OWEN GLENDOWER.

SIR RICHARD VERNON

Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants.

SCENE.-England.

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By those Welshwomen done, as may not be
Without much shame re-told or spoken of.

K. Hen. It seems then that the tidings of this
broil

Uncertain of the issue any way.

signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun K. Hen. Here is a dear and true industrious himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured friend,

taffeta, I see no reason why thou should'st be
so superfluous to demand the time of the day.

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

you, coz,

Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath surpris'd,
To his own use he keeps, and sends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.

West. This is his uncle's teaching, this is
Worcester,

SCENE II.-The Same.

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
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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:
But come yourself with speed to us again;
For more is to be said and to be done
Than out of anger can be uttered.
West. I will, my liege.

An Apartment of the
PRINCE'S.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, that wandering 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

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none,

Enter the PRINCE and FALSTAFF.

Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? Prince. 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 minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the

Prince. What! none?

Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. Prince. Well, how then? come roundly, roundly.

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; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

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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 governed 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. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?

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Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what? in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin?

Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here Exeunt. apparent that thou art heir apparent,-But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king, and resolu tion thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antick the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.

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Prince. No; thou shalt.

Fal. Shall I O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.

Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?

Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning mar a time and oft. Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part! Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.

Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit.

Prince. Thou judgest false already; I mean thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.

Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you.

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Prince. For obtaining of suits ?

Pal. Hear ye, Yedward : if I tarry at home Pal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the and go not, I'll hang you for going. hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I Poins. You will, chops ? am as melancholy as a gib cat, or a lugged Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one ? bear.

Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. faith.

Pal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bag. Pal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor pipe.

good fellowship in thee, por thou camest not of Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten melancholy of Moor-ditch ?

89 shillings. Pal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes, Prince. Well then, once in my days I'll be a and art indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, madcap. sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble Pal. Why, that's well said. me no more with vanity. I would to God thou Prince. Well,come what will, I'll tarry at home. and I knew where a commodity of good names Pal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when were to be bought. An old lord of the council thou art king. rated me the other day in the street about you, Prince. I care not. sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet me alone : I will lay him down such reasons for he talked wisely, and in the street too.

this adventure that he shall go. Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out Pal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuain the streets, and no man regards it.

sion, and him the ears of profiting, that what Pal. O! thou hast damnable iteration, and art thou speakest may move, and what he hears indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done may be believed, that the true prince may, for much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the poor it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little you shall find me in Eastcheap. better than one of the wicked. I must give over Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring ! Fare. this life, and I will give it over ; by the Lord, an well, All-hallown summer ! Erit FALSTAFF. I do not, I am a villain : I'll be damned for Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride never a king's son in Christendom.

110 with us to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, Jack ?

and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have Fal. 'Zounds! where thou wilt, lad, I'll make already waylaid; yourself and I will not be there; one; an I do not, call me villain and baffle me. and when they have the booty, if you and I do

Prince. I see a good amendment of life in not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders. thee ; from praying to purse-taking.

Prince. But how shall we part with them in Enter Poins, at a distance.

setting forth?

Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after Pal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no them, and appoint them a place of meeting, sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins! wherein it is at our pleasure to fail ; and then Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. will they adventure upon the exploit themselves, 0! if men were to be saved by merit, what hole which they shall have no sooner achieved but in hell were hot enough for him ? . This is the we'll set upon them. most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand!' Prince. Yea, but 'tis like that they will know to a true man.

us by our horses, by our habits, and by every Prince. Good morrow, Ned.

other appointment, to be ourselves. Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see, I'll Monsieur Remorse? What says Sir John Sack. tie them in the wood ; our vizards we will change and-Sugar ? Jack! how agrees the devil and after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of tbee abont thy soul, that thou soldest him on buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a outward garments. cold capon's leg?

Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil for us. shall have his bargain ; for he was never yet a Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due. be as true-bred cowards as ever turned back;

and Poins. Then art thou damned for keeping thy for the third, if he fight longer than he sees word with the devil,

reason, I'll forswear arms. The virtue of this Prince. Else he had been damned for cozening jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this the devil.

same fat rogue will tell us when we meetatsupper: Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morn- how thirty, at least, he fought with ; what wards, ing, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! There are what blows, what extremities he endured ; and pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, in the reproof of this lies the jest. and traders riding to London with fat purses : I Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all have vizards for you all; you have horses for things necessary and meet me to-morrow night yourselves. Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; in Eastcheap; there I'll sup. Farewell. I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in East- Poins. Farewell, my lord.

Exit. cheap: we may do it as secure as sleep. If you Prince. I know you all, and will awhile uphold will go I will stuff your purses full of crowns ; The unyok'd humour of your idleness : if you will not, tarry at home and be hanged. Yet herein will I imitate the sun,

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Who doth permit the base contagious clouds He was perfumed like a milliner,
To smother up his beauty from the world, And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
That when he please again to be himself, 220 A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, He gave his nose and took 't away again ;
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Who therewith angry, when it next came there,
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. Took it in snuff : and still he smil'd and talk'd;
If all the year were playing holidays,

And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
To sport would be as tedious as to work ; He call’d them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for To bring a slovenly unhandsome corpse

Betwixt the wind and his nobility. And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. With many holiday and lady terms So, when this loose behaviour I throw off, He question'd me; among the rest, demanded And pay the debt I never promised,

My prisoners in your majesty's behalf. By how much better than my word I am 230 I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold, By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ;

To be so pester'd with a popinjay, And like bright metal on a sullen ground, Out of my grief and my impatience My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what, Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes He should, or he should not; for he made me Than that which hath no foil to set it off.

mad I'll so offend to make offence a skill,

To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, Redeeming time when men think least I will. And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman

Exit. Of guns, and drums, and wounds, God save the

mark! SCENE III.--The Same. The Palace. And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth Enter King HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, WOR; And that it was great pity, so it was,

Was parmaceti for an inward bruise ; CESTER, HOTSPUR, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and That villanous salt petre should be digg'd Others.

Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, K. Hen. My blood hath been too cold and which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd temperate,

So cowardly ; and but for these vile guns
Unapt to stir at these indignities,

He would himself have been a soldier.
And you have found me; for accordingly This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,
You tread upon my patience : but be sure I answer'd indirectly, as I said ;
I will from henceforth rather be myself,

And I beseech you, let not his report
Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition, Come current for an accusation
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young Betwixt my love and your high majesty.
down,

Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my And therefore lost that title of respect

lord,
Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud. Whatever Harry Percy then had said
Wor. Our house, my sovereign liege, little To such a person, and in such a place,
deserves

At such a time, with all the rest re-told,
The scourge of greatness to be used on it; May reasonably die and never rise
And that samegreatness too which our own hands To do him wrong, or any way impeach
Have holp to make so portly.

What then he said, so he unsay it now.
North. My lord, -

K. Hen. Why, yet he doth deny bis prisoners, K. Hen. Worcester, get thee gone ; for I do see But with proviso and exception, Danger and disobedience in thine eye.

That we at our own charge shall ransom straight O ! sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer ; And majesty might never yet endure

Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd The moody frontier of a servant brow.

The lives of those that he did lead to fight You have good leave to leave us ; when we need Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower. Your use and counsel we shall send for you. Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March

Exit WORCESTER. Hath lately married. Shall our coffers then 7. NORTHUMBERLAND. You were about to Be emptied to redeem a traitor home? speak.

Shall we buy treason, and indent with fears, North.

Yea, my good lord. When they have lost and forfeited themselves? Those prisoners in your highness' name de- No, on the barren mountains let him starve ; manded,

For I shall never hold that man my friend Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took, Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost Were, as he says, not with such strength denied To ransom home revolted Mortimer. As was deliver'd to your majesty :

Hot. Revolted Mortimer ! Either envy, therefore, or misprision

He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, Is guilty of this fault and not my son.

But by the chance of war: to prove that true Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners : Needs no more but one tongue for all those But I remember, when the fight was done,

wounds, When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword, When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dress’d, In single opposition, hand to hand, Fresh as a bridegroom ; and his chin, new reap'd, He did confound the best part of an hour Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home : In changing hardiment with great Glendower.

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Three times they breath'd and three times did That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve. they drink,

But shall it be that you, that set the crown Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood, Upon the head of this forgetful man, Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, And for his sake wear the detested blot Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, Of murd'rous subornation, shall it be, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank That you a world of curses undergo, Blood-stained with these valiant combatants. Being the agents, or base second means, Never did base and rotten policy

The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather? Colour her working with such deadly wounds; 0! pardon me that I descend so low, Nor never could the noble Mortimer

To show the line and the predicament Receive so many, and all willingly :

Wherein you range under this subtle king.
Then let not him be slander'd with revolt. Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,
K. Hen. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
belie him :

That men of your nobility and power
He never did encounter with Glendower: Did gage them both in an unjust behalf,
I tell thee,

As both of you, God pardon it! have done, He durst as well have met the devil alone To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose, As Owen Glendower for an enemy.

And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke! Art thou not asham'd? But, sirrah, henceforth | And shall it in more shame be further spoken, Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer : That you are fool'd, discarded, and shook off Send me your prisoners with the speediest means, By him for whom these shames ye underwent ! Or you shall hear in such a kind from me 121 No; yet time serves wherein you may redeem 180 As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland, Your banish'd honours, and restore yourselves We license your departure with your son. Into the good thoughts of the world again ; Send us your prisoners, or you 'll hear of it. Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt

Exeunt King HENRY, BLUNT, and I'rain. Of this proud king, who studies day and night Hot. An if the devil come and roar for them, To answer all the debt he owes to you I will not send them : I will after straight Even with the bloody payment of your deaths. And tell him so ; for I will ease my heart, Therefore, I say,-Although it be with hazard of my head.

Wor.

Peace, cousin ! say no more. North. What! drunk with choler? stay and And now I will unclasp a secret book, pause awhile :

And to your quick-conceiving discontents Here comes your uncle.

I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,

As full of peril and adventurous spirit
Re-enter WORCESTER.

As to o'er-walk a current, roaring loud,
Hot.

Speak of Mortimer! 130 On the unsteadfast footing of a spear. 'Zounds! I will speak of him; and let my soul Hot. If he fall in, good night! or sink or Want mercy if I do not join with him :

swim : In his behalf I'll empty all these veins,

Send danger from the east unto the west, And shed my dear blood drop by drop i'the dust, So honour cross it from the north to south, But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer

And let them grapple : 0! the blood more stirs As high i' the air as this unthankful king, To rouse a lion than to start a hare. As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke. North. Imagination of some great exploit Vorth. Brother, the king hath made your Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. nephew mad.

Hot. By heaven methinks it were an easy leap Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon, gone ?

Or dive into the bottom of the deep, Hot. He will, forsooth, hay all my prisoners ; | Where fathom-line could nevertouch the ground, And when I urg'd the ransom once again And pluck up drowned honour by the locks ; Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale, So he that doth redeem her thence might wear And on my face he turn'd an eye of death, Without corrival all her dignities : Trembling even at the name of Mortimer, But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship ! Wor. I cannot blame him : was he not pro- Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here, claim'd

But not the form of what he should attend. 210 By Richard that dead is the next of blood ? Good cousin, give me audience for a while,

North. He was ; I heard the proclamation : And list to me. And then it was, when the unhappy king,

Hot. I cry you mercy. Whose wrongs in us God pardon! did set forth Wor.

Those same noble Scots l'pon his Irish expedition ;

That are your prisoners, From whence he, intercepted, did return

Hot.

I'll keep them all ; To be depos'd, and shortly murdered.

By God, he shall not have a Scot of them : Wor. And for whose death we in the world's No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not : wide mouth

I'll keep them, by this hand. Live scandaliz'd and foully spoken of.

Wor.

You start away, Hot. But, soft! I pray you, did King Richard And lend no ear unto my purposes. then

Those prisoners you shall keep. Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer

Hot.

Nay, I will ; that's flat.
Heir to the crown ?

He said he would not ransom Mortimer ;
North.

He did ; myself did hear it. Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
Hol. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king, But I will find him when he lies asleep,

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