William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (258 page)

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Authors: William Shakespeare

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BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition

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HASTINGS

Besides, the King hath wasted all his rods
On late offenders, that he now doth lack
The very instruments of chastisement;
So that his power, like to a fangless lion,
May offer, but not hold.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK ’Tis very true.

And therefore be assured, my good Lord Marshal,
If we do now make our atonement well,
Our peace will, like a broken limb united,
Grow stronger for the breaking.

MOWBRAY Be it so.

Enter Westmorland

Here is returned my lord of Westmorland.

WESTMORLAND

The Prince is here at hand. Pleaseth your lordship
To meet his grace just distance ’tween our armies?

MOWBRAY

Your grace of York, in God’s name then set forward.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

Before, and greet his grace!—My lord, we come.

⌈
They march over the stage
.⌉
Enter Prince John
⌈
with one or more soldiers
carrying wind
⌉

PRINCE JOHN

You are well encountered here, my cousin Mowbray.
Good day to you, gentle lord Archbishop;
And so to you, Lord Hastings, and to all.
My lord of York, it better showed with you
When that your flock, assembled by the bell,
Encircled you to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text,
Than now to see you here an iron man,
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to sword, and life to death.
That man that sits within a monarch’s heart
And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,
Would he abuse the countenance of the King,
Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach
In shadow of such greatness! With you, Lord Bishop,
It is even so. Who hath not heard it spoken
How deep you were within the books of God—
To us, the speaker in his parliament,
To us, th‘imagined voice of God himself,é
The very opener and intelligencer
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven
And our dull workings? O, who shall believe
But you misuse the reverence of your place,
Employ the countenance and grace of heav’n
As a false favourite doth his prince’s name
In deeds dishonourable? You have ta’en up,
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The subjects of his substitute, my father;
And, both against the peace of heaven and him,
Have here upswarmèd them.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Good my lord of Lancaster,

I am not here against your father’s peace;
But, as I told my lord of Westmorland,
The time misordered doth, in common sense,
Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form, 260
To hold our safety up. I sent your grace
The parcels and particulars of our grief,
The which hath been with scorn shoved from the
court,
Whereon this Hydra son of war is born;
Whose dangerous eyes may well be charmed asleep
With grant of our most just and right desires,
And true obedience, of this madness cured,
Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.

MOWBRAY

If not, we ready are to try our fortunes
To the last man.

HASTINGS And though we here fall down,

We have supplies to second our attempt.
If they miscarry, theirs shall second them;
And so success of mischief shall be born,
And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up,
Whiles England shall have generation.

PRINCE JOHN

You are too shallow, Hastings, much too shallow,
To sound the bottom of the after-times.

WESTMORLAND

Pleaseth your grace to answer them directly
How far forth you do like their articles?

PRINCE JOHN

I like them all, and do allow them well, 280
And swear here, by the honour of my blood,
My father’s purposes have been mistook,
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning and authority.
(
To the Archbishop
)
My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redressed;
Upon my soul they shall. If this may please you,
Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
As we will ours; and here between the armies
Let’s drink together friendly and embrace,
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home
Of our restored love and amity.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

I take your princely word for these redresses.

⌈PRINCE JOHN⌉

I give it you, and will maintain my word;
And thereupon I drink unto your grace.

He drinks

⌈HASTINGS⌉ ⌈
to Coleville
⌉

Go, captain, and deliver to the army
This news of peace. Let them have pay, and part.
I know it will well please them. Hie thee, captain.

Exit
⌈
Coleville
⌉

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

To you, my noble lord of Westmorland!

He drinks

WESTMORLAND (
drinking
)

I pledge your grace. An if you knew what pains
I have bestowed to breed this present peace,
You would drink freely; but my love to ye
Shall show itself more openly hereafter.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

I do not doubt you.

WESTMORLAND I am glad of it.

(
Drinking
) Health to my lord and gentle cousin Mowbray!

MOWBRAY

You wish me health in very happy season,
For I am on the sudden something ill.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

Against ill chances men are ever merry;
But heaviness foreruns the good event.

WESTMORLAND

Therefore be merry, coz, since sudden sorrow
Serves to say thus: some good thing comes tomorrow.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

Believe me, I am passing light in spirit. 311

MOWBRAY

So much the worse, if your own rule be true.

Shout within

PRINCE JOHN

The word of peace is rendered. Hark how they shout.

MOWBRAY

This had been cheerful after victory.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

A peace is of the nature of a conquest,
For then both parties nobly are subdued,
And neither party loser.

PRINCE JOHN (
to Westmorland
) Go, my lord,

And let our army be discharged too.

Exit Westmorland

(
To the Archbishop
) And, good my lord, so please you,
let our trains
March by us, that we may peruse the men
We should have coped withal.

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Go, good Lord Hastings,

And ere they be dismissed, let them march by.

Exit Hastings

PRINCE JOHN

I trust, lords, we shall lie tonight together.

Enter the Earl of Westmorland,
⌈
with captains
⌉

Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still?

WESTMORLAND

The leaders, having charge from you to stand,
Will not go off until they hear you speak.

PRINCE JOHN

They know their duties.

Enter Lord Hastings

HASTINGS ⌈
to the Archbishop
⌉ Our army is dispersed.

Like youthful steers unyoked, they take their courses,
East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up,
Each hurries toward his home and sporting place.

WESTMORLAND

Good tidings, my lord Hastings, for the which
I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason;
And you, Lord Archbishop, and you, Lord Mowbray,
Of capital treason I attach you both.

⌈
The captains guard Hastings, the Archbishop, and Mowbray
⌉

MOWBRAY

Is this proceeding just and honourable?

WESTMORLAND Is your assembly so?

ARCHBISHOP OF YORK Will you thus break your faith?

PRINCE JOHN I pawned thee none.

I promised you redress of these same grievances
Whereof you did complain; which, by mine honour,
I will perform with a most Christian care.
But for you rebels, look to taste the due
Meet for rebellion and such acts as yours.
Most shallowly did you these arms commence,
Fondly brought here, and foolishly sent hence.—345
Strike up our drums, pursue the scattered stray.
God, and not we, hath safely fought today.
Some guard these traitors to the block of death,
Treason’s true bed and yielder up of breath. Exeunt

4.2
Alarum. Excursions. Enter Sir John Falstaff and Coleville

SIR JOHN What’s your name, sir, of what condition are you, and of what place, I pray?

COLEVILLE I am a knight, sir, and my name is Coleville of the Dale.

SIR JOHN Well then, Coleville is your name, a knight is your degree, and your place the Dale. Coleville shall be still your name, a traitor your degree, and the dungeon your place—a place deep enough, so shall you be still Coleville of the Dale.

COLEVILLE Are not you Sir John Falstaff? 10

SIR JOHN 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. 15

COLEVILLE (
kneeling
) I think you are Sir John Falstaff, and in that thought yield me.

SIR JOHN (
aside
) 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.

Enter Prince John, the Earl of Westmorland, Sir John Blunt, and other lords and soldiers

Here comes our general.

PRINCE JOHN

The heat is past; follow no further now.

A retreat is sounded

Call in the powers, good cousin Westmorland.

Exit Westmorland

Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while?
When everything is ended, then you come.
These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,
One time or other break some gallows’ back.

SIR JOHN 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 Coleville 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, saw, and overcame.’

PRINCE JOHN It was more of his courtesy than your deserving.

SIR JOHN 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 on‘t, Coleville kissing my foot; to the which course if I be enforced, if you do not all show like gilt twopences 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.

PRINCE JOHN Thine’s too heavy to mount.

SIR JOHN Let it shine then.

PRINCE JOHN Thine’s too thick to shine.

SIR JOHN Let it do something, my good lord, that may do me good, and call it what you will.

PRINCE JOHN

Is thy name Coleville?

COLEVILLE It is, my lord. 60