Poins. Come, let's hear, Jack: What trick hast thou now?

say it was in fight? What trick, what device, | years, Hal, I was not an eagle's talon in the what starting-hole, canst thou now find out waist; I could have crept into an alderman's to hide thee from this open and apparent thumb-ring: A plague of sighing and grief: it blows a man up like a bladder. There's vil shame ? lainous news abroad: here was Sir John Bracy from your father; you must to the court in the morning. That same mad fellow of the north, Percy; and he of Wales, that gave Amaimon the bastinado, and made Lucifer cuckold, and swore the devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh hook,-What, a plague, call you him ?-Poins. Oh! Glendower.

Fal. By the Lord, I knew ye, as well as he that made ye. Why, hear ye, my masters: Was it for me to kill the heir apparent? Should I turn upon the true prince? Why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware instinct; the lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is a great matter; I was a coward on instinct. I shall think the better of myself and thee, during my life: I, for a valiant lion, and thou, for a true prince. But, by the Lord, lads, I am glad you have the money.-Hostess, clap to the doors; watch to-night, pray to-morrow.-Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you! What, shall we be merry? shall we have a play extempore ?

P. Hen. Content;-and the argument shall be, tby running away.

Fal. Ah! no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest

Fal. What manner of man is he?

Host. An old man.

Fal. Owen, Owen; the same; and his sonin-law, Mortimer; and old Northumberland; and that sprightly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs o'horseback up a hill perpendicular.

P. Hen. He that rides at high speed, and with his pistol kills a sparrow flying.

Fal. You have hit it.

P. Hen. So did he never the sparrow. Fal. Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him; he will not run.

P. Hen. Why, what a rascal art thou then, to praise him so for running?

Fal. O'horseback, ye cuckoo ! but, afoot, he will not budge a foot.

P. Hen. Yes, Jack, upon instinct.

Fal. I grant ye. upon instinct. Well, he is there too, and one Mordake, and a thousand bluecaps + more: Worcester is stolen away to-night; thy father's beard is turned white with the news; as stinking you may buy land now as cheap mackarel.

P. Hen. Why then, 'tis like, if there come a hot June, and this civil buffeting hold, we shall buy maidenheads as they buy hobnails, by the hundreds.

Fal. By the mass, lad, thou sayest true; it is

Fal. What doth gravity out of his bed at mid-like we shall have good trading that way.-But, night ?-Shall I give him his answer?

P. Hen. Pr'ythee, do, Jack.

Fal. 'Faith, and I'll send him packing.

[Erit. P. Hen. Now, Sirs; by'r lady, you fought fair-so did you, Peto;-so did you, Bardolph you are lions too, you ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true prince: no, -fie!

Bard. 'Faith, I ran when I saw others run. P. Hen. Tell me now in earnest, How came Falstaff's sword so hacked?

Peto. Why, he hacked it with his dagger, and said, he would swear truth out of England, but he would make you believe it was done in fight; and persuaded us to do the like.

Bard. Yea, and to tickle our noses with speargrass, to make them bleed; and then to beslubber our garments with it, and swear it was the blood of true men. I did that I did not this seven year before, I blushed to hear his monstrous devices.

P. Hen. O villain, thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years ago, and wert taken with the manner, and ever since thou hast blush'd extempore: Thou hadst fire and sword on thy side, and yet thou ran'st away; What instinct hadst thou for it?

Bard. My lord, do you see these meteors? Do you behold these exhalations?

P. Hen. I do.

Bard. What think you they portend!
P. Hen. Hot livers and cold purses. +
Bard. Choler, my lord, if rightly taken.
P. Hen. No, if rightly taken, halter.

Re-enter FALSTAFF.

tell me, Hal, art thou not horribly afeard thou being heir apparent, could the world pick thee out three such enemies again, as that fend Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? Art thou not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at it?

P. Hen. Not a whit, i'faith; I lack some of thy instinct.

Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to-mor row, when thou comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an answer.

P. Hen. Do thou stand for my father, and examine me upon the particulars of my life.

Ful. Shall I content :-This chair shall be my state, this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion my crown.

P. Hen. Thy state is taken for a joint-stool, thy golden sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich crown, for a pitiful bald crown!

Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, now shalt thou be moved.-Give me a cup of sack, to make mine eyes look red, that it may be thought I have wept; for I must speak in passion, and I will do it in king Cambyses'

vein.

P. Hen. Well, here is my leg. I

Fal. And here is my speech:-Stand aside, nobility.

Host. This is excellent sport, i'faith.
Ful. Weep not, sweet queen, for trickling tears
are vain,

Host. O the father, how he holds his counte

HENRY IV

to say I know more harm in him Fal. Peace, good point-pot; peace, good tickle-brain. Harry, I do not only marvel than in myself, were to say more than I know. where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou That he is old, (the more the pity,) his white art accompanied: for though the camomile, the hairs do witness it; but that he is (saving your more it is trodden on, the faster it grows, yet reverence,) a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. youth, the more it is, wasted, the sooner it If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wears. That thou art my son, I have partly thy wicked! If to be old and merry be a sin, then mother's word, partly my own opinion; but many an old host that I know, is damned: if chiefly, a villianous trick of thine eye, and a to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean foolish banging of thy nether lip, that doth war-kine are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish rant me. If then thou be son to me, here lies the point;-Why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher, + and eat black-berries? a question not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief, and take purses ? a question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile: so doth the company thou keepest: for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink, but in tears; not in pleasure, but in passion; not in words only, but in woes also:-And yet there is a virtuous man, whom I have often noted in thy company, but I

P. Hen. What manner of man, an it like your majesty 1

Fal. A good portly man, i'faith, and a corpulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most noble carriage; and, as I think, his age some fifty, or, by'r lady, inclining to three-score; and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff: if that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff: him keep with, the rest banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where hast thou been this month?

P. Hen. Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I'll play my father.

Fal. Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbet-sucker, or a poulter's hare.

P. Hen. Well, here I am set.

Fal. And here I stand :-judge, my masters.
P. Hen. Now, Harry? whence come you?
Fal. My noble lord, from Eastcheap.

P. Hen. The complaints I hear of thee are
grievous

Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false :-nay,
I'll tickle ye for a young prince, i'faith.

P. Hen. Swearest thou, ungracious boy? Henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace: there is a devil haunts thee, in the likeness of a fat old man: a tun of

an is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch § of beastliness, that swoln parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree Tox with the padding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in yean? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve Capen and eat it? wherein cunning but in craft! wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villainous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing?

Pal. My lord, the man I know.
P. Hen. I know thou dost.

Name of a strong liquor.

1 A young rabbet.
aruant boy.
The machine which separates flour from bran.
A leather black jack to hold beer.
En Essex, where a large ox was roasted whole.
Speak no faster than I can follow.

Re-enter HOSTESS, hastily.

Host. O Jesu, my lord, my lord !

Fal. Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddlestick: What's the matter?

Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they are come to search the house; Shall 1 let them in?

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit: thou art essentially mad, without seeming so.

P. Hen. And thou a natural coward, without instinct.

Fal. I deny your major: if you will deny the sheriff, so; if not, let him enter: if I become not a cart as well as another man, a plague ou my bringing up! I hope I shall as soon be strangled with a halter, as another.

P. Hen. Go, hide thee behind the arras;the rest walk up above. Now, my masters, for a true face, and good conscience.

Fal. Both which I have had: but their date is out, and therefore I'll hide me..

[Exeunt all but the PRINCE and POINS. P. Hen. Call in the sheriff.

Enter SHERIFF and CARRIER.

Now, master sheriff; what's your will with me?
Sher. First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and
Hath follow'd certain men unto this house.

Sher. One of them is well known, my gracious lord, A gross fat man.

P. Hen. The man, I do assure you, is not

For I myself at this time have employ'd him.
And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee,
That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time,
Send him to answer thee or any man,
For any thing he shall be charg'd withal:
Sher. I will, my lord: There are two gentle-
And so let me entreat you leave the house.

Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks.
P. Hen. It may be so: if he have robb'd
He shall be answerable: and so, farewell.
Sher. Good night, my noble lord.

P. Hen. I think it is good morrow; is it not?

Sher. Indeed, my lord, I think it be two [Exeunt SHERIFF and CARRIER.

P. Hen. This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's. Go, call him forth.

The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes;
The goats ran from the mountains, and the
herds
to the frighted

Were strangely clamorous

These signs have mark'd me extraordinary;
And all the courses of my life do show,

I am not in the roll of common men.
Where is he living,-clipp'd in with the sea
That chides the banks of England, Scotland,
Wales,-

Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me?
And bring him out, that is but woman's son,
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art,
And hold me pace in deep experiments.
Hot. I think there is no man speaks better
Welsh:

I will to dinner.

SCENE 1.-Bangor.-A Room in the Arch- If thou have power to raise him, bring him deacon's House.

• Beginning. + Lights set cross ways upon beacons and also upon poles, which were used in procession, &c. ¿ Tumbles.

HENRY IV

A huge half moon, a monstrous cantle out.
I'll have the current in this place damm'd up;
And here the smug and silver Trent shall run,
In a new channel, fair and evenly:

It shall not wind with such a deep indent,
To rob me of so rich a bottom here.

Glend. Not wind? it shall, it must: you see
it doth.

concealments; valiant as a lion,
And wond'rous affable; and as bountiful
As mines of India. Shall I tell you, cousin ?
He holds your temper in a high respect,
And curbs himself even of his natural scope,
When you do cross his humour; faith, he
does :

I warrant you, that man is not alive,
Might so have tempted him as you have done

But mark how he bears his course, and runs Without the taste of danger and reproof;

But do not use it oft, let me entreat you.

Wor. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-
blame;

And since your coming hither have done enough
To put him quite beside his patience.

You must needs learn, lord, to amend this
fault:

Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, blood,

(And that's the dearest grace it renders you,)
Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage,
Defect of manners, want of government,
Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain:
The least of which, baunting a nobleman,
Loseth men's hearts; and leaves behind a
stain

Glend. I can speak English, lord, as well as Upon the beauty of all parts besides,

Mort. Fie, cousin Percy! how you cross my father!

Hot. I cannot choose: sometimes he angers
me,

With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,
Of the dreamer Merlin and his prophecies;
And of a dragon and a finless fish,

A clip-wing'd griffin, and a moulten raven,
A couching lion, and a ramping cat,
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith. I tell you what,-
He held me, but last night, at least nine
bours,

In reckoning up the several devils' names,
That were his lackeys: I cried, humph,-and
well,-go to,-

But mark'd him not a word. Oh! he's as te-
dious

As is a tired horse, a railing wife;
Worse

than a smoky house :-I had rather

With cheese and garlic, in a windmill, far,
Tass feed on cates, and have him talk to me,
in any summer-house in Christendom.
Mort. In faith, he is a worthy gentleman;
Exceedingly well read, and profited

Beguiling them of commendation.

Hot. Well, I am school'd; good manners be

Here comes our wives, and let us take our leave.

Re-enter GLENDOWER, with the LADIES.
Mort. This is the deadly spite that angers
me,-

My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh.
Glend. My daughter weeps; she will not part

A Welsh SONG sung by Lady M.
Hot. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too.
Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth.
Hot. Not your's, in good sooth! 'Heart, you
swear like a comfit-maker's wife! Not you, in
good sooth; aud, As true as I live; and, As
God shall mend me; and, As sure as day :
And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths,
As if thou never walk'dst further than Fins-
bury. +

Swear me, Kate, like a lady, as thou art,
A good mouth-filling oath; and leave in sooth,
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread,
To velvet-guards and Sunday-citizens.
Come, sing.

Lady P. I will not sing.

Hot. 'Tis the next way to turn tailor, or be redbreast teacher. An the indentures be drawn, I'll away within these two hours; and so come in when ye will. [Exit. Glend. Come, come, lord Mortimer; you are as slow,

As hot lord Percy is on fire to go.

As thou art match'd withal, and grafted to,
Accompany the greatness of thy blood,
And hold their level with thy princely heart!
K. Hen. So please your majesty, I would I
could

Quit all offences with as clear excuse,
As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge
Myself of many I am charg'd withal:
Yet such extenuation let me beg,
As, in reproof of many tales devis'd,
Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmon-

gers,

I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,
Find pardon on my true submission.

K. Hen. God pardon thee !-yet let me won
der, Harry,

At thy affections which do hold a wing
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost,
Which by thy younger brother is supplied;
And art almost an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood:
The hope and expectation of thy time
Is ruin'd; and the soul of every man
Prophetically does fore-think thy fall.
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of inen,
So stale and cheap to vulgar company;
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession ; +
And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
By being seldom seen, I could not stir
But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at:
That men would tell their children, That is be.
Others would say,- Where? which is Boling-
broke?

And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,
And dress'd myself in such humility,
That I did pluck allegiance from men's bearts,
Loud shouts aud salutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned kin
Thus did I keep my person fresh and new;
My presence, like a robe pontifical,
Ne'er seen, but wonder'd at: and so my state,
Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast;
And won, by rareness, such solemnity.
The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With shallow jesters, and rash bavin 1 wits,
soon burn'd: carded his
Soon kindied, and
Mingled his royalty with capering fools;

state;

By this our book's drawn; we'll but seal, and Had bis great name profaned with their scorts;

then

SCENE II.-London.-A Room in the Palace.
Enter King HENRY, Prince of WALES, and
Lords.

K. Hen. Lords, give us leave; the prince of
Wales and 1,

Must have some conference: But be near at
band,

For we shall presently have need of you.-
[Exeunt Lords.
I know not whether God will have it so,
For some displeasing service I have done,
That in his secret doom, out of my blood

And gave his countenance, against his name,
To laugh at gibing boys, and stand the pusti
Of every beardless vain comparative: $
Grew a companion to the common sterts,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:

That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They surfeited with honey; and begau
To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a
little

More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occasion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,
Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such
eyes,

As, sick and blunted with community,
Afford no extraordinary gaze,

Such as is bent on sun-like majesty

He'll breed revengement and a scourge for When it shines seldom in admiring eyes:

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids
down,

Slept in his face, and render'd such aspect
As cloudy men use to their adversaries;
Being with his presence glutted, gorg'd, and
full.

And in that very line, Harry, stand'st thou:
For thou hast lost thy princely privilege,