The First Part of Henry IV:
Act 5, Scene 4
* Alarm. Excursions. Enter the KING,
the PRINCE [wounded], LORD JOHN
OF LANCASTER, and EARL OF
WESTMORELAND.
KING HENRY IV
1 I prithee,
2 Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.
3 Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.
LANCASTER
4 Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
PRINCE HENRY
5 I beseech your majesty, make up,
6 Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.
KING HENRY IV
7 I will do so.
8 My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent.
WESTMORELAND
9 Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent.
PRINCE HENRY
10 Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help:
11 And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive
12 The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,
13 Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on,
14 and rebels' arms triumph in massacres!
LANCASTER
15 We breathe too long: come, cousin Westmoreland,
16 Our duty this way lies; for God's sake come.
[Exeunt Prince John and Westmoreland.]
PRINCE HENRY
17 By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster;
18 I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:
19 Before, I loved thee as a brother, John;
20 But now, I do respect thee as my soul.
KING HENRY IV
21 I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point
22 With lustier maintenance than I did look for
23 Of such an ungrown warrior.
PRINCE HENRY
23 O, this boy
24 Lends mettle to us all!
EARL OF DOUGLAS
25 Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads:
26 I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
27 That wear those colours on them: what art thou,
28 That counterfeit'st the person of a king?
KING HENRY IV
29 The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart
30 So many of his shadows thou hast met
31 And not the very King. I have two boys
32 Seek Percy and thyself about the field:
33 But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
34 I will assay thee: so, defend thyself.
EARL OF DOUGLAS
35 I fear thou art another counterfeit;
36 And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king:
37 But mine I am sure thou art, whoe'er thou be,
38 And thus I win thee.
They fight.the King being in danger,
enter PRINCE OF WALES.
PRINCE HENRY
39 Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like
40 Never to hold it up again! the spirits
41 Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:
42 It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee;
43 Who never promiseth but he means to pay.
** They fight: Douglas flieth.
44 Cheerly, my lord how fares your grace?
45 Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent,
46 And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight.
KING HENRY IV
47 Stay, and breathe awhile:
48 Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion,
49 And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my life,
50 In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.
PRINCE HENRY
51 O God! they did me too much injury
52 That ever said I hearken'd for your death.
53 If it were so, I might have let alone
54 The insulting hand of Douglas over you,
55 Which would have been as speedy in your end
56 As all the poisonous potions in the world
57 And saved the treacherous labour of your son.
KING HENRY IV
58 Make up to Clifton: I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey.
HOTSPUR
59 If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.
PRINCE HENRY
60 Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.
HOTSPUR
61 My name is Harry Percy.
PRINCE HENRY
61 Why, then I see
62 A very valiant rebel of the name.
63 I am the Prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
64 To share with me in glory any more:
65 Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
66 Nor can one England brook a double reign,
67 Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales.
HOTSPUR
68 Nor shall it, Harry; for the hour is come
69 To end the one of us; and would to God
70 Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
PRINCE HENRY
71 I'll make it greater ere I part from thee;
72 And all the budding honours on thy crest
73 I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
HOTSPUR
74 I can no longer brook thy vanities.
FALSTAFF
75 Well said, Hal! to it Hal! Nay, you shall find
76 no boy's play here, I can tell you.
Enter DOUGLAS; he fighteth with Falstaff.
He [Falstaff] falls down as if he were dead,
** [and exit Douglas]. The Prince killeth Percy.
HOTSPUR
77 O, Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my youth!
78 I better brook the loss of brittle life
79 Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;
80 They wound my thoughts worse than sword my flesh:
81 But thoughts, the slave of life, and life, time's fool;
82 And time, that takes survey of all the world,
83 Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
84 But that the earthy and cold hand of death
85 Lies on my tongue: no, Percy, thou art dust
86 And food for—
** [Dies.]
PRINCE HENRY
87 For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart!
88 Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
89 When that this body did contain a spirit,
90 A kingdom for it was too small a bound;
91 But now two paces of the vilest earth
92 Is room enough: this earth that bears [thee] dead
93 Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.
94 If thou wert sensible of courtesy,
95 I should not make so dear a show of zeal:
96 But let my favours hide thy mangled face;
97 And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
98 For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
99 Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
100 Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
101 But not remember'd in thy epitaph!
He spieth Falstaff on the ground.
102 What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
103 Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
104 I could have better spared a better man:
105 O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,
106 If I were much in love with vanity!
107 Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,
108 Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.
109 Embowell'd will I see thee by and by:
110 Till then in blood by noble Percy lie.
FALSTAFF
111 [Rising up] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day,
112 I'll give you leave to powder me and eat me too tomorrow.
113 'Sblood,'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant
114 Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie,
115 I am no counterfeit: to die, is to be a counterfeit; for
116 he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the
117 life of a man: but to counterfeit dying, when a man
118 thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true
119 and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of
120 valour is discretion; in the which better part I have
121 saved my life.'Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder
122 Percy, though he be dead: how, if he should counterfeit
123 too and rise? by my faith, I am afraid he would
124 prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make
125 him sure; yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why
126 may not he rise as well as I? Nothing confutes
127 me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore,
128 sirrah,
129 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 HENRY
130 Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd
131 Thy maiden sword.
LANCASTER
131 But, soft! whom have we here?
132 Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
PRINCE HENRY
133 I did; I saw him dead,
134 Breathless and bleeding on the ground. Art thou alive?
135 Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?
136 I prithee, speak; we will not trust our eyes
137 Without our ears: thou art not what thou seem'st.
FALSTAFF
138 No, that's certain; I am not a double man: but if I be
139 not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There is Percy:
140 if your father will do me any honour, so;
141 if not, let him kill the next Percy himself.
142 I look to be either earl or duke, I can assure
143 you.
PRINCE HENRY
144 Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead.
FALSTAFF
145 Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to
146 lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath;
147 and so was he: but we rose both at an instant and
148 fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may
149 be believed, so; if not, let them that should reward
150 valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take
151 it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the thigh:
152 if the man were alive and would deny it, 'zounds,
153 I would make him eat a piece of my sword.
LANCASTER
154 This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.
PRINCE HENRY
155 This is the strangest fellow, brother John.
156 Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back:
157 For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
158 I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.
*** A retrait is sounded.
159 The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is our.
160 Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field,
161 To see what friends are living, who are dead.
Exeunt [Prince and Lancaster].
FALSTAFF
162 I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that rewards
163 me, God reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow
164 less; for I'll purge, and leave sack, and live cleanly
165 as a nobleman should do.