And they did fight with queafinefs, constrain'd, Suppos'd fincere and holy in his thoughts, The apteft way for safety and revenge. Get pofts, and letters, and make friends with fpeed; Never fo few, nor never yet more need. [Exeunt. Enter Sir John Falstaff, with his Page bearing his ford 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 difeafes than he knew for. Fal. Men of all forts take a pride to gird at me. Tells them, he doth beftride a biceing land.] That is, ftands over his country to defend her as fhe lies bleeding on the ground. So, Falstaff before fays to the Prince, If thou fee me darvon, Hal, and beftride ane, fo; it is an office of friendship. The men. 8 The brain of this foolifh-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 myfelf, but the caufe that wit is in other I do here walk before thee, like a fow, that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. If the Prince put thee into my fervice for any other reafon 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 agate till now: but I will neither fat you in gold nor filver, but in vile apparel, and fend you back again to your master, for a jewel: The Juvenal, the Prince your mafter! whofe chin is not yet fledg'd; I will fooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand, than he fall get one on his cheek; yet he will not ftick to fay, his face is a face-royal. 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 crow ing, as if he had writ man ever fince his father was a batchelor. He may keep his own grace, but he is almost out of mine, I can affure him.-What faid Mr. Dombledon, about the fatten of 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 be hotter. A whorfon Achitophel, a rafcally yeaforfooth knave, to bear a gentleman in hand, and then stand 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 must ftand upon fecurity. I had as lief they would put rats-bane in my mouth, as offer to ftop 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? 3 Page. He's gone into Smithfield to buy your Worhip a horfe. 4 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. 1 To bear in band, is to keep in expellation, 2 if a man is thorough with them in honeft taking up, That is, If a man by taking up goods is in their debt. To be thorough feems to be the fame with the prefent phrale, to be in with a tradefman. 3 the lightness of his wife fhines through it, and yet cannot be fee, though he have his own lanthorn to light him. This joke feems evidently to have been taken from that of Plautus: Quò ambulas tu, qui Vulcanum in cornu conclufum Scene r. geris. Amph. A&t 1. 4I bought him in Paul's,] At that time the resort of idle people, cheats, and knights of the pot. WARBURTON. T -Page. Sir, here comes the Nobleman that committed the Prince for striking him, about Bardolph. 29 Fal Wait clofe, I will not see him. to Ch. Juft! What's he that goes there? Serv. Falstaff, an't pleafe your lordship, T Cb. 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 muít 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 lack Subjects? do not the Rebels need foldiers? though it be a fhame to be on any fide but one, it is worfe fhame to beg, than to be on the worst fide, were it worse than the name of Rebellion can tell how to make it. Serv. You mistake me, Sir. Fal. Why, Sir, did I fay you were an honeft man? fetting my knight-hood and my foldiership afide, I had lied in my throat, if I had faid fo. Serv. I pray you, Sir, then fet your knight-hood and your foldierfhip afide, and give me leave to tell you, you lie in your throat, if you fay I am any other than an honeft man.' Fal. I give thee leave to tell me fo? I lay afide that, which grows to me? if thou gett'ft any leave of me, hang me; if thou tak'ft leave, thou wert better be hang'd. You hunt-counter, hence; avaunt./..! Serv. Sir, my lord would fpeak, with you!) Ch. Juft. Sir John Falstaff, a word with you saf Fal. My good lord! God give your lordship good time of day, I am glad to fee your lordship abroad; I heard fay, your lordship was fick. I hope your lordship goes abroad by advice. Your lordship, though not clean past your youth, hath yet fome fmack of age in you; fome relifh of the faltnefs of time; and I... moft humbly beseech your lordship, to have a reve: rend care of your health. e ; Ch. Juft, Sir John, I fent for you before your expedition to Shrewsbury. Fal. If it please your lordship, I hear, his Majefty is return'd with fome difcomfort from Wales. Ch. Juft. I talk not of his Majefty. You would not come when I fent for you. Fal. And I hear moreover, his Highness is fallen into this fame whorfon apoplexy. Ch. Juft. Well, heav'n mend him! I pray, let me speak with you. 1 Fal. This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of le thargy, an't please your lordship, a kind of fleeping in the blood, a whorfon tingling. Ch, Juft. What tell you me of it? be it, as it is. Fal. It hath its original from much grief; from ftudy and perturbation of the brain. I have read the caufe of it in Galen. It is a kind of deafnefs. for Ch. Juft. I think, you are fallen into that disease: you hear not what I fay to you. 5 Fal. Very well, my lord, very well; rather, an't * Hunt-counter.] That is, blunderer. He does not, I think, allude to any relation between the judge's fervant and the counterprison. 5 Fal. Very well, my Lord, very pleafe well:] In the Quarto Edition, printed in 1600, this Speech ftands thus; Old. Very well, my Lord, very well: I had not obferv'd this, when I wrote my Note, to the first part of |