50

For more uneven and unwelcome news
Came from the north, and thus it did import:
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon met,

Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour,
As by discharge of their artillery,

And shape of likelihood, the news was told; For he that brought them, in the very heat And pride of their contention did take horse, Uncertain of the issue any way.

61

King. Here is a dear, a true - industrious friend,

Sir Walter Blunt, new-lighted from his horse, {[Stain'd with the variation of each soil

Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;] And he hath brought us smooth and welcome

To beaten Douglas, and the Earl of Athol, 72
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith;
And is not this an honourable spoil?
A gallant prize? ha! cousin, is it not?
West. In faith,

It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.

King. Yea, there thou mak'st me sad and mak'st me sin

80

In envy that my Lord Northumberland
Should be the father to so blest a son,
A son who is the theme of honour's tongue,
Amongst a grove the very straightest plant,
Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her

pride; Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him, See riot and dishonour stain the brow Of my young Harry. O that it could be prov'd

That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd In cradle-clothes our children where they lay, And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!

Then would I have his Harry, and he mine. But let him from my thoughts.-What think

[Rising from throne. Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we Will hold at Windsor: so inform the lords; But come yourself with speed to us again, For more is to be said and to be done Than out of anger can be uttered. West. I will, my liege.

107

[Flourish of trumpets. Exeunt.

7 Minion, favourite, darling.

To his own use, for his own purposes.

• Prune, plume.

SCENE II. London. An Apartment belonging to Prince Henry.

Enter PRINCE HENRY and FALSTAFF, from opposite sides.

Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack,1 and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, [and dials the signs of leaping-houses,2 and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, ] I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me3 now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, "that wand'ring knight so fair." And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy grace,-majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have none,—

Prince. What, none?

20

Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly,+ roundly.

Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be call'd thieves of the day's beauty: let us be-Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

33

Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatch'd on Monday night, and most dis

1 Sack, Spanish or Canary wine.

2 Leaping-houses, brothels.

solutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing "lay by," and spent with crying "bring in;"" now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

Fal. By the Lord, thou say'st true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?

49

Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit.

Fal. Yea, and so us'd it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent,but, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobb'd' as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic 10 the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. Prince. No; thou shalt.

71

3 Come near me, hit me.

4 Roundly, bluntly.

11 Jumps, agrees.

10 Antic, buffoon.

day in the street about you, sir, but I mark'd him not; and yet he talk'd very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talk'd wisely, and in the street too.

Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. 100

Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration," and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew

Poins. Then art thou damn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

Prince. Else he had been damn'd for cozening the devil.

Poins.] But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London

with fat purses. I have vizards" for you all;

you have horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hang'd.

Fal. Hear ye, Yedward;3 if I tarry at home and go not, I'll hang you for going.

Poins. You will, chops?

150

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one? Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.

Fal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'st not of the blood royal, if thou dar'st not stand for ten shillings.

Prince. Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap.

1 Set a match, planned a robbery.

2 Vizards, vizors, masks.

2 Yedward, a familiar form of Edward.

160

Fal. Why, that's well said. Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.

Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

Prince. I care not.

Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go. 169

Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him 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.

Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, All-hallown1 summer! [Exit Falstaff. 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 waylaid: yourself and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders.

186

Prince. 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 achiev'd, but we'll set upon them.

Prince. Yea, but 't is like that they will know us by our horses, by our habits, and by every other appointment,7 to be ourselves. 197

Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see; I'll tie them in the wood: our vizards we will change after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.

Prince. Yea, 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, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof1 of this lies the jest. Prince. 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.

Prince. I know you all, and will awhile uphold

The unyok'd humour of your idleness; 220
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd-for

And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes; 3
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill; 240
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
[Exit.

19

Your presence is too bold and peremptory,
And majesty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a servant brow.
You have good leave to leave us; when we need
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you.--
[Exit Worcester.
[To Northumberland] You were about to speak.
North.
Yea, my good lord.
Those prisoners in your highness' name de-
manded,

Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,
Were, as he says, not with such strength denied
As is delivered to your majesty;
[Either envy,10 therefore, or misprision"
Is guilty of this fault, and not my son.]

Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners,
But I remember, when the fight was done, 30
When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly
dress'd,

Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home. He was perfumed like a milliner,

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held