and bear your years very well: welcome, good sir John. Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master Robert Shallow-Master Sure-card, as I think. Shal. No, sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission with me. Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you should be of the peace. Sil. Your good worship is welcome. Fal. Fye! this is hot weather.--Gentlemen, have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient men? Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit ? Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the roll? Let me see, let me see. So, so, so, so: Yea, marry, sir:- Ralph Mouldy:-let them appear as I call; let them do so, let them do so.Let me see; Where is Mouldy? Moul. Here, an't please you. Shal. What think you, sir John? a good limbed fellow young, strong, and of good friends. Fal. Is thy name Mouldy? Moul. Yea, an't please you. Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used. Shal. Here is two more called than your num you must have but four here, sir ;-and so, i pray you, go in with me to dinner. [To Shallow. Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good trotn Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you could have let me alone: my old dame will be un-master Shallow. done now, for one to do her husbandry, and her drudgery: you need not to have pricked me; there are other men fitter to go out than I. Fal. Go to; peace, Mouldy, you shall go. Mouldy, it is time you were spent. Moul. Spent! Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside; Know you where you are ?-For the other, sir John:let me see ;-Simon Shadow ! Fal. Ay marry, let me have him to sit under: he's like to be a cold soldier. Shal. Where's Shadow? Shad. Here, sir. Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou? Fal. Thy mother's son! like enough; and thy father's shadow: so the son of the female is the shadow of the male: It is often so, indeed; but not much of the father's substance. Shal. Do you like him, sir John? Fal. Shadow will serve for summer,-prick him; for we have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book. Shal. Thomas Wart! Fal. Where's he? Wart. Here, sir. Fal. Is thy name Wart? Wart. Yea, sir. Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart. Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame stands upon pins prick him no more. Shal. Ha, ha, ha!-you can do it, sir; you do it: I commend you well.-Francis Feeble! Fee. Here, sir. Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble? can Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he would have pricked you.-Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat! Fee. I will do my good will, sir; you can have no more. Shal. O, sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in Saint George's fields Fal. No more of that, good master Shallow, no more of that. Shal. Ha, it was a merry night. And is Jane Night-work alive? Fal. She lives, master Shallow. Shal. She never could away with me. Fal. Never, never: she would always say, she could not abide inaster Shallow. Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the heart. She was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well? Fal. Old, old, master Shallow. Shal. Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose but be old; certain, she's old; and had Robin Night-work by old Night-work, before I came to Clement's inn. Sil. That's fifty-five year ago. Shal. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that that this knight and I have seen '-Ha, sir John, said I well? Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, master Shallow. Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; in faith, sir John, we have; our watch-word was, Hem, boys!-Come, let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner:-0, the days that we have seen!Come, come. [Exeunt Falstaff, Shallow, and Silence. Bull. Good master corporate Bardolph, stand my friend; and here is four Harry ten shillings in French crowns for you. In very truth, sir, I had as lief be hanged, sir, as go: and yet, for mine own part, sir, I do not care: but, rather, because I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a desire to stay with my friends; else, sir, I did not care, for mine own part so much. Bard. Go to; stand aside. Moul. And good master corporal captain, for my old dame's sake, stand my friend; she has nobody to do any thing about her, when I am gone; and she is old, and cannot help herself: you shall have forty, sir. Bard. Go to; stand aside. Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well said, Fee. By my troth, I care not;-a man can die but courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the once ;- We owe God a death;-I'll ne'er bear a wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse.-base mind :-an't be my destiny, so; an't be not, Prick the woman's tailor well, master Shallow; so: No man's too good to serve his prince; and, deep, master Shallow. let it go which way it will, he that dies this year, is quit for the next. Fee I would, Wart might have gone, sir. Shal. Come, sir John, which four will you have? Shul. 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 wil! 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. scutched huswifes that he heard the carmen whis- ACT IV. SCENE I-A Forest in Yorkshire. and others. Arch. What is this forest call'd? 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; Enter the Archbishop of York, Mowbray, Hastings, -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 the great ones.Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph. Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So:very well:-go to:-very good:-exceeding good. -0, give me always a little, lean, old, chapped, bald shot. 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, Hast. "Tis Gualtree forest, an't shall please your grace. Arch. Here stand, my lords: and send disco- To know the numbers of our enemies. "Tis well done. Enter Westmoreland. visit my house; let our old acquaintance be renew-Let us sway on, and face them in the field. Arch. What well-appointed leader fronts us here ? Momb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland. 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. 1.ord, lord, how subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This same starved justice hath done What doth concern your coming? nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his West. Then, my lord, youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbull- Unto your grace do I in chief address street; and every third word a lie, duer paid to the The substance of my speech. If that rebellion hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember Came like itself, in base and abject routs, him at Clement's inn, like a man made after sup- Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage, per of a cheese-paring: when he was naked, he was, And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary; for all the world, like a forked radish, with a head I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd, fantastically carved upon it with a knife: he was In his true, native, and most proper shape, so forlorn, that his dimensions to any thick sight You, reverend father, and these noble lords, were invisible: he was the very Genius of famine; Had not been here, to dress the ugly form yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores called Of base and bloody insurrection him-mandrake: he came ever in the rear-ward of With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd; Whose beard the silver hand of peace touch'd; Whose learning and good letters hath | Being mounted, and both roused in their seats, peace 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? Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine To a loud trumpet, and a point of war? Arch. Wherefore do I this ?-so the question stands. Briefly to this end :-We are all diseas'd; What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer, And find our griefs heavier than our offences. And have the summary of all our griefs, My father from the breast of Bolingbroke, West. You speak, lord Mowbray, now you know not what: The earl of Hereford was reputed then In England the most valiant gentleman; But, if your father had been victor there, Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers, and love, Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on, But this is mere digression from my purpose.- And it proceeds from policy, not love. West. Mowbray, you overween, to take it so; When we are wrong'd, and would unfold our This offer comes from mercy, not from fear : griefs, We are denied access unto his person For, lo! within a ken, our army lies: Upon mine honour, all too confident Even by those men that most have done us wrong. To give admittance to a thought of fear. The dangers of the days but newly gone, West. When ever yet was your appeal denied? Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth, To brother born an household cruelty, I make my quarrel in particular. West. There is no need of any such redress; Or, if there were, it not belongs to you. Morb. Why not to him, in part; and to us all, That feel the bruises of the days before; And suffer the condition of these times To lay a heavy and unequal hand Upon our honours? West. O my good lord Mowbray, Construe the times to their necessities, And you shall say indeed,-it is the time, And not the king, that doth you injuries. Yet, for your part, it not appears to me, Either from the king, or in the present time, That you should have an inch of any ground To build a grief on: Were you not restor'd To all the duke of Norfolk's signiories, Your noble and right-well-remember'd father's? Monb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost, That need to be reviv'd, and breath'd in me? The king, that lov'd him, as the state stood then, Was, force perforce, compell'd to banish him: And then, when Harry Bolingbroke, and he, Our battle is more full of names than yours, Morub. Well, by my will, we shall admit no parley. West. That argues but the shame of your of. fence: A rotten case abides no handling. Hast. Hath the prince John a full commission, In very ample virtue of his father, To hear, and absolutely to determine Of what conditions we shall stand upon? I muse, you make so slight a question. For this contains our general grievances :- All members of our cause, both here and hence, West. This will I show the general. Please you, lords, In sight of both our battles we may meet: Arch. My lord, we will do so. [Exit West. Morb. There is a thing within my bosom, tells me, That no conditions of our peace can stand. As our conditions shall consist upon, Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains. Arch. No, no, my lord; Note this,-the king is weary Of dainty and such picking grievances: For he hath found,--to end one doubt by death, To new remembrance: For full well he knows, He cannot so precisely weed this land, Hast. Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods Arch. 'Tis very true : And therefore be assur'd, my good lord marshal, Mowb. Be it so. Here is return'd my lord of Westmoreland. Re-enter Westmoreland. West. The prince is here at hand: Pleaseth your lordship, To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies? Mowb. Your grace of York, in God's name then set forward. Arch. Before, and greet his grace :-my lord, we [Exeunt. come SCENE II.-Another Part of the Forest. Enter, from one side, Mowbray, the Archbishop, Hastings, and others from the other side, Prince John of Lancaster, Westmoreland, Officers, and Attendants. P. John. You are well encounter'd here, my cou- Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop: It is even so :-Who hath not heard it spoken, Whereon this Hydra son of war is born: Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep, Mowb. If not, we ready are to try our fortunes Hast. And though we here fall down, P. John. You are too shallow, Hastings, much To sound the bottom of the after-times. West. Pleaseth your grace, to answer them directly, How far-forth you do like their articles? P. John. I like them all, and do allow them well: Arch. I take your princely word for these redres to the army This news of peace; let them have pay, and part: I know, it will well please them: Hie thee, captain. [Exit Officer. Arch. To you, my noble lord of Westmoreland. I have bestow'd, to breed this present peace, I am glad of it :- Arch. Against ill chances, men are ever merry ; Re-enter Hastings. Hast. My lord, our army is dispers'd already: Like youthful steers unyok'd, they take their courses East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up, Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while? Fal. I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus; I never knew yet, but rebuke and check was the reward of valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a bullet? have I, in my poor and old motion, the expedition of thought? I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility; I have foundered nine-score and odd posts: and here, travel-tainted as I am, have, in my pure and immaculate valour, taken sir John Colevile of the dale, a most furious knight, and valorous enemy: But what of that? he saw me, and yielded; that I may justly say with the hook-nosed fellow of Rome, I came, saw, and overcame. P. John. It was more of his courtesy than vour deserving. Fal. I know not; here he is, and here I yield him: and I beseech your grace, let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds; or, by the lord, I will have it in a particular ballad else, with mine own picture on the top of it, Colevile kissing my foot: To the which course, if I be enforced, if you do not all show like gilt two-pences to me; and 1, in the clear sky of fame, o'ershine you as much as I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason: the full moon doth the cinders of the element, which And you, lord archbishop,-and you, lord Mow-show like pins' heads to her; believe not the word Of capital treason I attach you both. [bray, of the noble : Therefore let me have right, and let Mow. Is this proceeding just and honourable ? desert mount. West. Is your assembly so? Arch. Will you thus break your faith? nour, I will perform with a most christian care. [Exeunt. SCENE III.-Another Part of the Forest. Alarums: Excursions. Enter Falstaff and Colevile, meeting. Fal. What's your name, sir? of what condition are you; and of what place, I pray? Cole. I am a knight, sir; and my name isColevile of the dale. Fal. Well then, Colevile is your name; a knight is your degree; and your place, the dale; Colevile shall still be your name; a traitor your degree; and the dungeon your place,-a place deep enough; so shall you still be Colevile of the dale. Cole. Are not you sir John Falstaff? Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye yield, sir? or shall I sweat for you? If I do sweat, they are drops of thy lovers, and they weep! for thy death; therefore rouse up fear and trembling, and do observance to my mercy. Cole. I think, you are sir John Falstaff; and, in that thought, yield me. Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine; and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but my name. An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I were simply the most active fellow in Europe: My womb, my womb, my womb undoes me.-Here comes our general. P. John. Thine's too heavy to mount. P. John. Thine's too thick to shine. Re-enter Westmoreland. P. Jol.n. Now, have you left pursuit ? Fal. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go through Glostershire: and, when you come to court, stand my good lord, 'pray, in your good report. P. John. Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my con dition, Shall better speak of you than you deserve. [Exit Fal. I would, you had but the wit; 'twere better than your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh;-but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There's never any of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male greensickness; and then, when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards;which some of us should be too, but for inflammation. A good sherris-sack hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours which environ it: makes it apprehensive, quick, [Exit West.forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable Enter Prince John of Lancaster, Westmoreland, and others. P. John. The heat is past, follow no further now ; Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland. |