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King Henry IV Part 1: Act 5 Scene 4

Scene IV Another part of the field.

[Alarum. Excursions. Enter PRINCE HENRY, LORD JOHN

OF LANCASTER, and EARL OF WESTMORELAND]

KING HENRY IV

I prithee,

Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.

Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.

LANCASTER

Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.

PRINCE HENRY

I beseech your majesty, make up,

Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.

KING HENRY IV

I will do so.

My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent.

WESTMORELAND

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

PRINCE HENRY

Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help:

And God 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!

LANCASTER

We breathe too long: come, cousin Westmoreland,

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

[Exeunt LANCASTER and WESTMORELAND]

PRINCE HENRY

By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster;

I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:

Before, I loved thee as a brother, John;

But now, I do respect thee as my soul.

KING HENRY IV

I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point

With lustier maintenance than I did look for

Of such an ungrown warrior.

PRINCE HENRY

O, this boy

Lends mettle to us all!

[Exit]

[Enter DOUGLAS]

EARL OF DOUGLAS

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?

KING HENRY IV

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: so, defend thyself.

EARL OF DOUGLAS

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. KING HENRY being in danger, PRINCE

HENRY enters]

PRINCE HENRY

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 succor sent,

And so hath Clifton: I'll to Clifton straight.

KING HENRY IV

Stay, and breathe awhile:

Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion,

And show'd thou makest some tender of my life,

In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.

PRINCE HENRY

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 saved the treacherous labour of your son.

KING HENRY IV

Make up to Clifton: I'll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey.

[Exit]

[Enter HOTSPUR]

HOTSPUR

If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.

PRINCE HENRY

Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.

HOTSPUR

My name is Harry Percy.

PRINCE HENRY

Why, then I see

A very valiant rebel of the name.

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.

HOTSPUR

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!

PRINCE HENRY

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.

HOTSPUR

I can no longer brook thy vanities.

[They fight]

[Enter FALSTAFF]

FALSTAFF

Well said, Hal! to it Hal! Nay, you shall find no

boy's play here, I can tell you.

[Re-enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF,

who falls down as if he were dead, and exit

DOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls]

HOTSPUR

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 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]

PRINCE HENRY

For worms, brave Percy: fare thee well, great heart!

Ill-weaved 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:

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 ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,

But not remember'd in thy epitaph!

[He spieth FALSTAFF on the ground]

What, old acquaintance! could not all this flesh

Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!

I could have better spared 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 PRINCE HENRY]

FALSTAFF

[Rising up] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day,

I'll give you leave to powder me 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 counterfeit: 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: how, if he

should counterfeit too and rise? by my faith, I am

afraid he would prove the better counterfeit.

Therefore I'll make him sure; yea, and I'll swear I

killed him. Why may not he rise as well as I?

Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me.

Therefore, sirrah,

[Stabbing him]

with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.

[Takes up HOTSPUR on his back]

[Re-enter PRINCE HENRY and LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER]

PRINCE HENRY

Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd

Thy maiden sword.

LANCASTER

But, soft! whom have we here?

Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?

PRINCE HENRY

I did; I saw him dead,

Breathless and bleeding on the ground. Art

thou alive?

Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?

I prithee, speak; we will not trust our eyes

Without our ears: thou art not what thou seem'st.

FALSTAFF

No, that's certain; I am not a double man: but if I

be not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There is Percy:

[Throwing the body down]

if your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let

him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either

earl or duke, I can assure you.

PRINCE HENRY

Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead.

FALSTAFF

Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to

lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath;

and so was he: but we rose both at an instant and

fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be

believed, so; if not, let them that should reward

valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take

it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the

thigh: if the man were alive and would deny it,

'zounds, I would make him eat a piece of my sword.

LANCASTER

This is the strangest tale that ever I heard.

PRINCE HENRY

This is the strangest fellow, brother John.

Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back:

For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,

I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

[A retreat is sounded]

The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ours.

Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field,

To see what friends are living, who are dead.

[Exeunt PRINCE HENRY and LANCASTER]

FALSTAFF

I'll follow, as they say, for reward. He that

rewards me, God reward him! If I do grow great,

I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and leave sack, and

live cleanly as a nobleman should do.

[Exit]