INDUCTION. Warkworth.-Before NORTHUMBERLAND's Castle. Enter RUMOUR, painted full of Tongues. Rum. Open your ears; for which of you will stop The vent of hearing, when loud Rumour speaks? I, from the orient to the drooping west, grief, Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war, That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, My well-known body to anatomize Among my household? Why is Rumour here? I run before king Harry's victory; Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury Hath beaten down young Hotspur, and his North. Good, an God will! And Westmoreland and Stafford, fled the field; And he is furnish'd with no certainties, More than he haply may retail from me. Enter TRAVERS. North. Now, Travers, what good tidings come with you? Tra. My lord, sir John Umfreville turn'd me back With joyful tidings; and, being better hors'd, North. Ha!-Again. Said he, young Harry Percy's spur was cold? Of Hotspur, coldspur? that rebellion Had met ill luck! North. Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf, Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury? North. thus; Your brother, thus; so fought the noble Douglas; Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds, But in the end, to stop mine ear indeed, Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise, Ending with-brother, son, and all are dead. Mor. Douglas is living, and your brother, yet; But for my lord your son,— North. Why, he is dead.See, what a ready tongue suspicion hath! He that but fears the thing he would not know, Hath by instinct knowledge from others' eyes, That what he fear'd is chanced. Yet speak, Morton: Tell thou thy ear! his divination lies, I see a strange confession in thine eye: Bard. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead. Mor. I am sorry I should force you to believe That which I would to heaven I had not seen; But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state, Rendering faint quittance, wearied and outbreath'd. To Harry Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat down The never-daunted Percy to the earth, cester Too soon ta'en prisoner; and that furious Scot, mourn. In poison there is physic; and these news, A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, Keep the wild flood confin'd: let order die; [Tra. This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.] Bard. Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour. Mor. The lives of all your loving complices Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er To stormy passion, must perforce decay. You cast the event of war, my noble lord, And summ'd the account of chance, before you said, Let us make head. It was your presurmise, Of wounds and scars, and that his forward spirit Would lift him where most trade of danger rang'd; Yet did you say,-Go forth; and none of this, Bard. We all, that are engaged to this loss, Mor. 'Tis more than time: and, my most noble lord, I hear for certain, and dare speak the truth, This word, rebellion, it had froze them up, Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts, Of fair king Richard, scrap'd from Pomfret stones; Derives from heaven his quarrel, and his cause; North. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth, This present grief had wip'd it from my mind. Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed: Never so few, and never yet more need. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-London. A Street. Enter Sir JOHN FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his sword and buckler. Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water? Page. He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy water; but for the party that owed it, he might have more diseases than he knew for. Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me: the brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent, or is invented on me: I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men. I do here walk before thee, like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one: if the prince put thee into my service for any other reason than to set me off, why then, I have no judgment. Thou whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap, than to wait at my heels. I was never manned with an agate till now: but I will in-set you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile apparel, and send you back again to your master, for a jewel; the juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin is not yet fledged. I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand, then he shall get one on his cheek; and yet he will not stick to say, his face is a face-royal. God may finish it when he will, it is not a hair amiss yet: he may keep it still as a face-royal, for a barber shall never earn sixpence out of it; and yet he will be crowing, as if he had writ man ever since his father was a batchelor. He may keep his own grace, but he is almost out of mine, I can assure him.-What said master Dumbleton about the satin for my short cloak, and my slops? Page. He said, sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph; he would not take his bond and yours: he liked not the security. Fal. Let him be damned like the glutton: may his tongue be hotter!-A whoreson Achitophel! a rascally yea-forsooth knave, to bear a gentleman in haud, and then stand upon security!-The whoreson smooth-pates do now wear nothing but high shoes, and bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is thorough with them in honest taking up, then must they stand upon security. I had as lief they would put ratsbane in my mouth, as offer to stop it with security. I looked he should have sent me two and twenty yards of satin, as I am a true knight, and he sends me security. Well, he may sleep in security; for he hath the horn of abundance, and the lightness of his wife shines through it and yet cannot he see, though he have his own lantern to light him.-Where's Bardolph! Page. He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship a horse. Fal. I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse in Smithfield: an I could get me but a wife in the stews, I were manned, horsed, and wived. Enter the Lord Chief Justice, and an Attendant. Page. Sir, here comes the nobleman that committed the prince for striking him about Bardolph. Fal. Wait close; I will not see him. Ch. Just. What's he that goes there? Atten. Falstaff, an't please your lordship. Ch. Just. He that was in question for the rob bery? Atten. He, my lord; but he hath since done good service at Shrewsbury, and, as I hear, is now Fal. What! a young knave, and begging? Is there not wars? is there not employment? Doth not the king lack subjects? do not the rebels need soldiers? Though it be a shame to be on any side but one, it is worse shame to beg than to be on the worst side, were it worse than the name of rebell ion can tell how to make it. Atten. You mistake me, sir. Fal. Why, sir, did I say you were an hones man? setting my knighthood and my soldiership aside, I had lied in my throat if I had said so. and Atten. I pray you, sir, then set your knighthood your soldiership aside, and give me leave to tell you, you lie in your throat, if you say I am any other than an honest man. Fal. I give thee leave to tell me so? I lay aside that which grows to me? If thou get'st any leave of me, hang me: if thou takest leave, thou wert better be hanged. You hunt-counter, hence! avaunt! Atten. Sir, my lord would speak with you. Ch. Just. Sir John Falstaff, a word with you. Fal. My good lord!-God give your lordship good time of day. I am glad to see your lordship abroad; I heard say, your lordship was sick: I hope, your lordship goes abroad by advice. Your lordship, though not clean past your youth, hath yet some smack of age in you, some relish of the saltness of time, and I most humbly beseech your lordship to have a reverend care of your health. Ch. Just. Sir John, I sent for you before your expedition to Shrewsbury. Fal. An't please your lordship, I hear his majesty is returned with some discomfort from Wales. Ch. Just. I talk not of his majesty.-You would not come when I sent for you. Fal. And I hear, moreover, his highness is fallen into this same whoreson apoplexy. Ch. Just. Well, heaven mend him.-I pray you, let me speak with you. |