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Henry IV, Pt. 1: Act II, Scene 2

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Henry IV, Pt. 1
Act II, Scene 2

A highway near Gadshill .

Ah, whoreson caterpillars!

John Masey Wright, Robert Smirke, late 18th cent. or 19th cent.

  1. Enter Prince , Peto , and Bardolph , with Poins following just
  2. behind .

Poins

1 - 2
  1. Come , shelter , shelter ! I have remov’d Falstaff’s horse , and
  2. he frets like a gumm’d velvet .

Prince Henry

3
  1. Stand close .
  1. They retire .
  1. Enter Falstaff .

Falstaff

4
  1. Poins ! Poins , and be hang’d ! Poins !

Prince Henry

5 - 6
  1. Coming forward .
  2. Peace , ye fat - kidney’d rascal ! What a brawling dost thou
  3. keep !

Falstaff

7
  1. Where’s Poins , Hal ?

Prince Henry

8
  1. He is walk’d up to the top of the hill , I’ll go seek him .
  1. Retires .

Falstaff

9 - 27
  1. I am accurs’d to rob in that thieve’s company . The rascal
  2. hath remov’d my horse , and tied him I know not where . If I
  3. travel but four foot by the squier further afoot , I shall
  4. break my wind . Well , I doubt not but to die a fair death for
  5. all this , if I scape hanging for killing that rogue . I have
  6. forsworn his company hourly any time this two and twenty
  7. years , and yet I am bewitch’d with the rogue’s company . If
  8. the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him ,
  9. I’ll be hang’d . It could not be else , I have drunk
  10. medicines . Poins ! Hal ! A plague upon you both ! Bardolph !
  11. Peto ! I’ll starve ere I’ll rob a foot further . And ’twere
  12. not as good a deed as drink to turn true man and to leave
  13. these rogues , I am the veriest varlet that ever chew’d with
  14. a tooth . Eight yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten
  15. miles afoot with me , and the stony - hearted villains know it
  16. well enough . A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true
  17. one to another !
  18. They whistle .
  19. Whew ! A plague upon you all ! Give me my horse , you rogues ,
  20. give me my horse , and be hang’d !

Prince Henry

28 - 29
  1. Coming forward .
  2. Peace , ye fat - guts , lie down . Lay thine ear close to the
  3. ground , and list if thou canst hear the tread of travelers .

Falstaff

30 - 33
  1. Have you any levers to lift me up again , being down ?
  2. ’Sblood , I’ll not bear my own flesh so far afoot again for
  3. all the coin in thy father’s exchequer . What a plague mean
  4. ye to colt me thus ?

Prince Henry

34
  1. Thou liest , thou art not colted , thou art uncolted .

Falstaff

35 - 36
  1. I prithee , good prince — Hal !— help me to my horse , good king’s
  2. son .

Prince Henry

37
  1. Out , ye rogue ! Shall I be your ostler ?

Falstaff

38 - 41
  1. Hang thyself in thine own heir - apparent garters ! If I be
  2. ta’en , I’ll peach for this . And I have not ballads made on
  3. you all and sung to filthy tunes , let a cup of sack be my
  4. poison . When a jest is so forward , and afoot too ! I hate it .
  1. Enter Gadshill .

Gadshill

42
  1. Stand .

Falstaff

43
  1. So I do , against my will .

Poins

44
  1. Coming forward with Bardolph and Peto .
  2. O , ’tis our setter , I know his voice .

Bardolph

45
  1. What news ?

Gadshill

46 - 48
  1. Case ye , case ye , on with your vizards . There’s money of the
  2. King’s coming down the hill , ’tis going to the King’s
  3. exchequer .

Falstaff

49
  1. You lie , ye rogue , ’tis going to the King’s tavern .

Gadshill

50
  1. There’s enough to make us all .

Falstaff

51
  1. To be hang’d .

Prince Henry

52 - 54
  1. Sirs , you four shall front them in the narrow lane ; Ned
  2. Poins and I will walk lower . If they scape from your
  3. encounter , then they light on us .

Peto

55
  1. How many be there of them ?

Gadshill

56
  1. Some eight or ten .

Falstaff

57
  1. ’Zounds , will they not rob us ?

Prince Henry

58
  1. What , a coward , Sir John Paunch ?

Falstaff

59 - 60
  1. Indeed I am not John of Gaunt , your grandfather , but yet no
  2. coward , Hal .
Costume designs for travellers

Costume designs for travellers

John Miller, George Scharf, 1824

Prince Henry

61
  1. Well , we leave that to the proof .

Poins

62 - 64
  1. Sirrah Jack , thy horse stands behind the hedge ; when thou
  2. need’st him , there thou shalt find him . Farewell , and stand
  3. fast .

Falstaff

65
  1. Now cannot I strike him , if I should be hang’d .

Prince Henry

66
  1. Aside .
  2. Ned , where are our disguises ?

Poins

67
  1. Aside .
  2. Here , hard by . Stand close .
  1. Exeunt Prince and Poins .

Falstaff

68 - 69
  1. Now , my masters , happy man be his dole , say I , every man to
  2. his business .
  1. Enter the Travelers .

First Traveler

70 - 71
  1. Come , neighbor , the boy shall lead our horses down the hill .
  2. We’ll walk afoot a while , and ease our legs .

Thieves

72
  1. Stand !

Travelers

73
  1. Jesus bless us !

Falstaff

74 - 76
  1. Strike ! Down with them ! Cut the villains’ throats ! Ah ,
  2. whoreson caterpillars ! Bacon - fed knaves ! They hate us youth .
  3. Down with them ! Fleece them !

First Traveler

77
  1. O , we are undone , both we and ours forever !

Falstaff

78 - 81
  1. Hang ye , gorbellied knaves , are ye undone ? No , ye fat
  2. chuffs , I would your store were here ! On , bacons , on ! What ,
  3. ye knaves , young men must live ! You are grandjurors , are ye ?
  4. We’ll jure ye , faith .
  1. Here they rob them and bind them .
  1. Exeunt .
  1. Enter the Prince and Poins in buckram .

Prince Henry

82 - 85
  1. The thieves have bound the true men . Now could thou and I
  2. rob the thieves and go merrily to London , it would be
  3. argument for a week , laughter for a month , and a good jest
  4. forever .

Poins

86
  1. Stand close , I hear them coming .

Falstaff

87 - 90
  1. Come , my masters , let us share , and then to horse before
  2. day . And the Prince and Poins be not two arrant cowards ,
  3. there’s no equity stirring .
  4. There’s no more valor in that Poins than in a wild duck .

Prince Henry

91
  1. Your money !

Poins

92
  1. Villains !
  1. As they are sharing , the Prince and Poins set upon them ;
  2. they all run away , and Falstaff , after a blow or two , runs
  3. away too , leaving the booty behind them .

Prince Henry

93 - 99
  1. Got with much ease . Now merrily to horse .
  2. The thieves are all scattered , and possess’d with fear
  3. So strongly that they dare not meet each other ;
  4. Each takes his fellow for an officer .
  5. Away , good Ned . Falstaff sweats to death ,
  6. And lards the lean earth as he walks along .
  7. Were’t not for laughing , I should pity him .

Poins

100
  1. How the fat rogue roar’d !
  1. Exeunt .
Falstaff and his companions. Twenty-one illustrations in silhouette

Peto: How many be there of them?
Gadshill: Some eight or ten.

Falstaff and his companions. Twenty-one illustrations in silhouette

Paul Konewka, 1872

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