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The FIRST PART of

HENRY r IV.

A C T I. SCENE I.

The Court in London.

Enter King Henry, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Weftmorland, and others.

King HENRY.

O fhaken as we are, fo wan with Care,

So are, fo ghted peace to pant,

And breathe short-winded accents of new Broils
To be commenc'd in fronds a-far remote.
No more the thirsty entrance of this Soil
*Shall trempe her lips with her own children's blood:
No more fhall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruife her flowrets with the armed hoofs
Of hoftile paces. Thofe oppofed files,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heav'n,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the inteftine shock
And furious clofe of civil butchery,
Shall now, in mutual, well-befeeming, ranks
March all one way; and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies:
The edge of war, like an ill-fheathed knife,
No more fhall cut his mafter. Therefore, friends,

* Shall damp her lips----] This Nonsense should be read, Shall trempe, i. e. moiften, and refers to thirsty, in the preceding Line : Trempe, from the French, tremper, properly fignifies the Moiftness made by Rain.

As far as to the fepulchre of Chrift,

(Whofe foldier now, under whofe bleffed Cross
We are impreffed, and engag'd to fight)
Forthwith a Power of English fhall we levy;
Whofe arms were moulded in their mother's womb
To chafe these Pagans, in those holy fields
Over whofe acres walk'd those bleffed feet,
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter Cross.

But this our purpofe is a twelvemonth old,
And bootlefs 'tis to tell

you we will go.
Therefore, we meet not now: Then let me hear,
Of you my gentle Goufin Weftmorland,
What yefternight our Council did decree,
In forwarding this dear expedience.

Weft. My Liege, this hafte was hot in queftion, And many limits of the Charge fet down

But yefternight: when, all athwart, there camé
A Poft from Wales, loaden with heavy news;
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
Against th' irregular and wild Glendower,
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken;
A thousand of his people butchered,
Upon whofe dead corps there was such misuse,
Such beaftly, fhameless transformation,
By thofe Welfnwomen done, as may not be,
Without much fhame, re-told or fpoken of.

K. Henry. It seems then, that the tidings of this broil Brake off our business for the holy Land.

Weft. This, matcht with other, did, my gracious

lord;

For more uneven and unwelcome news

Came from the North, and thus it did import.
On holy-rood day, the gallant Hot-fpur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,

At Holmedon spent a fad and bloody hour:

As

As by discharge of their artillery,
And shape of likelihood, the news was told;
For he, that brought it, in the very heat

And pride of their contention, did take horse,
Uncertain of the iffue any way.

K.Henry. Here is a dear and true-industrious friend,
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each foil

Betwixt that Holmedon, and this Seat of ours:
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
The Earl of Dowglas is difcomfited;

Ten thousand bold Scots, three and twenty Knights,
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter fee
On Holmedon's plains. Of prifoners, Hot-fpur took
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son

To beaten Dowglas, and the Earls of Athol,
Of Murry, Angus, and Menteith.

And is not this an honourable spoil?

A gallant prize? ha, confin, is it not?

Weft. In faith, a conqueft for a Prince to boaft of. K. Henry. Yea, there thou mak'ft me fad, and mak'ft me fin

In Envy, that my lord Northumberland
Should be the father of fo bleft a fon:

A fon, who is the theme of Honour's tongue:
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
Who is fweet Fortune's Minion, and her Pride:
Whilft I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and dishonour ftain the brow

Of my young Harry. O could it be prov'd,
That fome night-tripping Fairy had exchang'd,
In cradle-clothes, our children where they lay,
And call mine Percy, his Plantagenet;

Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.
But let him from my thoughts.What think you,
Coufin,

Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath furpriz'd,
B 4

Το

To his own use he keeps, and fends me word,
I fhall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.

Weft. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcester, Malevolent to you in all afpects;

Which makes him plume himfelf, and briftle up
The Crest of youth against your Dignity.

K. Henry. But I have fent for him to answer this;
And for this caufe a while we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerufalem.

Coufin, on Wednesday next our Council we
Will hold at Windfor, fo inform the lords:
But come yourself with fpced to us again;
For more is to be faid, and to be done,
Than out of anger can be uttered.
Weft. I will, my Liege.

SCENE

[Exeunt.

II.

An Apartment of the Prince's.

Enter Henry Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falstaff.

Fal. NOW, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?

P. Henry. Thou art fo fat-witted with drinking old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches in the afternoon, that thou haft forgotten to demand That truly, which thou would't truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houses, and the blessed Sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata; I fee no reason why thou should't be fo fuperfluous, to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal. For we, that take purfes, go by the moon and seven stars, and not by Phabus, he, that wand'ring knight fo fair. And I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art Kingas God fave thy Grace, (Majefty, I should say; for grace thou wilt have none.)

P. Henry.

P. Henry. What! none?

Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will ferve to be prologue to an egg and butter.

P.Henry. Well, how then? come,roundly,roundlyFal. Marry, then, fweet wag, when thou art King, let not us that are fquires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's booty. Let us be Diana's forefters, gentlemen of the fhade, minions of the Moon; and let men fay, we be men of good government, being governed as the Sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the Moon, under whofe countenance we- -fteal.

P. Henry. Thou fay'ft 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 govern'd as the Sea is, by the Moon. As for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely fnatch'd on Monday night, and moft diffolutely spent on Tuesday morning; *got with fwearing, 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 fay'st true, lad: and is not mine Hoftefs of the tavern a most sweet wench?

P. Henry. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the caftle; and is not a buff-jerkin a moft fweet robe of durance?

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?

P. Henry. Why, what a pox have I to do with my Hoftefs of the tavern?

Fal. Well, thou haft call'd her to a reckoning many a time and oft.

* got with fwearing, lay by ;] i. e. fwearing at the Paffengers they robbed, lay by your Arms; or rather, lay by was a Phrafe that then fignified ftand fill, addreffed to thofe who were preparing to rush

forward.

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