Henry IV Part 2 (1921) Yale/Text/Act III
ACT THIRD
Scene One
[Westminster. The Palace]
Enter the King in his night-gown, with a Page.
King. Go, call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;
But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
And well consider of them. Make good speed.
How many thousand of my poorest subjects 4
Are at this hour asleep! O sleep! O gentle sleep!
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my senses in forgetfulness? 8
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, 12
Under the canopies of costly state,
And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god! why liest thou with the vile
In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch 16
A watch-case or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seel up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge, 20
And in the visitation of the winds,
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deaf'ning clamour in the slippery clouds, 24
That with the hurly death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night, 28
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
Enter Warwick and Surrey.
War. Many good morrows to your majesty! 32
King. Is it good morrow, lords?
War. 'Tis one o'clock, and past.
King. Why then, good morrow to you all, my lords.
Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you? 36
War. We have, my liege.
King. Then you perceive the body of our kingdom,
How foul it is; what rank diseases grow,
And with what danger, near the heart of it. 40
War. It is but as a body, yet distemper'd,
Which to his former strength may be restor'd
With good advice and little medicine:
My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd. 44
King. O God! that one might read the book of fate,
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent,—
Weary of solid firmness,—melt itself 48
Into the sea! and, other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the ocean
Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration 52
With divers liquors! O! if this were seen,
The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die. 56
'Tis not ten years gone
Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends,
Did feast together, and in two years after
Were they at wars: it is but eight years since 60
This Percy was the man nearest my soul,
Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs
And laid his love and life under my foot;
Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard 64
Gave him defiance. But which of you was by,—
[To Warwick.] You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember,—
When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,
Then check'd and rated by Northumberland, 68
Did speak these words, now prov'd a prophecy?
'Northumberland, thou ladder, by the which
My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne';
Though then, God knows, I had no such intent, 72
But that necessity so bow'd the state
That I and greatness were compelled to kiss:
'The time shall come,' thus did he follow it,
'The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head, 76
Shall break into corruption':—so went on,
Foretelling this same time's condition
And the division of our amity.
War. There is a history in all men's lives, 80
Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd;
The which observ'd, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life, which in their seeds 84
And weak beginnings lie intreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
And by the necessary form of this
King Richard might create a perfect guess 88
That great Northumberland, then false to him,
Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness,
Which should not find a ground to root upon,
Unless on you.
King. Are these things then necessities? 92
Then let us meet them like necessities;
And that same word even now cries out on us.
They say the bishop and Northumberland
Are fifty thousand strong.
War. It cannot be, my lord! 96
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your Grace
To go to bed: upon my soul, my lord,
The powers that you already have sent forth 100
Shall bring this prize in very easily.
To comfort you the more, I have receiv'd
A certain instance that Glendower is dead.
Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill, 104
And these unseason'd hours perforce must add
Unto your sickness.
King.I will take your counsel:
And were these inward wars once out of hand,
We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land. 108
Scene Two
[Before Justice Shallow's House in Gloucestershire]
Enter Shallow and Silence, with Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, Bullcalf [and Servants].
Shal. Come on, come on, come on, sir; give
me your hand, sir, give me your hand, sir: an
early stirrer, by the rood! And how doth my
good cousin Silence? 4
Sil. Good morrow, good cousin Shallow.
Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bed-
fellow? and your fairest daughter and mine, my
god-daughter Ellen? 8
Sil. Alas! a black ousel, cousin Shallow!
Shal. By yea and nay, sir, I dare say my
cousin William is become a good scholar. He is
at Oxford still, is he not? 12
Sil. Indeed, sir, to my cost.
Shal. A' must, then, to the inns o' court
shortly. I was once of Clement's Inn; where I
think they will talk of mad Shallow yet. 16
Sil. You were called lusty Shallow' then,
cousin.
Shal. By the mass, I was called anything;
and I would have done anything indeed too, 20
and roundly too. There was I, and Little John
Doit of Staffordshire, and black George Barnes,
and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele a Cots-
wold man; you had not four such swinge-buck- 24
lers in all the inns o' court again: and, I may say
to you, we knew where the bona-robas were,
and had the best of them all at commandment.
Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy, and 28
page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.
Sil. This Sir John, cousin, that comes hither
anon about soldiers?
Shal. The same Sir John, the very same. I 32
see him break Skogan's head at the court gate,
when a' was a crack not thus high: and the very
same day did I fight with one Sampson Stock-
fish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn. Jesu! Jesu! 36
the mad days that I have spent; and to see how
many of my old acquaintance are dead!
Sil. We shall all follow, cousin.
Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very 40
sure: death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to
all; all shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks
at Stamford fair?
Sil. By my troth, I was not there. 44
Shal. Death is certain. Is old Double of your
town living yet?
Sil. Dead, sir.
Shal. Jesu! Jesu! dead! a' drew a good 48
bow; and dead! a' shot a fine shoot: John a
Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money
on his head. Dead! a' would have clapped i' the
clout at twelve score; and carried you a fore- 52
hand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half,
that it would have done a man's heart good to
see. How a score of ewes now?
Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good 56
ewes may be worth ten pounds.
Shal. And is old Double dead?
Sil. Here come two of Sir John Falstaff's
men, as I think. 60
Enter Bardolph, and his Boy.
Shal. Good morrow, honest gentlemen.
Bard. I beseech you, which is Justice Shallow?
Shal. I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor
esquire of this county, and one of the king's 64
justices of the peace: what is your good pleasure
with me?
Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you;
my captain, Sir John Falstaff: a tall gentleman, 68
by heaven, and a most gallant leader.
Shal. He greets me well, sir. I knew him a
good backsword man. How doth the good
knight? may I ask how my lady his wife doth? 72
Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accom-
modated than with a wife.
Shal. It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is
well said indeed too. 'Better accommodated!' 76
it is good; yea indeed, is it: good phrases are
surely and ever were, very commendable. Ac-
commodated! it comes of accommodo: very
good; a good phrase. 80
Bard. Pardon me, sir; I have heard the
word. 'Phrase' call you it? By this good day,
I know not the phrase; but I will maintain the
word with my sword to be a soldier-like word, 84
and a word of exceeding good command, by
heaven. Accommodated; that is, when a man
is, as they say, accommodated; or, when a man
is, being, whereby, a' may be thought to be 88
accommodated, which is an excellent thing.
Enter Falstaff.
Shal. It is very just. Look, here comes good
Sir John. Give me your good hand, give me
your worship's good hand. By my troth, you 92
look well and bear your years very well: wel-
come, good Sir John.
Fal. I am glad to see you well, good Master
Robert Shallow. Master Surecard, as I think. 96
Shal. No, Sir John; it is my cousin, Silence,
in commission with me.
Fal. Good Master Silence, it well befits you
should be of the peace. 100
Sil. Your good worship is welcome.
Fal. Fie! this is hot weather, gentlemen.
Have you provided me here half a dozen
sufficient men? 104
Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit?
Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you.
Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll?
where's the roll? Let me see, let me see, 108
So, so, so, so, so, so, so: yea, marry, sir: Ralph
Mouldy! let them appear as I call; let them do so,
let them do so. Let me see; where is Mouldy?
Moul. Here, an 't please you. 112
Shal. What think you, Sir John? a good-
limbed fellow; young, strong, and of good
friends.
Fal. Is thy name Mouldy? 116
Moul. Yea, an 't please you.
Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used.
Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i' faith!
things that are mouldy lack use: very singular 120
good. In faith, well said, Sir John; very well
said.
Fal. Prick him.
Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an 124
you could have let me alone: my old dame will
be undone now for one to do her husbandry and
her drudgery: you need not to have pricked me;
there are other men fitter to go out than I. 128
Fal. Go to: peace, Mouldy! you shall go.
Mouldy, it is time you were spent.
Moul. Spent!
Shal. Peace, fellow, peace! stand aside: know 132
you where you are? For the other, Sir John:
let me see. Simon Shadow!
Fal. Yea, marry, let me have him to sit
under: he's like to be a cold soldier. 136
Shal. Where's Shadow?
Shad. Here, sir.
Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou?
Shad. My mother's son, sir. 140
Fal. Thy mother's son! like enough, and thy
father's shadow: so the son of the female is the
shadow of the male: it is often so, indeed; but
not of the father's substance. 144
Shal. Do you like him, Sir John?
Fal. Shadow will serve for summer; prick
him, for we have a number of shadows to fill up
the muster-book. 148
Shal. Thomas Wart?
Fal. Where's he?
Wart. Here, sir.
Fal. Is thy name Wart? 152
Wart. Yea, sir.
Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart.
Shal. Shall I prick him, Sir John?
Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is 156
built upon his back, and the whole frame stands
upon pins: prick him no more.
Shal. Ha, ha, ha! you can do it, sir; you can
do it: I commend you well. Francis Feeble! 160
Fee. Here, sir.
Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble?
Fee. A woman's tailor, sir.
Shal. Shall I prick him, sir? 164
Fal. You may; but if he had been a man's
tailor he'd have pricked you. Wilt thou make
as many holes in an enemy's battle as thou hast
done in a woman's petticoat? 168
Fee. I will do my good will, sir: you can
have no more.
Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well
said, courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant 172
as the wrathful dove or most magnanimous
mouse. Prick the woman's tailor; well, Master
Shallow; deep, Master Shallow.
Fee. I would Wart might have gone, sir. 176
Fal. I would thou wert a man's tailor, that
thou mightst mend him, and make him fit to
go. I cannot put him to a private soldier that is
the leader of so many thousands: let that 180
suffice, most forcible Feeble.
Fee. It shall suffice, sir.
Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble.
Who is next? 184
Shal. Peter Bullcalf o' the green!
Fal. Yea, marry, let's see Bullcalf.
Bull. Here, sir.
Fal. 'Fore God, a likely fellow! Come, prick 188
me Bullcalf till he roar again.
Bull. O Lord! good my lord captain,—
Fal. What! dost thou roar before thou art
pricked? 192
Bull. O Lord, sir! I am a diseased man.
Fal. What disease hast thou?
Bull. A whoreson cold, sir; a cough, sir,
which I caught with ringing in the king's affairs 196
upon his coronation day, sir.
Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a
gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will
take such order that thy friends shall ring for 200
thee. Is here all?
Shal. Here is two more called than your
number; you must have but four here, sir: and
so, I pray you, go in with me to dinner. 204
Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I
cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, by
my troth, Master Shallow.
Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember since we 208
lay all night in the windmill in Saint George's
field?
Fal. No more of that, good Master Shallow,
no more of that. 212
Shal. Ha! 'twas a merry night. And is Jane
Nightwork alive?
Fal. She lives, Master Shallow.
Shal. She never could away with me. 216
Fal. Never, never; she would always say she
could not abide Master Shallow.
Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the
heart. She was then a bona-roba. Doth she 220
hold her own well?
Fal. Old, old, Master Shallow.
Shal. Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose
but be old; certain she's old; and had Robin 224
Nightwork by old Nightwork before I came to
Clement's Inn.
Sil. That's fifty-five years ago.
Shal. Ha! cousin Silence, that thou hadst 228
seen that that this knight and I have seen. Ha!
Sir John, said I well?
Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight,
Master Shallow. 232
Shal. That we have, that we have, that we
have; in faith, Sir John, we have. Our watch-
word was, 'Hem boys!' Come, let's to dinner;
come, let's to dinner. Jesus, the days that we 236
have seen! Come, come.
Bull. Good Master Corporate Bardolph, stand
my friend, and here's four Harry ten shillings in
French crowns for you. In very truth, sir, I had 240
as lief be hanged, sir, as go: and yet, for mine
own part, sir, I do not care; but rather, because
I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a
desire to stay with my friends: else, sir, I did 244
not care, for mine own part, so much.
Bard. Go to; stand aside.
Moul. And, good Master corporal captain, for
my old dame's sake, stand my friend: she has 248
nobody to do anything about her, when I am
gone; and she is old, and cannot help herself.
You shall have forty, sir.
Bard. Go to; stand aside. 252
Fee. By my troth, I care not; a man can die
but once; we owe God a death. I'll ne'er bear
a base mind: an 't be my destiny, so; an 't be
not, so. No man's too good to serve's prince; 256
and let it go which way it will, he that dies this
year is quit for the next.
Bard. Well said; thou'rt a good fellow.
Fee. Faith, I'll bear no base mind. 260
Enter Falstaff and the Justices.
Fal. Come, sir, which men shall I have?
Shal. Four, of which you please.
Bard. [To Falstaff.] Sir, a word with you.
I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bullcalf. 264
Fal. [Aside to Bardolph.] Go to; well.
Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you
have?
Fal. Do you choose for me. 268
Shal. Marry, then, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble,
and Shadow.
Fal. Mouldy, and Bullcalf: for you, Mouldy,
stay at home till you are past service: and for 272
your part, Bullcalf, grow till you come unto it:
I will none of you.
Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself
wrong: they are your likeliest men, and I would 276
have you served with the best.
Fal. Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how
to choose a man? Care I for the limb, the thewes,
the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man! 280
Give me the spirit, Master Shallow. Here's
Wart; you see what a ragged appearance it is:
a' shall charge you and discharge you with the
motion of a pewterer's hammer, come off and on 284
swifter than he that gibbets on the brewer's
bucket. And this same half-faced fellow, Shadow,
give me this man: he presents no mark to the
enemy; the foeman may with as great aim level 288
at the edge of a penknife. And, for a retreat;
how swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor
run off! O! give me the spare men, and spare
me the great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's 292
hand, Bardolph.
Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus.
Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So:
very well: go to: very good: exceeding good. 296
O, give me always a little, lean, old, chopp'd,
bald shot. Well said, i' faith, Wart; thou'rt a
good scab: hold, there's a tester for thee.
Shal. He is not his craft's master, he doth 300
not do it right. I remember at Mile-end Green,
when I lay at Clement's Inn,—I was then Sir
Dagonet in Arthur's show,—there was a little
quiver fellow, and a' would manage you his 304
piece thus: and a' would about and about, and
come you in, and come you in; 'rah, tah, tah,'
would a' say; 'bounce,' would a' say; and away
again would a' go, and again would a' come: I 308
shall never see such a fellow.
Fal. These fellows will do well, Master Shal-
low. God keep you, Master Silence: I will not
use many words with you. Fare you well, gentle- 312
men both: I thank you: I must a dozen mile
to-night. Bardolph, give the soldiers coats.
Shal. Sir John, the Lord bless you! God pros-
per your affairs! God send us peace! At your 316
return visit our house; let our old acquaintance
be renewed: peradventure I will with ye to the
court.
Fal. 'Fore God I would you would, Master 320
Shallow.
Shal. Go to; I have spoke at a word. God
keep you.
Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. 324
Exit [Shallow, with Silence].
On, Bardolph; lead the men away.
[Exit Bardolph, with recruits.]
As I return, I will fetch off these justices:
I do see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Lord,
Lord! how subject we old men are to this 328
vice of lying. This same starved justice hath
done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of
his youth and the feats he hath done about
Turnbull Street; and every third word a lie, duer 332
paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do
remember him at Clement's Inn like a man made
after supper of a cheese-paring: when a' was
naked he was for all the world like a forked 336
radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it
with a knife: a' was so forlorn that his dimen-
sions to any thick sight were invisible: a' was
the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a 340
monkey, and the whores called him mandrake:
a' came ever in the rearward of the fashion and
sung those tunes to the over-scutched huswives
that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware 344
they were his fancies or his good-nights. And
now is this Vice's dagger become a squire, and
talks as familiarly of John a Gaunt as if he had
been sworn brother to him; and I'll be sworn a' 348
never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard, and
then he burst his head for crowding among the
marshal's men. I saw it and told John a Gaunt
he beat his own name; for you might have thrust 352
him and all his apparel into an eel-skin; the
case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him,
a court; and now has he land and beefs. Well,
I'll be acquainted with him, if I return; and 356
it shall go hard but I'll make him a philoso-
pher's two stones to me. If the young dace be a
bait for the old pike, I see no reason in the law
of nature but I may snap at him. Let time 360
shape, and there an end. Exit.
Footnotes to Act III
Scene One
S. d. night-gown: dressing gown
17 watch-case: sentry-box
19 Seel: sew together (a hawking term)
25 hurly: tumult
68 check'd: rebuked
81 Figuring: symbolizing
87 necessary form: logical necessity
Scene Two
103 instance: proof
105 unseason'd: unseasonable
3 rood: cross
9 ousel: blackbird
14 inns o' court: colleges of law
21 roundly: thoroughly
24 swinge-bucklers: roisterers
26 bona-robas: showy harlots
28, 29 Cf. n.
33 Skogan; cf. n.
34 crack: lively youngster
42 How: what price
51 clapped i' the clout: hit the white mark in the target
52 at twelve score: at twelve score yards
52, 53 forehand shaft: arrow made for shooting straight forward
53 a fourteen, etc.: fourteen score yards
68 tall: doughty
71 backsword man: fighter at single-sticks
73 accommodated; cf. n.
96 Surecard: the name signifies 'boon companion'
98 commission: office
104 sufficient: fit
123 Prick: mark down
147 shadows: names, for which we receive pay, though we have not the men
167 battle: army
180 thousands: i.e., vermin
200 such order: such measures
216 away with: endure
238 Corporate: blunder for 'Corporal'
239 Harry ten shillings; cf. n.
264 three pound; cf. n.
280 assemblance: appearance
285 gibbets; cf. n.
292 caliver: light musket
294 traverse: march
297 chopp'd: chapped
299 tester: sixpence
301-303 Cf. n.
304 quiver: nimble
306 come you in: make a home thrust
307 bounce: bang
322 at a word: briefly but sincerely
326 fetch off: get the better of, 'take in'
332 duer: more duly
343 over-scutched huswives: cant term for 'harlots'
344 carmen: teamsters
345 fancies . . . good-nights: common names for little poems
346 Vice's dagger; cf. n.
354 hautboy: slender reed instrument, oboe
357 philosopher's two stones; cf. n.