turn'd white with the news. You may buy land now as cheap as ftinking mackerel. P. Henry. Then 'tis like, if there come a hot June, and this civil buffetting hold, we fhall buy maidenheads, as they buy hob-nails, by the hundred. Fal By the mafs, lad, thou fay't true; it is like we shall have good trading that way.-But tell me, Hal, art not thou horribly afeard, thou being heir apparent? Could the world pick thee out three fuch enemies again as that fiend Dowglas, that fpirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? art thou not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at it? P. Henry. Not a whit, i'faith; I lack fome of thy instinct. Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to-morrow, when thou com'ft to thy father; if thou do love me, practise an answer. P. Henry. Do thou ftand for my father, and examine me upon the particulars of my life. Fal. Shall I? content. This Chair fhall be my State, this Dagger my Scepter, and this Cufhion my Crown. P. Henry. Thy state is taken for a joint-stool, thy golden fcepter for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich Crown for a pitiful bald crown. Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, now shalt thou be moved-Give me a cup of Sack to make mine eyes look red, that it may be You may buy land, &c.] In former times the profperity of the nation was known by the value of land as now by the price of flocks. Before Henry the feventh made it fafe to ferve the king regnant, it was the practice at every revolution for the conqueror to confifcate the eftates of thofe that oppofed, and perhaps of those who did not affift him. M 3 Thofe, therefore, that forefaw a change of government, and thought their eftates in danger, were defirous to fell them in hafte for fomething that might be carried away. This anfwer might, I think, have better been omitted. It contains only a repetition of Fal staff's mock-royalty. 3 thought thought I have wept; for I must speak in paffion, and I will do it in King Cambyfes' vein. ty P. Henry. Well, here is my leg. Fal. And here is my fpeech-Stand afide, Nobili Hoft. This is excellent fport, i'faith. Fal. Weep not, fweet Queen, for trickling tears are vain. Hoft. O the father! how he holds his countenance? Fal. For God's fake, lords, convey my triftful Queen, For tears do fiop the flood-gates of her eyes. Hoft. O rare, he doth it as like one of thofe harlotry Players, as I ever fee. 5 Fal. Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain--Harry, I do not only marvel, where thou fpendest thy time, but alfo, how thou art accompany'd; for though the camcmile, the more it is trodden on, the fafter it grows, yet youth, the more it is wafted, the fooner it wears. Thou art my fon; I have partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion; but chiefly, a villainous trick of thine eye, and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be fon to me, here lyeth the point; why, being fon to me, art thou 'fo pointed at? Shall the bleffed Sun of heav'n prove" a micher, and eat blackberries? a question not to be afk'd. Shall the fon of England prove a thief and take purfes? a question to be afk'd. There is a thing, Harry, which thou haft often heard of, and it is known to many in our Land by the name of pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; fo doth the company thou keep'ft; for, Harry, now do I not fpeak to thee in drink, but in tears; not in pleasure, but in paffion; not in words only, but in woes alfo.-And yet there is a virtuous man, whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name. P. Henry. What manner of man, an it like your Majesty? Fal. A goodly portly man, i'faith, and a corpu lent; of a chearful look, a pleafing eye, and a moft noble carriage; and, as I think, his age fome fifty, or, by'r lady, inclining to threefcore: and now, I remember me, his name is Falstaff. If that man fhould be lewdly given, he deceives me; for, Harry, I fee virtue in his looks. If then the fruit may be known by the tree, as the tree by the fruit, then peremptorily I fpeak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff; him keep with, the reft banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where haft thou been this month? P. Henry. Doft thou fpeak like a King? Do thou ftand for Me, and I'll play my father. Fal. Depofe me.-If thou doft it half fo gravely, fo majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbet-fucker, or a poulterer's hare. 6 a micher,] i. e. Truant; to mich, is to lurk out of fight, a hedge-creeper. WARBURTON. The allufion is to a truant-boy, who, unwilling to go to fchool, and afraid to go home, lurks in the fields, and picks wild fruits. 7 This paffage is happily re ftored by Sir Thomas Hanmer. Rabbet-fucker is, I fuppofe, a fucking rabbet. The jett is in comparing himfelf to fomething thin and little. So a poulterer's hare, a hare hung up by the hind legs without a fkin, is long and flender. M 4 P. Henry. P. Henry. Well, here I am fet. Fal. And here I ftand; judge, my masters. P. Henry. The Complaints I hear of thee are grievous. Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false.- - Nay, I'll tickle ye for a young Prince. P. Henry. 'Sweareft thou, ungracious boy? henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace; there's a devil haunts thee, in the likenefs of a fat old man! a tun of man is thy companion. Why doft thou converfe with that trunk of humours, that boulting hutch of beaftlinefs, that fwoln parcel of dropfies, that huge bombard of sack, that flufft cloak-bag of guts, that roafted Manningtree Ox with the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to tafte fack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villainous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing? Fal. I would, your Grace would take me with you. Whom means your Grace? P. Henry. That villainous abominable mif-leader of youth, Falaff, that old white-bearded Satan. Fal. My lord, the man I know. P. Henry. I know thou doft. Fal. But to fay, I know more harm in him than in my felf, were to fay more than I know. That 9 Boulting - hutch.] Bolting burch is, I think, a meal-bag. Of the Manning-tree Ox I can give no account, but the meaning is clear. Cunning was not yet debased to a bad meaning. It fignified knowing or skilful. 2 Take me with you.] That is, go no fafter than I can follow you. Let me know your meaning. he he is old, the more is the pity, his white hairs do witnefs it; but that he is, faving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If fack and fugar be a fault, God help the wicked. If to be old and merry, be a fin, then many an old Hoft, that I know, is damn'd. If to be fat, be to be hated, then Pharoah's lean kine are to be lov'd. No, my good lord, banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banifh Poins; but for fweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, being as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him thy Harry's company; banish plump Jack, and banish all the world. P. Henry. I do, I will. [Knocking; and Hoftefs goes out. Enter Bardolph running. Bard. O, my lord, my lord, the Sheriff with a most monstrous Watch is at the door. Fal. Out, you rogue!-Play out the Play; I have much to fay in behalf of that Falstaff. Re-enter the Hoftefs. Hoft. O, my lord, my lord! Fal. Heigh, heigh, the devil rides upon a fiddleftick: what's the matter? Hoft. The Sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they are come to fearch the houfe. Shall I let them in? Fal. Doft thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit; thou art effentially mad, without feeming fo. P. Henry. And thou a natural coward, without inftinct. Fal. I deny your major. If you will deny the Sheriff, fo, if not, let him enter. If I become not a cart as well as another man, a plague on my bringing up; I hope |