Poins. Farewell, my lord. Exit POINS. The unyok'd humour of your idleness : come, And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. Enter King HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, BLUNT, and others. K. Hen. My blood hath been too cold and down, And therefore lost that title of respect, Wor. Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves The scourge of greatness to be used on it; North. My lord, [hands [ly, He was perfumed like a milliner; To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth And, I beseech you, let not this report Whatever Harry Percy then hath said, K. Hen. Why, yet he doth deny his prison- K. Hen. Worcester, get thee gone, for Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd see danger And disobedience in thine eye: O, Sir, You were about to speak. [TO NORTH. Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil, The lives of those that he did lead to fight Hot. Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, wounds, He did confound the best part of an hour *A small box for musk or other perfumes. Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, Blood-stained with these valiant combatants. Never did bare and rotten policy - Colour her working with such deadly wounds; He never did encounter with Glendower; He durst as well have met the devil alone, means, Or you shall hear in such a kind from me As will displease you.-My lord Northumberland, We license your departure with your son:- I will not send them :--I will after straight, Re-enter WORCESTER. Hot. Speak of Mortimer? 'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul Want mercy, if I do not join with him: Yea, on his part, I'll empty all these veins, And shed my dear blood drop by drop i'the But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer [dust, As high 'the air as this unthankful king, As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke. North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad. [To WORCESTER. Wor. Who struck this heat up, after I was gone? [ers; Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisonAnd when I urg'd the ransom once again Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale ; And on my face he turn'd an eye of death, Wor. I cannot blame him: Was he not pro claim'd, That wish'd him on the barren mountains starv'd. But shall it be, that you,-that set the crown And shall it, in more shame, he further spoken, Wor. Peace, cousin, say no more: Hot. If he fall in, good night :-or sink or swim: Send danger from the east unto the west, And pluck up drowned honour by the locks; But not the form of what he should attend,Wor. He apprehends a world of figures|| here, Good cousin, give me audience for a while. Hot. I cry you mercy. Wor. Those same noble Scots, That are your prisoners, Hot. I'll keep them all; By heaven he shall not have a Scot of them: Wor. You start away, Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat:- Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy,* Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke; And that same sword-and-bucklert Prince of Wales. But that I think his father loves him not, And would be glad he met with some mischance, I'd have him poison'd with a pot of ale. Wor. Farewell, kinsman! I will talk to you, When you are better temper'd to attend. North. Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool Art thou, to break into this woman's mood; Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear A plague upon't!-it is in Gloustershire ;- Hot. You say true: Why, what a candy! deal of courtesy O, the devil take such cozeners!- -God for Good uncle, tell your tale, for I have done. Wor. Nay, if you have not, to't again; We'll stay your leisure. Hot. I have done, i'faith. [soners. Wor. Then once more to your Scottish priDeliver them up without their ransom straight, And make the Douglas' son your only mean For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons, . Which I shall send you written,-be assur'd, Will easily be granted.-You, my lord, [To NORTHUMBERLAND. Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,― Shall secretly into the bosom creep Of that same noble prelate, well belov'd, The archbishop. Hot. Of York, is't not? Wor. True; who bears hard His brother's death at Bristol the lord Scroop. As what I think might be, but what I know Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble And then the power of Scotland, and of York,To join with Mortimer, ha? Wor. And so they shall. Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd. Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed, To save our heads by raising of a head :* For, bear ourselves as even as we can, The king we always think him in our debt; And think we think ourselves unsatisfied, Till he bath found a time to pay us home. And see already, how he doth begin To make us strangers to his looks of love. Hot. He does, he does; we'll be reveng'd on him. Wor. Cousin, farewell :-No further go in this, Than I by letters shall direct your course. When time is ripe, (which will be suddenly,) I'll steal to Glendower, and lord Mortimer; Where you and Douglas, and our powers at SCENE I-Rochester.-An Inn Yard. Enter a CARRIER, with a lantern in his hand. 1 Car. Heigh ho! An't be not four by the day, I'll be hanged: Charles' waint is over the new chimney, and yet our horse not packed. What, ostler! Ost. [Within] Anon, anon. 1 Car. I pry thee Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point; the poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess.! Enter another CARRIER. 2 Car. Pease and beans are as dank|| here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor down, since Robin ostler died. jades the bots: this house is turned upside 1 Car. Poor fellow? never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of him. 2 Car. I think, this be the most villanous like a tench.** house in all London road for fleas : I am stung 1 Car. Like a tench? by the mass, there is ne'er a king in Christendom could be better bit than I have been since the first cock. 2 Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a jorden, and then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.tt 1 Car. What, ostler! come away and be hanged, come away. 2 Car. I have a gammon of bacon, and two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charingcross. 1 Car. 'Odsbody! the turkies in my pannier are quite starved.-What, ostler!-A plague canst not hear? An 'twere not as good a deed on thee! hast thou never an eye in thy head? as drink, to break the pate of thee, I am a very villain.-Come, and be hanged:-Hast no faith in thee? 1 Car. I think it be two o'clock. Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding in the stable. 1 Car. Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick worth two of that, i'faith. Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thine. 2 Car. Ay, when? canst tell?-Lend me thy lantern, quoth a!-marry, I'll see thee hanged first. Gads. Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to London? 2 Car. Time enough to go to bed with a candle, I warrant thee.-Come, neighbour Mugs, we'll call up the gentlemen; they will along with company, for they have great charge. [Exeunt CARRIERS. Gads. What ho! chamberlain ! Cham. [Within.] At hand, quoth pickpurse.* Gads. That's even as fair as-at hand, quoth the chamberlain: for thou variest no more from picking of purses, than giving direction doth from labouring; thou lay'st the plot how. Enter CHAMBERLAIN. Cham. Good morrow, master Gadshill. It holds current, that I told you yesternight: There's a franklint in the wild of Kent, hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold: I heard him tell it to one of his company, last night at supper; a kind of auditor; one that hath abundance of charge too, God knows what. They are up already, and call for eggs and butter: They will away presently. Gads. Sirrah, if they meet not with saint Nicholas' clerks, I'll give thee this neck. Cham. No, I'll none of it: I pr'ythee, keep that for the hangman; for, I know, thou worship'st saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may. Gads. What talkest thou to me of the hangman? if I hang, I'll make a fat pair of gallows: for, if I hang, old Sir John hangs with me; and, thou knowest, he's no starveling. Tut! there are other Trojans that thou dreamest not of, the which, for sport sake, are content to do the profession some grace; that would, if| matters should be looked into, for their own credit sake, make all whole. I am joined with no foot land-rakers, no long-staff, sixpenny strikers; none of these mad, mustachio purplehued malt-worms: but with nobility, and tranquillity; burgomasters, and great oneyers;|| such as can hold in; such as will strike sooner than speak, and speak sooner than drink, and drink sooner than pray: And yet I lie; for they pray continually to their saint, the commonwealth; or, rather, not pray to her, but prey on her; for they ride up and down on her, and make her their boots.T Gads. Goto; Homo is a common name to all men. Bid the ostler bring my gelding out of the stable. Farewell, you muddy knave. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The Road by Gadshill. Enter Prince HENRY, and POINS; BARDOLK and PETO, at some distance. Poins. Come, shelter, shelter; I have removed Falstaff's horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet. P. Hen. Stand close. Enter FALSTAFF. Fal. Poins! Poins, and be hanged! Poins! P. Hen. Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal; What a brawling dost thou keep? Fal. Where's Poins, Hal? P. Hen. He is walked up to the top of the hill ;.I'll go seek him. [Pretends to seek POINS. Fal. I am accursed to rob in that thief's company; the rascal hath removed my horse, and tied him I know not where. If I travel but four foot by the squire further afoot, I shall break my wind. Well, I doubt not but to die a fair death for all this, if I 'scape hanging for killing that rogue. I have forsworn his company hourly any time this two-andtwenty years, and yet I am bewitched with the rogue's company. If the rascal have not given me medicinest to make me love him, I'll be hanged; it could not be else; I have drunk medicines.-Poins!-Hal!-a plague upon you both!-Bardolph!-Peto!-I'll starve, ere I'll rob a foot further. An 'twere not as good a deed as drink, to turn true‡ man, and leave \ these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven ground, is threescore and ten miles a foot with me; and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough: A plague upon't, when thieves cannot be true to one another! [They whistle.] Whew!-A plague upon you all! Give me my horse, you rogues; give me my horse, and be hanged. P. Hen. Peace, ye fat-guts! lie down; lay thine ear close to the ground, and list if thou canst hear the tread of travellers. Fal. Have you any levers to lift me up again, being down? 'Sblood, I'll not bear mine own flesh so far afoot again, for all the coin in thy father's exchequer. What a plague mean ye to colt me thus? P. Hen. Thou liest, thou art not colted, thou art uncolted. Fal. I pr'ythee, good prince Hal, help me to my horse; good king's son. P. Hen. Out, you rogue! shall I be your ostler! Cham. What, the commonwealth their Fal. Go, hang thyself in thy own heir-appaboots? will she hold out water in foul way? rent garters! If I be ta'en, I'll peach for this. Gads. She will, she will; justice hath li- An I have not ballads made on you all, and quored her.** We steal us in a castle, cock-sung to filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my sure; we have the receipt of fern-seed, we poison: When a jest is so forward, and afoot walk invisible. too,--I hate it. 1 there's money of the king's coming down the hill; 'tis going to the king's exchequer. Fal. You lie, you rogue; 'tis going to the king's tavern. Gads. There's enough to make us all. P. Hen. Sirs, you four shall front them in the narrow lane; Ned Poins, and I, will walk lower: if they 'scape from your encounter, then they light on us. Peto. How many be there of them? Fal. 'Zounds! will they not rob us? P. Hen. Well, we leave that to the proof. P. Hen. Ned, where are our disguises? [Exeunt P. HENRY and POINS. Fal. Now, my masters, happy man be his dole,* say I; every man to his business. Enter TRAVELLERS. 1 Trav. Come, neighbour; the boy shall lead our horses down the hill: we'll walk afoot a while, and ease our legs. Thieves. Stand. Trav. Jesu bless us! Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death, Enter HOTSPUR, reading a Letter. But, for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house.-He could be contented, Why is he not then! In respect of the love his own baru better than he loves our house. he bears our house :-he shows in this, he loves Let me see some more. dertake, is dangerous;-Why, that's certain; The purpose you un'tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink: but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. The purpose you undertake, is dangerous; the friends you have named, uncertain; the time itself unsorted; and your whole plot too light, for the Counterpoise of so great an opposition.-Say you so, say you so I say unto you again, you are a shallow, cowardly hind, and you lie. What a lack-brain is this? By the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant: a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation: an excellent plot, very good friends. What a frosty-spirited rogue is this? Why, my lord of York commends the plot, and the general course of the action. Fal. Strike; down with them; cut the vil-Zounds, an I were now by this rascal, I could lains' throats: Ah! whoreson caterpillars! bacon-fed knaves! they hate us youth: down with them; fleece them. 1 Trav. O, we are undone, both we and ours, for ever. brain him with his lady's fan. Is there not my father, my uncle, and myself? lord Edward Mortimer, my lord of York, and Owen Glendower? Is there not, besides, the Douglas? Have I not all their letters, to meet me in they not, some of them, set forward already? arms by the ninth of the next mouth? and are What a pagan rascal is this! an infidel! Ha! you shall see now, in very sincerity of fear and cold heart, will he to the king, and lay open Fal. Hang ye, gorbelliedt knaves; Are ye undone? No, yet fat chuffs; I would, your store were here! On, bacons, on! What, ye knaves? young men must live: You are grand-jurors are ye? We'll jure ye, i'faith. [Exeunt FALSTAFF, &c. driving the TRA-all our proceedings. O, I could divide myself, VELLERS out. Re-enter Prince HENRY and POINS. P. Hen. The thieves have bound the true men: Now could thou and I rob the thieves, and go merrily to London, it would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for ever. Poins. Stand close, I hear them coming. Re-enter THIEVES. Fal. Come, my masters, let us share, and then to horse before day. An the prince and Poins be not two arrant cowards, there's no equity stirring? there's no more valour in that Poins, than in a wild duck. P. Hen. Your money. [Rushing out upon them. Poins. Villains. and go to buffets, for moving such a dish of skimmed milk with so honourable an action! Hang him! let him tell the king: We are prepared: I will set forward to-night. Enter Lady PERCY. How now, Kate? I must leave you within these two hours. Lady. O my good lord, why are you thus For what offence have I, this fortnight, been Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep? [As they are sharing, the PRINCE and And given my treasures, and my rights of thes, P. Hen. Got with much ease. Now mer-Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed; Cry, Courage!-to the field! And thou hast talk'd rily to horse: The thieves are scatter'd, and possess'd with So strongly, that they dare not meet each other; * Portion. † Fat, corpulent. Clowns. A subject. Of sallies, and retires; of trenches, tents, * Drops his fat. |