Enter Falstaff.

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

Enter Douglas; be fights with Falstaff, who falls down as if be were dead. Percy is wounded, and falls.

Hot. O, Harry, thou haft robb'd me of my youth: I better brook the lofs of brittle life,

Than those proud titles thou haft won of me;

They wound my thoughts, worse than thy fword my

flesh:

But thought's the flave of life, and lifetime's fool;
And time, that takes furvey of all the world,
Muft have a stop. O, I could prophefy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death

Lies on my tongue :No, Percy, thou art duft,

And food for

[Dies,

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

Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou fhrunk! When that this body did contain a spirit,

A kingdom for it was too fmall a bound;

But now, two paces of the vileft earth'

Is room enough :-This earth, that bears thee dead,
Bears not alive fo ftout a gentleman.

If thou wert fenfible of courtefy,

I fhould not make fo great a fhow of zeal :

But let my favours hide thy mangled face;

e time's fool;]-the sport of it-a character in the old moralities,

"thou art death's fool."

MEASURE FOR MEASURE, Vol. I. p. 310. Duke.

"That he should be my fool, and I his fate."

LOVE'S LABOUR LOST, Vol. I. p. 597. Ref.

* Ill-weav'd]—Of loose texture.

⚫ my favours]—scarf.

And,

And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself

For doing thefe fair rites of tenderness.

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

Be not remember'd in thy epitaph!

[He fees 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 á better man.
O, I should have a heavy mifs of thee,
If I were much in love with vanity.
Death hath not ftruck fo fat a deer to-day,
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray :-
Imbowell'd will I fee thee by and by;
'Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie.

Falstaff, rifing flowly.

[Exit,

Fal. Imbowell'd! if thou imbowel 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 termagant Scot had paid me fcot 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 faved my life. I am afraid of this gun-powder Percy, though he be dead: How if he should counterfeit too, and rife? I am afraid, he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him fure: yea, and I'll fwear I kill'd him. Why may he not rife, as well as I? Nothing confutes me but

powder]-pickle, falt.

eyes,

eyes, and no body fees me.-Therefore, firrah, with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me. [Takes Hotspur on bis back.

Re-enter Prince Henry, and John of Lancaster.

P. Henry. Come, brother John, full bravely haft thou * flesh'd

Thy maiden fword.

Lan. But, foft! who have we here?

Did you not tell me, this fat man was dead?

P. Henry. I did; I saw him dead, breathless and bleeding Upon the ground.

Art thou alive? or is it fantasy

That plays upon our eye-fight? I pr'ythee, speak;
We will not truft our eyes, without our ears :—
Thou art not what thou feem'ft.

h

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 da me any honour, fo; if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either earl or duke, I can affure you. P. Henry. Why, Percy I kill'd myself, and faw thee dead.

Fal. Didft thou?-Lord, lord, how this world is given to lying!-I grant you, I was down, and out of breath; and fo was he but we rose both at an inftant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believ'd, fo; if not, let them, that should reward valour, bear the fin 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 fword.

h

Lan. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard. P.Henry. This is the strangeft fellow, brother John. fefb'd-initiated.

a double man:]-tho' I have Percy on my back.

Come,

Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back:
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

[A retreat is founded.

[Exeunt.

The trumpet founds retreat, the day is ours. Come, brother, let's to the highest of the field, To fee what friends are living, who are dead. Fal. I'll follow, as they fay, for reward. He that rewards me, heaven reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow lefs; for I'll purge, and leave fack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do.

[Exit, bearing off the body.

The trumpets found. Enter King Henry, Prince of Wales,
Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, with
Worcester, and Vernon, prifoners.

K. Henry. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.-
Ill-spirited Worcester ! did we not fend
grace,
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you?
And would'st thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenor of thy kinfman's trust?
Three knights upon our party flain to-day,
A noble earl, and many a creature else,
Had been alive this hour,

If, like a chriftian, thou hadst truly borne

Betwixt our armies true intelligence.

Wor. What I have done, my fafety urg'd me to;

And I embrace this fortune patiently,

Since not to be avoided it falls on me.

i

K. Henry. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon too:

to the death,]" To the death, my lord."

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, Vol. I. p. 451. Conr.

Other

Other offenders we will paufe upon.

[Exeunt Worcester, and Vernon, guarded,

How goes the field?

P. Henry. The noble Scot, lord Douglas, when he faw The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, The noble Percy flain, and all his men Upon the foot of fear,-fled with the reft; And, falling from a hill, he was fo bruis'd, That the pursuers took him. At my tent The Douglas is; and I beseech your grace, I may difpose of him.

K. Henry. With all my heart.

P. Henry. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you This honourable bounty shall belong;

Go to the Douglas, and deliver him

Up to his pleasure, ranfomlefs, and free:

His valour, fhewn upon our crests to-day,

Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,
Even in the bofom of our adversaries,

K. Henry. Then this remains, that we divide our

power.

You, fon John, and my cousin Westmoreland, Towards York fhall bend you, with your dearest speed, To meet Northumberland, and the prelate Scroop, Who, as we hear, are bufily in arms:

Myself, and you,

-

fon Harry, will towards Wales,
To fight with Glendower, and the earl of March,
Rebellion in this land fhall lofe his fway,
Meeting the check of fuch another day;
And fince this business fo fair is done,
Let us not leave 'till all our own be won,

[Exeunt.