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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!-Well said, sir John; very well said. FAL. Prick him. [To SHALLOW.

MOUL. I was pricked well enough before, ant 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. were spent.

MOUL. Spent!

Mouldy, it is time you

SHAL. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside; 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: he's like to be a

cold soldier.

SHAL. Where's Shadow?

SHAD. Here, sir.

FAL. Shadow, whose son art thou?

SHAD. My mother's son, sir.

FAL. Thy mother's son!a 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. Where's he?

WART. Here, sir.

FAL. Is thy name Wart?

WART. Yea, sir.

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?

FEE. A woman's tailor, sir.

SHAL. Shall I prick him, sir?

FAL. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he would have

(*) First folio omits, faith. (†) First folio, if. (+) First folio adds, down. Thy mother's son!] Falstaff has indulged in the same quibble on son and sun in the First Part of "Henry IV." Act. II. Sc. 1:-"Shall the son of England prove a thief," &c. b But not much of the father's substance.] The quarto omits, not, reading,—

"But much of the father's substance."

And the folio omits much, both it would seem by mistake; unless but is to be understood in the sense of without, in which case the text of the quarto affords a pointed meaning.

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. Yea, marry, let us see Bull-calf.

BULL. Here, sir.

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.

FAL. What disease hast thou?

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?

SHAL. Here is two more called than your number; you must have but four here, sir;-and so, I pray you, go in with me to dinner.

FAL. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth, master Shallow.

SHAL. O, sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in Saint 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.

SIL. That's fifty-five year¶ ago.

First folio omits, sir.
First folio, Trust me.

First folio omits, By the mass.

(+) First folio inserts, the.
() First folio omits, lord.
(T) First folio, years.

SHAL. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that that this knight and I have seen!-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! (3)—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 anything about her, when I am gone; and she is old, and cannot help herself: you shall have forty, sir.

BARD. Go to; stand aside.

FEE. By my troth* I care not;-a man can die but once;-we owe Godf a death!-I'll ne'er bear a base mind:-an't‡ be my destiny, so; an't be not, so. No man's too good to serve his prince; and, let it go which way it will, he that dies this year, is quit for the next.

BARD. Well said; thou'rt a good fellow.

FEE. 'Faith,§ I'll bear no base mind.

Re-enter FALSTAFF, and Justices.

FAL. Come, sir, which men shall I have?

SHAL. Four, of which you please.

BARD. Sir, a word with you:-I have three pounds to free Mouldy and Bull-calf.

FAL. Go to; well.

SHAL. Come, sir John, which four will you 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 till 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 thews, the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man? Give me the spirit, master Shallow.-Here's

(†) First folio omits, God.
First folio, Nay.

(*) First folio omits, By my troth.
(1) First folio, if it.
() First folio, Where's.

I have three pound-] Johnson pointed out the wrong computation, and suggested, what no doubt was true, that Bardolph meant to pocket a portion of the profit.

b The thews,-] Shakespeare is almost the first writer who used this word in the sense of bodily vigour; its common application of old being to manners, or qualities of the mind.

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-faced 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 calivera into Wart's hand, Bardolph.

BARD. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus.

FAL. 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,b Wart; thou 'rt a good scab: hold, there's a tester for thee.

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, (4) there was a little quivere 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, the Lord bless you, and prosper your affairs; God send us peace! At your § 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 to any thick

First folio, Farewell.
First folio, and.

(†) First folio, heaven.
First folio, As you.

(I) First folio omits, Lord, lord.

A caliver-] Was a hand gun; smaller and lighter than the ordinary musket. b Well said,-] This hortatory phrase, meaning Well done," was very common. It occurs in "Henry IV." Part I. Act IV. Sc. 4, where Falstaff exclaims to the Prince, who is engaged in combat with Hotspur :-"Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!" And again, in the present play, Act V. Sc. 3, where Justice Shallow encourages his man of all work, with,-"Spread, Davy; spread, Davy; Well said, Davy."

A little quiver fellow,-] Quiver meant smart, nimble.

sight were invisible:* he was the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores call'd him-mandrake: he came ever in the rearward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-scutched huswifes that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger (5) 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 men. I saw it; and told John of Gaunt, he beat his own name: for you might have trussed him, and all his apparel, into an eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a court; and now hath 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 I.-A Forest in Yorkshire.

Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, MOWBRAY, HASTINGS, and others.

ARCH. What is this forest call'd?

HAST. '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.

HAST. We have sent forth already.

ARCH.

'Tis well done.
My friends and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have receiv'd
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cold intent, tenor and substance, thus:—
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers
As might hold sortance with his quality,
The which he could not levy; whereupon
He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes,
To Scotland; and concludes in hearty prayers,
That your attempts may overlive the hazard,
And fearful meeting of their opposite.

(*) Old text, invincible.

The very genius of famine ;] The folio, omitting the intermediate lines, reads,—“ he was the very Genius of famine: he came ever in the rearward of the fashion: And now is this Vice's dagger," &c.

b His fancies, or his good-nights.] Slight lyrical pieces were by the old poets sometimes called their " Fancies," or "Good-nights."

e Burst his head,-] To burst was to break. Thus in "The Taming of the Shrew," Induction, Sc. 1,-"You will not pay for the glasses you have burst ?"

d Opposite.] That is, adversary, opponent.

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