P. Hen. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king. P. Hen. I care not. Poins. Sir John, I pr'ythee, leave the prince and me alone; I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure, that he shall go. Fal. Well, may'st thou have the spirit of persuasion, and he 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. P. Hen. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell Allhallown summer! [Exit Falstaff. Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord,ride with us tomorrow; I have a jest to execute, that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill, shall rob those men that we have already way-laid; yourself, and I, will not be there: and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from my shoulders. P. Hen. But 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. P. Hen. Ay, 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 visors we will change, after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments. P. Hen. 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 reason, I'll for swear 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. P. Hen. 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. [Exit Poins. Who doth permit the base contagious clouds Redeeming time, when men think least I will. [Exit. SCENE III. The same. Another Room in the Palace. Enter KING HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, SIR WALTER BLUNT, and others. K. Hen. My blood hath been too cold and temperate, Unapt to stir at these indignities, And you have found me; for, accordingly, You tread upon my patience: but, be sure, Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down, And therefore lost that title of respect, Which the proud soul ne'er pays, but to the proud. And that same greatness too which our own hands North. My lord, K. Hen. Worcester, get thee gone, for I see danger You have good leave to leave us; when we need [Exit Worcester. [To North. You were about to speak. Either envy, therefore, or misprision Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners: And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held And, as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, He question'd me: among the rest demanded I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold, Out of my grief and my impatience, Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what; He should, or he should not ;-for he made me mad, To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman, Of guns, and drums, and wounds (God save the mark!) And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth Was parmaceti, for an inward bruise; And that it was great pity, so it was, Betwixt my love and your bigh majesty. Blunt. The circumstance consider'd good, my lord, Whatever Harry Percy then had said, To such a person, and in such a place, K. Hen. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners; That we, at our own charge, shall ransom straight Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd The lives of those, that he did lead to fight Hot. Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, But by the chance of war;-To prove that true, Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds, Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, In single opposition, hand to hand, He did confound the best part of an hour In changing hardiment with great Glendower: Three times they breath'd, and three times did they Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, Colour her working with such deadly wounds; Then let him not be slander'd with revolt. [drink, K. Hen. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie He never did encounter with Glendower; I tell thee, He durst as well have met the devil alone, [him, |