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ARCHBISHOP.

Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.

MOWBRAY.

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

[Shouts within]

PRINCE JOHN.

The word of peace is rend'red. Hark, how they shout!

MOWBRAY.

This had been cheerful after victory.

ARCHBISHOP.

A peace is of the nature of a conquest;

For then both parties nobly are subdu'd,

And neither party loser.

PRINCE JOHN.

Go, my lord,

And let our army be discharged too.

Exit WESTMORELAND

And, good my lord, so please you let our trains

March by us, that we may peruse the men

We should have cop'd withal.

ARCHBISHOP.

Go, good Lord Hastings,

And, ere they be dismiss'd, let them march by.

Exit HASTINGS

PRINCE JOHN.

I trust, lords, we shall lie to-night together.

Re-enter WESTMORELAND

Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still?

WESTMORELAND.

The leaders, having charge from you to stand,

Will not go off until they hear you speak.

PRINCE JOHN.

They know their duties.

Re-enter HASTINGS

HASTINGS.

My lord, our army is dispers'd already.

Like youthful steers unyok'd, they take their courses

East, west, north, south; or like a school broke up,

Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place.

WESTMORELAND.

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.

MOWBRAY.

Is this proceeding just and honourable?

WESTMORELAND.

Is your assembly so?

ARCHBISHOP.

Will you thus break your faith?

PRINCE JOHN.

I pawn'd thee none:

I promis'd 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.

Strike up our drums, pursue the scatt'red stray.

God, and not we, hath safely fought to-day.

Some guard these traitors to the block of death,

Treason's true bed and yielder-up of breath. Exeunt

SCENE III. Another part of the forest

Alarum; excursions. Enter FALSTAFF and COLVILLE, meeting

FALSTAFF.

What's your name, sir? Of what condition are you, and of

what place, I pray?

COLVILLE.

I am a knight sir; and my name is Colville of the Dale.

FALSTAFF.

Well then, Colville is your name, a knight is your

degree, and your place the Dale. Colville shall still be your

name, a traitor your degree, and the dungeon your place- a place

deep enough; so shall you be still Colville of the Dale.

COLVILLE.

Are not you Sir John Falstaff?

FALSTAFF.

As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do you 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.

COLVILLE.

I think you are Sir John Falstaff, and in that thought yield me.

FALSTAFF.

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.

Here comes our general.

Enter PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, WESTMORELAND,

BLUNT, and others

PRINCE JOHN.

The heat is past; follow no further now.

Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland.

Exit WESTMORELAND

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.

FALSTAFF.

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 found'red nine

score and odd posts; and here, travel tainted as I am, have, in

my pure and immaculate