King Henry the Fourth, Part 1 E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Phoemixx Classics Ebooks
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 131

Beschreibung

King Henry the Fourth, Part 1 - William Shakespeare - Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV (two plays), and Henry V. Henry IV, Part 1 depicts a span of history that begins with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against the Douglas late in 1402 and ends with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403.

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William Shakespeare

King Henry the Fourth, Part 1

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ACT 1

Scene 1

London. The palace.

Enter KING HENRY, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, the EARL of WESTMORELAND, SIR WALTER BLUNT, and others

KING HENRY IV

So shaken as we are, so wan with care,Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,And breathe short-winded accents of new broilsTo be commenced in strands afar remote.No more the thirsty entrance of this soilShall daub her lips with her own children's blood;Nor more shall trenching war channel her fields,Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofsOf hostile paces: those opposed eyes,Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,All of one nature, of one substance bred,Did lately meet in the intestine shockAnd furious close of civil butcheryShall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,March all one way and be no more opposedAgainst acquaintance, kindred and allies:The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,Whose soldier now, under whose blessed crossWe are impressed and engaged to fight,Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' wombTo chase these pagans in those holy fieldsOver whose acres walk'd those blessed feetWhich fourteen hundred years ago were nail'dFor our advantage on the bitter cross.But this our purpose now is twelve month old,And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:Therefore we meet not now. Then let me hearOf you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,What yesternight our council did decreeIn forwarding this dear expedience.

WESTMORELAND

My liege, this haste was hot in question,And many limits of the charge set downBut yesternight: when all athwart there cameA post from Wales loaden with heavy news;Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,Leading the men of Herefordshire to fightAgainst the irregular and wild Glendower,Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken,A thousand of his people butchered;Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,Such beastly shameless transformation,By those Welshwomen done as may not beWithout much shame retold or spoken of.

KING HENRY IV

It seems then that the tidings of this broilBrake off our business for the Holy Land.

WESTMORELAND

This match'd with other did, my gracious lord;For more uneven and unwelcome newsCame from the north and thus it did import:On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald,That ever-valiant and approved Scot,At Holmedon met,Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour,As by discharge of their artillery,And shape of likelihood, the news was told;For he that brought them, in the very heatAnd pride of their contention did take horse,Uncertain of the issue any way.

KING HENRY IV

Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse.Stain'd with the variation of each soilBetwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.The Earl of Douglas is discomfited:Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter seeOn Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur tookMordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest sonTo beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol,Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith:And is not this an honourable spoil?A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?

WESTMORELAND

In faith,It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.

KING HENRY IV

Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sinIn envy that my Lord NorthumberlandShould be the father to so blest a son,A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride:Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,See riot and dishonour stain the browOf my young Harry. O that it could be provedThat some night-tripping fairy had exchangedIn cradle-clothes our children where they lay,And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.But let him from my thoughts. What think you, coz,Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,Which he in this adventure hath surprised,To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.

WESTMORELAND

This is his uncle's teaching; this is Worcester,Malevolent to you in all aspects;Which makes him prune himself, and bristle upThe crest of youth against your dignity.

KING HENRY IV

But I have sent for him to answer this;And for this cause awhile we must neglectOur holy purpose to Jerusalem.Cousin, on Wednesday next our council weWill hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:But come yourself with speed to us again;For more is to be said and to be doneThan out of anger can be uttered.

WESTMORELAND

I will, my liege.

Exeunt

Scene 2

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 sackand unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping uponbenches after noon, that thou hast forgotten todemand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.What a devil hast thou to do with the time of theday? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutescapons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials thesigns of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himselfa fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see noreason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demandthe time of the day.

FALSTAFF

Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that takepurses go by the moon and the seven stars, and notby Phoebus, he,'that wandering knight so fair.' And,I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, Godsave thy grace,--majesty I should say, for gracethou wilt have none,--

PRINCE HENRY

What, none?

FALSTAFF

No, by my troth, not so much as will serve toprologue to an egg and butter.

PRINCE HENRY

Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.

FALSTAFF

Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let notus that are squires of the night's body be calledthieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana'sforesters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of themoon; and let men say we be men of good government,being governed, as the sea is, by our noble andchaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

PRINCE HENRY

Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for thefortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb andflow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is,by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of goldmost resolutely snatched on Monday night and mostdissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got withswearing 'Lay by' and spent with crying 'Bring in;'now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladderand 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 myhostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

PRINCE HENRY

As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. Andis not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?

FALSTAFF

How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips andthy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with abuff 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 atime 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 apparentthat thou art heir apparent--But, I prithee, sweetwag, shall there be gallows standing in England whenthou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it iswith the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Donot 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 havethe hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.

FALSTAFF

Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with myhumour as well as waiting in the court, I can tellyou.

PRINCE HENRY

For obtaining of suits?

FALSTAFF

Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangmanhath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholyas 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 ofMoor-ditch?

FALSTAFF

Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeedthe most comparative, rascalliest, sweet youngprince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no morewith vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where acommodity of good names were to be bought. An oldlord of the council rated me the other day in thestreet about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yethe talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; andyet he talked wisely, and in the street too.

PRINCE HENRY

Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in thestreets, and no man regards it.

FALSTAFF

O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed ableto corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm uponme, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knewthee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a manshould speak truly, little better than one of thewicked. I must give over this life, and I will giveit over: by the Lord, and I do not, I am a villain:I'll be damned for never a king's son inChristendom.

PRINCE HENRY

Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack?

FALSTAFF

'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an Ido not, call me villain and baffle me.

PRINCE HENRY

I see a good amendment of life in thee; from prayingto purse-taking.

FALSTAFF

Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for aman to labour in his vocation.

Enter POINS

Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set amatch. O, if men were to be saved by merit, whathole in hell were hot enough for him? This is themost omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand' toa true man.

PRINCE HENRY

Good morrow, Ned.

POINS

Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse?what says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! howagrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thousoldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeiraand a cold capon's leg?

PRINCE HENRY

Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall havehis bargain; for he was never yet a breaker ofproverbs: 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 fouro'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims goingto Canterbury with rich offerings, and tradersriding to London with fat purses: I have vizardsfor you all; you have horses for yourselves:Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester: I have bespokesupper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do itas secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuffyour purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarryat 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 goodfellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the bloodroyal, 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 adventurethat he shall go.

FALSTAFF

Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and himthe ears of profiting, that what thou speakest maymove and what he hears may be believed, that thetrue prince may, for recreation sake, prove a falsethief; for the poor abuses of the time wantcountenance. 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 usto-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannotmanage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshillshall rob those men that we have already waylaid:yourself and I will not be there; and when theyhave the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cutthis 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, andappoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is atour pleasure to fail, and then will they adventureupon the exploit themselves; which they shall haveno sooner achieved, but we'll set upon them.

PRINCE HENRY

Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by ourhorses, by our habits and by every otherappointment, to be ourselves.

POINS

Tut! our horses they shall not see: I'll tie themin the wood; our vizards we will change after weleave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckramfor 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 astrue-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for thethird, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'llforswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, theincomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue willtell us when we meet at supper: how thirty, atleast, he fought with; what wards, what blows, whatextremities he endured; and in the reproof of thislies the jest.

PRINCE HENRY

Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all thingsnecessary 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 upholdThe unyoked humour of your idleness:Yet herein will I imitate the sun,Who doth permit the base contagious cloudsTo 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 mistsOf 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 offAnd pay the debt I never promised,By how much better than my word I am,By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;