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King Henry IV Part 1: Act 2 Scene 4

Scene IV The Boar's-Head Tavern, Eastcheap.

[Enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS]

PRINCE HENRY

Ned, prithee, come out of that fat room, and lend me

thy hand to laugh a little.

POINS

Where hast been, Hal?

PRINCE HENRY

With three or four loggerheads amongst three or four

score hogsheads. I have sounded the very

base-string of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn brother

to a leash of drawers; and can call them all by

their christen names, as Tom, Dick, and Francis.

They take it already upon their salvation, that

though I be but the prince of Wales, yet I am king

of courtesy; and tell me flatly I am no proud Jack,

like Falstaff, but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a

good boy, by the Lord, so they call me, and when I

am king of England, I shall command all the good

lads in Eastcheap. They call drinking deep, dyeing

scarlet; and when you breathe in your watering, they

cry 'hem!' and bid you play it off. To conclude, I

am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour,

that I can drink with any tinker in his own language

during my life. I tell thee, Ned, thou hast lost

much honour, that thou wert not with me in this sweet

action. But, sweet Ned,--to sweeten which name of

Ned, I give thee this pennyworth of sugar, clapped

even now into my hand by an under-skinker, one that

never spake other English in his life than 'Eight

shillings and sixpence' and 'You are welcome,' with

this shrill addition, 'Anon, anon, sir! Score a pint

of bastard in the Half-Moon,' or so. But, Ned, to

drive away the time till Falstaff come, I prithee,

do thou stand in some by-room, while I question my

puny drawer to what end he gave me the sugar; and do

thou never leave calling 'Francis,' that his tale

to me may be nothing but 'Anon.' Step aside, and

I'll show thee a precedent.

POINS

Francis!

PRINCE HENRY

Thou art perfect.

POINS

Francis!

[Exit POINS]

[Enter FRANCIS]

FRANCIS

Anon, anon, sir. Look down into the Pomgarnet, Ralph.

PRINCE HENRY

Come hither, Francis.

FRANCIS

My lord?

PRINCE HENRY

How long hast thou to serve, Francis?

FRANCIS

Forsooth, five years, and as much as to--

POINS

[Within] Francis!

FRANCIS

Anon, anon, sir.

PRINCE HENRY

Five year! by'r lady, a long lease for the clinking

of pewter. But, Francis, darest thou be so valiant

as to play the coward with thy indenture and show it

a fair pair of heels and run from it?

FRANCIS

O Lord, sir, I'll be sworn upon all the books in

England, I could find in my heart.

POINS

[Within] Francis!

FRANCIS

Anon, sir.

PRINCE HENRY

How old art thou, Francis?

FRANCIS

Let me see--about Michaelmas next I shall be--

POINS

[Within] Francis!

FRANCIS

Anon, sir. Pray stay a little, my lord.

PRINCE HENRY

Nay, but hark you, Francis: for the sugar thou

gavest me,'twas a pennyworth, wast't not?

FRANCIS

O Lord, I would it had been two!

PRINCE HENRY

I will give thee for it a thousand pound: ask me

when thou wilt, and thou shalt have it.

POINS

[Within] Francis!

FRANCIS

Anon, anon.

PRINCE HENRY

Anon, Francis? No, Francis; but to-morrow, Francis;

or, Francis, o' Thursday; or indeed, Francis, when

thou wilt. But, Francis!

FRANCIS

My lord?

PRINCE HENRY

Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, crystal-button,

not-pated, agate-ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter,

smooth-tongue, Spanish-pouch,--

FRANCIS

O Lord, sir, who do you mean?

PRINCE HENRY

Why, then, your brown bastard is your only drink;

for look you, Francis, your white canvas doublet

will sully: in Barbary, sir, it cannot come to so much.

FRANCIS

What, sir?

POINS

[Within] Francis!

PRINCE HENRY

Away, you rogue! dost thou not hear them call?

[Here they both call him; the drawer stands amazed,

not knowing which way to go]

[Enter Vintner]

VINTNER

What, standest thou still, and hearest such a

calling? Look to the guests within.

[Exit Francis]

My lord, old Sir John, with half-a-dozen more, are

at the door: shall I let them in?

PRINCE HENRY

Let them alone awhile, and then open the door.

[Exit Vintner]

Poins!

[Re-enter POINS]

POINS

Anon, anon, sir.

PRINCE HENRY

Sirrah, Falstaff and the rest of the thieves are at

the door: shall we be merry?

POINS

As merry as crickets, my lad. But hark ye; what

cunning match have you made with this jest of the

drawer? come, what's the issue?

PRINCE HENRY

I am now of all humours that have showed themselves

humours since the old days of goodman Adam to the

pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight.

[Re-enter FRANCIS]

What's o'clock, Francis?

FRANCIS

Anon, anon, sir.

[Exit]

PRINCE HENRY

That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a

parrot, and yet the son of a woman! His industry is

upstairs and downstairs; his eloquence the parcel of

a reckoning. I am not yet of Percy's mind, the

Hotspur of the north; he that kills me some six or

seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his

hands, and says to his wife 'Fie upon this quiet

life! I want work.' 'O my sweet Harry,' says she,

'how many hast thou killed to-day?' 'Give my roan

horse a drench,' says he; and answers 'Some

fourteen,' an hour after; 'a trifle, a trifle.' I

prithee, call in Falstaff: I'll play Percy, and

that damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his

wife. 'Rivo!' says the drunkard. Call in ribs, call in tallow.

[Enter FALSTAFF, GADSHILL, BARDOLPH, and PETO;

FRANCIS following with wine]

POINS

Welcome, Jack: where hast thou been?

FALSTAFF

A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance too!

marry, and amen! Give me a cup of sack, boy. Ere I

lead this life long, I'll sew nether stocks and mend

them and foot them too. A plague of all cowards!

Give me a cup of sack, rogue. Is there no virtue extant?

[He drinks]

PRINCE HENRY

Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of butter?

pitiful-hearted Titan, that melted at the sweet tale

of the sun's! if thou didst, then behold that compound.

FALSTAFF

You rogue, here's lime in this sack too: there is

nothing but roguery to be found in villanous man:

yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime

in it. A villanous coward! Go thy ways, old Jack;

die when thou wilt, if manhood, good manhood, be

not forgot upon the face of the earth, then am I a

shotten herring. There live not three good men

unhanged in England; and one of them is fat and

grows old: God help the while! a bad world, I say.

I would I were a weaver; I could sing psalms or any

thing. A plague of all cowards, I say still.

PRINCE HENRY

How now, wool-sack! what mutter you?

FALSTAFF

A king's son! If I do not beat thee out of thy

kingdom with a dagger of lath, and drive all thy

subjects afore thee like a flock of wild-geese,

I'll never wear hair on my face more. You Prince of Wales!

PRINCE HENRY

Why, you whoreson round man, what's the matter?

FALSTAFF

Are not you a coward? answer me to that: and Poins there?

POINS

'Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, by the

Lord, I'll stab thee.

FALSTAFF

I call thee coward! I'll see thee damned ere I call

thee coward: but I would give a thousand pound I

could run as fast as thou canst. You are straight

enough in the shoulders, you care not who sees your

back: call you that backing of your friends? A

plague upon such backing! give me them that will

face me. Give me a cup of sack: I am a rogue, if I

drunk to-day.

PRINCE HENRY

O villain! thy lips are scarce wiped since thou

drunkest last.

FALSTAFF

All's one for that.

[He drinks]

A plague of all cowards, still say I.

PRINCE HENRY

What's the matter?

FALSTAFF

What's the matter! there be four of us here have

ta'en a thousand pound this day morning.

PRINCE HENRY

Where is it, Jack? where is it?

FALSTAFF

Where is it! taken from us it is: a hundred upon

poor four of us.

PRINCE HENRY

What, a hundred, man?

FALSTAFF

I am a rogue, if I were not at half-sword with a

dozen of them two hours together. I have 'scaped by

miracle. I am eight times thrust through the

doublet, four through the hose; my buckler cut

through and through; my sword hacked like a

hand-saw--ecce signum! I never dealt better since

I was a man: all would not do. A plague of all

cowards! Let them speak: if they speak more or

less than truth, they are villains and the sons of darkness.

PRINCE HENRY

Speak, sirs; how was it?

GADSHILL

We four set upon some dozen--

FALSTAFF

Sixteen at least, my lord.

GADSHILL

And bound them.

PETO

No, no, they were not bound.

FALSTAFF

You rogue, they were bound, every man of them; or I

am a Jew else, an Ebrew Jew.

GADSHILL

As we were sharing, some six or seven fresh men set upon us--

FALSTAFF

And unbound the rest, and then come in the other.

PRINCE HENRY

What, fought you with them all?

FALSTAFF

All! I know not what you call all; but if I fought

not with fifty of them, I am a bunch of radish: if

there were not two or three and fifty upon poor old

Jack, then am I no two-legged creature.

PRINCE HENRY

Pray God you have not murdered some of them.

FALSTAFF

Nay, that's past praying for: I have peppered two

of them; two I am sure I have paid, two rogues

in buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, if I tell

thee a lie, spit in my face, call me horse. Thou

knowest my old ward; here I lay and thus I bore my

point. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me--

PRINCE HENRY

What, four? thou saidst but two even now.

FALSTAFF

Four, Hal; I told thee four.

POINS

Ay, ay, he said four.

FALSTAFF

These four came all a-front, and mainly thrust at

me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven

points in my target, thus.

PRINCE HENRY

Seven? why, there were but four even now.

FALSTAFF

In buckram?

POINS

Ay, four, in buckram suits.

FALSTAFF

Seven, by these hilts, or I am a villain else.

PRINCE HENRY

Prithee, let him alone; we shall have more anon.

FALSTAFF

Dost thou hear me, Hal?

PRINCE HENRY

Ay, and mark thee too, Jack.

FALSTAFF

Do so, for it is worth the listening to. These nine

in buckram that I told thee of--

PRINCE HENRY

So, two more already.

FALSTAFF

Their points being broken,--

POINS

Down fell their hose.

FALSTAFF

Began to give me ground: but I followed me close,

came in foot and hand; and with a thought seven of

the eleven I paid.

PRINCE HENRY

O monstrous! eleven buckram men grown out of two!

FALSTAFF

But, as the devil would have it, three misbegotten

knaves in Kendal green came at my back and let drive

at me; for it was so dark, Hal, that thou couldst

not see thy hand.

PRINCE HENRY

These lies are like their father that begets them;

gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Why, thou

clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou

whoreson, obscene, grease tallow-catch,--

FALSTAFF

What, art thou mad? art thou mad? is not the truth

the truth?

PRINCE HENRY

Why, how couldst thou know these men in Kendal

green, when it was so dark thou couldst not see thy

hand? come, tell us your reason: what sayest thou to this?

POINS

Come, your reason, Jack, your reason.

FALSTAFF

What, upon compulsion? 'Zounds, an I were at the

strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would

not tell you on compulsion. Give you a reason on

compulsion! If reasons were as plentiful as

blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon

compulsion, I.

PRINCE HENRY

I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this sanguine

coward, this bed-presser, this horseback-breaker,

this huge hill of flesh,--

FALSTAFF

'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried

neat's tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! O

for breath to utter what is like thee! you

tailor's-yard, you sheath, you bowcase; you vile

standing-tuck,--

PRINCE HENRY

Well, breathe awhile, and then to it again: and

when thou hast tired thyself in base comparisons,

hear me speak but this.

POINS

Mark, Jack.

PRINCE HENRY

We two saw you four set on four and bound them, and

were masters of their wealth. Mark now, how a plain

tale shall put you down. Then did we two set on you

four; and, with a word, out-faced you from your

prize, and have it; yea, and can show it you here in

the house: and, Falstaff, you carried your guts

away as nimbly, with as quick dexterity, and roared

for mercy and still run and roared, as ever I heard

bull-calf. What a slave art thou, to hack thy sword

as thou hast done, and then say it was in fight!

What trick, what device, what starting-hole, canst

thou now find out to hide thee from this open and

apparent shame?

POINS

Come, let's hear, Jack; what trick hast thou now?

FALSTAFF

By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made ye.

Why, hear you, my masters: was it for me to kill the

heir-apparent? should I turn upon the true prince?

why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but

beware instinct; the lion will not touch the true

prince. Instinct is a great matter; I was now a

coward on instinct. I shall think the better of

myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant

lion, and thou for a true prince. But, by the Lord,

lads, I am glad you have the money. Hostess, clap

to the doors: watch to-night, pray to-morrow.

Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles

of good fellowship come to you! What, shall we be

merry? shall we have a play extempore?

PRINCE HENRY

Content; and the argument shall be thy running away.

FALSTAFF

Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me!

[Enter Hostess]

HOSTESS

O Jesu, my lord the prince!

PRINCE HENRY

How now, my lady the hostess! what sayest thou to

me?

HOSTESS

Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman of the court at

door would speak with you: he says he comes from

your father.

PRINCE HENRY

Give him as much as will make him a royal man, and

send him back again to my mother.

FALSTAFF

What manner of man is he?

HOSTESS

An old man.

FALSTAFF

What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight? Shall

I give him his answer?

PRINCE HENRY

Prithee, do, Jack.

FALSTAFF

'Faith, and I'll send him packing.

[Exit FALSTAFF]

PRINCE HENRY

Now, sirs: by'r lady, you fought fair; so did you,

Peto; so did you, Bardolph: you are lions too, you

ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true

prince; no, fie!

BARDOLPH

'Faith, I ran when I saw others run.

PRINCE HENRY

'Faith, tell me now in earnest, how came Falstaff's

sword so hacked?

PETO

Why, he hacked it with his dagger, and said he would

swear truth out of England but he would make you

believe it was done in fight, and persuaded us to do the like.

BARDOLPH

Yea, and to tickle our noses with spear-grass to

make them bleed, and then to beslubber our garments

with it and swear it was the blood of true men. I

did that I did not this seven year before, I blushed

to hear his monstrous devices.

PRINCE HENRY

O villain, thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years

ago, and wert taken with the manner, and ever since

thou hast blushed extempore. Thou hadst fire and

sword on thy side, and yet thou rannest away: what

instinct hadst thou for it?

BARDOLPH

My lord, do you see these meteors? do you behold

these exhalations?

PRINCE HENRY

I do.

BARDOLPH

What think you they portend?

PRINCE HENRY

Hot livers and cold purses.

BARDOLPH

Choler, my lord, if rightly taken.

PRINCE HENRY

No, if rightly taken, halter.

[Re-enter FALSTAFF]

Here comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone.

How now, my sweet creature of bombast!

How long is't ago, Jack, since thou sawest thine own knee?

FALSTAFF

My own knee! when I was about thy years, Hal, I was

not an eagle's talon in the waist; I could have

crept into any alderman's thumb-ring: a plague of

sighing and grief! it blows a man up like a

bladder. There's villanous news abroad: here was

Sir John Bracy from your father; you must to the

court in the morning. That same mad fellow of the

north, Percy, and he of Wales, that gave Amamon the

bastinado and made Lucifer cuckold and swore the

devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh

hook--what a plague call you him?

POINS

O, Glendower.

FALSTAFF

Owen, Owen, the same; and his son-in-law Mortimer,

and old Northumberland, and that sprightly Scot of

Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill

perpendicular,--

PRINCE HENRY

He that rides at high speed and with his pistol

kills a sparrow flying.

FALSTAFF

You have hit it.

PRINCE HENRY

So did he never the sparrow.

FALSTAFF

Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him; he will not run.

PRINCE HENRY

Why, what a rascal art thou then, to praise him so

for running!

FALSTAFF

O' horseback, ye cuckoo; but afoot he will not budge a foot.

PRINCE HENRY

Yes, Jack, upon instinct.

FALSTAFF

I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is there too,

and one Mordake, and a thousand blue-caps more:

Worcester is stolen away to-night; thy father's

beard is turned white with the news: you may buy

land now as cheap as stinking mackerel.

PRINCE HENRY

Why, then, it is like, if there come a hot June and

this civil buffeting hold, we shall buy maidenheads

as they buy hob-nails, by the hundreds.

FALSTAFF

By the mass, lad, thou sayest true; it is like we

shall have good trading that way. But tell me, Hal,

art not thou horrible afeard? thou being

heir-apparent, could the world pick thee out three

such enemies again as that fiend Douglas, that

spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? Art thou

not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at

it?

PRINCE HENRY

Not a whit, i' faith; I lack some of thy instinct.

FALSTAFF

Well, thou wert be horribly chid tomorrow when thou

comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an answer.

PRINCE HENRY

Do thou stand for my father, and examine me upon the

particulars of my life.

FALSTAFF

Shall I? content: this chair shall be my state,

this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion my crown.

PRINCE HENRY

Thy state is taken for a joined-stool, thy golden

sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich

crown for a pitiful bald crown!

FALSTAFF

Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee,

now shalt thou be moved. Give me a cup of sack to

make my eyes look red, that it may be thought I have

wept; for I must speak in passion, and I will do it

in King Cambyses' vein.

PRINCE HENRY

Well, here is my leg.

FALSTAFF

And here is my speech. Stand aside, nobility.

HOSTESS

O Jesu, this is excellent sport, i' faith!

FALSTAFF

Weep not, sweet queen; for trickling tears are vain.

HOSTESS

O, the father, how he holds his countenance!

FALSTAFF

For God's sake, lords, convey my tristful queen;

For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes.

HOSTESS

O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry

players as ever I see!

FALSTAFF

Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain.

Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy

time, but also how thou art accompanied: for though

the camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster

it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the

sooner it wears. That thou art my son, I have

partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion,

but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and a

foolish-hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant

me. If then thou be son to me, here lies the point;

why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall

the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat

blackberries? a question not to be asked. Shall

the sun of England prove a thief and take purses? a

question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry,

which thou hast often heard of and it is known to

many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch,

as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth

the company thou keepest: for, Harry, now I do not

speak to thee in drink but in tears, not in

pleasure but in passion, not in words only, but in

woes also: and yet there is a virtuous man whom I

have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name.

PRINCE HENRY

What manner of man, an it like your majesty?

FALSTAFF

A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent; of a

cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble

carriage; and, as I think, his age some fifty, or,

by'r lady, inclining to three score; and now I

remember me, his name is Falstaff: if that man

should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Harry,

I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree may be

known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, then,

peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that

Falstaff: him keep with, the rest banish. And tell

me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where hast

thou been this month?

PRINCE HENRY

Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me,

and I'll play my father.

FALSTAFF

Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so

majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by

the heels for a rabbit-sucker or a poulter's hare.

PRINCE HENRY

Well, here I am set.

FALSTAFF

And here I stand: judge, my masters.

PRINCE HENRY

Now, Harry, whence come you?

FALSTAFF

My noble lord, from Eastcheap.

PRINCE HENRY

The complaints I hear of thee are grievous.

FALSTAFF

'Sblood, my lord, they are false: nay, I'll tickle

ye for a young prince, i' faith.

PRINCE HENRY

Swearest thou, ungracious boy? henceforth ne'er look

on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace:

there is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an

old fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why

dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that

bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel

of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed

cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with

the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that

grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in

years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and

drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a

capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft?

wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villanous,

but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing?

FALSTAFF

I would your grace would take me with you: whom

means your grace?

PRINCE HENRY

That villanous abominable misleader of youth,

Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan.

FALSTAFF

My lord, the man I know.

PRINCE HENRY

I know thou dost.

FALSTAFF

But to say I know more harm in him than in myself,

were to say more than I know. That he is old, the

more the pity, his white hairs do witness it; but

that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster,

that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault,

God help the wicked! if to be old and merry be a

sin, then many an old host that I know is damned: if

to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine

are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto,

banish Bardolph, banish Poins: but for sweet Jack

Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff,

valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant,

being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him

thy Harry's company, banish not him thy Harry's

company: banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.

PRINCE HENRY

I do, I will.

[A knocking heard]

[Exeunt Hostess, FRANCIS, and BARDOLPH]

[Re-enter BARDOLPH, running]

BARDOLPH

O, my lord, my lord! the sheriff with a most

monstrous watch is at the door.

FALSTAFF

Out, ye rogue! Play out the play: I have much to

say in the behalf of that Falstaff.

[Re-enter the Hostess]

HOSTESS

O Jesu, my lord, my lord!

PRINCE HENRY

Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddlestick:

what's the matter?

HOSTESS

The sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they

are come to search the house. Shall I let them in?

FALSTAFF

Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of

gold a counterfeit: thou art essentially mad,

without seeming so.

PRINCE HENRY

And thou a natural coward, without instinct.

FALSTAFF

I deny your major: if you will deny the sheriff,

so; if not, let him enter: if I become not a cart

as well as another man, a plague on my bringing up!

I hope I shall as soon be strangled with a halter as another.

PRINCE HENRY

Go, hide thee behind the arras: the rest walk up

above. Now, my masters, for a true face and good

conscience.

FALSTAFF

Both which I have had: but their date is out, and

therefore I'll hide me.

PRINCE HENRY

Call in the sheriff.

[Exeunt all except PRINCE HENRY and PETO]

[Enter Sheriff and the Carrier]

Now, master sheriff, what is your will with me?

SHERIFF

First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and cry

Hath follow'd certain men unto this house.

PRINCE HENRY

What men?

SHERIFF

One of them is well known, my gracious lord,

A gross fat man.

Carrier

As fat as butter.

PRINCE HENRY

The man, I do assure you, is not here;

For I myself at this time have employ'd him.

And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee

That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time,

Send him to answer thee, or any man,

For any thing he shall be charged withal:

And so let me entreat you leave the house.

SHERIFF

I will, my lord. There are two gentlemen

Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks.

PRINCE HENRY

It may be so: if he have robb'd these men,

He shall be answerable; and so farewell.

SHERIFF

Good night, my noble lord.

PRINCE HENRY

I think it is good morrow, is it not?

SHERIFF

Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock.

[Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier]

PRINCE HENRY

This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's. Go,

call him forth.

PETO

Falstaff!--Fast asleep behind the arras, and

snorting like a horse.

PRINCE HENRY

Hark, how hard he fetches breath. Search his pockets.

[He searcheth his pockets, and findeth certain papers]

What hast thou found?

PETO

Nothing but papers, my lord.

PRINCE HENRY

Let's see what they be: read them.

PETO

[Reads] Item, A capon,. . 2s. 2d.

Item, Sauce,. . . 4d.

Item, Sack, two gallons, 5s. 8d.

Item, Anchovies and sack after supper, 2s. 6d.

Item, Bread, ob.

PRINCE HENRY

O monstrous! but one half-penny-worth of bread to

this intolerable deal of sack! What there is else,

keep close; we'll read it at more advantage: there

let him sleep till day. I'll to the court in the

morning. We must all to the wars, and thy place

shall be honourable. I'll procure this fat rogue a

charge of foot; and I know his death will be a

march of twelve-score. The money shall be paid

back again with advantage. Be with me betimes in

the morning; and so, good morrow, Peto.

[Exeunt]

PETO

Good morrow, good my lord.