60

70.

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And pride of their contention did take horse,
Uncertain of the issue any way.

KING. Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each soil

Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
The Earl of Douglas is discomfited:

Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,

'Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see

On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur took
Mordake the 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.

KING. Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me

sin

In envy that my Lord Northumberland
Should be the father to so blest a son,

A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;

69 Balk'd] Heaped up; arranged in balks or ridges.
71-72 Mordake beaten Douglas] Shakespeare on this point misread
Holinshed. Murdack or Murdoch, Earl of Fife and Menteith (line 73)

was eldest son of the Duke of Albany, governor or regent of Scotland;
he was not related to "beaten Douglas."

73 and Menteith] a subsidiary title of the Earl of Fife, who is mentioned in
line 71, supra. Shakespeare errs in making the Earl of Fife and
Menteith two persons.

80

Speik

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 proved
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
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 surprised,

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.

KING. 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; so inform the lords:
But come yourself with speed to us again;

83 minion] pet, favourite. Cf. I, ii, 25, infra.

97 in all aspects] an astrological term. Worcester is likened to a malignant star, all of whose "aspects" or positions in the heavens exert evil influence on King Henry's fortune.

98 prune himself] The figure is of a cock who manifests his proud selfsufficient temper by pruning or preening his feathers, i. e., picking off the loose "feathers" and smoothing the rest.

100

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 A 2

Enter the Prince of Wales and FALSTAFF

FAL. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? PRINCE. 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 wouldst 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-coloured taffeta, I see no reason why 10 thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand the time of the day.

FAL. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we

107 out of anger] when angry passions are roused.

2 fat-witted] dull-witted. Cf. Hen. V, III, vii, 130, “fat-brained." 3 old sack] See line 109, infra, and note.

4-5 forgotten... truly know] Falstaff's error apparently consists in asking the time of day at night-time.

8 leaping-houses] brothels.

9-10 flame-coloured taffeta] See Tw. Night, I, iii, 127: "a flame-coloured stock." "Taffeta" was a light and lustrous silken material.

that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phoebus, he, “that wandering knight so fair." And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy grace, majesty I should say, for grace thou

wilt have none,
PRINCE. What, none?

FAL. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter.

PRINCE. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. 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.

13 the seven stars] the Pleiades.

14 Phœbus. so fair."] Phœbus, i. e., the sun, suggests the mention of "the Knight of the Sun," the hero of a popular Spanish romance, El Donzel del Febo, which was familiar in English translations. 21 roundly] directly, without evasion. 22-24 let not us day's beauty] The general sense is that we who ply a (dishonest) trade by night have no wish to be called thieves in daytime. There is some characteristic quibbling on "night" and "knight.” An attendant on a knight was entitled an "esquire" or a "squire of his body." "The day's beauty" is a mere periphrasis for "day," a fantastic counterpart of "night's body."

24 Diana's foresters] Diana was Goddess both of the moon and of the

chase.

25 minions] Cf. I, i, 83, supra.

26 good government] good conduct.

PRINCE. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb 30 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 swearing "Lay by" and spent with crying "Bring in ;" 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. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

PRINCE. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the 40 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?

34 “Lay by ”] A nautical term. The meaning is here "Stand close" (cf. II, ii, 72 and 93, infra), the highwaymen's word of private warning among themselves to prepare for attack on a passer-by.

35 "Bring in"] sc. drink.

40 Hybla] A town in Sicily celebrated by classical poets for the sweetness of its honey. Cf. Jul. Caes., V, i, 34: "the Hybla bees."

40-41 my old lad of the castle] a punning allusion to the name of Sir John Oldcastle, which Shakespeare bestowed on Falstaff in the first draft of the piece. Cf. 2 Hen. IV, Epilogue, 29-30: "for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man."

41-42 a buff jerkin . . . durance] Sheriff's officers were dressed in buff, and "durance" means both "imprisonment" and a coarse cloth well known for its durability.

44 quips and... quiddities] jesting repartees and subtle quibbles.