HENRY IV, PART I A monologue from the play by William Shakespeare 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 malegreen-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. A good sherris-sack hath a twofold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain, dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapors which environ it, makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes, which, delivered o'er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is the warming of the blood, which, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice. But the sherris warms it and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extremes. It illumineth the face, which as a beacon gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm, and then the vital commoners and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart, who, great and puffed up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage, and this valor comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work, and learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences it and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is valiant, for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled with excellent endeavor of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack. Purchase this play! MORE MONOLOGUES BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

RELATED LINKS: Biographical aspects of the Sonnets - Examines the worth of Shakespeare's sonnets in piecing together clues as to the nature of his romantic life. Doubtful Plays of Shakespeare - Analysis of evidence supporting the claim of Shakespearean authorship of several questionable Elizabethan plays. Greene's Jealousy of Shakespeare - As early as 1592, Shakespeare's dramatic work had excited the envy and indignation of his contemporaries, including the accomplished scholar and dramatist, Robert Greene. His Family and Education - Available biographical details of Shakespeare's early life. His Marriage and Relations with his Wife - Known facts of Shakespeare's relationship with Anne Hathaway. Shakespeare Index - An index of articles on to the Elizabethan dramatist. The Shakespeare-Bacon Theory - Analysis of the theory that the plays of William Shakespeare were not written by the man whose biography we are familiar with, but rather under pseudonym by Lord Chancellor Francis Bacon. Shakespeare Monologues - More monologues by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's Coined Words - A study of words coined by Shakespeare which either have been, or deserve to be, adopted into common usage. Shakespeare: Sonnets - An index of poems by William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare - A biography. William Shakespeare - A biography. Purchase books by William Shakespeare

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