And He that wears the crown immortally,
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more
Than as your honour and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
(Which my most true and inward-duteous spirit
Teacheth,) this prostrate and exterior bending!
Heaven witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your
majesty,

How cold it struck my heart! if I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die ;
And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed!
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
(And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,)
Ì spake unto the crown, as having sense,
And thus upbraided it. "The care on thee
depending,

Hath fed upon the body of my father;
Therefore, thou, best of gold, art worst of gold.
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,
Preserving life in med'cine potable:

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most re-
nown'd,
[liege,
Hast eat thy bearer up." Thus, my most royal
Accusing it, I put it on my head;
To try with it,-as with an enemy,
That had before my face murder'd my father,
The quarrel of a true inheritor.

But if it did infect my blood with joy,

Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine
Did, with the least affection of a welcome,
Give entertainment to the might of it,
Let God for ever keep it from my head!
And make me as the poorest vassal is,
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
K. Hen. O my son!

Heaven put it in thy mind to take it hence,
That thou might'st win the more thy father's
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it. [love,

Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel [son,
That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my
By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways,
I met this crown; and I myself know well,
How troublesome it sat upon my head:
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;
For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me
But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand;
And I had many living to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances;
Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears,
Thou see'st, with peril I have answered:
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument; and now my death

Changes the mode: for what in me was purchas'd,t

Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;
So thou the garland wear'st successively.

事

[do, Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green; And all thy friends, which thou must make thy friends,

Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd,
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displac'd: which to avoid,
I cut them off; and had a purpose now

* A term used in describing the fineness of gold. Purchase, in Shakespeare, frequently means stolen goods. + Warrants. Cast up.

[out,

To lead out many to the Holy Land;
Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne
May waste the memory of the former days.
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so,
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O God, forgive!
And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
P. Hen. My gracious liege,

You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right must my possession be:
Which I, with more than with a common pain,
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.
Enter PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, WARWICK,
Lords, and Others.

K. Hen. Look, look, here comes my John of
Lancaster.

P. John. Health, peace, and happiness to my royal father!

K. Hen. Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, son John;

But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare, wither'd trunk: upon thy sight
My worldly business makes a period.-
Where is my lord of Warwick?

P: Hen.
My lord of Warwick!
K. Hen. Doth any name particular belong
Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?
War. "Tis call'd Jerusalem, my noble lord.
K. Hen. Laud be to God!-even there my life
must end.

It hath been prophesied to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerusalem;
Which vainly I suppos'd, the Holy Land:-
But, bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie;
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.

Act Fifth. SCENE I.

[Exeunt.

Glostershire. A Hall in SHALLOW's House. Enter SHALLOW, FALSTAFF, BARDOLPH, ana Page.

Shal. By cock and pye, sir, you shall not away to-night.-What, Davy, I say! [Shallow.

Fal. You must excuse me, Master Robert Shal. I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused; excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve; you shall not be excused. Why, Davy!

Davy. Here, sir.

Enter DAVY.

Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy,-let me see, Davy; let me see :-yea, marry, William cook, bid him come hither.- Sir John, you shall not be excused. Davy. Marry, sir, thus :-those precepts + cannot be served; and, again, sir,-Shall we sow the headland with wheat?

Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook;-Are there no young pigeons? Davy. Yes, sir.-Here is now the smith's note, for shoeing, and plough-irons.

Shal. Let it be cast and paid :-Sir John, you shall not be excused.

Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be had :-And, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages, about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair?

Shal. He shall answer it :-some pigeons, Davy; a couple of short-legged hens; a joint

of mutton; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William cook.

Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir? Shal. Yes, Davy. I will use him well; A friend i' the court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well. About thy business, Davy.

Davy. I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of Wincot against Clement Perkes of the hill.

Shal. There are many complaints, Davy, against that Visor; that Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.

Davy. I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir: but yet, heaven forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served your worship truly, sir, these eight years; and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I have but a very little credit with your worship. The knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech your worship, let him be countenanced. Shal. Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. Look about, Davy. [Exit DAVY.] Where are you, Sir John? Come, off with your boots.-Give me your hand, Master Bardolph.

Bard. I am glad to see your worship.

Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master Bardolph :-and welcome, my tall fellow. [To the Page.] Come, Sir John. [Exit SHAL.

Fal. I'll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow. Bardolph, look to our horses. Exeunt BARD. and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should make four dozen of such bearded hermit's-staves as Master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his : They, by observing him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like servingman; their spirits are so married in conjunction with the participation of society, that they flock together in consent, like so many wildgeese. If I had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humour his men, with the imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I would curry with Master Shallow, that no man could better command his servants. It is certain, that either wise bearing, or ignorant carriage, is caught, as men take diseases, one of another: therefore, let men take heed of their company. I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow, to keep Prince Harry in continual laughter, the wearing-out of six fashions, (which is four terms, or two actions,) and he shall laugh without intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a slight oath, and a jest with a sad brow, will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up.

Shal. [Within.] Sir John!

Fal. I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master [Exit FAL.

Shallow.

SCENE II.

Westminster. A Room in the Palace. Enter WARWICK, and the Lord Chief Justice. War. How now, my lord chief justice? whither away?

A serious face.

+ Emperor of the Turks, died in 1596: his son, who succeeded him, had all his brothers strangled.

[ended.

Ch. Just. How doth the king?
War. Exceeding well! his cares are now a!!
Ch. Just. I hope not dead.
War.

He's walk'd the way of nature;
And, to our purposes, he lives no more.
Ch. Just. I would his majesty had call'd me with
him :

The service that I truly did his life,
Hath left me open to all injuries.

War. Indeed, I think the young king loves you not.

Ch. Just. I know he doth not; and do arm myTo welcome the condition of the time; [self Which cannot look more hideously upon me Than I have drawn it in my fantasy. Enter PRINCE JOHN, PRINCE HUMPHREY, CLARENCE, WESTMORELAND, and Others. War. Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry: O, that the living Harry had the temper Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen! How many nobles then should hold their places, That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort! Ch. Just. Alas! I fear all will be overturn'd. P. John. Good morrow, cousin Warwick. P. Humph., Cla. Good morrow, cousin. P. John. We meet like men that had forgot to speak.

War. We do remember; but our argument Is all too heavy to admit much talk.

P. John. Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!

Ch. Just. Peace be with us, lest we be heavier! P. Humph. O, good my lord, you have lost a friend, indeed:

And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of seeming sorrow; it is, sure, your own.
P. John. Though no man be assur'd what
grace to find,

You stand in coldest expectation:

I am the sorrier; 'would 'twere otherwise.
Cla. Well, you must now speak Sir John
Falstaff fair;

Which swims against your stream of quality.
Ch. Just. Sweet princes, what I did, I did in
honour,

Led by the impartial conduct of my soul;
And never shall you see that I will beg
A ragged and forestall'd remission.-
If truth and upright innocency fail me,
I'll to the king my master that is dead,
And tell him who hath sent me after him.
War. Here comes the prince.

Enter KING HENRY V.

Ch. Just. Good morrow; and heaven save your majesty !

King. This new and gorgeous garment,majesty,
Sits not so easy on me as you think.-
Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear;
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath + succeeds,

But Harry, Harry: Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, to speak truth, it very well becomes you;
Sorrow so royally in you appears,
That I will deeply put the fashion on,
And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad:
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assur'd,
I'll be your father and your brother too;
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep that Harry's dead; and so will I:
But Harry lives that shall convert those tears,
By number, into hours of happiness. [majesty.
P. John, &c. We hope no other from your

most:

King. You all look strangely on me :-and you
[To the Ch. Just.
You are, I think, assur'd I love you not.
Ch. Just. I am assur'd, if I be measur'd rightly,
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
King. No!

How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?
What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
The immediate neir of England! Was this easy?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?
Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your
The image of his power lay then in me: [father;
And, in the administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy with the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,.
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person:
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case

Be now the father, and propose a son:, [yours;
Hear your own dignity so much profan'd,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son, disdained;
And then imagine me taking your part,
And, in your power, soft silencing your son :
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And as you are a king, speak in your state,→→→
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;

Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;
And I do wish your honours may increase,
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words;-
"Happy am I, that have a man so bold
That dares do justice on my proper son:
And not less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice."-You did commit me :
For which, I do commit into your hand

The unstain'd sword that you have us'd to bear;
With this remembrance,-That you use the same
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit,
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand;
You shall be as a father to my youth:
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear;
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practis'd, wise directions.-
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you;-
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections;
And with his spirit sadly I survive,
To mock the expectation of the world;
To frustrate prophecies; and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea;
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,
And flow henceforth, in formal majesty.

* In your regal character and office.
+ Summon.

Now call we our high court of parliament:
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us;-
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.--
[To the Ch. Just.
Our coronation done, we will accite, t
As I before remember'd, all our state:
And (heaven consigning to my good intents)
No-prince, nor peer, shall have just cause to say,-
Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Glostershire. The Garden of SHALLOW's House. Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, BARDOLPH, the Page, and Davy.

Shal. Nay, you shall see mine orchard: where, in an arbour, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so forth;-come, cousin Silence;-and then to bed. Fal. You have here a goodly dwelling, and a rich.

Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all, Sir John :-marry, good air-Spread, Davy; spread, Davy; well said, Davy.

Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving-man, and your husbandman. varlet, Sir John.-By the mass, I have drunk too Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good much sack at supper:-A good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down :-come, cousin. Sil. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a,-we shall

[Singing. Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer, And praise heaven for the merry year ;: So merrily,

And ever among so merrily.

Fal. There's a merry heart!-Good Master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

Shal. Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy. Davy. Sweet sir, sit; [Seating BARD. and the Page at another table.] I'll be with you anon:most sweet sir, sit.-Master page, good master page, sit: proface! What you want in meat, we'll have in drink. But you must bear; The heart's all. [Exit. Shal. Be merry, Master Bardolph;-and my little soldier there, be merry.

[Singing.

Sil. Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;
For women are shrews, both short and tall;
'Tis merry in hall, 'when beards wag all,
And welcome merry shrove-tide,
Be merry, be merry, &c.

Fal. I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this mettle. [ere now. Sil. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once, Re-enter DAVY. Davy. There is a dish of leather-coats? for [Setting them before BARD.

you.

Shal. Davy,Davy. Your worship?-I'll be with you straight. [To BARD.]-A cup of wine, sir?

Fal. Well said, Master Silence.

Sil. And we shall be merry ;-now comes in the sweet of the night. [lence. Fal. Health and long life to you, Master SiSil. Fill the cup, and let it come;

I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom. Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: If thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart. Welcome, my little tiny thief; [To the Page.] and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to Master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes about London.

Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die. Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together. Ha! will you not, Master Bardolph?. Bard. Yes, sir, in a pottle pot.

Shal. I thank thee:-The knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that: he will not out; he is true bred.

Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir.

Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry. [Knocking heard.] Look who's at door there: Ho! who knocks! [Exit DAVY. Fal. Why, now you have done me right. [TO SIL., who drinks a bumper. Do me right, [Singing. And dub me knight :* Samingo.t

Sil.

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!-
Sir John, I am thy Pistol, and thy friend,
And helter-skelter have I rode to thee;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
And golden times, and happy news of price.
Fal. I pr'ythee, now, deliver them like a man
of this world.

Pist. A fico for the world, and worldlings base! I speak of Africa, and golden joys.

Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news? Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.

Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. [Sings. Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? And shall good news be baffled?

Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.

Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.

Pist. Why then, lament therefore.

Shal. Give me pardon, sir;-If, sir, you come

* He who drank a bumper on his knees to the health of his mistress, was dubb'd a knight for the evening.

It should be domingo; it is part of a song in one of Nashe's plays.

with news from the court, I take it there is but two ways; either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am, sir, under the king, in some authority. [die. Pist. Under which king, Bezonian? speak, or Shal. Under King Harry. Pist.

Harry the fourth? or fifth? Shal. Harry the fourth. Pist.

A fico for thine office!Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king; Harry the fifth's the man. I speak the truth: When Pistol lies, do this, and fig me, like The bragging Spaniard.

Fal. What, is the old king dead?

Pist. As nail in door: the things I speak are just.

Fal. Away, Bardolph; saddle my horse.— Master Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine.-Pistol, I will doublecharge thee with dignities.

Bard. O joyful day!-I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.

Pist. What! I do bring good news?

Fal. Carry Master Silence to bed.-Master Shallow, my Lord Shallow, be what thou wilt, I am fortune's steward. Get on thy boots; we'll ride all night:-0, sweet Pistol-Away, Bardolph. [Exit BARD.]-Come, Pistol, utter more to me; and, withal, devise something to do thyself good.-Boot, boot, Master Shallow; I know the young king is sick for me. Let us take any man's horses; the laws of England are at my commandment. Happy are they which have been my friends; and woe to my lord chief justice!

Pist. Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also! "Where is the life that late I led," say they: Why, here it is: Welcome these pleasant days. [Exeunt

SCENE IV.

A public Place near Westminster Abbey.
Enter two Grooms, strewing Rushes.

1 Groom. More rushes, more rushes. 2 Groom. The trumpets have sounded twice. 1 Groom. It will be two o'clock ere they come from the coronation: Despatch, despatch. [Exeunt Grooms

Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and the Page.

Fal. Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow; I will make the king do you grace: I will leer upon him as 'a comes by; and do but mark the countenance that he will give me.

Pist. Bless thy lungs, good knight.

Fal. Come here, Pistol; stand behind me.O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound Í borrowed of you. [To SHAL.] But 'tis no matter; this poor show doth better: this doth infer the zeal I had to see him.

Shal. It doth so.

Fal. It shows my earnestness of affection. Shal. It doth so.

Fal. My devotion.

Shal. It doth, it doth, it doth.

Fal. As it were, to ride day and night: and not to deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift me.

Shal. It is most certain.

Fal. But to stand stained with travel, and sweating with desire to see him: thinking of nothing else; putting all affairs else in oblivion; as if there were nothing else to be done, but to see him.