Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts', [could Such barren pleasures, rude society, K. Henry. Heaven pardon thee!—yet let me At thy affections, which do hold a wing That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts, Had his great name profaned with their scorns; 5 Grew a companion to the common streets, That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, He was but as the cuckow is in June, 25 But is a-weary of thy common sight, Save mine, which hath desir'd to see thee more; [lord, P. Henry. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious 30 Be more myself. K. Henry. For all the world, As thou art to this hour, was Richard then 45 Against renowned Douglas; whose high deeds, Throughall the kingdoms that acknowledgeChrist? 5 Mean attempts are unworthy undertakings. Lewd does not in this place barely signify wanton, but licentious. i. e. officious parasites. i. e. True to him that had then possession of the crown. * This is an allusion to the story of Prometheus's theft, who stole fire from thence; and as with this he made a man, so with that Bolingbroke made a king. Rash is heady, thoughtless: bavin is brushwood, which, fired, burns fiercely, but is soon out. The metaphor seems to be taken from mingling course wool with fine, and carding them together, whereby the value of the latter is diminished. The king means, that Richard mingled and carded together his royal state with carping fools, &c. To card is used by other writers for, to mix. 'i. e. jesting, prating, &c. The quarto 1598, reads cap'ring fools. i. e. made his presence injurious to his reputation. "Meaning, of every boy whose vanity incited him to try his wit against the king's. Comparative, means equal, or rival in any thing. 10 To enjeoff is a law term, signifying to invest with possessions. Τα To fill the mouth of deep defiance up, timer, Capitulate against us, and are up. But wherefore do I tell these news to thee? [so: P. Henry. Do not think so, you shall not find it 15 And heaven forgive them, that so much have sway'd Your majesty's good thoughts away from me! 'Would they were multitudes; and on my head K. Henry. A hundred thousand rebels die in Thou shalt have charge, and sovereign trust herein. How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed. Blunt. So is the business that I come to speak of. Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word,That Douglas, and the English rebels met, 2 201 The Boar's-head Tavern in East-cheap. Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me like an 25 old lady's loose gown; I am wither'd like an old apple-John. Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking; I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of 30a church is made of, I am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse; the inside of a church :-Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me. 35 Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot live long. Fal. Why, there it is:-come, sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough: swore little; dic'd, not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house, not above once in a quar40 ter-of an hour; paid money that I borrow'd, three or four times; liv'd well, and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass. Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you 45 must needs be out of all compass; out of all rea sonable compass, Sir John. 50 Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life: thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lanthorn in the poop,-but 'tis in the nose of thee; thou art the knight of the burning lamp. Bard. Why, sirJohn, my face does you no harm. Fal. No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a death's head, or a memento mori: I never see thy face, but I think upon 155hell-fire, and Dives that liv'd in purple; for 1i. e. make head. Dearest here means mostfatal, most mischievous, and should be spelled derest. 3 Favours mean some decoration usually worn by knights in their helmets, as a present from a mistress, or a trophy from an enemy. Mr. Steevens conjectures, that a brewer's horse does not, perhaps, mean a dray-horse, but the cross-beam on which beer-barrels are carried into cellars, &c. and that the allusion may be to the taper form of this machine; while Mr. Tyrwhitt thinks, that "Falstaff does not mean to point out any similitude to his own condition, but, on the contrary, some striking dissimili tude. He says here, I am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse; just as in act II. sc. iv. he asserts the truth of several parts of his narrative, on pain of being considered as a rogue-a Jew-an Ebrew Jew -a bunch of radish-u horse." there 5 there he is in his robes, burning, burning.-Iff Bard. 'Sblood, I would my face were in your belly! Fal. God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heart-burn'd. Enter Hostess. 20 How now, dame Partlet the hen'? have you en-[25] quir'd yet who pick'd my pocket? Host. Why, Sir John, what do you think, Sir John? Do you think I keep thieves in my house: I have search'd, have enquir'd, so has my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant by servant: the 30 tithe of a hair was never lost in my house before. Fal. You lie, hostess; Bardolph was shav'd, and lost many a hair: and I'll be sworn, my pocket was pick'd: Go to, you are a woman, go. Host. Who, I? I defy thee: I was never call'd 35 so in mine own house before. Ful. Go to, I know you well enough. Host. No, Sir John; you do not know me, Sir John: I know you, Sir John: you owe me money, Sir John, and now you pick a quarrel to be-40 guile me of it: I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back. Fal. Dowlas, filthy dowlas: I have given them away to bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them. Host. Now, as I am a true woman, holland of eight shillings an ell You owe money here be-l sides, Sir John, for your diet, and by-drinkings; and money lent you, four-and-twenty pounds. Fal. He had his part of it; let him pay. Host. He alas, he is poor; he hath nothing. Fal. How poor? look upon his face; what call you rich? let them coin his nose, let them coin his cheeks; P'il not pay a denier. What, 4 45 50 will you make a younkers of me? shall I not take mine ease in mine inn, but I shall have my pocket pick'd? I have lost a seal-ring of my grandfather's, worth forty mark. Host. O, I have heard the prince tell him, I know not how oft, that the ring was copper. Fal. How the prince is a Jack, a sneak-cup; and, if he were here, I would cudgel him like a dog if he would say so. Enter Prince Henry, and Poins, marching; and Falstaf Bard. Yea, two and two, Newgate-fashion'. P. Henry. What say'st thou, Mrs. Quickly? honest man. Host. Good my lord, hear me. Fal. Pr'ythee, let her alone, and list to me. Fal. The other night I fell asleep here behind the arras, and had my pocket pick'd: this house is turn'd bawdy-house, they pick pockets. P. Henry. What didst thou lose, Jack? Fal. Wilt thou believe me, Hal? three or four bonds of forty pound a-piece, and a seal-ring of my grandfather's. P. Henry. A trifle, some eight-penny matter. 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-mouth'd man as he is; and said, he would cudgel you. P. Henry. What! he did not? Host. There's neither faith, truth, nor womanhood in me else. Fal. There's no more faith in thee than in a stew'd prune; nor no more truth in thee, than in a drawn fox: and for woman-hood, maid Marian may be the deputy's wife of the ward to thee. Go, you thing, go. 10 Host. Say, what thing? what thing? Fal. What thing? why, a thing to thank God on. Host. I am no thing to thank God 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? P. Henry. An otter, Sir John? why an otter? Mr. Steevens remarks on this passage, that in Shakspeare's time, (long before the streets were illuminated with lamps) candles and lanthorns to let, were cried about London. 2 Cheap is market, and good cheap therefore is a bon marché. From this word East-cheap, Chep-stow, Cheap-side, &c. are derived. 3 Dame Partlet is the name of the hen in the old story-book of Reynard the Fox. A face set with carbuncles is called a rich face. A younker is a novice, a young inexperienced man easily guil'd. To take mine ease in mine inne, was an ancient proverb, not very different in its application from that maxim, “Every man's house is his castle;" for inne originally signified a house or habitation. 'i. e. as prisoners are conveyed to Newgate, fastened two and two together. Meaning a bawd; a dish of stew'd prunes being not only the ancient designation of a brothel, but a constant appendage to it, as has been before observed. 9A drawn for may perhaps mean, a fox drawn over the ground to exercise the hounds, 10 Maid Marian is either a man dressed like a woman, or the ady who atteds the dances of the inorris. 7 Host. Host. Thou art an unjust man in saying so; thou or any man knows where to have me, thou knave thou! P. Henry. Thou say'st true, hostess; and he slanders thee most grossly. Host. So he doth you, my lord; and said this other day, you ought him a thousand pound. P. Henry. Surrah, do I owe you a thousand pound? P. Henry. It appears so by the story. Fal. Hostess, I forgive thee: Go, make ready breakfast; love thy husband, look to thy servants, and cherish thy guests: thou shalt find me tractable 5 to any honest reason: thou seest I am pacify'd.— Still? Nay, I pr'ythee, begone. [Exit Hostess. Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, lad,-How is that answer'd? Ful. Why, Hal, thou know'st, as thou art but man, I dare; but as thou art prince, I fear thee, 20| as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp. P. Henry. And why not as the lion? Fal. The king himself is to be fear'd as the lion: Dost thou think, I'll fear thee as I fear thy father? nay, an if I do, let my girdle break! 25 P. Henry. O, if it should, how would thy guts fall about thy knees! But, s.rrah, there's no room for faith, truth, nor honesty, in this bosom of thine; it is all fill'd up with guts, and midriff.Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket: 30 Why, thou whoreson, impudent, imboss'd' rascal, if there were any thing in thy pocket but tavern-reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houses, and one poor penny-worth of sugar-candy to make thee long-winded: if thy pocket were enrich'd 35 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 asham'd? Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? thou know'st, in the state of innocency, Adam fell; and what should 40 poor Jack Falstaff do, in the days of villainy? Thou seest, I have more flesh than any other man; and therefore more frailty.- -You confess then, you pick'd my pocket? P. Henry, I am good friends with my father, and may do any thing. Fal. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou do'st, and do it with unwash'd hands too2. Bard. Do, my lord. P.Henry. I have procur'd thee, Jack, a charge of foot. Fat. I would it had been of horse. Where shalt i find one that can steal well? O for a fine thief, of two and twenty, or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. "Well, God be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous; I laud them, I praise them. P. Henry. Bardolph,Bard. My lord. Lancaster, P.Henry. Go bear this letter to lord John of Meet me to-morrow in the Temple-hall [Exeunt Prince, Poins, and Bard. Fal. Rare words! brave world!-Hostess, my breakfast; come: O, I could wish this tavern were my drum. [Exit. father. To beard Hot. i. e. swol'n, puffy. 2 i. e do it immediately, or the first thing in the morning. is to oppose face to face in a hostile or daring manner. 464 Hot. Letters from him! why comes he not him-f Wor. I pr'ythee, tell me, doth he keep his bed? Wor. I would, the state of time had first been Ere he by sickness had been visited; His health was never better worth than now. The very life-blood of our enterprize; Doug. Faith, and so we should; We may boldly spend upon the hope of what A comfort of retirement lives in this. Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto, If that the devil and mischance look big Wor. But yet, I would your father had been here. 1i. e. on any less near to himself. By some, that know not why he is away, 5 May turn the tide of fearful faction, 10 15 And breed a kind of question in our cause: And stop all sight-holes, every loop, from whence This absence of your father's draws a curtain Hot. You strain too far. I rather of his absence make this use ;- Than if the earl were here: for men must think, 25 Spoke of in Scotland, as this term of fear. 30 The earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Ver. And further, I have learn'd,— The king himself in person is set forth, 35 Or hitherwards intended speedily, With strong and mighty preparation. Hot. He shall be welcome too. Where is his son, Ver. All furnish'd, all in arms, All plum'd like estridges, that with the wind 'The 4i. e. a sup To quail is to languish, to sink into dejection. (which almost all birds are fond of), spread out their wings to catch the wind, and flutter violently 10 9 And |