William Shakespeare

“ You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland
Towards York shall bend you, with your dearest speed, ⁠36
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, ⁠41
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. ”

“ Where is his Sonne, The nimble-footed Mad-Cap, Prince of Wales, And his Cumrades, that daft the World aside, And bid it passe? Vern. All furnisht, all in Armes, All plum'd like Estridges, that with the Winde Bayted like Eagles, hauing lately bath'd, Glittering in Golden Coates, like Images, As full of spirit as the Moneth of May, And gorgeous as the Sunne at Mid-summer, Wanton as youthfull Goates, wilde as young Bulls. ”

“ Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art
but man, I dare; but as thou art prince, I fear
thee as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp. 165
Prince. And why not as the lion?
Fal. The king himself is to be feared as the
lion: dost thou think I'll fear thee as I fear thy
father? nay, an I do, I pray God my girdle
break! 170
Prince. O! if it should, how would thy guts
fall about thy knees. But, sirrah, there's no
room for faith, truth, or honesty in this bosom
of thine; it is all filled up with guts and midriff.
Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket! ”

“ Prince. Thou liest: thou art not colted; thou
art uncolted. ⁠45
Fal. I prithee, good Prince Hal, help me to
my horse, good king's son.
Prince. Out, you rogue! shall I be your ostler?
Fal. Go, hang thyself in thine own heir appa-
rent garters! If I be ta'en I'll peach for this. An
I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to
filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison: when
a jest is so forward, and afoot too! I hate it. ”

“ Enter the King, Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, Sir Walter Blunt, and Falstaff.
King. How bloodily the sun begins to peer
Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale
At his distemperature.
Prince.⁠The southern wind
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes, ⁠4
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.
King. Then with the losers let it sympathize,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win. ⁠8
The trumpet sounds. ”

“ Falstaff riseth up.
Fal. Embowelled! if thou embowel 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 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! ”

“ You rogue, here's lime in this sack too:
there is nothing but roguery to be found in
villainous man: yet a coward is worse than a cup
of sack with lime in it, a villainous coward! Go
thy ways, old Jack; die when thou wilt. If man-
hood, good manhood, be not forgot upon the
face of the earth, then am I a shotten herring.
There live not three good men unhanged in
England, and one of them is fat and grows old:
God help the while! a bad world, I say. ”

“ What a devil hast thou to
do with the time of the day? unless hours were
cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks
the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of
leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a
fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffeta, I see no
reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to
demand the time of the day. ”

“ Enter the King, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland, with others.
King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care,
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
To be commenc'd in stronds afar remote. ”

“ I'll play Percy, and that
damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his
wife. 'Rivo!' says the drunkard. Call in ribs,
call in tallow. ⁠127
Enter Falstaff, [Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill. The Drawer follows, with wine.]
Poins. Welcome, Jack: where hast thou been?
Fal. A plague of all cowards, I say, and a
vengeance too! marry, and amen! Give me a
cup of sack, boy. Ere I lead this life long,
I'll sew nether-stocks and mend them and foot
them too. A plague of all cowards! Give me a
cup of sack, rogue.—Is there no virtue extant? ”

“ As you, my lord, or any Scot that this day lives:
Let it be seen to-morrow in the battle ⁠13
Which of us fears.
Doug.⁠Yea, or to-night.
Ver.⁠Content.
Hot. To-night, say I.
Ver. Come, come, it may not be. I wonder much, ⁠16
Being men of such great leading as you are,
That you foresee not what impediments
Drag back our expedition: certain horse
Of my cousin Vernon's are not yet come up: ⁠20
Your uncle Worcester's horse came but to-day;
And now their pride and mettle is asleep,
Their courage with hard labour tame and dull,
That not a horse is half the half of himself. ”

“ Hot. No.
Lady P. Then be still.
Hot. Neither; 'tis a woman's fault. 244
Lady P. Now, God help thee!
Hot. To the Welsh lady's bed.
Lady P. What's that?
Hot. Peace! she sings. 248
Here the lady sings a Welsh song. Hot. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too.
Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth.
Hot. Not yours, 'in good sooth!' Heart!
you swear like a comfit-maker's wife! Not you
'in good sooth;' and, 'as true as I live;' and,
'as God shall mend me;' and, 'as sure as day:'
And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths,
As if thou never walk'dst further than Finsbury. ”

“ Glend. Come, come. Lord Mortimer; you are as slow
As hot Lord Percy is on fire to go. 268
By this our book is drawn; we will but seal,
And then to horse immediately.
Mort. With all my heart. Exeunt. ”

“ Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the
hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I
am as melancholy as a gib cat, or a lugged bear.
Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. ⁠84
Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire
bagpipe.
Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the
melancholy of Moor-ditch? ⁠88
Fal. Thou hast the most unsavory similes,
and art, indeed, the most comparative, rascal-
liest, sweet young prince; but, Hal, I prithee,
trouble me no more with vanity. ”

“ The Earl of Douglas is discomfited;
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, ⁠68
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see
On Holmedon's plains: of prisoners Hotspur took
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son
To beaten Douglas, and the Earls of Athol, ⁠72
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith.
And is not this an honourable spoil?
A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?
West. In faith, ⁠76
It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. ”

“ Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art
king, let not us that are squires of the night's
body be called thieves of the day's beauty: let
us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade,
minions of the moon ”

“ Fal. A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a cor-
pulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a
most noble carriage; and, as I think, his age
some fifty, or by'r lady, inclining to threescore;
and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff: if
that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth
me; for, Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then
the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit
by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it, there is
virtue in that Falstaff: him keep with, the rest
banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet,
tell me, where hast thou been this month? ”

“ If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the
wicked! If to be old and merry be a sin, then
many an old host that I know is damned: if to
be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine
are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto,
banish Bardolph, banish Poins; but for sweet
Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Fal-
staff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more
valiant, being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish
not him thy Harry's company: banish not him
thy Harry's company: banish plump Jack, and
banish all the world. ⁠535
Prince. I do, I will. ”

“ Why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware Instinct, the Lion will not touch the true Prince: Instinct is a great matter. I was a Coward on Instinct: I shall thinke the better of my selfe, and thee, during my life: I, for a valiant Lion, and thou for a true Prince. ”

“ I am the Prince of Wales, and thinke not Percy, To share with me in glory any more: Two Starres keepe not their motion in one Sphere, Nor can one England brooke a double reigne, Of Harry Percy, and the Prince of Wales
Hot. ”

“ Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? thou knowest in
the state of innocency Adam fell; and what
should poor Jack Falstaff do in the days of
villainy? Thou seest I have more flesh than
another man, and therefore more frailty. You
confess then, you picked my pocket? 189
Prince. It appears so by the story.
Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee. Go make ready
breakfast; love thy husband, look to thy servants,
cherish thy guests: thou shalt find me tractable
to any honest reason: thou seest I am pacified
still. Nay prithee, be gone. Exit Hostess. ”

“ Harry, I doe not onely maruell where thou spendest thy time; but also, how thou art accompanied: For though the Camomile, the more it is troden, the faster it growes; yet Youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it weares. Thou art my Sonne: I haue partly thy Mothers Word, partly my Opinion; but chiefely, a villanous tricke of thine Eye, and a foolish hanging of thy nether Lippe, that doth warrant me. If then thou be Sonne to mee, heere lyeth the point: why, being Sonne to me, art thou so poynted at? Shall the blessed Sonne of Heauen proue a Micher, and eate Black-berryes? ”

“ Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well
too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's
men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being go-
verned as the sea is, by the moon. As for proof
now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched
on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on
Tuesday morning; got with swearing 'Lay by;'
and spent with crying 'Bring in:' now in as
low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by and
by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.
Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. ”

“ Before the game's afoot thou still lett'st slip.
Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot: ⁠280
And then the power of Scotland and of York,
To join with Mortimer, ha?
Wor.⁠And so they shall.
Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
To save our heads by raising of a head; ⁠285
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,
The king will always think him in our debt,
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied, ⁠288
Till he hath found a time to pay us home. ”

“ Why then, it is like, if there come a
hot June and this civil buffeting hold, we shall
buy maidenheads as they buy hob-nails, by the
hundreds, ⁠404
Fal. By the mass, lad, thou sayest true; it is
like we shall have good trading that way. But
tell me, Hal, art thou not horribly afeard? thou
being heir apparent, could the world pick thee
out three such enemies again as that fiend
Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glen-
dower? Art thou not horribly afraid? ”

“ Thy state is taken for a joint-stool,
thy golden sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy
precious rich crown for a pitiful bald crown! ⁠425
Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite
out of thee, now shalt thou be moved. Give me
a cup of sack to make mine eyes look red, that it
may be thought I have wept; for I must speak
in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses'
vein.
Prince. Well, here is my leg.
Fal. And here is my speech. Stand aside,
nobility. ⁠434
Host. O Jesu! This is excellent sport, i' faith!
Fal. Weep not, sweet queen, for trickling tears are vain. ⁠436
Host. ”

“ Is there
not besides the Douglas? Have I not all their
letters to meet me in arms by the ninth of the
next month, and are they not some of them set
forward already? What a pagan rascal is this!
an infidel! Ha! you shall see now in very sin-
cerity of fear and cold heart, will he to the king
and lay open all our proceedings. O! I could
divide myself and go to buffets, for moving such
a dish of skim milk with so honourable an
action. Hang him! let him tell the king; we
are prepared. I will set forward to-night. ⁠40
Enter his Lady. ”

“ For my part, I may speake it to my shame, I haue a Truant beene to Chiualry, And so I heare, he doth account me too: Yet this before my Fathers Maiesty, I am content that he shall take the oddes Of his great name and estimation, And will, to saue the blood on either side, Try fortune with him, in a Single Fight
King. ”

“ Indeed, you come near me now, Hal;
for we that take purses go by the moon and the
seven stars, and not by Phœbus, he, 'that wan-
dering knight so fair.' And, I prithee, sweet
wag, when thou art king,—as, God save thy
Grace,—majesty, I should say, for grace thou
wilt have none,— ⁠20
Prince. What! none?
Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will
serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. ”