SCENE IV. The Boar's-Head Tavern, Eastcheap. The First part of King Henry the Fourth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry IV, part 1  | Act 2, Scene 4 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE IV. The Boar's-Head Tavern, Eastcheap. 

 Enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS  PRINCE HENRY  Ned, prithee, come out of that fat room, and lend me 

 thy hand to laugh a little. 

 POINS  Where hast been, Hal? 

 PRINCE HENRY  With three or four loggerheads amongst three or four 

 score hogsheads. I have sounded the very 

 base-string of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn brother 

 to a leash of drawers; and can call them all by 

 their christen names, as Tom, Dick, and Francis. 

 They take it already upon their salvation, that 

 though I be but the prince of Wales, yet I am king 

 of courtesy; and tell me flatly I am no proud Jack, 

 like Falstaff, but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a 

 good boy, by the Lord, so they call me, and when I 

 am king of England, I shall command all the good 

 lads in Eastcheap. They call drinking deep, dyeing 

 scarlet; and when you breathe in your watering, they 

 cry  'hem!' and bid you play it off. To conclude, I 

 am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour, 

 that I can drink with any tinker in his own language 

 during my life. I tell thee, Ned, thou hast lost 

 much honour, that thou wert not with me in this sweet 

 action. But, sweet Ned,--to sweeten which name of 

 Ned, I give thee this pennyworth of sugar, clapped 

 even now into my hand by an under-skinker, one that 

 never spake other English in his life than 'Eight 

 shillings and sixpence' and 'You are welcome,' with 

 this shrill addition, 'Anon, anon, sir! Score a pint 

 of bastard in the Half-Moon,' or so. But, Ned, to 

 drive away the time till Falstaff come, I prithee, 

 do thou stand in some by-room, while I question my 

 puny drawer to what end he gave me the sugar; and do 

 thou never leave calling 'Francis,' that his tale 

 to me may be nothing but 'Anon.' Step aside, and 

 I'll show thee a precedent. 

 POINS  Francis! 

 PRINCE HENRY  Thou art perfect. 

 POINS  Francis! 



 Exit POINS 

 Enter FRANCIS  FRANCIS  Anon, anon, sir. Look down into the Pomgarnet, Ralph. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Come hither, Francis. 

 FRANCIS  My lord? 

 PRINCE HENRY  How long hast thou to serve, Francis? 

 FRANCIS  Forsooth, five years, and as much as to-- 

 POINS  [Within]  Francis! 

 FRANCIS  Anon, anon, sir. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Five year! by'r lady, a long lease for the clinking 

 of pewter. But, Francis, darest thou be so valiant 

 as to play the coward with thy indenture and show it 

 a fair pair of heels and run from it? 

 FRANCIS  O Lord, sir, I'll be sworn upon all the books in 

 England, I could find in my heart. 

 POINS  [Within]  Francis! 

 FRANCIS  Anon, sir. 

 PRINCE HENRY  How old art thou, Francis? 

 FRANCIS  Let me see--about Michaelmas next I shall be-- 

 POINS  [Within]  Francis! 

 FRANCIS  Anon, sir. Pray stay a little, my lord. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Nay, but hark you, Francis: for the sugar thou 

 gavest me,'twas a pennyworth, wast't not? 

 FRANCIS  O Lord, I would it had been two! 

 PRINCE HENRY  I will give thee for it a thousand pound: ask me 

 when thou wilt, and thou shalt have it. 

 POINS  [Within]  Francis! 

 FRANCIS  Anon, anon. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Anon, Francis? No, Francis; but to-morrow, Francis; 

 or, Francis, o' Thursday; or indeed, Francis, when 

 thou wilt. But, Francis! 

 FRANCIS  My lord? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Wilt thou rob this leathern jerkin, crystal-button, 

 not-pated, agate-ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter, 

 smooth-tongue, Spanish-pouch,-- 

 FRANCIS  O Lord, sir, who do you mean? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Why, then, your brown bastard is your only drink; 

 for look you, Francis, your white canvas doublet 

 will sully: in Barbary, sir, it cannot come to so much. 

 FRANCIS  What, sir? 

 POINS  [Within]  Francis! 

 PRINCE HENRY  Away, you rogue! dost thou not hear them call? 



 Here they both call him; the drawer stands amazed, not knowing which way to go 

 Enter Vintner  Vintner  What, standest thou still, and hearest such a 

 calling? Look to the guests within. 



 Exit Francis  My lord, old Sir John, with half-a-dozen more, are 

 at the door: shall I let them in? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Let them alone awhile, and then open the door. 



 Exit Vintner  Poins! 



 Re-enter POINS  POINS  Anon, anon, sir. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Sirrah, Falstaff and the rest of the thieves are at 

 the door: shall we be merry? 

 POINS  As merry as crickets, my lad. But hark ye; what 

 cunning match have you made with this jest of the 

 drawer? come, what's the issue? 

 PRINCE HENRY  I am now of all humours that have showed themselves 

 humours since the old days of goodman Adam to the 

 pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight. 



 Re-enter FRANCIS  What's o'clock, Francis? 

 FRANCIS  Anon, anon, sir. 



 Exit  PRINCE HENRY  That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a 

 parrot, and yet the son of a woman! His industry is 

 upstairs and downstairs; his eloquence the parcel of 

 a reckoning. I am not yet of Percy's mind, the 

 Hotspur of the north; he that kills me some six or 

 seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his 

 hands, and says to his wife 'Fie upon this quiet 

 life! I want work.' 'O my sweet Harry,' says she, 

 'how many hast thou killed to-day?' 'Give my roan 

 horse a drench,' says he; and answers 'Some 

 fourteen,' an hour after; 'a trifle, a trifle.' I 

 prithee, call in Falstaff: I'll play Percy, and 

 that damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his 

 wife. 'Rivo!' says the drunkard. Call in ribs, call in tallow. 



 Enter FALSTAFF, GADSHILL, BARDOLPH, and PETO; FRANCIS following with wine  POINS  Welcome, Jack: where hast thou been? 

 FALSTAFF  A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance too! 

 marry, and amen! Give me a cup of sack, boy. Ere I 

 lead this life long, I'll sew nether stocks and mend 

 them and foot them too. A plague of all cowards! 

 Give me a cup of sack, rogue. Is there no virtue extant? 



 He drinks  PRINCE HENRY  Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of butter? 

 pitiful-hearted Titan, that melted at the sweet tale 

 of the sun's! if thou didst, then behold that compound. 

 FALSTAFF  You rogue, here's lime in this sack too: there is 

 nothing but roguery to be found in villanous man: 

 yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime 

 in it. A villanous coward! Go thy ways, old Jack; 

 die when thou wilt, if manhood, good manhood, be 

 not forgot upon the face of the earth, then am I a 

 shotten herring. There live not three good men 

 unhanged in England; and one of them is fat and 

 grows old: God help the while! a bad world, I say. 

 I would I were a weaver; I could sing psalms or any 

 thing. A plague of all cowards, I say still. 

 PRINCE HENRY  How now, wool-sack! what mutter you? 

 FALSTAFF  A king's son! If I do not beat thee out of thy 

 kingdom with a dagger of lath, and drive all thy 

 subjects afore thee like a flock of wild-geese, 

 I'll never wear hair on my face more. You Prince of Wales! 

 PRINCE HENRY  Why, you whoreson round man, what's the matter? 

 FALSTAFF  Are not you a coward? answer me to that: and Poins there? 

 POINS  'Zounds, ye fat paunch, an ye call me coward, by the 

 Lord, I'll stab thee. 

 FALSTAFF  I call thee coward! I'll see thee damned ere I call 

 thee coward: but I would give a thousand pound I 

 could run as fast as thou canst. You are straight 

 enough in the shoulders, you care not who sees your 

 back: call you that backing of your friends? A 

 plague upon such backing! give me them that will 

 face me. Give me a cup of sack: I am a rogue, if I 

 drunk to-day. 

 PRINCE HENRY  O villain! thy lips are scarce wiped since thou 

 drunkest last. 

 FALSTAFF  All's one for that. 



 He drinks  A plague of all cowards, still say I. 

 PRINCE HENRY  What's the matter? 

 FALSTAFF  What's the matter! there be four of us here have 

 ta'en a thousand pound this day morning. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Where is it, Jack? where is it? 

 FALSTAFF  Where is it! taken from us it is: a hundred upon 

 poor four of us. 

 PRINCE HENRY  What, a hundred, man? 

 FALSTAFF  I am a rogue, if I were not at half-sword with a 

 dozen of them two hours together. I have 'scaped by 

 miracle. I am eight times thrust through the 

 doublet, four through the hose; my buckler cut 

 through and through; my sword hacked like a 

 hand-saw--ecce signum! I never dealt better since 

 I was a man: all would not do. A plague of all 

 cowards! Let them speak: if they speak more or 

 less than truth, they are villains and the sons of darkness. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Speak, sirs; how was it? 

 GADSHILL  We four set upon some dozen-- 

 FALSTAFF  Sixteen at least, my lord. 

 GADSHILL  And bound them. 

 PETO  No, no, they were not bound. 

 FALSTAFF  You rogue, they were bound, every man of them; or I 

 am a Jew else, an Ebrew Jew. 

 GADSHILL  As we were sharing, some six or seven fresh men set upon us-- 

 FALSTAFF  And unbound the rest, and then come in the other. 

 PRINCE HENRY  What, fought you with them all? 

 FALSTAFF  All! I know not what you call all; but if I fought 

 not with fifty of them, I am a bunch of radish: if 

 there were not two or three and fifty upon poor old 

 Jack, then am I no two-legged creature. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Pray God you have not murdered some of them. 

 FALSTAFF  Nay, that's past praying for: I have peppered two 

 of them; two I am sure I have paid, two rogues 

 in buckram suits. I tell thee what, Hal, if I tell 

 thee a lie, spit in my face, call me horse. Thou 

 knowest my old ward; here I lay and thus I bore my 

 point. Four rogues in buckram let drive at me-- 

 PRINCE HENRY  What, four? thou saidst but two even now. 

 FALSTAFF  Four, Hal; I told thee four. 

 POINS  Ay, ay, he said four. 

 FALSTAFF  These four came all a-front, and mainly thrust at 

 me. I made me no more ado but took all their seven 

 points in my target, thus. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Seven? why, there were but four even now. 

 FALSTAFF  In buckram? 

 POINS  Ay, four, in buckram suits. 

 FALSTAFF  Seven, by these hilts, or I am a villain else. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Prithee, let him alone; we shall have more anon. 

 FALSTAFF  Dost thou hear me, Hal? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Ay, and mark thee too, Jack. 

 FALSTAFF  Do so, for it is worth the listening to. These nine 

 in buckram that I told thee of-- 

 PRINCE HENRY  So, two more already. 

 FALSTAFF  Their points being broken,-- 

 POINS  Down fell their hose. 

 FALSTAFF  Began to give me ground: but I followed me close, 

 came in foot and hand; and with a thought seven of 

 the eleven I paid. 

 PRINCE HENRY  O monstrous! eleven buckram men grown out of two! 

 FALSTAFF  But, as the devil would have it, three misbegotten 

 knaves in Kendal green came at my back and let drive 

 at me; for it was so dark, Hal, that thou couldst 

 not see thy hand. 

 PRINCE HENRY  These lies are like their father that begets them; 

 gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Why, thou 

 clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou 

 whoreson, obscene, grease tallow-catch,-- 

 FALSTAFF  What, art thou mad? art thou mad? is not the truth 

 the truth? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Why, how couldst thou know these men in Kendal 

 green, when it was so dark thou couldst not see thy 

 hand? come, tell us your reason: what sayest thou to this? 

 POINS  Come, your reason, Jack, your reason. 

 FALSTAFF  What, upon compulsion? 'Zounds, an I were at the 

 strappado, or all the racks in the world, I would 

 not tell you on compulsion. Give you a reason on 

 compulsion! If reasons were as plentiful as 

 blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon 

 compulsion, I. 

 PRINCE HENRY  I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this sanguine 

 coward, this bed-presser, this horseback-breaker, 

 this huge hill of flesh,-- 

 FALSTAFF  'Sblood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried 

 neat's tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! O 

 for breath to utter what is like thee! you 

 tailor's-yard, you sheath, you bowcase; you vile 

 standing-tuck,-- 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well, breathe awhile, and then to it again: and 

 when thou hast tired thyself in base comparisons, 

 hear me speak but this. 

 POINS  Mark, Jack. 

 PRINCE HENRY  We two saw you four set on four and bound them, and 

 were masters of their wealth. Mark now, how a plain 

 tale shall put you down. Then did we two set on you 

 four; and, with a word, out-faced you from your 

 prize, and have it; yea, and can show it you here in 

 the house: and, Falstaff, you carried your guts 

 away as nimbly, with as quick dexterity, and roared 

 for mercy and still run and roared, as ever I heard 

 bull-calf. What a slave art thou, to hack thy sword 

 as thou hast done, and then say it was in fight! 

 What trick, what device, what starting-hole, canst 

 thou now find out to hide thee from this open and 

 apparent shame? 

 POINS  Come, let's hear, Jack; what trick hast thou now? 

 FALSTAFF  By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made ye. 

 Why, hear you, my masters: was it for me to kill the 

 heir-apparent? should I turn upon the true prince? 

 why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but 

 beware instinct; the lion will not touch the true 

 prince. Instinct is a great matter; I was now a 

 coward on instinct. I shall think the better of 

 myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant 

 lion, and thou for a true prince. But, by the Lord, 

 lads, I am glad you have the money. Hostess, clap 

 to the doors: watch to-night, pray to-morrow. 

 Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles 

 of good fellowship come to you! What, shall we be 

 merry? shall we have a play extempore? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Content; and the argument shall be thy running away. 

 FALSTAFF  Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me! 



 Enter Hostess  Hostess  O Jesu, my lord the prince! 

 PRINCE HENRY  How now, my lady the hostess! what sayest thou to 

 me? 

 Hostess  Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman of the court at 

 door would speak with you: he says he comes from 

 your father. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Give him as much as will make him a royal man, and 

 send him back again to my mother. 

 FALSTAFF  What manner of man is he? 

 Hostess  An old man. 

 FALSTAFF  What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight? Shall 

 I give him his answer? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Prithee, do, Jack. 

 FALSTAFF  'Faith, and I'll send him packing. 



 Exit FALSTAFF  PRINCE HENRY  Now, sirs: by'r lady, you fought fair; so did you, 

 Peto; so did you, Bardolph: you are lions too, you 

 ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true 

 prince; no, fie! 

 BARDOLPH  'Faith, I ran when I saw others run. 

 PRINCE HENRY  'Faith, tell me now in earnest, how came Falstaff's 

 sword so hacked? 

 PETO  Why, he hacked it with his dagger, and said he would 

 swear truth out of England but he would make you 

 believe it was done in fight, and persuaded us to do the like. 

 BARDOLPH  Yea, and to tickle our noses with spear-grass to 

 make them bleed, and then to beslubber our garments 

 with it and swear it was the blood of true men. I 

 did that I did not this seven year before, I blushed 

 to hear his monstrous devices. 

 PRINCE HENRY  O villain, thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years 

 ago, and wert taken with the manner, and ever since 

 thou hast blushed extempore. Thou hadst fire and 

 sword on thy side, and yet thou rannest away: what 

 instinct hadst thou for it? 

 BARDOLPH  My lord, do you see these meteors? do you behold 

 these exhalations? 

 PRINCE HENRY  I do. 

 BARDOLPH  What think you they portend? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Hot livers and cold purses. 

 BARDOLPH  Choler, my lord, if rightly taken. 

 PRINCE HENRY  No, if rightly taken, halter. 



 Re-enter FALSTAFF  Here comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone. 

 How now, my sweet creature of bombast! 

 How long is't ago, Jack, since thou sawest thine own knee? 

 FALSTAFF  My own knee! when I was about thy years, Hal, I was 

 not an eagle's talon in the waist; I could have 

 crept into any alderman's thumb-ring: a plague of 

 sighing and grief! it blows a man up like a 

 bladder. There's villanous news abroad: here was 

 Sir John Bracy from your father; you must to the 

 court in the morning. That same mad fellow of the 

 north, Percy, and he of Wales, that gave Amamon the 

 bastinado and made Lucifer cuckold and swore the 

 devil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh 

 hook--what a plague call you him? 

 POINS  O, Glendower. 

 FALSTAFF  Owen, Owen, the same; and his son-in-law Mortimer, 

 and old Northumberland, and that sprightly Scot of 

 Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill 

 perpendicular,-- 

 PRINCE HENRY  He that rides at high speed and with his pistol 

 kills a sparrow flying. 

 FALSTAFF  You have hit it. 

 PRINCE HENRY  So did he never the sparrow. 

 FALSTAFF  Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him; he will not run. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Why, what a rascal art thou then, to praise him so 

 for running! 

 FALSTAFF  O' horseback, ye cuckoo; but afoot he will not budge a foot. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Yes, Jack, upon instinct. 

 FALSTAFF  I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is there too, 

 and one Mordake, and a thousand blue-caps more: 

 Worcester is stolen away to-night; thy father's 

 beard is turned white with the news: you may buy 

 land now as cheap as stinking mackerel. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Why, then, it is like, if there come a hot June and 

 this civil buffeting hold, we shall buy maidenheads 

 as they buy hob-nails, by the hundreds. 

 FALSTAFF  By the mass, lad, thou sayest true; it is like we 

 shall have good trading that way. But tell me, Hal, 

 art not thou horrible afeard? thou being 

 heir-apparent, could the world pick thee out three 

 such enemies again as that fiend Douglas, that 

 spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? Art thou 

 not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at 

 it? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Not a whit, i' faith; I lack some of thy instinct. 

 FALSTAFF  Well, thou wert be horribly chid tomorrow when thou 

 comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an answer. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Do thou stand for my father, and examine me upon the 

 particulars of my life. 

 FALSTAFF  Shall I? content: this chair shall be my state, 

 this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion my crown. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Thy state is taken for a joined-stool, thy golden 

 sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich 

 crown for a pitiful bald crown! 

 FALSTAFF  Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, 

 now shalt thou be moved. Give me a cup of sack to 

 make my eyes look red, that it may be thought I have 

 wept; for I must speak in passion, and I will do it 

 in King Cambyses' vein. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well, here is my leg. 

 FALSTAFF  And here is my speech. Stand aside, nobility. 

 Hostess  O Jesu, this is excellent sport, i' faith! 

 FALSTAFF  Weep not, sweet queen; for trickling tears are vain. 

 Hostess  O, the father, how he holds his countenance! 

 FALSTAFF  For God's sake, lords, convey my tristful queen; 

 For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes. 

 Hostess  O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry 

 players as ever I see! 

 FALSTAFF  Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain. 

 Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy 

 time, but also how thou art accompanied: for though 

 the camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster 

 it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the 

 sooner it wears. That thou art my son, I have 

 partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion, 

 but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and a 

 foolish-hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant 

 me. If then thou be son to me, here lies the point; 

 why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall 

 the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat 

 blackberries? a question not to be asked. Shall 

 the sun of England prove a thief and take purses? a 

 question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, 

 which thou hast often heard of and it is known to 

 many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, 

 as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth 

 the company thou keepest: for, Harry, now I do not 

 speak to thee in drink but in tears, not in 

 pleasure but in passion, not in words only, but in 

 woes also: and yet there is a virtuous man whom I 

 have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name. 

 PRINCE HENRY  What manner of man, an it like your majesty? 

 FALSTAFF  A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent; of a 

 cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble 

 carriage; and, as I think, his age some fifty, or, 

 by'r lady, inclining to three score; and now I 

 remember me, his name is Falstaff: if that man 

 should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Harry, 

 I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree may be 

 known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, then, 

 peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that 

 Falstaff: him keep with, the rest banish. And tell 

 me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where hast 

 thou been this month? 

 PRINCE HENRY  Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, 

 and I'll play my father. 

 FALSTAFF  Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so 

 majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by 

 the heels for a rabbit-sucker or a poulter's hare. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Well, here I am set. 

 FALSTAFF  And here I stand: judge, my masters. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Now, Harry, whence come you? 

 FALSTAFF  My noble lord, from Eastcheap. 

 PRINCE HENRY  The complaints I hear of thee are grievous. 

 FALSTAFF  'Sblood, my lord, they are false: nay, I'll tickle 

 ye for a young prince, i' faith. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Swearest thou, ungracious boy? henceforth ne'er look 

 on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace: 

 there is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an 

 old fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why 

 dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that 

 bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel 

 of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed 

 cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with 

 the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that 

 grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in 

 years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and 

 drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a 

 capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? 

 wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villanous, 

 but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing? 

 FALSTAFF  I would your grace would take me with you: whom 

 means your grace? 

 PRINCE HENRY  That villanous abominable misleader of youth, 

 Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan. 

 FALSTAFF  My lord, the man I know. 

 PRINCE HENRY  I know thou dost. 

 FALSTAFF  But to say I know more harm in him than in myself, 

 were to say more than I know. That he is old, the 

 more the pity, his white hairs do witness it; but 

 that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster, 

 that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault, 

 God help the wicked! if to be old and merry be a 

 sin, then many an old host that I know is damned: if 

 to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine 

 are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto, 

 banish Bardolph, banish Poins: but for sweet Jack 

 Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, 

 valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, 

 being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him 

 thy Harry's company, banish not him thy Harry's 

 company: banish plump Jack, and banish all the world. 

 PRINCE HENRY  I do, I will. 



 A knocking heard 

 Exeunt Hostess, FRANCIS, and BARDOLPH 

 Re-enter BARDOLPH, running  BARDOLPH  O, my lord, my lord! the sheriff with a most 

 monstrous watch is at the door. 

 FALSTAFF  Out, ye rogue! Play out the play: I have much to 

 say in the behalf of that Falstaff. 



 Re-enter the Hostess  Hostess  O Jesu, my lord, my lord! 

 PRINCE HENRY  Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddlestick: 

 what's the matter? 

 Hostess  The sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they 

 are come to search the house. Shall I let them in? 

 FALSTAFF  Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of 

 gold a counterfeit: thou art essentially mad, 

 without seeming so. 

 PRINCE HENRY  And thou a natural coward, without instinct. 

 FALSTAFF  I deny your major: if you will deny the sheriff, 

 so; if not, let him enter: if I become not a cart 

 as well as another man, a plague on my bringing up! 

 I hope I shall as soon be strangled with a halter as another. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Go, hide thee behind the arras: the rest walk up 

 above. Now, my masters, for a true face and good 

 conscience. 

 FALSTAFF  Both which I have had: but their date is out, and 

 therefore I'll hide me. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Call in the sheriff. 



 Exeunt all except PRINCE HENRY and PETO 

 Enter Sheriff and the Carrier  Now, master sheriff, what is your will with me? 

 Sheriff  First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and cry 

 Hath follow'd certain men unto this house. 

 PRINCE HENRY  What men? 

 Sheriff  One of them is well known, my gracious lord, 

 A gross fat man. 

 Carrier  As fat as butter. 

 PRINCE HENRY  The man, I do assure you, is not here; 

 For I myself at this time have employ'd him. 

 And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee 

 That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time, 

 Send him to answer thee, or any man, 

 For any thing he shall be charged withal: 

 And so let me entreat you leave the house. 

 Sheriff  I will, my lord. There are two gentlemen 

 Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks. 

 PRINCE HENRY  It may be so: if he have robb'd these men, 

 He shall be answerable; and so farewell. 

 Sheriff  Good night, my noble lord. 

 PRINCE HENRY  I think it is good morrow, is it not? 

 Sheriff  Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock. 



 Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier  PRINCE HENRY  This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's. Go, 

 call him forth. 

 PETO  Falstaff!--Fast asleep behind the arras, and 

 snorting like a horse. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Hark, how hard he fetches breath. Search his pockets. 



 He searcheth his pockets, and findeth certain papers  What hast thou found? 

 PETO  Nothing but papers, my lord. 

 PRINCE HENRY  Let's see what they be: read them. 

 PETO  [Reads]  Item, A capon,. . 2s. 2d. 

 Item, Sauce,. . . 4d. 

 Item, Sack, two gallons, 5s. 8d. 

 Item, Anchovies and sack after supper, 2s. 6d. 

 Item, Bread,        ob. 

 PRINCE HENRY  O monstrous! but one half-penny-worth of bread to 

 this intolerable deal of sack! What there is else, 

 keep close; we'll read it at more advantage: there 

 let him sleep till day. I'll to the court in the 

 morning. We must all to the wars, and thy place 

 shall be honourable. I'll procure this fat rogue a 

 charge of foot; and I know his death will be a 

 march of twelve-score. The money shall be paid 

 back again with advantage. Be with me betimes in 

 the morning; and so, good morrow, Peto. 



 Exeunt  PETO  Good morrow, good my lord. 

 Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry IV, part 1  | Act 2, Scene 4 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene 