And so, I hear, he doth account me too
Yet this before my father's majesty,--
I am content, that he shall take the odds
Of his great name and estimation;

And will, to save the blood on either side,
Try fortune with him in a single fight.

K. Hen. And prince of Wales, so dare we venAlbeit, considerations infinite [turn thee, Do make against it:-No, good Worcester, no, We love our people well, even those we love, That are misled upo

And, will they take your cousin's part:

the offer of our grace,
Both he, and they, and you, yea, every man
Shall be my friend again, and I'll be his.
So tell your cousin, and bring me word
What he will do:-But if he will not yield,
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us,
And they shall do their office. So, be gone;
We will not now be troubled with reply:
We offer fair, take it advisedly.

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

K. Hen. Hence, therefore, every leader to his charge;

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

Exeunt King, Blunt, and Prince John. Fal. Hai, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so; tis a point of friendship.

P. Hen. Nothing bat a colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell.

Fal. I would it were bed-time. Hal, and all well. P. Hen. Why, thon owest God a death. [Exit. Fal. Tis not due yet; I would be loath to pay him before his day. What need I be so forward with him that calls not on me? Well, 'tis no matter; Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm: No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is honour? A word. What is in that word, honour? What is that honour? Air. A trim reckoning!--Who hath it? He that died oWednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it:-therefore I'll none of it: Honour is a mere scutcheon, and so ends my catechism.

[Exit.

It is not possible, it cannot be,

The king should keep his word in loving us;
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this oflence in other faults:
Suspicion shall be all stuck full of eyes:
For treason is but trusted like the fox;

Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up,
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or sad, or merrily,
Interpretation will misquote our looks;
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall,
The better cherish'd, still the nearer death.
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot,
It hath the excuse of youth, and heat of blood;
And an adopted name of privilege,—

A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govered by a spleen:
All his offences live upon my head,
And on his father's:-we did train him on;
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all.
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know
In any case, the offer of the king.

Enter HOTSPUR and DOUGLAS; and Officers and Soldiers, behind.

Hot. My uncle is return'd:--Deliver up My lord of Westmoreland-Uncle, what news? Wor. The king will bid you battle presently. Doug. Defy him by the lord of Westmoreland. Hot. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so. Doug. Marry, and shall, and very willingly.

(Exit Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the king. Hot. Did you beg any? God forbid! For. I told him gently of our grievances, Of his oath-breaking; which he ended thus.By now forswearing that he is forsworn: He calls us rebels, traitors; and will scourge With haughty arms this hatefal name in us. Re-enter DoUGLAS.

Doug. Arm, gentlemen; to arms for I have thrown

A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth,
And Westmoreland, that was engag'd, did bear it;
Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on.

Wor. The Prince of Wales stepp'd forth before

the king,

And, nephew, challeng'd you to single fight.

Hot. O, 'would the quarrel lay upon our heads, And that no man might draw short breath to day.

But I, and larry Moninonth! Tell me, tell me,
How show'd his tasking? seem'd it in contempt?
Ver. No, by my soul; I never in my life
Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly,
Unless a brother should a brother dare
To gentle exercise and proof of arms.
He gave you all the duties of a man;
Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue;
Spoke your deservings like a chronicle;
Making you ever better than his praise,
By still dispraising praise, valued with you:
And, which became him like a prince indeed,
He made a blushing cital of himself;
And chid his truant youth with such a grace,
As if he master'd there a double spirit,
Of teaching, and of learning, instantly.
There did he pause: But let me tell the world,——
If he outlive the envy of this day,
England did never owe so sweet a hope,
So much misconstrued in his wantonness.
Hot. Cousin, I think, thou art enamoured
Upon his follies; never did I hear
Of any prince, so wild, at liberty
But, be he as he will, yet once ere night
I will embrace him with a soldier's arm,
That he shall shrink under my courtesy.-

Arm, arm, with speed:-And, fellows, soldiers,

friends,

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

Enter a Messenger.

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

O gentlemen, the time of life is short;
To spend that shortness basely, were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,

Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings;

If die, brave death, when princes die with us!
Now for our conscience,--the arms are fair,
When the intent of bearing them is just.

Enter another Messenger.

Mess. My lord, prepare; the king comes

apace.

on

Hof. I thank him that he cuts me from my tale,

Enter HOTSPUR. Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. P. Hen. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my

name.

Hot. My name is Harry Percy. P. Hen.

Why, then I see

A very valiant rebel of the name.
I am the prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To share with me in glory any more:
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy, and the prince of Wales.

Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come
To end the one of us; And would to God.
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
P. Hen. I'll make it greater, ere I part from
thee:

And all the budding honours on thy crest
I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities.

Enter FALSTAFF.

(They fight.)

Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you. Enter DOUGLAS ; he fights with Falstaff, who falls down as if he were dead, and exit Douglas. Hotspur is wounded, and falls.

Hot. O Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth: I better brook the loss of brittle life,

Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
They wound my thoughts, worse than thy sword
my flesh-

But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;
And time that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue-No, Percy, thou art dust,
And food for-

(Dies.)

P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: Fare thee well; great heart!

Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,

A kingdom for it was too small a bound ;.
But now, two paces of the vilest earth

Is room enough:-This earth, that bears thee dead,
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.

If thou wert sensible of courtesy,

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

(He sees Falstaff on the ground.)
What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spar'd a better mau.

O. I should have a heavy miss of thee,

If I were much in love with vanity,

[Exit.

Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, Though many dearer, in this bloody fray Embowell'd will I see thee by and by: Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie. Fal. (Rising slowly.) Embowell'd! if thou eurbowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me, and eat me too, to morrow. Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had pud

counterfeit: To die, is to be a counterfeit : for he is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not the life of a man: but to counterfeit dying, when a man there by liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valour is-discretion; in the which better part, I have saved my life. Zounds, I am afraid of the gunpowder Percy, though he be dead: How, if he should counterfeit too, and rise? I am afraid, he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure: yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why may not he rise, as well as I. Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirral, (Stabbing him,) with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.

(Takes Hotspur on his back.)

Re-enter Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN. P. Hen. Come, brother Johm, full bravely hast thou flesh'd

Thy maiden sword.

P. John.

But, soft! whom have we here?
Did you not tell me, this fat man was dead ?
P. Hen. I did; I saw him dead, breathless and
Upon the ground.—
bleeding,

Art thou alive? or is it phantasy
That plays upon our eyesight? I pr'ythee, speak;
We will not trust our eyes, without our ears:—
Thou art not what thon seem'st.

Fal. No, that's certain; I am not a double man: but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack There is Percy, Throwing the body down, it you father will do me any honour, so; il not, let hitc kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either ear or duke, I can assure you.

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

thee dead.

Fal. Didst thou?-Lord! Lord: how this world is given to lyng!-I grant you, I was down, and out of breath; and so was he: but we rose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, so; let them, that should reward valour, bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take it upon my death, I gave him tuis wound in the thigh: if the man were alive, and would deny it, I would make him eat a piece of my heard.

sword.

P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er 1
P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother
John.-

Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back :
For my part, if a he may do the e grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

(Aretreat is sounded.)
The trumpet sounds retreat, the day is ours.
Come, brother, let's to the highest of the field,
To see what friends are living, who are dead.

[Exeunt Prince Houry and Prince John, Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards me, God reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and leave suck, and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do.

(Exit, bearing off the body

SCENE V.-Another Part of the Field.
The trumpets sound. Enter King HENRY, Priner
HENRY, Prince JOHN, WESTMORELAND, and
others, withWORCESTER and VERNON, prisoners.
K. Hon. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.—
Ill-spirited Worcester! did we not send grace,
Pardon, and terms of leve to all of yon?
And would'st thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenor of thy kinsun's trust?
Three kuights upon our party slain to-day,
A noble earl, and many a creature else,
Had been alive this hour,

If, like a christian, thon hadst truly borne
Betwixt our armics true intelligence.

Wor. What I have done, my safety urg'd me to; And I embrace this fortune patiently, Since not to be avoided it falls on me.

[too:

K. Hen. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon Other offenders we will pause upon.

[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon, guarded. How goes the field?

[saw P. Hen. The noble Scot, lord Douglas, when he The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, The noble Percy slain, and all his men Upon the foot of fear,-fled with the rest; And, falling from a hill, he was so bruis'd, That the pursuers took him. At my tent The Donglas is; and I beseech your grace, I may dispose of him. K. Hen. P. Hen. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you

With all my heart.

This honourable bounty shall belong:
Go to the Douglas, and deliver him
Up to his pleasure, ransomeless, and free:
His valour, shown upon our crests to-day,
Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,
Even in the bosom of our adversaries. [power.--
K. Hen. Then this remains,-that we divide our
You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland,
Towards York shall bend you, with your dearest
speed,

To meet Northumberland, and the prelate Scroop,
Who, as we hear, are busily in arms:

Myself, and you, son Harry, will towards Wales,
To fight with Glendower, and the earl of March.
Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway,
Meeting the check of such another day;
And since this business so fair is done,
Let us not leave till all our own be won.

[Exeunt