SCENE II. London. An apartment of the Prince's. The First part of King Henry the Fourth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry IV, part 1  | Act 1, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE II. London. An apartment of the Prince's. 

 Enter the PRINCE OF WALES and FALSTAFF  FALSTAFF  Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack 

 and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon 

 benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to 

 demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know. 

 What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the 

 day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes 

 capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the 

 signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself 

 a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no 

 reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand 

 the time of the day. 

 FALSTAFF  Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take 

 purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not 

 by Phoebus, he,'that wandering knight so fair.' And, 

 I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God 

 save thy grace,--majesty I should say, for grace 

 thou wilt have none,-- 

 PRINCE HENRY  What, none? 

 FALSTAFF  No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to 

 prologue to an egg and butter. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. 

 FALSTAFF  Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not 

 us that are squires of the night's body be called 

 thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's 

 foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the 

 moon; and let men say we be men of good government, 

 being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and 

 chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the 

 fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and 

 flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, 

 by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold 

 most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most 

 dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with 

 swearing 'Lay by' and spent with crying 'Bring in;' 

 now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder 

 and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. 

 FALSTAFF  By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my 

 hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench? 

 PRINCE HENRY  As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And 

 is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance? 

 FALSTAFF  How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and 

 thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a 

 buff jerkin? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern? 

 FALSTAFF  Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a 

 time and oft. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? 

 FALSTAFF  No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; 

 and where it would not, I have used my credit. 

 FALSTAFF  Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent 

 that thou art heir apparent--But, I prithee, sweet 

 wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when 

 thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is 

 with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do 

 not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. 

 PRINCE HENRY  No; thou shalt. 

 FALSTAFF  Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have 

 the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman. 

 FALSTAFF  Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my 

 humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell 

 you. 

 PRINCE HENRY  For obtaining of suits? 

 FALSTAFF  Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman 

 hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy 

 as a gib cat or a lugged bear. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. 

 FALSTAFF  Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. 

 PRINCE HENRY  What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of 

 Moor-ditch? 

 FALSTAFF  Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeed 

 the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young 

 prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more 

 with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a 

 commodity of good names were to be bought. An old 

 lord of the council rated me the other day in the 

 street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet 

 he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and 

 yet he talked wisely, and in the street too. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the 

 streets, and no man regards it. 

 FALSTAFF  O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed able 

 to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon 

 me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew 

 thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man 

 should speak truly, little better than one of the 

 wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give 

 it over: by the Lord, and I do not, I am a villain: 

 I'll be damned for never a king's son in 

 Christendom. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack? 

 FALSTAFF  'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an I 

 do not, call me villain and baffle me. 

 PRINCE HENRY  I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying 

 to purse-taking. 

 FALSTAFF  Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a 

 man to labour in his vocation. 



 Enter POINS  Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a 

 match. O, if men were to be saved by merit, what 

 hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the 

 most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand' to 

 a true man. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Good morrow, Ned. 

 POINS  Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse? 

 what says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how 

 agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou 

 soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira 

 and a cold capon's leg? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have 

 his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of 

 proverbs: he will give the devil his due. 

 POINS  Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Else he had been damned for cozening the devil. 

 POINS  But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four 

 o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going 

 to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders 

 riding to London with fat purses: I have vizards 

 for you all; you have horses for yourselves: 

 Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester: I have bespoke 

 supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it 

 as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff 

 your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry 

 at home and be hanged. 

 FALSTAFF  Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not, 

 I'll hang you for going. 

 POINS  You will, chops? 

 FALSTAFF  Hal, wilt thou make one? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith. 

 FALSTAFF  There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good 

 fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood 

 royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap. 

 FALSTAFF  Why, that's well said. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. 

 FALSTAFF  By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king. 

 PRINCE HENRY  I care not. 

 POINS  Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone: 

 I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure 

 that he shall go. 

 FALSTAFF  Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him 

 the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may 

 move and what he hears may be believed, that the 

 true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false 

 thief; for the poor abuses of the time want 

 countenance. Farewell: you shall find me in Eastcheap. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, All-hallown summer! 



 Exit Falstaff  POINS  Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us 

 to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot 

 manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill 

 shall rob those men that we have already waylaid: 

 yourself and I will not be there; and when they 

 have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut 

 this head off from my shoulders. 

 PRINCE HENRY  How shall we part with them in setting forth? 

 POINS  Why, we will set forth before or after them, and 

 appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at 

 our pleasure to fail, and then will they adventure 

 upon the exploit themselves; which they shall have 

 no sooner achieved, but we'll set upon them. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by our 

 horses, by our habits and by every other 

 appointment, to be ourselves. 

 POINS  Tut! our horses they shall not see: I'll tie them 

 in the wood; our vizards we will change after we 

 leave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram 

 for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us. 

 POINS  Well, for two of them, I know them to be as 

 true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the 

 third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll 

 forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the 

 incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will 

 tell us when we meet at supper: how thirty, at 

 least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what 

 extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this 

 lies the jest. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things 

 necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap; 

 there I'll sup. Farewell. 

 POINS  Farewell, my lord. 



 Exit Poins  PRINCE HENRY  I know you all, and will awhile uphold 

 The unyoked humour of your idleness: 

 Yet herein will I imitate the sun, 

 Who doth permit the base contagious clouds 

 To smother up his beauty from the world, 

 That, when he please again to be himself, 

 Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, 

 By breaking through the foul and ugly mists 

 Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. 

 If all the year were playing holidays, 

 To sport would be as tedious as to work; 

 But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come, 

 And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents. 

 So, when this loose behavior I throw off 

 And pay the debt I never promised, 

 By how much better than my word I am, 

 By so much shall I falsify men's hopes; 

 And like bright metal on a sullen ground, 

 My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, 

 Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes 

 Than that which hath no foil to set it off. 

 I'll so offend, to make offence a skill; 

 Redeeming time when men think least I will. 



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