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  • Title: Henry IV, Part 2 (Folio 1 1623)
  • Editor: Rosemary Gaby

    • Copyright Rosemary Gaby. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: Rosemary Gaby
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Henry IV, Part 2 (Folio 1 1623)

    The second Part of King Henry the Fourth. 81
    window: at last I spy'd his eyes, and me thought he had
    865made two holes in the Ale-wiues new Petticoat, & pee-
    ped through.
    Prin. Hath not the boy profited?
    Bar. Away, you horson vpright Rabbet, away.
    Page. Away, you rascally Altheas dreame, away.
    870Prin. Instruct vs Boy: what dreame, Boy?
    Page. Marry (my Lord) Althea dream'd, she was de-
    liuer'd of a Firebrand, and therefore I call him hir dream.
    Prince. A Crownes-worth of good Interpretation:
    There it is, Boy.
    875Poin. O that this good Blossome could bee kept from
    Cankers: Well, there is six pence to preserue thee.
    Bard. If you do not make him be hang'd among you,
    the gallowes shall be wrong'd.
    Prince. And how doth thy Master, Bardolph?
    880Bar. Well, my good Lord: he heard of your Graces
    comming to Towne. There's a Letter for you.
    Poin. Deliuer'd with good respect: And how doth the
    Martlemas, your Master?
    Bard. In bodily health Sir.
    885Poin. Marry, the immortall part needes a Physitian:
    but that moues not him: though that bee sicke, it dyes
    not.
    Prince. I do allow this Wen to bee as familiar with
    me, as my dogge: and he holds his place, for looke you
    890he writes.
    Poin. Letter.
    Iohn Falstaffe Knight
    : (Euery man must
    know that, as oft as hee hath occasion to name himselfe:)
    Euen like those that are kinne to the King, for they neuer
    pricke their finger, but they say, there is som of the kings
    895blood spilt. How comes that (sayes he) that takes vpon
    him not to conceiue? the answer is as ready as a borrow-
    ed cap: I am the Kings poore Cosin, Sir.
    Prince. Nay, they will be kin to vs, but they wil fetch
    it from Iaphet. But to the Letter: ---
    Sir Iohn Falstaffe,
    900Knight, to the Sonne of the King, neerest his Father, Harrie
    Prince of Wales, greeting.
    Poin. Why this is a Certificate.
    Prin. Peace.

    I will imitate the honourable Romaines in breuitie.
    905Poin. Sure he meanes breuity in breath: short-winded.

    I commend me to thee, I commend thee, and I leaue thee. Bee
    not too familiar with Pointz, for hee misuses thy Fauours so
    much, that he sweares thou art to marrie his Sister Nell. Re-
    pent at idle times as thou mayst, and so farewell.
    910Thine, by yea and no: which is as much as to say, as thou
    vsest him. Iacke Falstaffe with my Familiars:
    Iohn with my Brothers and Sister: & Sir
    Iohn, with all Europe.

    My Lord, I will steepe this Letter in Sack, and make him
    915eate it.
    Prin. That's to make him eate twenty of his Words.
    But do you vse me thus Ned? Must I marry your Sister?
    Poin. May the Wench haue no worse Fortune. But I
    neuer said so.
    920Prin. Well, thus we play the Fooles with the time, &
    the spirits of the wise, sit in the clouds, and mocke vs: Is
    your Master heere in London?
    Bard. Yes my Lord.
    Prin. Where suppes he? Doth the old Bore, feede in
    925the old Franke?
    Bard. At the old place my Lord, in East-cheape.
    Prin. What Company?
    Page. Ephesians my Lord, of the old Church.
    Prin. Sup any women with him?

    930Page. None my Lord, but old Mistris Quickly, and M.
    Doll Teare-sheet.
    Prin. What Pagan may that be?
    Page. A proper Gentlewoman, Sir, and a Kinswoman
    of my Masters.
    935Prin. Euen such Kin, as the Parish Heyfors are to the
    Towne-Bull?
    Shall we steale vpon them (Ned) at Supper?
    Poin. I am your shadow, my Lord, Ile follow you.
    Prin. Sirrah, you boy, and Bardolph, no word to your
    940Master that I am yet in Towne.
    There's for your silence.
    Bar. I haue no tongue, sir.
    Page. And for mine Sir, I will gouerne it.
    Prin. Fare ye well: go.
    945This Doll Teare-sheet should be some Rode.
    Poin. I warrant you, as common as the way betweene
    S. Albans, and London.
    Prin. How might we see Falstaffe bestow himselfe to
    night, in his true colours, and not our selues be seene?
    950Poin. Put on two Leather Ierkins, and Aprons, and
    waite vpon him at his Table, like Drawers.
    Prin. From a God, to a Bull? A heauie declension: It
    was Ioues case. From a Prince, to a Prentice, a low trans-
    formation, that shall be mine: for in euery thing, the pur-
    955pose must weigh with the folly. Follow me Ned. Exeunt


    Scena Tertia.


    Enter Northumberland, his Ladie, and Harrie
    Percies Ladie.

    North. I prethee louing Wife, and gentle Daughter,
    960Giue an euen way vnto my rough Affaires:
    Put not you on the visage of the Times,
    And be like them to Percie, troublesome.
    Wife. I haue giuen ouer, I will speak no more,
    Do what you will: your Wisedome, be your guide.
    965North. Alas (sweet Wife) my Honor is at pawne,
    And but my going, nothing can redeeme it.
    La. Oh yet, for heauens sake, go not to these Warrs;
    The Time was (Father) when you broke your word,
    When you were more endeer'd to it, then now,
    970When your owne Percy, when my heart-deere Harry,
    Threw many a Northward looke, to see his Father
    Bring vp his Powres: but he did long in vaine.
    Who then perswaded you to stay at home?
    There were two Honors lost; Yours, and your Sonnes.
    975For Yours, may heauenly glory brighten it:
    For His, it stucke vpon him, as the Sunne
    In the gray vault of Heauen: and by his Light
    Did all the Cheualrie of England moue
    To do braue Acts. He was (indeed) the Glasse
    980Wherein the Noble-Youth did dresse themselues.
    He had no Legges, that practic'd not his Gate:
    And speaking thicke (which Nature made his blemish)
    Became the Accents of the Valiant.
    For those that could speake low, and tardily,
    985Would turne their owne Perfection, to Abuse,
    To seeme like him. So that in Speech, in Gate,
    In Diet, in Affections of delight,
    In Militarie Rules, Humors of Blood,
    He
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