SCENE I. [The King's camp near Shrewsbury.] Enter the KING, PRINCE OF WALES, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, SIR Walter Blunt, and FALSTAFF.

King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer Above yon busky hill! The day looks pale At his distemperature. Prince. The southern wind Doth play the trumpet to his purposes, And by his hollow whistling in the leaves Foretells a tempest and a blust'ring day. King. Then with the losers let it sympathize, For nothing can seem foul to those that win. [The trumpet sounds.

Enter WORCESTER [and VERNON].
How now, my Lord of Worcester! 't is not well
That you and I should meet upon such terms 10
As now we meet. You have deceiv'd our trust,
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel.
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to it? Will you again unknit 18
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war?
And move in that obedient orb again
Where you did give a fair and natural light,
And be no more an exhal'd meteor,
A prodigy of fear and a portent

Of broached mischief to the unborn times?
Wor. Hear me, my liege.

For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for I do protest,

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I have not sought the day of this dislike. King. You have not sought it! How comes it, then?

Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.

Prince. Peace, chewet, peace!

Wor. It pleas'd your Majesty to turn your looks

Of favour from myself and all our house;
And yet I must remember you, my lord,
We were the first and dearest of your friends.
For you my staff of office did I break

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In Richard's time; and posted day and night 35
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.
It was myself, my brother, and his son,
That brought you home and boldly did outdare
The dangers of the time. You swore to us,
And you did swear that oath at Doncaster,
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;

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Nor claim no further than your new-fallen right,

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The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster.
To this we swore our aid. But in short space
It rain'd down fortune show'ring on your head;
And such a flood of greatness fell on you,
What with our help, what with the absent King,
What with the injuries of a wanton time,
The seeming sufferances that you had borne,
And the contrarious winds that held the King
So long in his unlucky Irish wars
That all in England did repute him dead;
And from this swarm of fair advantages
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand;
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;
And being fed by us you us'd us so
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,
Useth the sparrow; did oppress our nest;
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk
That even our love durst not come near your

sight

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I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant or more valiant-young,
More daring or more bold, is now alive
To grace this latter age with noble deeds.
For my part, I may speak it to my shame,
I have a truant been to chivalry;
And so I hear he doth account me too;
Yet this before my father's majesty :
I am content that he shall take the odds
Of his great name and estimation,
And will, to save the blood on either side,
Try fortune with him in a single fight.
King. And, Prince of Wales, so dare we
venture thee,

Albeit considerations infinite

Do make against it. No, good Worcester, no, We love our people well; even those we love

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[Exeunt Worcester [and Vernon]. Prince. It will not be accepted, on my life. The Douglas and the Hotspur both together 116 Are confident against the world in arms.

King. Hence, therefore, every leader to his charge,

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For, on their answer, will we set on them; And God befriend us, as our cause is just! [Exeunt all but the Prince of Wales and Falstaff.

Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle and bestride me, so; 't is a point of friendship. Prince. Nothing but a colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell. Fal. I would 't were bed-time, Hal, and all well.

Prince. Why, thou owest God a death.

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[Exit.] Fal. 'Tis not due yet; I would be loath to pay him before his day. What need I be so forward with him that calls not on me? Well, 't is no matter; honour pricks me on. [130 Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honour? A word. [135 What is in that word honour? What is that honour? Air; a trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. "T is insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live [140 with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I'll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism. [Exit.

SCENE II. [The rebel camp.]
Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.
Wor. O, no, my nephew must not know, Sir
Richard,

The liberal and kind offer of the King.
Ver. 'T were best he did.
Wor.

Then are we all undone.

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It is not possible, it cannot be,
The King should keep his word in loving us.
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this offence in other faults.
Supposition all our lives shall be stuck full of

The better cherish'd, still the nearer death. "
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot;
It hath the excuse of youth and heat of blood,
And an adopted name of privilege,

A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen.
All his offences live upon my head
And on his father's. We did train him on,
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all.
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know,
In any case, the offer of the King.

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Ver. Deliver what you will; I'll say 't is so. Here comes your cousin.

Enter HOTSPUR [and DOUGLAS].

Hot. My uncle is return'd;

Deliver up my Lord of Westmoreland.
Uncle, what news?

Wor. The King will bid you battle presently.

Doug. Defy him by the Lord of Westmoreland.

Hot. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so. Doug. Marry, and shall, and very willingly.

[Erit.

Wor. There is no seeming mercy in the King.

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Hot. Did you beg any? God forbid! Wor. I told him gently of our grievances, Of his oath-breaking; which he mended thus, By now forswearing that he is forsworn. He calls us rebels, traitors; and will scourge " With haughty arms this hateful name in us.

Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue,
Spoke your deservings like a chronicle,
Making you ever better than his praise
By still dispraising praise valued with you;
And, which became him like a prince indeed.
He made a blushing cital of himself,
And chid his truant youth with such a grace
As if he mast'red there a double spirit
Of teaching and of learning instantly.

There did he pause; but let me tell the world,
If he outlive the envy of this day,

Enter a MESSENGER.

Mess. My lord, here are letters for you.
Hot. I cannot read them now.

O gentlemen, the time of life is short!

To spend that shortness basely were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings;

If die, brave death, when princes die with us!
Now, for our consciences, the arms are fair,
When the intent of bearing them is just.

Enter another MESSENGER.

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Hot. I thank him that he cuts me from my tale,

For I profess not talking; only this

Let each man do his best; and here draw I
A sword, whose temper I intend to stain
With the best blood that I can meet withal
In the adventure of this perilous day.
Now Esperance! Percy! and set on.
Sound all the lofty instruments of war,
And by that music let us all embrace;

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For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall 100 A second time do such a courtesy.

[They embrace [and exeunt].

[SCENE III. Plain between the camps.] The trumpets sound. The King enters with his power and passes over. Alarum to the battle. Then enter DOUGLAS and SIR WALTER BLUNT.

Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus

Thou crossest me? What honour dost thou seek
Upon my head?
Doug. Know then, my name is Douglas;
And I do haunt thee in the battle thus
Because some tell me that thou art a king.
Blunt. They tell thee true.

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Doug. The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath bought

Thy likeness, for instead of thee, King Harry, This sword hath ended him. So shall it thee, Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner.

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Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot;

And thou shalt find a king that will revenge Lord Stafford's death.

[They fight. Douglas kills Blunt.

Semblably furnish'd like the King himself. Doug. Ah! "fool" go with thy soul, whither it goes!

A borrowed title hast thou bought too dear. Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king? Hot. The King hath many marching in his

coats.

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Doug. Now, by my sword, I will kill all his

coats;

I'll murder all his wardrobe, piece by piece, Until I meet the King.

Hot.

Up, and away! Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day.

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[Exeunt.

Alarum. Enter FALSTAFF, solus.

Fal. Though I could scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here; here's no scoring but upon the pate. Soft! who are you? 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 [35 have led my ragamuffins where they are pepper'd. 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? 40 Enter the PRINCE.

Prince. What, stands thou idle here? Lend me thy sword.

Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are yet unreveng'd. I prithee,

Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my

arms.

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It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee,
Who never promiseth but he means to pay.
[They fight: Douglas flies.
Cheerly, my lord, how fares your Grace?
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent,
And so hath Clifton. I'll to Clifton straight.
King. Stay, and breathe a while.
Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion,
And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my
life,

In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me. 50 Prince. O God! they did me too much injury

That ever said I heark'ned for your death.
If it were so, I might have let alone
The insulting hand of Douglas over you,
Which would have been as speedy in your end
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And sav'd the treacherous labour of your son.
King. Make up to Clifton. I'll to Sir Nicho-
las Gawsey.
[Exit.

Enter HOTSPUR.

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.

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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

[He spieth 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 hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, Though many dearer, in this bloody fray. Embowell'd will I see thee by and by; Till then in blood by noble Percy lie.

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[Exit.

Fal. (Rising up.) Embowell'd! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too to-morrow. 'Sblood, 't was 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 [115 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 [120 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? By my faith, I am afraid he would [125 prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure; yea, and I'll swear I kill'd 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 [130 wound in your thigh, come you along with me. [Takes up Hotspur on his back. Re-enter the PRINCE OF WALES and LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER.

Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd

Fal. Didst thon? 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 [150 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 [165 and would deny it, 'zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.

Lan. This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.

Prince. This is the strangest fellow, brother John.

Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back. 180 For my part, if a lie may do thee grace, I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have. [A retreat is sounded. The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours. Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field,

To see what friends are living, who are dead. 165 [Exeunt [Prince of Wales and Lancaster].

Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards me, God 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.

SCENE [V. Another part of the field.]

[Exit.

The trumpets sound. Enter the KING, PRINCE OF WALES, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, with WORCESTER and VERNON prisoners.

King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.
Ill-spirited Worcester! did not we send grace,
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you?
And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenour of thy kinsman's trust?
Three knights upon our party slain to-day,
A noble earl, and many a creature else
Had been alive this hour,

If like a Christian thou hadst truly borne
Betwixt our armies true intelligence.

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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.

King. Bear Worcester to the death and Ver

non too.

Other offenders we will pause upon.

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[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon [guarded].

How goes the field?

Prince. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he saw