FIRST PART OF

K I N G H E N R Y IV.

А ст І.

S CE NE I.

London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King Henry, WrSTMORELAND, Sir Wal

TER BLUNT, and Others.

K. Hen. So shaken as we are, so wan wille

caje, Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils To he commenc'd in stronils afar remote. No more the thirsty Erinnys of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children's

blood; No more shall trenching war channel her fielus, Nor bruise her flowrets with the armed hooss Of hostile paces : those opposed eyes, Which, like the meteors of a troubled hea

ven.

All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil hutchery,

in mutual, well-heseeming ranks, March all one way; and be no more oppos'il Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies : The eilge of war, liké an ill-sheathed knife,

Shall now,

No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
As far as to the scpulcher of Christ,
(Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and engaged to fight,)
Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;
Whose arms were moulded in their mothers'

womb
To chase these pagans , in those holy fields,
Over whose acres walk'il those blessed feet,
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd
For our advantage, on the bitter cross.
But this our purpose is a twelve-month old,
And bootless 'lis to tell you - we will go;
Therefore we meet not now: Then let me

hear
Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
What yesternight our council did decrec,
In forwarding this dear expedience.

West. My Liege, this haste was hot in questions
And many limits of the charge set down
But yesternight : when, all athwart, there came
A post from Wales, loader with heavy uews ;
Whose worst was,

that the noble-Mortimer, Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight Against the irregular and wild Glendower, Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken, And a thousand of his people butchered: Upon whose dead corps there was such misuse, Such beastly, shameless transformation, By those Welshwonnen done, as may not be, Without much shame, retold or spoken of. K. Hen. It seems then the tidings of this

broil Brake off our business for the holy land. West. This match'd with other, did, my

gracious Lord;

For more uneven and unwelcome news
Came from the north, and thus it did import.
On Holy-rood day, the gallaut Hotspur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon met,
Where they did spend a sad anıt bloody bour;
As by discharge of their artillery,
And shape of likelihood the news was told;
For he that brought them, in the very heat
And pride of their contention did take horse,
Uncertain of the issue any way.
K. Hen. Here is a dear and true-industrious

friend,
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighteil from his horse,
Slaiu'd with the variation of each soil
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome

news.

The Earl of Douglas is discomfited;
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
Balk'il in their own blood, did Sir Walter sce
On Holmedon's plains; Of prisoners, Hotspur

took
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son
To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Alhol
or Murray, Augus, and Menteith.
And is not this an honourable spoil?
A gallant prize ? ha, cousin, is it not?

West. In faith,
It is a conquest for a Prince to boast of.
K. Hen. Yea, there thou mak'st sne sad, anel

'mak'st me sin
In envy that my lord Northumberland
Should be the father of so blest a son:
A son, who is the theme of honour's longue;

Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant ;
Who is sweet fortune's minion, and her pride :
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
Sec riot and dishonour stain the brow
OS

my young Harry. O, that it could be prov'd,
That some night-tripping fairy had exchang’d
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,
And call'd mine -- Percy, his — Planlagenet !
Then would I have his Harry, and he inine.
But let him froin my thoughts :- What think you

coz',

Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this allventure hath surpriz'd,
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.
17 est. This is his uncle's teaching, this is

Worcester,
Malevolent to you in all aspects;
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up
The crest of youth against your dignity.

K. Hen. But I have sent for him to answer this; And, for this cause, awhile we must neglect Our holy purpose to Jerusalem. Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we Will hold at Windsor', so inform the lords ; Bul come yourself with spced to us again; For more is to be said, aud to be done, Than out of anger can be uttered. West. I will, my Liege,

[Exeunt.

SCENE II,

The same.

Another Room in the Palace. Enter IIERY, Prince of Wales, and FalstAFP.

Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad ?

a

P. Hen. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou would'st truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack, and miuntes capons, and clocks the toogues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffala; I sec no. 'reason, wlay thou should'st be superlinous to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Iuileed, you come near me, now Hal: for we, that take purses, go by the moon and seven stars; and nol by Phoebus, -- he, that wandering knight so fair. And, I pray thee, sweet wag, when thou art King, as, God save tlıy grace, (majesty, I should say; for grace thou wilt have none,)

P. Hen. What! uone ?

Fal. No, hy my troch; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg anıl butter,

P. Hen. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.

Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou are Ying, let not us, that are squires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's beauty; let us bc - Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the inoon : And let men say, we be mien of good government; being govern as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we - steal.

P. Hen. Thou say'st well; and it holds well too: for the fortune of 11s, that are the moon's men, doch ebb and flow like the sea; been govern'd as the sea is, by the moon. As, for proof, HOW: A purse of goli inost resolutely snatch'd