LINE>
<LINE>day. I am glad to see your lordship abroad: I heard</LINE>
<LINE>say your lordship was sick: I hope your lordship</LINE>
<LINE>goes abroad by advice. Your lordship, though not</LINE>
<LINE>clean past your youth, hath yet some smack of age in</LINE>
<LINE>you, some relish of the saltness of time; and I must</LINE>
<LINE>humbly beseech your lordship to have a reverent care</LINE>
<LINE>of your health.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, I sent for you before your expedition to</LINE>
<LINE>Shrewsbury.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An't please your lordship, I hear his majesty is</LINE>
<LINE>returned with some discomfort from Wales.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I talk not of his majesty: you would not come when</LINE>
<LINE>I sent for you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I hear, moreover, his highness is fallen into</LINE>
<LINE>this same whoreson apoplexy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, God mend him! I pray you, let me speak with</LINE>
<LINE>you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy,</LINE>
<LINE>an't please your lordship; a kind of sleeping in the</LINE>
<LINE>blood, a whoreson tingling.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What tell you me of it? be it as it is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It hath its original from much grief, from study and</LINE>
<LINE>perturbation of the brain: I have read the cause of</LINE>
<LINE>his effects in Galen: it is a kind of deafness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think you are fallen into the disease; for you</LINE>
<LINE>hear not what I say to you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very well, my lord, very well: rather, an't please</LINE>
<LINE>you, it is the disease of not listening, the malady</LINE>
<LINE>of not marking, that I am troubled withal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To punish you by the heels would amend the</LINE>
<LINE>attention of your ears; and I care not if I do</LINE>
<LINE>become your physician.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am as poor as Job, my lord, but not so patient:</LINE>
<LINE>your lordship may minister the potion of</LINE>
<LINE>imprisonment to me in respect of poverty; but how</LINE>
<LINE>should I be your patient to follow your</LINE>
<LINE>prescriptions, the wise may make some dram of a</LINE>
<LINE>scruple, or indeed a scruple itself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I sent for you, when there were matters against you</LINE>
<LINE>for your life, to come speak with me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As I was then advised by my learned counsel in the</LINE>
<LINE>laws of this land-service, I did not come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, the truth is, Sir John, you live in great infamy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in less.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your means are very slender, and your waste is great.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would it were otherwise; I would my means were</LINE>
<LINE>greater, and my waist slenderer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have misled the youthful prince.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The young prince hath misled me: I am the fellow</LINE>
<LINE>with the great belly, and he my dog.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, I am loath to gall a new-healed wound: your</LINE>
<LINE>day's service at Shrewsbury hath a little gilded</LINE>
<LINE>over your night's exploit on Gad's-hill: you may</LINE>
<LINE>thank the unquiet time for your quiet o'er-posting</LINE>
<LINE>that action.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But since all is well, keep it so: wake not a</LINE>
<LINE>sleeping wolf.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To wake a wolf is as bad as to smell a fox.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! you are as a candle, the better part burnt</LINE>
<LINE>out.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A wassail candle, my lord, all tallow: if I did say</LINE>
<LINE>of wax, my growth would approve the truth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is not a white hair on your face but should</LINE>
<LINE>have his effect of gravity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His effect of gravy, gravy, gravy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You follow the young prince up and down, like his</LINE>
<LINE>ill angel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not so, my lord; your ill angel is light; but I hope</LINE>
<LINE>he that looks upon me will take me without weighing:</LINE>
<LINE>and yet, in some respects, I grant, I cannot go: I</LINE>
<LINE>cannot tell. Virtue is of so little regard in these</LINE>
<LINE>costermonger times that true valour is turned</LINE>
<LINE>bear-herd: pregnancy is made a tapster, and hath</LINE>
<LINE>his quick wit wasted in giving reckonings: all the</LINE>
<LINE>other gifts appertinent to man, as the malice of</LINE>
<LINE>this age shapes them, are not worth a gooseberry.</LINE>
<LINE>You that are old consider not the capacities of us</LINE>
<LINE>that are young; you do measure the heat of our</LINE>
<LINE>livers with the bitterness of your galls: and we</LINE>
<LINE>that are in the vaward of our youth, I must confess,</LINE>
<LINE>are wags too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do you set down your name in the scroll of youth,</LINE>
<LINE>that are written down old with all the characters of</LINE>
<LINE>age? Have you not a moist eye? a dry hand? a</LINE>
<LINE>yellow cheek? a white beard? a decreasing leg? an</LINE>
<LINE>increasing belly? is not your voice broken? your</LINE>
<LINE>wind short? your chin double? your wit single? and</LINE>
<LINE>every part about you blasted with antiquity? and</LINE>
<LINE>will you yet call yourself young? Fie, fie, fie, Sir John!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I was born about three of the clock in the</LINE>
<LINE>afternoon, with a white head and something a round</LINE>
<LINE>belly. For my voice, I have lost it with halloing</LINE>
<LINE>and singing of anthems. To approve my youth</LINE>
<LINE>further, I will not: the truth is, I am only old in</LINE>
<LINE>judgment and understanding; and he that will caper</LINE>
<LINE>with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the</LINE>
<LINE>money, and have at him! For the box of the ear that</LINE>
<LINE>the prince gave you, he gave it like a rude prince,</LINE>
<LINE>and you took it like a sensible lord. I have</LINE>
<LINE>chequed him for it, and the young lion repents;</LINE>
<LINE>marry, not in ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk</LINE>
<LINE>and old sack.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, God send the prince a better companion!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God send the companion a better prince! I cannot</LINE>
<LINE>rid my hands of him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, the king hath severed you and Prince Harry: I</LINE>
<LINE>hear you are going with Lord John of Lancaster</LINE>
<LINE>against the Archbishop and the Earl of</LINE>
<LINE>Northumberland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea; I thank your pretty sweet wit for it. But look</LINE>
<LINE>you pray, all you that kiss my lady Peace at home,</LINE>
<LINE>that our armies join not in a hot day; for, by the</LINE>
<LINE>Lord, I take but two shirts out with me, and I mean</LINE>
<LINE>not to sweat extraordinarily: if it be a hot day,</LINE>
<LINE>and I brandish any thing but a bottle, I would I</LINE>
<LINE>might never spit white again. There is not a</LINE>
<LINE>dangerous action can peep out his head but I am</LINE>
<LINE>thrust upon it: well, I cannot last ever: but it</LINE>
<LINE>was alway yet the trick of our English nation, if</LINE>
<LINE>they have a good thing, to make it too common. If</LINE>
<LINE>ye will needs say I am an old man, you should give</LINE>
<LINE>me rest. I would to God my name were not so</LINE>
<LINE>terrible to the enemy as it is: I were better to be</LINE>
<LINE>eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to</LINE>
<LINE>nothing with perpetual motion.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, be honest, be honest; and God bless your</LINE>
<LINE>expedition!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will your lordship lend me a thousand pound to</LINE>
<LINE>furnish me forth?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not a penny, not a penny; you are too impatient to</LINE>
<LINE>bear crosses. Fare you well: commend me to my</LINE>
<LINE>cousin Westmoreland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt Chief-Justice and Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle. A man</LINE>
<LINE>can no more separate age and covetousness than a'</LINE>
<LINE>can part young limbs and lechery: but the gout</LINE>
<LINE>galls the one, and the pox pinches the other; and</LINE>
<LINE>so both the degrees prevent my curses. Boy!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What money is in my purse?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Seven groats and two pence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I can get no remedy against this consumption of the</LINE>
<LINE>purse: borrowing only lingers and lingers it out,</LINE>
<LINE>but the disease is incurable. Go bear this letter</LINE>
<LINE>to my Lord of Lancaster; this to the prince; this</LINE>
<LINE>to the Earl of Westmoreland; and this to old</LINE>
<LINE>Mistress Ursula, whom I have weekly sworn to marry</LINE>
<LINE>since I perceived the first white hair on my chin.</LINE>
<LINE>About it: you know where to find me.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit Page</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>A pox of this gout! or, a gout of this pox! for</LINE>
<LINE>the one or the other plays the rogue with my great</LINE>
<LINE>toe. 'Tis no matter if I do halt; I have the wars</LINE>
<LINE>for my colour, and my pension shall seem the more</LINE>
<LINE>reasonable. A good wit will make use of any thing:</LINE>
<LINE>I will turn diseases to commodity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  York. The Archbishop's palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, the Lords HASTINGS,
MOWBRAY, and BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thus have you heard our cause and known our means;</LINE>
<LINE>And, my most noble friends, I pray you all,</LINE>
<LINE>Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes:</LINE>
<LINE>And first, lord marshal, what say you to it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I well allow the occasion of our arms;</LINE>
<LINE>But gladly would be better satisfied</LINE>
<LINE>How in our means we should advance ourselves</LINE>
<LINE>To look with forehead bold and big enough</LINE>
<LINE>Upon the power and puissance of the king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Our present musters grow upon the file</LINE>
<LINE>To five and twenty thousand men of choice;</LINE>
<LINE>And our supplies live largely in the hope</LINE>
<LINE>Of great Northumberland, whose bosom burns</LINE>
<LINE>With an incensed fire of injuries.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The question then, Lord Hastings, standeth thus;</LINE>
<LINE>Whether our present five and twenty thousand</LINE>
<LINE>May hold up head without Northumberland?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With him, we may.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, marry, there's the point:</LINE>
<LINE>But if without him we be thought too feeble,</LINE>
<LINE>My judgment is, we should not step too far</LINE>
<LINE>Till we had his assistance by the hand;</LINE>
<LINE>For in a theme so bloody-faced as this</LINE>
<LINE>Conjecture, expectation, and surmise</LINE>
<LINE>Of aids incertain should not be admitted.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis very true, Lord Bardolph; for indeed</LINE>
<LINE>It was young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It was, my lord; who lined himself with hope,</LINE>
<LINE>Eating the air on promise of supply,</LINE>
<LINE>Flattering himself in project of a power</LINE>
<LINE>Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts:</LINE>
<LINE>And so, with great imagination</LINE>
<LINE>Proper to madmen, led his powers to death</LINE>
<LINE>And winking leap'd into destruction.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt</LINE>
<LINE>To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, if this present quality of war,</LINE>
<LINE>Indeed the instant action: a cause on foot</LINE>
<LINE>Lives so in hope as in an early spring</LINE>
<LINE>We see the appearing buds; which to prove fruit,</LINE>
<LINE>Hope gives not so much warrant as despair</LINE>
<LINE>That frosts will bite them. When we mean to build,</LINE>
<LINE>We first survey the plot, then draw the model;</LINE>
<LINE>And when we see the figure of the house,</LINE>
<LINE>Then must we rate the cost of the erection;</LINE>
<LINE>Which if we find outweighs ability,</LINE>
<LINE>What do we then but draw anew the model</LINE>
<LINE>In fewer offices, or at last desist</LINE>
<LINE>To build at all? Much more, in this great work,</LINE>
<LINE>Which is almost to pluck a kingdom down</LINE>
<LINE>And set another up, should we survey</LINE>
<LINE>The plot of situation and the model,</LINE>
<LINE>Consent upon a sure foundation,</LINE>
<LINE>Question surveyors, know our own estate,</LINE>
<LINE>How able such a work to undergo,</LINE>
<LINE>To weigh against his opposite; or else</LINE>
<LINE>We fortify in paper and in figures,</LINE>
<LINE>Using the names of men instead of men:</LINE>
<LINE>Like one that draws the model of a house</LINE>
<LINE>Beyond his power to build it; who, half through,</LINE>
<LINE>Gives o'er and leaves his part-created cost</LINE>
<LINE>A naked subject to the weeping clouds</LINE>
<LINE>And waste for churlish winter's tyranny.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Grant that our hopes, yet likely of fair birth,</LINE>
<LINE>Should be still-born, and that we now possess'd</LINE>
<LINE>The utmost man of expectation,</LINE>
<LINE>I think we are a body strong enough,</LINE>
<LINE>Even as we are, to equal with the king.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, is the king but five and twenty thousand?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To us no more; nay, not so much, Lord Bardolph.</LINE>
<LINE>For his divisions, as the times do brawl,</LINE>
<LINE>Are in three heads: one power against the French,</LINE>
<LINE>And one against Glendower; perforce a third</LINE>
<LINE>Must take up us: so is the unfirm king</LINE>
<LINE>In three divided; and his coffers sound</LINE>
<LINE>With hollow poverty and emptiness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That he should draw his several strengths together</LINE>
<LINE>And come against us in full puissance,</LINE>
<LINE>Need not be dreaded.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If he should do so,</LINE>
<LINE>He leaves his back unarm'd, the French and Welsh</LINE>
<LINE>Baying him at the heels: never fear that.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LORD BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who is it like should lead his forces hither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Duke of Lancaster and Westmoreland;</LINE>
<LINE>Against the Welsh, himself and Harry Monmouth:</LINE>
<LINE>But who is substituted 'gainst the French,</LINE>
<LINE>I have no certain notice.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let us on,</LINE>
<LINE>And publish the occasion of our arms.</LINE>
<LINE>The commonwealth is sick of their own choice;</LINE>
<LINE>Their over-greedy love hath surfeited:</LINE>
<LINE>An habitation giddy and unsure</LINE>
<LINE>Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart.</LINE>
<LINE>O thou fond many, with what loud applause</LINE>
<LINE>Didst thou beat heaven with blessing Bolingbroke,</LINE>
<LINE>Before he was what thou wouldst have him be!</LINE>
<LINE>And being now trimm'd in thine own desires,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of him,</LINE>
<LINE>That thou provokest thyself to cast him up.</LINE>
<LINE>So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge</LINE>
<LINE>Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard;</LINE>
<LINE>And now thou wouldst eat thy dead vomit up,</LINE>
<LINE>And howl'st to find it. What trust is in</LINE>
<LINE>these times?</LINE>
<LINE>They that, when Richard lived, would have him die,</LINE>
<LINE>Are now become enamour'd on his grave:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou, that threw'st dust upon his goodly head</LINE>
<LINE>When through proud London he came sighing on</LINE>
<LINE>After the admired heels of Bolingbroke,</LINE>
<LINE>Criest now 'O earth, yield us that king again,</LINE>
<LINE>And take thou this!' O thoughts of men accursed!</LINE>
<LINE>Past and to come seems best; things present worst.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall we go draw our numbers and set on?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT II</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  London. A street.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter MISTRESS QUICKLY, FANG and his Boy with her,
and SNARE following.</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Master Fang, have you entered the action?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is entered.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's your yeoman? Is't a lusty yeoman?</LINE>
<LINE>Will a' stand to 't?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, where's Snare?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Lord, ay! good Master Snare.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SNARE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Snare, we must arrest Sir John Falstaff.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, good Master Snare; I have entered him</LINE>
<LINE>and all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SNARE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It may chance cost some of us our lives, for</LINE>
<LINE>he will stab.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas the day! take heed of him; he stabbed</LINE>
<LINE>me in mine own house, and that most beastly: in good faith, he</LINE>
<LINE>cares not what mischief he does. If his weapon be</LINE>
<LINE>out: he will foin like any devil; he will spare neither</LINE>
<LINE>man, woman, nor child.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I can close with him, I care not for his</LINE>
<LINE>thrust.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, nor I neither: I'll be at your elbow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An I but fist him once; an a' come but</LINE>
<LINE>within my vice,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am undone by his going; I warrant you,</LINE>
<LINE>he's an infinitive thing upon my score. Good Master</LINE>
<LINE>Fang, hold him sure: good Master Snare, let him</LINE>
<LINE>not 'scape. A' comes continuantly to Pie-corner</LINE>
<LINE>--saving your manhoods--to buy a saddle; and he is</LINE>
<LINE>indited to dinner to the Lubber's-head in Lumbert</LINE>
<LINE>street, to Master Smooth's the silkman: I pray ye,</LINE>
<LINE>since my exion is entered and my case so openly</LINE>
<LINE>known to the world, let him be brought in to his</LINE>
<LINE>answer. A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone</LINE>
<LINE>woman to bear: and I have borne, and borne, and</LINE>
<LINE>borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off, and</LINE>
<LINE>fubbed off, from this day to that day, that it is a</LINE>
<LINE>shame to be thought on. There is no honesty in such</LINE>
<LINE>dealing; unless a woman should be made an ass and a</LINE>
<LINE>beast, to bear every knave's wrong.</LINE>
<LINE>Yonder he comes; and that errant malmsey-nose knave,</LINE>
<LINE>Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do your</LINE>
<LINE>offices: Master Fang and Master Snare, do me, do me,</LINE>
<LINE>do me your offices.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>[Enter FALSTAFF, Page, and BARDOLPH]</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! whose mare's dead? what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, I arrest you at the suit of Mistress Quickly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, varlets! Draw, Bardolph: cut me off the</LINE>
<LINE>villain's head: throw the quean in the channel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Throw me in the channel! I'll throw thee in the</LINE>
<LINE>channel. Wilt thou? wilt thou? thou bastardly</LINE>
<LINE>rogue! Murder, murder! Ah, thou honeysuckle</LINE>
<LINE>villain! wilt thou kill God's officers and the</LINE>
<LINE>king's? Ah, thou honey-seed rogue! thou art a</LINE>
<LINE>honey-seed, a man-queller, and a woman-queller.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Keep them off, Bardolph.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FANG</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A rescue! a rescue!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good people, bring a rescue or two. Thou wo't, wo't</LINE>
<LINE>thou? Thou wo't, wo't ta? do, do, thou rogue! do,</LINE>
<LINE>thou hemp-seed!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, you scullion! you rampallion! You</LINE>
<LINE>fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter the Lord Chief-Justice, and his men</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is the matter? keep the peace here, ho!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my lord, be good to me. I beseech you, stand to me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, Sir John! what are you brawling here?</LINE>
<LINE>Doth this become your place, your time and business?</LINE>
<LINE>You should have been well on your way to York.</LINE>
<LINE>Stand from him, fellow: wherefore hang'st upon him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O most worshipful lord, an't please your grace, I am</LINE>
<LINE>a poor widow of Eastcheap, and he is arrested at my suit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For what sum?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all,</LINE>
<LINE>all I have. He hath eaten me out of house and home;</LINE>
<LINE>he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of</LINE>
<LINE>his: but I will have some of it out again, or I</LINE>
<LINE>will ride thee o' nights like the mare.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think I am as like to ride the mare, if I have</LINE>
<LINE>any vantage of ground to get up.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How comes this, Sir John? Fie! what man of good</LINE>
<LINE>temper would endure this tempest of exclamation?</LINE>
<LINE>Are you not ashamed to enforce a poor widow to so</LINE>
<LINE>rough a course to come by her own?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is the gross sum that I owe thee?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself and the</LINE>
<LINE>money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a</LINE>
<LINE>parcel-gilt goblet, sitting in my Dolphin-chamber,</LINE>
<LINE>at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, upon</LINE>
<LINE>Wednesday in Wheeson week, when the prince broke</LINE>
<LINE>thy head for liking his father to a singing-man of</LINE>
<LINE>Windsor, thou didst swear to me then, as I was</LINE>
<LINE>washing thy wound, to marry me and make me my lady</LINE>
<LINE>thy wife. Canst thou deny it? Did not goodwife</LINE>
<LINE>Keech, the butcher's wife, come in then and call me</LINE>
<LINE>gossip Quickly? coming in to borrow a mess of</LINE>
<LINE>vinegar; telling us she had a good dish of prawns;</LINE>
<LINE>whereby thou didst desire to eat some; whereby I</LINE>
<LINE>told thee they were ill for a green wound? And</LINE>
<LINE>didst thou not, when she was gone down stairs,</LINE>
<LINE>desire me to be no more so familiarity with such</LINE>
<LINE>poor people; saying that ere long they should call</LINE>
<LINE>me madam? And didst thou not kiss me and bid me</LINE>
<LINE>fetch thee thirty shillings? I put thee now to thy</LINE>
<LINE>book-oath: deny it, if thou canst.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, this is a poor mad soul; and she says up</LINE>
<LINE>and down the town that the eldest son is like you:</LINE>
<LINE>she hath been in good case, and the truth is,</LINE>
<LINE>poverty hath distracted her. But for these foolish</LINE>
<LINE>officers, I beseech you I may have redress against them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, Sir John, I am well acquainted with your</LINE>
<LINE>manner of wrenching the true cause the false way. It</LINE>
<LINE>is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words</LINE>
<LINE>that come with such more than impudent sauciness</LINE>
<LINE>from you, can thrust me from a level consideration:</LINE>
<LINE>you have, as it appears to me, practised upon the</LINE>
<LINE>easy-yielding spirit of this woman, and made her</LINE>
<LINE>serve your uses both in purse and in person.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, in truth, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray thee, peace. Pay her the debt you owe her, and</LINE>
<LINE>unpay the villany you have done her: the one you</LINE>
<LINE>may do with sterling money, and the other with</LINE>
<LINE>current repentance.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I will not undergo this sneap without</LINE>
<LINE>reply. You call honourable boldness impudent</LINE>
<LINE>sauciness: if a man will make courtesy and say</LINE>
<LINE>nothing, he is virtuous: no, my lord, my humble</LINE>
<LINE>duty remembered, I will not be your suitor. I say</LINE>
<LINE>to you, I do desire deliverance from these officers,</LINE>
<LINE>being upon hasty employment in the king's affairs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You speak as having power to do wrong: but answer</LINE>
<LINE>in the effect of your reputation, and satisfy this</LINE>
<LINE>poor woman.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come hither, hostess.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter GOWER</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, Master Gower, what news?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GOWER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The king, my lord, and Harry Prince of Wales</LINE>
<LINE>Are near at hand: the rest the paper tells.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As I am a gentleman.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Faith, you said so before.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As I am a gentleman. Come, no more words of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain</LINE>
<LINE>to pawn both my plate and the tapestry of my</LINE>
<LINE>dining-chambers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Glasses, glasses is the only drinking: and for thy</LINE>
<LINE>walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of</LINE>
<LINE>the Prodigal, or the German hunting in water-work,</LINE>
<LINE>is worth a thousand of these bed-hangings and these</LINE>
<LINE>fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound, if thou</LINE>
<LINE>canst. Come, an 'twere not for thy humours, there's</LINE>
<LINE>not a better wench in England. Go, wash thy face,</LINE>
<LINE>and draw the action. Come, thou must not be in</LINE>
<LINE>this humour with me; dost not know me? come, come, I</LINE>
<LINE>know thou wast set on to this.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray thee, Sir John, let it be but twenty nobles: i'</LINE>
<LINE>faith, I am loath to pawn my plate, so God save me,</LINE>
<LINE>la!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let it alone; I'll make other shift: you'll be a</LINE>
<LINE>fool still.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, you shall have it, though I pawn my gown. I</LINE>
<LINE>hope you'll come to supper. You'll pay me all together?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will I live?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Go, with her, with her; hook on, hook on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you have Doll Tearsheet meet you at supper?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more words; let's have her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt MISTRESS QUICKLY, BARDOLPH, Officers and Boy</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have heard better news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's the news, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where lay the king last night?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GOWER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At Basingstoke, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I hope, my lord, all's well: what is the news, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come all his forces back?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GOWER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No; fifteen hundred foot, five hundred horse,</LINE>
<LINE>Are marched up to my lord of Lancaster,</LINE>
<LINE>Against Northumberland and the Archbishop.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Comes the king back from Wales, my noble lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shall have letters of me presently:</LINE>
<LINE>Come, go along with me, good Master Gower.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Master Gower, shall I entreat you with me to dinner?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GOWER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I must wait upon my good lord here; I thank you,</LINE>
<LINE>good Sir John.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, you loiter here too long, being you are to</LINE>
<LINE>take soldiers up in counties as you go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you sup with me, Master Gower?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What foolish master taught you these manners, Sir John?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Master Gower, if they become me not, he was a fool</LINE>
<LINE>that taught them me. This is the right fencing</LINE>
<LINE>grace, my lord; tap for tap, and so part fair.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now the Lord lighten thee! thou art a great fool.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  London. Another street.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Before God, I am exceeding weary.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is't come to that? I had thought weariness durst not</LINE>
<LINE>have attached one of so high blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Faith, it does me; though it discolours the</LINE>
<LINE>complexion of my greatness to acknowledge it. Doth</LINE>
<LINE>it not show vilely in me to desire small beer?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, a prince should not be so loosely studied as</LINE>
<LINE>to remember so weak a composition.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Belike then my appetite was not princely got; for,</LINE>
<LINE>by my troth, I do now remember the poor creature,</LINE>
<LINE>small beer. But, indeed, these humble</LINE>
<LINE>considerations make me out of love with my</LINE>
<LINE>greatness. What a disgrace is it to me to remember</LINE>
<LINE>thy name! or to know thy face to-morrow! or to</LINE>
<LINE>take note how many pair of silk stockings thou</LINE>
<LINE>hast, viz. these, and those that were thy</LINE>
<LINE>peach-coloured ones! or to bear the inventory of thy</LINE>
<LINE>shirts, as, one for superfluity, and another for</LINE>
<LINE>use! But that the tennis-court-keeper knows better</LINE>
<LINE>than I; for it is a low ebb of linen with thee when</LINE>
<LINE>thou keepest not racket there; as thou hast not done</LINE>
<LINE>a great while, because the rest of thy low</LINE>
<LINE>countries have made a shift to eat up thy holland:</LINE>
<LINE>and God knows, whether those that bawl out the ruins</LINE>
<LINE>of thy linen shall inherit his kingdom: but the</LINE>
<LINE>midwives say the children are not in the fault;</LINE>
<LINE>whereupon the world increases, and kindreds are</LINE>
<LINE>mightily strengthened.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How ill it follows, after you have laboured so hard,</LINE>
<LINE>you should talk so idly! Tell me, how many good</LINE>
<LINE>young princes would do so, their fathers being so</LINE>
<LINE>sick as yours at this time is?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, faith; and let it be an excellent good thing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It shall serve among wits of no higher breeding than thine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to; I stand the push of your one thing that you</LINE>
<LINE>will tell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, I tell thee, it is not meet that I should be</LINE>
<LINE>sad, now my father is sick: albeit I could tell</LINE>
<LINE>thee, as to one it pleases me, for fault of a</LINE>
<LINE>better, to call my friend, I could be sad, and sad</LINE>
<LINE>indeed too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very hardly upon such a subject.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By this hand thou thinkest me as far in the devil's</LINE>
<LINE>book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and</LINE>
<LINE>persistency: let the end try the man. But I tell</LINE>
<LINE>thee, my heart bleeds inwardly that my father is so</LINE>
<LINE>sick: and keeping such vile company as thou art</LINE>
<LINE>hath in reason taken from me all ostentation of sorrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The reason?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What wouldst thou think of me, if I should weep?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would think thee a most princely hypocrite.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It would be every man's thought; and thou art a</LINE>
<LINE>blessed fellow to think as every man thinks: never</LINE>
<LINE>a man's thought in the world keeps the road-way</LINE>
<LINE>better than thine: every man would think me an</LINE>
<LINE>hypocrite indeed. And what accites your most</LINE>
<LINE>worshipful thought to think so?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, because you have been so lewd and so much</LINE>
<LINE>engraffed to Falstaff.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And to thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By this light, I am well spoke on; I can hear it</LINE>
<LINE>with my own ears: the worst that they can say of</LINE>
<LINE>me is that I am a second brother and that I am a</LINE>
<LINE>proper fellow of my hands; and those two things, I</LINE>
<LINE>confess, I cannot help. By the mass, here comes Bardolph.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter BARDOLPH and Page</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And the boy that I gave Falstaff: a' had him from</LINE>
<LINE>me Christian; and look, if the fat villain have not</LINE>
<LINE>transformed him ape.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God save your grace!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And yours, most noble Bardolph!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, you virtuous ass, you bashful fool, must you</LINE>
<LINE>be blushing? wherefore blush you now? What a</LINE>
<LINE>maidenly man-at-arms are you become! Is't such a</LINE>
<LINE>matter to get a pottle-pot's maidenhead?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A' calls me e'en now, my lord, through a red</LINE>
<LINE>lattice, and I could discern no part of his face</LINE>
<LINE>from the window: at last I spied his eyes, and</LINE>
<LINE>methought he had made two holes in the ale-wife's</LINE>
<LINE>new petticoat and so peeped through.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Has not the boy profited?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, you whoreson upright rabbit, away!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, you rascally Althaea's dream, away!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Instruct us, boy; what dream, boy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, my lord, Althaea dreamed she was delivered</LINE>
<LINE>of a fire-brand; and therefore I call him her dream.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A crown's worth of good interpretation: there 'tis,</LINE>
<LINE>boy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, that this good blossom could be kept from</LINE>
<LINE>cankers! Well, there is sixpence to preserve thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An you do not make him hanged among you, the</LINE>
<LINE>gallows shall have wrong.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And how doth thy master, Bardolph?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, my lord. He heard of your grace's coming to</LINE>
<LINE>town: there's a letter for you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Delivered with good respect. And how doth the</LINE>
<LINE>martlemas, your master?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In bodily health, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, the immortal part needs a physician; but</LINE>
<LINE>that moves not him: though that be sick, it dies</LINE>
<LINE>not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me as my</LINE>
<LINE>dog; and he holds his place; for look you how be writes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Reads</STAGEDIR>  'John Falstaff, knight,'--every man must</LINE>
<LINE>know that, as oft as he has occasion to name</LINE>
<LINE>himself: even like those that are kin to the king;</LINE>
<LINE>for they never prick their finger but they say,</LINE>
<LINE>'There's some of the king's blood spilt.' 'How</LINE>
<LINE>comes that?' says he, that takes upon him not to</LINE>
<LINE>conceive. The answer is as ready as a borrower's</LINE>
<LINE>cap, 'I am the king's poor cousin, sir.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it</LINE>
<LINE>from Japhet. But to the letter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Reads</STAGEDIR>  'Sir John Falstaff, knight, to the son of</LINE>
<LINE>the king, nearest his father, Harry Prince of</LINE>
<LINE>Wales, greeting.' Why, this is a certificate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Reads</STAGEDIR>  'I will imitate the honourable Romans in</LINE>
<LINE>brevity:' he sure means brevity in breath,</LINE>
<LINE>short-winded. 'I commend me to thee, I commend</LINE>
<LINE>thee, and I leave thee. Be not too familiar with</LINE>
<LINE>Poins; for he misuses thy favours so much, that he</LINE>
<LINE>swears thou art to marry his sister Nell. Repent</LINE>
<LINE>at idle times as thou mayest; and so, farewell.</LINE>
<LINE>Thine, by yea and no, which is as much as to</LINE>
<LINE>say, as thou usest him, JACK FALSTAFF with my</LINE>
<LINE>familiars, JOHN with my brothers and sisters,</LINE>
<LINE>and SIR JOHN with all Europe.'</LINE>
<LINE>My lord, I'll steep this letter in sack and make him eat it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's to make him eat twenty of his words. But do</LINE>
<LINE>you use me thus, Ned? must I marry your sister?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God send the wench no worse fortune! But I never said so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and the</LINE>
<LINE>spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us.</LINE>
<LINE>Is your master here in London?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where sups he? doth the old boar feed in the old frank?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At the old place, my lord, in Eastcheap.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What company?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ephesians, my lord, of the old church.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sup any women with him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>None, my lord, but old Mistress Quickly and</LINE>
<LINE>Mistress Doll Tearsheet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What pagan may that be?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinswoman of my master's.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the town</LINE>
<LINE>bull. Shall we steal upon them, Ned, at supper?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am your shadow, my lord; I'll follow you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, you boy, and Bardolph, no word to your</LINE>
<LINE>master that I am yet come to town: there's for</LINE>
<LINE>your silence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have no tongue, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And for mine, sir, I will govern it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fare you well; go.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt BARDOLPH and Page</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>This Doll Tearsheet should be some road.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I warrant you, as common as the way between Saint</LINE>
<LINE>Alban's and London.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night</LINE>
<LINE>in his true colours, and not ourselves be seen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Put on two leathern jerkins and aprons, and wait</LINE>
<LINE>upon him at his table as drawers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From a God to a bull? a heavy decension! it was</LINE>
<LINE>Jove's case. From a prince to a prentice? a low</LINE>
<LINE>transformation! that shall be mine; for in every</LINE>
<LINE>thing the purpose must weigh with the folly.</LINE>
<LINE>Follow me, Ned.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Warkworth. Before the castle.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter NORTHUMBERLAND, LADY NORTHUMBERLAND, and LADY PERCY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray thee, loving wife, and gentle daughter,</LINE>
<LINE>Give even way unto my rough affairs:</LINE>
<LINE>Put not you on the visage of the times</LINE>
<LINE>And be like them to Percy troublesome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have given over, I will speak no more:</LINE>
<LINE>Do what you will; your wisdom be your guide.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, sweet wife, my honour is at pawn;</LINE>
<LINE>And, but my going, nothing can redeem it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY PERCY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O yet, for God's sake, go not to these wars!</LINE>
<LINE>The time was, father, that you broke your word,</LINE>
<LINE>When you were more endeared to it than now;</LINE>
<LINE>When your own Percy, when my heart's dear Harry,</LINE>
<LINE>Threw many a northward look to see his father</LINE>
<LINE>Bring up his powers; but he did long in vain.</LINE>
<LINE>Who then persuaded you to stay at home?</LINE>
<LINE>There were two honours lost, yours and your son's.</LINE>
<LINE>For yours, the God of heaven brighten it!</LINE>
<LINE>For his, it stuck upon him as the sun</LINE>
<LINE>In the grey vault of heaven, and by his light</LINE>
<LINE>Did all the chivalry of England move</LINE>
<LINE>To do brave acts: he was indeed the glass</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves:</LINE>
<LINE>He had no legs that practised not his gait;</LINE>
<LINE>And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,</LINE>
<LINE>Became the accents of the valiant;</LINE>
<LINE>For those that could speak low and tardily</LINE>
<LINE>Would turn their own perfection to abuse,</LINE>
<LINE>To seem like him: so that in speech, in gait,</LINE>
<LINE>In diet, in affections of delight,</LINE>
<LINE>In military rules, humours of blood,</LINE>
<LINE>He was the mark and glass, copy and book,</LINE>
<LINE>That fashion'd others. And him, O wondrous him!</LINE>
<LINE>O miracle of men! him did you leave,</LINE>
<LINE>Second to none, unseconded by you,</LINE>
<LINE>To look upon the hideous god of war</LINE>
<LINE>In disadvantage; to abide a field</LINE>
<LINE>Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name</LINE>
<LINE>Did seem defensible: so you left him.</LINE>
<LINE>Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong</LINE>
<LINE>To hold your honour more precise and nice</LINE>
<LINE>With others than with him! let them alone:</LINE>
<LINE>The marshal and the archbishop are strong:</LINE>
<LINE>Had my sweet Harry had but half their numbers,</LINE>
<LINE>To-day might I, hanging on Hotspur's neck,</LINE>
<LINE>Have talk'd of Monmouth's grave.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beshrew your heart,</LINE>
<LINE>Fair daughter, you do draw my spirits from me</LINE>
<LINE>With new lamenting ancient oversights.</LINE>
<LINE>But I must go and meet with danger there,</LINE>
<LINE>Or it will seek me in another place</LINE>
<LINE>And find me worse provided.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, fly to Scotland,</LINE>
<LINE>Till that the nobles and the armed commons</LINE>
<LINE>Have of their puissance made a little taste.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LADY PERCY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If they get ground and vantage of the king,</LINE>
<LINE>Then join you with them, like a rib of steel,</LINE>
<LINE>To make strength stronger; but, for all our loves,</LINE>
<LINE>First let them try themselves. So did your son;</LINE>
<LINE>He was so suffer'd: so came I a widow;</LINE>
<LINE>And never shall have length of life enough</LINE>
<LINE>To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>For recordation to my noble husband.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NORTHUMBERLAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, go in with me. 'Tis with my mind</LINE>
<LINE>As with the tide swell'd up unto his height,</LINE>
<LINE>That makes a still-stand, running neither way:</LINE>
<LINE>Fain would I go to meet the archbishop,</LINE>
<LINE>But many thousand reasons hold me back.</LINE>
<LINE>I will resolve for Scotland: there am I,</LINE>
<LINE>Till time and vantage crave my company.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  London. The Boar's-head Tavern in Eastcheap.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter two Drawers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What the devil hast thou brought there? apple-johns?</LINE>
<LINE>thou knowest Sir John cannot endure an apple-john.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mass, thou sayest true. The prince once set a dish</LINE>
<LINE>of apple-johns before him, and told him there were</LINE>
<LINE>five more Sir Johns, and, putting off his hat, said</LINE>
<LINE>'I will now take my leave of these six dry, round,</LINE>
<LINE>old, withered knights.' It angered him to the</LINE>
<LINE>heart: but he hath forgot that.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then, cover, and set them down: and see if</LINE>
<LINE>thou canst find out Sneak's noise; Mistress</LINE>
<LINE>Tearsheet would fain hear some music. Dispatch: the</LINE>
<LINE>room where they supped is too hot; they'll come in straight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, here will be the prince and Master Poins</LINE>
<LINE>anon; and they will put on two of our jerkins and</LINE>
<LINE>aprons; and Sir John must not know of it: Bardolph</LINE>
<LINE>hath brought word.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By the mass, here will be old Utis: it will be an</LINE>
<LINE>excellent stratagem.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll see if I can find out Sneak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter MISTRESS QUICKLY and DOLL TEARSHEET</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I' faith, sweetheart, methinks now you are in an</LINE>
<LINE>excellent good temperality: your pulsidge beats as</LINE>
<LINE>extraordinarily as heart would desire; and your</LINE>
<LINE>colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose, in good</LINE>
<LINE>truth, la! But, i' faith, you have drunk too much</LINE>
<LINE>canaries; and that's a marvellous searching wine,</LINE>
<LINE>and it perfumes the blood ere one can say 'What's</LINE>
<LINE>this?' How do you now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Better than I was: hem!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, that's well said; a good heart's worth gold.</LINE>
<LINE>Lo, here comes Sir John.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter FALSTAFF</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>  'When Arthur first in court,'</LINE>
<LINE>--Empty the jordan.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit First Drawer</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>--'And was a worthy king.' How now, Mistress Doll!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sick of a calm; yea, good faith.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So is all her sect; an they be once in a calm, they are sick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You muddy rascal, is that all the comfort you give me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You make fat rascals, Mistress Doll.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I make them! gluttony and diseases make them; I</LINE>
<LINE>make them not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If the cook help to make the gluttony, you help to</LINE>
<LINE>make the diseases, Doll: we catch of you, Doll, we</LINE>
<LINE>catch of you; grant that, my poor virtue grant that.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, joy, our chains and our jewels.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Your broaches, pearls, and ouches:' for to serve</LINE>
<LINE>bravely is to come halting off, you know: to come</LINE>
<LINE>off the breach with his pike bent bravely, and to</LINE>
<LINE>surgery bravely; to venture upon the charged</LINE>
<LINE>chambers bravely,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hang yourself, you muddy conger, hang yourself!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my troth, this is the old fashion; you two never</LINE>
<LINE>meet but you fall to some discord: you are both,</LINE>
<LINE>i' good truth, as rheumatic as two dry toasts; you</LINE>
<LINE>cannot one bear with another's confirmities. What</LINE>
<LINE>the good-year! one must bear, and that must be</LINE>
<LINE>you: you are the weaker vessel, as they say, the</LINE>
<LINE>emptier vessel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Can a weak empty vessel bear such a huge full</LINE>
<LINE>hogshead? there's a whole merchant's venture of</LINE>
<LINE>Bourdeaux stuff in him; you have not seen a hulk</LINE>
<LINE>better stuffed in the hold. Come, I'll be friends</LINE>
<LINE>with thee, Jack: thou art going to the wars; and</LINE>
<LINE>whether I shall ever see thee again or no, there is</LINE>
<LINE>nobody cares.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter First Drawer</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Drawer</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, Ancient Pistol's below, and would speak with</LINE>
<LINE>you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hang him, swaggering rascal! let him not come</LINE>
<LINE>hither: it is the foul-mouthed'st rogue in England.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If he swagger, let him not come here: no, by my</LINE>
<LINE>faith; I must live among my neighbours: I'll no</LINE>
<LINE>swaggerers: I am in good name and fame with the</LINE>
<LINE>very best: shut the door; there comes no swaggerers</LINE>
<LINE>here: I have not lived all this while, to have</LINE>
<LINE>swaggering now: shut the door, I pray you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dost thou hear, hostess?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray ye, pacify yourself, Sir John: there comes no</LINE>
<LINE>swaggerers here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dost thou hear? it is mine ancient.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tilly-fally, Sir John, ne'er tell me: your ancient</LINE>
<LINE>swaggerer comes not in my doors. I was before Master</LINE>
<LINE>Tisick, the debuty, t'other day; and, as he said to</LINE>
<LINE>me, 'twas no longer ago than Wednesday last, 'I'</LINE>
<LINE>good faith, neighbour Quickly,' says he; Master</LINE>
<LINE>Dumbe, our minister, was by then; 'neighbour</LINE>
<LINE>Quickly,' says he, 'receive those that are civil;</LINE>
<LINE>for,' said he, 'you are in an ill name:' now a'</LINE>
<LINE>said so, I can tell whereupon; 'for,' says he, 'you</LINE>
<LINE>are an honest woman, and well thought on; therefore</LINE>
<LINE>take heed what guests you receive: receive,' says</LINE>
<LINE>he, 'no swaggering companions.' There comes none</LINE>
<LINE>here: you would bless you to hear what he said:</LINE>
<LINE>no, I'll no swaggerers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's no swaggerer, hostess; a tame cheater, i'</LINE>
<LINE>faith; you may stroke him as gently as a puppy</LINE>
<LINE>greyhound: he'll not swagger with a Barbary hen, if</LINE>
<LINE>her feathers turn back in any show of resistance.</LINE>
<LINE>Call him up, drawer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit First Drawer</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cheater, call you him? I will bar no honest man my</LINE>
<LINE>house, nor no cheater: but I do not love</LINE>
<LINE>swaggering, by my troth; I am the worse, when one</LINE>
<LINE>says swagger: feel, masters, how I shake; look you,</LINE>
<LINE>I warrant you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So you do, hostess.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do I? yea, in very truth, do I, an 'twere an aspen</LINE>
<LINE>leaf: I cannot abide swaggerers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and Page</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God save you, Sir John!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Welcome, Ancient Pistol. Here, Pistol, I charge</LINE>
<LINE>you with a cup of sack: do you discharge upon mine hostess.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will discharge upon her, Sir John, with two bullets.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She is Pistol-proof, sir; you shall hardly offend</LINE>
<LINE>her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, I'll drink no proofs nor no bullets: I'll</LINE>
<LINE>drink no more than will do me good, for no man's</LINE>
<LINE>pleasure, I.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then to you, Mistress Dorothy; I will charge you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Charge me! I scorn you, scurvy companion. What!</LINE>
<LINE>you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen</LINE>
<LINE>mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away! I am meat for</LINE>
<LINE>your master.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know you, Mistress Dorothy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung, away!</LINE>
<LINE>by this wine, I'll thrust my knife in your mouldy</LINE>
<LINE>chaps, an you play the saucy cuttle with me. Away,</LINE>
<LINE>you bottle-ale rascal! you basket-hilt stale</LINE>
<LINE>juggler, you! Since when, I pray you, sir? God's</LINE>
<LINE>light, with two points on your shoulder? much!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God let me not live, but I will murder your ruff for this.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more, Pistol; I would not have you go off here:</LINE>
<LINE>discharge yourself of our company, Pistol.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, Good Captain Pistol; not here, sweet captain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, art thou</LINE>
<LINE>not ashamed to be called captain? An captains were</LINE>
<LINE>of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for</LINE>
<LINE>taking their names upon you before you have earned</LINE>
<LINE>them. You a captain! you slave, for what? for</LINE>
<LINE>tearing a poor whore's ruff in a bawdy-house? He a</LINE>
<LINE>captain! hang him, rogue! he lives upon mouldy</LINE>
<LINE>stewed prunes and dried cakes. A captain! God's</LINE>
<LINE>light, these villains will make the word as odious</LINE>
<LINE>as the word 'occupy;' which was an excellent good</LINE>
<LINE>word before it was ill sorted: therefore captains</LINE>
<LINE>had need look to 't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray thee, go down, good ancient.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark thee hither, Mistress Doll.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not I I tell thee what, Corporal Bardolph, I could</LINE>
<LINE>tear her: I'll be revenged of her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray thee, go down.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll see her damned first; to Pluto's damned lake,</LINE>
<LINE>by this hand, to the infernal deep, with Erebus and</LINE>
<LINE>tortures vile also. Hold hook and line, say I.</LINE>
<LINE>Down, down, dogs! down, faitors! Have we not</LINE>
<LINE>Hiren here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good Captain Peesel, be quiet; 'tis very late, i'</LINE>
<LINE>faith: I beseek you now, aggravate your choler.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>These be good humours, indeed! Shall pack-horses</LINE>
<LINE>And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia,</LINE>
<LINE>Which cannot go but thirty mile a-day,</LINE>
<LINE>Compare with Caesars, and with Cannibals,</LINE>
<LINE>And Trojan Greeks? nay, rather damn them with</LINE>
<LINE>King Cerberus; and let the welkin roar.</LINE>
<LINE>Shall we fall foul for toys?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be gone, good ancient: this will grow to abrawl anon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Die men like dogs! give crowns like pins! Have we</LINE>
<LINE>not Heren here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O' my word, captain, there's none such here. What</LINE>
<LINE>the good-year! do you think I would deny her? For</LINE>
<LINE>God's sake, be quiet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, give's some sack.</LINE>
<LINE>'Si fortune me tormente, sperato me contento.'</LINE>
<LINE>Fear we broadsides? no, let the fiend give fire:</LINE>
<LINE>Give me some sack: and, sweetheart, lie thou there.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Laying down his sword</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Come we to full points here; and are etceteras nothing?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pistol, I would be quiet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet knight, I kiss thy neaf: what! we have seen</LINE>
<LINE>the seven stars.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For God's sake, thrust him down stairs: I cannot</LINE>
<LINE>endure such a fustian rascal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thrust him down stairs! know we not Galloway nags?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shove-groat</LINE>
<LINE>shilling: nay, an a' do nothing but speak nothing,</LINE>
<LINE>a' shall be nothing here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, get you down stairs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrue?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Snatching up his sword</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Then death rock me asleep, abridge my doleful days!</LINE>
<LINE>Why, then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds</LINE>
<LINE>Untwine the Sisters Three! Come, Atropos, I say!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's goodly stuff toward!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give me my rapier, boy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray thee, Jack, I pray thee, do not draw.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Get you down stairs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Drawing, and driving PISTOL out</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's a goodly tumult! I'll forswear keeping</LINE>
<LINE>house, afore I'll be in these tirrits and frights.</LINE>
<LINE>So; murder, I warrant now. Alas, alas! put up</LINE>
<LINE>your naked weapons, put up your naked weapons.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt PISTOL and BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray thee, Jack, be quiet; the rascal's gone.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, you whoreson little valiant villain, you!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He you not hurt i' the groin? methought a' made a</LINE>
<LINE>shrewd thrust at your belly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have you turned him out o' doors?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, sir. The rascal's drunk: you have hurt him,</LINE>
<LINE>sir, i' the shoulder.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A rascal! to brave me!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! alas, poor ape,</LINE>
<LINE>how thou sweatest! come, let me wipe thy face;</LINE>
<LINE>come on, you whoreson chops: ah, rogue! i'faith, I</LINE>
<LINE>love thee: thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy,</LINE>
<LINE>worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better than</LINE>
<LINE>the Nine Worthies: ah, villain!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A rascally slave! I will toss the rogue in a blanket.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do, an thou darest for thy heart: an thou dost,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll canvass thee between a pair of sheets.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Music</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Page</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The music is come, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let them play. Play, sirs. Sit on my knee, Doll.</LINE>
<LINE>A rascal bragging slave! the rogue fled from me</LINE>
<LINE>like quicksilver.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I' faith, and thou followedst him like a church.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig,</LINE>
<LINE>when wilt thou leave fighting o' days and foining</LINE>
<LINE>o' nights, and begin to patch up thine old body for heaven?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter, behind, PRINCE HENRY and POINS, disguised</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, good Doll! do not speak like a death's-head;</LINE>
<LINE>do not bid me remember mine end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, what humour's the prince of?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A good shallow young fellow: a' would have made a</LINE>
<LINE>good pantler, a' would ha' chipp'd bread well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They say Poins has a good wit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He a good wit? hang him, baboon! his wit's as thick</LINE>
<LINE>as Tewksbury mustard; there's no more conceit in him</LINE>
<LINE>than is in a mallet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why does the prince love him so, then?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Because their legs are both of a bigness, and a'</LINE>
<LINE>plays at quoits well, and eats conger and fennel,</LINE>
<LINE>and drinks off candles' ends for flap-dragons, and</LINE>
<LINE>rides the wild-mare with the boys, and jumps upon</LINE>
<LINE>joined-stools, and swears with a good grace, and</LINE>
<LINE>wears his boots very smooth, like unto the sign of</LINE>
<LINE>the leg, and breeds no bate with telling of discreet</LINE>
<LINE>stories; and such other gambol faculties a' has,</LINE>
<LINE>that show a weak mind and an able body, for the</LINE>
<LINE>which the prince admits him: for the prince himself</LINE>
<LINE>is such another; the weight of a hair will turn the</LINE>
<LINE>scales between their avoirdupois.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would not this nave of a wheel have his ears cut off?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let's beat him before his whore.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Look, whether the withered elder hath not his poll</LINE>
<LINE>clawed like a parrot.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is it not strange that desire should so many years</LINE>
<LINE>outlive performance?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Kiss me, Doll.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction! what</LINE>
<LINE>says the almanac to that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And look, whether the fiery Trigon, his man, be not</LINE>
<LINE>lisping to his master's old tables, his note-book,</LINE>
<LINE>his counsel-keeper.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou dost give me flattering busses.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my troth, I kiss thee with a most constant heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am old, I am old.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy young</LINE>
<LINE>boy of them all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What stuff wilt have a kirtle of? I shall receive</LINE>
<LINE>money o' Thursday: shalt have a cap to-morrow. A</LINE>
<LINE>merry song, come: it grows late; we'll to bed.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou'lt forget me when I am gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my troth, thou'lt set me a-weeping, an thou</LINE>
<LINE>sayest so: prove that ever I dress myself handsome</LINE>
<LINE>till thy return: well, harken at the end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Some sack, Francis.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Anon, anon, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Coming forward</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha! a bastard son of the king's? And art not thou</LINE>
<LINE>Poins his brother?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, thou globe of sinful continents! what a life</LINE>
<LINE>dost thou lead!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A better than thou: I am a gentleman; thou art a drawer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very true, sir; and I come to draw you out by the ears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, the Lord preserve thy good grace! by my troth,</LINE>
<LINE>welcome to London. Now, the Lord bless that sweet</LINE>
<LINE>face of thine! O, Jesu, are you come from Wales?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou whoreson mad compound of majesty, by this light</LINE>
<LINE>flesh and corrupt blood, thou art welcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How, you fat fool! I scorn you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, he will drive you out of your revenge and</LINE>
<LINE>turn all to a merriment, if you take not the heat.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You whoreson candle-mine, you, how vilely did you</LINE>
<LINE>speak of me even now before this honest, virtuous,</LINE>
<LINE>civil gentlewoman!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God's blessing of your good heart! and so she is,</LINE>
<LINE>by my troth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Didst thou hear me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, and you knew me, as you did when you ran away</LINE>
<LINE>by Gad's-hill: you knew I was at your back, and</LINE>
<LINE>spoke it on purpose to try my patience.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, no; not so; I did not think thou wast within hearing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall drive you then to confess the wilful abuse;</LINE>
<LINE>and then I know how to handle you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No abuse, Hal, o' mine honour, no abuse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not to dispraise me, and call me pantier and</LINE>
<LINE>bread-chipper and I know not what?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No abuse, Hal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No abuse?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No abuse, Ned, i' the world; honest Ned, none. I</LINE>
<LINE>dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked</LINE>
<LINE>might not fall in love with him; in which doing, I</LINE>
<LINE>have done the part of a careful friend and a true</LINE>
<LINE>subject, and thy father is to give me thanks for it.</LINE>
<LINE>No abuse, Hal: none, Ned, none: no, faith, boys, none.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See now, whether pure fear and entire cowardice doth</LINE>
<LINE>not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to</LINE>
<LINE>close with us? is she of the wicked? is thine</LINE>
<LINE>hostess here of the wicked? or is thy boy of the</LINE>
<LINE>wicked? or honest Bardolph, whose zeal burns in his</LINE>
<LINE>nose, of the wicked?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>POINS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Answer, thou dead elm, answer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecoverable;</LINE>
<LINE>and his face is Lucifer's privy-kitchen, where he</LINE>
<LINE>doth nothing but roast malt-worms. For the boy,</LINE>
<LINE>there is a good angel about him; but the devil</LINE>
<LINE>outbids him too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For the women?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For one of them, she is in hell already, and burns</LINE>
<LINE>poor souls. For the other, I owe her money, and</LINE>
<LINE>whether she be damned for that, I know not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I warrant you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I think thou art not; I think thou art quit for</LINE>
<LINE>that. Marry, there is another indictment upon thee,</LINE>
<LINE>for suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house,</LINE>
<LINE>contrary to the law; for the which I think thou wilt howl.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>All victuallers do so; what's a joint of mutton or</LINE>
<LINE>two in a whole Lent?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You, gentlewoman,-</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What says your grace?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His grace says that which his flesh rebels against.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Knocking within</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who knocks so loud at door? Look to the door there, Francis.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PETO</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peto, how now! what news?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PETO</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The king your father is at Westminster:</LINE>
<LINE>And there are twenty weak and wearied posts</LINE>
<LINE>Come from the north: and, as I came along,</LINE>
<LINE>I met and overtook a dozen captains,</LINE>
<LINE>Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns,</LINE>
<LINE>And asking every one for Sir John Falstaff.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame,</LINE>
<LINE>So idly to profane the precious time,</LINE>
<LINE>When tempest of commotion, like the south</LINE>
<LINE>Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt</LINE>
<LINE>And drop upon our bare unarmed heads.</LINE>
<LINE>Give me my sword and cloak. Falstaff, good night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt PRINCE HENRY, POINS, PETO and BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night, and</LINE>
<LINE>we must hence and leave it unpicked.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Knocking within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>More knocking at the door!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now! what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You must away to court, sir, presently;</LINE>
<LINE>A dozen captains stay at door for you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>To the Page</STAGEDIR>  Pay the musicians, sirrah. Farewell,</LINE>
<LINE>hostess; farewell, Doll. You see, my good wenches,</LINE>
<LINE>how men of merit are sought after: the undeserver</LINE>
<LINE>may sleep, when the man of action is called on.</LINE>
<LINE>Farewell good wenches: if I be not sent away post,</LINE>
<LINE>I will see you again ere I go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot speak; if my heart be not read to burst,--</LINE>
<LINE>well, sweet Jack, have a care of thyself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell, farewell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these</LINE>
<LINE>twenty-nine years, come peascod-time; but an</LINE>
<LINE>honester and truer-hearted man,--well, fare thee well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Mistress Tearsheet!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Good Mistress Tearsheet, come to my master.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, run, Doll, run; run, good Doll: come.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>She comes blubbered</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Yea, will you come, Doll?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT III</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Westminster. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter KING HENRY IV in his nightgown, with a Page</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;</LINE>
<LINE>But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,</LINE>
<LINE>And well consider of them; make good speed.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit Page</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How many thousand of my poorest subjects</LINE>
<LINE>Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep,</LINE>
<LINE>Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,</LINE>
<LINE>That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down</LINE>
<LINE>And steep my senses in forgetfulness?</LINE>
<LINE>Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee</LINE>
<LINE>And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,</LINE>
<LINE>Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,</LINE>
<LINE>Under the canopies of costly state,</LINE>
<LINE>And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?</LINE>
<LINE>O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile</LINE>
<LINE>In loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch</LINE>
<LINE>A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?</LINE>
<LINE>Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast</LINE>
<LINE>Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains</LINE>
<LINE>In cradle of the rude imperious surge</LINE>
<LINE>And in the visitation of the winds,</LINE>
<LINE>Who take the ruffian billows by the top,</LINE>
<LINE>Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them</LINE>
<LINE>With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,</LINE>
<LINE>That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?</LINE>
<LINE>Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose</LINE>
<LINE>To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,</LINE>
<LINE>And in the calmest and most stillest night,</LINE>
<LINE>With all appliances and means to boot,</LINE>
<LINE>Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!</LINE>
<LINE>Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK and SURREY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Many good morrows to your majesty!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is it good morrow, lords?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis one o'clock, and past.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords.</LINE>
<LINE>Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We have, my liege.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then you perceive the body of our kingdom</LINE>
<LINE>How foul it is; what rank diseases grow</LINE>
<LINE>And with what danger, near the heart of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is but as a body yet distemper'd;</LINE>
<LINE>Which to his former strength may be restored</LINE>
<LINE>With good advice and little medicine:</LINE>
<LINE>My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O God! that one might read the book of fate,</LINE>
<LINE>And see the revolution of the times</LINE>
<LINE>Make mountains level, and the continent,</LINE>
<LINE>Weary of solid firmness, melt itself</LINE>
<LINE>Into the sea! and, other times, to see</LINE>
<LINE>The beachy girdle of the ocean</LINE>
<LINE>Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,</LINE>
<LINE>And changes fill the cup of alteration</LINE>
<LINE>With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,</LINE>
<LINE>The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,</LINE>
<LINE>What perils past, what crosses to ensue,</LINE>
<LINE>Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis not 'ten years gone</LINE>
<LINE>Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends,</LINE>
<LINE>Did feast together, and in two years after</LINE>
<LINE>Were they at wars: it is but eight years since</LINE>
<LINE>This Percy was the man nearest my soul,</LINE>
<LINE>Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs</LINE>
<LINE>And laid his love and life under my foot,</LINE>
<LINE>Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard</LINE>
<LINE>Gave him defiance. But which of you was by--</LINE>
<LINE>You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember--</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To WARWICK</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,</LINE>
<LINE>Then cheque'd and rated by Northumberland,</LINE>
<LINE>Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy?</LINE>
<LINE>'Northumberland, thou ladder by the which</LINE>
<LINE>My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;'</LINE>
<LINE>Though then, God knows, I had no such intent,</LINE>
<LINE>But that necessity so bow'd the state</LINE>
<LINE>That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss:</LINE>
<LINE>'The time shall come,' thus did he follow it,</LINE>
<LINE>'The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall break into corruption:' so went on,</LINE>
<LINE>Foretelling this same time's condition</LINE>
<LINE>And the division of our amity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is a history in all men's lives,</LINE>
<LINE>Figuring the nature of the times deceased;</LINE>
<LINE>The which observed, a man may prophesy,</LINE>
<LINE>With a near aim, of the main chance of things</LINE>
<LINE>As yet not come to life, which in their seeds</LINE>
<LINE>And weak beginnings lie intreasured.</LINE>
<LINE>Such things become the hatch and brood of time;</LINE>
<LINE>And by the necessary form of this</LINE>
<LINE>King Richard might create a perfect guess</LINE>
<LINE>That great Northumberland, then false to him,</LINE>
<LINE>Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness;</LINE>
<LINE>Which should not find a ground to root upon,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless on you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are these things then necessities?</LINE>
<LINE>Then let us meet them like necessities:</LINE>
<LINE>And that same word even now cries out on us:</LINE>
<LINE>They say the bishop and Northumberland</LINE>
<LINE>Are fifty thousand strong.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It cannot be, my lord;</LINE>
<LINE>Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,</LINE>
<LINE>The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your grace</LINE>
<LINE>To go to bed. Upon my soul, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>The powers that you already have sent forth</LINE>
<LINE>Shall bring this prize in very easily.</LINE>
<LINE>To comfort you the more, I have received</LINE>
<LINE>A certain instance that Glendower is dead.</LINE>
<LINE>Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill,</LINE>
<LINE>And these unseason'd hours perforce must add</LINE>
<LINE>Unto your sickness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will take your counsel:</LINE>
<LINE>And were these inward wars once out of hand,</LINE>
<LINE>We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Gloucestershire. Before SHALLOW'S house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter SHALLOW and SILENCE, meeting; MOULDY,
SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, BULLCALF, a Servant or two
with them</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come on, come on, come on, sir; give me your hand,</LINE>
<LINE>sir, give me your hand, sir: an early stirrer, by</LINE>
<LINE>the rood! And how doth my good cousin Silence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, good cousin Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow? and your</LINE>
<LINE>fairest daughter and mine, my god-daughter Ellen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, a black ousel, cousin Shallow!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By yea and nay, sir, I dare say my cousin William is</LINE>
<LINE>become a good scholar: he is at Oxford still, is he not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed, sir, to my cost.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A' must, then, to the inns o' court shortly. I was</LINE>
<LINE>once of Clement's Inn, where I think they will</LINE>
<LINE>talk of mad Shallow yet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You were called 'lusty Shallow' then, cousin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By the mass, I was called any thing; and I would</LINE>
<LINE>have done any thing indeed too, and roundly too.</LINE>
<LINE>There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire,</LINE>
<LINE>and black George Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and</LINE>
<LINE>Will Squele, a Cotswold man; you had not four such</LINE>
<LINE>swinge-bucklers in all the inns o' court again: and</LINE>
<LINE>I may say to you, we knew where the bona-robas were</LINE>
<LINE>and had the best of them all at commandment. Then</LINE>
<LINE>was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy, and page to</LINE>
<LINE>Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This Sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon about soldiers?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The same Sir John, the very same. I  see him break</LINE>
<LINE>Skogan's head at the court-gate, when a' was a</LINE>
<LINE>crack not thus high: and the very same day did I</LINE>
<LINE>fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer,</LINE>
<LINE>behind Gray's Inn. Jesu, Jesu, the mad days that I</LINE>
<LINE>have spent! and to see how many of my old</LINE>
<LINE>acquaintance are dead!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We shall all follow, cousin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHADOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: death,</LINE>
<LINE>as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall</LINE>
<LINE>die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my troth, I was not there.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Death is certain. Is old Double of your town living</LINE>
<LINE>yet?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dead, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Jesu, Jesu, dead! a' drew a good bow; and dead! a'</LINE>
<LINE>shot a fine shoot: John a Gaunt loved him well, and</LINE>
<LINE>betted much money on his head. Dead! a' would have</LINE>
<LINE>clapped i' the clout at twelve score; and carried</LINE>
<LINE>you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a</LINE>
<LINE>half, that it would have done a man's heart good to</LINE>
<LINE>see. How a score of ewes now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be</LINE>
<LINE>worth ten pounds.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And is old Double dead?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here come two of Sir John Falstaff's men, as I think.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter BARDOLPH and one with him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you, which</LINE>
<LINE>is Justice Shallow?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this</LINE>
<LINE>county, and one of the king's justices of the peace:</LINE>
<LINE>What is your good pleasure with me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My captain, sir, commends him to you; my captain,</LINE>
<LINE>Sir John Falstaff, a tall gentleman, by heaven, and</LINE>
<LINE>a most gallant leader.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He greets me well, sir. I knew him a good backsword</LINE>
<LINE>man. How doth the good knight? may I ask how my</LINE>
<LINE>lady his wife doth?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated than</LINE>
<LINE>with a wife.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is well said</LINE>
<LINE>indeed too. Better accommodated! it is good; yea,</LINE>
<LINE>indeed, is it: good phrases are surely, and ever</LINE>
<LINE>were, very commendable. Accommodated! it comes of</LINE>
<LINE>'accommodo' very good; a good phrase.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase call</LINE>
<LINE>you it? by this good day, I know not the phrase;</LINE>
<LINE>but I will maintain the word with my sword to be a</LINE>
<LINE>soldier-like word, and a word of exceeding good</LINE>
<LINE>command, by heaven. Accommodated; that is, when a</LINE>
<LINE>man is, as they say, accommodated; or when a man is,</LINE>
<LINE>being, whereby a' may be thought to be accommodated;</LINE>
<LINE>which is an excellent thing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is very just.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter FALSTAFF</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Look, here comes good Sir John. Give me your good</LINE>
<LINE>hand, give me your worship's good hand: by my</LINE>
<LINE>troth, you like well and bear your years very well:</LINE>
<LINE>welcome, good Sir John.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am glad to see you well, good Master Robert</LINE>
<LINE>Shallow: Master Surecard, as I think?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, Sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission with me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good Master Silence, it well befits you should be of</LINE>
<LINE>the peace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your good-worship is welcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fie! this is hot weather, gentlemen. Have you</LINE>
<LINE>provided me here half a dozen sufficient men?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me see them, I beseech you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the</LINE>
<LINE>roll? Let me see, let me see, let me see. So, so:</LINE>
<LINE>yea, marry, sir: Ralph Mouldy! Let them appear as</LINE>
<LINE>I call; let them do so, let them do so. Let me</LINE>
<LINE>see; where is Mouldy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOULDY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, an't please you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What think you, Sir John? a good-limbed fellow;</LINE>
<LINE>young, strong, and of good friends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is thy name Mouldy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOULDY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, an't please you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis the more time thou wert used.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i' faith! Things that</LINE>
<LINE>are mouldy lack use: very singular good! in faith,</LINE>
<LINE>well said, Sir John, very well said.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prick him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOULDY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I was pricked well enough before, an you could have</LINE>
<LINE>let me alone: my old dame will be undone now for</LINE>
<LINE>one to do her husbandry and her drudgery: you need</LINE>
<LINE>not to have pricked me; there are other men fitter</LINE>
<LINE>to go out than I.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to: peace, Mouldy; you shall go. Mouldy, it is</LINE>
<LINE>time you were spent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOULDY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Spent!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside: know you where</LINE>
<LINE>you are? For the other, Sir John: let me see:</LINE>
<LINE>Simon Shadow!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, marry, let me have him to sit under: he's like</LINE>
<LINE>to be a cold soldier.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's Shadow?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHADOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shadow, whose son art thou?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHADOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My mother's son, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy mother's son! like enough, and thy father's</LINE>
<LINE>shadow: so the son of the female is the shadow of</LINE>
<LINE>the male: it is often so, indeed; but much of the</LINE>
<LINE>father's substance!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do you like him, Sir John?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shadow will serve for summer; prick him, for we have</LINE>
<LINE>a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thomas Wart!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where's he?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WART</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is thy name Wart?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WART</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou art a very ragged wart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall I prick him down, Sir John?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon</LINE>
<LINE>his back and the whole frame stands upon pins:</LINE>
<LINE>prick him no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha, ha, ha! you can do it, sir; you can do it: I</LINE>
<LINE>commend you well. Francis Feeble!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What trade art thou, Feeble?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A woman's tailor, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall I prick him, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he'ld</LINE>
<LINE>ha' pricked you. Wilt thou make as many holes in</LINE>
<LINE>an enemy's battle as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will do my good will, sir; you can have no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well said, good woman's tailor! well said,</LINE>
<LINE>courageous Feeble! thou wilt be as valiant as the</LINE>
<LINE>wrathful dove or most magnanimous mouse. Prick the</LINE>
<LINE>woman's tailor: well, Master Shallow; deep, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would Wart might have gone, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would thou wert a man's tailor, that thou mightst</LINE>
<LINE>mend him and make him fit to go. I cannot put him</LINE>
<LINE>to a private soldier that is the leader of so many</LINE>
<LINE>thousands: let that suffice, most forcible Feeble.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It shall suffice, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble. Who is next?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peter Bullcalf o' the green!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, marry, let's see Bullcalf.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BULLCALF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Fore God, a likely fellow! Come, prick me Bullcalf</LINE>
<LINE>till he roar again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BULLCALF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Lord! good my lord captain,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BULLCALF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Lord, sir! I am a diseased man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What disease hast thou?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BULLCALF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A whoreson cold, sir, a cough, sir, which I caught</LINE>
<LINE>with ringing in the king's affairs upon his</LINE>
<LINE>coronation-day, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we wilt</LINE>
<LINE>have away thy cold; and I will take such order that</LINE>
<LINE>my friends shall ring for thee. Is here all?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here is two more called than your number, you must</LINE>
<LINE>have but four here, sir: and so, I pray you, go in</LINE>
<LINE>with me to dinner.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry</LINE>
<LINE>dinner. I am glad to see you, by my troth, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, Sir John, do you remember since we lay all night</LINE>
<LINE>in the windmill in Saint George's field?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more of that, good Master Shallow, no more of that.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha! 'twas a merry night. And is Jane Nightwork alive?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She lives, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She never could away with me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Never, never; she would always say she could not</LINE>
<LINE>abide Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By the mass, I could anger her to the heart. She</LINE>
<LINE>was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Old, old, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose but be old;</LINE>
<LINE>certain she's old; and had Robin Nightwork by old</LINE>
<LINE>Nightwork before I came to Clement's Inn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's fifty-five year ago.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that that</LINE>
<LINE>this knight and I have seen! Ha, Sir John, said I well?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That we have, that we have, that we have; in faith,</LINE>
<LINE>Sir John, we have: our watch-word was 'Hem boys!'</LINE>
<LINE>Come, let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner:</LINE>
<LINE>Jesus, the days that we have seen! Come, come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt FALSTAFF and Justices</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BULLCALF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good Master Corporate Bardolph, stand my friend;</LINE>
<LINE>and here's four Harry ten shillings in French crowns</LINE>
<LINE>for you. In very truth, sir, I had as lief be</LINE>
<LINE>hanged, sir, as go: and yet, for mine own part, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>I do not care; but rather, because I am unwilling,</LINE>
<LINE>and, for mine own part, have a desire to stay with</LINE>
<LINE>my friends; else, sir, I did not care, for mine own</LINE>
<LINE>part, so much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to; stand aside.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOULDY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And, good master corporal captain, for my old</LINE>
<LINE>dame's sake, stand my friend: she has nobody to do</LINE>
<LINE>any thing about her when I am gone; and she is old,</LINE>
<LINE>and cannot help herself: You shall have forty, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to; stand aside.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once: we</LINE>
<LINE>owe God a death: I'll ne'er bear a base mind:</LINE>
<LINE>an't be my destiny, so; an't be not, so: no man is</LINE>
<LINE>too good to serve's prince; and let it go which way</LINE>
<LINE>it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well said; thou'rt a good fellow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FEEBLE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Faith, I'll bear no base mind.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter FALSTAFF and the Justices</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, sir, which men shall I have?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Four of which you please.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, a word with you: I have three pound to free</LINE>
<LINE>Mouldy and Bullcalf.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to; well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, Sir John, which four will you have?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do you choose for me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, then, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble and Shadow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mouldy and Bullcalf: for you, Mouldy, stay at home</LINE>
<LINE>till you are past service: and for your part,</LINE>
<LINE>Bullcalf, grow till you come unto it: I will none of you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong: they are</LINE>
<LINE>your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose a</LINE>
<LINE>man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature,</LINE>
<LINE>bulk, and big assemblance of a man! Give me the</LINE>
<LINE>spirit, Master Shallow. Here's Wart; you see what a</LINE>
<LINE>ragged appearance it is; a' shall charge you and</LINE>
<LINE>discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's</LINE>
<LINE>hammer, come off and on swifter than he that gibbets</LINE>
<LINE>on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-faced</LINE>
<LINE>fellow, Shadow; give me this man: he presents no</LINE>
<LINE>mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim</LINE>
<LINE>level at the edge of a penknife. And for a retreat;</LINE>
<LINE>how swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor run</LINE>
<LINE>off! O, give me the spare men, and spare me the</LINE>
<LINE>great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, manage me your caliver. So: very well: go</LINE>
<LINE>to: very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a</LINE>
<LINE>little, lean, old, chapt, bald shot. Well said, i'</LINE>
<LINE>faith, Wart; thou'rt a good scab: hold, there's a</LINE>
<LINE>tester for thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is not his craft's master; he doth not do it</LINE>
<LINE>right. I remember at Mile-end Green, when I lay at</LINE>
<LINE>Clement's Inn--I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's</LINE>
<LINE>show,--there was a little quiver fellow, and a'</LINE>
<LINE>would manage you his piece thus; and a' would about</LINE>
<LINE>and about, and come you in and come you in: 'rah,</LINE>
<LINE>tah, tah,' would a' say; 'bounce' would a' say; and</LINE>
<LINE>away again would a' go, and again would a' come: I</LINE>
<LINE>shall ne'er see such a fellow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>These fellows will do well, Master Shallow. God</LINE>
<LINE>keep you, Master Silence: I will not use many words</LINE>
<LINE>with you. Fare you well, gentlemen both: I thank</LINE>
<LINE>you: I must a dozen mile to-night. Bardolph, give</LINE>
<LINE>the soldiers coats.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, the Lord bless you! God prosper your</LINE>
<LINE>affairs! God send us peace! At your return visit</LINE>
<LINE>our house; let our old acquaintance be renewed;</LINE>
<LINE>peradventure I will with ye to the court.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Fore God, I would you would, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to; I have spoke at a word. God keep you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fare you well, gentle gentlemen.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt Justices</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>On, Bardolph; lead the men away.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt BARDOLPH, Recruits, &amp;c</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>As I return, I will fetch off these justices: I do</LINE>
<LINE>see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Lord, Lord, how</LINE>
<LINE>subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This</LINE>
<LINE>same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to</LINE>
<LINE>me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he</LINE>
<LINE>hath done about Turnbull Street: and every third</LINE>
<LINE>word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's</LINE>
<LINE>tribute. I do remember him at Clement's Inn like a</LINE>
<LINE>man made after supper of a cheese-paring: when a'</LINE>
<LINE>was naked, he was, for all the world, like a forked</LINE>
<LINE>radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it</LINE>
<LINE>with a knife: a' was so forlorn, that his</LINE>
<LINE>dimensions to any thick sight were invincible: a'</LINE>
<LINE>was the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a</LINE>
<LINE>monkey, and the whores called him mandrake: a' came</LINE>
<LINE>ever in the rearward of the fashion, and sung those</LINE>
<LINE>tunes to the overscutched huswives that he heard the</LINE>
<LINE>carmen whistle, and swear they were his fancies or</LINE>
<LINE>his good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger</LINE>
<LINE>become a squire, and talks as familiarly of John a</LINE>
<LINE>Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him; and</LINE>
<LINE>I'll be sworn a' ne'er saw him but once in the</LINE>
<LINE>Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head for crowding</LINE>
<LINE>among the marshal's men. I saw it, and told John a</LINE>
<LINE>Gaunt he beat his own name; for you might have</LINE>
<LINE>thrust him and all his apparel into an eel-skin; the</LINE>
<LINE>case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a</LINE>
<LINE>court: and now has he land and beefs. Well, I'll</LINE>
<LINE>be acquainted with him, if I return; and it shall</LINE>
<LINE>go hard but I will make him a philosopher's two</LINE>
<LINE>stones to me: if the young dace be a bait for the</LINE>
<LINE>old pike, I see no reason in the law of nature but I</LINE>
<LINE>may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT IV</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Yorkshire. Gaultree Forest.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, MOWBRAY, LORD
HASTINGS, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is this forest call'd?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis Gaultree Forest, an't shall please your grace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here stand, my lords; and send discoverers forth</LINE>
<LINE>To know the numbers of our enemies.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We have sent forth already.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis well done.</LINE>
<LINE>My friends and brethren in these great affairs,</LINE>
<LINE>I must acquaint you that I have received</LINE>
<LINE>New-dated letters from Northumberland;</LINE>
<LINE>Their cold intent, tenor and substance, thus:</LINE>
<LINE>Here doth he wish his person, with such powers</LINE>
<LINE>As might hold sortance with his quality,</LINE>
<LINE>The which he could not levy; whereupon</LINE>
<LINE>He is retired, to ripe his growing fortunes,</LINE>
<LINE>To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers</LINE>
<LINE>That your attempts may overlive the hazard</LINE>
<LINE>And fearful melting of their opposite.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground</LINE>
<LINE>And dash themselves to pieces.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter a Messenger</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, what news?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Messenger</SPEAKER>
<LINE>West of this forest, scarcely off a mile,</LINE>
<LINE>In goodly form comes on the enemy;</LINE>
<LINE>And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number</LINE>
<LINE>Upon or near the rate of thirty thousand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The just proportion that we gave them out</LINE>
<LINE>Let us sway on and face them in the field.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What well-appointed leader fronts us here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think it is my Lord of Westmoreland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Health and fair greeting from our general,</LINE>
<LINE>The prince, Lord John and Duke of Lancaster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say on, my Lord of Westmoreland, in peace:</LINE>
<LINE>What doth concern your coming?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Unto your grace do I in chief address</LINE>
<LINE>The substance of my speech. If that rebellion</LINE>
<LINE>Came like itself, in base and abject routs,</LINE>
<LINE>Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rags,</LINE>
<LINE>And countenanced by boys and beggary,</LINE>
<LINE>I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd,</LINE>
<LINE>In his true, native and most proper shape,</LINE>
<LINE>You, reverend father, and these noble lords</LINE>
<LINE>Had not been here, to dress the ugly form</LINE>
<LINE>Of base and bloody insurrection</LINE>
<LINE>With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose see is by a civil peace maintained,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose white investments figure innocence,</LINE>
<LINE>The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,</LINE>
<LINE>Wherefore do you so ill translate ourself</LINE>
<LINE>Out of the speech of peace that bears such grace,</LINE>
<LINE>Into the harsh and boisterous tongue of war;</LINE>
<LINE>Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Your pens to lances and your tongue divine</LINE>
<LINE>To a trumpet and a point of war?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wherefore do I this? so the question stands.</LINE>
<LINE>Briefly to this end: we are all diseased,</LINE>
<LINE>And with our surfeiting and wanton hours</LINE>
<LINE>Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,</LINE>
<LINE>And we must bleed for it; of which disease</LINE>
<LINE>Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.</LINE>
<LINE>But, my most noble Lord of Westmoreland,</LINE>
<LINE>I take not on me here as a physician,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor do I as an enemy to peace</LINE>
<LINE>Troop in the throngs of military men;</LINE>
<LINE>But rather show awhile like fearful war,</LINE>
<LINE>To diet rank minds sick of happiness</LINE>
<LINE>And purge the obstructions which begin to stop</LINE>
<LINE>Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.</LINE>
<LINE>I have in equal balance justly weigh'd</LINE>
<LINE>What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer,</LINE>
<LINE>And find our griefs heavier than our offences.</LINE>
<LINE>We see which way the stream of time doth run,</LINE>
<LINE>And are enforced from our most quiet there</LINE>
<LINE>By the rough torrent of occasion;</LINE>
<LINE>And have the summary of all our griefs,</LINE>
<LINE>When time shall serve, to show in articles;</LINE>
<LINE>Which long ere this we offer'd to the king,</LINE>
<LINE>And might by no suit gain our audience:</LINE>
<LINE>When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs,</LINE>
<LINE>We are denied access unto his person</LINE>
<LINE>Even by those men that most have done us wrong.</LINE>
<LINE>The dangers of the days but newly gone,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose memory is written on the earth</LINE>
<LINE>With yet appearing blood, and the examples</LINE>
<LINE>Of every minute's instance, present now,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath put us in these ill-beseeming arms,</LINE>
<LINE>Not to break peace or any branch of it,</LINE>
<LINE>But to establish here a peace indeed,</LINE>
<LINE>Concurring both in name and quality.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When ever yet was your appeal denied?</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein have you been galled by the king?</LINE>
<LINE>What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you,</LINE>
<LINE>That you should seal this lawless bloody book</LINE>
<LINE>Of forged rebellion with a seal divine</LINE>
<LINE>And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My brother general, the commonwealth,</LINE>
<LINE>To brother born an household cruelty,</LINE>
<LINE>I make my quarrel in particular.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is no need of any such redress;</LINE>
<LINE>Or if there were, it not belongs to you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why not to him in part, and to us all</LINE>
<LINE>That feel the bruises of the days before,</LINE>
<LINE>And suffer the condition of these times</LINE>
<LINE>To lay a heavy and unequal hand</LINE>
<LINE>Upon our honours?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, my good Lord Mowbray,</LINE>
<LINE>Construe the times to their necessities,</LINE>
<LINE>And you shall say indeed, it is the time,</LINE>
<LINE>And not the king, that doth you injuries.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet for your part, it not appears to me</LINE>
<LINE>Either from the king or in the present time</LINE>
<LINE>That you should have an inch of any ground</LINE>
<LINE>To build a grief on: were you not restored</LINE>
<LINE>To all the Duke of Norfolk's signories,</LINE>
<LINE>Your noble and right well remember'd father's?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What thing, in honour, had my father lost,</LINE>
<LINE>That need to be revived and breathed in me?</LINE>
<LINE>The king that loved him, as the state stood then,</LINE>
<LINE>Was force perforce compell'd to banish him:</LINE>
<LINE>And then that Harry Bolingbroke and he,</LINE>
<LINE>Being mounted and both roused in their seats,</LINE>
<LINE>Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,</LINE>
<LINE>Their armed staves in charge, their beavers down,</LINE>
<LINE>Their eyes of fire sparking through sights of steel</LINE>
<LINE>And the loud trumpet blowing them together,</LINE>
<LINE>Then, then, when there was nothing could have stay'd</LINE>
<LINE>My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,</LINE>
<LINE>O when the king did throw his warder down,</LINE>
<LINE>His own life hung upon the staff he threw;</LINE>
<LINE>Then threw he down himself and all their lives</LINE>
<LINE>That by indictment and by dint of sword</LINE>
<LINE>Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You speak, Lord Mowbray, now you know not what.</LINE>
<LINE>The Earl of Hereford was reputed then</LINE>
<LINE>In England the most valiant gentlemen:</LINE>
<LINE>Who knows on whom fortune would then have smiled?</LINE>
<LINE>But if your father had been victor there,</LINE>
<LINE>He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry:</LINE>
<LINE>For all the country in a general voice</LINE>
<LINE>Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers and love</LINE>
<LINE>Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on</LINE>
<LINE>And bless'd and graced indeed, more than the king.</LINE>
<LINE>But this is mere digression from my purpose.</LINE>
<LINE>Here come I from our princely general</LINE>
<LINE>To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace</LINE>
<LINE>That he will give you audience; and wherein</LINE>
<LINE>It shall appear that your demands are just,</LINE>
<LINE>You shall enjoy them, every thing set off</LINE>
<LINE>That might so much as think you enemies.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But he hath forced us to compel this offer;</LINE>
<LINE>And it proceeds from policy, not love.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mowbray, you overween to take it so;</LINE>
<LINE>This offer comes from mercy, not from fear:</LINE>
<LINE>For, lo! within a ken our army lies,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon mine honour, all too confident</LINE>
<LINE>To give admittance to a thought of fear.</LINE>
<LINE>Our battle is more full of names than yours,</LINE>
<LINE>Our men more perfect in the use of arms,</LINE>
<LINE>Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;</LINE>
<LINE>Then reason will our heart should be as good</LINE>
<LINE>Say you not then our offer is compell'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, by my will we shall admit no parley.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That argues but the shame of your offence:</LINE>
<LINE>A rotten case abides no handling.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hath the Prince John a full commission,</LINE>
<LINE>In very ample virtue of his father,</LINE>
<LINE>To hear and absolutely to determine</LINE>
<LINE>Of what conditions we shall stand upon?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That is intended in the general's name:</LINE>
<LINE>I muse you make so slight a question.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then take, my Lord of Westmoreland, this schedule,</LINE>
<LINE>For this contains our general grievances:</LINE>
<LINE>Each several article herein redress'd,</LINE>
<LINE>All members of our cause, both here and hence,</LINE>
<LINE>That are insinew'd to this action,</LINE>
<LINE>Acquitted by a true substantial form</LINE>
<LINE>And present execution of our wills</LINE>
<LINE>To us and to our purposes confined,</LINE>
<LINE>We come within our awful banks again</LINE>
<LINE>And knit our powers to the arm of peace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This will I show the general. Please you, lords,</LINE>
<LINE>In sight of both our battles we may meet;</LINE>
<LINE>And either end in peace, which God so frame!</LINE>
<LINE>Or to the place of difference call the swords</LINE>
<LINE>Which must decide it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, we will do so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is a thing within my bosom tells me</LINE>
<LINE>That no conditions of our peace can stand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fear you not that: if we can make our peace</LINE>
<LINE>Upon such large terms and so absolute</LINE>
<LINE>As our conditions shall consist upon,</LINE>
<LINE>Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, but our valuation shall be such</LINE>
<LINE>That every slight and false-derived cause,</LINE>
<LINE>Yea, every idle, nice and wanton reason</LINE>
<LINE>Shall to the king taste of this action;</LINE>
<LINE>That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,</LINE>
<LINE>We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind</LINE>
<LINE>That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff</LINE>
<LINE>And good from bad find no partition.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, my lord. Note this; the king is weary</LINE>
<LINE>Of dainty and such picking grievances:</LINE>
<LINE>For he hath found to end one doubt by death</LINE>
<LINE>Revives two greater in the heirs of life,</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore will he wipe his tables clean</LINE>
<LINE>And keep no tell-tale to his memory</LINE>
<LINE>That may repeat and history his loss</LINE>
<LINE>To new remembrance; for full well he knows</LINE>
<LINE>He cannot so precisely weed this land</LINE>
<LINE>As his misdoubts present occasion:</LINE>
<LINE>His foes are so enrooted with his friends</LINE>
<LINE>That, plucking to unfix an enemy,</LINE>
<LINE>He doth unfasten so and shake a friend:</LINE>
<LINE>So that this land, like an offensive wife</LINE>
<LINE>That hath enraged him on to offer strokes,</LINE>
<LINE>As he is striking, holds his infant up</LINE>
<LINE>And hangs resolved correction in the arm</LINE>
<LINE>That was uprear'd to execution.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods</LINE>
<LINE>On late offenders, that he now doth lack</LINE>
<LINE>The very instruments of chastisement:</LINE>
<LINE>So that his power, like to a fangless lion,</LINE>
<LINE>May offer, but not hold.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis very true:</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore be assured, my good lord marshal,</LINE>
<LINE>If we do now make our atonement well,</LINE>
<LINE>Our peace will, like a broken limb united,</LINE>
<LINE>Grow stronger for the breaking.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be it so.</LINE>
<LINE>Here is return'd my Lord of Westmoreland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The prince is here at hand: pleaseth your lordship</LINE>
<LINE>To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your grace of York, in God's name then, set forward.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Before, and greet his grace: my lord, we come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Another part of the forest.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter, from one side, MOWBRAY, attended; afterwards
the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, HASTINGS, and others: from
the other side, Prince John of LANCASTER, and
WESTMORELAND; Officers, and others with them</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are well encounter'd here, my cousin Mowbray:</LINE>
<LINE>Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop;</LINE>
<LINE>And so to you, Lord Hastings, and to all.</LINE>
<LINE>My Lord of York, it better show'd with you</LINE>
<LINE>When that your flock, assembled by the bell,</LINE>
<LINE>Encircled you to hear with reverence</LINE>
<LINE>Your exposition on the holy text</LINE>
<LINE>Than now to see you here an iron man,</LINE>
<LINE>Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,</LINE>
<LINE>Turning the word to sword and life to death.</LINE>
<LINE>That man that sits within a monarch's heart,</LINE>
<LINE>And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,</LINE>
<LINE>Would he abuse the countenance of the king,</LINE>
<LINE>Alack, what mischiefs might he set abrooch</LINE>
<LINE>In shadow of such greatness! With you, lord bishop,</LINE>
<LINE>It is even so. Who hath not heard it spoken</LINE>
<LINE>How deep you were within the books of God?</LINE>
<LINE>To us the speaker in his parliament;</LINE>
<LINE>To us the imagined voice of God himself;</LINE>
<LINE>The very opener and intelligencer</LINE>
<LINE>Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven</LINE>
<LINE>And our dull workings. O, who shall believe</LINE>
<LINE>But you misuse the reverence of your place,</LINE>
<LINE>Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>As a false favourite doth his prince's name,</LINE>
<LINE>In deeds dishonourable? You have ta'en up,</LINE>
<LINE>Under the counterfeited zeal of God,</LINE>
<LINE>The subjects of his substitute, my father,</LINE>
<LINE>And both against the peace of heaven and him</LINE>
<LINE>Have here up-swarm'd them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good my Lord of Lancaster,</LINE>
<LINE>I am not here against your father's peace;</LINE>
<LINE>But, as I told my lord of Westmoreland,</LINE>
<LINE>The time misorder'd doth, in common sense,</LINE>
<LINE>Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form,</LINE>
<LINE>To hold our safety up. I sent your grace</LINE>
<LINE>The parcels and particulars of our grief,</LINE>
<LINE>The which hath been with scorn shoved from the court,</LINE>
<LINE>Whereon this Hydra son of war is born;</LINE>
<LINE>Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep</LINE>
<LINE>With grant of our most just and right desires,</LINE>
<LINE>And true obedience, of this madness cured,</LINE>
<LINE>Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If not, we ready are to try our fortunes</LINE>
<LINE>To the last man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And though we here fall down,</LINE>
<LINE>We have supplies to second our attempt:</LINE>
<LINE>If they miscarry, theirs shall second them;</LINE>
<LINE>And so success of mischief shall be born</LINE>
<LINE>And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles England shall have generation.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are too shallow, Hastings, much too shallow,</LINE>
<LINE>To sound the bottom of the after-times.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pleaseth your grace to answer them directly</LINE>
<LINE>How far forth you do like their articles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I like them all, and do allow them well,</LINE>
<LINE>And swear here, by the honour of my blood,</LINE>
<LINE>My father's purposes have been mistook,</LINE>
<LINE>And some about him have too lavishly</LINE>
<LINE>Wrested his meaning and authority.</LINE>
<LINE>My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress'd;</LINE>
<LINE>Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you,</LINE>
<LINE>Discharge your powers unto their several counties,</LINE>
<LINE>As we will ours: and here between the armies</LINE>
<LINE>Let's drink together friendly and embrace,</LINE>
<LINE>That all their eyes may bear those tokens home</LINE>
<LINE>Of our restored love and amity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I take your princely word for these redresses.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I give it you, and will maintain my word:</LINE>
<LINE>And thereupon I drink unto your grace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, captain, and deliver to the army</LINE>
<LINE>This news of peace: let them have pay, and part:</LINE>
<LINE>I know it will well please them. Hie thee, captain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Officer</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To you, my noble Lord of Westmoreland.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pledge your grace; and, if you knew what pains</LINE>
<LINE>I have bestow'd to breed this present peace,</LINE>
<LINE>You would drink freely: but my love to ye</LINE>
<LINE>Shall show itself more openly hereafter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do not doubt you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am glad of it.</LINE>
<LINE>Health to my lord and gentle cousin, Mowbray.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You wish me health in very happy season;</LINE>
<LINE>For I am, on the sudden, something ill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Against ill chances men are ever merry;</LINE>
<LINE>But heaviness foreruns the good event.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Therefore be merry, coz; since sudden sorrow</LINE>
<LINE>Serves to say thus, 'some good thing comes</LINE>
<LINE>to-morrow.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So much the worse, if your own rule be true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Shouts within</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The word of peace is render'd: hark, how they shout!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This had been cheerful after victory.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A peace is of the nature of a conquest;</LINE>
<LINE>For then both parties nobly are subdued,</LINE>
<LINE>And neither party loser.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>And let our army be discharged too.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And, good my lord, so please you, let our trains</LINE>
<LINE>March, by us, that we may peruse the men</LINE>
<LINE>We should have coped withal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, good Lord Hastings,</LINE>
<LINE>And, ere they be dismissed, let them march by.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit HASTINGS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I trust, lords, we shall lie to-night together.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The leaders, having charge from you to stand,</LINE>
<LINE>Will not go off until they hear you speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They know their duties.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter HASTINGS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HASTINGS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, our army is dispersed already;</LINE>
<LINE>Like youthful steers unyoked, they take their courses</LINE>
<LINE>East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up,</LINE>
<LINE>Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good tidings, my Lord Hastings; for the which</LINE>
<LINE>I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason:</LINE>
<LINE>And you, lord archbishop, and you, Lord Mowbray,</LINE>
<LINE>Of capitol treason I attach you both.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MOWBRAY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is this proceeding just and honourable?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is your assembly so?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ARCHBISHOP OF YORK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you thus break your faith?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pawn'd thee none:</LINE>
<LINE>I promised you redress of these same grievances</LINE>
<LINE>Whereof you did complain; which, by mine honour,</LINE>
<LINE>I will perform with a most Christian care.</LINE>
<LINE>But for you, rebels, look to taste the due</LINE>
<LINE>Meet for rebellion and such acts as yours.</LINE>
<LINE>Most shallowly did you these arms commence,</LINE>
<LINE>Fondly brought here and foolishly sent hence.</LINE>
<LINE>Strike up our drums, pursue the scatter'd stray:</LINE>
<LINE>God, and not we, hath safely fought to-day.</LINE>
<LINE>Some guard these traitors to the block of death,</LINE>
<LINE>Treason's true bed and yielder up of breath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Another part of the forest.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Excursions. Enter FALSTAFF and COLEVILE, meeting</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's your name, sir? of what condition are you,</LINE>
<LINE>and of what place, I pray?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>COLEVILE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am a knight, sir, and my name is Colevile of the dale.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, then, Colevile is your name, a knight is your</LINE>
<LINE>degree, and your place the dale: Colevile shall be</LINE>
<LINE>still your name, a traitor your degree, and the</LINE>
<LINE>dungeon your place, a place deep enough; so shall</LINE>
<LINE>you be still Colevile of the dale.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>COLEVILE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are not you Sir John Falstaff?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye</LINE>
<LINE>yield, sir? or shall I sweat for you? if I do</LINE>
<LINE>sweat, they are the drops of thy lovers, and they</LINE>
<LINE>weep for thy death: therefore rouse up fear and</LINE>
<LINE>trembling, and do observance to my mercy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>COLEVILE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think you are Sir John Falstaff, and in that</LINE>
<LINE>thought yield me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of</LINE>
<LINE>mine, and not a tongue of them all speaks any other</LINE>
<LINE>word but my name. An I had but a belly of any</LINE>
<LINE>indifference, I were simply the most active fellow</LINE>
<LINE>in Europe: my womb, my womb, my womb, undoes me.</LINE>
<LINE>Here comes our general.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, WESTMORELAND,
BLUNT, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The heat is past; follow no further now:</LINE>
<LINE>Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while?</LINE>
<LINE>When every thing is ended, then you come:</LINE>
<LINE>These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,</LINE>
<LINE>One time or other break some gallows' back.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus: I</LINE>
<LINE>never knew yet but rebuke and cheque was the reward</LINE>
<LINE>of valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a</LINE>
<LINE>bullet? have I, in my poor and old motion, the</LINE>
<LINE>expedition of thought? I have speeded hither with</LINE>
<LINE>the very extremest inch of possibility; I have</LINE>
<LINE>foundered nine score and odd posts: and here,</LINE>
<LINE>travel-tainted as I am, have in my pure and</LINE>
<LINE>immaculate valour, taken Sir John Colevile of the</LINE>
<LINE>dale, a most furious knight and valorous enemy.</LINE>
<LINE>But what of that? he saw me, and yielded; that I</LINE>
<LINE>may justly say, with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome,</LINE>
<LINE>'I came, saw, and overcame.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It was more of his courtesy than your deserving.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know not: here he is, and here I yield him: and</LINE>
<LINE>I beseech your grace, let it be booked with the</LINE>
<LINE>rest of this day's deeds; or, by the Lord, I will</LINE>
<LINE>have it in a particular ballad else, with mine own</LINE>
<LINE>picture on the top on't, Colevile kissing my foot:</LINE>
<LINE>to the which course if I be enforced, if you do not</LINE>
<LINE>all show like gilt twopences to me, and I in the</LINE>
<LINE>clear sky of fame o'ershine you as much as the full</LINE>
<LINE>moon doth the cinders of the element, which show</LINE>
<LINE>like pins' heads to her, believe not the word of</LINE>
<LINE>the noble: therefore let me have right, and let</LINE>
<LINE>desert mount.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thine's too heavy to mount.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let it shine, then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thine's too thick to shine.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let it do something, my good lord, that may do me</LINE>
<LINE>good, and call it what you will.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is thy name Colevile?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>COLEVILE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A famous rebel art thou, Colevile.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And a famous true subject took him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>COLEVILE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am, my lord, but as my betters are</LINE>
<LINE>That led me hither: had they been ruled by me,</LINE>
<LINE>You should have won them dearer than you have.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know not how they sold themselves: but thou, like</LINE>
<LINE>a kind fellow, gavest thyself away gratis; and I</LINE>
<LINE>thank thee for thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, have you left pursuit?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Retreat is made and execution stay'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Send Colevile with his confederates</LINE>
<LINE>To York, to present execution:</LINE>
<LINE>Blunt, lead him hence; and see you guard him sure.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt BLUNT and others with COLEVILE</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And now dispatch we toward the court, my lords:</LINE>
<LINE>I hear the king my father is sore sick:</LINE>
<LINE>Our news shall go before us to his majesty,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, cousin, you shall bear to comfort him,</LINE>
<LINE>And we with sober speed will follow you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go</LINE>
<LINE>Through Gloucestershire: and, when you come to court,</LINE>
<LINE>Stand my good lord, pray, in your good report.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall better speak of you than you deserve.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but Falstaff</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would you had but the wit: 'twere better than</LINE>
<LINE>your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-</LINE>
<LINE>blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make</LINE>
<LINE>him laugh; but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine.</LINE>
<LINE>There's never none of these demure boys come to any</LINE>
<LINE>proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood,</LINE>
<LINE>and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a</LINE>
<LINE>kind of male green-sickness; and then when they</LINE>
<LINE>marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools</LINE>
<LINE>and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for</LINE>
<LINE>inflammation. A good sherris sack hath a two-fold</LINE>
<LINE>operation in it. It ascends me into the brain;</LINE>
<LINE>dries me there all the foolish and dull and curdy</LINE>
<LINE>vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive,</LINE>
<LINE>quick, forgetive, full of nimble fiery and</LINE>
<LINE>delectable shapes, which, delivered o'er to the</LINE>
<LINE>voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes</LINE>
<LINE>excellent wit. The second property of your</LINE>
<LINE>excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood;</LINE>
<LINE>which, before cold and settled, left the liver</LINE>
<LINE>white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity</LINE>
<LINE>and cowardice; but the sherris warms it and makes</LINE>
<LINE>it course from the inwards to the parts extreme:</LINE>
<LINE>it illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives</LINE>
<LINE>warning to all the rest of this little kingdom,</LINE>
<LINE>man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and</LINE>
<LINE>inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain,</LINE>
<LINE>the heart, who, great and puffed up with this</LINE>
<LINE>retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valour</LINE>
<LINE>comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is</LINE>
<LINE>nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and</LINE>
<LINE>learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till</LINE>
<LINE>sack commences it and sets it in act and use.</LINE>
<LINE>Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant; for</LINE>
<LINE>the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his</LINE>
<LINE>father, he hath, like lean, sterile and bare land,</LINE>
<LINE>manured, husbanded and tilled with excellent</LINE>
<LINE>endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile</LINE>
<LINE>sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If</LINE>
<LINE>I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I</LINE>
<LINE>would teach them should be, to forswear thin</LINE>
<LINE>potations and to addict themselves to sack.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now Bardolph?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The army is discharged all and gone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let them go. I'll through Gloucestershire; and</LINE>
<LINE>there will I visit Master Robert Shallow, esquire:</LINE>
<LINE>I have him already tempering between my finger and</LINE>
<LINE>my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him. Come away.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  Westminster. The Jerusalem Chamber.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter KING HENRY IV, the Princes Thomas of CLARENCE
and Humphrey of GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, lords, if God doth give successful end</LINE>
<LINE>To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,</LINE>
<LINE>We will our youth lead on to higher fields</LINE>
<LINE>And draw no swords but what are sanctified.</LINE>
<LINE>Our navy is address'd, our power collected,</LINE>
<LINE>Our substitutes in absence well invested,</LINE>
<LINE>And every thing lies level to our wish:</LINE>
<LINE>Only, we want a little personal strength;</LINE>
<LINE>And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot,</LINE>
<LINE>Come underneath the yoke of government.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Both which we doubt not but your majesty</LINE>
<LINE>Shall soon enjoy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Humphrey, my son of Gloucester,</LINE>
<LINE>Where is the prince your brother?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I think he's gone to hunt, my lord, at Windsor.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And how accompanied?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do not know, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, my good lord; he is in presence here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What would my lord and father?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence.</LINE>
<LINE>How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?</LINE>
<LINE>He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas;</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hast a better place in his affection</LINE>
<LINE>Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy,</LINE>
<LINE>And noble offices thou mayst effect</LINE>
<LINE>Of mediation, after I am dead,</LINE>
<LINE>Between his greatness and thy other brethren:</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor lose the good advantage of his grace</LINE>
<LINE>By seeming cold or careless of his will;</LINE>
<LINE>For he is gracious, if he be observed:</LINE>
<LINE>He hath a tear for pity and a hand</LINE>
<LINE>Open as day for melting charity:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint,</LINE>
<LINE>As humorous as winter and as sudden</LINE>
<LINE>As flaws congealed in the spring of day.</LINE>
<LINE>His temper, therefore, must be well observed:</LINE>
<LINE>Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,</LINE>
<LINE>When thou perceive his blood inclined to mirth;</LINE>
<LINE>But, being moody, give him line and scope,</LINE>
<LINE>Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,</LINE>
<LINE>Confound themselves with working. Learn this, Thomas,</LINE>
<LINE>And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends,</LINE>
<LINE>A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in,</LINE>
<LINE>That the united vessel of their blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Mingled with venom of suggestion--</LINE>
<LINE>As, force perforce, the age will pour it in--</LINE>
<LINE>Shall never leak, though it do work as strong</LINE>
<LINE>As aconitum or rash gunpowder.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall observe him with all care and love.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why art thou not at Windsor with him, Thomas?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is not there to-day; he dines in London.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And how accompanied? canst thou tell that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With Poins, and other his continual followers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds;</LINE>
<LINE>And he, the noble image of my youth,</LINE>
<LINE>Is overspread with them: therefore my grief</LINE>
<LINE>Stretches itself beyond the hour of death:</LINE>
<LINE>The blood weeps from my heart when I do shape</LINE>
<LINE>In forms imaginary the unguided days</LINE>
<LINE>And rotten times that you shall look upon</LINE>
<LINE>When I am sleeping with my ancestors.</LINE>
<LINE>For when his headstrong riot hath no curb,</LINE>
<LINE>When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,</LINE>
<LINE>When means and lavish manners meet together,</LINE>
<LINE>O, with what wings shall his affections fly</LINE>
<LINE>Towards fronting peril and opposed decay!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite:</LINE>
<LINE>The prince but studies his companions</LINE>
<LINE>Like a strange tongue, wherein, to gain the language,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis needful that the most immodest word</LINE>
<LINE>Be look'd upon and learn'd; which once attain'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Your highness knows, comes to no further use</LINE>
<LINE>But to be known and hated. So, like gross terms,</LINE>
<LINE>The prince will in the perfectness of time</LINE>
<LINE>Cast off his followers; and their memory</LINE>
<LINE>Shall as a pattern or a measure live,</LINE>
<LINE>By which his grace must mete the lives of others,</LINE>
<LINE>Turning past evils to advantages.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb</LINE>
<LINE>In the dead carrion.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter WESTMORELAND</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Who's here? Westmoreland?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Health to my sovereign, and new happiness</LINE>
<LINE>Added to that that I am to deliver!</LINE>
<LINE>Prince John your son doth kiss your grace's hand:</LINE>
<LINE>Mowbray, the Bishop Scroop, Hastings and all</LINE>
<LINE>Are brought to the correction of your law;</LINE>
<LINE>There is not now a rebel's sword unsheath'd</LINE>
<LINE>But peace puts forth her olive every where.</LINE>
<LINE>The manner how this action hath been borne</LINE>
<LINE>Here at more leisure may your highness read,</LINE>
<LINE>With every course in his particular.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird,</LINE>
<LINE>Which ever in the haunch of winter sings</LINE>
<LINE>The lifting up of day.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter HARCOURT</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Look, here's more news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HARCOURT</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From enemies heaven keep your majesty;</LINE>
<LINE>And, when they stand against you, may they fall</LINE>
<LINE>As those that I am come to tell you of!</LINE>
<LINE>The Earl Northumberland and the Lord Bardolph,</LINE>
<LINE>With a great power of English and of Scots</LINE>
<LINE>Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown:</LINE>
<LINE>The manner and true order of the fight</LINE>
<LINE>This packet, please it you, contains at large.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And wherefore should these good news make me sick?</LINE>
<LINE>Will fortune never come with both hands full,</LINE>
<LINE>But write her fair words still in foulest letters?</LINE>
<LINE>She either gives a stomach and no food;</LINE>
<LINE>Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast</LINE>
<LINE>And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,</LINE>
<LINE>That have abundance and enjoy it not.</LINE>
<LINE>I should rejoice now at this happy news;</LINE>
<LINE>And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy:</LINE>
<LINE>O me! come near me; now I am much ill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Comfort, your majesty!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O my royal father!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WESTMORELAND</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself, look up.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be patient, princes; you do know, these fits</LINE>
<LINE>Are with his highness very ordinary.</LINE>
<LINE>Stand from him. Give him air; he'll straight be well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, he cannot long hold out these pangs:</LINE>
<LINE>The incessant care and labour of his mind</LINE>
<LINE>Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in</LINE>
<LINE>So thin that life looks through and will break out.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The people fear me; for they do observe</LINE>
<LINE>Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature:</LINE>
<LINE>The seasons change their manners, as the year</LINE>
<LINE>Had found some months asleep and leap'd them over.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The river hath thrice flow'd, no ebb between;</LINE>
<LINE>And the old folk, time's doting chronicles,</LINE>
<LINE>Say it did so a little time before</LINE>
<LINE>That our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This apoplexy will certain be his end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence</LINE>
<LINE>Into some other chamber: softly, pray.</LINE>

</SPEECH>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  Another chamber.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>KING HENRY IV lying on a bed: CLARENCE,
GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, and others in attendance</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;</LINE>
<LINE>Unless some dull and favourable hand</LINE>
<LINE>Will whisper music to my weary spirit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Call for the music in the other room.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Set me the crown upon my pillow here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His eye is hollow, and he changes much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Less noise, less noise!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PRINCE HENRY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who saw the Duke of Clarence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am here, brother, full of heaviness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! rain within doors, and none abroad!</LINE>
<LINE>How doth the king?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Exceeding ill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Heard he the good news yet?</LINE>
<LINE>Tell it him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He alter'd much upon the hearing it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If he be sick with joy, he'll recover without physic.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince,</LINE>
<LINE>speak low;</LINE>
<LINE>The king your father is disposed to sleep.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let us withdraw into the other room.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will't please your grace to go along with us?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No; I will sit and watch here by the king.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but PRINCE HENRY</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,</LINE>
<LINE>Being so troublesome a bedfellow?</LINE>
<LINE>O polish'd perturbation! golden care!</LINE>
<LINE>That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide</LINE>
<LINE>To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!</LINE>
<LINE>Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet</LINE>
<LINE>As he whose brow with homely biggen bound</LINE>
<LINE>Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!</LINE>
<LINE>When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit</LINE>
<LINE>Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,</LINE>
<LINE>That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath</LINE>
<LINE>There lies a downy feather which stirs not:</LINE>
<LINE>Did he suspire, that light and weightless down</LINE>
<LINE>Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my father!</LINE>
<LINE>This sleep is sound indeed, this is a sleep</LINE>
<LINE>That from this golden rigol hath divorced</LINE>
<LINE>So many English kings. Thy due from me</LINE>
<LINE>Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously:</LINE>
<LINE>My due from thee is this imperial crown,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, as immediate as thy place and blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,</LINE>
<LINE>Which God shall guard: and put the world's whole strength</LINE>
<LINE>Into one giant arm, it shall not force</LINE>
<LINE>This lineal honour from me: this from thee</LINE>
<LINE>Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Warwick! Gloucester! Clarence!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and the rest</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Doth the king call?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What would your majesty? How fares your grace?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why did you leave me here alone, my lords?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We left the prince my brother here, my liege,</LINE>
<LINE>Who undertook to sit and watch by you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Prince of Wales! Where is he? let me see him:</LINE>
<LINE>He is not here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This door is open; he is gone this way.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He came not through the chamber where we stay'd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The prince hath ta'en it hence: go, seek him out.</LINE>
<LINE>Is he so hasty that he doth suppose</LINE>
<LINE>My sleep my death?</LINE>
<LINE>Find him, my Lord of Warwick; chide him hither.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit WARWICK</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>This part of his conjoins with my disease,</LINE>
<LINE>And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you are!</LINE>
<LINE>How quickly nature falls into revolt</LINE>
<LINE>When gold becomes her object!</LINE>
<LINE>For this the foolish over-careful fathers</LINE>
<LINE>Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care,</LINE>
<LINE>Their bones with industry;</LINE>
<LINE>For this they have engrossed and piled up</LINE>
<LINE>The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold;</LINE>
<LINE>For this they have been thoughtful to invest</LINE>
<LINE>Their sons with arts and martial exercises:</LINE>
<LINE>When, like the bee, culling from every flower</LINE>
<LINE>The virtuous sweets,</LINE>
<LINE>Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey,</LINE>
<LINE>We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees,</LINE>
<LINE>Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste</LINE>
<LINE>Yield his engrossments to the ending father.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter WARWICK</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Now, where is he that will not stay so long</LINE>
<LINE>Till his friend sickness hath determined me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I found the prince in the next room,</LINE>
<LINE>Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks,</LINE>
<LINE>With such a deep demeanor in great sorrow</LINE>
<LINE>That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife</LINE>
<LINE>With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But wherefore did he take away the crown?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter PRINCE HENRY</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry.</LINE>
<LINE>Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt WARWICK and the rest</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I never thought to hear you speak again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought:</LINE>
<LINE>I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.</LINE>
<LINE>Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair</LINE>
<LINE>That thou wilt needs invest thee with my honours</LINE>
<LINE>Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!</LINE>
<LINE>Thou seek'st the greatness that will o'erwhelm thee.</LINE>
<LINE>Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity</LINE>
<LINE>Is held from falling with so weak a wind</LINE>
<LINE>That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hast stolen that which after some few hours</LINE>
<LINE>Were thine without offence; and at my death</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hast seal'd up my expectation:</LINE>
<LINE>Thy life did manifest thou lovedst me not,</LINE>
<LINE>And thou wilt have me die assured of it.</LINE>
<LINE>Thou hidest a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,</LINE>
<LINE>Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart,</LINE>
<LINE>To stab at half an hour of my life.</LINE>
<LINE>What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour?</LINE>
<LINE>Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself,</LINE>
<LINE>And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear</LINE>
<LINE>That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.</LINE>
<LINE>Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse</LINE>
<LINE>Be drops of balm to sanctify thy head:</LINE>
<LINE>Only compound me with forgotten dust</LINE>
<LINE>Give that which gave thee life unto the worms.</LINE>
<LINE>Pluck down my officers, break my decrees;</LINE>
<LINE>For now a time is come to mock at form:</LINE>
<LINE>Harry the Fifth is crown'd: up, vanity!</LINE>
<LINE>Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence!</LINE>
<LINE>And to the English court assemble now,</LINE>
<LINE>From every region, apes of idleness!</LINE>
<LINE>Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum:</LINE>
<LINE>Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance,</LINE>
<LINE>Revel the night, rob, murder, and commit</LINE>
<LINE>The oldest sins the newest kind of ways?</LINE>
<LINE>Be happy, he will trouble you no more;</LINE>
<LINE>England shall double gild his treble guilt,</LINE>
<LINE>England shall give him office, honour, might;</LINE>
<LINE>For the fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks</LINE>
<LINE>The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog</LINE>
<LINE>Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.</LINE>
<LINE>O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!</LINE>
<LINE>When that my care could not withhold thy riots,</LINE>
<LINE>What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?</LINE>
<LINE>O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,</LINE>
<LINE>Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, pardon me, my liege! but for my tears,</LINE>
<LINE>The moist impediments unto my speech,</LINE>
<LINE>I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke</LINE>
<LINE>Ere you with grief had spoke and I had heard</LINE>
<LINE>The course of it so far. There is your crown;</LINE>
<LINE>And He that wears the crown immortally</LINE>
<LINE>Long guard it yours! If I affect it more</LINE>
<LINE>Than as your honour and as your renown,</LINE>
<LINE>Let me no more from this obedience rise,</LINE>
<LINE>Which my most inward true and duteous spirit</LINE>
<LINE>Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending.</LINE>
<LINE>God witness with me, when I here came in,</LINE>
<LINE>And found no course of breath within your majesty,</LINE>
<LINE>How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,</LINE>
<LINE>O, let me in my present wildness die</LINE>
<LINE>And never live to show the incredulous world</LINE>
<LINE>The noble change that I have purposed!</LINE>
<LINE>Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,</LINE>
<LINE>And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,</LINE>
<LINE>I spake unto this crown as having sense,</LINE>
<LINE>And thus upbraided it: 'The care on thee depending</LINE>
<LINE>Hath fed upon the body of my father;</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore, thou best of gold art worst of gold:</LINE>
<LINE>Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,</LINE>
<LINE>Preserving life in medicine potable;</LINE>
<LINE>But thou, most fine, most honour'd: most renown'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Hast eat thy bearer up.' Thus, my most royal liege,</LINE>
<LINE>Accusing it, I put it on my head,</LINE>
<LINE>To try with it, as with an enemy</LINE>
<LINE>That had before my face murder'd my father,</LINE>
<LINE>The quarrel of a true inheritor.</LINE>
<LINE>But if it did infect my blood with joy,</LINE>
<LINE>Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;</LINE>
<LINE>If any rebel or vain spirit of mine</LINE>
<LINE>Did with the least affection of a welcome</LINE>
<LINE>Give entertainment to the might of it,</LINE>
<LINE>Let God for ever keep it from my head</LINE>
<LINE>And make me as the poorest vassal is</LINE>
<LINE>That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O my son,</LINE>
<LINE>God put it in thy mind to take it hence,</LINE>
<LINE>That thou mightst win the more thy father's love,</LINE>
<LINE>Pleading so wisely in excuse of it!</LINE>
<LINE>Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;</LINE>
<LINE>And hear, I think, the very latest counsel</LINE>
<LINE>That ever I shall breathe. God knows, my son,</LINE>
<LINE>By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways</LINE>
<LINE>I met this crown; and I myself know well</LINE>
<LINE>How troublesome it sat upon my head.</LINE>
<LINE>To thee it shall descend with bitter quiet,</LINE>
<LINE>Better opinion, better confirmation;</LINE>
<LINE>For all the soil of the achievement goes</LINE>
<LINE>With me into the earth. It seem'd in me</LINE>
<LINE>But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand,</LINE>
<LINE>And I had many living to upbraid</LINE>
<LINE>My gain of it by their assistances;</LINE>
<LINE>Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,</LINE>
<LINE>Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears</LINE>
<LINE>Thou see'st with peril I have answered;</LINE>
<LINE>For all my reign hath been but as a scene</LINE>
<LINE>Acting that argument: and now my death</LINE>
<LINE>Changes the mode; for what in me was purchased,</LINE>
<LINE>Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;</LINE>
<LINE>So thou the garland wear'st successively.</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green;</LINE>
<LINE>And all my friends, which thou must make thy friends,</LINE>
<LINE>Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;</LINE>
<LINE>By whose fell working I was first advanced</LINE>
<LINE>And by whose power I well might lodge a fear</LINE>
<LINE>To be again displaced: which to avoid,</LINE>
<LINE>I cut them off; and had a purpose now</LINE>
<LINE>To lead out many to the Holy Land,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest rest and lying still might make them look</LINE>
<LINE>Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,</LINE>
<LINE>Be it thy course to busy giddy minds</LINE>
<LINE>With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out,</LINE>
<LINE>May waste the memory of the former days.</LINE>
<LINE>More would I, but my lungs are wasted so</LINE>
<LINE>That strength of speech is utterly denied me.</LINE>
<LINE>How I came by the crown, O God forgive;</LINE>
<LINE>And grant it may with thee in true peace live!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My gracious liege,</LINE>
<LINE>You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;</LINE>
<LINE>Then plain and right must my possession be:</LINE>
<LINE>Which I with more than with a common pain</LINE>
<LINE>'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Lord John of LANCASTER</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Health, peace, and happiness to my royal father!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, son John;</LINE>
<LINE>But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown</LINE>
<LINE>From this bare wither'd trunk: upon thy sight</LINE>
<LINE>My worldly business makes a period.</LINE>
<LINE>Where is my Lord of Warwick?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRINCE HENRY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My Lord of Warwick!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Doth any name particular belong</LINE>
<LINE>Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis call'd Jerusalem, my noble lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Laud be to God! even there my life must end.</LINE>
<LINE>It hath been prophesied to me many years,</LINE>
<LINE>I should not die but in Jerusalem;</LINE>
<LINE>Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land:</LINE>
<LINE>But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie;</LINE>
<LINE>In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT V</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Gloucestershire. SHALLOW'S house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter SHALLOW, FALSTAFF, BARDOLPH, and Page</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away to-night.</LINE>
<LINE>What, Davy, I say!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused;</LINE>
<LINE>excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse</LINE>
<LINE>shall serve; you shall not be excused. Why, Davy!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter DAVY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, Davy; let me</LINE>
<LINE>see, Davy; let me see: yea, marry, William cook,</LINE>
<LINE>bid him come hither. Sir John, you shall not be excused.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, sir, thus; those precepts cannot be served:</LINE>
<LINE>and, again, sir, shall we sow the headland with wheat?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook: are</LINE>
<LINE>there no young pigeons?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, sir. Here is now the smith's note for shoeing</LINE>
<LINE>and plough-irons.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let it be cast and paid. Sir John, you shall not be excused.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must need be</LINE>
<LINE>had: and, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's</LINE>
<LINE>wages, about the sack he lost the other day at</LINE>
<LINE>Hinckley fair?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A' shall answer it. Some pigeons, Davy, a couple</LINE>
<LINE>of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any</LINE>
<LINE>pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William cook.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Doth the man of war stay all night, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, Davy. I will use him well: a friend i' the</LINE>
<LINE>court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men</LINE>
<LINE>well, Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No worse than they are backbitten, sir; for they</LINE>
<LINE>have marvellous foul linen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well conceited, Davy: about thy business, Davy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of</LINE>
<LINE>Woncot against Clement Perkes of the hill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is many complaints, Davy, against that Visor:</LINE>
<LINE>that Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but</LINE>
<LINE>yet, God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some</LINE>
<LINE>countenance at his friend's request. An honest</LINE>
<LINE>man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave</LINE>
<LINE>is not. I have served your worship truly, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>this eight years; and if I cannot once or twice in</LINE>
<LINE>a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I</LINE>
<LINE>have but a very little credit with your worship. The</LINE>
<LINE>knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I</LINE>
<LINE>beseech your worship, let him be countenanced.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. Look about, Davy.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit DAVY</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Where are you, Sir John? Come, come, come, off</LINE>
<LINE>with your boots. Give me your hand, Master Bardolph.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am glad to see your worship.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thank thee with all my heart, kind</LINE>
<LINE>Master Bardolph: and welcome, my tall fellow.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To the Page</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Come, Sir John.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit SHALLOW</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Bardolph, look to our horses.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt BARDOLPH and Page</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>If I were sawed into quantities, I should make four</LINE>
<LINE>dozen of such bearded hermits' staves as Master</LINE>
<LINE>Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to see the</LINE>
<LINE>semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his:</LINE>
<LINE>they, by observing of him, do bear themselves like</LINE>
<LINE>foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is</LINE>
<LINE>turned into a justice-like serving-man: their</LINE>
<LINE>spirits are so married in conjunction with the</LINE>
<LINE>participation of society that they flock together in</LINE>
<LINE>consent, like so many wild-geese. If I had a suit</LINE>
<LINE>to Master Shallow, I would humour his men with the</LINE>
<LINE>imputation of being near their master: if to his</LINE>
<LINE>men, I would curry with Master Shallow that no man</LINE>
<LINE>could better command his servants. It is certain</LINE>
<LINE>that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is</LINE>
<LINE>caught, as men take diseases, one of another:</LINE>
<LINE>therefore let men take heed of their company. I</LINE>
<LINE>will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to</LINE>
<LINE>keep Prince Harry in continual laughter the wearing</LINE>
<LINE>out of six fashions, which is four terms, or two</LINE>
<LINE>actions, and a' shall laugh without intervallums. O,</LINE>
<LINE>it is much that a lie with a slight oath and a jest</LINE>
<LINE>with a sad brow will do with a fellow that never</LINE>
<LINE>had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him</LINE>
<LINE>laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Sir John!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master Shallow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Westminster. The palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter WARWICK and the Lord Chief-Justice, meeting</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, my lord chief-justice! whither away?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How doth the king?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I hope, not dead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's walk'd the way of nature;</LINE>
<LINE>And to our purposes he lives no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would his majesty had call'd me with him:</LINE>
<LINE>The service that I truly did his life</LINE>
<LINE>Hath left me open to all injuries.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed I think the young king loves you not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know he doth not, and do arm myself</LINE>
<LINE>To welcome the condition of the time,</LINE>
<LINE>Which cannot look more hideously upon me</LINE>
<LINE>Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter LANCASTER, CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER,
WESTMORELAND, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry:</LINE>
<LINE>O that the living Harry had the temper</LINE>
<LINE>Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen!</LINE>
<LINE>How many nobles then should hold their places</LINE>
<LINE>That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O God, I fear all will be overturn'd!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, cousin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We meet like men that had forgot to speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We do remember; but our argument</LINE>
<LINE>Is all too heavy to admit much talk.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace be with us, lest we be heavier!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>GLOUCESTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed;</LINE>
<LINE>And I dare swear you borrow not that face</LINE>
<LINE>Of seeming sorrow, it is sure your own.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Though no man be assured what grace to find,</LINE>
<LINE>You stand in coldest expectation:</LINE>
<LINE>I am the sorrier; would 'twere otherwise.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CLARENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair;</LINE>
<LINE>Which swims against your stream of quality.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honour,</LINE>
<LINE>Led by the impartial conduct of my soul:</LINE>
<LINE>And never shall you see that I will beg</LINE>
<LINE>A ragged and forestall'd remission.</LINE>
<LINE>If truth and upright innocency fail me,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll to the king my master that is dead,</LINE>
<LINE>And tell him who hath sent me after him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>WARWICK</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes the prince.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter KING HENRY V, attended</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow; and God save your majesty!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY V</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,</LINE>
<LINE>Sits not so easy on me as you think.</LINE>
<LINE>Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear:</LINE>
<LINE>This is the English, not the Turkish court;</LINE>
<LINE>Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,</LINE>
<LINE>But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,</LINE>
<LINE>For, by my faith, it very well becomes you:</LINE>
<LINE>Sorrow so royally in you appears</LINE>
<LINE>That I will deeply put the fashion on</LINE>
<LINE>And wear it in my heart: why then, be sad;</LINE>
<LINE>But entertain no more of it, good brothers,</LINE>
<LINE>Than a joint burden laid upon us all.</LINE>
<LINE>For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll be your father and your brother too;</LINE>
<LINE>Let me but bear your love, I 'll bear your cares:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet weep that Harry's dead; and so will I;</LINE>
<LINE>But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears</LINE>
<LINE>By number into hours of happiness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Princes</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We hope no other from your majesty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY V</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You all look strangely on me: and you most;</LINE>
<LINE>You are, I think, assured I love you not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am assured, if I be measured rightly,</LINE>
<LINE>Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY V</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No!</LINE>
<LINE>How might a prince of my great hopes forget</LINE>
<LINE>So great indignities you laid upon me?</LINE>
<LINE>What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison</LINE>
<LINE>The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?</LINE>
<LINE>May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I then did use the person of your father;</LINE>
<LINE>The image of his power lay then in me:</LINE>
<LINE>And, in the administration of his law,</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,</LINE>
<LINE>Your highness pleased to forget my place,</LINE>
<LINE>The majesty and power of law and justice,</LINE>
<LINE>The image of the king whom I presented,</LINE>
<LINE>And struck me in my very seat of judgment;</LINE>
<LINE>Whereon, as an offender to your father,</LINE>
<LINE>I gave bold way to my authority</LINE>
<LINE>And did commit you. If the deed were ill,</LINE>
<LINE>Be you contented, wearing now the garland,</LINE>
<LINE>To have a son set your decrees at nought,</LINE>
<LINE>To pluck down justice from your awful bench,</LINE>
<LINE>To trip the course of law and blunt the sword</LINE>
<LINE>That guards the peace and safety of your person;</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image</LINE>
<LINE>And mock your workings in a second body.</LINE>
<LINE>Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;</LINE>
<LINE>Be now the father and propose a son,</LINE>
<LINE>Hear your own dignity so much profaned,</LINE>
<LINE>See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,</LINE>
<LINE>Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;</LINE>
<LINE>And then imagine me taking your part</LINE>
<LINE>And in your power soft silencing your son:</LINE>
<LINE>After this cold considerance, sentence me;</LINE>
<LINE>And, as you are a king, speak in your state</LINE>
<LINE>What I have done that misbecame my place,</LINE>
<LINE>My person, or my liege's sovereignty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY V</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore still bear the balance and the sword:</LINE>
<LINE>And I do wish your honours may increase,</LINE>
<LINE>Till you do live to see a son of mine</LINE>
<LINE>Offend you and obey you, as I did.</LINE>
<LINE>So shall I live to speak my father's words:</LINE>
<LINE>'Happy am I, that have a man so bold,</LINE>
<LINE>That dares do justice on my proper son;</LINE>
<LINE>And not less happy, having such a son,</LINE>
<LINE>That would deliver up his greatness so</LINE>
<LINE>Into the hands of justice.' You did commit me:</LINE>
<LINE>For which, I do commit into your hand</LINE>
<LINE>The unstained sword that you have used to bear;</LINE>
<LINE>With this remembrance, that you use the same</LINE>
<LINE>With the like bold, just and impartial spirit</LINE>
<LINE>As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.</LINE>
<LINE>You shall be as a father to my youth:</LINE>
<LINE>My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,</LINE>
<LINE>And I will stoop and humble my intents</LINE>
<LINE>To your well-practised wise directions.</LINE>
<LINE>And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you;</LINE>
<LINE>My father is gone wild into his grave,</LINE>
<LINE>For in his tomb lie my affections;</LINE>
<LINE>And with his spirit sadly I survive,</LINE>
<LINE>To mock the expectation of the world,</LINE>
<LINE>To frustrate prophecies and to raze out</LINE>
<LINE>Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down</LINE>
<LINE>After my seeming. The tide of blood in me</LINE>
<LINE>Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:</LINE>
<LINE>Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,</LINE>
<LINE>Where it shall mingle with the state of floods</LINE>
<LINE>And flow henceforth in formal majesty.</LINE>
<LINE>Now call we our high court of parliament:</LINE>
<LINE>And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,</LINE>
<LINE>That the great body of our state may go</LINE>
<LINE>In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;</LINE>
<LINE>That war, or peace, or both at once, may be</LINE>
<LINE>As things acquainted and familiar to us;</LINE>
<LINE>In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.</LINE>
<LINE>Our coronation done, we will accite,</LINE>
<LINE>As I before remember'd, all our state:</LINE>
<LINE>And, God consigning to my good intents,</LINE>
<LINE>No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,</LINE>
<LINE>God shorten Harry's happy life one day!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Gloucestershire. SHALLOW'S orchard.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, DAVY, BARDOLPH,
and the Page</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour,</LINE>
<LINE>we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing,</LINE>
<LINE>with a dish of caraways, and so forth: come,</LINE>
<LINE>cousin Silence: and then to bed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and a rich.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all,</LINE>
<LINE>Sir John: marry, good air. Spread, Davy; spread,</LINE>
<LINE>Davy; well said, Davy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your</LINE>
<LINE>serving-man and your husband.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet,</LINE>
<LINE>Sir John: by the mass, I have drunk too much sack</LINE>
<LINE>at supper: a good varlet. Now sit down, now sit</LINE>
<LINE>down: come, cousin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, sirrah! quoth-a, we shall</LINE>
<LINE>Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer,</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And praise God for the merry year;</LINE>
<LINE>When flesh is cheap and females dear,</LINE>
<LINE>And lusty lads roam here and there</LINE>
<LINE>So merrily,</LINE>
<LINE>And ever among so merrily.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There's a merry heart! Good Master Silence, I'll</LINE>
<LINE>give you a health for that anon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet sir, sit; I'll be with you anon. most sweet</LINE>
<LINE>sir, sit. Master page, good master page, sit.</LINE>
<LINE>Proface! What you want in meat, we'll have in drink:</LINE>
<LINE>but you must bear; the heart's all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be merry, Master Bardolph; and, my little soldier</LINE>
<LINE>there, be merry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>For women are shrews, both short and tall:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis merry in hall when beards wag all,</LINE>
<LINE>And welcome merry Shrove-tide.</LINE>
<LINE>Be merry, be merry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I did not think Master Silence had been a man of</LINE>
<LINE>this mettle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, I? I have been merry twice and once ere now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter DAVY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There's a dish of leather-coats for you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>To BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Davy!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your worship! I'll be with you straight.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>A cup of wine, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A cup of wine that's brisk and fine,</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And drink unto the leman mine;</LINE>
<LINE>And a merry heart lives long-a.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well said, Master Silence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An we shall be merry, now comes in the sweet o' the night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Health and long life to you, Master Silence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fill the cup, and let it come;</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Honest Bardolph, welcome: if thou wantest any</LINE>
<LINE>thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart.</LINE>
<LINE>Welcome, my little tiny thief.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To the Page</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And welcome indeed too. I'll drink to Master</LINE>
<LINE>Bardolph, and to all the cavaleros about London.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I hove to see London once ere I die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An I might see you there, Davy,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By the mass, you'll crack a quart together, ha!</LINE>
<LINE>Will you not, Master Bardolph?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, sir, in a pottle-pot.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By God's liggens, I thank thee: the knave will</LINE>
<LINE>stick by thee, I can assure thee that. A' will not</LINE>
<LINE>out; he is true bred.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I'll stick by him, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Knocking within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Look who's at door there, ho! who knocks?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit DAVY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, now you have done me right.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>To SILENCE, seeing him take off a bumper</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR></LINE>
<LINE>Do me right,</LINE>
<LINE>And dub me knight: Samingo.</LINE>
<LINE>Is't not so?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is't so? Why then, say an old man can do somewhat.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter DAVY</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DAVY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An't please your worship, there's one Pistol come</LINE>
<LINE>from the court with news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From the court! let him come in.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PISTOL</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now, Pistol!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir John, God save you!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What wind blew you hither, Pistol?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not the ill wind which blows no man to good. Sweet</LINE>
<LINE>knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in this realm.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By'r lady, I think a' be, but goodman Puff of Barson.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Puff!</LINE>
<LINE>Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!</LINE>
<LINE>Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend,</LINE>
<LINE>And helter-skelter have I rode to thee,</LINE>
<LINE>And tidings do I bring and lucky joys</LINE>
<LINE>And golden times and happy news of price.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray thee now, deliver them like a man of this world.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A foutre for the world and worldlings base!</LINE>
<LINE>I speak of Africa and golden joys.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?</LINE>
<LINE>Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Singing</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons?</LINE>
<LINE>And shall good news be baffled?</LINE>
<LINE>Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SILENCE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why then, lament therefore.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give me pardon, sir: if, sir, you come with news</LINE>
<LINE>from the court, I take it there's but two ways,</LINE>
<LINE>either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am,</LINE>
<LINE>sir, under the king, in some authority.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Under which king, Besonian? speak, or die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Under King Harry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Harry the Fourth? or Fifth?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Harry the Fourth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A foutre for thine office!</LINE>
<LINE>Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king;</LINE>
<LINE>Harry the Fifth's the man. I speak the truth:</LINE>
<LINE>When Pistol lies, do this; and fig me, like</LINE>
<LINE>The bragging Spaniard.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, is the old king dead?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As nail in door: the things I speak are just.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away, Bardolph! saddle my horse. Master Robert</LINE>
<LINE>Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land,</LINE>
<LINE>'tis thine. Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>BARDOLPH</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O joyful day!</LINE>
<LINE>I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What! I do bring good news.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Carry Master Silence to bed. Master Shallow, my</LINE>
<LINE>Lord Shallow,--be what thou wilt; I am fortune's</LINE>
<LINE>steward--get on thy boots: we'll ride all night.</LINE>
<LINE>O sweet Pistol! Away, Bardolph!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit BARDOLPH</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Come, Pistol, utter more to me; and withal devise</LINE>
<LINE>something to do thyself good. Boot, boot, Master</LINE>
<LINE>Shallow: I know the young king is sick for me. Let</LINE>
<LINE>us take any man's horses; the laws of England are at</LINE>
<LINE>my commandment. Blessed are they that have been my</LINE>
<LINE>friends; and woe to my lord chief-justice!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also!</LINE>
<LINE>'Where is the life that late I led?' say they:</LINE>
<LINE>Why, here it is; welcome these pleasant days!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  London. A street.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter Beadles, dragging in HOSTESS QUICKLY
and DOLL TEARSHEET</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, thou arrant knave; I would to God that I might</LINE>
<LINE>die, that I might have thee hanged: thou hast</LINE>
<LINE>drawn my shoulder out of joint.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Beadle</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The constables have delivered her over to me; and</LINE>
<LINE>she shall have whipping-cheer enough, I warrant</LINE>
<LINE>her: there hath been a man or two lately killed about her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nut-hook, nut-hook, you lie. Come on; I 'll tell</LINE>
<LINE>thee what, thou damned tripe-visaged rascal, an</LINE>
<LINE>the child I now go with do miscarry, thou wert</LINE>
<LINE>better thou hadst struck thy mother, thou</LINE>
<LINE>paper-faced villain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O the Lord, that Sir John were come! he would make</LINE>
<LINE>this a bloody day to somebody. But I pray God the</LINE>
<LINE>fruit of her womb miscarry!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Beadle</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If it do, you shall have a dozen of cushions again;</LINE>
<LINE>you have but eleven now. Come, I charge you both go</LINE>
<LINE>with me; for the man is dead that you and Pistol</LINE>
<LINE>beat amongst you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll tell you what, you thin man in a censer, I</LINE>
<LINE>will have you as soundly swinged for this,--you</LINE>
<LINE>blue-bottle rogue, you filthy famished correctioner,</LINE>
<LINE>if you be not swinged, I'll forswear half-kirtles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Beadle</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, you she knight-errant, come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O God, that right should thus overcome might!</LINE>
<LINE>Well, of sufferance comes ease.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, you rogue, come; bring me to a justice.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, come, you starved blood-hound.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Goodman death, goodman bones!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MISTRESS QUICKLY</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou atomy, thou!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DOLL TEARSHEET</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, you thin thing; come you rascal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Beadle</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Very well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  A public place near Westminster Abbey.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter two Grooms, strewing rushes</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Groom</SPEAKER>
<LINE>More rushes, more rushes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Second Groom</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The trumpets have sounded twice.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>First Groom</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twill be two o'clock ere they come from the</LINE>
<LINE>coronation: dispatch, dispatch.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, PISTOL,
BARDOLPH, and Page</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow; I will</LINE>
<LINE>make the king do you grace: I will leer upon him as</LINE>
<LINE>a' comes by; and do but mark the countenance that he</LINE>
<LINE>will give me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God bless thy lungs, good knight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come here, Pistol; stand behind me. O, if I had had</LINE>
<LINE>time to have made new liveries, I would have</LINE>
<LINE>bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you. But</LINE>
<LINE>'tis no matter; this poor show doth better: this</LINE>
<LINE>doth infer the zeal I had to see him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It doth so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It shows my earnestness of affection,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It doth so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My devotion,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It doth, it doth, it doth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As it were, to ride day and night; and not to</LINE>
<LINE>deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience</LINE>
<LINE>to shift me,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is best, certain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But to stand stained with travel, and sweating with</LINE>
<LINE>desire to see him; thinking of nothing else,</LINE>
<LINE>putting all affairs else in oblivion, as if there</LINE>
<LINE>were nothing else to be done but to see him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis 'semper idem,' for 'obsque hoc nihil est:'</LINE>
<LINE>'tis all in every part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis so, indeed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My knight, I will inflame thy noble liver,</LINE>
<LINE>And make thee rage.</LINE>
<LINE>Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts,</LINE>
<LINE>Is in base durance and contagious prison;</LINE>
<LINE>Haled thither</LINE>
<LINE>By most mechanical and dirty hand:</LINE>
<LINE>Rouse up revenge from ebon den with fell</LINE>
<LINE>Alecto's snake,</LINE>
<LINE>For Doll is in. Pistol speaks nought but truth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will deliver her.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Shouts within, and the trumpets sound</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There roar'd the sea, and trumpet-clangor sounds.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter KING HENRY V and his train, the Lord Chief-
Justice among them</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God save thy grace, King Hal! my royal Hal!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God save thee, my sweet boy!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord chief-justice, speak to that vain man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have you your wits? know you what 'tis to speak?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>KING HENRY IV</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers;</LINE>
<LINE>How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!</LINE>
<LINE>I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,</LINE>
<LINE>So surfeit-swell'd, so old and so profane;</LINE>
<LINE>But, being awaked, I do despise my dream.</LINE>
<LINE>Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace;</LINE>
<LINE>Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape</LINE>
<LINE>For thee thrice wider than for other men.</LINE>
<LINE>Reply not to me with a fool-born jest:</LINE>
<LINE>Presume not that I am the thing I was;</LINE>
<LINE>For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,</LINE>
<LINE>That I have turn'd away my former self;</LINE>
<LINE>So will I those that kept me company.</LINE>
<LINE>When thou dost hear I am as I have been,</LINE>
<LINE>Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,</LINE>
<LINE>The tutor and the feeder of my riots:</LINE>
<LINE>Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,</LINE>
<LINE>As I have done the rest of my misleaders,</LINE>
<LINE>Not to come near our person by ten mile.</LINE>
<LINE>For competence of life I will allow you,</LINE>
<LINE>That lack of means enforce you not to evil:</LINE>
<LINE>And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,</LINE>
<LINE>We will, according to your strengths and qualities,</LINE>
<LINE>Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>To see perform'd the tenor of our word. Set on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt KING HENRY V, &amp;c</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pound.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, marry, Sir John; which I beseech you to let me</LINE>
<LINE>have home with me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not you</LINE>
<LINE>grieve at this; I shall be sent for in private to</LINE>
<LINE>him: look you, he must seem thus to the world:</LINE>
<LINE>fear not your advancements; I will be the man yet</LINE>
<LINE>that shall make you great.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot well perceive how, unless you should give</LINE>
<LINE>me your doublet and stuff me out with straw. I</LINE>
<LINE>beseech you, good Sir John, let me have five hundred</LINE>
<LINE>of my thousand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, I will be as good as my word: this that you</LINE>
<LINE>heard was but a colour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>SHALLOW</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A colour that I fear you will die in, Sir John.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fear no colours: go with me to dinner: come,</LINE>
<LINE>Lieutenant Pistol; come, Bardolph: I shall be sent</LINE>
<LINE>for soon at night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter Prince John of LANCASTER, the Lord
Chief-Justice; Officers with them</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet:</LINE>
<LINE>Take all his company along with him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>FALSTAFF</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, my lord,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot now speak: I will hear you soon.</LINE>
<LINE>Take them away.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PISTOL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Si fortune me tormenta, spero contenta.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but PRINCE JOHN and the Lord
Chief-Justice</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I like this fair proceeding of the king's:</LINE>
<LINE>He hath intent his wonted followers</LINE>
<LINE>Shall all be very well provided for;</LINE>
<LINE>But all are banish'd till their conversations</LINE>
<LINE>Appear more wise and modest to the world.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And so they are.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The king hath call'd his parliament, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Lord Chief-Justice</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>LANCASTER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,</LINE>
<LINE>We bear our civil swords and native fire</LINE>
<LINE>As far as France: I heard a bird so sing,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the king.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, will you hence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>
<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<EPILOGUE><TITLE>EPILOGUE</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Spoken by a Dancer</STAGEDIR>
<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER></SPEAKER>
<LINE>First my fear; then my courtesy; last my speech.</LINE>
<LINE>My fear is, your displeasure; my courtesy, my duty;</LINE>
<LINE>and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look</LINE>
<LINE>for a good speech now, you undo me: for what I have</LINE>
<LINE>to say is of mine own making; and what indeed I</LINE>
<LINE>should say will, I doubt, prove mine own marring.</LINE>
<LINE>But to the purpose, and so to the venture. Be it</LINE>
<LINE>known to you, as it is very well, I was lately here</LINE>
<LINE>in the end of a displeasing play, to pray your</LINE>
<LINE>patience for it and to promise you a better. I</LINE>
<LINE>meant indeed to pay you with this; which, if like an</LINE>
<LINE>ill venture it come unluckily home, I break, and</LINE>
<LINE>you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here I promised you</LINE>
<LINE>I would be and here I commit my body to your</LINE>
<LINE>mercies: bate me some and I will pay you some and,</LINE>
<LINE>as most debtors do, promise you infinitely.</LINE>
<LINE>If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will</LINE>
<LINE>you command me to use my legs? and yet that were but</LINE>
<LINE>light payment, to dance out of your debt. But a</LINE>
<LINE>good conscience will make any possible satisfaction,</LINE>
<LINE>and so would I. All the gentlewomen here have</LINE>
<LINE>forgiven me: if the gentlemen will not, then the</LINE>
<LINE>gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which</LINE>
<LINE>was never seen before in such an assembly.</LINE>
<LINE>One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too</LINE>
<LINE>much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will</LINE>
<LINE>continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make</LINE>
<LINE>you merry with fair Katharine of France: where, for</LINE>
<LINE>any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat,</LINE>
<LINE>unless already a' be killed with your hard</LINE>
<LINE>opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is</LINE>
<LINE>not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are</LINE>
<LINE>too, I will bid you good night: and so kneel down</LINE>
<LINE>before you; but, indeed, to pray for the queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>
</EPILOGUE>
</ACT>
</PLAY>
