most;

King. You all look strangely on me :-and you
[To the CHIEF JUSTICE.
You are, I think, assur'd, I love you not.
Ch. Just. I am assur'd, if I be measur'd rightly,
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
King. No!

How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?
What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy!
May this be wash'd in Lethe and forgotten?
Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me:
And, in the administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person:
Nay, more: to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son:
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd:
And then imagine me taking your part,
And, in your power, soft silencing your son:
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state,
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

4

King. You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well;

Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;
And I do wish your honors may increase,
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words:-
Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son;
And not less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver p his greatness 80
Into the hands of justice.-You did commit me:
For which I do commit into your hand
The unstain'd sword that you have used to bear;
With this remembrance,-That you use the same
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit,
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand;
You shall be as a father to my youth:

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear;
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practis'd, wise directions.-
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you;—
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections;
And with his spirit sadly I survive,
To mock the expectation of the world;
To frustrate prophecies; and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea:
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,
In your regal character and office.

And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament:
And let us choose such limbs of noble council,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us;-
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.
[To the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.
Our coronation done, we will accite,'
As I before remember'd, all our state:
And (God consigning to my good intents)
No prince nor peer, shall have just cause to say,-
Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day.

[Exeunt. SCENE III.-Gloucestershire. The Garden of Shallow's House.

Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, BARDOLPH, the Page, and DAVY.

Shal. Nay, you shall see mine orchard: where, in an arbor, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so forth;— come, cousin Silence;-and then to bed.

Fal. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling, and a rich.

Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all, sir John:-marry, good air.- Spread, Davy; spread, Davy; well said, Davy.

Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving-man, and your husbandman.

Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet, sir John.-By the mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper:-A good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down:-come, cousin.

Sil. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a,-we shall
Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer,

[Singing.
And praise heaven for the merry year;
When flesh is cheap and females dear,
And lusty lads roam here and there,
So merrily,

And ever among so merrily. Fal. There's a merry heart!-Good master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

Shal. Give master Bardolph some wine, Davy. Davy. Sweet sir, sit; [Seating BARDOLPH and the Page at another table.] I'll be with you anon ;— most sweet sir, sit.- -Master page, good master page, sit: proface! What you want in meat, we'll have in drink. But you must bear; the heart's all. [Exit. Shal. Be merry, master Bardolph:-and my little soldier there, be merry.

Sil. Be merry, be merry, my wife's as all;

[Singing. For women are shrews, both short and tall; 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all, And welcome merry shrove-tide. Be merry, be merry, &c.

Fal. I did not think master Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Sil. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once,

ere now.

Re-enter DAVY.

Davy. There is a dish of leather-coats for you. [Setting them before BARDOLPH.

Shal. Davy,Davy. Your worship?-I'll be with you straight. [To BARD.]-A cup of wine, sir?

• Summon.

• Italian, much good may it do you. Apples commonly called russetines.

And drink unto the lady mine;
And a merry heart lives long-a.

Fal. Well said, master Silence,

Sil. And we shall be merry;-now comes in the sweet of the night.

Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence. Sil. Fill the cup, and let it come;

Tll pledge you a mile to the bottom. Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: If thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart. Welcome, my little tiny thief; [To the Page.] and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes about London.

Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die. Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together. Ha! will you not, master Bardolph ?

Bard. Yes, sir, in a pottle pot.

Shal. I thank thee:-The knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that: he will not out: he is true bred.

Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir. Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry. [Knocking heard.] Look who's at door there: Ho! who knocks? [Exit DAVY. Fal. Why, now you have done me right. [To SILENCE, who drinks a bumper. Sil. Do me right, [Singing.

And dub me knight:" Samingo.

Is't not so?

Fal. 'Tis so.

Shal. Harry the fourth. Pist.

A foutra for thine office! Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king; Harry the fifth's the man. I speak the truth: When Pistol lies, do this; and fig me, like The bragging Spaniard.

Fal. What is the old king dead?

Pist. As nail in door: the things I speak, are just. Fal. Away, Bardolph; saddle my horse.-Master Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine.-Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities.

Bard. O joyful day !-I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.

Pist. What? I do bring good news?

Fal. Carry master Silence to bed.-Master Shallow, my lord Shallow, be what thou wilt, I am fortune's steward. Get on thy boots; we'll ride all night:-0, sweet Pistol:-Away Bardolph. [Exit BARD.]-Come, Pistol, utter more to me; and withal, devise something, to do thyself good.— | Boot, boot, master Shallow; I know, the young king is sick for me. Let us take any man's horses; the laws of England are at my commandment. Happy are they which have been my friends; and woe to my lord chief Justice!

Pist. Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also! Where is the life that late I led? say they:

Re-enter DAVY.

Davy. An it please your worship, there's one Pistol

come from the court with news.

Fal. From the court! let him come in.-
Enter PISTOL.

How now, Pistol?

Pist. God save you, sir John!

Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol? Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good. Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the realm.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-London. A Street.

Enter Beadles, dragging in HOSTESS QUICKLY, and DOLL TEAR-SHEET.

Host. No, thou arrant knave; I would I might die, that I might have thee hanged: thou hast drawn my shoulder out of joint.

1 Bead. The constables have delivered her over to me; and she shall have whipping-cheer enough, warrant her: There hath been a man or two lately killed about her.

Doll. Nut-hook, nut-hook,' you lie. Come on;

of Barson.

Pist. Puff?

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!-
Sir John, I am thy Pistol, and thy friend,
And helter-skelter have I rode to thee;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
And golden times, and happy news of price.
Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of

this world.

Pist. A foutra for the world, and worldlings base! I speak of Africa, and golden joys.

Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news? Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof.

Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. [Sings. Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? And shall good news be baffled? Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.

Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.

Pist. Why then, lament therefore.

Shal. Give me pardon, sir;-If, sir, you come

8 He who drank a bumper on his knees, to the health of his mistress, was dubbed a knight for the evening.

It should be Domingo: it is part of a song in one of Nashe's plays.

cal; an the child I now go with, do miscarry, thou hadst better thou hadst struck thy mother, thou paper-faced villain!

Host. O the Lord, that sir John were come! he would make this a bloody day to somebody. But I pray God the fruit of her womb miscarry!

cushions again; you have but eleven now. Come, 1 Bead. If it do, you shall have a dozen of that you and Pistol beat among you. I charge you both go with me; for the man is dead,

Doll. I'll tell thee what, thou thin man in a censer! I will have you as soundly swinged for this, you blue-bottle rogue! you filthy famished correctioner! if you be not swinged, I'll forswear half

kirtles.*

Host. Ay; come, you starved blood-hound.
Doll. Goodman death! goodman bones!
Host. Thou atomy, thou!

Doll. Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal!
1 Bead. Very well.
[Exeunt.

SCENE V.-A public Place near Westminster Abbey.

Enter two Grooms, strewing Rushes.

1 Groom. More rushes, more rushes. 2 Groom. The trumpets have sounded twice. 1 Groom. It will be two o'clock ere they come from the coronation: Despatch, despatch.

[Exeunt Grooms. Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and the Page.

Fal. Stand here by me, master Robert Shallow; I will make the king do you grace: I will leer upon him, as 'a comes by; and do but mark the countenance that he will give me.

Pist. God bless thy lungs, good knight.

Fal. Come here, Pistol; stand behind me.-0, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you. [To SHALLOW.] But 'tis no matter; this poor show doth better: this doth infer the zeal I had to see him.

Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts,

Is in base durance, and contagious prison; Haul'd thither

By most mechanical and dirty hand:

I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swell'd, so old, and so profane;
But, being awake, I do despise my dream.
Make less thy body, hence, and more thy grace;
Leave gormandizing; know, the grave doth gape
For thee thrice wider than for other men:
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest ;
Presume not, that I am the thing I was:

For heaven doth know, so shall the world perceive,
That I have turn'd away my former self;
So will I those that kept my company.
When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me; and thou shalt be as thou wast,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots;
Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,-
As I have done the rest of my misleaders,-
Not to come near our person by ten miles.
That lack of means enforce you not to evil:
For competence of life, I will allow you,
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,
We will, according to your strength, and quali-
ties,-

Give you advancement,-Be it your charge, my
To see perform'd the tenor of our word.

lord,

Set on. [Exeunt KING, and his Train Fal. Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pound.

Shal. Ay, marry, sir John; which I beseech you to let me have home with me.

Fal. That can hardly be, master Shallow. Do not you grieve at this; I shall be sent for in private to him: look you, he must seem thus to the world that shall make you great. Fear not your advancement; I will be the man yet

Shal. I cannot perceive how; unless you give me your doublet, and stuff me out with straw. I beseech you, good sir John, let me have five hundred my thousand.

of

Fal. Sir, I will be as good as my word: this that you heard, was but a color.

Shal. A color, I fear, that you will die in, sir John. Fal. Fear no colors; go with me to dinner. shall be sent for soon at night. Come, lieutenant Pistol;-come, Bardolph:-I

[Exeunt.

Re-enter PRINCE JOHN, the Chief Justice,

Officers, &c.

snake,

For Doll is in; Pistol speaks nought but truth.
Fal. I will deliver her.

[Shouts within, and the Trumpets sound. Pist. There roar'd the sea, the trumpet-clangor sounds.

Enter the KING and his Train, the Chief Justice among them.

Fal. God save thy grace, king Hal! my royal Hal! Pist. The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

Fal. God save thee, my sweet boy!
King. My lord chief Justice, speak to that vain

man.

Ch. Just. Have you your wits? know you what 'tis you speak?

Fal. My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!

King. I know thee not, old man: Fall to thy prayers;

How ill white hairs become a fool, and jester! "Tis all in all, and all in every part.

Fal. My lord, my lord,

Ch. Just. I cannot now speak: I will hear you

soon.

Take them away.

Pist. Si fortuna me tormenta, spero me contenta. [Exeunt FAL., SHAL., PIST., BARD., Page, and Officers.

P. John. I like this fair proceeding of the king's; He hath intent, his wonted followers Shall all be very well provided for; But all are banish'd, till their conversations Appear more wise and modest to the world. Ch. Just. And so they are.

P. John. The king hath call'd his parliament, my lord.

Ch. Just. He hath.

P. John. I will lay odds,-that ere this year expire,

We bear our civil swords and native fire,
As far as France: I heard a bird so sing,
Whose music, to my thinking, pleas'd the king.
Come, will you hence?
[Exeunt.

Henceforward.

KING HENRY THE FIFTH.

DUKE OF GLOSTER,

DUKE OF BEDFORD, Brothers to the King.

DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King.

DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King.

A Herald. Chorus.

CHARLES THE SIXTH, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin.

Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirit, that hath dared,
On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth
So great an object: Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France, or may we cram
Within the wooden O,' the very casques,
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may

1 An allusion to the circular form of the theatre.
Helmets.

Attest, in little place, a million;

And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work:
Suppose, within the girdle of these walls,
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance:
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth:
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times;
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass; For the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history;

Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

Powers of fancy.