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GRATIANO.

Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold?

NERISSA.

Ay, but the clerk that never means to do it,

Unless he live until he be a man.

BASSANIO.

Sweet doctor, you shall be my bedfellow;

When I am absent, then lie with my wife.

ANTONIO.

Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;

For here I read for certain that my ships

Are safely come to road.

PORTIA.

How now, Lorenzo!

My clerk hath some good comforts too for you.

NERISSA.

Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee.

There do I give to you and Jessica,

From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,

After his death, of all he dies possess'd of.

LORENZO.

Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way

Of starved people.

PORTIA.

It is almost morning,

And yet I am sure you are not satisfied

Of these events at full. Let us go in,

And charge us there upon inter'gatories,

And we will answer all things faithfully.

GRATIANO.

Let it be so. The first inter'gatory

That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is,

Whether till the next night she had rather stay,

Or go to bed now, being two hours to day.

But were the day come, I should wish it dark,

Till I were couching with the doctor's clerk.

Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing

So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring. Exeunt

HENRY IV, PART I

Believed to have been written no later than 1597, this is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V. This popular play covers events that begin with Hotspur's battle at Homildon against Douglas late in 1402 and culminates with the defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury in the middle of 1403. However, the play is most treasured for its ‘show-stealing’ comedic character Sir John Falstaff, who would become Shakespeare’s most popular creation. Though used for comedic effect, Falstaff’s famous comments on honour and his criticism of contemporary society are telling signs of the playwright’s more serious genius.

Shakespeare's primary source for Henry IV, Part 1 was the 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, which in turn drew on Edward Hall's The Union of the Two Illustrious Families of Lancaster and York.

The real life Henry IV

CONTENTS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

ACT I. Scene I. London. The Palace.

Scene II. London. An apartment of the Prince's.

Scene III. London. The Palace.

ACT II. Scene I. Rochester. An inn yard.

Scene II. The highway near Gadshill.

Scene III. Warkworth Castle.

Scene IV. Eastcheap. The Boar's Head Tavern.

ACT III. Scene I. Bangor. The Archdeacon's house.

Scene II. London. The Palace.

Scene III. Eastcheap. The Boar's Head Tavern.

ACT IV. Scene I. The rebel camp near Shrewsbury.

Scene II. A public road near Coventry.

Scene III. The rebel camp near Shrewsbury.

Scene IV. York. The Archbishop's Palace.

ACT V. Scene I. The King's camp near Shrewsbury.

Scene II. The rebel camp.

Scene III. Plain between the camps.

Scene IV. Another part of the field.

Scene V. Another part of the field.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

King Henry the Fourth.

Henry, Prince of Wales, son to the King.

Prince John of Lancaster, son to the King.

Earl of Westmoreland.

Sir Walter Blunt.

Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester.

Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland.

Henry Percy, surnamed Hotspur, his son.

Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March.

Richard Scroop, Archbishop of York.

Archibald, Earl of Douglas.

Owen Glendower.

Sir Richard Vernon.

Sir John Falstaff.

Sir Michael, a friend to the Archbishop of York.

Poins.

Gadshill Peto.

Bardolph.

Lady Percy, wife to Hotspur, and sister to Mortimer.

Lady Mortimer, daughter to Glendower, and wife to Mortimer.

Mistress Quickly, hostess of the Boar's Head in Eastcheap.

Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, two

Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants.

SCENE.—England and Wales.

ACT I. Scene I. London. The Palace.

Enter the King, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmoreland,

[Sir Walter Blunt,] with others.

King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care,

Find we a time for frighted