Fal. [Rising up] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day, I 'll give you leave to powder me and eat me to-morrow. 'Sblood, 't was 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 129 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 130 new wound in your thigh, come you along with [Takes up Hotspur on his back.

me.

Re-enter the PRINCE OF WALES and LORD

JOHN OF LANCASTER

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

Thy maiden sword.

Lan.

But, soft! whom have we here?

Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
Prince. I did; I saw him dead,

140

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. Fal. 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. Why, Percy I killed myself and saw thee dead.

Fal. Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying! I grant you I was down and 150 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.

Lan. This is the strangest tale that ever I

heard.

Prince. This is the strangest fellow, brother

John.

160 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, O are dead.

[Exeunt Prince of Wales and Lancaster. Fal. 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.

The trumpets sound. Enter the KING, PRINCE OF WALES, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, EARL OF WESTMORELAND, with WORCESTER and VERNON prisoners

King. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.
Ill-spirited Worcester! did not we send grace,
Pardon and terms of love to all of you?
And wouldst thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenour of thy kinsman's trust?
Three knights upon our party slain to-day,
A noble earl and many a creature else
Had been alive this hour,

If like a Christian thou hadst truly borne

Betwixt our armies true intelligence.

Wor. What I have done my safety urged me to;

And I embrace this fortune patiently,

Since not to be avoided it falls on me.

King. Bear Worcester to the death and Vernon

too :

Other offenders we will pause upon.

[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon guarded.

How goes the field?

10

Prince. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas, when he

saw

The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him,
The noble Percy slain, and all his men

20 Upon the foot of fear, fled with the rest;

And falling from a hill, he was so bruised
That the pursuers took him. At my tent
The Douglas is; and I beseech your grace
I may dispose of him.

King.

With all my heart. Prince. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you This honourable bounty shall belong:

Go to the Douglas, and deliver him

Up to his pleasure, ransomless and free:

His valour shown upon our crests to-day

30 Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds Even in the bosom of our adversaries.

Lan. I thank your grace for this high courtesy, Which I shall give away immediately.

King. Then this remains, that we divide our

power.

You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland Towards York shall bend you with your dearest speed,

To meet Northumberland and the prelate Scroop, Who, as we hear, are busily in arms:

Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales, 40 To fight with Glendower and the Earl of March. Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway, Meeting the check of such another day: And since this business so fair is done, Let us not leave till all our own be won.

[Exeunt.

For the meaning of words not given in these notes, the student is referred to the Glossary at the end of the volume.

The numbering of the lines corresponds to that of the Globe Edition; this applies also to the scenes in prose.

DRAMATIS PERSONE

The following brief sketches of the historical characters of the play are intended to indicate how far Shakespeare abides by, and how far he departs from, historical truth as viewed in the light of modern historical criticism. The chief authorities consulted are J. H. Wylie's History of England under Henry IV and the Dictionary of National Biography.

King Henry IV (1367-1413). Reference has been made in the Introduction (p. xx) to the changes made by Shakespeare in King Henry's age at the time of the Percy rising; the King's earlier career may be traced in Richard II. After his accession to the throne in October, 1399, and the death of Richard in January, 1400, Henry was chiefly occupied in restoring order to the kingdom. The Welsh expedition against Owen Glendower, undertaken in the autumn of 1400, ended disastrously, and subsequent expeditions were scarcely more satisfactory. The contrast between his own