Even to the dulleft peasant in his Camp, And Weftmorland. This is the news at full. North. For this, I fhall have time enough to mourn. In poifon there is phyfick: and this news, That would, had I been well, have made me fick, Being fick, hath in fome measure made me well. And as the wretch, whofe feaver-weaken'd joints, Like ftrengthlefs hinges, buckle under life, Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire Out of his keeper's arms; ev'n fo my limbs, Weaken'd with grief, being now inrag'd with grief, Are thrice themselves. Hence therefore, thou nice crutch, A fcaly gauntlet now with joints of ficel Muft glove this hand. And hence, thou fickly quoif, The The rugged'ft hour that time and fpight dare bring (3) Bard. This ftrained paffion doth you wrong, my lord! You caft th' event of war, my noble lord, And fumm'd th' account of chance, before you faid, Of wounds and fcars; and that his forward fpirit Bard. We all, that are engaged to this lofs, (3) The ragged'ft Hour that Time and Spight dare bring To frown, &c.] I know very well, our Author frequently ufes this Epithet, when he speaks either of fharp o'er-hanging Rocks, ruin'd Fortifications, c. but there is no Confonance of Metaphors here betwixt ragged and frown; nor, indeed, any Dignity in the Image. On both Accounts, therefore, I fufpect, our Author wrote, as I have reform'd the Text, The rugged'ft Hour, &c. That That, if we wrought out life, 'twas ten to one: Suppos'd fincere and holy in his thoughts, Get pofts, and letters, and make friends with fpeed; [Exeunt. SCENE SCENE changes to a Street in London. Enter Sir John Falstaff, with his Page bearing his fword and buckler. Fal. Irrah, you, giant! what fays the doctor to my water? Page. He faid, Sir, the water it felf was a good healthy water. But for the party that own'd it, he might have more diseases than he knew for. Fal. Men of all forts take a pride to gird at me. The brain of this foolish-compounded-clay, Man, is not able to invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent, or is invented on me. I am not only witty in my self, but the cause that wit is in other men. I do here walk before thee, like a fow, that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. If the Prince put thee into my service for any other reason than to fet me off, why, then I have no judgment. Thou whorfon mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap, than to wait at my heels. I was never mann'd with an agot till now but I will fet you neither in gold nor filver, but in vile apparel, and fend you back again to your master, for a jewel: The Juvenal, the Prince your master! whofe chin is not yet fledg'd; I will fooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand, than he fhall get one on his cheek; yet he will not ftick to fay, his face is a faceroyal. Heav'n may finish it when it will, it is not a hair amifs yet; he may keep it ftill as a face royal, for a barber fhall never earn fixpence out of it; and yet he will be crowing, as if he had writ man ever fince his father was a batchelor. He may keep his own grace, but he is almoft out of mine, I can affure him. What faid Mr. Dombledon, about the fatten for my fhort cloak and flops? Page. He faid, Sir, you should procure him better affurance than Bardolph: he would not take his bond and yours, he lik'd not the fecurity. Fal. Let him be damn'd like the Glutton, may his tongue tongue be hotter! a whorfon Achitophel, a rascally yeaforfooth-knave, to bear a gentleman in hand, and then ftand upon fecurity! the whorfon-fmooth-pates do now wear nothing but high fhoes, and bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is thorough with them in honeft taking up, then they muft ftand upon fecurity: I had as lief they would put rats-bane in my mouth, as offer to stop it with fecurity. I looked he fhould have fent me two and twenty yards of fatten, as I am a true Knight, and he fends me Security. Well, he may fleep in fecurity, for he hath the horn of abundance. And the lightness of his wife fhines through it, and yet cannot he fee though he have his own lanthorn to light him. Where's Bardolph ? Page. He's gone into Smithfield to buy your Worfhip a horse. Fal. I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horfe in Smithfield. If I could get me but a wife in the Stews, I were mann'd, hors'd, and wiv’d. Enter Chief Justice, and Servants. Page. Sir, here comes the Nobleman that committed the Prince for ftriking him, about Bardolph. Fal. Wait clofe, I will not fee him. Ch. Juft. What's he that goes there? Serv. Falstaff, an't please your lordship. Ch. Juft. He that was in queftion for the robbery? Serv. He, my lord. But he hath fince done good fervice at Shrewsbury: and, as I hear, is now going with fome charge to the lord John of Lancaster. Ch. Juft. What to York? call him back again. Fal. Boy, tell him I am deaf. Page. You must speak louder, my master is deaf. Ch. Juft. I am fure, he is, to the hearing of any thing good. Go pluck him by the elbow. I muft fpeak with him. Serv. Sir John Fal. What! a young knave and beg! are there not wars is there not employment? doth not the King VOL. IV. I lack |