Prince. A very valiant rebel of that name. Why, then I see I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy, Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere; Enter FALSTAFF. [They fight. Fal. Well said,5 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. wounded, and falls. HOTSPUR is 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 : Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy, 5 The phrase well said was often used in the sense of well done. 6 This passage has been commonly misunderstood. Probably the right construction is, to take thoughts, life, and time as subjects of must have. So that the meaning comes thus: "But thoughts, which are the slaves of life, and life, which is Time's fool, and even Time itself, that takes survey of all the world, must have an end." But that the earthy and cold hand of death Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust, And food for [Dies. Prince. For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart! Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk ! When that this body did contain a spirit, A kingdom for it was too small a bound; 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 : Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to Heaven! 8 Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave, But not remember'd in thy epitaph !— [Sees FALSTAFF on the ground. What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh 7 Favours refers to the scarf with which he covers Percy's face. Covering the face of a dead person is an old ceremony of reverential tenderness; perhaps connected some way, either as cause or effect, with the ancient belief that the robins were wont to cover the faces of unburied men. 8 Ignomy was a common contraction of ignominy. 9 To embowel was the old term for embalming the body, as was usually done to persons of rank. Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. Fal. [Rising.] Embowell'd! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder 10 me and eat me too to-morrow. 'Sblood, 'twas 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. — Zwounds, 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 kill'd 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. [Takes HOTSPUR on his back. Re-enter Prince HENRY and LANCASTER. Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd Thy maiden sword. Lan. But, soft! whom have we here? Did you not tell me this fat man was dead? Prince. I did; I saw him dead, breathless and bleeding Upon the ground. — Art thou alive? or is it fantasy 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.11 There is Percy! 10 To powder was the old word for to salt. 11 Jack was used as a term of contempt, like our jackanapes. [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. Prince. Why, Percy I kill'd 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, zwounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword. Lan. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard. [A retreat sounded. The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours. [Exeunt Prince HENRY and LANCASTER. Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards me, God reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and leave sack, and live cleanly as a nobleman should do. [Exit, bearing off the body. SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. The trumpets sound. Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, LANCASTER, WESTMORELAND, and others, with WORCESTER and VERNON Prisoners. King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.— Ill-spirited Worcester ! did we not send grace, Pardon, and terms of love to all of you? If, like a Christian, thou hadst truly borne Wor. What I have done my safety urged me to ; Since not to be avoided it falls on me. King. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon too: Other offenders we will pause upon. [Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON, guarded. How goes the field? Prince. 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; Prince. 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 1 To conclude, the kings enemies were vanquished and put to flight, in which flight the earle of Dowglas, for hast falling from the crag of an hie mounteine, brake one of his cullions, and was taken, and, for his valiantnesse, of the king franklie and freelie delivered. — HOLINSHED. |