P. Hen. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. Fal. Well, may'st thou have the spirit of persuasion, and he the ears of profiting, that what Fal. O thou hast damnable iteration: and art, thou speakest may move, and what he hears may indeed, able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done be believed, that the true prince may (for recreamuch harm upon me, Hal,-God forgive thee for tion sake) prove a false thief; for the poor abuses it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and of the time want countenance. Farewell: You now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better shall find me in Eastcheap. than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, P. Hen. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, and I will give it over; by the Lord, an I do not, All-hallown summer!" I am a villain; I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom. P. Hen. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? Fal. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an do not, call me villain, and baffle me. P. Hen. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying, to purse-taking. Enter Poins, at a distance. I [Exit Falstaf. 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 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 Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wheresin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins!-in it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. adventure upon the exploit themselves: which O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in they shall have no sooner achieved, but we'll set hell were hot enough for him? This is the most upon them. omnipotent villain, that ever cried, Stand, to a true' man. P. Hen. Good morrow, Ned. 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. 8 Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal.-What says Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see, I'll monsieur Remorse? What says sir John Sack- tie them in the wood; our visors we will change, and-Sugar? Jack, how agrees the devil and thee after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-friday buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outlast, for a cup of Madeira, and a cold capon's leg? ward garments. P. Hen. 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 dumn'd for keeping thy word with the devil. 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 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, Poins. But, my lads, muy lads, to-morrow morn-at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, ing, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill: There are what extremities he endured; and, in the reproof pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, of this, lies the jest. P. Hen. Else he had been damned for cozening the devil. and traders riding to London with fat purses: P. Hen. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all have visors for you all, you have horses for your-things necessary, and meet me to-morrow night in selves; Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have Eastcheap, there I'll sup. Farewell. bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap ;| Poins. Farewell, my lord. we may do it as secure as sleep: If you will go, will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home, and be hanged. Fal. Hear me, Yedward; if I tarry at home, and go not, I'll hang you for going. Poins. You will, chops? Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one? P. Hen. 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. P. Hen. Well, then, once in my days I'll be mad-cap. Fal. Why, that's well said. a 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. [Exit Poins. (7) Fine weather at All-hallown-tide (i. e. All Saints, Nov. 1st) is called an All-hallown summer. (8) Occasion. (9) Confutation. (10) Expectations. (11) Dull. SCENE III.-The same. Another room in the Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, others. K. Hen. My blood hath been too cold and tem- This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord, perate, Unapt to stir at these indignities, And you have found me; for, accordingly, serves The scourge of greatness to be used on it; North. My lord,—— K. Hen. Worcester, get thee gone, for I see And disobedience in thine eye: O, sir, You were about to speak. Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held He question'd me; among the rest demanded I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold, mark!) I answer'd indirectly, as I said; Betwixt my love and your high majesty. To such a person and in such a place, But with proviso, and exception, That we, at our own charge, shall ransom straight Hot. Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, He did confound the best part of an hour Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; Nor never could the noble Mortimer He never did encounter with Glendower; [Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train. (5) Parrot. (6) Pain. (7) Brave. And tell him so; for I will ease my heart, Although it be with hazard of my head. And now I will unclasp a secret book, And to your quick-conceiving discontents North. What, drunk with choler? stay, and I'll read you matter deep and dangerous; pause a while; Here comes your uncle. 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 dust, But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer As high i'the air as this unthankful king, As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke. North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew [To Worcester. Wor. Who struck this heat up, after I was gone? Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners; And 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, Trembling even at the name of Mortimer. Wor. I cannot blame him: was he not proclaim'd, By Richard that dead is, the next of blood? mad. North. He was; I heard the proclamation: From whence he, intercepted, did return Wor. And for whose death, we in the world's wide mouth Live scandaliz'd, and foully spoken of. then Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer North. Peace, cousin, say no more: (2) The dog-rose. (4) A rival. (5) Friendship. (6) Shapes created by his imagination. As full of peril, and advent'rous spirit, Hot. If he fall in, good night :-or sink or swim. North. Imagination of some great exploit Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. Hot. By heaven, methinks, it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon: Or dive into the bottom of the deep, Where fathom-line could never touch the ground, And pluck up drowned honour by the locks; So he, that doth redeem her thence, might wear, Without corrival, all her dignities: But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship!" Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here. But not the form of what he should attend.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: No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not: I'll keep them, by this hand. Wor. You start away, And lend no ear unto my purposes.— Those prisoners you shall keep. Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat:- I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak Wor. Cousin, a word. Hear you, Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy," Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke: And that same sword-and-buckler prince of Wales, But that I think his father loves him not, Wor. Farewell, kinsman! I will talk to you, 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 In Richard's time,-What do you call the place?- Hot. You say true : (7) Refuse. (8) The term for a blustering quarrelsome fellow. (9) Mind, humour. Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners. 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. I smell it; upon my life, it will do well. Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble And then the power of Scotland, and of York,-| The king will always think him in our debt; Wor. Cousin, farewell:-No further go in this, I trust. Hot. Uncle, adieu :-O, let the hours be short, Till fields, and blows, and groans, applaud our sport! [Exeunt. 2 Car. Pease 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. 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 house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like a tench." 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.io" 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 Charing-cross. 1 Car. 'Odsbody! the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved.-What, ostler!-A plague on thee! hast thou never an eye in thy head? canst not hear? An 'twere not as good a deed as drink, to break the pate of thee, I am a very villain.Come, and be hanged:-Hast no faith in thee? Enter Gadshill. Gads. Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock? 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. [Exe. Carriers. Gads. What, ho! chamberlain ! Cham. [Within.] At hand, quoth pick-purse." 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 franklin12 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. (9) Spotted like a tench. (10) A small fish supposed to breed fleas. (11) A proverb, from the pick-purse being always ready. (12) Freeholder. Gads. Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicho-miles afoot with me; and the stony-hearted villains las' clerks, I'll give thee this neck. know it well enough: A plague upon't, when Cham. No, I'll none of it: I pr'ythee keep that thieves cannot be true to one another! [They whis for the hangman; for, I know, thou worship'st tle.] Whew!-A plague upon you all! Give me Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may. my horse, you rogues; give me my horse, and be Gads. What talkest thou to me of the hangman? hanged. if I hang, I'll make a fat pair of gallows: for, if I P. Hen. Peace, ye fat-guts! lie down; lay thine hang, old sir John hangs with me; and, thou ear close to the ground, and list if thou canst hear knowest, he's no starveling. Tut! there are other the tread of travellers. P. Hen. Thou liest, thou art not colted, thou art Trojans that thou dreamest not of, the which, for Fal. Have you any levers to lift me up again, sport sake, are content to do the profession some being down? 'Sblood, I'll not bear mine own flesh grace; that would, if matters should be looked so far afoot again, for all the coin in thy father's into, for their own credit sake, make all whole. I exchequer. What a plague mean ye to colt" me am joined with no foot land-rakers,2 no long-staff, thus? six-penny strikers; none of these mad, mustachio, purple-hued malt-worms: but with nobility, and uncolted. tranquility; burgomasters, and great oneyers; Fal. I pr'ythee, good prince Hal, help me to my such as can hold in: such as will strike sooner than horse; good king's son." speak, and speak sooner than drink, and drink sooner P. Hen. Out, you rogue! shall I be your ostler? than pray: And yet I lie; for they pray continually Fal. Go, hang thyself in thy own heir-apparent to their saint, the commonwealth; or, rather, not garters! If I be ta'en, I'll peach for this. An I pray to her, but prey on her; for they ride up and have not ballads made on you all, and sung to filthy down on her, and make her their boots.+ tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison: When a jest Cham. What, the commonwealth their boots? is so forward, and afoot too,-I hate it. will she hold out water in foul way? Gads. She will, she will; justice hath liquored her. We steal as in a castle, cock-sure; we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible. Cham. Nay, by my faith; I think you are more beholden to the night, than to fern-seed, for your walking invisible. Gads. Give me thy hand: thou shalt have a share in our purchase, as I am a true' man. Cham. Nay, rather let me have it, as you are false thief. a Gads. Stand. Enter Gadshill. Fal. So I do, against my will. Bard. What news? Gads. Case ye, case ye; on with your visors; 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. Gads. Go to; 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; Bardolph and Peto at some narrow lane; Ned Poins, and I, will walk lower: if they 'scape from your encounter, then they light 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 brawling dost thou keep! a P. Hen. Sirs, you four shall front them in the on us. Peto. How many be there of them? Fal. Zounds! will they not rob us? P. Hen. What, a coward, sir John Paunch? Fal. Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your grandfather; but yet no coward, Hal. P. Hen. Well, we leave that to the proof. Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind the find him. Farewell, and stand fast. hedge; when thou needest him, there thou shalt Fal. Now cannot I strike him, if I should be 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 and twenty years, and yet I am bewitched with the rogue's company. If the rascal have not 1 Trav. Come, neighbour; the boy shall lead our given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be horses down the hill: we'll walk afoot awhile, and hanged; it could not be else; I have drunk medi-ease our legs. cines.-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 Fal. Strike, down with them; cut the villains' turn true1o man, and leave these rogues, I am the throats: Ah! whoreson caterpillars! bacon-fed veriest varlet that ever chewed with a tooth. Eight knaves! they hate us youth: down with them; yards of uneven ground, is threescore and ten fleece them. (1) Cant term for highwaymen. (2) Footpads. (3) Public accountants. (4) Booty. (5) Oiled, smoothed her over. Thieves. Stand. (6) In what we acquire. (7) Honest. |