Jack Falstaff do, in the days of villany? Thou seest, I have more flesh than another man; and, therefore, more frailty. You confess, then, you picked my pocket? P. Hen. It appears so, by the story. Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee: Go, make ready breakfast: love thy husband, look to thy servants, and cherish thy guests: thou shalt find me tractable to any honest reason; thou seest, I am pacify'd.-Still?— Nay, I pr'ythee, begone. [Exit HOSTESS.] Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, lad-Hɔw is that answered ? P. Hen. The money is paid back again. Fal. O, I do not like that paying back, 'tis a double labour. P. Hen. I am good friends with my father, and may do any thing. Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou dost, and do it with unwashed hands too. Bard. Do, my lord. P. Hen. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot. Fal. I would it had been of horse! Where shall I find one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, of the age of two and twenty, or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. Well, Heaven be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous; I laud them, I praise them. P. Hen. Bardolph,— Bard. My lord. P. Hen. Go, bear this letter to Lord John of Lancaster, My brother John; this to my Lord of Westmoreland. [Exit BARDOLPH, Jack, Meet me to-morrow in the Temple Hall, At two o'clock i'the afternoon : There shalt thou know thy charge; and there receive Money, and order for their furniture. The land is burning; Percy stands on high; [Exit the PRINCE. Fal. Rare words! brave world!- -Hostess, my breakfast! come: O, I could wish, this tavern were my drum! [Exit. ACT THE FOURTH. SCENE I. HOTSPUR'S Camp, near Shrewsbury. Flourish of Trumpets and Drums. Enter EARL OF DOUGLAS, HOTSPUR, EARL OF Hot. Well said, my noble Scot: If speaking truth, In this fine age, were not thought flattery, Such attribution should the Douglas have, The tongues of soothers; but a braver place No man so potent breathes upon the ground, Hot. Do so, and 'tis well: Enter RABY. What letters hast thou there? Rab. These letters come from your father. Hot. Letters from him! why comes he not himself? Rab. He cannot come, my lord; he's grievous sick. Hot. Sick! how has he the leisure to be sick? Hot. His mind! Wor. I pr'ythee, tell me, doth he keep his bed? Rab. He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth; And, at the time of my departure thence, He was much fear'd by his physicians. Wor. I would, the state of time had first been whole, Ere he by sickness had been visited! His health was never better worth than now. Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect The very life-blood of our enterprise; 'Tis catching hither, even to our camp. He writes me here,-that inward sickness, And, that his friends by deputation, could not So soon be drawn ;— Yet doth he give us bold advertisement, That, with our small conjunction, we should on, Wor. Your father's sickness is a maim to us. It will be thought By some, that know not why he is away, Of our proceedings, kept the earl from hence; Hot. You strain too far. I, rather, of his absence make this use:- Than if the earl were here: for men must think, Doug. As heart can think: there is not such a word Spoke of in Scotland, as this term of fear. [A Trumpet sounds. Enter SIR RICHARD VERNON, and Two GENTLEMEN. Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul! Ver. 'Pray Heaven, my news be worth a welcome, lord! The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Is marching hitherwards; with him, Prince John. Hot. No harm: What more? Ver. And further, I have learn'd,The king himself in person is set forth, Or hitherwards intended speedily, With strong and mighty preparation. Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son, The nimble-footed, mad-cap, Prince of Wales, And his comrades, that daff'd the world aside, And bid it pass? Ver. All furnish'd, all in arms. All plum'd like estridges, that with the wind And witch the world with noble horsemanship. Hot. No more, no more; worse than the sun in March, This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come; And yet not ours: Come, let me take my horse, Ver. There is more news: I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along, Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet. unto? Ver. To thirty thousand. |