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much Sack at fupper.A good varlet. Now fit down, now fit down: come, coulin.

Sil. Ah, Girrab, quoth-a,

We fall do nothing bit eat, and make good chear, [Singing.
And praife heav'n for the merry year;
When flesh is cheap and females dear,
And lufty teas roam here and there;

So merrily, and ever among, fo merrily, &c.
Fo. There's a merry heart. Good mafter Silence,
I'll give you a health for that anon.

Sal. Give Mr. Bardolph fome wine, Davy.

Davy. Sweet Sir, fit, I'll be with you anon; most fweet Sir, fit. Mater Page, fit; good mafter Page, fit; proface. What you want in meat, we'll have in . drink; but you must bear; the heart's all. [Exit. Shal. Be merry, mafter Bardolph; and, my little foldier there, be merry.

Sil. [singing.] Be merry, be merry, my wife has all, For women are Shrews, both fhort and tall; 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all,

And welcome merry Shrovetide.

Be merry, be merry.

Fal. I did not think, mafter Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Sil. Who I? I have been merry twice and once ere now.
Re-enter Davy.

Davy. There is a difh of leather-coats for you.
Shal. Davy,

Davy. Your Worship--I'll be with you ftreightA cup of wine, Sir?

*Proface.] Italian from profaccia; that is, much good may it do you. HANMER

I rather think proface is uttered by miflake for perforce. Day impertinently asks Bardolph and the Page, who, according to their place, were ftanding, to fit down. Bardelgh complies;

the Page, knowing his duty, declines the feat, and Davy cries proface, and fets him down by force.

1 The heart's all.] That is, the intention with which the entertainment is given. The humour confifts in making Davy act as mafter of the house.

Sil. [Singing] A cup of wine,

That's brifk and fine,

And drink unto the leman mine;

And a merry heart lives long-a.

Fal. Well faid, mafter Silence.

Sil. If we fhall be merry, now comes in the fweet of the night.

Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence.
Sil. Fill the cup, and let it come.
I'll pledge you,

were't a mile to the bottom.

Shal, Honeft Bardolph, welcome; if thou want'st any thing and wilt not call, befhrew thy heart. Welcome, my little tiny thief, and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to mafter Bardolph, and to all the 2 cavaleroes about London.

Davy. I hope to fee London, ere I die.
Bard. If I might fee you there, Davy,-

Shal. You'll crack a quart together? ha-will you not, mafter Bardolph?

Bard. Yes, Sir, in a pottle pot.

Shal. By God's liggens, I thank thee; the knave will stick by thee, I can affure thee that. He will not out, he is true-bred.

Bard. And I'll ftick by him, Sir.

[One knocks at the door. Shal. Why, there fpoke a King. Lack nothing, be merry. Look, who's at the door there, ho.-Who knocks?

Fal. Why, now you have done me right.

Sil. [Singing.] Do me right, and dub me Knight, 3 Samingo. Is't not fo?

Fal, 'Tis fo.

2 Cavaleroes.] This was the term by which an airy fplendid irregular fellow was diftinguished. The foldiers of King Charles were called Cavaliers from the gayety which they affected in op

pofition to the four faction of the parliament.

He means to

3 Samingo ] fay, San Domingo. HANMER. Of Samingo, or San Domingo, I fee not the ufe in this place.

Sil. Is't fo? why, then fay, 4 an old man can do fomewhat.

Davy. If it pleafe your Worship, there's one Piftol come from the Court with news.

Fal. From the Court? let him come in.

SCENE V.

How now, Piftol?

Enter Pistol.

Pift. Sir John, 'fave you, Sir.

Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pilol?

Pijt. Not the ill wind which blows no man good. Sweet Knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the Realm.

Si. Indeed, I think he be, but goodman Puff of Barfon.

Pift. Puff?

Puff in thy teeth, moft recreant coward base,
-Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend;
And helter fkelter have I rode to thee;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,

And golden times, and happy news of price.

Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of this world.

Pift. A foutra for the world and worldlings bafe! I fpeak of Africa and golden joys.

Fal. O bafe Affyrian Knight, what is thy news? 5 Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.

4 An old man can do fomewhat.] It may be observed that ShakeSpeare, in the Merry Wives of Windfor, which he wrote after this play, for the greater commodioufnefs of his plot, changed the age of Silence. He is here a man advanced in years, with a fon at the university: he there

goes a courting to a young girl. Shallow is an old man in both plays.

5 Let King Cophetua, &c] Lines taken from an old bombaft play of King Cophetua: of whom, as we learn from Shakespear, there were ballads too. WARB. See Love's labour loft.

Sil. And Robin-hood, Scarlet, and John.

[Sings.

Pift. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? And fhall good news be baffled?

Then Pistol lay thy head in Fury's lap.

Shal. Honeft gentleman, I know not your breeding. Pift. Why then, lament therefore.

Shal. Give me pardon, Sir. If, Sir, you come with news from 'the Court, I take it, there is but two ways: either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am, Sir, under the King, in fome authority.

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Pift. Under which King? 6 Bezonian, fpeak or die. Shal. Under King Harry.

Pift. Harry the Fourth? or Fifth?

Shal. Harry the Fourth.

Pift. A foutra for thine office!

*

King dead?

Sir John, thy tender Lambkin now is King.
Harry the Fifth's the man. I fpeak the truth.
When Pilol lies, do this, and fig me like
The bragging Spaniard.
Fal. What, is the old
Pift. As nail in door. The things I fpeak are juft.
Fal. Away, Bardolph, faddle my horfe. Mafter
Robert Shallow, chufe what office thou wilt in the Land,
'tis thine. Piftol, I will double charge thee with Dig-
nities.

Bard. O joyful day; I would not take a Knighthood for my fortune.

Pift. What? I do bring good news.
Fal. Carry mafter Silence to bed.

Mafter Shallow,

my Lord Shallow, be what thou wilt; I am fortune's

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Steward. Get on thy boots, we'll ride all night. Oh, fweet Piftol!--Away Bar dolph-Come, Piftol, utter more to me; and withal devife fomething to do thyfelf good. Boo, boot, mafter Shallow. I know, the young King is fick for.me. Let us take any man's horfes; the Laws of England are at my commandment. Happy are they which have been my friends; and woe to my Lord Chief Justice!

Pift. Let vultures vile feize on his lungs alfo! Where is the life that late I led, fay they?

Why, here it is, welcome this pleafant day. [Exeunt.

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Changes to a Street in LONDON.

Enter Hoftefs Quickly, Doll Tear-fheet, and Beadles: TO, thou arrant knave, I would I might die, that I might have thee hang'd; thou haft drawn my fhoulder out of joint.

Hoft.N
Nh

Bead. The conftables have deliver'd her over to me; and fhe fhall have whipping cheer enough, I warrant her. There hath been a man or two kill'd about her.

Dol. Nut-hook, nut-hook, you lye. Come on. I'll tell thee what, thou damn'd tripe-vifag'd rafcal, if the child, I go with, do mifcarry, thou hadft better thou hadft ftruck thy mother, thou paper-fac'd villain.

Hoft. O the Lord, that Sir John were come, he would make this a bloody day to fome body. But I pray God, the fruit of her womb miscarry.

Bead. If it do, you shall have a dozen of cushions again, you have but eleven now. Come, I charge both you with me; go for the man is dead, that you and Pistol beat among you.

7 Where is the life that late I led. -] Words of an old ballad. WARBURTON. 8 It hath been already obferv'd

on the Merry Wives of Windfor, that Nut-book ieems to have been in those times a name of reproach for a catch-poll.

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