A borrow'd title hast thou bought too dear: Until I meet the king. Hot. Up, and away! Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day. Other alarums. Enter FALSTAFF. [Exeunt. Fal. Though I could scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here: here's no scoring but upon the pate.-Soft! who art thou? Sir Walter Blunt:-there's honour for you: here's no vanity!—I am as hot as molten lead, and as heavy too: God keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels.-I have led my raggamuffins where they are peppered: there's not three of my hundred and fifty left alive; and they are for the town's end, to beg during life.— But who comes here? Enter PRINCE HENRY. P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend me thy sword: Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies, Whose deaths are unreveng'd: Pr'ythee, lend me thy sword. Fal. O Hal, I pr'ythee, give me leave to breathe awhile. -Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure. P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. Lend me thy sword, I pr'ythee. Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive thou gettest not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. P. Hen. Give it me: what, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's that will sack a city. [The PRINCE draws out a bottle of sack. P. Hen. What, is't a time to jest and dally now? [Throws it at him, and exit. Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. If he do come in my way, so; if he do not, if I come in his willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. I like not such grinning honour as Sir Walter hath: give me life: which if I can save, so; if not, honour comes unlooked for, and there's an end. [Exit. SCENE IV.-Another part of the Field. Alarums. Excursions. Enter KING HENRY, PRINCE HENRY, PRINCE JOHN, and WESTMORELAND. K. Hen. I pr'ythee, Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.— P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. West. Come, my lord, I will lead you to your tent. P. Hen. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help: And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive The Prince of Wales from such a field as this, Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on, And rebels' arms triumph in massacres ! [land, P. John. We breathe too long:-come, cousin Westmore Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come. [Exeunt P. JOHN and WEST. P. Hen. By heaven, thou hast deceiv'd me, Lancaster; I did not think thee lord of such a spirit: Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John; But now I do respect thee as my soul. K. Hen. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point With lustier maintenance than I did look for Of such an ungrown warrior. P. Hen. Lends mettle to us all. Alarums. O, this boy Enter DOUGLAS. [Exit. Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads: I am the Douglas, fatal to all those That wear those colours on them:-What art thou, That counterfeit'st the person of a king? K. Hen. The king himself, who, Douglas, grieves at heart, So many of his shadows thou hast met, And not the very king. I have two boys Doug. I fear, thou art another counterfeit ; But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be, [They fight; the KING being in danger, P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like Never to hold it up again! the spirits [They fight; DOUGLAS flies. P. Hen. O God, they did me too much injury K. Hen. Make up to Clifton, I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey. Enter HOTSPUR. Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. P. Hen. A very valiant rebel of the name. Why, then I see I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere; Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come To end the one of us; and would to God Thy name in arms were now as great as mine! P. Hen. I'll make it greater ere I part from thee; [Exit. [They fight. Enter FALSTAFF. Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you. Re-enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF, who falls down as if he were dead, and exit DOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls. Hot. O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth! I better brook the loss of brittle life Than those proud titles thou hast won of me; They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh:But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool; And time, that takes survey of all the world, Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy, But that the earthy and cold hand of death Lies on my tongue:-No, Percy, thou art dust, [Dies. P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk! [heart!— When that this body did contain a spirit, A kingdom for it was too small a bound; But now two paces of the vilest earth Is room enough:-this earth that bears thee dead If thou wert sensible of courtesy, - I should not make so dear a show of zeal: [He sees FAL. on the ground. What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh I could have better spar'd a better man. [Exit. Fal. [rising slowly.] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too to-morrow. 'Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot Counterfeit? termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. I lie, I am no counterfeit: to die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life. Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead: how if he should counterfeit too, and rise? I am afraid he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure: yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why may not he rise as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah [stabbing him], with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me. [Takes HOTSPUR on his back. Re-enter PRINCE HENRY and PRINCE JOHN. P. Hen. Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou Thy maiden sword. P. John. But, soft! whom have we here? Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? [flesh'd P. Hen. I did; I saw him dead, breathless and bleeding On the ground. Art thou alive? or is it fantasy That plays upon our eyesight? I pr'ythee, speak; We will not trust our eyes without our ears: Thou art not what thou seem'st. Fal. No, that's certain; I am not a double man: but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There is Percy [throwing the body down]: if your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you. I P. Hen. Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead. Fal. Didst thou?-Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!-I_grant you I was down and out of breath, and so was he; but we rose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, so; if not, let them that should reward valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the thigh: if the man were alive, and would deny it, zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword. P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard. |