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And all the budding honours on thy crest
I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities.

Enter FALSTAFF.

[They fight.

Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you.

Enter EARL OF DOUGLAS; he strikes at FALSTAFF, who falls down, as if he were dead.-Exit DOUGLAS. -PERCY 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 :

O, I could prophesy,

But that the earthy and cold hand of death

Lies on my tongue :-No, Percy, thou art dust,
And food for-

[HOTSPUR dies.

P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: Fare thee well, great heart!

Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
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,
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.

Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave,

But not remember'd in thy epitaph !

[He sees FALSTAFF on the Ground.

What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spar'd a better man.
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,
If I were much in love with vanity.

Death has not struck so fat a deer to-day;
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray:-
Imbowell'd will I see thee by and by;
Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie.

FALSTAFF, rising slowly.

[Exit.

Fal. Imbowell'd! if thou imbowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me, and eat me too, tomorrow. 'Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? 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 counserfeit 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. 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 he not rise, as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah-[Stabs HOTSPUR.]-with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.

[Takes HOTSPUR on his Back,

Enter HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, and PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER.

P. Hen. Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou flesh'd

Thy maiden sword.

P. John. But, soft! whom have we here? Did you not tell me, this fat man was dead?

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 eye-sight? 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. I look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you.

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. I 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, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.

P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard.

P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother John.— Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back; For my part, if a lie do thee grace,

may

I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

[Trumpets sound a Retreat. The trumpet sounds retreat, the day is ours. Come, brother, let's to the highest of the field, To see what friends are living, who are dead.

[Exeunt PRINCES HENRY and JOHN. Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He, that rewards me, Heaven reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and leave sack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do.

[Exit, bearing off HOTSPUR's Body.

SCENE V.

[ACT V.

KING HENRY'S Tent.

Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.

KING HENRY, HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, with WORCESTER, VERNON, and others, Prisoners; GENTLEMEN, and SOLDIERS, discovered.

K. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke. Ill-spirited Worcester! did we not send grace, Pardon, and terms of love to all of

you

?

And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary?
Wor. What I have done, my safety urg'd me to ;
And I embrace this fortune patiently,

Since not to be avoided it falls on me.

K. Hen. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon

too;

Other offenders we will pause upon.

[Exeunt WORCESTER, VERNON, and others, guarded.

How goes the field ?

P. Hen. The gallant Scot, Lord Douglas, when he

saw

The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him,
The noble Percy slain, and all his men
Upon the foot of fear,-fled with the rest;
And, falling from a hill, he was so bruis'd,
That the pursuers took him. At my tent
The Douglas is; and I beseech your grace,
I may dispose of him.

K. Hen. With all my heart.

P. Hen. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you This honourable bounty shall belong:

Go to the Douglas, and deliver him

Up to his pleasure, ransomeless and free:

His valour, shown upon our crests to-day,

Has taught us how to cherish such high deeds,
Even in the bosom of our adversaries.

K. Hen. Then this remains,-that we divide our power.

You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland, Towards York shall bend you, with your dearest speed,

To meet Northumberland, and the prelate Scroop,
Who, as we hear, are busily in arms;

Myself, and you, son Harry,-will towards Wales,
To fight with Glendower, and the Earl of March.
Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway,
Meeting the check of such another day :
And since this business so far fair is done,
Let us not leave till all our own be won.

[Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.-Exeunt.

THE END.

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