Great Britain -- History -- Henry IV, 1399-1413 -- Drama; Henry IV, King of England, 1367-1413 -- Drama; Historical drama
PRINCE.
Why then, it is like if there come a hot June, and this civil buffeting
hold, we shall buy maidenheads as they buy hobnails, by the hundreds.
FALSTAFF.
By the mass, lad, thou sayest true. It is like we shall have good
trading that way. But tell me, Hal, art not thou horrible afeard? Thou
being heir-apparent, could the world pick thee out three such enemies
again as that fiend Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil
Glendower? Art thou not horribly afraid? Doth not thy blood thrill at
it?
PRINCE.
Not a whit, i’faith. I lack some of thy instinct.
FALSTAFF.
Well, thou wilt be horribly chid tomorrow when thou comest to thy
father. If thou love me practise an answer.
PRINCE.
Do thou stand for my father and examine me upon the particulars of my
life.
FALSTAFF.
Shall I? Content! This chair shall be my state, this dagger my sceptre,
and this cushion my crown.
PRINCE.
Thy state is taken for a joint-stool, thy golden sceptre for a leaden
dagger, and thy precious rich crown for a pitiful bald crown.
FALSTAFF.
Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, now shalt thou be
moved. Give me a cup of sack to make my eyes look red, that it may be
thought I have wept, for I must speak in passion, and I will do it in
King Cambyses’ vein.
PRINCE.
Well, here is my leg.
FALSTAFF.
And here is my speech. Stand aside, nobility.
HOSTESS.
O Jesu, this is excellent sport, i faith!
FALSTAFF.
Weep not, sweet Queen, for trickling tears are vain.
HOSTESS.
O, the Father, how he holds his countenance!
FALSTAFF.
For God’s sake, lords, convey my tristful Queen,
For tears do stop the floodgates of her eyes.
HOSTESS.
O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry players as ever I see!
FALSTAFF.
Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain.—Harry, I do not only
marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accompanied.
For though the camomile, the more it is trodden on, the faster it
grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner it wears. That thou
art my son I have partly thy mother’s word, partly my own opinion, but
chiefly a villainous trick of thine eye, and a foolish hanging of thy
nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be son to me, here lies
the point: why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall the
blessed sun of heaven prove a micher, and eat blackberries? A question
not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief, and take
purses? A question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou
hast often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of
pitch. This pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth
the company thou keepest. For, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in
drink, but in tears; not in pleasure, but in passion; not in words
only, but in woes also. And yet there is a virtuous man whom I have
often noted in thy company, but I know not his name.
PRINCE.
What manner of man, an it like your Majesty?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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