King Henry IV, Part 2 | Page 3

software, but only so long as
*EITHER*:
[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
does *not* contain characters other than those
intended by the author

of the work, although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters
may be used to convey punctuation intended by the
author, and
additional characters may be used to
indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the
program that displays the etext (as is the case, for instance, with most
word processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original
plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
"Small Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
net profits you derive calculated using the method you already use to
calculate your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is
due. Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg
Association/Carnegie-Mellon University" within the 60 days following
each
date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) your
annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU
DON'T HAVE TO? The Project gratefully accepts contributions in
money, time, scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts,
royalty free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution you
can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg Association /
Carnegie-Mellon University".
*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN
ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

This etext was prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team,
a team of
about twenty Project Gutenberg volunteers.
KING HENRY IV, SECOND PART
by William Shakespeare
Dramatis Personae
RUMOUR, the Presenter.
KING HENRY the Fourth.
His sons
HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, afterwards King Henry V.

THOMAS, DUKE OF CLARENCE.
PRINCE JOHN OF
LANCASTER.
PRINCE HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER.
EARL OF WARWICK.
EARL OF WESTMORELAND.
EARL
OF SURREY.
GOWER.
HARCOURT.
BLUNT.
Lord Chief
Justice of the King's Bench.
A Servant of the Chief-Justice.
EARL
OF NORTHUMBERLAND.
SCROOP, Archbishop of York.

LORD MOWBRAY.
LORD HASTINGS.
LORD BARDOLPH.

SIR JOHN COLEVILLE.
TRAVERS and MORTON, retainers
of Northumberland.
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF.
His Page.

BARDOLPH.
PISTOL.
POINS.
PETO.
SHALLOW and
SILENCE, country justices.
DAVY, Servant to Shallow.

MOULDY, SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, and BULLCALF, recruits.

FANG and SNARE, sheriff's officers.
LADY NORTHUMBERLAND.
LADY PERCY.
MISTRESS
QUICKLY, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap.
DOLL TEARSHEET.
Lords and Attendants; Porter, Drawers, Beadles, Grooms, etc.
A Dancer, speaker of the epilogue.
SCENE: England.

INDUCTION
Warkworth. Before the castle.
[Enter Rumour, painted full of tongues.]
RUMOUR.
Open your ears; for which of you will stop
The vent of
hearing when loud Rumour speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping
west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts
commenced on this ball of earth:
Upon my tongues continual slanders
ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of
men with false reports.
I speak of peace, while covert emnity
Under
the smile of safety wounds the world:
And who but Rumour, who but
only I,
Make fearful musters and prepared defence,
Whiles the big
year, swoln with some other grief,
Is thought with child by the stern
tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe
Blown by
surmises, jealousies, conjectures,
And of so easy and so plain a stop

That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant
wavering multitude,
Can play upon it. But what need I thus
My
well-known body to anatomize
Among my household? Why is
Rumour here?
I run before King Harry's victory;
Who in a bloody
field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,

Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels' blood.
But what mean I
To speak so true at first? my office is
To noise
abroad that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's
sword,
And that the king before the Douglas' rage
Stoop'd his
anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumour'd through the
peasant towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this
worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,
Where Hotspur's father, old
Northumberland,
Lies crafty-sick: the posts come tiring on,

And not
a man of them brings other news
Than they have learn'd of me: from
Rumour's tongues
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true
wrongs.

[Exit.]
ACT I.
SCENE 1. The same.
[Enter Lord Bardolph.]
LORD BARDOLPH.
Who keeps the gate here, ho?
[The Porter opens the gate.]
Where is the earl?
PORTER.
What shall I say you are?
LORD BARDOLPH.
Tell thou the earl
That the Lord Bardolph
doth attend him here.
PORTER.
His lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard:
Please it
your honour, knock but at the gate,
And he himself will answer.
[Enter Northumberland.]
LORD BARDOLPH.
Here comes the earl.
[Exit Porter.]
NORTHUMBERLAND.
What news, Lord Bardolph? every minute
now
Should be the father of some stratagem:
The times are wild;
contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose

And bears down all before him.
LORD BARDOLPH.
Noble earl,
I bring you certain news from
Shrewsbury.
NORTHUMBERLAND.
Good, an God will!

LORD BARDOLPH.
As good as heart can wish:
The king is
almost wounded to the death;
And, in the fortune of my