The Creft of youth against your Dignity. K. Henry. But I have fent for him to answer this; Coufin, on Wednesday next our Council we SCENE II. An Apartment of the Prince's. [Exeunt. Enter Henry Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falstaff. Fal. OW, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? N° P. Henry. Thou art fo fat-witted with drinking old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches in the afternoon, that thou haft forgotten to demand that truly, which thou would't truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? Unlefs hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houses, and the bleffed Sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata. Ifee no reafon why thou should't be fo fuperfluous, to demand the time of the day. two editors. The metaphor is taken from a cock who in his pride prunes himself; that is picks off the loofe feathers to fmooth the reft. To prune and to plume, spoken of a bird, is the fame. 9 Than out of anger can be uttered.] That is, More is to be faid than anger will fuffer me to fay: More than can iffue from a mind difturbed like mine. 1 To demand that truly, which thou wouldst truly know.] The Prince's objection to the question feems to be, that Falstaff had asked in the night what was the time of day. Fal. Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal. For we, that take purfes, go by the moon and seven stars, and not by Phabus, he, that wandring knight fo fair. And I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art King-as God fave thy Grace (Majefty, I fhould fay; for grace thou wilt have none.) P. Henry. What! none? Fal. No, by my troth, not fo much as will ferve to be prologue to an egg and butter. P. Henry. Well, how then?--come- roundly, roundly Fal. Marry, then, fweet wag, when thou art King, *let not us that are fquires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's booty. Let us be Diana's forefter's, gentlemen of the fhade, minions of the Moon; and let men fay, we be men of good government, being governed as the Sea is, by our noble and chafte miftrefs the Moon, under whofe countenance we-steal. P. Henry. Thou fay'ft well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us, that are 'the Moon's men, doth ebb and flow like the Sea; being govern'd as the Sea is, by the Moon. As for proof, now a purse of gold moft refolutely fnatch'd on Monday night, and most diffolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with fwearing, lay by; and fpent with crying, bring In former editions, 2 Let not Us, that are Squires of the Night's body, be call'd Thieves of the Day's Beauty. ] This conveys no manner of Idea to me. How could they be called Thieves of the Day's Beauty? They robbed by Moonfhine; they could not fteal the fair Day-light. I have ventured to fubftitute, Booty: and this I take to be the Meaning. Let us not be called Thieves, the Purloiners of that Booty, which, to the Proprietors, was the Pur 3 chafe of honeft Labour and Induftry by Day. THEOBALD. 3 got with fwearing, lay by ;] i. e. fwearing at the paffengers they robbed, lay by your arms; or rather, lay by was a phrafe that then fignified fiand ftill, addreffed to those who were preparing to rufh forward. But the Oxford Editor kindly accommodates thefe old thieves with a new cant phrase, taken from Baghot-Heath or Finchly-Common, of WARBURTON. I 2 LUG.OUT. in: in: now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder; and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Fal By the lord, thou fay'ft true, lad: and is not mine Hoftefs of the tavern a moft fweet wench? P. Henry. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of 4 As the Honey of Hybla, my Old Lad of the Caftle. Mr. Rowe took notice of a Tradition, that this Part of Falfaff was written originally under the Name of Oldcafile. An ingenious Correfpondent hints to me, that the Paffage above quoted from our Author proves, what Mr. Rowe tells us was a Tradition. Old Lad of the Castle feems to have a Reference to Oldcastle. Be. fides, if this had not been the Fact, why, in the Epilogue to the Second Part of Henry IV. where our Author promifes to continue his Story with Sir John in it, fhould he say, Where, for any Thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a Sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard Opinions: for Oldcastle dy'd a Martyr, and this is not the Man. This looks like declining a Point, that had been made an Objection to him. I'll give a farther Matter in Proof, which feems almost to fix the Charge. I have read an Play, called, The famous Victories of Henry the Vth, containing the Honourable Battle of Agincourt. -The Action of this Piece commences about the 14th Year of K. Henry IVth's Reign, and ends with Henry the Vth marrying Princefs Catharine of France. The Scene opens with Prince Henry's Robberies. Sir old my old lad of the cafle ;] This alludes to the name Shakespeare first gave to this buffoon character, which was Sir John Oldcaftle: And when he changed the name, he forgot to ftrike out this expreffion that alluded to it. The reafon of the change was this, one Sir John Oldcaffle having fuffered in the time of Henry V. for the opinions of Wickliffe, it gave offence; and therefore the Poet altered it to Falstaff, and endeavours to remove the scandal, in the Epilogue to the fecond part of Henry IV. Fuller takes notice of this matter in his Church Hiftory, Stage-Poets bave themselves been very bold with, and others very merry at, the memory of Sir John Oldcastle, whom they have fancied a boon companion, a jovial royfter, and a coward the caftle; and is not a buff-jerkin a moft fweet robe of durance. Fal. How now, how now, mad wag; what, in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff-jerkin? P. Henry. Why, what a pox have I to do with my Hoftefs of the tavern? Fal. Well, thou haft called her to a reckoning many a time and oft. P. Henry. Did I ever call thee to pay thy part? Fal. No, I'll give thee thy due, thou haft paid all there. P. Henry. Yea and elfewhere, fo far as my coin would ftretch; and where it would not, I have us'd my credit. Fal. Yea, and fo us'd it, that were it not here apparent, that thou art heir apparent- -But, I pr'ythee, fweet wag, fhall there be Gallows ftanding in England, when thou art King? and refolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rufty curb of old father antick, the law? Do not thou, when thou art a King, hạng a thief. P. Henry. No: thou fhalt. Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge. coward to boot. The beft is, Sir learned phyfician, one of the founders of Caius College in Cambridge. WARBURTON. 5 And is not a buff jerkin a most feet robe of durance?] To understand the propriety of the Prince's anfwer, it must be remarked that the fheriff's officers were formerly clad in buff.So that when Falstaff afks whether his hoftefs is not a feet wench, the Prince afks in return, whether it will not be a fweet thing to go to prifon by running in delt to this facet awench. I 3 P. Henry. P. Henry. Thou judgeft falfe already: I mean, thou fhalt have the hanging of the thieves, and fo become a rare hangman. Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in fome fort it jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the Court, I can tell you. 6 P. Henry. For obtaining of fuits? Fal. Yea, for obtaining of fuits; whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as me lancholy as a' gib-cat, or a lugg'd bear. P. Henry. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. P. Henry. What fay'ft thou to a Hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? 8 Fal. Thou haft the moft unfavoury fimilies; and art, indeed, the moft comparative, rafcallieft, fweet young Prince-But, Hal, I pr'ythee trouble me no more with vanity; I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought an old lord of the Council rated me the other day in the street about you, Sir; but I mark'd him not, and yet he talk'd very wifely, and in the ftreet too. P. Henry. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the ftreets, and no man regards it. Fal. O, thou haft damnable iteration, and art, indeed, 6 For obtaining of fuits.] Suit, fpoken of one that attends at court, means a petition; ufed with refpect to the hangman, means the cloaths of tho offender. after him, read, incomparative, I fuppofe for incomparable, or peerless, but comparative here means quick at comparisons, or fruitful in fimilies, and is properly 7 A Gib-cat means, I know not introduced. why, an old cat. The melancholy of Moorditch I do not underftand, unlefs it may allude to the croaking of frogs. The most comparative.] Sir T. Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton O, thou haft, &c.] For iteration Sir T. Hanmer and Dr. Warburton read attraction, of which the meaning is certainly more apparent: but an Editor is not always to change what he does not understand. In the last fpeech |