feathers turn back in any show of resistance.—Call him up, drawer. Host. Cheater, call you him? I will bar no honest man my house, nor no cheater; but I do not love swaggering: by my troth, I am the worse, when one says-swagger. Feel, masters, how I shake; look you, I warrant you. Dol. So you do, hostess. Host. Do I? yea, in very truth do I, an 'twere an aspen leaf. I cannot abide swaggerers. Enter PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and Page. Pist. God save you, sir John! Fal. Welcome, ancient Pistol. Here, Pistol, I charge you with a cup of sack: do you discharge upon mine hostess. Pist. I will discharge upon her, sir John, with two bullets. Fal. She is pistol-proof, sir; you shall hardly offend her. Host. Come, I'll drink no proofs, nor no bullets. I'll drink no more than will do me good, for no man's pleasure, I. Pist. Then to you, mistress Dorothy: I will charge you. Dol. Charge me? I scorn you, scurvy companion. What! you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away! I am meat for your master. Pist. I know you, mistress Dorothy. Dol. Away, you cut-purse rascal? you filthy bung, away! By this wine, I'll thrust my knife in your 6 I will bar no honest man my house, nor no CHEATER ;] "The humour of this consists," says Warburton, "in the woman's mistaking the title of cheater, (which our ancestors gave to him whom we now, with better manners, call a gamester,) for that officer of the exchequer called an escheator, well known to the common people of that time; and named, either corruptly or satirically, a cheater." mouldy chaps, an you play the saucy cuttle with me. Away, you bottle-ale rascal! you basket-hilt stale juggler, you!—Since when, I pray you, sir?—God's light! with two points on your shoulder? much! Pist. I will murder your ruff for this. [Fal. No more, Pistol': I would not have you go off here. Discharge yourself of our company, Pistol.] Host. No, good captain Pistol; not here, sweet captain. Dol. Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, art thou not ashamed to be called captain? An captains were of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking their names upon you before you have earned them. You a captain, you slave! for what? for tearing a poor whore's ruff in a bawdy-house?—He a captain! Hang him, rogue ! He lives upon mouldy stewed prunes, and dried cakes. A captain! these villains will make the word captain as odious [as the word occupy, which was an excellent good word before it was ill sorted':] therefore captains had need look to 't. Bard. Pray thee, go down, good ancient. Fal. Hark thee hither, mistress Doll. Pist. Not I: I tell thee what, corporal Bardolph; I could tear her.-I'll be revenged of her. Page. Pray thee, go down. Pist. I'll see her damned first;-to Pluto's damned lake, by this hand, to the infernal deep, with Erebus 7 No more, Pistol:] This speech is omitted in the folio. 8 as odious as the word OCCUPY,] This word is used with its different senses in the following jest, from "Wits, Fits, and Fancies," 1595:-" One threw stones at an yll-fauor'd old womans Owle, and the olde woman said: Faith (sir knaue) you are well occupy'd, to throw stones at my poore Owle, that doth you no harme. Yea marie (answered the wag) so would you be better occupy'd too (I wisse) if you were young againe, and had a better face." 9 before it was ILL SORTED:] i. e. ill accompanied. The folio omits the whole of the latter part of this sentence, after the word "odious," making the sense complete there by also excluding "as." The Master of the Revels seems to have been unusually scrupulous in this part of the play, for "by this hand " of the quarto edition is again excluded in the folio. and tortures vile also. Hold hook and line, say I. Down! down, dogs! down fates! Have we not Hiren here1? Host. Good captain Peesel, be quiet; it is very late, i' faith. I beseek you now, aggravate your choler. Pist. These be good humours, indeed! Shall packhorses, And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia', Which cannot go but thirty miles a day, Shall we fall foul for toys? Host. By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words. Bard. Begone, good ancient: this will grow to a brawl anon. Pist. Die men, like dogs; give crowns like pins. Have we not Hiren here? 1 down FATES! Have we not HIREN here?] The quarto has faters; the folio, fates; a difference that seems to have been passed over without notice, excepting by Boswell; and the commentators have given themselves the trouble to explain faters as faitours, when in fact it is a mere misprint for "fates." Pistol has been talking of Pluto and Erebus, and he very consistently threatens to hurl down the "fates." There was an old play by Peele, now lost, called "The Turkish Mahomet and Hiren the fair Greek," to which Pistol may allude; but it is difficult to understand what he means by it. The phrase, “Have we not Hiren here?" occurs in other plays of the time, as in "Eastward Ho !" 1605, and "Law Tricks," 1608, which Malone quoted. Douce was of opinion, that Pistol intended by "Hiren " to call attention to his sword or iron, and that he afterwards repeated the Italian motto on the blade of it. The hostess takes it for a lady's name, as is very evident from her answer to the same question, when Pistol subsequently repeats it. 2 And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia,] This is a perverted quotation from the second part of Marlowe's "Tamberlane the Great," 1590, a play which enjoyed great popularity. The lines in the original run as follows: "Holla, you pamper'd jades of Asia, What, can you draw but twenty miles a day?" Sign. G. 3. and they are put into the mouth of the hero, when he enters in his triumphant chariot, drawn by the kings of Trebizond and Syria. The same lines are quoted in a song in Sharpham's comedy, "The Fleire," 1615, sign. C. 4. The Rev. A. Dyce is about to publish a new edition of Marlowe's works: it is much wanted, and we have no doubt that it will be as conspicuous for its accuracy, as the reprint in 3 vols. 8vo, 1826, is remarkable for its errors. VOL. IV. с с Host. On my word, captain, there's none such here. What the goodyear! do you think I would deny her? for God's sake, be quiet. Pist. Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis'. Come, give's some sack. Se fortuna me tormenta, il sperare me contenta1.— [Laying down his sword. Come we to full points here, and are et cetera's nothing? Fal. Pistol, I would be quiet. Pist. Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif3. What! we have seen the seven stars. Dol. For God's sake, thrust him down stairs: I cannot endure such a fustian rascal. Pist. Thrust him down stairs! know we not Galloway nags"? Fal. Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shove-groat shilling': nay, an he do nothing but speak nothing, he shall be nothing here. Bard. Come, get you down stairs. Pist. What! shall we have incision? shall we im brue? [Snatching up his sword. Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis:] In "The Battle of Alcazar," 1594, a play assigned by the Rev. A. Dyce with great probability to Peele, we meet with the following line : "Feed then, and faint not, my fair Calipolis." See Peele's Works, by Dyce, vol. ii. p. 110, edit. 1829. Elsewhere, the words "Feed and be fat" are addressed to the heroine. Se fortuna me tormenta, il sperare me contenta.] Printed in the old copies thus corruptly, si fortune me tormente, sperato me contento, which Sir T. Hanmer corrected as in the text. Douce, as already remarked, supposes this to have been the motto on Pistol's sword, which he placed upon the table with the words, "and, sweetheart, lie thou there." There is no old stage-direction to this effect, but it seems necessary. 5 Sweet knight, I kiss thy NEIF.] "Neif" is fist or hand. It occurs in "Midsummer Night's Dream," Vol. ii. p. 443, and is met with in other plays of the time, besides those of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. 6 know we not GALLOWAY NAGS] i. e. "Common hackneys," as Johnson explains it. 7 like a SHOVE-GROAT shilling:] "Shove-groat" was a game prohibited (as Blackstone informs us) by stat. 33 Henry VIII. c. 9. Then, death, rock me asleep, abridge my doleful days! Why then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds Untwine the sisters three! Come, Atropos, I say! Host. Here's goodly stuff toward! Fal. Give me my rapier, boy. Dol. I pray thee, Jack, I pray thee, do not draw. [Drawing. Host. Here's a goodly tumult! I'll forswear keeping house, afore I'll be in these territs and frights. So; murder, I warrant now.-Alas, alas! put up your naked weapons; put up your naked weapons. [Exeunt BARDOLPH and PISTOL. Dol. I pray thee, Jack, be quiet: the rascal is gone. Ah! you whoreson little valiant villain, you. Host. Are you not hurt i' the groin? methought he made a shrewd thrust at your belly. Re-enter BARDOLPH. Fal. Have you turned him out of doors? Bard. Yes, sir: the rascal's drunk. You have hurt him, sir, in the shoulder. Fal. A rascal, to brave me! Dol. Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! Alas, poor ape, how thou sweat'st! Come, let me wipe thy face; -come on, you whoreson chops.-Ah, rogue! i' faith, I love thee. Thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better than the nine worthies. Ah, villain! Fal. A rascally slave! I will toss the rogue in a blanket. Dol. Do, if thou darest for thy heart: if thou dost, I'll canvass thee between a pair of sheets. Enter Music. Page. The music is come, sir. Fal. Let them play.-Play, sirs.-Sit on my knee, |