Shall all be very well provided for;

But all are banish'd, till their conversations
Appear more wise and modest to the world.
Ch. Just. And so they are.

P. John. The king hath call'd his parliament, my lord.
Ch. Just. He hath.

P. John. I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,

We bear our civil swords, and native fire,

As far as France. I heard a bird so sing',
Whose music, to my thinking, pleas'd the king.
Come, will you hence?

[Exeunt.

EPILOGUE,

By one that can dance.

First my fear, then my courtesy, last my speech. My fear is your displeasure, my courtesy my duty, and my speech to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech, now, you undo me; for what I have to say is of mine own making, and what indeed I should say will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture.—Be it known to you, (as it is very well) I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to pray your patience for it, and to promise you a better. I did mean, indeed, to pay you with this; which, if, like an ill venture, it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here, I promised you, I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies: bate me some, and I will pay you some; and, as most debtors do, promise you infinitely.

If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to use my legs? and yet that were but light payment, to dance out of your debt; but a good conscience

5 I HEARD a bird so sing,] The folio, “I hear a bird so sing," which is clearly wrong: the 4to, "heard."

Epilogue, BY ONE THAT CAN DANCE.] These are the words in the corr. fo. 1632. The play, as Johnson remarks, concludes flatly, and this Epilogue by a dancer, or rather by an actor who, like Kemp and many other performers, could dance, was no doubt added, in order, in the words of Barton Halliday, "the more cheerfully to dismiss the spectators." In the 4to. and folio, 1623, it is only headed "Epilogue."

will make any possible satisfaction, and so will I. All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in such an assembly'.

One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story, with sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France; where, for any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night: and so kneel down before you; but, indeed, to pray for the queen.

7 which was never seen BEFORE in such an assembly.] The word "before" is from the folio, 1623. There is a more important variation at the end of this Epilogue; for in the 4to, the words " and so kneel down before you; but, indeed, to pray for the queen," (with the addition of I before "kneel,") are inserted at the end of the first paragraph, instead of being placed at the close of the Epilogue, as in the folio. We have adopted the arrangement of the folio, though it hardly seems likely that the dancer would have jumped up from his prayer for the queen, in order to treat the audience with a dance.

8

for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man.] Here also we have a relic of the fact, that the original name of Falstaff was Oldcastle.

KING HENRY V.

"The Cronicle History of Henry the fift, With his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Togither with Auntient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Tho. Millington, and Iohn Busby. And are to be sold at his house in Carter Lane, next the Powle head. 1600." 4to. 27 leaves.

"The Chronicle History of Henry the fift, With his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Together with Auntient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right honorable the Lord Chamberlaine his seruants. London Printed by Thomas Creede, for Thomas Pauier, and are to be sold at his shop in Cornhill, at the signe of the Cat and Parrets, neare the Exchange. 1602." 4to. 26 leaves.

"The Chronicle History of Henry the fift, with his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Together with ancient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times playd by the Right Honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his Seruants. Printed for T. P. 1608." 4to. 27 leaves.

"The Life of Henry the Fift," in the folio of 1623, occupies twenty-seven pages, viz. from p. 69 to p. 95 inclusive. The pagination from "Henry IV." Part ii. to "Henry V." is not continued, but a new series begins with "Henry V." on p. 69, and is regularly followed to the end of the "Histories." The folio, 1632, adopts this error, but it is avoided by continuous pagination in the two later folio impressions.