Henry IV, Part I, William Shakespeare [good books to read in english .TXT] 📗

What think you, coz,
Of this young Percy’s pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath surprised,
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife. Westmoreland

This is his uncle’s teaching: this is Worcester,
Malevolent to you in all aspects;
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up
The crest of youth against your dignity.

King

But I have sent for him to answer this;
And for this cause awhile we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we
Will hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:
But come yourself with speed to us again;
For more is to be said and to be done
Than out of anger can be uttered.

Westmoreland I will, my liege. Exeunt. Scene II

London. An apartment of the Prince’s.

Enter the Prince of Wales and Falstaff. Falstaff Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? Prince Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day. Falstaff Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, “that wandering knight so fair.” And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy grace⁠—majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have none⁠— Prince What, none? Falstaff No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to prologue to an egg and butter. Prince Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. Falstaff Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night’s body be called thieves of the day’s beauty: let us be Diana’s foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. Prince Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon’s men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing “Lay by” and spent with crying “Bring in;” now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Falstaff By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench? Prince As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance? Falstaff How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin? Prince Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern? Falstaff Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft. Prince Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? Falstaff No; I’ll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. Prince Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit. Falstaff Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent⁠—But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. Prince No; thou shalt. Falstaff Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I’ll be a brave judge. Prince Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman. Falstaff Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you. Prince For obtaining of suits? Falstaff Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. ’Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged bear. Prince Or an old lion, or a lover’s lute. Falstaff Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. Prince What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? Falstaff Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought. An old lord of the council rated me the other day in the street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked wisely, and in the street too. Prince Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. Falstaff O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over: by the Lord, and I do not, I am a villain: I’ll be damned for never a king’s son in Christendom. Prince Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? Falstaff ’Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I’ll make one; an I do not, call me villain