A borrow'd title hast thou bought too dear: Our soldiers stand full fairly for the day. Other alarums. Enter FALSTAFF. [Exeunt. Fal. Though I could scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here: here's no scoring but upon the pate.-Soft! who art thou? 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 have led my raggamuffins where they are peppered: 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? Enter PRINCE HENRY. P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend me thy sword: Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies, Whose deaths are unreveng'd: Pr'ythee, lend me thy sword. Fal. O Hal, I pr'ythee, give me leave to breathe awhile. -Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure. P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. Lend me thy sword, I pr'ythee. Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive thou gettest not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. P. Hen. Give it me: what, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's that will sack a city. [The PRINCE draws out a bottle of sack. P. Hen. What, is't a time to jest and dally now? [Throws it at him, and exit. Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. If he do come in my way, so; if he do not, if I come in his willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. I like not such grinning honour as Sir Walter hath: give me life: which if I can save, so; if not, honour comes unlooked for, and there's an end." [Exit. SCENE IV.-Another part of the Field. Alarums. Excursions. Enter KING HENRY, PRINCE HENRY, PRINCE JOHN, and WESTMORELAND. K. Hen. I pr'ythee, Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.- P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too. My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent. West. Come, my lord, I will lead you to your tent. P. Hen. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help: And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive The Prince of Wales from such a field as this, Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on, And rebels' arms triumph in massacres ! [land, P. John. We breathe too long:-come, cousin Westmore Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come. [Exeunt P. JOHN and WEST. P. Hen. By heaven, thou hast deceiv'd me, Lancaster; I did not think thee lord of such a spirit: Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John; But now I do respect thee as my soul. K. Hen. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point With lustier maintenance than I did look for Of such an ungrown warrior. P. Hen. Lends mettle to us all. O, this boy Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS. [Exit. Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads: I am the Douglas, fatal to all those That wear those colours on them:-What art thou, That counterfeit'st the person of a king? K. Hen. The king himself, who, Douglas, grieves at heart, So many of his shadows thou hast met, And not the very king. I have two boys Doug. I fear, thou art another counterfeit; But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be, [They fight; the KING being in danger, P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like Never to hold it up again! the spirits ; [They fight; Douglas flies. Cheerly, my lord: how fares your grace?- P. Hen. O God, they did me too much injury K. Hen. Make up to Clifton, I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey. Enter HOTSPUR. Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. P. Hen. A very valiant rebel of the name. Why, then I see I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere; Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come To end the one of us; and would to God Thy name in arms were now as great as mine! P. Hen. I'll make it greater ere I part from thee; [Exit. [They fight. Enter FALSTAFF. 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: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 Lies on my tongue :-No, Percy, thou art dust, [Dies. P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk! [heart!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 If thou wert sensible of courtesy, I should not make so dear a show of zeal:- [He sees FAL. on the ground. What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh I could have better spar'd a better man. [Exit. Fal. [rising slowly.] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too to-morrow. 'Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot 1 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 counterfeit 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. Zounds, 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 not he rise as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, sirrah [stabbing him], with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me. [Takes HOTSPUR on his back. Re-enter PRINCE HENRY and PRINCE JOHN. P. Hen. Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou Thy maiden sword. P. John. But, soft! whom have we here? [flesh'd 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 eyesight? I pr'ythee, speak; 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. 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, and would deny it, zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword. P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard. |