Arch. Go, good Lord Hastings, And, ere they be dismiss'd, let them march by. [Exit Hastings. P. John. I trust, lords, we shall lie to-night together. Re-enter WESTMORELAND. Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still? West. The leaders, having charge from you to stand, Will not go off until they hear you speak. P. John. They know their duties. Re-enter HASTINGS. Hast. My lord, our army is dispers'd already: Like youthful steers unyok'd, they take their courses East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up, Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place. West. Good tidings, my Lord Hastings; for the which I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason: And you, lord archbishop, and you, Lord Mowbray, - Mowb. Is this proceeding just and honourable? Arch. Will you thus break your faith? P. John. I pawn'd thee none: I promis'd you redress of these same grievances But for you, rebels, - look to taste the due [Exeunt. SCENE III. Another part of the forest. Alarums: excursions. Enter FALSTAFF and COLEVILE, meeting. Fal. What's your name, sir? of what condition are you, and of what place, I pray? Cole. I am a knight, sir; and my name is Colevile of the dale. Fal. Well, then, Colevile is your name, a knight is your degree, and your place the dale: Colevile shall be still your name, a traitor your degree, and the dungeon your place, a dale deep enough; so shall you be still Colevile of the dale. Cole. Are not you Sir John Falstaff? Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye yield, sir? or shall I sweat for you? If I do sweat, they are the drops of thy lovers, and they weep for thy death: therefore rouse up fear and trembling, and do observance to my mercy. Cole. I think you are Sir John Falstaff; and in that thought yield me. Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine; and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but my name. An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I were simply the most active fellow in Europe: my womb, my womb, my womb, undoes me. Here comes our general. Enter Prince JOHN of Lancaster, WESTMORELAND, Blunt, and others. P. John. The heat is past; follow no further now: Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland. [Exit Westmoreland. Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while? Fal. I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus: I never knew yet but rebuke and check was the reward of valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a bullet? have I, in my poor and old motion, the expedition of thought? I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility; I have foundered nine-score and odd posts: and here, travel-tainted as I am, have, in my pure and immaculate valour, taken Sir John Colevile of the dale, a most furious knight and valorous enemy. But what of that? he saw me, and yielded; that I may justly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, I came, and overcame. saw, P. John. It was more of his courtesy than your deserving. Fal. I know not: - here he is, and here I yield him: and I beseech your grace, let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds; or, by the Lord, I will have it in a particular ballad else, with mine own picture on the top of it, Colevile kissing my foot: to the which course if I be enforced, if you do not all show like gilt two-pences to me, and I, in the clear sky of fame, o'ershine you as much as the full moon doth the cinders of the element, which show like pins' heads to her, believe not the word of the noble: therefore let me have right, and let desert mount. P. John. Thine's too heavy to mount. P. John. Thine's too thick to shine. Fal. Let it do something, my good lord, that may good, and call it what you will. P. John. Is thy name Colevile? Cole. It is, my lord. P. John. A famous rebel art thou, Colevile. Fal. And a famous true subject took him. Cole. I am, my lord, but as my betters are, That led me hither: had they been rul'd by me, You should have won them dearer than you have. do me Fal. I know not how they sold themselves: but thou, like a kind fellow, gavest thyself away gratis; and I thank thee for thee. Re-enter WESTMORELAND. P. John. Now, have you left pursuit? West. Retreat is made, and execution stay'd. P. John. Send Colevile, with his confederates, To York, to present execution: Blunt, lead him hence; and see you guard him sure. [Exeunt Blunt and others with Colevile. And now dispatch we toward the court, my lords: I hear the king my father is sore sick: go before us to his majesty, Which, cousin, you shall bear, to comfort him; And we with sober speed will follow you. Our news shall Fal. My lord, beseech you, give me leave to go Through Glostershire: and, when you come to court, Stand my good lord, pray, in your good report. P. John. Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition, Shall better speak of you than you deserve. [Exeunt all except Falstaff. Fal. I would you had but the wit: 'twere better than your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh; but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There's never any of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness; and then, when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for inflammation. A good sherris-sack hath a twofold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which, delivered o'er to the voice (the tongue), which is the birth, become excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice; but the sherris warms it, and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme: it illumineth the face, which, as a beacon, gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puffed up with his retinue, doth any deed of courage: and this valour comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and learning, a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences it, and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it, that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with excellent endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be, swear thin potations, and to addict themselves to sack. Enter BARDOLPH. How now, Bardolph! Bard. The army is discharged all, and gone. to for Fal. Let them go. I'll through Glostershire; and there will I visit Master Robert Shallow, esquire: I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him. Come away. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Westminster. The Jerusalem Chamber. Enter King HENRY, Duke of CLARENCE, Prince HUMPHREY, WARWICK, and others. K. Hen. Now, lords, if God doth give successful end We will our youth lead on to higher fields, War. Both which we doubt not but your majesty Shall soon enjoy. |