ready breakfast; love thy husband, look to thy servants, cherish thy guests: thou shalt find He tractable to any honest reason: thou seest I am pacified-Still ?-Nay, pr'ythee, be gone. [Exit HOSTESS.] Now, Hal, to the news at court for the robbery, lad,-How is that answered?

P. Hen. O my sweet beef, I must still he good angel to thee :-The money is paid back again.

Fal. O I do not like that paying back, 'tis a double labour.

P. Hen. I am good friends with my father, and may do any thing.

Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou doest, and do it with unwashed hands too. Bard. Do, my lord.

P. Hen. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot.

Fal. I would it bad been of horse. Where shall I find one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, of the age of two and twenty, or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. Well, God be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous; I laud them, I praise them.

My brother John; this to my lord of Westmore-
land.-

Go, Poins, to horse, to horse; for thon and I
Have thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner time.-—
Jack,

Meet me to-morrow i'the temple ball

At two o'clock i'the afternoon :

Ere he by sickness had been visited;
His health was never better worth than now.
Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth
infect

The very life-blood of our enterprize;
'Tis catching hither, even to our camp.--
He writes me here,-that inward sickness-
And that his friends by deputation could not
So Soon be drawn; nor did he think it meet,
To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
On any soul remov'd but on his own.
Yet doth he give us bold advertisement,-
That with our small conjunction, we should on,
To see how fortune is dispos'd to us:
For, as he writes, there is no quailing now;
Because the king is certainly possess'd
Of all our purposes. What say you to it?
Wor. Your father's sickness is a maim to us.
Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd

off :

And yet, in faith, 'tis not; his present want Seems more than we shall find it :-Were it good,

There shalt thou know thy charge: and there re- To set the exact wealth of all our states

ceive

Money, and order for their furniture.
The land is burning; Percy stands on high;
And either they, or we, must lower tie.
[Exeunt PRINCE, POINS, and BARDOLPH.
Fal. Rare words! brave world!--Hostess,
my breakfast; come :-

OI could wish this tavern were my drum.

ACT IV.

[Exit.

SCENE 1.-The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.

Enter HOTSPUR, WORCESTER, and DOUGLAS.
Hot. Weil said, my noble Scot : if speaking
truth,

In this fine age, were not thought flattery,
Such attribution should the Douglas bave,
As not a soldier of this season's stamp
Should go so general current through the world.
By heaven, I cannot flatter; I defy
The tongues of soothers; but a braver place
In my heart's love, hath no man than your-
self;

Nay, task me to the word ; approve me, lord.
Doug. Thou art the king of honour:
No man so potent breathes upon the ground,
But I will beard + him.

Hot. Do so, and 'tis well :

Enter a MESSENGERS, with letters.

What letters hast thou there ?-I cau bu thank you.

bimself?

All at one cast? to set so rich a main
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?
It were not good for therein should we read
The very bottom and the soul of hope;
The very list, the very utmost bound
Of all our fortunes.

Doug. 'Faith, and so we should !
Where now remains a sweet reversion:
We may boldly spend upon the hope of what
Is to come in:

A comfort of retirement lives in this.

Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
If that the devil and inischance look big
Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.

Wor. But yet I would your father had been
here,

The quality and hair of our attempt
By some, that know not why he is away,
Brooks no division: It will be thought
That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike
Of our proceedings, kept the earl from hence;
And think, how such an apprehension
May turn the tide of fearful faction,
And breed a kind of question in our cause :
For well you know, we of the offering side
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement;
And stop all sight holes, every loop, from
whence

The eye of reason may pry in upon us:
This absence of your father's draws a curta,
That shews the ignorant a kind of fear
Before not dreamt of.

Hot. You strain too far.

I, rather, of his absence make this use ;-
It lends a lustre, and more great opinion,
A larger dare to our great enterprise,
Than if the earl were here: for men must
think,

Mess. These letters come from your fatuer,-If we, without his help, can make a head
Hot. Letters from him! why comes he not To push against the kingdom: with his help,
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down.-
Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
Doug. As heart can think there is not such a
word

Mess. He cannot come, my lord ; he's grievous sick.

This expression is applied by way of preeminence Spoke of in Scotland, as this term of fear.

to the head of the Douglas family.

↑ Meet him face to face.

404

FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV.

Enter Sir RICHARD VERNON.

Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul.

Ver. Pray God, my news be worth a wel-
conie, lord.

The earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong,
Is marching hitherwards; with him, prince

John.

Hot. No harm: What more?

Ver. And further, I have learu'd,—
The king himself in person is set forth,
Or hitherwards intended speedily,
With strong and mighty preparation.

Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his
son,

The nimble-footed mad-cap prince of Wales,
And his comrades, that daff'd the world aside.
And bid it pass?

Ver. All furnish'd, all in arms,

Act IV.

the coinage. Bid my lieutenant Peto meet me
at the town's end.

[Exit.
Bard. I will, captain: farewell.
Fal. If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I
I have misused the king's
am a souced gurnet. *
press damnably. I have got, in exchange of a
hundred and fifty soldiers, three hundred and odd
pounds. I press me none but good householders,
yeomen's sons: inquire me out contracted bache-
lors, such as had been asked twice on the baus;
such a commodity of warm slaves, as had as
lief hear the devil as a drum; such as fear the
report of a caliver, t worse than a struck fowl,
such toasts and butter, with hearts in their
or a hurt wild duck. I pressed me none but
bellies no bigger than pins' heads, and they
have bought out their services; and now my
whole charge consists of ancients, corporals,
lieutenants, gentlemen of companies, slaves as
ragged as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where
the glutton's dogs licked his sores: and such
as, indeed, were never soldiers; but discarded
unjust serving-men, younger sons to younger
brothers, revolted tapsters, and ostlers trade-
fallen; the cankers of a calm world, and a long
peace; ten times more dishonourably ragged
than an old faced ancient: † and such have 1, to
fill up the rooms of them that have bought out
their services, that you would think that I had a
hundred and fifty tattered prodigals, lately come
from swine-keeping, from eating draff and husks.
A mad fellow met me on the way, and told me
I had unloaded all the gibbets, and pressed the
dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scare-crows.
I'll not march through Coventry with them
that's flat :-Nay, and the villains march wide
betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves § on; for,
indeed, I had the most of them out of prison.
There's but a shirt and a half in all my com-
pany; and the half-shirt is two napkins, tacked
together, and thrown over the shoulders like a
herald's coat without sleeves; and the shirt, to
my say the truth, stolen from my host at Saint
Alban's, or the red-nose inn-keeper of Daintry.
But that's all one; they'll find linen enough on
every hedge.

All plum'd like estridges that wing the wind;
Bated like eagles having lately bath'd; t
Glittering in golden coats, like images;
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer;
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat,
As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds,
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,
And witch the world with noble horsemanship.
Hot. No more, no more; worse than the sun
in March,

This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come;
They come like sacrifices in their trim,
And to the fire-ey'd maid of smoky war,
All hot, and bleeding, will we offer them:
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit,
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire,
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh,
And yet not our's:-Come, let me take

horse,

Who is to bear me, like a thunderbolt,
Against the bosom of the prince of Wales:
Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,
Meet, and ne'er part, till one drop down

corse.

O that Glendower were come !

Ver. There is more news :

a

I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along,
He cannot draw his power this fourteen days.
Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of
yet.

Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty

sound.

Hot. What may the king's whole battle reach

unto f

Ver. To thirty thousand.

Hot. Forty let it be;

My father and Glendower being both away,
The powers of us may serve so great a day.
Come, let us make a muster speedily:
Doonisday is near; die all, die merrily.
Doug. Talk not of dying; I am out of fear
year.
Of death, or death's hand, for this one half
[Exeunt.

SCENE II.—A Public Road near Coventry

Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH.
Fal. Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry;
our soldiers shall
fill me a bottle of sack:
march through; we'll to Sutton-Colfield to-
night.

Bard. Will you give me money, captain?
Fal. Lay out, lay out.

Bard. This bottle makes an angel.
Fal. An if it do, take it for thy labour; and
it make twenty, take them all, I'll answer

Enter Prince HENRY and WESTMORE

LAND.

P. Hen. How now, blown Jack? how now, quilt?

Fal. What, Hal? How now, mad wag? what lord of Westmoreland, I cry you mercy; 1 a devil dost thou in Warwickshire ?-My good thought your honour had already been at Shrews

bury.

West. 'Faith, Sir John, 'tis more than time that I were there, and you too; but my powers are there already: The king, I can tell you, looks for us all; we must away all night.

Fal. Tut, never fear me; I am as vigilaut as a cat to steal cream.

P. Hen. I think to steal cream indeed; for thy theft hath already made thee butter. But tell me, Jack; Whose fellows are these that come after ?

Fal. Mine, Hal, mine.

P. Hen. I did never see such pitiful rascals. Fal. Tut, tut; good enough to loss; food for powder, food for powder; they'll fill a pit, as well as better: tush, mau, mortal men, mortal

men.

West. Ay, but, Sir John, methinks they are exceeding poor and bare; too beggarly.

Fal. Faith, for their poverty, I know not where they had that: and for their bareness, I am sure they never learned that of me.

P. Hen. No, I'll be sworn; unless you call But, sirrah three fingers on the ribs, bare. make haste; Percy is already in the field. Fal. What is the king encamped?

West. He is, Sir John; I fear, we shall stay | And pardon absolute yourself, and these, too long. Herein misled by your suggestion.

Fal. Well,

To the latter end of a fray, and the of a feast,

Fits a dull fighter, and a keen guest.

beginning

Hot. The king is kind; and, well we know,
the king

Knows at what time to promise, when to pay.
My father, and my ancle, and myself,
"Exeunt. Did give him that same royalty be wears:
And,-when he was not six and twenty strong,

SCENE III.—The Rebel Camp near Shrews-Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low,

bury.

A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home,-
My father gave him welcome to the shore :

Enter HOTSPUR, WORCESTER, DOUGLAS, and And,-when he heard him swear, and vow to

VERNON.

Hot. We'll fight with him to-night.

Wor. It may not be.

Doug. You give him then advantage.

Ver. Not a whit.

Hot. Why say you so? looks he not for

ply?

Ver. So do we.

Hot. His is certain, our's is doubtful.

God,

He came but to be duke of Lancaster,
To sue his livery, and beg his peace;
With tears of innocency, and terms of zeal,--
My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd,
Swore him assistance, and perform'd it too.
sup-Now, when the lords and barons of the realm
Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him,
The more and less + came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages;

Wor. Good cousin, be advis'd; stir not to- Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,

night.

Ver. Do not, my lord.

Doug. You do not counsel well;

You speak it out of fear, and cold heart.

Ver. Do me no slander, Douglas: by

life,

(And I dare well maintain it with my life,)
If well respected honour bid me on,
I hold as little counsel with weak fear,
As you my lord, or any Scot that lives :-
Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle,
Which of us fears.

Doug. Yea, or to-night.

Ver. Content.

Hot. To-night, say' 1.

Ver. Come, come, it may not be.

my

Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths
Gave him their heirs; as pages follow'd him,
Even at the heels, in golden multitudes.
Steps me a little higher than his vow
He presently, as greatness knows itself,-
Made to my father, while his blood was poor,
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees,
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth:
Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country's wrongs; and, by this face,
This seeming brow of justice, did he win
The hearts of all that he did angle for.
Proceeded further; cut me off the heads
Of all the favourites, and the absent king

I wonder much, being men of such great lead-In deputation left behind him here,

(Who is, if every owner were well plac'd,
Indeed his king, to be incag'd in Wales,
There without ransom to lie forfeited;
Sought to entrap me by intelligence;
Disgrac'd me in my happy victories;
Rated my uncle from the council-board:
Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong:
In rage dismiss'd my father from the court;
And, in conclusion, drove us to seek out
This head of safety; and, withal, to pry

Blunt. I come with gracious offers from the Into his title, the which we find

To whom they are directed: if you knew
How much they do import, you would make

haste.

Gent. My good lord,

I guess their tenor.

Arch. Like enough, you do.

To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day,
Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Must 'bide the touch: For, Sir, at Shrewsbury,
As I am truly given to understand,

The king, with mighty and quick-raised power,
Meets with lord Harry: and I fear, Sir Mi-
chael,-

What with the sickness of Northumberland,
(Whose power was in the first proportion,)
And what with Owen Glendower's absence,
thence,

(Who with them was a rated sinew too,

And comes not in, o'er-rul'd by prophecies,)—

I fear the power of Percy is too weak

To wage an instant trial with the king.

And be no more an exhal'd meteor,
A prodigy of fear, and a portent

of broached mischief to the unborn times?
Wor. Hear me, my liege:

For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for, I do protest,

I have not sought the day of this dislike.
K. Hen. You have not sought for it! how
comes it then?

Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found
it.

K. Hen. Peace, chewet, . peace.

Wor. It pleas'd your majesty to turn your

looks

Of favour, from myself and all our house;
And yet I must remember you, my lord,
We were the first and dearest of your friends
For you, my staff of office did I break
In Richard's time; and posted day and night
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,

Gent. Why, good my lord, you need not fear; When yet you were in place and in account

there's Douglas,

And Mortimer.

Arch. No, Mortimer's not there.

Gent. But there is Mordake, Vernon, lord
Harry Percy,

And there's my lord of Worcester; and a head
of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.
Arch. And so there is: but yet the king hath
drawn,

The special head of all the land together ;-
The prince of Wales, lord John of Lancaster,
The noble Westmoreland, and warlike Blunt;
And many more corrivals, and dear men
Of estimation and command in arms.

Gent. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well
oppos'd.

Arch. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear;
And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed:
For, if lord Percy thrive not, ere the king
Dismiss his power, he means to visit us,-
For he hath heard of our confederacy,-
And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against
him;

Therefore, make haste: I must go write again
To other friends; and so farewell, Sir Michael.
[Exeunt severally.

ACT V.

Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.

It was myself, my brother, and his son,
That brought you home, and boldly did out-

dare,

The dangers of the time: You swore to us,—
And you did swear that oath at Doncaster,-
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n
right,

The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster:
To this we swore our aid. But, in short space,
It rain'd down fortune showering on your
head;

And such a flood of greatness fell on you,-
What with our help; what with the absent
king;

What with the injuries of a wanton time;
The seeming sufferances that you had horne;
And the contrarious winds, that held the king
So long in his unlucky Irish wars,
That all in England did repute him dead,-
And, from this swarm of fair advantages,
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand:
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;
And, being fed by us, you us'd us so
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,
Useth the sparrow: did oppress our nest;
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk,

That even our love durst not come near your
sight

SCENE I.-The King's Camp near Shrews-We were enforc'd, for safety sake, to fly

For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing

bury.

Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince
JOHN of Lancaster, Sir WLLTER BLUNT,

and Sir JOHN FALSTAFF.

K. Hen. How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale
At his distemperature,

P. Hen. The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes;
And, by his hollow whistling in the leaves,
Foretells a tempest, and a blustering day.
K. Hen. Then with the losers let it sym-
pathize;

For nothing can seem foul to those that win.

Trumpet-Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.

Out of your sight, and raise this present head :
Whereby we stand opposed by such means
AS you yourself have forg'd against yourself;
By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,
And violation of all faith and troth
Sworn to us in your younger enterprize.

K. Hen. These things, indeed, you have arti-
culated,

Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches;
To face the garment of rebellion

With some fine colour, that may please the

cye

Of fickle changelings, and poor discontents,
Which gape, and rub the elbow, at the news
Of hurlyburly innovation:

And never yet did insurrection want
Such water colours, to impaint his cause;

Of pell-mell havoc and confusion.
P. Hen. In both our armies, there
a soul

How now, my lord of Worcester? 'tis not well,Nor moody beggars, starving for a time
That you and I should meet upon such terms
As now we meet: You have deceiv'd our trust;
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to't? will you again unknit
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war?
And move in that obedient orb again,
Where you would give a fair and natural light;

A strength on which they recko d.
: Woods

s many

Shall pay full dearly for this encounter,
If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew,
The prince of Wales doth join with all the
world

In praise of Henry Percy; By my hopes,
This present enterprize set off his head,

• A chattering bird, a pie

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 bair-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen :
All his offences live upon my head,
And on his father's ;-we did train him ou;
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,

K. Hen. And, prince of Wales, so dare we In any case, the offer of the king.
venture thee: