HENRY THE FOURTH PART 1

Act 5 Scene 4

(Alarum. Excursions. Enter King Henry, Prince Harry, wounded, Lord John of Lancaster, and the Earl of Westmorland)
l1l	King Henry	 I prithee, Harry, withdraw thyself, thou bleed’st too much.
l2l		Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.
l3l	John Of Lancaster	Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
l4l	Prince Harry	(to the King)
		 I beseech your majesty, make up,
l5l		Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.
l6l	King Henry	I will do so. My lord of Westmorland,
l7l		Lead him to his tent.
l8l	Westmorland	(to the Prince)
		 Come, my lord, I’ll lead you to your tent.
l9l	Prince Harry	Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help,
l10l		And God forbid a shallow scratch should drive
l11l		The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,
l12l		Where stained nobility lies trodden on,
l13l		And rebels’ arms triumph in massacres.
l14l	John Of Lancaster	We breathe too long. Come, cousin Westmorland,
l15l		Our duty this way lies. For God’s sake, come.
		(Exeunt Lancaster and Westmorland)
l16l	Prince Harry	 By God, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster#
l17l		I did not think thee lord of such a spirit.
l18l		Before I loved thee as a brother, John,
l19l		But now I do respect thee as my soul.
l20l	King Henry	I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point
l21l		With lustier maintenance than I did look for
l22l		Of such an ungrown warrior.
l23l	Prince Harry	O, this boy lends mettle to us all!
		(Exit)
l24l		(Enter the Earl of Douglas)
		Douglas	 Another king! They grow like Hydra’s heads.
l25l		I am the Douglas, fatal to all those
l26l		That wear those colours on them. What art thou
l27l		That counterfeit’st the person of a king?
l28l	King Henry	The King himself, who, Douglas, grieves at heart
l29l		So many of his shadows thou hast met
l30l		And not the very King. I have two boys
l31l		Seek Percy and thyself about the field#
l32l		But seeing thou fall’st on me so luckily,
l33l		I will assay thee# and defend thyself.
l34l	Douglas	I fear thou art another counterfeit#
l35l		And yet, in faith, thou bear’st thee like a king.
l36l		But mine I am sure thou art, whoe’er thou be,
l37l		And thus I win thee.
		(They fight. The King being in danger, enter Prince Harry)
l38l	Prince Harry	 Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like
l39l		Never to hold it up again. The spirits
l40l		Of valiant Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms.
l41l		It is the Prince of Wales that threatens thee,
l42l		Who never promiseth but he means to pay.
		(They fight. Douglas flieth)
l43l		Cheerly, my lord! How fares your grace?
l44l		Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent,
l45l		And so hath Clifton. I’ll to Clifton straight.
l46l	King Henry	Stay and breathe awhile.
l47l		Thou hast redeemed thy lost opinion,
l48l		And showed thou mak’st some tender of my life,
l49l		In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.
l50l	Prince Harry	O God, they did me too much injury
l51l		That ever said I hearkened for your death.
l52l		If it were so, I might have let alone
l53l		The insulting hand of Douglas over you,
l54l		Which would have been as speedy in your end
l55l		As all the poisonous potions in the world,
l56l		And saved the treacherous labour of your son.
l57l	King Henry	Make up to Clifton# I’ll to Sir Nicholas Gawsey.
		( 57 Exit)
l58l		(Enter Hotspur)
		Hotspur	 If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.
l59l	Prince Harry	Thou speak’st as if I would deny my name.
l60l	Hotspur	My name is Harry Percy.
	Prince Harry	Why then, I see
l61l		A very valiant rebel of the name.
l62l		I am the Prince of Wales# and think not, Percy,
l63l		To share with me in glory any more.
l64l		Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere,
l65l		Nor can one England brook a double reign
l66l		Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales.
l67l	Hotspur	Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come
l68l		To end the one of us, and would to God
l69l		Thy name in arms were now as great as mine.
l70l	Prince Harry	I’ll make it greater ere I part from thee,
l71l		And all the budding honours on thy crest
l72l		I’ll crop to make a garland for my head.
l73l	Hotspur	I can no longer brook thy vanities.
		(They fight.)
l74l		Enter Sir John Oldcastle
	Sir John	 Well said, Hal! To it, Hal! Nay, you shall find
l75l		no boy’s play here, I can tell you.
		(Enter Douglas. He fighteth with Sir John, who falls down as if he were dead. Exit Douglas. The Prince killeth Hotspur)
l76l	Hotspur	 O Harry, thou hast robbed me of my youth.
l77l		I better brook the loss of brittle life
l78l		Than those proud titles thou hast won of me.
l79l		They wound my thoughts worse than thy sword my flesh.
l80l		But thoughts, the slaves of life, and life, time’s fool,
l81l		And time, that takes survey of all the world,
l82l		Must have a stop. O, I could prophesy,
l83l		But that the earthy and cold hand of death
l84l		Lies on my tongue. No, Percy, thou art dust,
l85l		And food for—
		(He dies)
l86l	Prince Harry	 For worms, brave Percy. Fare thee well, great heart.
l87l		Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
l88l		When that this body did contain a spirit,
l89l		A kingdom for it was too small a bound,
l90l		But now two paces of the vilest earth
l91l		Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead
l92l		Bears not alive so stout a gentleman.
l93l		If thou wert sensible of courtesy,
l94l		I should not make so dear a show of zeal#
l95l		But let my favours hide thy mangled face,
		(He covers Hotspur's face)
l96l		And even in thy behalf I’ll thank myself
l97l		For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
l98l		Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven.
l99l		Thy ignominy sleep with thee in the grave,
l100l		But not remembered in thy epitaph.
		(He spieth Sir John on the ground)
l101l		What, old acquaintance! Could not all this flesh
l102l		Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell.
l103l		I could have better spared a better man.
l104l		O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,
l105l		If I were much in love with vanity.
l106l		Death hath not struck so fat a deer today,
l107l		Though many dearer in this bloody fray.
l108l		Embowelled will I see thee by and by.
l109l		Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie.
		(Exit)
l110l		(Sir John riseth up)
		Sir John	 Embowelled? If thou embowel me today, I’ll give
l111l		you leave to powder me, and eat me too, tomorrow.
l112l		’Sblood, ’twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant
l113l		Scot had paid me, scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie, I
l114l		am no counterfeit. To die is to be a counterfeit, for he
l115l		is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not the life
l116l		of a man. But to counterfeit dying when a man thereby
l117l		liveth is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect
l118l		image of life indeed. The better part of valour is
l119l		discretion, in the which better part I have saved my
l120l		life. Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy,
l121l		though he be dead. How if he should counterfeit too,
l122l		and rise? By my faith, I am afraid he would prove the
l123l		better counterfeit. Therefore I’ll make him sure# yea,
l124l		and I’ll swear I killed him. Why may not he rise as
l125l		well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody
l126l		sees me. Therefore, sirrah,
		(stabbing Hotspur)
		 with a
l127l		new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.
		(He takes up Hotspur on his back.)
l128l		Enter Prince Harry and Lord John of Lancaster
	Prince Harry	 Come, brother John. Full bravely hast thou fleshed
l129l		Thy maiden sword.
	John Of Lancaster	But soft# whom have we here?
l130l		Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
l131l	Prince Harry	I did# I saw him dead,
l132l		Breathless and bleeding on the ground.
		(To Sir John)
		 Art thou alive?
l133l		Or is it fantasy that plays upon our eyesight?
l134l		I prithee speak# we will not trust our eyes
l135l		Without our ears. Thou art not what thou seem’st.
l136l	Sir John	 No, that’s certain: I am not a double man. But
l137l		if I be not Jack Oldcastle, then am I a jack. There is
l138l		Percy. If your father will do me any honour, so# if not,
l139l		let him kill the next Percy himself. I look to be either
l140l		earl or duke, I can assure you.
l141l	Prince Harry	 Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead.
l142l	Sir John	 Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given
l143l		to lying! I grant you I was down and out of breath,
l144l		and so was he# but we rose both at an instant, and
l145l		fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be
l146l		believed, so# if not, let them that should reward valour
l147l		bear the sin upon their own heads. I’ll take ’t on my
l148l		death I gave him this wound in the thigh. If the man
l149l		were alive and would deny it, zounds, I would make
l150l		him eat a piece of my sword.
l151l	John Of Lancaster	 This is the strangest tale that e’er I heard.
l152l	Prince Harry	This is the strangest fellow, brother John.
l153l		(To Sir John)
		 Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back.
l154l		For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
l155l		I’ll gild it with the happiest terms I have.
		(A retreat is sounded)
l156l		The trumpet sounds retreat# the day is our.
l157l		Come, brother, let us to the highest of the field
l158l		To see what friends are living, who are dead.
		(Exeunt the Prince and Lancaster)
l159l	Sir John	 I’ll follow, as they say, for reward. He that
l160l		rewards me, God reward him. If I do grow great, I’ll
l161l		grow less# for I’ll purge, and leave sack, and live
l162l		cleanly, as a nobleman should do.
		(Exit, bearing Hotspur's body)