Save mine, which hath desired to see thee more;
Which now doth that I would not have it do,
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.

P. Hen. I shall hereafter, my thrice-gracious lord, Be more myself.

K. Hen.

For all the world,

1

As thou art to this hour, was Richard then
When I from France set foot at Ravenspurg,
And even as I was then, is Percy now.
Now, by my sceptre, and my soul to boot,
He hath more worthy interest to the state,'
Than thou, the shadow of succession :
For, of no right, nor color like to right,
He doth fill fields with harness in the realm;
Turns head against the lion's armed jaws;
And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on,
To bloody battles, and to bruising arms.
What never-dying honor hath he got

Against renowned Douglas; whose high deeds,
Whose hot incursions, and great name in arms,
Holds from all soldiers chief majority,
And military title capital,

Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ!
Thrice hath this Hotspur Mars in swathing clothes,
This infant warrior, in his enterprises

Discomfited great Douglas; ta'en him once,
Enlarged him, and made a friend of him,

To fill the mouth of deep defiance up,

And shake the peace and safety of our throne.

And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland, The archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,

2

Capitulate against us, and are up.

But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?

Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,

Which art my near'st and dearest enemy?

1 "Interest to the state." We should now write in the state; but this was the phraseology of the Poet's time.

2 To capitulate, according to the old dictionaries, formerly signified to make articles of agreement.

Thou that art like enough-through vassal fear,
Base inclination, and the start of spleen-
To fight against me under Percy's pay,
To dog his heels, and court'sy at his frowns,
To show how much degenerate thou art.

P. Hen. Do not think so; you shall not find it so ; And God forgive them, that have so much swayed Your majesty's good thoughts away from me! I will redeem all this on Percy's head, And, in the closing of some glorious day, Be bold to tell you, that I am your son; When I will wear a garment all of blood, And stain iny favors in a bloody mask,

1

Which, washed away, shall scour my shame with it.
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this same child of honor and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet.
For every honor sitting on his helm,

'Would they were multitudes; and on my head
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I shall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up,
Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
This, in the name of God, I promise here;
The which if he be pleased I shall perform,
I do beseech your majesty, may salve
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance.
If not, the end of life cancels all bands; 2
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths,
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.

1 Favors is probably here used for colors; the scarf by which a knight of rank was distinguished.

2 Bonds.

1

K. Hen. A hundred thousand rebels die in this.Thou shalt have charge, and sovereign trust, herein.

Enter BLUNT.

How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.
Blunt. So hath the business that I come to speak of.
Lord Mortimer of Scotland1 hath sent word,-
That Douglas, and the English rebels, met,
The eleventh of this month, at Shrewsbury.
A mighty and a fearful head they are,
If promises be kept on every hand,

As ever offered foul play in a state.

K. Hen. The earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day; With him my son, lord John of Lancaster; For this advertisement is five days old.On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set Forward; on Thursday, we ourselves will march. Our meeting is Bridgnorth; and, Harry, you Shall march through Glostershire; by which account, Our business valued, some twelve days hence Our general forces at Bridgnorth shall meet. Our hands are full of business: let's away; Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. Eastcheap. A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern.

Enter FALSTAFF and BARDolph.

Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? Do I not bate? Do I not dwindle?

1 There was no lord Mortimer of Scotland; but there was a lord March of Scotland (George Dunbar), who, having quitted his own country in disgust, attached himself warmly to the English. He fought on the side of king Henry in this rebellion, and was the means of saving his life at the battle of Shrewsbury. The Poet recollected that there was a Scottish lord on the king's side, who bore the same title with the English family on the rebels' side (one being earl of March in England, the other earl of March in Scotland), but his memory deceived him as to the particular name which was common to both. He took it to be Mortimer instead of March.

2 Intelligence.

Why, my skin hangs about me like an old lady's loosemy gown; I am withered like an old apple-John. Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking;1 I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is made of, I am a peppercorn, a brewer's horse: 2 The inside of a church! Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.

Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot live long.

Fal. Why, there is it ;-come, sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given, as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough; swore little; diced, not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house, not above once in a quarter-of an hour; paid money that I borrowed, three or four times; lived well, and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass.

Bard. Why, you are so fat, sir John, that you must needs be out of all compass; out of all reasonable compass, sir John.

Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life. Thou art our admiral; thou bearest the lantern in the poop,-but 'tis in the nose of thee. Thou art the knight of the burning lamp.

Bard. Why, sir John, my face does you no harm. Fal. No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a death's head, or a memento mori. I never see thy face, but I think upon hell-fire, and Dives that lived in purple; for there he is in his robes, burning, burning. If thou wert any way given to virtue, I would swear by thy face; my oath should be, By this fire but thou art altogether given over; and wert indeed, but for the light in thy face, the son of utter darkness. When thou ran'st up Gadshill in the

1 Liking is condition, plight of body.

2 That Falstaff was unlike a brewer's horse may be collected from a conundrum in The Devil's Cabinet Opened:-"What is the difference between a drunkard and a brewer's horse ?-Because one carries all his liquor on his back, and the other in his belly."

night to catch my horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus, or a ball of wildfire, there's no purchase in money. O, thou art a perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light! Thou hast saved me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee in the night betwixt tavern and tavern; but the sack that thou hast drunk me, would have bought me lights as good cheap,' at the dearest chandler's in Europe. I have maintained that salamander of yours with fire, any time this two-and-thirty years; Heaven reward me for it!

Bard. 'Sblood, I would my face were in your belly! Fal. God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heartburned.

Enter Hostess.

How now, dame Partlet the hen? have you inquired yet, who picked my pocket?

Host. Why, sir John! what do you think, sir John? Do you think I keep thieves in my house? I have searched, I have inquired, so has my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant by servant. The tithe of a hair was never lost in my house before.

Fal. You lie, hostess; Bardolph was shaved and lost many a hair: and I'll be sworn, my pocket was picked. Go to, you are a woman, go.

Host. Who I? I defy thee; I was never called so in mine own house before.

Fal. Go to, I know you well enough.

Host. No, sir John; you do not know me, sir John. I know you, sir John; you owe me money, sir John, and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it. I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back.

Fal. Dowlas, filthy dowlas; I have given them away to bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them.

Host. Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight

1 Our ancestors not only used good cheap, but better cheap, in the sense in which we now use cheap and cheaper. Tooke thinks that bad cheap was also used, but has adduced no example.