Alarm, excursions. Enter the King, the Prince, Lord John
of Lancaster, ⌜and the⌝ Earl of Westmoreland.KING I prithee, Harry, withdraw thyself. Thou bleedest too much. Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.LANCASTER Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.PRINCE 5 I beseech your Majesty, make up, Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.KING I will do so.—My Lord of Westmoreland, Lead him to his tent.WESTMORELAND Come, my lord, I’ll lead you to your tent.PRINCE 10 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 stained nobility lies trodden on, And rebels’ arms triumph in massacres.
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LANCASTER 15 We breathe too long. Come, cousin Westmoreland, Our duty this way lies. For God’s sake, come. ⌜Lancaster and Westmoreland exit.⌝PRINCE 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 I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point With lustier maintenance than I did look for Of such an ungrown warrior.PRINCE O, this boy lends mettle to us all. He exits. ⌜Enter Douglas.⌝DOUGLAS 25 Another king! They grow like Hydra’s heads.— I am the Douglas, fatal to all those That wear those colors on them. What art thou That counterfeit’st the person of a king?KING The King himself, who, Douglas, grieves at heart,30 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, I will assay thee. And defend thyself.DOUGLAS 35 I fear thou art another counterfeit, And yet, in faith, thou bearest thee like a king. But mine I am sure thou art, whoe’er thou be, And thus I win thee. They fight. The King being in danger,
enter Prince of Wales.
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PRINCE Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like40 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. They fight. Douglas flieth. ⌜To King.⌝ Cheerly, my lord. How fares your Grace?45 Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent, And so hath Clifton. I’ll to Clifton straight.KING Stay and breathe awhile. Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion And showed thou mak’st some tender of my life50 In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.PRINCE O God, they did me too much injury That ever said I hearkened for your death. If it were so, I might have let alone The insulting hand of Douglas over you,55 Which would have been as speedy in your end As all the poisonous potions in the world, And saved the treacherous labor of your son.KING Make up to Clifton. I’ll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey. King exits. Enter Hotspur.HOTSPUR If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.PRINCE 60 Thou speak’st as if I would deny my name.HOTSPUR My name is Harry Percy.PRINCE Why then I see A very valiant rebel of the name. I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
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65 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.HOTSPUR ⌜Nor⌝ shall it, Harry, for the hour is come70 To end the one of us, and would to God Thy name in arms were now as great as mine.PRINCE I’ll make it greater ere I part from thee, And all the budding honors on thy crest I’ll crop to make a garland for my head.HOTSPUR 75 I can no longer brook thy vanities. They fight. Enter Falstaff.FALSTAFF Well said, Hal! To it, Hal! Nay, you shall find no boys’ play here, I can tell you. Enter Douglas. He fighteth with Falstaff, ⌜who⌝ falls
down as if he were dead. ⌜Douglas exits.⌝ The Prince
killeth Percy.HOTSPUR O Harry, thou hast robbed me of my youth. I better brook the loss of brittle life80 Than those proud titles thou hast won of me. They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh. But thoughts, the slaves 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— ⌜He dies.⌝PRINCE For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee well, great heart.
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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 dead95 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 favors hide thy mangled face; ⌜He covers Hotspur’s face.⌝ And even in thy behalf I’ll thank myself100 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 remembered in thy epitaph. He spieth Falstaff on the ground. What, old acquaintance, could not all this flesh105 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 today,110 Though many dearer in this bloody fray. Emboweled will I see thee by and by; Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. He exits. Falstaff riseth up.FALSTAFF Emboweled? If thou embowel me today, I’ll give you leave to powder me and eat me too115 tomorrow. ’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 counterfeit120 dying when a man thereby liveth is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valor is discretion, in the
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which better part I have saved my life. Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead.125 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 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. He takes up Hotspur on his back. Enter Prince ⌜and⌝ John of Lancaster.PRINCE Come, brother John. Full bravely hast thou fleshed Thy maiden sword.LANCASTER But soft, whom have we here?135 Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?PRINCE 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. If your father will do me any honor, so; if145 not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either earl or duke, I can assure you.PRINCE 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 of150 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 valor bear the sin upon their own heads. I’ll
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take it upon my death, I gave him this wound in155 the 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 This is the strangest fellow, brother John.—160 Come bring your luggage nobly on your back. 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 field165 To see what friends are living, who are dead. They exit.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. He exits ⌜carrying Hotspur’s body.⌝
