did you speak of me even now before this honest, virtuous, civil gentlewoman! HOST. God's blessing of your good heart! and so she is, by my troth. FAL. Didst thou hear me? PRINCE. Yea, and you knew me, as you did when you ran away by Gadshill: you knew I was at your back, and spoke it on purpose to try my patience. FAL. No, no, no; not so; I did not think thou wast within hearing. PRINCE. I shall drive you then to confess the wilful abuse; and then I know how to handle you. FAL. No abuse, Hal, o' mine honour; no abuse. PRINCE. Not to dispraise me, and call me pantler and bread-chipper and I know not what? FAL. No abuse, Hal. POINS. No abuse? FAL. No abuse, Ned, i' 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, faith, boys, none. PRINCE. See now, whether pure fear and entire cow-ardice 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 thy boy of the wicked? 303 Not to dispraise me] (Is it) not (abuse) to dispraise me? 315 to close with us] in order to humour us, to rebut our charges. 291 301 312 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 privy-kitchen, where he doth nothing but roast malt-worms. For the boy, there is a good angel about him; but the devil outbids him too. PRINCE. For the women? FAL. For one of them, she is in hell already, and burns poor souls. 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? PRINCE. You, gentlewoman, DOL. What says your grace ? FAL. His grace says that which his flesh rebels against. [Knocking within. 319 dead elm] Cf. line 248, supra: "withered elder." The allusion is to the poor support Falstaff gives Doll Tearsheet, who is implicitly likened to a vine. Cf. Com. of Errors, II, ii, 173: "Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine." 327 burns poor souls] gives the burning fever of (venereal) disease to poor souls. house] The law forbade victuallers to sell flesh 338 His grace] A pun on the word in its theological meaning of spiritual grace; i. e., the spiritual state essential to the soul's salvation. 319 329 HOST. Who knocks so loud at door? Look to the door there, Francis. Enter PETO PRINCE. Peto, how now! what news? PETO. The king your father is at Westminster; And there are twenty weak and wearied posts Come from the north: and, as I came along, I met and overtook a dozen captains, Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns, PRINCE. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame, So idly to profane the precious time; When tempest of commotion, like the south 840 350 Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt, Give me my sword and cloak. Falstaff, good night. [Exeunt Prince Henry, Poins, Peto, and Bardolph. FAL. Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night, and we must hence, and leave it unpicked. within.] More knocking at the door! Re-enter BARDOLPH How now! what's the matter? [Knocking BARD. You must away to court, sir, presently; A dozen captains stay at door for you. 350 the south] the south wind, which, according to Shakespeare, invariably denoted rain and tempest. 351 Borne with] Burdened with. 354 sweetest night." .. night] Cf. V, iii, 49–50, infra: "the sweet of the 359 FAL. [To the Page] Pay the musicians, sirrah. 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 peascod-time; but an honester and truer-hearted man, well, fare thee well. BARD. [Within] Mistress Tearsheet! HOST. What's the matter? BARD. [Within] Bid Mistress Tearsheet come to my master. HOST. O, run, Doll, run; run, good Doll: come. [She comes blubbered.] Yea, will you come, Doll? [Exeunt. 376 (stage direction) She comes blubbered] In the quarto these words form part of the text. The Folios omit them. Dyce first treated them as a stage direction. 371 KING Enter the KING in his nightgown, with a Page And well consider of them: make Are at this hour asleep! O 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, ACT III, SCENE I. The whole of this scene is omitted from most copies of the Quarto; but it is found in a few, on two inserted leaves. (stage direction) nightgown] dressing-gown. |