Fal. These fellows will do well, master Shal-As might hold sortance with his quality, low.-God keep you, master Silence; I will not The which he could not levy; whereupon use many words with you:-Fare you well, gentle- He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes, men both: I thank you: I must a dozen mile to- To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers, night.-Bardolph, give the soldiers coats. That your attempts may overlive the hazard,

Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper And fearful meeting of their opposite. your affairs, and send us peace! As you return, Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch visit my house; let our old acquaintance be reground, newed: peradventure, I will with you to the court. And dash themselves to pieces. Fal. I would you would, master Shallow. Shal. Go to; I have spoke, at a word. Fare you [Exeunt Shallow and Silence.

well.

Hast.

Enter a Messenger.

Now, what news?

Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bar- In goodly form comes on the enemy: Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile, dolph; lead the men away. [Exeunt Bardolph,

Recruits, &c. As I return, I will fetch off these And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number, justices: I do see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Upon, or near, the rate of thirty thousand.

Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this Mowb. The just proportion that we gave them vice of lying! This same starved justice hath done

out.

Enter Westmoreland.

Arch. What well-appointed' leader fronts us

here?

Then, my lord,

nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his Let us sway on, and face them in the field. youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbullstreet; and every third word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him at Clement's-Inn, like a man made after Mowb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland. supper of a cheese-paring: when he was naked, he West. Health and fair greeting from our general, was, for all the world, like a forked radish, with a The prince, lord John and duke of Lancaster. head fantastically carved upon it with a knife: he Arch. Say on, my lord of Westmoreland, in was so forlorn, that his dimensions to any thick peace; sight were invisible: he was the very genius of What doth concern your coming? famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores West. called him-mandrake: he came ever in the rear- Unto your grace do I in chief address ward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the The substance of my speech. If that rebellion over-scutched huswives that he heard the carmen Came like itself, in base and abject routs, whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage, good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger be- And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary; come a squire; and talks as familiarly of John of I say, damn'd commotion so appear'd,' Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: In his true, native, and most proper shape, and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the You, reverend father, and these noble lords, Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head, for crowd- Had not been here, to dress the ugly form ing among the marshal's men. I saw it; and told Of base and bloody insurrection John of Gaunt, he beat his own name: for you With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,— might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into an Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd; eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a man- Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd; sion for him, a court; and now has he land and Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor❜d; beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him, if Whose white investments figure innocence, I return and it shall go hard, but I will make him The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young dace Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself, be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason, in the Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace, law of nature, but I may snap at him. Let time Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war? shape, and there an end.

ACT IV.

[Exit. Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,
Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet, and a point of war?
Arch. Wherefore do I this?-so the question
stands.

SCENE I-A forest in Yorkshire. Enter the Briefly to this end :-We are all diseas'd;
archbishop of York, Mowbray, Hastings, and And, with our surfeiting, and wanton hours,

others.

Arch. What is this forest call'd?
Hast. "Tis Gualtree forest, an't shall
your grace.

Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send
verers forth,

To know the numbers of our enemies.
Hast. We have sent forth already.
Arch.

Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,
And we must bleed for it: of which disease
Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.
please But, my most noble lord of Westmoreland,
I take not on me here as a physician;
disco-Nor do I as an enemy to peace,

"Tis well done.
My friends, and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have receiv'd
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cola intent, tenour and substance, thus:-
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers

(1) In Clerkenwell. (2) Titles of little poems. (3) A wooden dagger like that used by the modern harlequin.

Troop in the throngs of military men :
But, rather, show a while like fearful war,
To diet rank minds, sick of happiness:
And purge the obstructions, which begin to stop
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weigh'd
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we
suffer,
And find our griefs

(4) Broke.
(6) Be suitable.
(8) Grievances.

heavier than our offences.

(5) Gaunt is thin, slender. (7) Completely accoutred.

We see which way the stream of time doth run,
And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere
By the rough torrent of occasion:
And have the summary of all our griefs,
When time shall serve, to show in articles;
Which, long ere this, we offer'd to the king,
And might by no suit gain our audience:
When we are wrong'd, and would unfold our griefs,
We are denied access unto his person,"
Even by those men that most have done us wrong.
The dangers of the days but newly gone,
(Whose memory is written on the earth
With yet appearing blood,) and the examples
Of every minute's instance, (present now,)
Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms:
Not to break peace, or any branch of it;
But to establish here a peace indeed,
Concurring both in name and quality.

West. When ever yet was your appeal denied?
Wherein have you been galled by the king?
What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you?
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forg'd rebellion with a seal divine,
And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?

Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth,
To brother born a household cruelty,

I make my quarrel in particular.

West. There is no need of any such redress;
Or, if there were, it not belongs to you.
Mowb. Why not to him, in part; and to us all,
'That feel the bruises of the days before;
And suffer the condition of these times
To lay a heavy and unequal hand
Upon our honours ?
West.
O my good lord Mowbray,
Construe the times to their necessities,
And you shall say indeed,-it is the time,
And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet, for your part, it not appears to me,
Either from the king, or in the present time,
That you should have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on: Were you not restor'd
To all the duke of Norfolk's signiories,
Your noble and right-well-remember'd father's?
Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost,
That need to be reviv'd, and breath'd in me?
The king, that lov'd him, as the state stood then,
Was, force perforce, compell'd to banish him:
And then, when Harry Bolingbroke, and he,—
Being mounted, and both rous'd in their seats,
Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,
Their armed staves' in charge, their beavers2 down,
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel,
And the loud trumpet blowing them together;
Then, then, when there was nothing could have staid
My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,
O, when the king did throw his warder4 down
His own life hung upon the staff he threw :
Then threw he down himself; and all their lives,
That, by indictment, and by dint of sword,
Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.
West. You speak, lord Mowbray, now you know

not what:

The earl of Hereford was reputed then
In England the most valiant gentleman;
Who knows, on whom fortune would then
smil'd ?

But, if your father had been victor there,
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry:
For all the country, in a general voice,

(1) Lances. (2) Helmets.
(3) The eye-holes of helmets.
(5) Think too highly.

Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers, and
love,

Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on,
And bless'd, and grac'd indeed, more than the king.
But this is mere digression from my purpose.-
Here come I from our princely general,
To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace,
That he will give you audience: and wherein
It shall appear that your demands are just,
You shall enjoy them; every thing set off,
That might so much as think you enemies.
Mowb. But he hath forc'd us to compel this
offer:

And it proceeds from policy, not love.

West. Mowbray, you overween,' to take it so ;
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear:
For, lo! within a ken, our army lies;
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;
Then reason wills, our hearts should be as good:-
Say you not then, our offer is compell'd.

Mowb. Well, by my will, we shall admit no
parley.

West. That argues but the shame of your offence: A rotten case abides no handling.

Hast. Hath the prince John a full commission, In very ample virtue of his father,

To hear, and absolutely to determine

Of what conditions we shall stand upon?

West. That is intended' in the general's name:

8

I muse, you make so slight a question.

Arch. Then take, my lord of Westmoreland, this
schedule; 9

For this contains our general grievances:-
Each several article herein redress'd;

All members of our cause, both here and hence,
That are insinew'd to this action,
Acquitted by a true substantial form:
And present execution of our wills
To us, and to our purposes, consign'd;
We come within our awful banks10 again,
And kn our powers to the arm of peace.

West. This will I show the general. Please you,
In sight of both our battles we may meet:
lords,
And either end in peace, which heaven so frame!
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.
Arch.
My lord, we will do so.
[Exit West.
Mowb. There is a thing within my bosom, tells me,
That no conditions of our peace can stand.
Hast. Fear you not that: if we can make our

peace

Upon such large terms, and so absolute,
As our conditions shall consist upon,
Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains
Mowb. Ay, but our valuation shall be such,
That every slight and false-derived cause,
Yea, every idle, nice," and wanton reason,
Shall, to the king, taste of this action:

That, were our royal faiths12 martyrs in love,
have We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind,
That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff,
And good from bad find no partition.

(4) Truncheon.
(6) Sight.

Arch. No, no, my lord; Note this,-the king i. weary

(7) Understood. (8) Wonder. (9) Inventory. (10) Proper limits of reverence.

(11) Trival. (12) The faith due to a king.

Of dainty and such picking' grievances:
For he hath found,-to end one doubt by death,
Revives two greater in the heirs of life.
And therefore will he wipe his tables clean;
And keep no tell-tale to his memory,
That may repeat and history his loss

To new remembrance: For full well he knows,
He cannot so precisely weed this land,
As his misdoubts present occasion:
His foes are so enrooted with his friends,
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfasten so, and shake a friend.
So that this land, like an offensive wife,
That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes ;
As he is striking, holds his infant up,
And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.

In deeds dishonourable? You have taken up,*
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The subjects of his substitute, my father;
And, both against the peace of heaven and him,
Have here up-swarm'd them.

Arch.

Good my lord of Lancaster,

I am not here against your father's peace:
But, as I told my lord of Westmoreland,
The time misorder'd doth, in common sense,
Crowd us, and crush us, to this monstrous form,
To hold our safety up. I sent your grace
The parcels and particulars of our grief;

The which hath been with scorn shov'd from the
court,

Whereon this Hydra son of war is born:

Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep,
With grant of our most just and right desires;

Hast. Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods And true obedience of this madness cur'd,

And swear here by the honour of my blood,
My father's purposes have been mistook;
[Exeunt. And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning, and authority.-

Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you,
Discharge your powers unto their several coun-

SCENE II. Another part of the forest. Enter My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress'd, from one side, Mowbray, the Archbishop, Hastings, and others; from the other side, Prince John of Lancaster, Westmoreland, officers, and attendants.

ties,

As we will ours: and here, between the armies,
Let's drink together friendly, and embrace;

P. John. You are well encounter'd here, my That all their eyes may bear those tokens home,

cousin Mowbray :

Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop ;-
And so to you, lord Hastings,-and to all.-
My lord of York, it better show'd with you,
When that your flock, assembled by the bell,
Encircled you, to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text;
Than now to see you here an iron man,"
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to sword, and life to death.
That man, that sits within a monarch's heart,
And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,
Would he abuse the countenance of the king,
Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach,
In shadow of such greatness! With you, lord bishop,
It is even so:-Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books of God?
To us, the speaker in his parliament;
To us, the imagin'd voice of God himself;
The very opener, and intelligencer,
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven,
And our dull workings:4 O, who shall believe,
But you misuse the reverence of your place;
Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,
As a false favourite doth his prince's name,

(1) Piddling, insignificant.
(2) Book for memorandums.
(3) Clad in armour.

Of our restored love, and amity.

Arch. I take your princely word for these re

dresses.

P. John. I give it you, and will maintain my word:

And thereupon I drink unto your grace.

Hast. Go, captain, [To an officer.] and deliver
to the army

This news of peace; let them have pay, and part;
I know, it will well please them: Hie thee, cap-
tain.
[Exit Officer.
Arch. To you, my noble lord of Westmoreland.
West. I pledge your grace: And, if you knew
I have bestow'd, to breed this present peace,
what pains
You would drink freely: but my love to you
Shall show itself more openly hereafter.
Arch. I do not doubt you.

West.
I am glad of it.-
Health to my lord, and gentle cousin, Mowbray.
Mowb. You wish me health in very happy sex

son;

For I am, on the sudden, something ill.
Arch. Against ill chances, men are ever merry;
But heaviness foreruns the good event.

(5) Raised in arms.

(4) Labours of thought. (7) Approve.

(6) Succession.
(8) Forces.

Cole. Are not you sir John Falstaff? Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye yield, sir? or shall I sweat for you? If I do sweat, they are drops of thy lovers, and they weep for thy death: therefore rouse up fear and trembling, and do observance to my mercy.

Cole. I think, you are sir John Falstaff; and, in that thought, yield me.

Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine; and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but my name. An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I were simply the most active fellow in Europe: My womb, my womb, my womb, undoes me.-Here comes our general. Enter Prince John of Lancaster, Westmoreland,

To York, to present execution:-
Blunt, lead him hence; and see you guard him sure.
[Exeunt some with Colevile.

And now despatch we toward the court, my
lords;

I hear, the king my father is sore sick:
Our news shall go before us to his majesty,—
Which, cousin, you shall bear, to comfort him;
And we with sober speed will follow you.

Fal. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go through Glostershire: and, when you come to court, stand my good lord,' pray, in your good

report.

P. John. Fare you well, Falstaff: I in my condition,2

SCENE IV.-Westminster. A room in the palace. Enter King Henry, Clarence, Prince Humphrey, Warwick, and others.

K. Hen. Now, lords, if heaven doth give suc
cessful end

To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,
We will our youth lead on to higher fields,
And draw no swords but what are sanctified.
Our navy is address'd, our power collected,
Our substitutes in absence well invested,
And every thing lies level to our wish:
Only, we want a little personal strength;
And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot,
Come underneath the yoke of government.
War. Both which, we doubt not but your
majesty

K. Hen.

Humphrey, my son of Gloster,
Where is the prince your brother?
P. Humph. I think he's gone to hunt, my lord,
at Windsor.

K. Hen. And how accompanied?
P. Humph.
I do not know, my lord.
K. Hen. Is not his brother, Thomas of Cla
rence, with him?

P. Humph. No, my good lord; he is in presence
here.

Shall better speak of you than you deserve. [Erit. Fal. I would you had but the wit; 'twere bet-Shall soon enjoy. ter than your dukedom.-Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh;-but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There's never any of these demure boys come to any proof: for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fishmeals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness; and then, when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards;-which some of us should be too, but for inflammation. A good sherris-sack hath a two-fold operation in it: it ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours which enveron it: makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which delivered o'er to the voice, (the tongue,) which is He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas; the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second pro- Thou hast a better place in his affection, perty of your excellent sherris is,-the warming of Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy; the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the And noble offices thou may'st effect liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusilla- Of mediation, after I am dead,

Cla. What would my lord and father?

K. Hen. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of
Clarence.

How chance, thou art not with the prince thy
brother?

nimity and cowardice: but the sherris warms it, Between his greatness and thy other brethren :-
and makes it course from the inwards to the parts Therefore, omit him not; blunt not his love:
extreme. It illumineth the face; which, as a bea- Nor lose the good advantage of his grace,
con, gives warning to all the rest of this little king- By seeming cold, or careless of his will.
dom, man, to arm: and then the vital commoners, For he is gracious, if he be observ'd;"
and inland petty spirits, muster me all to their cap- He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
tain, the heart; who, great, and puffed up with Open as day for melting charity:
this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint;
valour comes of sherris: So that skill in the wea- As humorous as winter, and as sudden
pon is nothing, without sack; for that sets it a- As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
work and learning, a mere hoard of gold kept by His temper, therefore, must be well observ'd:
a devil; till sack commences it, and sets it in act Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
and use. Hereof comes it, that prince Harry is When you perceive his blood inclin'd to mirth:
valiant: for the cold blood he did naturally inherit But, being moody, give him line and scope;
of his father, he hath, like lean, steril, and bare Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,
land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with excel-Confound themselves with working. Learn this,
lent endeavour of drinking good, and good store of
Thomas,

fertile sherris, that he is become very hot, and va- And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends;
liant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in;
principle I would teach them, should be,-to for- That the united vessels of their blood,
swear thin potations, and addict themselves to Mingled with venom of suggestion,
sack.

(As, force perforce, the age will pour it in,)
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong
As aconitum, or rash gunpowder.

Cla. I shall observe him with all care and love.
K. Hen. Why art thou not at Windsor with him,
Thomas?

Cla. He is not there to-day; he dines in London.
K. Hen. And how accompanied? canst thou

tell that?

Cla. With Poins, and other his continual followers.

K. Hen. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds;

(6) Ready, prepared.

(7) Has an attention shown him.
(8) Wolf's-bane, a poisonous herb.