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Henry IV, Part 1 (Quarto 1, 1598)

Author: William Shakespeare
Editor: Rosemary Gaby
Not Peer Reviewed
The history
1345Prince. Well, here is my leg.
Falst. And here is my speech; stand aside Nobilitie.
Host. O Iesu, this is excellent sport ifaith.
Falst. Weepe not sweet Queene, for trickling teares are vain.
1350Host. O the father, how he holds his countenance?
Fal. For Gods sake Lords, conuay my trustfull Queene,
For teares do stop the floudgates of her eyes.
Host. O Iesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotrie plaiers as
1355euer I see.
Falst. Peace good pint-pot, peace good tickle-braine.
Harrie, I doe not onelie maruaile where thou spendest thy
time, but also how thou art accompanied. For though the cam-
momill the more it is troden on, the faster it growes: so youth
1360the more it is wasted, the sooner it weares: that thou art my son
I haue partly thy mothers worde, partlie my owne opinion, but
chieflie a villainous tricke of thine eye, and a foolish hanging
of thy neather lippe, that dooth warrant me. If then thou bee
sonne to mee, heere lies the poynt, why beeing sonne to me, art
1365thou so pointed at? shal the blessed sunne of heauen proue a mi-
cher, and eat black-berries? a question not to be askt. Shall the
sonne of England proue a theefe, and take purses? a question to
be askt. There is a thing Harry, which thou hast often heard of,
1370and it is knowne to many in our land by the name of pitch. This
pitch (as ancient writers do report) doth defile, so doth the com-
panie thou keepest: for Harrie now, I do not speake to thee in
drinke, but in teares; not in pleasure but in passion: not in words
1375onely, but in woes also: and yet there is a vertuous man, whom
I haue often noted in thy companie, but I know not his name.
Prin. What maner of man and it like your Maiestie?
1380Fal. A goodly portly man ifayth, and a corpulent of a cheerful
looke, a pleasing eie, and a most noble cariage, and as I thinke
his age some fiftie, or birladie inclining to threescore, and nowe
I remember me, his name is Falstalffe, if that man shoulde bee
lewdly giuen, hee deceiueth me. For Harry, I see vertue in his
1385lookes: if then the tree may bee knowne by the fruit, as the fruit
by the tree, then peremptorily I speake it, there is vertue in that
Falstalffe, him keepe with, the rest banish, and tell me now thou
naughtie varlet, tell me where hast thou beene this month?
Pr.