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THE HISTORY OF HENRY THE FOURTH

THE Historye of Henry IV was entered in the Stationers' Register in February, 1598, and the First Quarto of Part I was printed in the same year. Meres names the play, but does not indicate whether he refers to one part or both. Part II was entered and printed in 1600, but is referred to by Jonson in Every Man out of his Humour in 1599. These facts, taken along with the marks of maturity in style and metre, point to 1597 and 1598 as the respective dates of the two parts.

Quartos of Part I were issued in 1598, 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613, and 1622, the version in the First Folio being taken from the Fifth Quarto. Of Part II only one quarto is known to have been issued; and the First Folio text was printed from a copy of this, revised with care but probably without authority. The basis for the present text is, for both parts, the First Quarto.

The political action of the two plays is founded on Holinshed's Chronicles. Great freedom is used in converting historical into dramatic time, and the speeches, as usually in the English historical plays, are elaborated from the merest hints. The most marked creation in the serious plot of Part I, aside from the Prince, is the opposing figure of Hotspur, whom Shakespeare clearly conceived for the purpose of psychological contrast. There is no corresponding foil for Prince Hal in Part II; the political action is still more overshadowed by the comic than in the earlier part; and the serious interest centres in the relation of father and son, and the pathetic depression of Henry IV's closing years. For most of this, e. g., the plans for a crusade, and the famous " crown scene," Holinshed affords a basis; but the rich emotional quality is all Shakespeare's. For the comic scenes Shakespeare gathered some names and incidents from The Famous Victories of Henry V, a very crude history-comedy printed in 1598, but licensed in 1594, and acted certainly as early as 1588. The robbery at Gadshill, the tavern in Eastcheap, Hal's relation to his boon companions and to the Lord Chief Justice, his reconciliation to his father, the episode of the crown, and the final banishing of his tavern friends, are all presented in a rude form in The Famous Victories. But the method of treatment is such as to offer hardly more suggestion than the bald narrative of Holinshed. The character of Falstaff, especially, owes little to any predeIn Henry IV as first written, Falstaff's name was Oldcastle, as it is in The Famous Victories. Sir John Oldcastle was a well-known peer of the time of Henry V, who was burned as a Lollard. But it is supposed that out of deference to Oldcastle's descendants Shakespeare changed the name to Falstaff before the play was printed, and added in the Epilogue to Part II the statement that " Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man." The new name seems to have been suggested by that of the historical Sir John Fastolfe, who, in 1 Henry VI, is represented (unjustly, as it seems) as a coward. But the creation is independent of any real or supposed historical prototype.

cessor.

In the development of the Chronicle History as a distinct type of drama, the most notable feature of Henry IV is the importance in it of the element of comedy. For, although the continuation of the exposition of the character of the Bolingbroke of Richard II is of great psychological interest, yet the story of Henry's reign did not in itself afford material nearly so intense in interest or so appropriate for dramatic treatment as the author had found in the histories of Richard III and Richard II. So far as 1 Henry IV has a culmination at all, it is in the emergence of Prince Henry from his low surroundings as a brilliant warrior who slays Hotspur at Shrewsbury, rather than in his father's suppression of a rebellion. In Part II, the death of Henry IV is presented in the fourth act, and the real culmination of the play is in the new King's final throwing off of his old life and companions, and assuming worthily the dignities and duties of his royal office. Viewing the Prince, then, as the most important factor in the structure of the plays as a whole, we can regard the comic scenes, in which the lighter side of his character is displayed, as more organically related to the main scheme than they have usually been conceived.

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HENRY PERCY, earl of Northumberland. HENRY PERCY, surnamed Hotspur, his son. EDMUND MORTIMER, earl of March. RICHARD SCROOP, archbishop of York. ARCHIBALD, earl of Douglas.

OWEN GLENDOWER.

SIR RICHARD VERNON.

SIR JOHN FALSTAFF.

SIR MICHAEL, a friend to the archbishop of York. POINS.

GADSHILL. РЕТО. BARDOLPH.

LADY PERCY, wife to Hotspur, and sister to Mortimer.
LADY MORTIMER, daughter to Glendower, and wife te
Mortimer.

MISTRESS QUICKLY, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap.

Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, two Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants.

SCENE: England and Wales.]

ACT I

SCENE I. [London. The palace.]

Enter KING HENRY, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, the EARL OF WESTMORELAND, [SIR WALTER BLUNT] with others.

King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care, Find we a time for frighted Peace to pant, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils

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To be commenc'd in strands afar remote.
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil
Shall daub her lips with her own children's
blood;

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No more shall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs
Of hostile paces. Those opposed eyes,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil butchery,
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
March all one way and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies.
The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master. Therefore,
friends,

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Such beastly shameless transformation,

By those Welshwomen done as may not be 45 Without much shame retold or spoken of.

King. It seems then that the tidings of this broil

Brake off our business for the Holy Land. West. This match'd with other did, my gracious lord;

For more uneven and unwelcome news
Came from the north, and thus it did import:
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon met,

Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour,
As by discharge of their artillery,
And shape of likelihood, the news was told;
For he that brought them, in the very heat
And pride of their contention did take horse,
Uncertain of the issue any way.

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King. Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,

Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each soil
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of

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It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.
King. Yea, there thou mak'st me sad, and
mak'st me sin

In
envy that
my Lord Northumberland
Should be the father to so blest a son,

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A son who is the theme of Honour's tongue,
Amongst a grove the very straightest plant,
Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride;
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and dishonour stain the brow
Of my young Harry. O that it could be prov'd
That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.
But let him from my thoughts. What think
you, coz,

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Of this young Percy's pride? The prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath surpris'd,
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
I shall have none but Murdoch Earl of Fife. 95
West. This is his uncle's teaching; this is
Worcester,

Malevolent to you in all aspects;
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle

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SCENE II. [London. An apartment of the Prince's.]

Enter the PRINCE OF WALES and FALSTAFF. Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldest truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless [6 hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta,

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Prince. What, none?

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Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. Prince. Well, how then? Come, roundly, roundly.

Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty. Let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

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Prince. Thou say'st well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatch'd [s on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing "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.

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Fal. By the Lord, thou say'st true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance ?

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

Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?

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

Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?

Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.

Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have us'd my credit.

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Fal. Yea, and so us'd it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution 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.

Prince. No; thou shalt.

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

Prince. Thou judgest false already. I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.

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Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it

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Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.

Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

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Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, 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 [4 street about you, sir, but I mark'd him not; and yet he talk'd very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talk'd wisely, and in the

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Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I [108 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 son in Christendom.

Prince. Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack?

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Fal. Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one. An I do not, call me villain and baffle me.

Prince. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying to purse-taking.

Fal. Why, Hal, 't is my vocation, Hal. 'Tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. [117 Enter POINE.

Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried "Stand!" to a true man.

Prince. Good morrow, Ned.

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Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse? What says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg?

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Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never a breaker of proverbs. He will give the devil his due.

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

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Prince. Else he had been damn'd for cozening the devil.

Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow

morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London [140 with fat purses. I have vizards for you all; you have horses for yourselves. Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester. I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap. We may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff [145 your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hang'd.

Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not, I'll hang you for going. Poins. You will, chops?

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?

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Fal. Why, that 's well said. Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.

Fal. By the lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

Prince. I care not.

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Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may move and what he hears may be believed, that the true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell; you shall find me in Eastcheap.

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Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, All-hallown summer! [Exit Falstaff.]

Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow; I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff [Bardolph, Peto] and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid; yourself [182 and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders.

Prince. How shall we part with them in setting forth?

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SCENE III. [London. The palace.] Enter the KING, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, SIR WALTER BLUNT, with others.

King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate,

Unapt to stir at these indignities,
And you have found me; for accordingly
You tread upon my patience. But be sure
I will from henceforth rather be myself,
Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition;
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young
down,

And therefore lost that title of respect

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Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. But I remember, when the fight was done, When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword, Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly dress'd, Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd

Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home. He was perfumed like a milliner;

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And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose and took 't away again;
Who therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in snuff; and still he smil'd and talk'd,
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
With many holiday and lady terms
He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded
My prisoners in your Majesty's behalf.

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I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,
Out of my grief, and my impatience
To be so pest'red with a popinjay,
Answer'd neglectingly -I know not what,
He should, or he should not; for he made me
mad

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And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,
This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier.
This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,
I answered indirectly, as I said;
And I beseech you, let not his report
Come current for an accusation
Betwixt my love and your high Majesty.
Blunt. The circumstance considered, good
my lord,

Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said
To such a person and in such a place,
At such a time, with all the rest retold,
May reasonably die and never rise

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