No Fear Shakespeare

Henry IV Part 2

William Shakespeare

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Act 4, Scene 2, Page 4

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Modern Text


WESTMORELAND
Retreat is made and execution stayed.
WESTMORELAND
The order to pull back has been given, and the slaughter has been stopped.


55
LANCASTER
Send Colevile with his confederates
To York, to present execution.—
Blunt, lead him hence, and see you guard him sure.
LANCASTER
Send Coleville and his confederates to York, to be put to death immediately. Blunt, lead him away, and guard him carefully.
Exeunt BLUNT with COLEVILE
BLUNT exits with COLEVILLE.



60

And now dispatch we toward the court, my lords.
I hear the King my father is sore sick.
Our news shall go before us to his Majesty,
(to WESTMORELAND) Which, cousin, you shall bear to comfort
   him,
And we with sober speed will follow you.
And now, let’s get going back to the royal court: I understand that the King, my father, is gravely ill. Send news of our victory ahead of us. (to WESTMORELAND) You, cousin, will bring him this news and comfort him with it. We’ll follow you as quickly as we can.



FALSTAFF
My lord, I beseech you give me leave to go through
Gloucestershire, and, when you come to court, stand my
good lord, pray, in your good report.
FALSTAFF
Sir, please give me permission to go via Gloucestershire. When you get to the court, please vouch for my good work here.

65
LANCASTER
Fare you well, Falstaff. I, in my condition,
Shall better speak of you than you deserve.
LANCASTER
Goodbye, Falstaff. By speaking on your behalf as a prince, I’ll be speaking better of you than you deserve.
Exeunt all but FALSTAFF
Everyone exits except FALSTAFF.




70




75
FALSTAFF
I would you had but the wit; ’twere better than your
dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy
doth not love me, nor a man cannot make him laugh. But
that’s no marvel; he drinks no wine. There’s never none of
these demure boys come to any proof, for thin drink doth so
overcool their blood, and making many fish meals, that they
fall into a kind of male green-sickness, and then, when they
marry, they get wenches. They are generally fools and
cowards, which some of us should be too, but for
inflammation.
FALSTAFF
I wish you had the wit to accomplish that: it would be worth all your land. My goodness, this young, serious-minded boy doesn’t like me, and no one can make him laugh. But I guess that’s not surprising; after all, he doesn’t drink any wine. None of those prim boys ever amount to anything: weak beer and too many fish dinners makes their blood cool. They all turn anemic, like young girls. And then, when they finally get married, they can only father girls because they don’t have the stuff to produce sons. Non-drinkers are all generally fools and cowards. The rest of us would probably be

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