Great Britain -- History -- Henry IV, 1399-1413 -- Drama; Henry IV, King of England, 1367-1413 -- Drama; Historical drama
PAGE. Sir, here comes the nobleman that committed the
Prince for striking him about Bardolph.
FALSTAFF. Wait close; I will not see him.
CHIEF JUSTICE. What's he that goes there?
SERVANT. Falstaff, an't please your lordship.
CHIEF JUSTICE. He that was in question for the robb'ry?
SERVANT. He, my lord; but he hath since done good service at
Shrewsbury, and, as I hear, is now going with some charge to
the
Lord John of Lancaster.
CHIEF JUSTICE. What, to York? Call him back again.
SERVANT. Sir John Falstaff!
FALSTAFF. Boy, tell him I am deaf.
PAGE. You must speak louder; my master is deaf.
CHIEF JUSTICE. I am sure he is, to the hearing of anything
good.
Go, pluck him by the elbow; I must speak with him.
SERVANT. Sir John!
FALSTAFF. What! a young knave, and begging! Is there not wars?
Is
there not employment? Doth not the King lack subjects? Do not
the
rebels need soldiers? Though it be a shame to be on any side
but
one, it is worse shame to beg than to be on the worst side,
were
it worse than the name of rebellion can tell how to make it.
SERVANT. You mistake me, sir.
FALSTAFF. Why, sir, did I say you were an honest man? Setting
my
knighthood and my soldiership aside, I had lied in my throat
if I
had said so.
SERVANT. I pray you, sir, then set your knighthood and your
soldiership aside; and give me leave to tell you you in your
throat, if you say I am any other than an honest man.
FALSTAFF. I give thee leave to tell me so! I lay aside that
which
grows to me! If thou get'st any leave of me, hang me; if thou
tak'st leave, thou wert better be hang'd. You hunt counter.
Hence! Avaunt!
SERVANT. Sir, my lord would speak with you.
CHIEF JUSTICE. Sir John Falstaff, a word with you.
FALSTAFF. My good lord! God give your lordship good time of
day. I
am glad to see your lordship abroad. I heard say your
lordship
was sick; I hope your lordship goes abroad by advice. Your
lordship, though not clean past your youth, hath yet some
smack
of age in you, some relish of the saltness of time; and I
most
humbly beseech your lordship to have a reverend care of your
health.
CHIEF JUSTICE. Sir John, I sent for you before your expedition
to
Shrewsbury.
FALSTAFF. An't please your lordship, I hear his Majesty is
return'd
with some discomfort from Wales.
CHIEF JUSTICE. I talk not of his Majesty. You would not come
when I
sent for you.
FALSTAFF. And I hear, moreover, his Highness is fall'n into
this
same whoreson apoplexy.
CHIEF JUSTICE. Well God mend him! I pray you let me speak with
you.
FALSTAFF. This apoplexy, as I take it, is a kind of lethargy,
an't
please your lordship, a kind of sleeping in the blood, a
whoreson
tingling.
CHIEF JUSTICE. What tell you me of it? Be it as it is.
FALSTAFF. It hath it original from much grief, from study, and
perturbation of the brain. I have read the cause of his
effects
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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