Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,

Whose deaths are unrevenged. Pr'ythee, lend me thy sword.

Fal. O Hal, 1 pr'ythee give me leave to breathe a while.-Turk Gregory1 never did such deeds in arms, as I have done this day. I have paid Percy; I have made him sure.

P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. I pr'ythee, lend me thy sword.

Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou get'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. P. Hen. Give it me. What, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal: 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's that will sack a city. [The Prince draws out a bottle of sack. P. Hen. What, is't a time to jest and dally now? [Throws it at him, and exit. Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him. If he do come in my way, so: if he do not, if I come in his, willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. I like not such grinning honor as sir Walter hath. Give me life; which if I can save, so; if not, honor comes unlooked for, and there's an end.

2

[Exit.

SCENE IV. Another Part of the Field. Alarums;

Excursions.

Enter the KING, PRINCE HENRY, PRINCE JOHN, and WESTMORELAND.

K. Hen. I pr'ythee,

Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.3— Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.

1 "Turk Gregory" means Gregory the Seventh, called Hildebrand. This furious friar surmounted almost invincible obstacles to deprive the emperor of his right of investiture of bishops, which his predecessors had long attempted in vain.

2 A rasher or collop of meat cut crosswise for the gridiron.

3 History says that the prince was wounded in the face by an arrow.

P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
P. Hen. I beseech your majesty, make up,
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.
K. Hen. I will do so.

My lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent.
West. Come, my lord, I'll lead you to your tent.
P. Hen. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your
help;

And Heaven forbid a shallow scratch should drive
The prince of Wales from such a field as this;
Where stained nobility lies trodden on,

And rebels' arms triumph in massacres!

P. John. We breathe too long.-Come, cousin Westmoreland,

Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come.

[Exeunt P. JOHN and WESTMOREland. P. Hen. By Heaven, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster;

I did not think thee lord of such a spirit.
Before, I loved thee as a brother, John;
But now, I do respect thee as my soul.

K. Hen. I saw him hold lord Percy at the point,
With lustier maintenance than I did look for

Of such an ungrown warrior.1

P. Hen.

Lends mettle to us all!

O, this boy

[Exit.

Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS.

Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's

heads;

I am the Douglas, fatal to all those

That wear those colors on them.-What art thou,
That counterfeit'st the person of a king?

K. Hen. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart,

1 "- the earle of Richmond withstood his violence, and kept him at the sword's point, without advantage, longer than his companions eíther thought or judged."-Holinshed, p. 759.

So many of his snadows thou hast met,
And not the very king. I have two boys,
Seek Percy, and thyself, about the field;
But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee; so defend thyself.

Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit ;
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king.
But mine, I am sure, thou art, whoe'er thou be,
And thus I win thee.

[They fight; the King being in danger, enter PRINCE HENRY.

P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like

Never to hold it up again! the spirits

Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:
It is the prince of Wales that threatens thee;
Who never promiseth, but he means to pay.-

[They fight; DOUGLAS flies.
Cheerly, my lord. How fares your grace?-
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succor sent,
And so hath Clifton; I'll to Clifton straight.
K. Hen. Stay, and breathe a while.-
Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion;

And showed thou mak'st some tender of my life,
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.

P. Hen. O Heaven! they did me too much injury, That ever said, I hearkened for your death.

If it were so, I might have let alone

The insulting hand of Douglas over you;
Which would have been as speedy in your end,
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And saved the treacherous labor of your son.

K. Hen. Make up to Clifton; I'll to sir Nicholas
Gawsey.

Enter HOTSPur.

[Exit KING HENRY.

Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth. P. Hen. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.

Hot. My name is Harry Percy.
P. Hen.

A very valiant rebel of the name.

Why, then I see

I am the prince of Wales; and think not, Percy.
To share with me in glory any more.

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy, and the prince of Wales.

Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come
To end the one of us; and 'would to God
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
P. Hen. I'll make it greater, ere I part from thee;
And all the budding honors on thy crest

I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities.

Enter FALSTAFF.

[They fight.

Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you.

Enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF, who falls down as if he were dead, and exit DOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls.1

Hot. O, Harry, thou hast robbed me of my youth. I better brook the loss of brittle life,

Than those proud titles thou hast won of me;

They wound my thoughts, worse than thy sword my flesh :

But thought's the slave of life, and life time's fool;
And time, that takes survey of all the world,
Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,

1 Shakspeare had no authority for making Hotspur fall by the hand of the prince. Holinshed says, "The king slew that day with his own hand six and thirty persons of his enemies. The other of his party, encouraged by his doings, fought valiantly, and slew the Lord Percy, called Henry Hotspur." Speed says that Percy was killed by an unknown hand.

2 Hotspur, in his last moments, endeavors to console himself. The

But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue.-No, Percy, thou art dust,
And food for-

[Dies.

P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee
well, great heart!—

Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound;
But now, two paces of the vilest earth

Is room enough.-This earth, that bears thee dead,
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.

If thou wert sensible of courtesy,

I should not make so dear a show of zeal :-
But let my favors' hide thy mangled face;
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to Heaven!
Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remembered in thy epitaph!—

[He sees FALSTAFF on the ground.

What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better spared a better man.
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,
If I were much in love with vanity.
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.-
Embowelled will I see thee by and by;
Till then, in blood, by noble Percy lie.

[Exit. Fal. [Rising slowly.] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to powder1 me,

glory of the prince wounds his thoughts, but thought, being dependent on life, must cease with it, and will soon be at an end. Life, on which thought depends, is itself of no great value, being the fool and sport of time; of time which, with all its dominion over sublunary things, must itself at last be stopped.-Johnson.

1 His scarf, with which he covers Percy's face.

2 Thus the folio. The quartos read ignominy.

3 To embowel was the old term for embalming the body, as was usually done by those of persons of rank.

4 Salt.