calf, grow

[Shallow.] Come, Sir John, which four will you have ? [Falstaff:] Which would you choose for me, master

Shallow ? [Shallow.] Marry-Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble, and Shadow. [Falstaff:] Mouldy and Bullcalf—for you, Mouldy, stay at home still—you are past service ; and for you,

Bulltill you come unto it: I will none of

you. [Shallow.] Sir John, Sir John, you do yourself wrong—they

are your likeliest men, and I'd have you served with

the best. [Falstaff.] Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to choose a man ?

Care I for the limbs, the stature, the bulk, and big assemblance of a man? Give me the spirit, master Shallow. Here's this same half-faced fellow, Shadow,-give me this man; he presents no mark to the enemy; the foeman may as well level at the edge of a penknife: and for a retreat, how swiftly will this Feeble, the tailor, run off! Oh, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones. These fellows will do well, master Shallow. Heaven keep you, master Silence, I will not use many words with you. Fare you well, gentlemen both : I thank you : I must a dozen miles to-night.-Bardolph, give the soldiers

coats. [Shallow.] Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper your

affairs, and send us peace! As you return, visit my poor house ; let our old acquaintance be renewed;

peradventure, I will with you to court. [Falstaff.] I would you would, master Shallow. [Shallow.] Go to; I have spoken. Fare you well, fare

you well, Sir John. Let us follow Sir John, as he moves from the house, and listen to his soliloquy: [Falstaff.] I do see the bottom of this justice Shallow.

Heavens ! how subject we old men are to this vice of

a

lying! This same starved justice does nothing but prate of the wildness of his youth, and every third word a lie. I do remember him at Clement's Inn like a man made after supper of a cheese-paring: he was so forlorn that his dimensions to any thick sight were invisible,—the very genius of famine: 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 is he become a 'squire, and hath 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 stone 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. Falstaff being again on his way, we will once more, in imagination, march in advance of him, transporting ourselves to Gaultree forest in Yorkshire, where we shall find Prince John of Lancaster, accompanied by Lord Westmorland, in parley with the chiefs of the rebels : the king's army is of course immediately at hand, but Falstaff, owing to his delays in London, has not yet joined it: Prince John is the first speaker : [P. John.] You a're well-encounter'd here, my cousin Mow

Good day to you, my gentle lord archbishop ;- [bray :
And so to you, lord Hastings—and to all. -
My lord of York, it better show'd with you,
When that your flock, assembled by the bell,
Encircled

you

to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text,
Than now to see you here, an iron man,
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,

Turning the word to sword, and life to death.
[Archbishop.] My lord of Lancaster, I sent your grace

The parcels and particu'lars of our grief ;
The which have been with scorn shov'd from the court :
On these, this hydra son of war is born :
Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm’d asleep,

Let us

With grant of our most just and right desires :
If not, we ready are to try our fortunes

To the last man.
[P. John.] Well! I have read those articles,

And like them all, and do approve them all;
And swear here, by the honour of my blood,
My father's purposes have been mistaken;
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning and authority,

My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress’d. Westmorland seconds the insidious purpose of ihe prince : [Westmorland.] If this may please you, lord archbishop, And

you, lord Mowbray, and the rest in arms,
Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
As we will ours; and here, between the armies,

embrace ;
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home

Of our restored love and amity. [Archbishop.] I take your princely word for these redresses. [P. John.] I give it you, and will maintain my word. [Archbishop.] Go, gentlemen, deliver to the army

This news of peace; let them have pay and part :

I know it well will please them. Prince John significantly delivers a like command to Westmorland, who proceeds as if to put it in execution : he afterwards returns, and makes known to the prince, that the king's army still keep the ranks till commanded by him to disperse : prince John answers first in an undertone to Westmorland, and then addresses the archbishop: P. John.] Our army know their duties, cousin Westmor

Your drums, my lord archbishop, do announce, [land.
The word of peace is render'd : good, my lord,
I pray you let your trains, ere they disperse,
March by us ; that we may peruse the men
We should have cop'd withal.

faith, my

[Archbishop.] Go, lord Hastings,

And ere they be dismiss'd, let them march by :-
But see, it is too late :
Like youthful steers, unyok'd, they take their courses
East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke-up,

Each hurries towa’rd his home and resting-place.
At this instant, a party from the king's army suddenly
advance, and surround the archbishop, Mowbray, and
Hastings : the archbishop exclaims :

Is this proceeding fair and honourable ?
Will
you thus break your

lord of Lancaster ? [P. John.] I pawn'd you none :

I promis'd you redress of these same grievances,
Whereof you did complain; which, by mine honour,
I will perform with a most Christian care.
But for you, rebels,-look to taste the due
Meet for rebellion, and such acts as yours.
Some guard these traitors to the block of death.
Away with them!

[u pause.]
Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while ?
When everything is ended, then you come :
These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,

One time or other, break some gallows' back. [Falstaff'] What, my lord, do you think me a swallow, an

arrow, or a bullet? I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility; and, travel-tainted as I am, I have, in my pure and immaculate valour, taken Sir John Colvile of the Dale, a most furious knight and valorous enemy: but what of that? he saw me, and yielded ; that I may justly say, with the hooked-nosed fellow of Rome, I came, saw, con

quered.
[P. John.] More from his courtesy than your deserving.

But now despatch we towa’rd the court, my lords ;
I hear, the king my father is sore sick:
Our news shall go before us to his majesty
To comfort him.

dries me

[Falstaff.] My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go

through Glo’stershire ; and, when you come to court, let me stand, my good lord, 'pray, in your good re

port.
[P. John.] Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition,
Shall better speak of you

than
you
deserve.

[a pause.] [Falstaff-] Good faith, this same sober-blooded boy doth

not love me; and a man cannot make him laugh; but
that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There are none
of these demure boys that come to any proof; thin
drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many
fish-meals. A good sherris-sack hath a two-fold ope-
ration in it. It ascends me into the brain ;
there all the dull and crudy vapours that environ it,
makes it apprehensive, quick, full of nimble, fiery, and
delectable shapes, which, delivered over to the tongue,
becomes excellent wit. The second property of your
excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood, which,
before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale ;
which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice:
but the sherris warms it, and makes it course from the
inwards to the parts extreme; mustering all the vital
commoners and inland petty spirits to their captain,
the heart; who, great and puffed up with this retinue,
doth

any deed of courage. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations, and addict themselves to

sack.--How now, Bardolph ? [Bardolph.] The army is discharged all, and gone. [Falstaff.] Let them go. I'll through Glo'stershire, and

there will I visit master Robert Shallow, Esquire. I have him already tempering between my finger and thumb, and shortly will I seal him.

Come away.