The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
(Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and engag'd to fight,)
Forthwith a power of English shall we levy ;*
Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' womb
To chase these pagans, in those holy fields,
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet,
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd,
For our advantage, on the bitter cross.
But this our purpose is a twelvemonth old,
And bootless 't is to tell you-we will go;
Therefore we meet not now: b-Then let me hear
Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
What yesternight our council did decree,
In forwarding this dear expedience.

West. My liege, this haste was hot in question, And limits of the charge set down

many

:

But yesternight when, all athwart, there came
A post from Wales, loaden with heavy news;
Whose worst was,—that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
Against the irregular and wild Glendower,
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken,
And a thousand of his people butchered:
Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,
Such beastly, shameless transformation,
By those Welshwomen done, as may not be,
Without much shame, re-told or spoken of.

K. Hen. It seems, then, that the tidings of this broil

Brake off our business for the Holy Land.

West. This, match'd with other like, my gracious lord.

Far more uneven and unwelcome news

Came from the north, and thus it did report:
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,

e

a Levy. Gifford (Ben Jonson, v., 138) has properly rebuked the rash disposition of Steevens to meddle with the text, in a remark upon the passage before us. Steevens says, to levy a power as far as to the sepulchre of Christ is an expression quite unexampled, if not corrupt; and he proposes to read lead. "The expression is neither unexampled nor corrupt," says Gifford, "but good authorized English. One instance of it is before me: Scipio, before he levied his force to the walles of Carthage, gave his soldiers the print of the citie in a cake to be devoured.' Gosson's School of Abuse, 1587."

b Therefore we meet not now. We do not meet now on that account.

e Limits. To limit is to define-and therefore the limits of the charge may be the calculations, the estimates.

d Welshwomen, &c. The story is told in Walsingham, and may be found in Andrews' History of Great Britain, vol. i., part ii, p. 4.

e Our reading of this passage is that of the folio, and some of the quartos. The first quarto, which has been followed in most modern editions, is thus:

"This, match'd with other, did, my gracious lord;
For more uneven and unwelcome news

Came from the north, and thus it did import."

Mordake earl of Fife, and eldest son

To beaten Douglas; and the earl of Athol,
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith.
And is not this an honourable spoil?
A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?
West. In faith,

It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.
K. Hen. Yea, there thou mak'st me sad, and
mak'st me sin

In envy that my lord Northumberland
Should be the father of so blest a son:
A son, who is the theme of honour's tongue;
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
Who is sweet fortune's minion, and her pride:
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and dishonour stain the brow

Of my young Harry. O, that it could be prov'd,
That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.
But let him from my thoughts :-What think
you coz',

Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath surpris'd,
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake earl of Fife.

West. This is his uncle's teaching, this is
Worcester,

Malevolent to you in all aspects;
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up
The crest of youth against your dignity.

K. Hen. But I have sent for him to answer this:

And, for this cause, awhile we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.

Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we
Will hold at Windsor; and so inform the lords;
But come yourself with speed to us again;
For more is to be said, and to be done,
Than out of anger can be uttered.
West. I will, my liege.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. —London. An Apartment of the Prince's.

Enter HENRY, Prince of WALES, and FALSTAFF. Fal. Now, Hal, what time o' day is it, lad? P. Hen. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou would'st truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame colour'd taffata; I see no reason why thou should'st be so superflous to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me, now, Hal: for we, that take purses, go by the moon and seven stars; and not by Phoebus,-he, that wanderering knight so fair. And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king,-as, God save thy grace, (majesty, I should thou say; for grace wilt have none,)

P. Hen. What! none? Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter.

P. Hen. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.

a

Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty; let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon: And let men say, we be men of good government; being governed as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

P. Hen. Thou say'st well; and it holds well

a Day's beauty—perhaps beauty is meant to be pronounced booty, as it is sometimes provincially.

too for the fortune of us, that are the moon's men, doth ebb and flow like the sea; being governed as the sea is by the moon. As for proof. Now, a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night, and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearinglay by ; and spent with crying-bring in :o now, in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder; and, by and by, in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

Fal. Thou say'st true, lad. And is not my

hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

P. Hen. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance ?*

Fal. How now, how now, mad wag? what, in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin?

P. Hen. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?

Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft.

P. Hen. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?

Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.

P. Hen. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not I have used my credit.

Fal. Yea, and so used it, that were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent,-But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is, with the rusty curb of old father antick the law? Do not thou when thou art king hang a thief.

P. Hen. No; thou shalt.

Fal. Shall I? O rare! I'll be a brave judge.

P. Hen. Thou judgest false already; I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves, and so become a rare hangman.

Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it

a As for proof. We point this according to the punctuation of the old copies.

b Lay by-stop. To lay by, in navigation, is to slacken sail. c Bring in-the call to the drawers for more wine.

d Old lad of the castle. Lad of the castle was a somewhat common term in Shakspere's time, and is found in several contemporary writers. Farmer says it meant lad of Castile -a Castilian. The passage in the text, in connexion with other circumstances, has given rise to the notion that Sir John Oldcastle was pointed at in the character of Falstaff. (See Introductory Notice.)

e Robe of durance. The buff-jerkin, the coat of ox-skin, (boeuf) was worn by sheriff's officers. It was a robe of durance, an "everlasting garment," as in the Comedy of Errors; but it was also a robe of "durance " in a sense that would not furnish an agreeable association to one who was always in debt and danger, as Falstaff was.

jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you.

P. Hen. For obtaining of suits?

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits: whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. I am as melancholy as a gib cat," or a lugged bear.

P. Hen. Or an old lion; or a lover's lute. Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.2

P. Hen. What say'st thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch ?3

Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes; and art, indeed, the most comparative, rascallest, sweet young prince. But Hal, I prithee trouble me no more with vanity. I would thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought! An old lord of the council rated me the other day in the street about you, sir; but I marked him not: and yet he talked very wisely; but I regarded him not: and yet he talked wisely, and in the street too.

P. Hen. Thou did'st well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.

Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration: and art, indeed, able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm unto me, Hal,-God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now I am, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over; an I do not, I am a villain; I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom.

P. Hen. Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack?

Fal. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain and baffle me.

P. Hen. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying to purse-taking.

Enter POINS, at a distance.

Fal. Why, Hal, 't is my vocation, Hal; 't is no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins!-Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a watch. O, if men were to be saved by

a Gib cat. Gib and Tib were old English names for a male cat. We have Tybalt called "king of cats" in Romeo and Juliet. Tybert is the cat in Reynard the Fox. Chaucer, in the Romaunt of the Rose, gives "Gibbe," as the translation of Thibert," the cat. The name appears to have been applied to an old male cat, whose gravity approaches to the character of melancholy.

b Iteration-repetition-not mere citation as some have thought. Falstaff does not complain only of Hal's quoting a scriptural text, but that he has been retorting and distorting the meaning of his words throughout the scene. For example, Falstaff talks of the sun and moon-the Prince retorts with the sea and moon;- Falstaff uses hanging in one sense, the Prince in another;-so of judging and so in the passage which at last provokes Falstaff's complaint.

c Set a watch. The folio reads thus; the quartos set a

merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried Stand, to a true man. P. Hen. Good morrow, Ned

Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says monsieur Remorse? What says sir John Sackand-Sugar? Jack, how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last, for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg?

P. Hen. Sir John stands to his word,-the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs, he will give the devil his due.

Poins. Then art thou damn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

P. Hen. Else he had been damn'd for cozening the devil.

Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill:5 There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purses: I have visors for you all, you have horses for yourselves; Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have bespoke supper to-morrow in Eastcheap; we may do it as secure as sleep: If you will go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hanged.

a

Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not, I'll hang you for going.

Poins. You will, chops?

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?

P. Hen. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.

Fal. There 's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.b

P. Hen. Well, then, once in my days, I'll be a mad-cap.

Fal. Why that 's well said.

P. Hen. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.

Fal. I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

match. Steevens says, "as no watch is afterwards set I suppose match is the true reading." To "set a match appears, from a passage in Ben Jonson, to be to "make an appointment." But Gadshill, it seems to us, was in communication with the chamberlain of the Rochester inn; and this chamberlain, who was to have a share in the "purchase," was the watch or spy that Gadshill had set. When Gadshill meets Falstaff and Poins he is received with "0, 't is our setter."

སྙ་

Hear ye. This, which is the reading of the old editions, was once changed into the feeble Hear me. "Hear ye is the same as "Hark ye."

b Ten shillings was the value of the royal. Hence Falstaff's quibble.

P. Hen. I care not.

Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone; I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go.

Fal. Well, may'st thou have the spirit of persuasion and he the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may move and what he hears may be believed, that the true prince may (for recreation sake) prove a false thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: You shall find me in Eastcheap.

P. Hen. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell All-hallown summer! [Exit FALSTAFF. Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow; I have a jest to execute, that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill, shall rob those men that we have already way-laid; yourself and I will not be there and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from my shoulders.

:

P. Hen. But how shall we part with them in setting forth?

Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail: and then will they adventure upon the exploit themselves: which they shall have no sooner achieved, but we'll set upon them.

P. Hen. Ay, but 'tis like that they will know us, by our horses, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves.

Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see, I'll tie them in the wood; our visors we will change, after we leave them; and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the nonce,d to immask our noted outward garments.

P. Hen. But, I doubt they will be too hard for us.

Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees

↑ All-hollown summer-Summer in November-on the first of which month is the feast of All-hallows, or All Saints. Fuistaf, &c. In the old copies we read, "Falstaff, Harrey, Rossil, and Gadshill." Harvey and Rossil were, most probably, the names of actors, for Bardolph and Peto were two of the four robbers. (See Act II.) The correction was made by Theobald.

Surrak, in this and other passages is used familiarly, and even sharply, but not contemptuously. The word is Supposed to have meant, originally, Sir, ha! which etymology agrees with Shakspere's general application of the term. 4 For the nonce. Gifford's explanation of this phrase, (which is also the interpretation of Lord Hailes) is undoubtedly the true one. "For the nonce is simply for the oncefor the one thing in question, whatever it be. *** The progress of this expression is distinctly marked in our early Writers, a ones'-' an anes'-'for the ones'-' for the aues for the nones '-'for the nonce.'" (Ben Jonson's WO, i, 218.)

HISTORIES.-VOL. I. N

reason I'll forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this fat rogue will tell us, when we meet at supper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this lies the jest.

P. Hen. Well, I'll go with thee; provide us all things necessary and meet me. To-morrow night in Eastcheap, there I'll sup.

a

Farewell. [Erit POINS. P. Hen. I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyok'd humour of your idleness; Yet herein will I imitate the sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds To smother up his beauty from the world, That when he please again to be himself, Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at, By breaking through the foul and ugly mists Of vapours that did seem to strangle him. If all the year were playing holidays, To sport would be as tedious as to work; But when they seldom come they wish'd-for

Poins. Farewell, my lord.

Enter KING HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and others.

K. Hen. My blood hath been too cold and temperate,

Unapt to stir at these indignities,
And you have found me; for, accordingly,
You tread upon my patience: but, be sure,

To-morrow night. Steevens thinks we should read tenight, for the robbery was to be committed at four in the morning. But the Prince is thinking less of the exploit at Gadshill than of "the virtue of this jest-when we meet at supper," after the robbery. Perhaps some intermediate place of meeting was thought of by the Prince:-but he breaks off exultingly, with his head full of the supper 'tomorrow night.' We have ventured to point the passage in this sense.

b Hopes-expectations. Thus, the Tanner of Tamworth said to Edward IV., “I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow." 175

Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new reap'd,
Shew'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;
He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon

a Condition-temper of mind.

b We print these three lines as in the old copies. Steevens, who was followed in the current editions, tampered with them thus:

"Worcester, get thee gone, for I see danger,
And disobedience in thine eye: O, sir,
Your presence is too bold and peremptory."

e Frontier. Steevens says "frontier was anciently used for forehead;" but assuredly it is not so used here. What means "the moody forehead of a brow?" Capell, who has been unwisely neglected, through his general obscurity, tells us that frontier is a metaphorical expression, highly proper, implying-arm'd to oppose: opposition to the will of a master being as plainly indicated by such a 'brow' as the king is describing, as war by a town or town's frontier, furnished against invasion." (Notes and various Readings, vol. i. p. 153.)

d Misprision. So the quartos. The folio reads "Who either through envy or misprision."

He
gave
his nose, and took 't away again;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in snuff: and still he smil'd and talk'd;
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
With many holiday and lady terms
He question'd me; among the rest, demanded
My prisoners, in your majesty's behalf.

I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold,

To be so pester'd with a popinjay,

Out of my grief and my impatience
Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what ;

He should, or should not; for he made me mad,

To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman

Of

guns, and drums, and wounds, (God save the
mark !)

And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,
That villainous saltpetre should be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns
He would himself have been a soldier.
This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,
I answer'd indirectly, as I said;
And, I beseech you, let not this report
Come current for an accusation,
Betwixt my love and your high majesty.
Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my
lord,

Whatever Harry Percy then had said
To such a person, and in such a place,
At such a time, with all the rest re-told,
May reasonably die, and never rise
To do him wrong, or any way impeach
What then he said, so he unsay it now.

K. Hen. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners; But with proviso, and exception,

That we, at our own charge, shall ransom straight
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
Who, in my soul, hath wilfully betray'd
The lives of those that he did lead to fight
Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower;
Whose daughter, as we hear, the earl of March
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers then
Be emptied, to redeem a traitor home?

a Snuff. Aromatic powders were used as snuff long before the introduction of tobacco. The folio

b I answered indirectly. So the quartos. "made me to answer indirectly."