P. John. We meet like men that had forgot to

speak.

War. We do remember; but our argument

Is all too heavy to admit much talk.

P. John. Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!

Ch. Just. Peace be with us, lest we be heavier!

P. Humph. O! good my lord, you have lost a friend, indeed;

And I dare swear, you borrow not that face

Of seeming sorrow: it is, sure, your own.

P. John. Though no man be assur'd what grace to find,

You stand in coldest expectation:

I am the sorrier; 'would, 'twere otherwise.

Cla. Well, you must now speak sir John Falstaff fair,

Which swims against your stream of quality.

Ch. Just. Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honour, Led by th' impartial conduct of my soul; And never shall you see, that I will beg A ragged and forestall'd remission". If truth and upright innocency fail me, I'll to the king, my master, that is dead, And tell him who hath sent me after him. War. Here comes the prince.

Enter King HENRY V.

Ch. Just. Good morrow, and heaven save your majesty!

King. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, Sits not so easy on me as you think.—

6

IMPARTIAL conduct-] Thus the quartos, rightly, beyond dispute. The folio reads imperial.

7 A RAGGED and FORESTALL'D remission.] Both "ragged" and "forestall'd" are rather puzzling epithets as applied to "remission," which of course is pardon. By "ragged," Johnson understands poor and base; and "forestall'd" perhaps means anticipated by the king before it is asked.

Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear:
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,

But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,

For, to speak truth, it very well becomes you:
Sorrow so royally in you appears,

That I will deeply put the

And wear it in my heart.

fashion on,

Why then, be sad ;
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assur'd,
I'll be your father and your brother too;

Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares:
Yet weep, that Harry's dead, and so will I;
But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears,
By number, into hours of happiness.

P. John, &c. We hope no other from your majesty3. King. You all look strangely on me;-and you most. [To the Chief Justice. You are, I think, assur'd I love you not.

Ch. Just. I am assur'd, if I be measur'd rightly,
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
King. No!

How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?

Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me :
And, in th' administration of his law
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,

We hope no other from your majesty.] This line has the prefix of Bro. for Brothers, in the quarto; and John, &c. in the folio.

And struck me in my very seat of judgment:
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person:
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours,
Be now the father, and propose a son;

Hear your own dignity so much profan'd,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd,
And then imagine me taking your part,
And in your power soft silencing your son.
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state,
What I have done, that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

King. You are right, justice; and you weigh this well.

Therefore still bear the balance, and the sword;
And I do wish your honours may increase,

Till you do live to see a son of mine

Offend you, and obey you, as I did.

So shall I live to speak my father's words:-
Happy am I, that have a man so bold,

66

That dares do justice on my proper son;
And not less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice."-You did commit me,
For which, I do commit into your hand

Th' unstained sword that you have used to bear;
With this remembrance,-that you use the same

With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit,
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.
You shall be as a father to my youth:

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practis'd, wise directions.—
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you:
My father is gone wild into his grave',
For in his tomb lie my affections,
And with his spirit sadly I survive,
To mock the expectation of the world,
To frustrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down.
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now, call we our high court of parliament,
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us,

In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.—
[To the Lord Chief Justice.

Our coronation done, we will accite,

As I before remember'd, all our state:

And (God consigning to my good intents,)

No prince, nor peer, shall have just cause to say,
God shorten Harry's happy life one day.

[Exeunt.

My father is gone WILD into his grave,] The meaning (remarks Malone) is, My wild dispositions having ceased on my father's death, and being now as it were buried in his tomb, he and wildness are interred in the same grave. Pope, not perceiving the true intention of the poet, substituted wail'd for "wild ;" but no subsequent editor followed his example.

SCENE III.

Glostershire. The Garden of SHALLOW's House.

Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, BARDOLPH, the Page, and DAVY.

Shal. Nay, you shall see mine orchard; where, in an arbour, we will eat a last year's pippin of my own. graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so forth;-come, cousin Silence:-and then to bed.

Fal. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling,

and a rich.

Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all, sir John :-marry, good air.-Spread, Davy; spread, Davy; well said, Davy.

Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses: he is your serving-man, and your husband.

Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet, sir John.-By the mass', I have drunk too much sack at supper:-A good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down.-Come, cousin.

Sil. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a,-we shall

Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer, [Singing.
And praise heaven for the merry year;

When flesh is cheap and females dear,
And lusty lads roam here and there,
So merrily,

And ever among so merrily.

Fal. There's a merry heart!-Good master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

1 By the mass,] Even this exclamation, having reference to a ceremony exploded in our reformed church, was expunged in the folio, probably at the instance of the Master of the Revels.

2 And EVER AMONG SO merrily.] "Ever among" is an idiomatic expression, used by Chaucer and many later writers. No originals of this and other musical outbreaks by Silence have been discovered. They are printed as prose in the old copies.