Henry IV, Pt. 2
Act II, Scene 2
London . Another street .
Sir Nicholas Poins
Hans Holbein, circa 1540
- Enter the Prince Henry , Poins , with other .
Prince Henry
1- Before God , I am exceeding weary .
Poins
2 - 3- Is’t come to that ? I had thought weariness durst not have
- attach’d one of so high blood .
Prince Henry
4 - 6- Faith , it does me , though it discolors the complexion of my
- greatness to acknowledge it . Doth it not show vildly in me
- to desire small beer ?
Poins
7 - 8- Why , a prince should not be so loosely studied as to
- remember so weak a composition .
Prince Henry
9 - 24- Belike then my appetite was not princely got , for , by my
- troth , I do now remember the poor creature , small beer . But
- indeed these humble considerations make me out of love with
- my greatness . What a disgrace is it to me to remember thy
- name , or to know thy face tomorrow , or to take note how many
- pair of silk stockings thou hast , viz ., these , and those
- that were thy peach - color’d once , or to bear the inventory
- of thy shirts , as one for superfluity , and another for use !
- But that the tennis - court - keeper knows better than I , for it
- is a low ebb of linen with thee when thou keepest not racket
- there ; as thou hast not done a great while , because the rest
- of the low countries have made a shift to eat up thy
- holland . And God knows whether those that bawl out the ruins
- of thy linen shall inherit his kingdom : but the midwives say
- the children are not in the fault , whereupon the world
- increases , and kindreds are mightily strengthen’d .
Poins
25 - 28- How ill it follows , after you have labor’d so hard , you
- should talk so idlely ! Tell me how many good young princes
- would do so , their fathers being so sick as yours at this
- time is .
Prince Henry
29- Shall I tell thee one thing , Poins ?
Poins
30- Yes , faith , and let it be an excellent good thing .
Prince Henry
31- It shall serve among wits of no higher breeding than thine .
Poins
32 - 33- Go to , I stand the push of your one thing that you will
- tell .
Prince Henry
34 - 37- Marry , I tell thee it is not meet that I should be sad , now
- my father is sick , albeit I could tell to thee — as to one it
- pleases me , for fault of a better , to call my friend — I could
- be sad , and sad indeed too .
Poins
38- Very hardly , upon such a subject .
Prince Henry
39 - 43- By this hand , thou thinkest me as far in the devil’s book as
- thou and Falstaff , for obduracy and persistency . Let the end
- try the man . But I tell thee , my heart bleeds inwardly that
- my father is so sick , and keeping such vile company as thou
- art hath in reason taken from me all ostentation of sorrow .
Poins
44- The reason ?
Prince Henry
45- What wouldst thou think of me if I should weep ?
Poins
46- I would think thee a most princely hypocrite .
Prince Henry
47 - 51- It would be every man’s thought , and thou art a blessed
- fellow to think as every man thinks . Never a man’s thought
- in the world keeps the road - way better than thine : every man
- would think me an hypocrite indeed . And what accites your
- most worshipful thought to think so ?
Poins
52 - 53- Why , because you have been so lewd and so much engraff’d to
- Falstaff .
Prince Henry
54- And to thee .
Poins
55 - 59- By this light , I am well spoke on , I can hear it with mine
- own ears . The worst that they can say of me is that I am a
- second brother , and that I am a proper fellow of my hands ,
- and those two things I confess I cannot help . By the mass ,
- here comes Bardolph .
- Enter Bardolph and Boy Page .
Prince Henry
60 - 62- And the boy that I gave Falstaff . ’A had him from me
- Christian , and look if the fat villain have not transform’d
- him ape .
Bardolph
63- God save your Grace !
Prince Henry
64- And yours , most noble Bardolph !
Poins
65 - 68- Come , you virtuous ass , you bashful fool , must you be
- blushing ? Wherefore blush you now ? What a maidenly
- man - at - arms are you become ! Is’t such a matter to get a
- pottle - pot’s maidenhead ?
Falstaff’s Page
69 - 72- ’A calls me e’en now , my lord , through a red lattice , and I
- could discern no part of his face from the window . At last I
- spied his eyes , and methought he had made two holes in the
- ale - wive’s petticoat and so peep’d through .
Prince Henry
73- Has not the boy profited ?
Bardolph
74- Away , you whoreson upright rabbit , away !
Falstaff’s Page
75- Away , you rascally Althaea’s dream , away !
Prince Henry
76- Instruct us , boy , what dream , boy ?
Falstaff’s Page
77 - 78- Marry , my lord , Althaea dreamt she was deliver’d of a
- fire - brand , and therefore I call him her dream .
Frontpiece for Henry IV, Part 2
From Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare
Mary Cowden Clarke, Charles Cowden Clarke, 1870
Prince Henry
79- A crown’s worth of good interpretation . There ’tis , boy .
Poins
80 - 81- O that this blossom could be kept from cankers ! Well , there
- is sixpence to preserve thee .
Bardolph
82 - 83- And you do not make him hang’d among you , the gallows shall
- have wrong .
Prince Henry
84- And how doth thy master , Bardolph ?
Bardolph
85 - 86- Well , my lord . He heard of your Grace’s coming to town .
- There’s a letter for you .
Poins
87 - 88- Deliver’d with good respect . And how doth the Martlemas ,
- your master ?
Bardolph
89- In bodily health , sir .
Poins
90 - 91- Marry , the immortal part needs a physician , but that moves
- not him ; though that be sick , it dies not .
Prince Henry
92 - 93- I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me as my dog , and
- he holds his place , for look you how he writes .
- Showing the letter to Poins .
Poins
94 - 100- Reads the superscription .
- “ John Falstaff , knight ”— Every man must know that , as oft as
- he has occasion to name himself ; even like those that are
- kin to the King , for they never prick their finger but they
- say , “ There’s some of the King’s blood spilt .” “ How comes
- that ?” says he , that takes upon him not to conceive . The
- answer is as ready as a borrower’s cap , “ I am the King’s
- poor cousin , sir .”
Prince Henry
101 - 104- Nay , they will be kin to us , or they will fetch it from
- Japhet . But the letter :
- “ Sir John Falstaff , knight , to the son of the King nearest
- his father , Harry Prince of Wales , greeting .”
Poins
105- Why , this is a certificate .
Prince Henry
106 - 107- Peace !
- “ I will imitate the honorable Romans in brevity .”
Poins
108- He sure means brevity in breath , short - winded .
Prince Henry
109 - 115- “ I commend me to thee , I commend thee , and I leave thee . Be
- not too familiar with Poins , for he misuses thy favors so
- much that he swears thou art to marry his sister Nell .
- Repent at idle times as thou mayst , and so farewell .
- Thine , by yea and no , which is as much as to say , as thou
- usest him , Jack Falstaff with my familiars , John with my
- brothers and sisters , and Sir John with all Europe .”
Poins
116- My lord , I’ll steep this letter in sack and make him eat it .
Prince Henry
117 - 118- That’s to make him eat twenty of his words . But do you use
- me thus , Ned ? Must I marry your sister ?
Poins
119- God send the wench no worse fortune ! But I never said so .
Prince Henry
120 - 122- Well , thus we play the fools with the time , and the spirits
- of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us . Is your master
- here in London ?
Bardolph
123- Yea , my lord .
Prince Henry
124- Where sups he ? Doth the old boar feed in the old frank ?
Bardolph
125- At the old place , my lord , in Eastcheap .
Prince Henry
126- What company ?
Falstaff’s Page
127- Ephesians , my lord , of the old church .
Prince Henry
128- Sup any women with him ?
Falstaff’s Page
129 - 130- None , my lord , but old Mistress Quickly and Mistress Doll
- Tearsheet .
Prince Henry
131- What pagan may that be ?
Falstaff’s Page
132- A proper gentlewoman , sir , and a kinswoman of my master’s .
Prince Henry
133 - 134- Even such kin as the parish heckfers are to the town bull .
- Shall we steal upon them , Ned , at supper ?
Poins
135- I am your shadow , my lord , I’ll follow you .
Prince Henry
136 - 137- Sirrah , you boy , and Bardolph , no word to your master that I
- am yet come to town . There’s for your silence .
Bardolph
138- I have no tongue , sir .
Falstaff’s Page
139- And for mine , sir , I will govern it .
Prince Henry
140 - 141- Fare you well ; go .
- Exeunt Bardolph and Page .
- This Doll Tearsheet should be some road .
Poins
142 - 143- I warrant you , as common as the way between Saint Albans and
- London .
Prince Henry
144 - 145- How might we see Falstaff bestow himself tonight in his true
- colors , and not ourselves be seen ?
Poins
146 - 147- Put on two leathern jerkins and aprons , and wait upon him at
- his table as drawers .
Prince Henry
148 - 151- From a God to a bull ? A heavy descension ! It was Jove’s
- case . From a prince to a prentice ? A low transformation !
- That shall be mine , for in every thing the purpose must
- weigh with the folly . Follow me , Ned .
- Exeunt .