For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
Thy ignominy fleep with thee in the grave,
But not remember'd in thy epitaph!

[He fees Falstaff on the ground.

-What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack farewell!

I could have better fpar'd a better man.
O, I should have a heavy mifs of thee,
If I were much in love with vanity.

Death hath not struck fo fair a deer to-day,
Though 3 many a dearer in this bloody fray :-
Imbowell'd will I fee thee by and by;

Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie.

Falfaff, rifing fowly.

[Exit,

Fal. Imbowell'd!-if thou imbowel me to-day, I'll give you leave 4 to powder me, and eat me too tomorrow! 'Sblood, 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me fcot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie, I am no counterfeit. To die, is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not the life of a man: but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life, indeed. The better part of valour is difcretion; in the which better part, I have faved my life. I am afraid of this gun-powder Percy, though he be dead. How if he fhould counterfeit too, and rife? I am afraid, he

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fo fair a deer-] This is the reading of the firft edition, and of the other quartos. The first folio has fat, which was followed by all the editors.

There is in thefe lines a very natural mixture of the serious and ludicrous, produced by the view of Percy and Falstaff. I with all play on words had been forborn. JOHNSON.

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many a dearer-] Many of greater value.

to powder me,-1 To powder is to falt.

JOHNSON.

JOHNSON

would

would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him fure; yea, and I'll fwear, I kill'd him. Why may he not rife as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes, and no body fees me. Therefore, firrah, with a new wound in your thigh, come you along [Takes Hotspur on his back.

with me.

Enter prince Henry, and John of Lancaster.

P. Henry. Come, brother John, full bravely haft thou flesh'd

Thy maiden fword.

Lan. But foft! whom have we here?

Did

you not tell me, this fat man was dead?

P. Henry. I did; I faw him dead, breathlefs and bleeding

Upon the ground.

Art thou alive? or is it fantasy

That plays upon our eye-fight? I pr'ythee, speak;
We will not truft our eyes without our ears:
Thou art not what thou feem'ft.

Fal. No, that's certain; I am not 5 a double man; but if I am not Jack Falstaff, then am I a Jack. There is Percy [throwing the body down]; if your father will do me any honour, fo, if not, let him kill the next Percy himself. I look either to be earl or duke, I can affure you.

P. Henry. Why, Percy I kill'd myself, and faw thee dead.

Fal. Didft thou? Lord, lord, how the world is given to lying! I grant you, I was down, and out of breath, and fo was he: but we rose both at an inftant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, fo; if not, let them that thould reward valour, bear the fin upon their own heads. I'll take it on my death, I gave him this wound in the

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a double man ;-] That is, I am not Falstaff and Percy together, though having Percy on my back, I feem double. JOHNSON.

Z 4

thigh:

thigh: if the man were alive, and would deny it, I would make him eat a piece of my fword.

Lan. This is the strangeft tale that e'er I heard.

P. Henry. This is the ftrangeft fellow, brother
John.-

Come bring your luggage nobly on your back:
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

[A retreat is founded. The trumpets found retreat, the day is ours. Come, brother, let's to the highest of the field, To fee what friends are living, who are dead. [Exeunt. Fal. I'll follow, as they fay, for reward. He that rewards me, heaven reward him! If I do grow great, I'll grow lefs; for I'll purge, and leave fack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman fhould do. [Exit.

SCENE V.

The trumpets found. Enter king Henry, prince of Wales, lord John of Lancaster, earl of Westmorland, with Worcester and Vernon prisoners.

K. Henry. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.-
Ill-fpirited Worcester! did we not fend grace,
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you ?
And would'st thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenor of thy kinfman's trust?
Three knights upon our party flain to-day,
A noble earl, and many a creature else,
Had been alive this hour,

If, like a christian, thou hadft truly borne
Betwixt our armies true intelligence.

Wor. What I have done, my fafety urg'd me to; And I embrace this fortune patiently,

Since not to be avoided it falls on me.

K. Henry. Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon

too.

Other

Other offenders we will paufe upon.

[Exeunt Worcester and Vernon, guarded.

How goes the field?

P.Henry. The gallant Scot, lord Douglas, when he faw The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, The noble Percy flain, and all his men Upon the foot of fear, fled with the reft; And, falling from a hill, he was fo bruis'd, That the pursuers took him. At my tent The Douglas is; and, I befeech your grace, I may difpofe of him.

K. Henry. With all my heart.

P. Henry. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you This honourable bounty shall belong.

Go to the Douglas, and deliver him

Up to his pleasure, ranfomlefs and free.

His valour, fhewn upon our crests to-day,

Hath taught us how to cherish fuch high deeds,
Even in the bofom of our adverfaries.

Lan. I thank your grace for this high courtesy, Which I fhall give away immediately.

K. Henry. Then this remains, that we divide our power.

You, fon John, and my coufin Weftmorland,
Towards York fhall bend you, with your deareft fpeed,
To meet Northumberland, and the prelate Scroop,
Who, as we hear, are bufily in arms.

Myself, and you, fon Harry, will towards Wales,
To fight with Glendower and the earl of March.
Rebellion in this land fhall lofe his fway,
Meeting the check of fuch another day:
And fince this bufinefs fo far fair is done,
Let us not leave, till all our own be won.

[Exeunt.

I thank your grace, &c.] Thefe two lines are added from the quarto. POPE.

I fufpect that they were rejected by Shakespeare himself.

JOHNSON.

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