King Henry IV, Part I

King Henry IV, Part I

ACT V SCENE IV	Another part of the field.
	Alarum. Excursions. Enter PRINCE HENRY, LORD JOHNOF LANCASTER, and EARL OF WESTMORELAND
KING HENRY IV	I prithee,
	Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.
	Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.
LANCASTER	Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.	5
PRINCE HENRY	I beseech your majesty, make up,
	Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.
KING HENRY IV	I will do so.
	My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent.
WESTMORELAND	Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent.	10
PRINCE HENRY	Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help:
	And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive
	The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,
	Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on,
	and rebels' arms triumph in massacres!	15
LANCASTER	We breathe too long: come, cousin Westmoreland,
	Our duty this way lies; for God's sake come.
	Exeunt LANCASTER and WESTMORELAND
PRINCE HENRY	By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster;
	I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:
	Before, I loved thee as a brother, John;	20
	But now, I do respect thee as my soul.
KING HENRY IV	I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point
	With lustier maintenance than I did look for
	Of such an ungrown warrior.
PRINCE HENRY	O, this boy	25
	Lends mettle to us all!
	Exit
	Enter DOUGLAS
EARL OF DOUGLAS	Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads:
	I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
	That wear those colours on them: what art thou,
	That counterfeit'st the person of a king?	30
KING HENRY IV	The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart
	So many of his shadows thou hast met
	And not the very king. I have two boys
	Seek Percy and thyself about the field:
	But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,	35
	I will assay thee: so, defend thyself.
EARL OF DOUGLAS	I fear thou art another counterfeit;
	And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king:
	But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be,
	And thus I win thee.	40
	They fight. KING HENRY being in danger, PRINCEHENRY enters
PRINCE HENRY	Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like
	Never to hold it up again! the spirits
	Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:
	It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee;
	Who never promiseth but he means to pay.	45
	They fight: DOUGLAS flies
	Cheerly, my lord how fares your grace?
	Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent,
	And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight.
KING HENRY IV	Stay, and breathe awhile:
	Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion,	50
	And show'd thou makest some tender of my life,
	In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.
PRINCE HENRY	O God! they did me too much injury
	That ever said I hearken'd for your death.
	If it were so, I might have let alone	55
	The insulting hand of Douglas over you,
	Which would have been as speedy in your end
	As all the poisonous potions in the world
	And saved the treacherous labour of your son.
KING HENRY IV	Make up to Clifton: I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey.	60
	Exit
	Enter HOTSPUR
HOTSPUR	If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.
PRINCE HENRY	Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.
HOTSPUR	My name is Harry Percy.
PRINCE HENRY	Why, then I see
	A very valiant rebel of the name.	65
	I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
	To share with me in glory any more:
	Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
	Nor can one England brook a double reign,
	Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales.	70
HOTSPUR	Nor shall it, Harry; for the hour is come
	To end the one of us; and would to God
	Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
PRINCE HENRY	I'll make it greater ere I part from thee;
	And all the budding honours on thy crest	75
	I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
HOTSPUR	I can no longer brook thy vanities.
	They fight
	Enter FALSTAFF
FALSTAFF	Well said, 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 exitDOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls
HOTSPUR	O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth!	80
	I better brook the loss of brittle life
	Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
	They wound my thoughts worse than sword my flesh:
	But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;
	And time, that takes survey of all the world,	85
	Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
	But that the earthy and cold hand of death
	Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust
	And food for--
	Dies
PRINCE HENRY	For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart!	90
	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;
	But now two paces of the vilest earth
	Is room enough: this earth that bears thee dead	95
	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	100
	For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
	Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
	Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
	But not remember'd in thy epitaph!
	He spieth FALSTAFF on the ground
	What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh	105
	Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
	I could have better spared 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,	110
	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 PRINCE HENRY
FALSTAFF	Rising up
	I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too
	to-morrow. 'Sblood,'twas time to counterfeit, or	115
	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	120
	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	125
	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.	130
	Therefore, sirrah,
	Stabbing him
	with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.
	Takes up HOTSPUR on his back
	Re-enter PRINCE HENRY and LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER
PRINCE HENRY	Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd
	Thy maiden sword.
LANCASTER	But, soft! whom have we here?	135
	Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
PRINCE HENRY	I did; I saw him dead,
	Breathless and bleeding on the ground. Art
	thou alive?
	Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?	140
	I prithee, speak; we will not trust our eyes
	Without our ears: thou art not what thou seem'st.
FALSTAFF	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:
	Throwing the body down
	if your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let	145
	him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either
	earl or duke, I can assure you.
PRINCE HENRY	Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead.
FALSTAFF	Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to
	lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath;	150
	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	155
	thigh: if the man were alive and would deny it,
	'zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.
LANCASTER	This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.
PRINCE HENRY	This is the strangest fellow, brother John.
	Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back:	160
	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.	165
	Exeunt PRINCE HENRY and LANCASTER
FALSTAFF	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