It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. 70 Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men King. Yea, there thou makest me sad and of good government, being governed, as the sea makest me sin 80 In envy that my Lord Northumberland coz, 90 SCENE II. London. An apartment of the Prince's. Enter the PRINCE OF WALES and Falstaff. Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the signs of leapinghouses and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day. Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, that wandering knight so fair. And, prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy grace,-majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have none, Prince. What, none? 20 is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing 'Lay by' and spent with crying Bring in;' now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench? Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance? 49 Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin? Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern? Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft. Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. 60 Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit. Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent-But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. 70 Prince. No; thou shalt. Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge. Prince. Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman. Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you. Prince. For obtaining of suits? 80 Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged bear. Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought. An old lord of the council rated me the other day in the street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked wisely, and in the street too. Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. 100 Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and will give it over by the Lord, an I do not, I am a villain: I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom. Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? III Fal. 'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain and baffle me. Prince. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying to purse-taking. Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Enter POINS. Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand' to a true man. Prince. Good morrow, Ned. Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse? what says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg? 129 Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due. Poins. Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil. Prince. Else he had been damned for cozening the devil. Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purses: I have vizards for you all; you have horses for yourselves: Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester: I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hanged. Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not, I'll hang you for going. Poins. You will, chops? 150 Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one? Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith. Fal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings. Prince. Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap. 160 Fal. Why, that's well said. Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king. Prince. I care not. Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go. 169 Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may move and what he hears may be believed, that the true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: you shall find me in Eastcheap. Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, All-hallown summer! [Exit Falstaff. Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid; yourself and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders. Prince. How shall we part with them in setting forth? Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail, and then will they adventure upon the exploit themselves; which they shall have no sooner achieved, but we'll set upon them. Prince. Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by our horses, by our habits and by every other appointment, to be ourselves. Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see; I'll tie them in the wood; our vizards we will change after we leave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments. Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us. Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees rea- | son, I'll forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will tell us when we meet at supper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this lies the jest. Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap; there I'll sup. Farewell. Poins. Farewell, my lord. The unyoked humour of your idleness: 220 By breaking through the foul and ugly mists And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. 230 240 [Exit. SCENE III. London, The palace. Enter the KING, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, SIR WALTER BLUNT, with others. King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate, Unapt to stir at these indignities, And therefore lost that title of respect ΙΟ The scourge of greatness to be used on it; And that same greatness too which our own hands Have holp to make so portly. North. My lord, 39 And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold, Out of my grief and my impatience, 50 He should, or he should not; for he made me mad 60 To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said King. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do What then he said, so he unsay it now. see Danger and disobedience in thine eye: 21 O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took, 30 Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd King, Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners, But with proviso and exception, 80 That we at our own charge shall ransom straight 90 Three times they breathed and three times did Heir to the crown? they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, Colour her working with such deadly wounds; Receive so many, and all willingly: 110 North. 160 That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve. And for his sake wear the detested blot King. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost O, pardon me that I descend so low, belie him; He never did encounter with Glendower: I tell thee, He durst as well have met the devil alone 121 As will displease you. My Lord Northumber- We license your departure with your son. [Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train. 170 To show the line and the predicament North. What, drunk with choler? stay and Even with the bloody payment of your deaths: pause awhile: Here comes your uncle. Hot. Re-enter WORCESTER. 130 soul Speak of Mortimer! Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my pri soners; 140 And when I urged the ransom once again By Richard that dead is the next of blood? North. He was; I heard the proclamation: From whence he intercepted did return Wor. Send danger from the east unto the west, Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here, That are your prisoners, Those same noble Scots I'll keep them all; And only stays but to behold the face Of that occasion that shall bring it on. North. Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip. Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot: And then the power of Scotland and of York, 280 And so they shall. 290 SCENE I. Rochester. An inn yard. Enter a Carrier with a lantern in his hand. First Car. Heigh-ho! an it be not four by the day, I'll be hanged: Charles' wain is over the new chimney, and yet our horse not packed. What, ostler ! Ost. [Within] Anon, anon. First Car. I prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point; poor jade, is wrung in the withers out of all cess. Enter another Carrier. Sec. Car. Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots: this house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died. First Car. Poor fellow, never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of him. Sec. Car. I think this be the most villanous house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like a tench. First Car. Like a tench! by the mass, there is ne'er a king christen could be better bit than I have been since the first cock. 20 Sec. Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a jordan, and then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach. First Car. What, ostler! come away and be hanged! come away. Sec. Car. I have a gammon of bacon and two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing cross. First Car. God's body! the turkeys in my Hot. I smell it: upon my life, it will do well. pannier are quite starved. What, ostler! Á |