Host. So I told him, my lord; and I said, I heard your grace say so; and, my lord, he speaks most vilely of you, like a foul-mouthed man as he is; and said, he would cudgel you?

P. Hen. What! he did not?

Host. There's neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in me else.

1

Fal. There's no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune; nor no more truth in thee than in a drawn fox; and for womanhood, maid Marian 2 may be the deputy's wife of the ward to thee. Go, you thing, go.

2

Host. Say, what thing? what thing?

Fal. What thing? why, a thing to thank Heaven on.3 Host. I am no thing to thank Heaven on, I would thou should'st know it; I am an honest man's wife: and, setting thy knighthood aside, thou art a knave to call me so.

Fal. Setting thy womanhood aside, thou art a beast to say otherwise.

Host. Say, what beast, thou knave, thou?

Fal. What beast? why, an otter.

P. Hen. An otter, Sir John! why, an otter.
Fal. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh.

Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so, thou knave, thou!

P. Hen. Thou say'st true, hostess; and he slanders thee most grossly.

A drawn fox.] A fox when drawn from his kennel is very subtle in devising expedients for his safety.

2 Maid Marian.] A female character in the morris dances, often personated by a man. The original Maid Marian was Robin Hood's forest queen.

3 To thank Heaven on.] To thank Heaven that we are not such.

Host. So he doth you, my lord; and said this other day, you ought1 him a thousand pound.

P. Hen. Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound?

Fal. A thousand pound, Hal? a million: thy love is worth a million; thou owest me thy love.

Host. Nay, my lord, he called you Jack, and said he would cudgel you.

Fal. Did I, Bardolph ?

Bard. Indeed, sir John, you said so.

Fal. Yea; if he said my ring was copper.

P. Hen. I say, 't is copper: darest thou be as good as thy word now?

Fal. Why, Hal, thou knowest, as thou art but man, I dare: but as thou art prince, I fear thee, as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp.

P. Hen. And why not as the lion?

Fal. The king himself is to be feared as the lion: dost thou think, I'll fear thee as I fear thy father? nay, an I do, I pray God, my girdle break!

P. Hen. O, if it should, how would thy guts fall about thy knees! But sirrah, there's no room for faith, truth, nor honesty, in this bosom of thine; it is all filled up with guts and midriff. Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket! Why, thou whoreson, impudent, embossed rascal, if there were anything in thy pocket but tavernreckonings, memorandums, and one poor penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long-winded; if thy pocket were enriched with any other injuries but these, I am a villain. And yet you will stand to it, you will not pocket up wrong :

art thou not ashamed?

1 Ought.] This form of the past tense of owe was often used for owed.

2 Embossed.] Swollen, puffed up.

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? thou knowest, in the state of innocency, Adam fell; and what should poor Jack Falstaff do, in the days of villainy? Thou seest, I have more flesh than another man; and therefore more frailty.——You confess then, you picked my pocket?

P. Hen. It appears so by the story.

Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee. Go, make ready breakfast; love thy husband, look to thy servants, cherish thy guests: thou shalt find me tractable to any honest reason: thou seest, I am pacified still. Nay, prithee, be gone. [Exit Hostess.] Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, lad,-How is that answered?

P. Hen. O, my sweet beef, I must still be good angel1 to thee the money is paid back again.

Fal. O, I do not like that paying back, 'tis a double labour.

P. Hen. I am good friends with my father, and may do anything.

Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou dost, and do it with unwashed hands too.2

Bard. Do, my lord.

P. Hen. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot. Fal. I would it had been of horse. Where shall I find one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, of two-andtwenty, or thereabout! I am heinously unprovided. Well, God be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous; I laud them; I praise them.

P. Hen. Bardolph!--
Bard. My lord.

1 Good angel.] A quibbling allusion to the coin called an angel. 2 With unwashed hands too.] Without thinking that you do wrong. An allusion to the ceremony of washing the hands when one is compelled to act contrary to his own sense of right.

To

P. Hen. Go, bear this letter to lord John of Lancaster,

my brother John; this to my lord of Westmoreland.Go, Poins, to horse, to horse ;-for thou and I

Have thirty miles to ride yet ere dinner time.-
Jack, meet me to-morrow in the Temple hall
At two o'clock i' the afternoon :

There shalt thou know thy charge, and there receive
Money, and order for their furniture.

The land is burning, Percy stands on high;

And either they, or we, must lower lie.

[Exeunt PRINCE, POINS, and BARDOLPH.

Fal. Rare words! brave world!

fast; come:

-Hostess, my break

[Exit.

O, I could wish this tavern were my drum!

ACT IV.

SCENE I. The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury. Enter HOTSPUR, WORCESTER, and DOUGLAS. Hot. Well said, my noble Scot; if speaking truth, In this fine age, were not thought flattery,

Such attribution' should the Douglas have,
As not a soldier of this season's stamp
Should go so general current through the world.
By Heaven, I cannot flatter; I defy 2

The tongues of soothers; 3 but a braver place
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself:
Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.
Doug. Thou art the king of honour;

No man so potent breathes upon the ground,
But I will beard him.

Hot.

Do so, and 'tis well:

Enter a Messenger, with Letters.

What letters hast thou there ?—I can but thank you.
Mess. These letters come from your father,-
Hot. Letters from him! why comes he not himself?
Mess. He cannot come, my lord; he's grievous sick.

1 Such attribution.] Such an ascription of worth. 2 Defy.] Abjure.

Soothers.] Flatterers.

So potent.] As King Henry.