Fal. Go to; well.

Shal. Come, sir John, which four will you have?
Fal. Do you choose for me.

Shal. Marry then,-Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble, and Shadow.

Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf: For you, Mouldy, stay at home still; you are past service+:-and, for your part, Bull-calf,-grow till you come unto it; I will none of you.

Shal. Sir John, sir John, do not yourself wrong; they are your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the best.

Fal. Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to choose a man? Care I for the limb, the thewes', the stature, bulk, and big assemblance of a man? Give me the spirit, master Shallow.-Here's Wart;-you see what a ragged appearance it is: he shall charge you, and discharge you, with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off, and on, swifter than he that gibbets-on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-faced fellow, Shadow,give me this man; he presents no mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim level at the edge of a penknife: And, for a retreat,-how swiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off! O, give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.-Put me a caliver3 into Wart's hand, Bardolph.

So:-very

Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. well-go to: - very good:-exceeding good.-0, give me always a little, lean, old, chapped, bald shot.

† "stay at home till you are past service :"-MALONE.

1

the thewes,] i. e. the muscular strength or appearance of manhood. In ancient writers this term usually implies manners, or behaviour only.

2

3

-foeman -] An obsolete term for an enemy in war.
caliver] A caliver was less and lighter than a nusquet,

as is evident from its being fired without a rest.

traverse ;] An ancient term in military exercise.

4

Well said, i'faith, Wart; thou'rt a good scab: hold, there's a tester for thee.

Shal. He is not his craft's master, he doth not do it right. I remember at Mile-end green, (when I lay at Clement's inn,-I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show) there was a little quiver fellow', and 'a would manage you his piece thus: and 'a would about, and about, and come you in, and come you in: rah, tah, tah, would 'a say; bounce, would 'a say; and away again would 'a go, and again would 'a come :-I shall never see such a fellow.

Fal. These fellows will do well, master Shallow.God keep you, master Silence: I will not use many words with you:-Fare you well, gentlemen both: I thank you: I must a dozen mile to-night.-Bardolph, give the soldiers coats.

Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper your affairs, and send us peace! As you return, visit my house; let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure, I will with you to the court.

Fal. I would you would, master Shallow.

Shal. Go to; I have spoke, at a word. Fare you well. [Exeunt SHALLOW and SILENCE. Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bardolph ; lead the men away. [Exeunt BARDOLPH, Recruits, &c.] As I return, I will fetch off these justices: I do see the bottom of justice Shallow. Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his

5 I was then sir Dagonet in Arthur's show,] Arthur's show, here supposed to have been presented at Clement's inn, was probably an interlude or masque, which actually existed, and was very popular in Shakspeare's age: and seems to have been compiled from Mallery's Morte Arthur, or the History of King Arthur, then recently published, and the favourite and most fashionable romance. But some think Arthur's show was an exhibition of archery on Mile-end green.

6 —— a little quiver fellow,] Quiver is nimble, active, &c.

youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull-street'; and every third word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him at Clement's inn, like a man made after supper of a cheese-paring : when he was naked, he was, for all the world, like a fork'd radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife: he was so forlorn, that his dimensions. to any thick sight were invisiblet: he was the very Genius of famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores called him-mandrake: he came ever in the rear-ward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-scutched huswifes that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his goodnights. And now is this Vice's dagger' become a squire; and talks as familiarly of John of Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head, for crouding among the marshal's

I saw it; and told John of Gaunt, he beat his own name; for you might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into an eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a court; and now has he land and beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him, if I return: and it shall go hard, but I will make him a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason, in the law of na

8

Turnbull or Turnmill-street

over-scutched-] That is, whipt, carted.

9 fancies, or his good-nights.] Fancies and Good-nights were the titles of little poems.

1 And now is this Vice's dagger] By Vice here the poet means that droll character in the old plays equipped with ass's ears and a wooden dagger. The word vice is an abbreviation of device, but the commentators are not agreed on this important point. beat his own name ;] That is, beat gaunt, a fellow so slender, that his name might have been gaunl.

2

ture, but I may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end.

[Exit.

ACT IV.

SCENE I-A Forest in Yorkshire.

Enter the Archbishop of YORK, MOWBRAY, HASTINGS, and Others.

Arch. What is this forest call'd?

Hast. 'Tis Gualtree forest, an't shall please your

grace.

Arch. Here stand, my lords: and send discoverers

forth,

To know the numbers of our enemies.

Hast. We have sent forth already.
Arch.

'Tis well done.

My friends, and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have receiv'd
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus:-
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers
As might hold sortance with his quality,
The which he could not levy; whereupon
He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes,
To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers,
That your attempts may overlive the hazard,

And fearful meeting of their opposite.

Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground,

And dash themselves to pieces.

Hast.

Enter a Messenger.

Now, what news?

Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile,

In goodly form comes on the enemy:

And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number Upon, or near, the rate of thirty thousand.

Mowb. The just proportion that we gave them out. Let us sway on, and face them in the field.

Enter WESTMORELAND.

3

Arch. What well-appointed leader fronts us here ? Mowb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland. West. Health and fair greeting from our general, The prince, lord John and duke of Lancaster.

Arch. Say on, my lord of Westmoreland, in peace; What doth concern your coming?

West.

Then, my lord,
Unto your grace do I in chief address
The substance of my speech. If that rebellion
Came like itself, in base and abject routs,
Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage',
And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary;
I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd,
In his true, native, and most proper shape,
You, reverend father, and these noble lords,
Had not been here, to dress the ugly form
Of base and bloody insurrection

With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,-
Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd;

Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd;
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd;
Whose white investments figure innocence,
The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,-
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself,
Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace,
Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war?

4

— well-appointed] i. e. completely accoutred.

guarded with rage,] Guarded is an expression taken

from dress; it means the same as faced, turned up.