Bar.

Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to France together; Why, the devil, should we keep knives to cut one another's throats?

Pis.

Let floods o'er-swell, and fiends for food howl on!

Nym.

You'll pay me the eight shillings, I won of you at betting?

Pis.

Base is the slave that pays.

Nym.

That now I will have; that's the humour of it.

Pis.

As manhood shall compound; Push home.

Bar.

By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will.

Pis.

Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.

Bar.

Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends: an thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too: Pry'thee, put up.

Nym.

I shall ^note have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting?

Pis.
A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;
And liquor likewise will I give to thee,
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood:

I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;—
Is not this just?—for I shall sutler be
Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
Give me thy hand.

Nym.

I shall have my noble?

Pis.
In cash most justly pay'd.

Nym.

Well then, that's the ^note humour of it.

Hos.

As ever you came of ^note women, come in quickly to sir John: Ah, poor heart! he is so shak'd of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him.

Nym.

The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that's the even of it.

Pis.
Nym, thou hast spoke the right;
His heart is fracted, and corroborate.

Nym.

The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he passes some humours, and careers.

Pis.
Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Southampton. A Hall of Council. Enter Bedford, Exeter, and Westmoreland.

Bed.
'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.

Exe.
They shall be apprehended by and by.

Wes.
How smooth and even they do bear themselves!
As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty.

Bed.
The king hath note of all that they intend,
By interception which they dream not of.

Wes.
Nay, but14Q0735 the man that was his bedfellow,
Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours,—

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery! Trumpets. Enter King Henry; the Lords Scroop, Cambridge, Sir Thomas Grey, and Others.

Kin.
Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.
My lord of Cambridge,—and my kind ^note lord of Masham,—
And you, my gentle knight,—give me your thoughts:
Think you not, that the powers we bear with us ^note
Will cut their passage through the force of France;
Doing the execution, and the act,
For which we14Q0736 have in head assembl'd them?

Scr.
No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.

Kin.
I doubt not that: since we are well persuaded,
We carry not a heart with us from hence,
That grows not in a fair consent with ours;
Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.

Cam.
Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd,
Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject,
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness
Under the sweet shade of your government.

Gre.
Even those ^note, that were your father's enemies,
Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you
With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

Kin.
We therefore have great cause of thankfulness;
And shall forget the office of our hand,
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit,
According to the weight and worthiness.

Scr.
So service shall with steeled sinews toil;
And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
To do your grace incessant services.

Kin.
We judge no less.—Uncle of Exeter,

Enlarge the man committed yesterday,
That rail'd against our person: we consider,
It was excess of wine that set him on;
And, on his more advice, we pardon him.

Scr.
That's mercy, but too much security:
Let him be punish'd, sovereign; lest example
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.

Kin.
O, let us yet be merciful.

Cam.
So may your highness, and yet punish too.

Gre.
Sir, ^note you shew great mercy, if you give him life,
After the taste of much correction.

Kin.
Alas, your too much love and care of me
Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch:
If little faults, proceeding on distemper,
Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye,
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested,
Appear before us?—We'll yet enlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,—in their dear care
And tender preservation of our person,—
Would have him punish'd. And ^note now to our French causes;
Who are the late commissioners?

Cam.
I one, my lord;
Your highness bad me ask for it to-day.

Scr.
So did you me, my liege.

Gre.
And me, my ^note royal sovereign.

Kin.
Then, Richard earl of Cambridge, there &dagger2; is yours;—
There &dagger2; yours, lord ^note Scroop of Masham;—and, sir knight,
Grey of Northumberland, this &dagger2; same is yours;—
Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.—
My lord of Westmoreland,—and uncle Exeter,—
We will aboard to-night.—Why, how now, gentlemen?
What see you in those papers, that you lose

So much complexion?—look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper.—Why, what read you there,
That hath so ^note cowarded and ^note chac'd your blood
Out of appearance.

Cam.
I do confess my fault; and do submit me
To your highness' mercy.

Scr. Gre.
To which we all appeal.

Kin.
The mercy, that was quick in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your ^note bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.—
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
These English monsters: My lord of Cambridge here,—
You know, how apt our love was, to accord
To furnish him ^note with all appertinents
Belonging to his honour; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd,
And sworn unto the practises of France,
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which,
This knight,—no less for bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is,—hath likewise sworn.—But, o,
What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop; thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature!
Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold,
Would'st thou have practic'd on me for thy use?
May it be possible, that foreign hire
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil,
That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange,
That, though the truth of it stands off ^note as gross14Q0737

As black from white ^note, my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason, and murther, ever kept together,
As two yoak-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause,
That admiration did not whoop at them;
But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder, to wait on treason, and on murther ^note:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was,
That wrought upon thee so prepost'rously,
H'ath ^note got the voice in hell for excellence:
All other ^note devils, that suggest by treasons,
Do botch and bungle up damnation
With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd
From glist'ring semblances of piety;
But he, that temper'd thee, bad thee stand up,
Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do treason,
Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.
If that same dæmon, that hath gull'd thee thus,
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,
He might return to vasty Tartar back,
And tell the legions—I can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.
O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance! Shew men dutiful?
Why, so didst thou: Or seem they grave, and learned?
Why, so didst thou: Come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: Seem they religious?
Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet;
Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger;
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood;
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement;14Q0738
Not working with the eye, without the ear,

And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither?
Such, and so finely boulted, didst thou seem:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man, the best ^note indu'd,
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man.—Their faults are open,
Arrest them to the answer of the law;—
And God acquit them of their practices!

Exe.

I arrest thee of high-treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge.—I arrest thee of high-treason, by the name of Henry lord ^note Scroop of Masham.—I arrest thee of high-treason, by the name of Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland.

Scr.
Our purposes God justly hath discover'd;
And I repent my fault, more than my death:
Which I beseech your highness to forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.

Cam.
For me,14Q0739—the gold of France did not seduce;
Although I did admit it as a motive,
The sooner to effect what I intended:
But God be thanked for prevention;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice, ^note
Beseeching God, and you, to pardon me.

Gre.
Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason,
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself,
Prevented from a damned enterprize:
My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.

Kin.
God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.
You have conspir'd against our royal person,
Join'd with an enemy, ^note and from his coffers

Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death;
Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,
His princes and his peers to servitude,
His subjects to oppression and contempt,
And his whole kingdom unto ^note desolation:
Touching our person, seek we no revenge;
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
Whose ruin you three ^note sought, that to her laws
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
The taste whereof, God, of his mercy, give you
Patience to endure; and true repentance
Of all your dear offences.—Bear them hence.— [Exeunt Conspirators, guarded.
Now, lords, for France; the enterprize whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war;
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason, lurking in our way,
To hinder our beginnings ^note, we doubt not now
But every rub is smoothed in ^note our way.
Then, forth, dear countrymen; let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,
Putting it straight in expedition.
Chearly to sea; the signs of war advance:
No king of England, if not king of France. [Exeunt. SCENE III. London. Before a Tavern. Enter Pistol, Hostess, Nym, Bardolph, and the Boy.

Hos.

Pry'thee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

Pis.
No; for my14Q0740 manly heart doth yern.—
Bardolph, be blith;—Nym, rouze thy vaunting veins;—
Boy, bristle thy courage up;
For Falstaff he is dead, and we must yern therefore.

Bar.

'Would, I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven, or in hell.

Hos.

Nay, sure, he's not in hell; he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a fine ^note end; and went away, an it had been any chryssom' ^note child; 'a parted just ^note between twelve and one, e'en at turning ^note of the tide: for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers ^note, and smile upon his fingers' ends ^note, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbl'd of ^note green fields. How now, sir John? quoth I: what, man! be o' good cheer: So 'a cry'd out—God, God, God! three or four times: now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God; I hop'd, there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet: So 'a bad me lay more cloaths on his feet: I put my hand into the bed, and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and they were as cold as any stone; ^note and so upward, and ^note upward, and all was as cold as any stone.

Nym.

They say, he cry'd out of sack ^note.

Hos.

Ay, that 'a did.

Bar.

And of ^note women.

Hos.

Nay, that 'a did not.

Boy.

Yes, that 'a did; and said, they were devils ^note incarnate.

Hos.

'A could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour he never lik'd.

Boy.

'A said once, the devil would have him about women.

Hos.

'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women: but then he was rheumatick; and talk'd of the whore of Pabylon.

Boy.

Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose; and 'a said, it was a black soul burning in hell-fire. ^note

Bar.

Well, the fuel is gone, that maintain'd that fire: that's all the riches I got in his service.

Nym.

Shall we shog? the king will be gone from Southampton.

Pis.
Come, let's away.—My love, give me thy lips. [kissing her.
Look to my chattels, and my moveables:
Let senses rule; the word ^note is, Pitch and pay:
Trust none;
For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes,
And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck;
Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor.
Go, clear thy crystals.—Yoke-fellows in arms,
Let us to France! like horse-leeches, my boys;
To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!

Boy.
And that's but unwholsome food, they say.

Pis.
Touch her soft mouth, and march.

Bar.
Farewel, hostess. [kissing her.

Nym.
I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but adieu.

Pis.
Let huswif'ry appear; keep close, I thee command.

Hos.
Farewel; adieu. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. France. A Room in some Palace. Enter the French King, and Train of Nobles; the Dauphin, Constable, &c.

Fr. K.
Thus come ^note the English with full power upon us;
And more than carefully it us concerns,
To answer royally in our defences.
Therefore the dukes of Berry, and of Bretagne,
Of Brabant, and of Orleans, shall make forth,—
And you, prince dauphin,—with all swift dispatch,
To line, and new repair, our towns of war,
With men of courage, and with means defendant:
For England his approaches makes as fierce,
As waters to the sucking of a gulph.
It fits us then, to be as provident
As fear may teach us, out of late examples
Left by the fatal and neglected ^note English
Upon our fields.

Dau.
My most redoubted father,
It is most meet, we arm us 'gainst the foe:
For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom,
(Though war, nor no known quarrel, were in question)
But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintain'd, assembl'd, and collected,
As were a war in expectation.
Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth,
To view the sick and feeble parts of France:
And let ^note us do it with no shew ^note of fear;
No, with no more, than if we heard that England
Were busy'd with a whitsun' morris-dance:
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,
Her scepter so fantastically born
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humourous youth,
That fear attends her not.

Con.
O, peace, prince dauphin!
You are too much mistaken in this king:

Question your grace the late embassadors,—
With what great state he heard their embassy,
How well supply'd with noble counsellors,
How modest in exception, and, withal,
How terrible in constant resolution,—
And you shall find, his vanities fore-spent
Were but the out-side of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
As gard'ners do with ordure hide those roots,
That shall first spring, and be most delicate.

Dau.
Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable.
But, though we think it so, it is no matter:
In cases ^note of defence, 'tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he seems,
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;
Which, of a weak and niggardly projection,
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat, with scanting
A little cloth.

Fr. K.
Think we king Harry strong;
And, princes, look, you strongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;
And he is bred out of that bloody strain,
That haunted ^note us in our familiar paths:
Witness our too-much-memorable shame,
When Cressi battle fatally was struck,
And all our princes captiv'd, by the hand
Of that black name, Edward black prince of Wales;
Whiles that14Q0741 his mountain sire ^note,—on mountain standing,
Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,—
Saw his heroical ^note seed, and smil'd to see him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns that by God and by French fathers

Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him. Enter a Messenger.

Mes.
Embassadors from Harry king of England
Do crave admittance to your majesty.

Fr. K.
We'll give them present audience.—Go, and bring them. [Exeunt Mes. and certain Lords.
You see, this chace is hotly follow'd, friends.

Dau.
Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward dogs
Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten
Runs far before ^note them. Good my sovereign,
Take up the English ^note short; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin ^note,
As self-neglecting. Re-enter Lords, with Exeter and Train.

Fr. K.
From our brother of England ^note?

Exe.
From him; and thus he greets your majesty.
He wills you, in the name of God almighty,
That you divest yourself, and lay apart
The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven,
By law of nature, and of nations, 'long ^note
To him, and to his heirs; namely, the crown,
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain,
By custom, and the ordinance of times,
Unto the crown of France. That you may know,
'Tis no sinister, nor no aukward claim,
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd,
He sends you this &dagger2; most memorable line,
In every branch truly demonstrative;

Willing you, over-look this pedigree:
And, when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his most fam'd of famous ancestors,
Edward the third, he bids you then resign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.

Fr. K.
Or else what ^note follows?

Exe.
Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
And therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Jove,
That, if requiring fail, he will compel.
He bids ^note you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown; and to take mercy
On the poor souls, for whom this hungry war
Opens his vasty jaws: and on your head ^note
Turns he14Q0742 the ^note widows' tears, the orphans' cries,
The dead mens' blood, the pining maidens' ^note groans,
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my message;
Unless the dauphin be in presence here,
To whom expresly I bring greeting too.

Fr. K.
For us, we will consider of this further:
To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother of England.

Dau.
For the dauphin,
I stand here for him; What to him from England?

Exe.
Scorn, and defiance; slight regard, contempt,
And any thing that may not misbecome
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.
Thus says my ^note king: and, if your father's highness

Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
He'll call you to so loud an answer for it ^note,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass, and return your mock
In second accent of his ordinance.

Dau.
Say, if my father render fair reply, ^note
It is against my will: for I desire
Nothing but odds with England; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with those Paris ^note balls.

Exe.
He'll make your Paris Louvre ^note shake for it,
Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe:
And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference,
(As we, his subjects, have in wonder found)
Between the promise of his greener days,
And these he masters ^note now; now he weighs time,
Even to the utmost grain; which you ^note shall read
In your own losses, if he ^note stay in France.

Fr. K.
To-morrow shall you know our mind at full.

Exe.
Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king
Come here himself to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.

Fr. K.
You shall be soon dispatch'd, with fair conditions:
A night is but small breath, and little pause,
To answer matters of this consequence. [Exeunt.

Previous section

Next section