of their company. I will
devise matter enough out of this Shallow
to keep Prince Harry in
continuallaughter the wearing out of six
fashions, which is four terms, or two actions; and 'a shall laugh
without intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a slight
oath, and a jest with a sad brow will do with a fellow that never
had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him laugh till
his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up!
SHALLOW. [Within] Sir John!
FALSTAFF. I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master Shallow.
Exit
SCENE II.
Westminster. The palace
Enter, severally, WARWICK, and the
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE
WARWICK. How now, my Lord Chief Justice; whither away?
CHIEF JUSTICE. How doth the King?
WARWICK. Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended.
CHIEF JUSTICE. I hope, not dead.
WARWICK. He's walk'd the way of nature;
And to our purposes he lives no more.
CHIEF JUSTICE. I would his Majesty had call'd me with him.
The service that I truly did his life
Hath left me open to all injuries.
WARWICK. Indeed, I think the young king loves you not.
CHIEF JUSTICE. I know he doth not, and do arm myself
To
welcome the condition of the time,
Which cannot look more hideously upon me
Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.
Enter LANCASTER, CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER,
WESTMORELAND, and others
WARWICK. Here comes the heavy issue of dead Harry.
O that the living Harry had the temper
Of he, the worst of these three gentlemen!
How many nobles then should hold their places
That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort!
CHIEF JUSTICE. O God, I fear all will be overturn'd.
PRINCE JOHN. Good
morrow, cousin Warwick, good
morrow.
GLOUCESTER & CLARENCE. Good
morrow, cousin.
PRINCE JOHN. We meet like men that had forgot to speak.
WARWICK. We do remember; but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk.
PRINCE JOHN. Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!
CHIEF JUSTICE. Peace be with us, lest we be heavier!
PRINCE HUMPHREY. O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed;
And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of
seeming sorrow- it is sure your own.
PRINCE JOHN. Though no man be assur'd what grace to find,
You stand in coldest
expectation.
I am the sorrier; would 'twere
otherwise.
CLARENCE. Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair;
Which swims against your
stream of quality.
CHIEF JUSTICE. Sweet Princes, what I did, I did in honour,
Led by th'
impartial conduct of my soul;
And never shall you see that I will beg
A
ragged and forestall'd remission.
If truth and
upright innocency fail me,
I'll to the King my master that is dead,
And tell him who hath sent me after him.
WARWICK. Here comes the Prince.
Enter KING HENRY THE FIFTH, attended
CHIEF JUSTICE. Good
morrow, and God save your Majesty!
KING. This new and
gorgeousgarment,
majesty,
Sits not so easy on me as you think.
Brothers, you mix your
sadness with some fear.
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, by my faith, it very well becomes you.
Sorrow so royally in you appears
That I will deeply put the fashion on,
And wear it in my heart. Why, then, be sad;
But
entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assur'd,
I'll be your father and your brother too;
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep that Harry's dead, and so will I;
But Harry lives that shall
convert those tears
By number into hours of happiness.
BROTHERS. We hope no
otherwise from your Majesty.
KING. You all look
strangely on me; and you most.
You are, I think, assur'd I love you not.
CHIEF JUSTICE. I am assur'd, if I be measur'd rightly,
Your Majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
KING. No?
How might a
prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?
What, rate,
rebuke, and
roughly send to prison,
Th' immediate heir of England! Was this easy?
May this be wash'd in Lethe and forgotten?
CHIEF JUSTICE. I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me;
And in th'
administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your Highness pleased to forget my place,
The
majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the King whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgment;
Whereon, as an
offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority
And did
commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you
contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought,
To pluck down justice from your awful bench,
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person;
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son;
Hear your own
dignity so much profan'd,
See your most
dreadful laws so
loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd;
And then imagine me
taking your part
And, in your power, soft silencing your son.
After this cold considerance,
sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.
KING. You are right, Justice, and you weigh this well;
Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;
And I do wish your honours may increase
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words:
'Happy am I that have a man so bold
That dares do justice on my proper son;
And not less happy, having such a son
That would deliver up his
greatness so
Into the hands of justice.' You did
commit me;
For which I do
commit into your hand
Th' unstained sword that you have us'd to bear;
With this remembrance- that you use the same
With the like bold, just, and
impartial spirit
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.
You shall be as a father to my youth;
My voice shall sound as you do
prompt mine ear;
And I will stoop and
humble my intents
To your well-practis'd wise directions.
And, Princes all, believe me, I
beseech you,
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections;
And with his spirits sadly I survive,
To mock the
expectation of the world,
To
frustrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my
seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath
proudly flow'd in
vanity till now.
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall
mingle with the state of floods,
And flow
henceforth in
formalmajesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament;
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us;
In which you, father, shall have
foremost hand.
Our
coronation done, we will accite,
As I before rememb'red, all our state;
And- God consigning to my good intents-
No
prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,
God
shorten Harry's happy life one day. Exeunt
SCENE III.
Gloucestershire. SHALLOW'S
orchardEnter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, BARDOLPH,
the PAGE, and DAVY
SHALLOW. Nay, you shall see my
orchard, where, in an arbour, we
will eat a last year's pippin of mine own graffing, with a dish
of caraways, and so forth. Come, cousin Silence. And then to bed.
FALSTAFF. Fore God, you have here a
goodlydwelling and rich.
SHALLOW. Barren,
barren,
barren; beggars all, beggars all, Sir John
-marry, good air. Spread, Davy, spread, Davy; well said, Davy.
FALSTAFF. This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your
serving-man and your husband.
SHALLOW. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet, Sir
John. By the mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper. A good
varlet. Now sit down, now sit down; come, cousin.
SILENCE. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a- we shall [Singing]
Do nothing but eat and make good cheer,
And praise God for the merry year;
When flesh is cheap and females dear,
And lusty lads roam here and there,
So merrily,
And ever among so merrily.
FALSTAFF. There's a merry heart! Good Master Silence, I'll give you
a health for that anon.
SHALLOW. Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy.
DAVY. Sweet sir, sit; I'll be with you anon; most sweet sir, sit.
Master Page, good Master Page, sit. Proface! What you want in
meat, we'll have in drink. But you must bear; the heart's all.
Exit
SHALLOW. Be merry, Master Bardolph; and, my little soldier there,
be merry.
SILENCE. [Singing]
Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;
For women are shrews, both short and tall;
'Tis merry in hall when beards wag an;
And
welcome merry Shrove-tide.
Be merry, be merry.
FALSTAFF. I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this