Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,
Find pardon on my true submission.
K. Hen. God pardon thee !-yet let me wonder, Harry, At thy affections, which do hold a wing
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou haft rudely lost,
Which by thy younger brother is supplied;
And art almost an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood;
The hope and expectation of thy time
Is ruin'd; and the foul of every man
Prophetically does forethink thy fall.
Had I fo lavish of my prefence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
So ftale and cheap to vulgar company;
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had ftill kept loyal to poffeffion;
And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
By being feldom feen, I could not stir,
But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at:
That men would tell their children, This is he;
Others would fay,—Where? which is Bolingbroke?
And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,
And dress'd myself in fuch humility,
That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
Loud fhouts and falutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned king.
Thus did I keep my person fresh, and new;
My prefence, like a robe pontifical,
Ne'er seen, but wonder'd at: and so my state,
Seldom, but sumptuous, fhowed like a feast;
And won, by rareness, fuch folemnity.
The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With fhallow jefters, and rafh bavin wits,
Soon kindled, and foon burn'd: carded his state;
Mingled his royalty with capering fools;
Had his great name profaned with their scorns;
And gave his countenance, against his name,
To laugh at gibing boys, and stand the puth
Of every beardlefs vain comparative:
Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:
That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They furfeited with honey; and began
To loath the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occafion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,
Heard, not regarded; feen, but with fuch eyes,
As, fick and blunted with community,
Afford no extraordinary gaze,
Such as is bent on fun-like majesty
When it fhines feldom in admiring eyes :
But rather drowz'd, and hung their eyelids down,
Slept in his face, and render'd fuch aspéct
As cloudy men ufe to their adverfaries;
Being with his prefence glutted, gorg'd, and full.
And in that very line, Harry, stand'st thou:
For thou haft loft thy princely privilege,
With vile participation; not an eye
But is a-weary of thy common sight,
Save mine, which hath defir'd to fee thee more;
Which now doth that I would not have it do,
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.
P. Hen. I fhall hereafter, my thrice gracious lord, Be more myself.
As thou art to this hour, was Richard then
When I from France fet foot at Ravenspurg;
And even as I was then, is Percy now.
Now by my scepter, and my foul to boot,
He hath more worthy intereft to the state,
Than thou, the fhadow of fucceffion :
For, of no right, nor colours like to right,
He doth fill fields with harness in the realm;
Turns head against the lion's armed jaws;
And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on,
To bloody battles, and to bruifing arms.
What never-dying honour hath he got
Against renowned Douglas; whose high deeds,
Whose hot incurfions, and great name in arms,
Holds from all foldiers chief majority,
And military title capital,
Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Chrift?
Thrice hath this Hotspur Mars in swathing clothes,
This infant warrior, in his enterprizes
Discomfited great Douglas: ta'en him once,
Enlarged him, and made a friend of him,
To fill the mouth of deep defiance up,
And shake the peace and safety of our throne.
And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
The archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,
Capitulate against us, and are up,
But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?
Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
Which art my near'ft and dearest enemy?
Thou that art like enough,-through vaffal fear,
Bafe inclination, and the start of spleen,--
To fight against me under Percy's pay,
To dog his heels, and court'fy at his frowns,
To show how much degenerate thou art.
P. Hen. Do not think fo, you shall not find it so:
And God forgive them, that fo much have sway'd
Your majefty's good thoughts away from me!
I will redeem all this on Percy's head,
And, in the clofing of fome glorious day,
Be bold to tell you, that I am your fon ;
When I will wear a garment all of blood,
And stain my favours in a bloody mask,
Which, wath'd away, shall scour my shame with it.
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this fame child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet:
For every honour fitting on his helm,
'Would they were multitudes; and on my head
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I fhall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to fo ftrict account,
That he fhall render every glory up,
Yea, even the flightest worship of his time,
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
This, in the name of God, I promise here:
The which if he be pleas'd I fhall perform,
I do beseech your majefty, may falve
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
If not, the end of life cancels all bands;
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths,
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.
K. Hen. A hundred thousand rebels die in this :Thou shalt have charge, and fovereign trust, herein.
How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.
Blunt. So hath the business that I come to speak of.
Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath fent word,—
That Douglas, and the English rebels, met,
The eleventh of this month, at Shrewsbury:
A mighty and a fearful head they are,
If promises be kept on every hand,
As ever offer'd foul play in a state.
K. Hen. The earl of Westmoreland set forth to-day;
With him my fon, lord John of Lancaster;
For this advertisement is five days old :—
On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set
Forward; on Thursday, we ourselves will march:
Our meeting is Bridgnorth: and, Harry, you
Shall march through Glostershire; by which account,
Our business valued, some twelve days hence
Our general forces at Bridgnorth shall meet.
Our hands are full of business: let's away;
Advantage feeds him fat, while men delay.
Eaftcheap. A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern.
Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH.
Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely fince this laft action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my fkin hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown; I am
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