SCENE IV.

Another Part of the Field.

Alarums. Excursions. Enter the KING, Prince
HENRY, Prince JOHN, and WESTMORELAND.

K. Hen. I pr'ythee,

Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.—
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.

P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
P. Hen. I beseech your majesty, make up,
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.

K. Hen. I will do so.-My lord of Westmoreland, Lead him to his tent.

West. Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent.

P. Hen. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your

help:

And heaven forbid, a shallow scratch should drive

The prince of Wales from such a field as this,

Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on,

And rebels' arms triumph in massacres !

P. John. We breathe too long.-Come, cousin Westmoreland,

Our duty this way lies: for God's sake, come.

[Exeunt Prince JOHN and WESTMORELAND. P. Hen. By God thou hast deceiv'd me, Lancaster, I did not think thee lord of such a spirit: Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John, But now, I do respect thee as my soul.

K. Hen. I saw him hold lord Percy at the point, With lustier maintenance than I did look for

Of such an ungrown warrior.

P. Hen.

Lends mettle to us all.

O! this boy

[Exit.

Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS.

Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads. I am the Douglas, fatal to all those

That wear those colours on them :--what art thou,
That counterfeit'st the person of a king?

K. Hen. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at

heart,

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.

Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit,
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st 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
P. HENRY.

P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like

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 flies.
Cheerly, my lord: how fares your grace?—
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent,
And so hath Clifton; I'll to Clifton straight.

K. Hen. Stay, and breathe a while.

Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion;
And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my life,
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.

P. Hen. O God! they did me too much injury,
That ever said I hearken'd for your death.
If it were so, I might have let alone

The insulting hand of Douglas over you;
Which would have been as speedy in your end,
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And sav'd the treacherous labour of your son.

K. Hen. Make up to Clifton: I'll to sir Nicholas Gawsey. [Exit King HENRY.

Enter HOTSpur.

Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. P. Hen. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name. Hot. My name is Harry Percy.

P. Hen.

A very valiant rebel of that name.

Why, then I see

I am the prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
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.

Hot. Nor shall it, Harry+, for the hour is come
To end the one of us; and would to God,
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
P. Hen. I'll make it greater, ere I part from thee;
And all the budding honours on thy crest
I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities.

Enter FALSTAFF.

[They fight.

Fal. Well said, Hal'! to it, Hal!-Nay, you shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you.

4 NOR shall it, Harry,] So the folio, 1623: all the quarto editions read, corruptly no doubt, "Now shall it, Harry." By a collation of this play, made by the late J. P. Kemble, now before me, it should appear that he had seen a copy of the quarto, 1598, in which the passage ran "Nor shall it, Harry." If so, it must have been a correction made as the first edition of the drama went through the press.

5 Well SAID, Hal!] i. e. "Well done, Hal!" See "As You Like It," Vol. iii. p. 39, note 8.

Enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF, who falls down as if he were dead, and exit DOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls.

Hot. O, Harry! thou hast robb'd me of my youth. I better brook the loss of brittle life,

Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;

They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh :

But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
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-

[Dies. P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee wells, great heart!

Ill-weav'd 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 dead',
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.

If thou wert sensible of courtesy,

I should not make so dear a show of zeal':

6 -worse than THY sword my flesh :] So every quarto, excepting that of 1613, which has the for "thy," and is followed by the folio, 1623.

7 But that the EARTHY and cold hand of death-] Here again the folio, 1623, adopted a corruption of the text from the quartos of 1608 and 1613, where the line runs,

"But that the earth and cold hand of death :"

to amend the defective metre, the folio, however, inserted the before "cold,"” without referring to any previous edition.

8 Fare thee well,] The folio, contrary to all authority, omits "thee."

This earth that bears THEE dead,] This is doubtless the true reading, by which the antithesis is preserved. All the copies, quarto and folio, anterior to the quarto of 1639, read, “bears the dead," but in old MSS. "thee" was often written the, and hence the original and long existing error.

1 I should not make so DEAR a show of zeal :-] So the quarto, 1598: other editions poorly substitute great for “dear.”

But let my favours hide thy mangled face,
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven:
Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave,

But not remember'd in thy epitaph!—

[He sees FALSTAFF on the ground.

What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell:
I could have better spar'd 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 to-day,
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.-
Embowell'd will I see thee by and by;
Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie.

[Exit. Fal. [Rising.] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder me3, and eat me too, to-morrow. 'Sblood! 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie; I am no counterfeit1: 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 counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valour is discretion, in the which better part, I have saved my life. 'Zounds! I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead.

2 Thy IGNOMY] The word "ignomy" (of course abridged from ignominy for the sake of the verse) has occurred in "Measure for Measure," Vol. ii. p. 45. It is also found in Troilus and Cressida, as pointed out in a note on the passage. The quartos of 1598, 1599, and 1639, have "ignominy," and those of 1608 and 1613, as well as the folio, "ignomy."

3

-

I'll give you leave to POWDER me,] To "powder was the old word for to salt, and is not yet entirely out of use in some parts of the kingdom. The country people in the lower part of Surrey still speak of "powdered beef," as well as of "corned beef."

4 I LIE; I am no counterfeit :] The quarto, 1613, and the folio, 1623, omit "I lie." It is found in all the previous editions, but the folio took its text from that of 1613.