But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber; And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody? Enter Warwick and Surrey. War. Many good morrows to your majesty! K. Hen. Why then, good morrow to you all, my Jords. Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you? K. Hen. Then you perceive, the body of our kingdom How foul it is; what rank diseases grow, War. It is but as a body, yet, distemper'd; My lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd. K. Hen. O heaven! that one might read the book of fate; And see the revolution of the times Make mountains level, and the continent Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock, Since Richard, and Northumberland, great friends,| (1) Noise. [To Warwick. (2) Those in lowly situations. When Richard, with his eye brimfull of tears, That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss :---- War. There is a history in all men's lives, King Richard might create a perfect guess, K. Hen. Are these things then necessities? War. To comfort you the more, I have receiv'd K. Hen. I will take your counsel: And, were these inward wars once out of hand, We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land. [Exe. SCENE II.-Court before Justice Shallow's house, in Gloucestershire. Enter Shallow and Silence, meeting; Mouldy, Shadow, Wart, Feeble, Bullcalf, and servants, behind. Shal. Come on, come on, come on; give me your hand, sir, give me your hand, sir: an early stirrer, by the rood. And how doth my good cousin, Silence? Sil. Good morrow, good cousin Shallow. Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bed-fellow? and your fairest daughter, and mine, my god-daughter Ellen? Sil. Alas, a black ouzel, cousin Shallow. Shal. By yea and nay, sir, I dare say, my cousin William is become a good scholar: He is at Oxford still, is he not? Sil. Indeed, sir, to my cost. Shal. He must then to the inns of courts shortly: I was once of Clement's-Inn; where, I think, they will talk of mad Shallow yet. Sil. You were called-lusty Shallow, then, cousin. Shal. By the mass, I was called any thing; and I would have done any thing, indeed, and roundly too. There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George Bare, and Francis Pickbone, (3) Cross. and Will Squele, a Cotswold man,-you had not sir John.-Give me your good hand, give me your four such swing-bucklers' in all the inns of court worship's good hand: By my troth, you look well, again and I may say to you, we knew where the and bear your years very well: welcome, good sir bona-robas were; and had the best of them all at John. commandment. Then was Jack Falstaff, now sir Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master John, a boy; and page to Thomas Mowbray, duke Robert Shallow:-Master Sure-card, as I think. of Norfolk. Shal. No, sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in : Sil. This sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon commission with me. about soldiers? Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you should be of the peace. Shal. The same sir John, the very same. I saw him break Skogan's head at the court-gate, when Sil. Your good worship is welcome. he was a crack, not thus high: and the very same Fal. Fie! this is hot weather.--Gentlemen, day did I fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruit- have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient erer, behind Gray's-Inn. O, the mad-day's that I men? have spent! and to see how many of mine old acquaintances are dead! Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit? Sil. We shall all follow, cousin. Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: the roll?-Let me see, let me see. So, so, so, so: death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all Yea, marry, sir:-Ralph Mouldy:-let them ap shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stam- pear as I call; let them do so, let them do so.ford fair? Let me see; Where is Mouldy? Moul. Here, an't please you. Sil. Truly, cousin, I was not there. Shat. Death is certain.-Is old Double of your fellow: young, strong, and of good friends. town living yet? Shal. What think you, sir John? a good-limbed Sil. Dead, sir. Fal. Is thy name Mouldy? Shal. Dead!-See, see!-he drew a good bow ;And dead-he shot a fine shoot:-John of Gaunt] Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used. loved him well, and betted much money on his Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i'faith! things head. Dead! he would have clapped i'the clout that are mouldy, lack use: Very singular good!at twelve score; and carried you a forehand shaft In faith, well said, sir John; very well said. a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would Fal. Prick him. [To Shallow. have done a man's heart good to see.-How a score Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you of ewes now? could have let me alone: my old dame will be undone 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. Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds. Shal. And is old Double dead? Enter Bardolph, and one with him. Sil. Here come two of sir John Falstaff's men, as I think. Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you, which is justice Shallow? Shal. I'am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this county, and one of the king's justices of the peace: What is your good pleasure with me? Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you: my captain, sir John Falstaff: a tall gentleman, by heaven, and a most gallant leader. Shal. He greets me well, sir; I knew him a good backsword man: How doth the good knight? may I ask, how my lady his wife doth? Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated, than with a wife. Shal. It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is well said, indeed, too. Better accommodated!-it is good; yea, indeed, it is: good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable. Accommodated!-it comes from accommodo: very good; a good phrase. Bard. Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase, call you it? By this good day, I know not the phrase: but I will maintain the word with my sword, to be a soldier-like word, and a word of exceeding good command. Accommodated; that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated: or, when a man is,-being,-whereby, he may be thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing. Enter Falstaff. Shal. It is very just:-Look, here comes good (1) Rakes, or rioters. (2) Ladies of pleasure. (3) Boy. 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? 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. 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 can Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble? (4) Hit the white mark at twelve score yards. (5) Brave. Shal. Shall I prick him, sir? Bull. Good master corporate Bardolph, stand Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, my friend; and here is four Harry ten shillings in he would have pricked you.-Wilt thou make as French crowns for you. In very truth, sir, I had many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou hast done as lief be hanged, sir, as go: and yet, for mine in a woman's petticoat? Fee. I will do my good will, sir; you can have no more. Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well said, courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse.Prick the woman's tailor well, master Shallow; deep, master Shallow. Fee. I would, Wart might have gone, sir. Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor; that thou might'st mend him, and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a private soldier, that is the leader of so many thousands: Let that suffice, most forcible Feeble. Fee. It shall suffice, sir. Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the green! 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. Fee. By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once-we owe God a death;-I'll ne'er bear a base mind:-an't be my destiny, so;-an't be not, so: No man's too good to serve his prince; Feeble.—and, let it go which way it will, he that dies this year, is quit for the next. Fal. 'Fore God, a likely fellow!-Come, prick the Bull-calf, till he roar again. Bull. O lord! good my lord captain. Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked? Bull. A whoreson cold, sir; a cough, sir; which 1 caught with ringing in the king's affairs, upon his coronation day, sir. Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will take such order, that thy friends shall ring for thee.-Is here all? Bard. Well said; thou'rt a good fellow. Re-enter Falstaff, and Justices. Fal. Come, sir, which men shall I have? Bard. Sir, a word with you:-I have three pound Shal. Come, sir John, which four will you have? 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; Shal. Here is two more called than your num-I will none of you. ber; you must have but four here, sir ;-and so, I pray you, go in with me to dinner. Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth, master Shallow. Shal. O, sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in St. 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? 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-fac'd 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 pen-knife: And, for a retreat,-how swiftly will Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off! O, give heart. She was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.her own well? Fal. She lives, master Shallow. 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? Put me a caliver2 into Wart's hand, Bardolph. Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. well:-go to:-very good:-exceeding good.-0, Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So :-very give me always a little, lean, old, chapped, bald shot.-Well said, i'faith, Wart; thou art 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 Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Arthur's show,') there was a little quiver fellow, master Shallow. and 'a would manage you his piece thus: and 'a Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; would about, and about, and come you in, and in faith, sir John, we have; our watch-word was, come you in: rah, tah, tah, would 'a say; bounce, Hem, boys!-Come, let's to dinner; come, let's would 'a say; and away again would 'a go, and to dinner:-0, the days that we have seen!-again would 'a come:-I shall never see such a Come, come. [Exe. Falstaff, Shallow, and Silence. fellow. (1) Enemy. (2) Gun. (3) March. (4) Shooter. (5) An exhibition of archery. Fal. These fellows will do well, master Shal-As might hold sortance with his quality, low. God keep you, master Silence; I will not The which he could not levy; whereupon use many words with you:-Fare you well, gentle- He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes, inen both: I thank you: I must a dozen mile to- To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers, night.-Bardolph, give the soldiers coats. That your attempts may overlive the hazard, ground, Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and prosper And fearful meeting of their opposite. your affairs, and send us peace! As you return, Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch 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. And dash themselves to pieces. Hast. Now, what news? Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile, Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bar In goodly form comes on the enemy: dolph; lead the men away. [Exeunt Bardolph, Recruits, &c.] As I return, I will fetch off these And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number, justices: I do see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Upon, or near, the rate of thirty thousand. Mowb. The just proportion that we gave them Lord, lord, how subject we old men are to this out. Enter Westmoreland. Arch. What well-appointed leader fronts us Mowb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland. Then, my lord, ce of! This same starved justice hath done Let us sway on, and face them in the field. nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbullstreet; 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 forked radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with a knife: he was so forlorn, that his dimensions to any thick sight were invisible: he was the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a monkey, and the whores called him-mandrake: he came ever in the rear- Unto your grace do I in chief address ward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the The substance of my speech. If that rebellion over-scutched huswives that he heard the carmen Came like itself, in base and abject routs, whistle, and sware-they were his fancies, or his Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage, good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger be- And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary; come a squire; and talks as familiarly of John of I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd, Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: In his true, native, and most proper shape, and I'll be sworn he never saw him but once in the You, reverend father, and these noble lords, Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head, for crowd-Had not been here, to dress the ugly form ing among the marshal's men. I saw it; and told Of base and bloody insurrection John of Gaunt, he beat his own name for you With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into an Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd; eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was a man- Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd; sion for him, a court; and now has he land and Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor❜d; beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him, if Whose white investments figure innocence, I return and it shall go hard, but I will make him The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young dace Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself, be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason, in the Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace, law of nature, but I may snap at him. Let time Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war? shape, and there an end. ACT IV. [Exit. Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood, SCENE I-A forest in Yorkshire. Enter the Briefly to this end:-We are all diseas'd; others. Arch. What is this forest call'd? Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send To know the numbers of our enemies. Have brought ourselves into a burning fever, And we must bleed for it: of which disease Our late king, Richard, being infected, died. please But, my most noble lord of Westmoreland, I take not on me here as a physician; disco-Nor do I as an enemy to peace, "Tis well done. (1) In Clerkenwell. (2) Titles of little poems. (3) A wooden dagger like that used by the modern harlequin. Troop in the throngs of military men: And find our griefs (4) Broke. (5) Gaunt is thin, slender. (7) Completely accoutred. We see which way the stream of time doth run, Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth, I make my quarrel in particular. West. There is no need of any such redress; not what: The earl of Hereford was reputed then In England the most valiant gentleman; Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers, and Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on, And it proceeds from policy, not love. West. Mowbray, you overween, to take it so; Mowb. Well, by my will, we shall admit no West. That argues but the shame of your offence: 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? West. That is intended in the general's name: 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, peace Upon such large terms, and so absolute, Who knows, on whom fortune would then have We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind, smil'd? But, if your father had been victor there, For all the country, in a general voice, (1) Lances. (2) Helmets. (4) Truncheon. That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff, Arch. No, no, my lord; Note this,-the king is weary (7) Understood. (8) Wonder. (9) Inventory. (10) Proper limits of reverence. (11) Trival. (12) The faith due to a king. |