Hot. I thank him, that he cuts me from my tale, For I profess not talking; only this,

Let each man do his best: and here draw I

A sword, whose temper I intend to stain
With the best blood that I can meet withal
In the adventure of this perilous day.
Now, Esperance!11 Percy! and set on.
Sound all the lofty instruments of war,
And by that music let us all embrace ;

For, Heaven to Earth,12 some of us never shall
A second time do such a courtesy.

[The trumpets sound. They embrace, and exeunt.

SCENE III. - Plain between the Camps.

Excursions, and Parties fighting. Alarum to the battle. Then enter DOUGLAS and Sir WALTER BLUNT, meeting.

Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus

Thou crossest me? what honour dost thou seek

Upon my head?

Doug.

Know, then, my name is Douglas;

And I do haunt thee in the battle thus

Because some tell me that thou art a king.

Blunt. They tell thee true.

Doug. The Lord of Stafford dear to-day hath bought Thy likeness; for, instead of thee, King Harry,

11 Esperancè, or Esperanza, was the motto of the Percy family. Esperance is here a word of four syllables. So in Holinshed: Then suddenlie blew the trumpets, the kings part crieng S. George upon them, the adversaries cried Esperance, Persie, and so the two armies furiouslie joined."

12 A wager of Heaven against Earth is probably meant.

This sword hath ended him: so shall it thee,

Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner.

Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot;

And thou shalt find a king that will

Lord Stafford's death.

revenge

[They fight, and BLUNT is slain.

Enter HOTSPUR.

Hot. O Douglas, hadst thou fought at Holmedon thus, I never had triumphèd o'er a Scot.

Doug. All's done, all's won; here breathless lies the King. Hot. Where?

Doug. Here.

Hot. This, Douglas? no; I know this face full well:
A gallant knight he was, his name was Blunt;
Semblably furnish'd like the King himself.

Doug. A fool go with thy soul, where're it goes!
A borrow'd title hast thou bought too dear:
Why didst thou tell me that thou wert a king?
Hot. The King hath many masking in his coats.
Doug. Now, by my sword, I will kill all his coats;
I'll murder all his wardrobe piece by piece,

Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here; here's no scoring but upon the pate.1- Soft!

1 Falstaff has tavern thoughts and customs running in his mind; the mode of an inn-keeper's accounts being to score the items either by chalkmarks made upon the wall, or by notches cut in a stick. There is a pun

who are you? Sir Walter Blunt: there's honour for you! here's no vanity!2 I am as hot as molten lead, and as heavy too: God keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels. I have led my ragamuffins where they are peppered: there's but three of my hundred and fifty left. alive; and they are for the town's end,3 to beg during life. But who comes here?

Enter Prince HENRY.

Prince. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend me thy sword: Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff

Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,

Whose deaths as yet are unrevenged: I pr'ythee,

Lend me thy sword.

Fal. O Hal, I pr'ythee, give me leave to breathe awhile. Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms as I have done this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure.

Prince. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee.

I pr'ythee, lend me thy sword.

Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou gett'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt.

implied in shot-free. Sir John was shot-free at Eastcheap, though not scotfree here he is scot-free, but not exactly shot-free. It seems likely, from this passage, that in scot the c was soft in the Poet's time, so as to give a pronunciation the same as in shot. To pay one's shot is to pay one's score, that is, bill or reckoning, at a tavern; and to be shot-free is to have one's entertainment without charge.

2 The negative, "no vanity," is here used ironically, to indicate the excess of a thing; a frequent usage in colloquial speech.

3 The town's end probably means the poor-house; or perhaps a hospital for war-maimed soldiers.

4 That is, Pope Gregory the Seventh, called Hildebrand. Fox, in his Martyrology, had made Gregory so odious that the Protestants would be well pleased to hear him thus characterized, as uniting the attributes of their two great enemies, the Turk and the Pope, in one.

Prince. Give it me: what, is it in the case?

Fal. Ay, Hal.

city.

'Tis hot, 'tis hot: there's that will sack a [The PRINCE draws out a bottle of sack.

Prince. What, is't a time to jest and dally now?

[Throws it at him, and exit.

Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him.5 If he do come in my way, so; if he do not, if I come in his willingly, let him make a carbonado 6 of me. I like not such grinning honour as Sir Walter hath: give me life; which if I can save, so; if not, honour comes unlooked for, and there's an end.

[Exit.

Alarums. Excursions. Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, LANCASTER, and WESTMORELAND.

King. I pr'ythee,

Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much.-
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.

Lan. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
Prince. I do beseech your Majesty, make up,
Lest your retirement do amaze1 your friends.
King. I will do so.

My Lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent.

West. Come, my lord, I will lead you to your tent.

5 " Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce him," is addressed to the Prince as he goes out; the rest of the speech is soliloquy. — It would seem from this, that pierce and the first syllable of Percy were sounded alike.

6 A carbonado is a piece of meat slashed into stripes for roasting or broiling. A piece of pork is commonly carbonadoed on the rind side, to be baked with beans.

1 Amaze is here used in its original sense of to bewilder or cast into a maxe.- Make up has the force of advance, the opposite of retire.

Prince. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help:

And God forbid, a shallow scratch should drive

The Prince of Wales from such a field as this,

Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on,

And rebels' arms triúmph in massacres !2

Lan. We breathe too long:-come, cousin Westmoreland,

Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come.

[Exeunt LANCASTER and WESTMORELAND.

Prince. By Heaven, thou hast deceived me, Lancaster ; I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:

Before, I loved thee as a brother, John ;

But now I do respect thee as my soul.

King. I saw him hold Lord Percy at the point With lustier maintenance than I did look for

Of such an ungrown warrior.

Prince.

Lends mettle to us all!

O, this boy

Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS.

[Exit.

Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads:

I am the Douglas, fatal to all those

That wear those colours on them. -What art thou,

That counterfeit'st the person of a king?

King. The King himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart,

So many of his shadows thou hast met,
And not the very King. I have two boys
Seek Percy and thyself about the field:

2 This battle took place in July, 1403, when Prince Henry was but sixteen years old. It appears, however, that, boy as he was, he did the work of a man. Holinshed relates that early in the battle he was hurt in the face with an arrow, insomuch that several tried to withdraw him from the field; but that he, fearing the effect this might have on his men, insisted on staying with them to the last, and never ceased to fight where the battle was hottest.