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, with a new wound in your thigh come you along with me. [He takes HOTSPUR on his back. Re-enter Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN. P. Hen. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd Thy maiden sword. P. John. Did But, soft! whom have we here? you not tell me this fat man was dead? P. Hen. I did; I saw him dead, breathless, and bleeding On the ground.— Art thou alive? or is it phantasy That plays upon our eyesight? I pr'ythee, speak; 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 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. P. Hen. 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 out of breath, and so was he; but we rose both at an instant, 5 By my faith,] These expletives, as well as "'Sblood!" and ""Zounds! above, are omitted in the folio ; and Malone, who introduced the others, rejected "by my faith," without notice, from his text. 6 - a double man ;] "That is," says Johnson, "I am not Falstaff and Percy together, though having Percy on my back, I seem double." In Falstaff's next speech, the quarto, 1613, and the folio, 1623, read, "how the world." 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. P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard. P. Hen. 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. [Exeunt Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN. 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. [Exit, bearing off the Body. SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. The Trumpets sound. Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN, WESTMORELAD, and Others, with WORCESTER, and VERNON, prisoners. K. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.- ? If I do grow great,] The folio alone inserts again after "great," to the injury of the antithesis and of the poet's meaning. Misuse the tenor of thy kinsman's trust? If, like a Christian, thou hadst truly borne Wor. What I have done, my safety urg'd me to, Since not to be avoided it falls on me. K. Hen. Bear Worcester to the deaths, and Vernon too : Other offenders we will pause upon. [Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON, guarded. How goes the field? P. Hen. 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 K. Hen. With all my heart. P. Hen. 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, Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds, 8 Bear Worcester to THE death,] The folio, 1623, injures the metre by rejecting the, unless Worcester be pronounced as three syllables. 9 Hath TAUGHT us how to cherish such high deeds,] Malone prints "shown us " for "taught us," though "shown" occurs in the line immediately preceding. His avowed reason was, that the quarto, 1598, has "shown us;" but this is a mistake, (into which Steevens also fell, taking Malone's representation of the fact,) for not only has the quarto, 1598, “taught us," but every subsequent copy, quarto and folio. Malone had no copy of the first quarto, and hence, probably, arose his error. P. John. I thank your grace for this high courtesy, Which I shall give away immediately'. K. Hen. Then this remains,-that we divide our power. You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland, Towards York shall bend you, with your dearest speed, Myself, and you, son Harry, will towards Wales, [Exeunt. 1 I thank your grace for this high courtesy, Which I shall give away immediately.] This reply of Prince John of Lancaster is found in the quartos of 1598, 1599, 1604, and 1608, but not in those of 1613, 1639, nor in the folio, 1623. There can be no sufficient reason for omitting what originally came from the pen of Shakespeare, even if we were to suppose him afterwards to have struck out the passage. It is natural that Prince John should make some such answer to his brother. |