Perpend my words, O signieur Dew, and mark;-
O signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,"
Except, O signieur, thou do give to me
Egregious ransome.

Fr. Sol. O, prennez misericorde! ayez pitié de moy!
Pist. Moy shall not serve, I will have forty moys;
For I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat,

In drops of crimson blood.

Fr. Sol. Est il impossible d'eschapper la force de ton bras? Pist. Brass, cur!

8

men," and it ends thus: "From the offspring of gentlemanly Japhet came Abraham, Moyses, Aaron, and the Prophets; and also the king of the right line of Mary, of whom that only absolute gentleman Jesus, was borne:-gentleman, by his mother Mary,, princesse of coat armor." Farmer.

6

thou diest on point of fox,] Fox is an old cant word for a sword. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster:

"I made my father's old fox fly about his ears."

The same expression occurs in The Two Angry Women of Abington, 1599: "I had a sword, ay the flower of Smithfield for a sword; a right fox i'faith." Steevens.

7 For I will fetch thy rim-] We should read:

Or, I will fetch thy ransome out of thy throat. Warburton. It appears from Sir Arthur Gorge'es translation of Lucan, 1614, that some part of the intestines was anciently called the rim, Lucan, Book I:

"The slender rimme too weake to part
"The boyling liver from the heart

parvusque secat vitalia limes. L. 623. "Parvus limes (says one of the scholiasts) præcordia indicat; membrana illa quæ cor et pulmones a jecore et liene dirimit." I believe it is now called the diaphragm in human creatures, and the skirt or midriff in beasts; but still, in some places, the rim.

Phil. Holland, in his translation of Pliny's Natural History, several times mentions the rim of the paunch. See Book XXVIII, ch. ix, p. 321, &c.

Again, in Chapman's version of the 14th Iliad:

Steevens.

"And strook him in his belly's rimme; -." Cole, in his Dictionary, 1678, describes it as the caul in which the bowels are wrapped. Malone.

8 Brass, cur] Either Shakspeare had very little knowledge in the French language, or his over-fondness for punning led him, in this place, contrary to his own judgment, into an error. Almost every one knows that the French word bras is pronounced brau; and what resemblance of sound does this bear to brass, that Pistol should reply, Brass, cur! The joke would appear to

Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat,
Offer'st me brass?

Fr. Sol. O pardonnez moy!

Pist. Say'st thou me so? is that a ton of moys?1.
Come hither, boy; Ask me this slave in French,
What is his name.

Boy. Escoutez; Comment estes vous appellé?
Fr. Sol. Monsieur le Fer.

Boy. He says, his name is-master Fer.

Pist. Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk him, and ferret him:-discuss the same in French unto him.

Boy. I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and firk.

Pist. Bid him prepare, for I will cut his throat.
Fr, Sol. Que dit-il, monsieur?

Boy. Il me commande de vous dire que vous faites vous prest; car ce soldat icy est disposé tout à cette heure de couper vostre gorge.

Pist. Ouy, coupre gorge, par ma foy, pesant,
Unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns;
Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword.

Fr. Sol. O, je vous supplie pour l'amour de Dieu, me pardonner! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne maison; gardez ma vie, & je vous donneray deux cents escus.

Pist. What are his words?

Boy. He prays you to save his life: he is a gentleman of a good house; and, for his ransome, he will give you two hundred crowns.

a reader, but could scarce be discovered in the performance of the play. Sir W. Rawlinson.

9 luxurious mountain goat,] Luxurious means lascivious. Steevens.

1a ton of moys?] Moy is a piece of money; whence moi d'or, or moi of gold. Johnson.

2

and firk him,] The word firk is so variously used by the old writers, that it is almost impossible to ascertain its precise meaning. On this occasion it may mean to chastise. So, in RamAlley, or Merry Tricks, 1611:

nay, I will firk

"My silly novice, as he was never firk'd

"Since midwives bound his noddle."

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Rule a Wife, &c. it means to collect by low and dishonest industry:

these five years she has firk'd A pretty living." Steevens.

Pist. Tell him,-my fury shall abate, and I The crowns will take.

Fr. Sol. Petit monsieur, que dit-il?

Boy. Encore qu'il est contre son jurement, de pardonner aucun prisonnier; neantmoins, pour les escus que vous l'avez promis, il est content de vous donner la liberté, le franchisement.

Fr. Sol. Sur mes genoux, je vous donne mille remerciemens: je m'estime heureux que je suis tombé entre les mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le plus brave, valiant, & tres distingué seigneur d'Angleterre.

Pist. Expound unto me, boy.

Boy. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks: and he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen into the hands of (as he thinks) the most brave, valorous, and thrice-worthy signieur of England.

Pist. As I suck blood, I will some mercy show.

Follow me, cur.

Boy. Suivez vous le grand capitaine.

[Exit PIST [Exit Fr. Sol.

I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart: but the saying is true,―The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. Bardolph, and Nym, had ten times more valour than this roaring devil i' the old play,3 that every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger; and they are both hanged; and so would this be, if he durst steal any thing adventurously. I must stay with the lackeys, with the luggage of our camp: the French

3

this roaring devil i' the old play,] In modern puppet-shows, which seem to be copied from the old farces, Punch sometimes fights the devil, and always overcomes him. I suppose the vice of the old farce, to whom Punch succeeds, used to fight the devil with a wooden dagger. Johnson.

In the old moralities the devil was always attacked by the Vice, who belaboured him with his lath, and sent him roaring off the stage. So, in Twelfth Night:

"In a trice,

"Like to the old vice,

The reason of the Vice's endeavouring to entertain the audience, by attempting to pare the devil's nails, has been already assigned in a note on Twelfth Night, Vol. III, p. 287, n. 9. See also a note on King Richard III, Act III, sc. i. Malone.

SCENE VI.

Another Part of the Field.

Alarums. Enter King HENRY and Forces; EXETER, and Others.

K. Hen. Well have we done, thrice-valiant country

men:

But all 's not done, yet keep the French the field.

Exe. The duke of York commends him to your ma

jesty.

K. Hen. Lives he, good uncle? thrice, within this

hour,

I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting;
From helmet to the spur, all blood he was.

Exe. In which array, (brave soldier) doth he lie,
Larding the plain:1 and by his bloody side,
(Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds)
The noble earl of Suffolk also lies.

Suffolk first died: and York, all haggled over,
Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd,
And takes him by the beard; kisses the gashes,
That bloodily did yawn upon his face;

And cries aloud,-Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!
My soul shall thine keep company to heaven:
Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly a-breast;
As, in this glorious and well-fought en field,
We kept together in our chivalry!

Upon these words I came, and cheer'd him up:
He smil'd me in the face, raught2 me his hand,
And, with a feeble gripe, says,-Dear my lord,
Commend my service to my sovereign.

So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck

He threw his wounded arm, and kiss'd his lips;
And so, espous'd to death, with blood he seal'd
A testament of noble-ending love.3

1 Larding the plain:] So, in King Henry IV, Part I: "And lards the lean earth as he walks along." Steevens. raught - i. e. reached. Steevens.

2

3 A testament of noble-ending love.] So the folio. The quarto reads:

An argument of never-ending love. Malone.

The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd

Those waters from me, which I would have stopp'd;
But I had not so much of man in me,

But all my mother came into mine eyes,

And gave me up to tears.4

K. Hen.
For, hearing this, I must perforce compound

5

I blame you not;

[Alarum.

With mistful eyes, or they will issue too.

But, hark! what new alarum is this same?6

The French have reinforc'd their scatter'd men:-
Then every soldier kill his prisoners;

Give the word through.7

4 But all my mother came into mine eyes,

[Exeunt.

And gave me up to tears.] Thus the quarto. The folio readsAnd all &c. But has here the force of-But that. Malone. This thought is apparently copied by Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IX:

66 compassion quell'd

Steevens.

"His best of man, and gave him up to tears." Dryden also, in All for Love, Act I, has the same expression: "Look, Emperor, this is no common dew. "I have not wept this forty years; but now "My mother comes afresh into my eyes:

"I cannot help her softness." Reed.

5 With mistful eyes,] The folio-mixtful. The passage is not in the quarto. Malone.

The poet must have wrote-mistful: i. e. just ready to overrun with tears. The word he took from his observation of nature: for, just before the bursting out of tears, the eyes grow dim, as if in a mist. Warburton.

6 what new alarum is this same?] The alarum on which Henry ordered the prisoners to be slain, was sounded by the affrighted runaways from his own camp, who brought intelligence that the French had got behind him, and had pillaged it. See a subsequent note. Not knowing the extent of his danger, he gave the order here mentioned, that every soldier should kill his pri

soners.

After Henry speaks these words, "what new alarum is this same?" Shakspeare probably intended that a messenger should enter, and secretly communicate this intelligence to him; though by some negligence no such marginal direction appears. Malone. 7 Give the word through.] Here the quartos, 1600 and 1608, ri diculously add:

Pist. Couper gorge. Steevens.