And, as you are a king, speak in your state,1
What I have done, that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;

Therefore still bear the balance and the sword;
And I do wish your honors may increase,
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words ;-
Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son;
And not less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice.-You did commit me :
For which I do commit into your hand

The unstained sword that you have used to bear;
With this remembrance,-That you use the same
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit,

As you have done 'gainst me.

There is my hand;
You shall be as a father to my youth:

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear;
And I will stoop and humble my intents

To your well-practised, wise directions.

And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you ;—
My father is gone wild into his grave,2
For in his tomb lie my affections;
And with his spirit sadly I survive,
To mock the expectation of the world;
To frustrate prophecies; and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flowed in vanity, till now.
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea;
Where it shall mingle with the state3 of floods,

1 In your regal character and office.

2 The meaning may be, My wild dispositions having ceased on my father's death, and being now, as it were, buried in his tomb, he and wildness are interred in the same grave.

3 That is, with the majestic dignity of the ocean, the chief of floods.

And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament;
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best-governed nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us ;-
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.-
[To the Lord Chief Justice.

Our coronation done, we will accite,

As I before remembered, all our state;

And (God consigning to my good intents)

No prince, nor peer, shall have just cause to say, Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. Glostershire.

Glostershire. The Garden of Shallow's House.

Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, BARDOLPH, the Page, and DAVY.

Shal. Nay, you shall see mine orchard; where, in an arbor, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so forth ;— come, cousin Silence ;-and then to bed.

Fal. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling, and a rich.

Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all, sir John :—marry, good air.-Spread, Davy; spread, Davy; well said, Davy.

Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving-man, and your husbandman.

Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good

1 This passage, which was long a subject of dispute, some pertinaciously maintaining that carraways meant apples of that name, has been at length properly explained by the following quotations from Cogan's Haven of Health, 1599:-"For the same purpose careway seeds are used to be made in comfits, and to be eaten with apples, and surely very good for that purpose, for all such things as breed wind, would be eaten with other things that breake wind." Apples and carraways were formerly always eaten together; and it is said that they are still served up on particular days at Trinity college, Cambridge.

varlet, sir John.-By the mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper;—a good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down;-come, cousin.

Sil. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a,-we shall

Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer, [Singing.
And praise Heaven for the merry year,
When flesh is cheap, and females dear,
And lusty lads roam here and there,
So merrily,

And ever among so merrily.

Fal. There's a merry heart!-Good master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

Shal. Give master Bardolph some wine, Davy.

Davy. Sweet sir, sit; [Seating BARDOLPH and the Page at another table.] I'll be with you anon:-most sweet sir, sit.—Master page, good master page, sit; proface.1 What you want in meat, we'll have in drink. But you must bear; the heart's all.

[Exit. Shal. Be merry, master Bardolph ;-and my little soldier there, be merry.

Sil. Be merry, be merry, my wife has all; [Singing. For women are shrews, both short and tall:

'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all,2

And welcome merry Shrove-tide.3

Be merry, be merry, &c.

Fal. I did not think master Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Sil. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once,

ere now.

Re-enter DAVY.

4

Davy. There is a dish of leather-coats for you. [Setting them before BARDOLPH.

Shal. Davy,

1 An expression of welcome, equivalent to Much good may it do you! 2 This proverbial rhyme is of great antiquity; it is found in Adam Davie's Life of Alexander :

"Merrie swithe it is in hall

When the berdes waveth alle."

3 Shrovetide was the ancient carnival. 4 Apples, commonly called russetines.

Davy. Your worship?-I'll be with you straight. [To BARD.]-A cup of wine, sir?

Sil. A cup of wine, that's brisk and fine, [Singing.
And drink unto the leman mine;

And a merry heart lives long-a.

Fal. Well said, master Silence.

Sil. And we shall be merry;-now comes in the sweet of the night.

Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence.
Sil. Fill the cup, and let it come :

I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.

Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome; if thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart.Welcome, my little tiny thief; [To the Page.] and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes about London.

Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die.
Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,—

Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together. Ha! will you not, master Bardolph ?

Bard. Yes, sir, in a pottle pot.

Shal. I thank thee.-The knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that he will not out; he is true bred.

Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir.

Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing; be merry. [Knocking hard.] Look who's at door there. Ho! who knocks?

[Exit DAVY. Fal. Why, now you have done me right.

[To SILENCE, who drinks a bumper. [Singing.

Sil. Do me right,1

And dub me knight:
Samingo.3

Is't not so?

2

1 To do a man right and to do him reason, were formerly the usual expressions in pledging healths; he who drank a bumper expected that a bumper should be drunk to his toast.

2 He who drank a bumper on his knees to the health of his mistress, was dubbed a knight for the evening.

3 It has been supposed that the introduction of Domingo as a burthen to a drinking song, was intended as a satire on the luxury of the Domini

Fal. 'Tis so.

Sil. Is't so? Why, then say, an old man can do somewhat.

Re-enter DAVY.

Davy. An it please your worship, there's one Pistol come from the court with news.

Fal. From the court, let him come in.

Enter PISTOL.

Fal. How now, Pistol?

Pist. God save you, sir John!

Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good. Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the realm.

Sil. By'r lady, I think 'a be; but goodman Puff of Barson.

Pist. Puff?

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!-
Sir John, I am thy Pistol, and thy friend,

And helter-skelter have I rode to thee;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
And golden times, and happy news of price.

Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of

this world.

Pist. A foutra for the world, and worldlings base! I speak of Africa, and golden joys.

Fal. O, base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?

Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof.

Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.

[Sings.

Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons?

And shall good news be baffled ?

Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.

Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding. Pist. Why, then, lament therefore.

Shal. Give me pardon, sir.-If, sir, you come with

cans; but whether the change to Samingo was a blunder of Silence in his cups, or was a real contraction of San Domingo, is uncertain. Why Saint Dominick should be the patron of topers does not appear.