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Enter FALSTAFF.

Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!

boy's play here, I can tell you.

Nay, you shall find no

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

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[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.

If thou wert sensible of courtesy,

I should not make so dear a show of zeal:-
But let my favours hide thy mangled face,
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.

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 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.

[Exit. Fal. [Rising.] Embowelled! 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 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? By my faith, 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, with a new wound in your thigh come you along with me.

P. Hen.

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[He takes HOTSPUR on his back.

Re-enter Prince HENRY and Prince. JOHN.

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 phantasy

That plays upon our eyesight? I 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: 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. Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead.

P. Hen.

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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.

P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother John.

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 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.

[Exeunt Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN. Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards If I do grow great, I'll grow less; for I'll and live cleanly, as a nobleman should do. [Exit, bearing off the Body.

me, God reward him! purge, and leave sack,

SCENE V.

Another Part of the Field.

with WORCESTER, and

The Trumpets sound. Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince
JOHN, WESTMORELAND, and Others
VERNON, prisoners.

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 would'st thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenor 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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86

FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV.

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.

How goes the field?

[Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON, guarded.

P. Hen. The noble 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, ransomless, and free:
His valour, shown upon our crests to-day,
Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,
Even in the bosom of our adversaries.

P. John. I thank your grace for this high courtesy,
Which I shall give away immediately.

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 fair is done,
Let us not leave till all our own be won.

[Exeunt

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Lords, and Attendants; Officers, Soldiers, Messenger, Drawers,

Beadles, Grooms, &c.

SCENE, England.

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