How if he should
counterfeit too, and rise?
counterfeit too, and rise?
Shakespeare
I could have better spar'd a better man.
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee
If I were much in love with vanity!
Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,
Though many dearer, in this bloody fray.
Embowell'd will I see thee by-and-by;
Till then in blood by noble Percy lie. Exit.
Falstaff riseth up.
Fal. Embowell'd? If thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to
powder me and eat me too to-morrow. 'Sblood, 'twas time to
counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot
too. Counterfeit? I lie; I am no counterfeit. To die is to be a
counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man who hath not
the life of a man; but to counterfeit dying when a man thereby
liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image
of life indeed. The better part of valour is discretion; in the
which better part I have saved my life. Zounds, I am afraid of
this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead.
How if he should
counterfeit too, and rise? By my faith, I am afraid he would
prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure; yea,
and I'll swear I kill'd him. Why may not he rise as well as I?
Nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore,
sirrah [stabs him], with a new wound in your thigh, come you
along with me.
He takes up Hotspur on his hack. [Enter Prince, and John of
Lancaster.
Prince. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou flesh'd
Thy maiden sword.
John. But, soft! whom have we here?
Did you not tell me this fat man was dead?
Prince. I did; I saw him dead,
Breathless and bleeding on the ground.