Great Britain -- History -- Henry IV, 1399-1413 -- Drama; Henry IV, King of England, 1367-1413 -- Drama; Historical drama
What's o'clock, Francis?
Fran. Anon, anon, sir. [Exit.]
Prince. That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a
parrot, and yet the son of a woman! His industry is upstairs
and
downstairs, his eloquence the parcel of a reckoning. I am not
yet
of Percy's mind, the Hotspur of the North; he that kills me
some
six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands,
and
says to his wife, 'Fie upon this quiet life! I want work.' 'O
my
sweet Harry,' says she, 'how many hast thou kill'd to-day?'
'Give my roan horse a drench,' says he, and answers 'Some
fourteen,' an hour after, 'a trifle, a trifle.' I prithee
call in
Falstaff. I'll play Percy, and that damn'd brawn shall play
Dame
Mortimer his wife. 'Rivo!' says the drunkard. Call in ribs,
call
in tallow.
Enter Falstaff, [Gadshill, Bardolph, and Peto;
Francis follows with wine].
Poins. Welcome, Jack. Where hast thou been?
Fal. A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance too! Marry
and
amen! Give me a cup of sack, boy. Ere I lead this life long,
I'll
sew nether-stocks, and mend them and foot them too. A plague
of
all cowards! Give me a cup of sack, rogue. Is there no virtue
extant?
He drinketh.
Prince. Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of butter?
Pitiful-hearted butter, that melted at the sweet tale of the
sun!
If thou didst, then behold that compound.
Fal. You rogue, here's lime in this sack too! There is nothing
but
roguery to be found in villanous man. Yet a coward is worse
than
a cup of sack with lime in it- a villanous coward! Go thy
ways,
old Jack, die when thou wilt; if manhood, good manhood, be
not
forgot upon the face of the earth, then am I a shotten
herring.
There lives not three good men unhang'd in England; and one
of
them is fat, and grows old. God help the while! A bad world,
I
say. I would I were a weaver; I could sing psalms or
anything. A
plague of all cowards I say still!
Prince. How now, woolsack? What mutter you?
Fal. A king's son! If I do not beat thee out of thy kingdom
with a
dagger of lath and drive all thy subjects afore thee like a
flock
of wild geese, I'll never wear hair on my face more. You
Prince
of Wales?
Prince. Why, you whoreson round man, what's the matter?
Fal. Are not you a coward? Answer me to that- and Poins there?
Poins. Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, by the
Lord, I'll stab thee.
Fal. I call thee coward? I'll see thee damn'd ere I call thee
coward, but I would give a thousand pound I could run as fast
as
thou canst. You are straight enough in the shoulders; you
care
not who sees Your back. Call you that backing of your
friends? A
plague upon such backing! Give me them that will face me.
Give me
a cup of sack. I am a rogue if I drunk to-day.
Prince.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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