Fal. No abuse, Ned, in the world; honest Ned, none. I dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked might not fall in love with him:-in which doing, I have done the part of a careful friend, and a true subject, and thy father is to give me thanks for it. No abuse, Hal;-none, Ned, none;-no, boys, none. P. Hen. See now, whether pure fear, and entire cowardice, doth not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to close with us? Is she of the wicked? Is thine hostess here of the wicked? Or is the boy of the wicked? Or honest Bardolph, whose zeal burns in his nose, of the wicked? Poins. Answer, thou dead elm, answer. Fal. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecoverable: and his face is Lucifer's privykitchen, where he doth nothing but roast maltworms. For the boy,-there is a good angel about him; but the devil outbids him too. P. Hen. For the women, Fal. For one of them,-she is in hell already, and burns, poor soul! For the other, I owe her money; and whether she be damned for that, I know not. Host. No, I warrant you. Fal. No, I think thou art not; I think, thou art quit for that: Marry, there is another indictment upon thee, for suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house, contrary to the law; for the which, I think, thou wilt howl. Host. All victuallers do so: What's a joint of mutton or two in a whole Lent? P. Hen. You, gentlewoman,Dol. What says your grace? Fal. His grace says that which his flesh rebels against. Host. Who knocks so loud at door? look to the door there, Francis. Enter PETO. P. Hen. Peto, how now? what news? ster; And there are twenty weak and wearied posts, So idly to profane the precious time; [Exeunt Prince HENRY, POINS, PETO, and Fal. Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night, and we must hence, and leave it unpicked. [Knocking heard.] More knocking at the door? Re-enter BARDOLPH. How now? what's the matter? Bard. You must away to court, Sir, presently; a dozen captains stay at door for you. Fal. Pay the musicians, sirrah. [To the PAGE.-Farewell, hostess;-farewell, Doll. You see, my good wenches, how men of merit are sought after: the undeserver may sleep, when the man of action is called on. Farewell, good wenches: If I be not sent away post, I will see you again ere I go. Dol. I cannot speak;-If my heart be not ready to burst:-Well, sweet Jack, have a care of thyself. Fal. Farewell, farewell. [Exeunt FALSTAFF and BARDolph. Host. Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these twenty-nine years, come peascodtime, but an honester, and truer-hearted man, -Well, fare thee well. Bard. [Within.] Mistress Tear-sheet,—— Host. What's the matter? Bard. [Within.] Bid mistress Tear-sheet come to my master. Host. O run, Doll, run; run, good Doll. [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE 1.-A Room in the Palace. Enter King HENRY in his Nightgown, with a PAGE. K. Hen. Go, call the earls of Surrey and of Warwick; [letters, But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these And well consider of them: Make good speed.[Exit PAGE. How many thousand of my poorest subjects Are at this hour asleep!-Sleep, gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness? Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber; Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, Under the canopies of costly state, And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody? O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile, In loathsome beds; and leav'st the kingly couch, A watch-case, or a common 'larum be!!? Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains K. Hen. O heaven! that one might read the book of fate; [mock, And see the revolution of the times What perils past, what crosses to ensue, friends, Did feast together, and in two years after, But that necessity so bow'd the state, Shall break into corruption:-so went on, War. There is a history in all men's lives, SCENE 11-Court before Justice SHALLOW's House in Gloucestershire. Enter SHALLOW and SILENCE, meeting; MOULDY, SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, BULL-CALF, and Servants, behind. Shal. Come on, come on, come on; give me your hand, Sir, give me your hand, Sir: an early stirrer, by the rood. And how doth my good cousin Silence? Sil. Good morrow, good cousin Shallow. Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow? and your fairest daughter, and mine, my god-daughter Ellen? Sil. Alas, a black ouzel, cousin Shallow. Shal. By yea and nay, Sir, I dare say, my cousin William is become a good scholar: He is at Oxford, still, is he not? Sil. Indeed, Sir; to my cost. Shal. He must then to the inns of court shortly: I was once of Clement's-inn; where I think, they will talk of mad Shallow yet. Sil. You were called-lasty Shallow, then, cousin. Shal. By the mass, I was called any thing; and I would have done any thing, indeed, and roundly too. There was I, and little Joht Doit of Staffordshire, and black George Bare and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele Cotswold man,-you had not four such swinge bucklerst in all the inns of court again: and I may say to you, we knew where the bona robast were; and had the best of them all a commandment. Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy; and page to Thomas Mow bray, duke of Norfolk. Sil. This Sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon about soldiers? I Shal. The same Sir John, the very same. saw him break Skogan's head at the court gate, when he was a crack, not thus high: and the very same day did I fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's-inn. O the mad days that I have spent! and to see how many of mine old acquaintance are dead! Sil. We shall all follow, cousin. Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair? Sil. Truly, cousin, I was not there. Shal. Death is certain.-Is old Double o your town living yet? Sil. Dead, Sir. Ladies of pleasure. Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated, than with a wife. Shal. It is well said, in faith, Sir; and it is well said indeed too. Better accommodated! -it is good; yea, indeed, it is: good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable. Accommodated!-it comes from accommodo: very good; a good phrase. Bard. Pardon me, Sir: I have heard the word. Phrase, call you it? By this good day, I know not the phrase: but I will maintain the word with my sword, to be a soldier-like word, and a word of exceeding good command. Accommodated; That is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated: or, when a man is,-being, whereby, he may be thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing. Enter FALSTAFF. Shal. It is very just:-Look, here comes good Sir John.-Give me your hand, give me your worship's good hand: By my troth, you look well, and bear your years very well: welcome, good Sir John. Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master Robert Shallow-Master Sure-card, as I think. Shal. No, Sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission with me. Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you should be of the peace. Sil. Your good worship is welcome. Fal. Fie! this is hot weather.-Gentlemen, have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient men? Shal. Marry, have we, Sir. Will you sit? Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you. Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the roll ?-Let me see, let me see. So, so, so, so: Yea, marry, Sir :-Ralph Mouldy: -let them appear as I call; let them do so, let them do so. Let me see; Where is Mouldy? Moul. Here, an't please you. Shal. What think you, Sir John? a good limbed fellow: young, strong, and of good friends. Fal. Is thy name Mouldy? Moul. Yea, an't please you. Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used. Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i'faith! things, that are mouldy, lack use: Very singular good!--In faith, well said, Sir John; very well said. Fal. Prick him. [To SHALLOW. Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you could have let me alone: my old dame will be undone now, for one to do her husbandry, and her drudgery: you need not to have pricked me; there are other men fitter to go out than I. Fal. Go to; peace, Mouldy, you shall go. Mouldy, it is time you were spent. Moul. Spent! Know you where you are?-For the other, Sir John:-let me see;-Simon Shadow! Fal. Ay marry, let me have him to sit under: Ful. Shadow, whose son art thou? Fal. Thy mother's son! like enough; and thy father's shadow: so the son of the female is the shadow of the male: It is often so, indeed; but not much of the father's substance. Shal. Do you like him, Sir John? Fal. Shadow will serve for summer,-prick him ;-for we have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book. Shal. Thomas Wart! Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart. Shal. Shall I prick him, Sir John? Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame stands upon pins: prick him no more. Shal. Ha, ha, ha!-you can do it, Sir; you can do it: I commend you well.-Francis Feeble! Fee. Here, Sir. Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble? Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he would have pricked you.-Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat? Fee. I will do my good will, Sir; you can have no more. Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well said, courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse.-Prick the woman's tailor well, master Shallow; deep, master Shallow. Fee. I would, Wart might have gone, Sir. Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor; that thou might'st mend him, and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a private soldier, that is the leader of so many thousands: Let that suffice, most forcible Feeble. Fee. It shall suffice, Sir. Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble.Who is next? Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the green! Fal. 'Fore God, a likely fellow!--Come, prick me Bull-calf till he roar again. Bull. O lord! good my lord captain,Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked? Bull. O lord, Sir! I am a diseased man. Bull. A whoreson cold, Sir; a cough, Sir; which I caught with ringing in the king's affairs, upon his coronation day, Sir. Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will take such order, that thy friends shall ring for thee.-Is here all? and so, Shal. Here is two more called than your number; you must have but four here, Sir;pray you, go in with me to dinner. Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside; cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth, master Shallow. * Brave. Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in St. George's fields. Fal. No more of that, good master Shallow, no more of that. Shal. Ha, it was a merry night. And is Jane Night-work alive? Fal. She lives, master Shallow. Shal. She never could away with me. Fal. Never, never: she would always say, she could not abide master Shallow. Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the heart. She was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well? Fal. Old, old, master Shallow. Shal. Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose but be old; certain, she's old; and had Robin Night-work by old Night-work, before I came to Clement's-inn. -Here's Wart;-you see what a ragged appearance it is: he shall charge you, and discharge you, with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off, and on, swifter than he that gibbets-on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-fac'd fellow, Shadow,-give me this man; he presents no mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim level at the edge of a penknife: And, for a retreat,-how swiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off? O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.-Put me a calivert into Wart's hand, Bardolph. Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. Ful. Come, manage me your caliver. So:very well:-go to:-very good:-exceeding good.-O, give me always a little, lean, old, chapped, bald shot.-Well said, i'faith Wart; Sil. That's fifty-five year ago. Shal. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst thou'rt a good scab: hold, there's a tester for seen that that this knight and I have seen!-thee. Ha, Sir John, said I well? Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, master Shallow. Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; in faith, Sir John, we have; our watchword was, Hem, boys!-Come, let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner :-O, the days that we have seen!-Come, come. [Exeunt FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, and SILENCE. Bull. Good master corporate Bardolph, stand my friend; and here is four Harry ten shillings in French crowns for you. In very truth, Sir, I had as lief be hanged, Sir, as go: and yet, for mine own part, Sir, I do not care; but, rather, because I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a desire to stay with my friends; else, Sir, I did not care, for mine own part, so much. Bard. Go to; stand aside. Moul. And good master corporal captain, for my old dame's sake, stand my friend: she has nobody to do any thing about her, when I am gone and she is old, and cannot help herself: you shall have forty, Sir. : Bard. Go to; stand aside. Bard. Well said; thou'rt a good fellow. Re-enter FALSTAFF, and Justices. Shal. He is not his craft's-master, he doth not do it right. I remember at Mile-end green, (when I lay at Clement's inn,-I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show,||) there was a little quiver fellow, and 'a would manage you his piece thus: and 'a would about, and about, and come you in, and come you in: rah, tah, tah, would 'a say; bounce, would 'a say; and away again would 'a go, and again would 'a come:-I shall never see such a fellow. Fal. These fellows will do well, master Shallow.-God keep you, master Silence; I will not use many words with you:-Fare you well, gentlemen both: I thank you: I must a dozen mile to-night.-Bardolph give the soldiers coats. Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper your affairs, and send us peace! As you return, visit my house; let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure, I will with you to the court. Fal. I would you would, master Shallow. Shal. Go to; I have spoke, at a word. Fare you well. [Exeunt SHALLOW and SILENCE. Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bardolph; lead the men away. [Exeunt BARDOLPH, Recruits, &c.] As I return, I will fetch off these justices: I do see the bottom of justice Shallow. Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull-street;¶ and every third word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him at Clement's-inn, like a man made after supper of a cheese-paring: when he was naked, he was, for all the world, like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife: he was so forlorn, that his dimensions Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you to any thick sight were invisible: he was the have? Fal. Do you choose for me. Shal. Marry then,-Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble, and Shadow. Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf:-For you, Mouldy, stay at home still; you are past service:and, for your part, Bull-calf,-grow till you come unto it; I will none of you. Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong: they are your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the best. Fal. Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to choose a man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man Give me the spirit, master Shallow. very Genius of famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores called him-mandrake: he came ever in the rear-ward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-scutched huswives that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his goodnights.** And now is this Vice's daggertt become a squire; and talks as familiarly of John of Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head, for crowding among the marshal's inen. I saw it; and told John of Gaunt, he beat his own name: for you might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into an eel-skin; the case of a treble haut-boy was a mansion for him, a court; and now has he land and beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him, if I return and it shall go hard, but I will make him a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason, in the law of nature, but I may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end. [Exit. ACT IV. SCENE 1.-A Forest in Yorkshire. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, MOWBRAY, HASTINGS, and others. Arch. What is this forest call'd? Hust. 'Tis Gaultree forest, an't shall please your grace. Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send discoverers forth, To know the numbers of our enemies. My friends, and brethren in these great affairs, And dash themselves to pieces. Enter a MESSENGER. Hast. Now, what news? Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile, In goodly form comes on the enemy: And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number Upon, or near, the rate of thirty thousand. Moub. The just proportion that we gave them out. Let us sway on, and face them in the field. Enter WESTMORELAND. Arch. What well-appointed leader fronts us here? Mowb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland. West. Health and fair greeting from our general, The prince, lord John and duke of Lancaster. [peace; Unto your grace do I in chief address * Broke. Be suitable. Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd; Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd; [tor'd; Whose learning and good letters peace hath tuWhose white investments figure innocence, The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself, Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace, Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war? Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine To a loud trumpet, and a point of war? Arch. Wherefore do I this?-so the question stands. Briefly to this end :-We are all diseas'd; And find our griefs heavier than our offences. And have the summary of all our griefs, The dangers of the days but newly gone, West. When ever yet was your appeal denied? Wherein have you been galled by the king? To brother born an household cruelty, West. There is no need of any such redress; Or, if there were, it not belongs to you. Mowb. Why not to him, in part; and to us That feel the bruises of the days before; [all, And suffer the condition of these times To lay a heavy and unequal hand Upon our honours? West. O my good lord Mowbray, Construe the times to their necessities, And you shall say indeed,-it is the time, And not the king, that doth you injuries. Yet, for your part, it not appears to me, * Grievances. |