Enter Peto:

P. Henry. Peto, how now? what news?
Peto. The king your father is at Westminster;
And there are twenty weak and wearied posts,
Come from the north: and, as I came along,
I met, and overtook, a dozen captains,
Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns,
And asking every one for fir John Falstaff.

P. Henry. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame, So idly to profane the precious time;

When tempeft of commotion, like the fouth
Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt,

And drop upon our bare unarmed heads.

Give me my fword, and cloak :-Falstaff, good night.

[Exeunt Prince and Poins.

Fal. Now comes in the sweetest morfel of the night, and we must hence, and leave it unpick'd. More knocking ing at the door?-How now? what's the matter?

Bard. You must away to court, fir, presently; a dozen captains stay at door for you.

Fal. Pay the musicians, firrah [To the Page.]-Farewell, hostess;-farewell, Doll.-You fee, my good wenches, how men of merit are fought after: the undeferver may fleep, when the man of action is call'd on. Farewell, good wenches :-If I be not fent away post, I will see you again ere I go.

Dol. I cannot speak;-If my heart be not ready to burst: -Well, fweet Jack, have a care of thyfelf.

Fal. Farewell, farewell.

[Exeunt Fal. and Bard.

Hoft. Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these twenty-nine years, come pefcod-time; but an honester, truer-hearted man,-Well, fare thee well.

Bard.

Bard. [within] Mistress Tear-fheet,

Hoft. What's the matter?

Bard. Bid miftrefs Tear-fheet come to my master.

Hoft. O run, Doll, run; run, good Doll.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I.

The Palace.

Enter King Henry in bis night-gown, with a Page.

K. Henry. Go, call the earls of Surrey and of Warwick;
But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
And well confider of them: Make good speed.-

[Exit Page.

How
many thousand of
my poorest subjects
Are at this hour afleep!-O fleep, O gentle fleep,
Nature's foft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eye-lids down,
And steep my fenfes in forgetfulness?

Why rather, fleep, ly'ft thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneafy pallets ftretching thee,

And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy flumber
Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great,

Under the conopies of coftly ftate,

And lull'd with founds of fweeteft melody?

O thou dull god, why ly'ft thou with the vile,

In loathfome beds; and leav'ft the kingly couch,
A watch-cafe, or a common larum bell?

Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast

d a watch-cafe, or a common larum bell?]—as vigilant as a watchman, or centinel.

VOL. III.

S s

Seal

Seal up the fhip-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious furge;

And in the visitation of the winds,

Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deaf'ning clamours in the flippery clouds,
That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?
Can'ft thou, O partial fleep! give thy repofe
To the wet fea-boy, in an hour fo rude;
And, in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down!
Uneafy lies the head that wears a crown.

Enter Warwick, and Surrey.

War. Many good morrows to your majesty!
K. Henry. Is it good morrow, lords?

War. 'Tis one o'clock, and paft.

K. Henry. Why, then, good morrow to you. Well, my lords,

Have you read o'er the letters that I fent you?

War. We have, my liege..

K. Henry. Then you perceive, the body of our kingdom How foul it is; what rank diseases grow,

And with what danger, near the heart of it.
War. It is but as a body, yet, diftemper'd;
Which to its former ftrength may be restor❜d,
With good advice, and little medicine:-
My lord Northumberland will foon be cool'd.

K. Henry. O heaven! that one might read the book of fate;

And fee the revolution of the times

• fbrowds.

That, with the burly,]-In fuch fort, that with the tumult.
and the ftilleft.

distemper'd ;]-recently infected, or not perfectly recovered.

Make

Make mountains level, and the continent
(Weary of folid firmness) melt itself
Into the fea! and, other times, to fee
The beachy girdle of the ocean

Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration

With divers liquors! O, if this were feen,

The happiest youth,-viewing his progress through,
What perils paft, what croffes to enfue,-
Would fhut the book, and fit him down and die.

'Tis not ten years gone,

Since Richard, and Northumberland, great friends,
Did feaft together, and, in two years after,
Were they at wars: It is but eight years, fince
This Percy was the man neareft my foul;

Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs,
And laid his love and life under my foot;

Yea, for my fake, even to the eyes of Richard,

Gave him defiance. But which of you was by,

i

(You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember) [To Warwick.
When Richard, with his eye brim-full of tears,
Then check'd and rated by Northumberland,-
Did speak these words, now prov'd a prophecy?
Northumberland, thou ladder, by the which
My cousin Bolingbroke afcends my throne ;-
Though then, heaven knows, I had no fuch intent;
But that neceffity fo bow'd the state,

That I and greatnefs were compell'd to kifs :

coufin Nevil,]-Shakspeare is mistaken both in the name of the prefent Earl, and his being by, at the converfation referred to. The name of this Earl was Beauchamp, whofe daughter, with whom the title defcended, was married long after to Richard Nevil Earl of Salisbury.

k I had no fuch intent ;]-Henry had put in his claim, and been faluted king by his party, before this interview.

The time fhall come, thus did he follow it,

The time will come, that foul fin, gathering head,
Sball break into corruption :-fo went on,
Foretelling this fame time's condition,
And the divifion of our amity.

War. There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceas'd:
The which obferv'd, a man may prophefy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life; which in their feeds,
And weak beginnings, lie entreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
And, by the neceffary form of this,

King Richard might create a perfect guess,
That great Northumberland, then false to him,
Would, of that feed, grow to a greater falfenefs;
Which fhould not find a ground to root upon,
Unless on you.

K. Henry. Are these things then neceffities?
Then let us meet them " like neceffities:-

m

And that fame word even now cries out on us;
They fay, the bishop and Northumberland
Are fifty thousand strong.

War. It cannot be, my lord;

Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
The numbers of the fear'd:-Please it your grace,

To go to bed; upon my life, my lord,

The powers that you already have fent forth,

Shall bring this prize in very easily.

To comfort you the more, I have receiv'd

by the necessary form of this, ]-by attending to the conftant procedure of fuch revolters.

like neceffities:]with that compofure, which brave men display when danger appears inevitable.-like neceffity-with its refiftlefs vio

lence.

'A cer.