Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster, and thee! Patience is ftale, and I am weary of it. [Beats the Keeper. Keep. Help! help! help!

Enter Exton, and Servants.

K. Rich. How now! what means death in this rude

affault?

Wretch, thine own hand yields thy death's inftrument;

[Snatching a fword, and killing one. Go thou, and fill another room in hell. [Kills another. [Exton ftrikes him down.. That hand fhall burn in never-quenching fire,

That ftaggers thus my perfon; thy fierce hand

Hath with the King's blood ftain'd the King's own land.
Mount, mount, my foul! thy feat is up on high;
Whilft my grofs flesh finks downward, here to die. [Diess
Exton. As full of valour as of royal blood;
Both have I fpilt: Oh, would the deed were good!!
For now the devil, that told me I did well,

Says that this deed is chronicled in hell.

This dead King to the living King I'll bear;

Take hence the reft, and give them burial here. [Exeunt

No. IX. THE FIRST PART OF KING
HENRY IV.

ACT I. SCENE II. An Apartment of the Prince's.. Enter Henry Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falstaff.

FALSTAFF.

Now, Hal; what time of the day is it, lad?

P. Henry. Thou art fo fat-witted with drinking old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches in the afternoon, that thou haft forgotten to demand that truly, which thou would'ft truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? Unless› hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks » the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houfes,

L 5

and

and the bleffed fun himself a fair hot wench in flame-60loured-taffeta. I fee no reason why thou fhould'st be so fuperfluous, to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal. For we that take parfes, go by the moon and seven stars, and not by Phabus, he, that wandering knight fo fair. And I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art King-as God fave thy Grace (Majefty, I fhould fay; for Grace thou wilt have none)

P. Henry. What! none?

Fal. No, by my troth, not fo much as will ferve to be prologue to an egg and butter.

P. Henry. Well, how then?-Come-roundly-roundlyFal. Marry, then, fweet wag, when thou art King, let not us, that are 'fquires of the night's body, be called thieves of the day's booty. Let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the flade, minions of the Moon; and let men fay, we be men of good government, being governed, as the fea is, by our noble and chafte mistress the Moon, under whofe countenance we--- -fteal.

P. Henry. Thou fay'ft well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us, that are the Moon's men, doth ebb and flow like the fea; being govern'd, as the fea is, by the Moon. As for proof, now; a purse of gold most resolutely fnatch'd on Monday night, and moft diffolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with fwearing, Lay by; and spent with crying, Bring in: now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder; and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

Fal. By the Lord, thou fayft true, lad: and is not mine Hoftefs of the tavern a moft fweet wench?

P. Henry. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle; and is not a buff-jerkin a moft fweet robe of durance ?

Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! What, in thy quips and thy quiddities? What a plague have I to do with a buffjerkin?

P. Henry. Why, what a pox have I to do with my Hof

tefs of the tavern?

Fal. Well, thou haft call'd her to a reckoning many a time, and oft

P. Henry. Did I ever call thee to pay thy part?

Fal.

Fal. No, I'll give thee thy due, thou haft paid all there. P. Henry. Yea, and elsewhere, fo far as my coin would tretch; and where it would not, I have us'd my credit.

Fal. Yea, and fo us'd it, that were it not here apparent, that thou art Heir Apparent- -But, I pr'ythee, fweet wag, fhall there be gallows ftanding in England, when thou art King and refolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rusty curb of old father antic, the law ?. Do not thou, when thou art King, hang a thief.

P. Henry. No: thou shalt..

Fal. Shall I O rare! by the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.

P. Henry Thou judgeft falfe already: I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves, and fo become a rare hangman.

Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in fome fort it jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the Court, I can tell you. P. Henry. For obtaining of fuits ?

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of fuits; whereof the hangman. hath no lean wardrobe. Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib-cat, or a lugg'd bear.

P. Henry, Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.

Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. . P. Henry. What fayft thou to a Hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

Fal. Thou haft the most unfavoury fimilies; and art, indeed, the most comparative, rafcallieft, fweet young PrinceBut, Hal, I pr'ythee, trouble me no more with vanity; I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought : an old Lord of the Council rated me the other day in the street about you, Sir; but I mark'd him not, and yet he talk'd very wifely, and in the fireet

too.

P. Henry. Thou didft well; for wisdom cries out in the ftreets, and no man regards it.

Fal. O, thou haft damnable iteration, and art, indeed, able to corrupt a faint. Thou haft done much harm unto me, Hal, God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man fhould speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over; by the Lord, an I do not, I

am a villain. I'll be damn'd for never a King's fon in

chriftendom.

P. Henry. Where fhall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? Fal. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me.

P. Henry. I fee a good amendment of life in thee, from praying to purfe-taking.

Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal. man to labour in his vocation.

Poins!

"Tis no fin for a Now fhall we know, if Gads-hill have fet a match. O, if men were to be fav'd by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him!

Enter Poins.

This is the most omnipotent villain, that ever cry'd, Stand,

to a true man.

P. Henry. Good morrow, Ned,

Poins. Good morrow, fweet Hal. What fays Monfieur Remorfe? What fays Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how agree the devil and thou about thy foul, that thou foldest him on Good Friday last for a cup of Madeira, and a cold capon's leg?

P. Henry. Sir John ftands to his word; the devil fhall have his bargain, for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs; He will give the devil his due.

Poins. Then thou art damn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

1

P. Henry. Elfe he had been damn'd for cozening the devil. Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gads-bill; there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purfes. I have vitors for you all; you have horfes for yourselves: Gads-hill lies to-night in Rochester ; I have befpoke fupper to-morrow night in Eaft-cheap; we may do it as fecure as fleep: if you will go, I will stuff your purfes full of crowns; if y f you will not, tarry at home,

and be hang'd.

Fal. Hear ye, redward; if I tarry at home, and go not, I'll hang you for going.

Pains. You will, chops?

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?

P. Henry. Who! I rob? I a thief? Not I, by my faith.

Fal

Fal. There is neither honefty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'it not of the blood-royal, if thou dar'ft not cry, ftand, for ten fhillings.

P. Henry. Well then, once in my days I'll be a mad-cap. Fal. Why, that's well faid.

P. Henry. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then when thou art king.

P. Henry. I care not,

Poins. Sir John, I pr'ythee, leave the Prince and me alone; I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure, that he fhall go.

Fal. Well, may'st thou have the spirit of perfuafion, and he the ears of profiting, that what thou speak'st may move, and what he hears may be believ'd; that the true Prince may (for recreation-fake) prove a falfe thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewel: you shall find me in Eaft-cheap.

morrow.

P. Henry. Farewel, thou latter fpring! Farewel, all-hallown fummer. [Exit Falstaff. Poins. Now, my good fweet honey-lord, ride with us toI have a jeft to execute, that I cannot manage Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gads-hill, fhall rob thofe men that we have already waylaid; yourself and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from off my fhoulders.

alone.

P. Henry. But how fhall we part with them in setting forth?

Poins. Why, we will fet forth before or after them; and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they adventure upon the exploit themfelves, which they fhall have no fooner atchiev'd, but we'll upon them.

fet

P. Henry. Ay, but, 'tis like, they will know us by our horfes, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves.

[ocr errors]

Poins. Tut, our horfes they fhall not fee, I'll tie them in the wood; our visors we will change after we leave them ; and, firrah, I have cafes of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.

[ocr errors]

P. Henry. But, I doubt, they will be too hard for us.

« PredošláPokračovať »