-if I tell thee a lie, spit in my face, call me horse, Thou know'st my old ward; here I lay, and thus I bore my point. Four rogues in buckram let drive at

me,

P. Hen. What, four! thou saidst but two, even

now.

Fal. Four, Hal; I told thee, four.

Poins. Ay, ay, he said four.

Fal. These four came all afront, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado, but took all their seven points in my target, thus.

P. Hen. Seven? why, there were but four, even

now.

Fal. In buckram,

Poins. Ay, four in buckram suits.

Fal. Seven, by these hilts, or I'm a villain else.

P. Hen. Pr'ythee, let him alone; we shall have

more anon.

Fal. Dost thou hear me, Hal?

P. Hen. Ay, and inark thee too, Jack.

Fal. Do so, for it is worth the listening to. These

nine in buckram, that I told thee of,P. Hen. So, two more already.

Fal. Their points being broken,-

Poins. Down fell their hose.

Fal. Began to give me ground; but I follow'd me close, came in foot and hand, and, with a thought, seven of the eleven I pay'd.

P. Hen. O monstrous! eleven buckram men grown out of two!

Fal. But, as the devil would have it, three misbegotten knaves, in Kendal green, came at my back, and let drive at me;-for it was so dark, Hal, that thou couldst not see thy hand.

P. Hen. These lies are like the father that begets them; gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Why, thou clay-brain'd guts; thou knotty-pated fool; thou whoreson, obscene, greasy tallow-keech,

Fal. What, art thou mad? art thou mad? is not the truth the truth?

:

P. Hen. Why, how couldst thou know these men Kendal green, when it was so dark thou couldst t see thy hand? come, tell us your reason: What 'st thou to this?

Poins. Come, your reason, Jack, your reason. Fal. What, upon compulsion? No; were I at the appado, or all the racks in the world, I would not 1 you on compulsion. Give you a reason on comIsion! if reasons were as plenty as black-berries, I ould give no man a reason upon compulsion, I. P. Hen. I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this nguine coward, this bed-presser, this horse backeaker, this huge hill of flesh,

Fal. Away, you starveling, you eel-skin, you dry'd cat's-tongue, you stock-fish, -O, for breath to utter hat is like thee!-you tailor's yard, you sheath, you w-case, you vile standing tuck,

P. Hen. Well, breathe a while, and then to it gain: and when thou hast tir'd thyself in base comarisons, hear me speak but this.

P. Hen. We two saw you four set on four; you ound them, and were masters of their wealth. Iark now, how plain a tale shall put you down. hen did we two set on you four; and, with a word, at-fac'd you from your prize, and have it; yea, and In show it you here in the house :-and, Falstaff, ou carried your guts away as nimbly, with as quick exterity, and roar'd for mercy, and still ran and ar'd, as ever I heard bull-calf. What a slave art ou, to hack thy sword as thou hast done, and then y it was in fight! What trick, what device, what arting-hole canst thou now find out, to hide thee om this open and apparent shame ?

Poins. Come, let's hear, Jack, what trick hast thou Ow?

Fal. By the lord, I knew ye, as well as he that ade ye. Why, hear ye, my masters: was it for me kill the heir apparent? should I turn upon the true rince? Why, thou know'st I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware instinct; the lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is a great matter; I was a coward on instinct. I shall think the better of myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. But, by the lord, lads, I am glad you have the money. Hostess, clap to the doors; watch to-night, pray to-morrow. Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you! What, shall we be merry ? shall we have a play extempore?

P. Hen. Content; and the argument shall be thy running away.

Fal. Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lov'st me. Enter Hostess.

Host. My lord the prince,

P. Hen. How now, my lady the hostess; what say'st thou to me?

Host. Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door, would speak with you: he says, he comes from your father.

P. Hen. Give him as much as will make him a royal mån, and send him back again to my mother. Fal. What manner of man is he?

Host. An old man.

Fal. What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight?

-Shall I give him his answer?

P. Hen. Pry'thee, do, Jack.

Fal. 'Faith, and I 'll send him packing.

[Exeunt FALSTAFF and Hostess.

P. Hen. Now, sirs; by 'r lady, you fought fair; so did you, Peto; so did you, Bardolph; you are lions too, you ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true prince; no,-fie!

Bard. 'Faith, I ran when I saw others run.

P. Hen. Tell me now, in earnest, How came Falstaff's sword so hack'd?

Peto. Why, he hack'd it with his dagger; and said, he would swear truth out of England, but he would make you believe it was done in fight, and persuaded us to do the like.

Bard. Yea, and to tickle our noses with spear-grass, make them bleed; and then to beslubber our garents with it, and swear it was the blood of true en. I did that I did not these seven years before, I ush'd to hear his monstrous devices.

P. Hen. O villain, thou stol'st a cup of sack ghteen years ago, and wert taken with the manner, d ever since thou hast blush'd extempore: thou dst fire and sword on thy side, and yet thou ran'st ay:-What instinct hadst thou for it?

Bard. My lord, do you see these meteors ? do you hold these exhalations?

P. Hen. I do.

Bard. What think you they portend?
P. Hen. Hot livers, and cold purses.
Bard. Choler, my lord, if rightly taken.
P. Hen. No, if rightly taken, halter.

ere comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone. How w, my sweet creature of bombast? How long is 't o, Jack, since thou saw'st thine own knee? Fal. My own knee? when I was about thy years, al, I was not an eagle's talon in the waist ; I could ve crept into an alderman's thumb-ring: A plague sighing and grief! it blows a man up like a blad. There's villainous news abroad: here was Sir hn Bracy from your father; you must to the court the morning. That same mad fellow of the north, rcy; and he of Wales, that gave Amaimon the stinado, and made Lucifer cuckold, and swore the vil his true liegeman upon the cross of a Welsh ok, -What a plague call you him?Poins. O, Glendower.

Fal. Owen, Owen; the same ;-and his son-in✓ Mortimer; and old Northumberland; and that ightly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseck up a hill perpendicular.

P. Hen. He that rides at high speed, and with his tol kills a sparrow flying.

Fal. You have hit it.

P. Hen. So did he never the sparrow.

Fal. Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him; he

will not run.

P. Hen. Why, what a rascal art thou then, to praise him so for running?

Fal. O' horseback, ye cuckoo ! but, afoot, he will not budge a foot.

P. Hen. Yes, Jack, upon instinct.

Fal. I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is there too, and one Mordake, and a thousand blue-caps more; Worcester is stolen away by night; thy father's beard is turn'd white with the news; you may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel.

P. Hen. Then, 't is like, if there come a hot June, and this civil buffeting hold, we shall buy maidens as they buy hob-nails, by the hundreds.

Fal. By the mass, lad, thou say'st true; it is like, we shall have good trading that way. But, tell me, Hal, art thou not horribly afeard? thou being heir apparent, could the world pick thee out three such enemies again, as that fiend Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? Art thou not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at it?

P. Hen. Not a whit, i faith; I lack some of thy instinct.

Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to-morrow, when thou comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an answer.

Enter Hostess.

Host. O, my lord, my lord!

Fal. Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddlestick: What's the matter?

Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they are come to search the house: shall I let them in ?

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of gold, a counterfeit: thou art essentially mad, without seeming so.