a

you claim,

for:

Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

In answer of which claim, the prince our master The singing masons building roofs of gold; Says,—that you savour too much of your youth; The civil citizens kneading up the honey ; And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France The poor mechanic porters crowding in That can be with a nimble galliard won; Their heavy burdens at his narro# gate; You cannot revel into dukedoms there: The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum, He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, Delivering o'er to executors pale

This tun of treasure ; and, in lieu ot' this, The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,- Desires

you,

let the dukedoms that That many things, having full reference Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks. To one concent, may work contrariously :

K. Hen. What treasure, uncle ? As many arrows, loosed several ways,

Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege. Fly to one mark;

K. Hen. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleaAs many several ways meet in one town;

sant with us; As many fresh streams run in one self sea ; His present, and your pains, we thank you As many lines close in the dial's center; When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, So may a thousand actions, once afoot, We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set, End in one purpose, and be all well borne Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard : Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege. Tell him, he hath made a match with such a Divide your happy England into four ;

wrangler, Whereof take you one quarter into France,

That all the courts of France will be disturb’d And you withal shall make all Gallia shake. With chaces. And we understand him well, If we, with thrice that power left at home, How he comes o'er us with our willer days, Cannot defend our own door from the dog, Not measuring what use we made of them. Let us be worried ; and our nation lose We never valu'd this poor seat of England ; The name of hardiness, and policy.

And therefore, living hence, did give ourself K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the To barbarous licence; As 'tis ever common, Dauphin.

That men are merriest when they are from home, [Erit an Attendant. The King as- But tell the Dauphin,-I will keep my state ; cends his Throne.

Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness, Now are we well resolv’d: and, -by God's help; When I do rouse me in my throne of France : And yours, the noble sinews of our power,

For that I have laid by my majesty, France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, And plodded like a man for working-days; Or break it all to pieces : Or there we'll sit, But I will rise there with so full a glory, Ruling, in large and ample empery,

That I will dazzle all the eyes of France, O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukedoms; Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us. Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn, And tell the pleasant prince,-this mock of his Tombless, with no remembrance over them : Hath turn’d his balls to gun-stones; and his soul Either our history shall, with full mouth, Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful venSpeak freely of our acts; or else our grave,

geance Like Turkish mute, shall have a 'tongueless That shall fly with them : for many a thousand mouth,

widows Not worship'd with a waxen epitaph.

Shall this his mock mock out of their dear hus

bands; Enter Ambassudors of France.

Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles Now are we well prepar’d to know the pleasure down; Of our fair cousin Dauphin; for, we hear, And some are yet ungottey, and unborn, Your greeting is from him, not from the king. That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us leave

But this lies all within the will of God, Freely to render what we have in charge ; To whom I do. appeal ; And in whose name, Or shall we sparingly show you far off

Tell you the Dauphin, I am coming on, Tbe Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy ? To venge me as I may, and to put forth K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause. king;

So, get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin, Unto whose grace our passion is as subject, His jest will savour but of shallow wit, As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons : When thousands weep, more than did laugh at Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plain

it. ness,

Convey them with safe conduct.-Fare

you

well. Tell us the Dauphin's mind.

[Exeunt Ambassadors. Amb. Thus then, in few.

: Ere. This was a merry message. Your highness, lately sending into France, K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blus! Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right

at it.

[ Descends from his thrulie, Of your great predecessor,king Edward the third. ! Therefore, my lords, omit no happy houry

scorn.

That may give furtherance to our expedition : More feathers to our wings; for, God before, For we have now no thought in us but France; We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door. Save those to God, that run before our business. Therefore, let every man now task his thought, Therefore, let our proportions for these wars That this fair action may on foot be brought. Be soon collected ; and all things thought upon,

[Ereunt. That may, with reasonable swiftness, add

ACT II.

do,

Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. Enter CHORUS.

Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire, yet? And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies; Nym. For my part, I care not: I say little ; Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles ; Reigns solely in the breast of every man: -but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse ; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron : It is Following the mirror of all Christian kings a simple one ; but what though? it will toast With winged heels, as English Mercuries. cheese ; and it will endure cold as another man's For now sits Expectation in the air ;

sword will : and there's the humour of it. And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point, Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets, friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to Promis’d to Harry, and his followers.

France ; let it be so, good corporal Nym. The French, advis'd by good intelligence Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, Of this most dreadful preparation,

that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live Shake in their fear; and with pale policy any longer, I will do as I may: that is my rest, Seek to divert the English purposes.

that is the rendezvous of it. O England !-model to thy inward greatness, Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is marLike little body with a mighty heart,

ried to Nell Quickly: and, certainly, she did you What might'st thou do, that honour would thee wrong; for you were troth-plight to her.

Nym. I cannot tell ; things must be as they Were all thy children kind and natural ! may: men may sleep, and they may have their But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out throats about them at that time; and, some say, A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills knives have edges. It must be as it may: though With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. men,

There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell. One, Richard earl of Cambridge ; and the second, Henry lord Scroop of Masham; and the third,

Enter Pistol and Mrs QUICKLY. Sir Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland, Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his Have, for the gilt of France, (O guilt, indeed!) wife :-good corporal, be patient here.- How Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France ; now, mine host Pistol? And by their hands this grace of kings must die, Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me-host ? (If hell and treason hold their promises,) Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn the term ; Ère he take ship for France, and in Southampton. Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers. Linger your patience on; and well digest Quick. No, by my troth, not long : for we The abuse of distance, while we force a play. cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen genThe sum is paid ; the traitors are agreed ; tlewomen, that live honestly by the prick of The king is set from London ; and the scene their needles, but it will be thought we keep a Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton : bawdy-house straight. [Nym draws his sword.] There is the playhouse now, there must you sit: O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn now And thence to France shall we convey you safe, O Lord ! here's corporal Nym's—now shall we And bring you back, charming the narrow seas have wilful adultery and murder committed. To give you gentle pass ; for, if we may, Good lieutenant Bardolph,good corporal, offer We'll not offend one stomach with our play. nothing here. But, till the king come forth, and not till then,

Nym. Pish! Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. (Exit. Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick

eared cur of Iceland ! SCENE 1.-The same. Eastcheap. Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valow Enter Nym and BARDOLPH.

of a man, and put up thy sword.

Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you Bard. Well met, corporal Nym.

[Sheathing his sword

to him.

Pist. Solus, egregious dog? ( viper vile ! Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have The solus in thy most marvellous face ;

their course. The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdly; be friends : an thou wilt not, why then be eneAnd, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth! mies with me too. Pr’ythee, put up. I do retort the solus in thy bowels :

Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up,

of you at betting? And flashing fire will follow.

Pist. Anoble shalt thou have, and present pay; Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot con- And liquor likewise will I give to thee, jure me. I have an humour to knock you indif- And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood : ferently well: If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;I will scour you with iny rapier, as I may, in fair Is not this just?-for I shall sutler be terms: if you would walk off, I would prick Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and Give me thy hand. that's the humour of it.

Nym. I shall have my noble ? Fist. O braggard vile, and damned furious Pist. In cash most justly paid. wight!

Nym. Well then, that's the humour of it. The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale.

Re-enter Mrs QUICKLY. [Pistol and Nym draw. Bind. Hear me, hear me what I say he that Quick. As ever you came of women, come in strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the quickly to Sir John: Ah, poor heart ! he is so hilts, as I am a soldier.

[ Draus. shaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come

shall abate. Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give; Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the Thy spirits are most tall.

knight, that's the even of it. Nym. I will cut thy throat one time or other, Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right; in fair terms; that is the humour of it.

His heart is fracted, and corroborate. Pist. Coupe le gorge, that's the word ?-I thee Nym. The king is a good king : but it must defy again.

be as it may; he passes some humours, and Ohound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get ? careers. No; to the spital go,

Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambAnd from the powdering tub of infamy

kins, we will live,

[Ereunt. Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind, Doll Tear-sheet she by name, and her espouse : SCENE II.--Southampton. A council-chamber. I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly, For the only she ; and-Pauca, there's enough. Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMOREEnter the Boy.

Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my these traitors. master,-and you, hostess ;-he is very sick, and Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by. would to bed.-Good Bardolph, put thy nose West. How smooth and even they do bear between his sheets, and do the office of a warı

themselves ! ing-pan: 'faith, he's

very
ill.

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
Bard. Away, you rogue.

Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty. Quick. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a Bed. The king hath note of all that they inpudding one of these days: the king has killed tend by interception, which they dream not of. his heart.-Good husband, come home presently. Ere. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,

ÇExeunt Mrs Quickly and Boy. Whom he hath cloy’d and grac'd with princely Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends ? favours,We must to France together; Why, the devil, That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell should we keep knives to cut one another’s His sovereign's life to death and treachery! throats? Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food Trumpet sounds. Enter King HENRY, Scroor, howl on!

CAMBRIDGE, Grey, Lords, and Attendunts. Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will of you at betting ?

aboard. Pist. Base is the slave that pays.

My lord of Cambridge,—and my kind lord of Nym. That now I will have ; that's the hu- Masham,mour of it.

And you, my gentle knight,--give me your Pist. As manhood shall compound; push home. thoughts:

Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first Think you not, that the powers we bear with us, thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will. Will cut their passage through the force of France;

LAND.

Doing the execution, and the act,

There yours, lord Scroop of Masham ;-and, sir For which we have in head assembled them?

knight, Scroop: No doubt, my liege, if each man do Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours : his best.

Read them; and know, I know yourworthiness. K. Hen. I doubt not that: since we are well Mylord of Westmoreland,--and uncle Exeter, persuaded,

We will aboard to-night.-Why, how now, gen. We carry not a heart with us from henee,

tlemen ? That grows not in a fair consent with ours; What see you in those papers, that you lose Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish So much complexion?-look ye, how they change! Success and conquest to attend on us.

Their cheeks are paper.—Why, what read you Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, and there, lov'a,

That hath so cowarded and chas'd

your

blood Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a Out of appearance? subject,

Cam. I do confess my fault; That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness

And do submit me to your highness' mercy. Under the sweet shade of your government,

Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal. Grey. Even those, that were your father's K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick in us but enemies,

late, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you By your own counsel is suppress’d and kill'd : With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy; K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of For your own reasons turn into your bosoms, thankfulness;

As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.And shall forget the office of our hand,

See you, my princes, and my noble

peers, Sooner than quittance of desert and merit,

These English monsters ! My lord of Cambridge According to the weight and worthiness.

here, Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil; ! You know, how apt our love was, to accord And labour shall refresh itself with hope,

To furnish him with all appertinents To do your grace incessant services.

Belonging to his honour; and this man K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter, Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspird, Enlarge the man committed yesterday,

And sworn unto the practices of France, That rail'd against our person: we consider, To kill us here in Hampton: to the which, It was excess of wine that set him on ;

This knight, no less for bounty bound to us And, on his more advice, we pardon him. Than Cambridge is,-hath likewise sworn. Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security :

But 0 ! Let him be punish’d, sovereign ; lest example What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop; thou cruel, Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.

а

Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature ! K. Hen. 0, let us yet be merciful.

Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels, Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, Grey, Sir, you show great mercy, if you give That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold, him life,

Would'st thou have practis'd on me for tby

use? After the taste of much correction.

May it be possible, that foreign hire K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care Could out of thee extract one spark of evil,

That might annoy my finger ? 'Tis so strange, Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. That, though the truth of it stands off as gross If little faults, proceeding on distemper,

As blaek from white, my eye will scarcely see it. Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch Treason, and murder, ever kept together, our eye,

As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, When capital erimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and Working so grossly in a natural cause, digested,

That admiration did not whoop at them : Appear before us ? --We'll yet enlarge that man, But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,–in their Wonder to wait on treason, and 017 murder :

And whatsoever cunning fiend it was, And tender preservation of our person,- That wrought upon thee so preposterously, Would have him punish’d. And now to our H’ath got the voice in hell for excellence: French causes;

And other devils, that suggest by treasons, Who are the late commissioners ?

Do botch and bungle up damnation Cam. I one, my lord;

With patches, colours, apd with forms being Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.

fetch'd Scroop. So did you me, my liege.

From glistering semblances of piety; (irey. And me, my royal sovereign.

But he, that temper'd thee, bade thee stand up, K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do there is yours ;

of me

dear care,

Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence;
If that same dæmon, that hath gulld thee thus, Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world, The taste whereof, God, of his mercy, give you
He might return to vasty Tartar back,

Patience to endure, and true repentance
And tell the legions- I can never win

Of all your dear offences !-Bear them hence. A soul so easy as that Englishman's.

[Exeunt Conspirators, guarded. 0, how hast thou with jealousy infected Now, lords, for France; the enterprize whereof The sweetness of affiance ! Show men dutiful? Shall be to you, as us, like glorious. Why, so didst thou: Seem they grave and learn- We doubt not of a fair and lucky war ; ed?

Since God so graciously hath brought to light Why, so didst thou : Come they of noble family? This dangerous treason, lurking in our way, Why, so didst thou : Seem they religious ? To hinder our beginnings, we doubt not now, Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet; But every rub is smoothed on our way. Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger; Then, forth, dear countrymen ; let us deliver Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood; Our puissance into the hand of God, Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement; Putting it straight in expedition. Not working with the eye, without the ear, Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance : And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither? No king of England, if not king of France. Such, and so finely bolted, didst thou seem :

[Exeunt. And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot, To mark the full-fraught man, and best endued, SCENÉ III.-London. Mrs Quickly's house With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;

in Eastcheap For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like Another fall of man.-Their faults are open,

Enter Pistol, Mrs QUICKLY, NYM, BARArrest them to the answer of the law ;

DOLPH, and Boys And God acquit them of their practices !

Quick. Pr’ythee, honey-sweet husband, let Ere. I arrest thee of high treason, by the me bring thee to Staines. Dame of Richard earl of Cambridge.

Pist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Bardolph, be blithe ;-Nym, rouse thy vauntHenry lord Scroop of Masham.

ing veins; I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is Thomas Grey, knight of Northamberland.

dead, Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath disco. And we must yearn therefore. ver'd;

Bard. 'Would, I were with him, wheresomAnd I repent my fault, more than my death; e'er he is, either in heaven, or in hel} ! Which I beseech your highness to forgive, Quick. Nay, sure, he's not in hell; he's in Although my body pay the price of it.

Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's Cam. For me,-the gold of France did not bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, seduce;

an it had been any christom child; 'a parted Although I did admit it as a motive,

even just between twelve and one, e'en at turnThe sooner to effect what I intended :

ing o' the tide : for after I saw him fumble with But God be thanked for prevention ;

the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice, upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was bat one Beseeching God, and you, to pardon me. way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a

Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice babbled of green fields. How now, sir John ? At the discovery of most dangerous treason, quoth I: what, man! be of good cheer. So 'a Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself,

cried out-God, God, God! three or four times : Prevented from a damned enterprize :

now I, to comfort him, bid him, 'a should not My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign. think of God; I hoped there was no need to K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy! Hear trouble himself with any such thoughts yet: your sentence.

So, 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet : I You have conspir'd against our royal person, put my hand into the bed, and felt them, and Join’d with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to coffers

his knees, and so upward, and upward, and all Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death ; was as cold as any stone. Wherein you would have sold your king to Nym. They say, he cried out of sack. slaughter,

Quick. Ay, that'a did. His princes and his peers to servitude,

Bard. And of women. His subjects to oppression and contempt,

Quick. Nay, that 'a did not. And his whole kingdom unto desolation.

Boy. Yes, that 'a did; and said, they were Touching our person, seek we no revenge;

devils incarnate. But we our kingdom's safety must so tender, Quick. 'A conld never abide carnation ; 'twas. Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws a colour he never liked.