I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now I am, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over; an I do not, I am a villain; I'll be damned for never a king's son in Christendom. P. HEN. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? FAL. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain and baffle me. P. HEN. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying to purse-taking. Enter POINS, at a distance. FAL. Why, Hal, 't is my vocation, Hal; 't is no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins!-Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a watch3. O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent villain that ever cried Stand, to a true man. P. HEN. Good morrow, Ned. POINS. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says monsieur Remorse? What says sir John Sack and-Sugar1? Jack, how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good-Friday last, for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg? P. HEN. Sir John stands to his word,-the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs,—he will give the devil his due. POINS. Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil. P. HEN. Else he had been damned for cozening the devil. POINS. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill: There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purses: I have visors for you all, you have horses for yourselves; Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester; I have bespoke supper to-morrow in Eastcheap; we may do it as secure as sleep: If you will go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hanged. FAL. Hear ye, Yedward, if I tarry at home and go not, I'll hang you for going. POINS. You will, chops? FAL. Hal, wilt thou make one? P. HEN. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith. FAL. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings. * Set a watch. The folio reads thus; the quartos, set a match. Steevens says, “As no watch is afterwards set, I suppose match is the true reading." To "set a match" appears, from a passage in Ben Jonson, to be to “make an appointment." But Gadshill, it seems to us, was in communication with the chamberlain of the Rochester inn; and this chamberlain, who was to have a share in the "purchase," was the watch or spy that Gadshill had set. When Gadshill meets Falstaff and Poins he is received with "O, 't is our setter." Hear ye. This, which is the reading of the old editions, has been changed into the feeble Hear me. 66 "Hear ye" is the same as Hark ye." • Ten shillings was the value of the royal. Hence Falstaff's quibble. P. HEN. Well, then, once in my days, I'll be a madcap. FAL. Why, that 's well said. P. HEN. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. FAL. I'll be a traitor, then, when thou art king. P. HEN. I care not. POINS. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone; I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go. FAL. Well, mayst thou have the spirit of persuasion and he the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may move and what he hears may be believed, that the true prince may (for recreation sake) prove a false thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: You shall find me in Eastcheap. P. HEN. Farewell the latter spring! Farewell, All-hallown summer! [Exit FALSTAFF. POINS. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow; I have a jest to execute, that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill, shall rob those men that we have already waylaid; yourself and I will not be there: and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from my shoulders. P. HEN. But how shall we part with them in setting forth? POINS. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail: and then will they adventure upon the exploit themselves: which they shall have no sooner achieved, but we 'll set upon them. P. HEN. Ay, but 't is like that they will know us, by our horses, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves. POINS. Tut! our horses they shall not see, I'll tie them in the wood; our visors we will change, after we leave them; and, sirrahd, I have cases of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments. P. HEN. But, I doubt they will be too hard for us. POINS. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he sees reason I'll -more em • The latter spring. So all the old copies. Pope first read "thou latter spring "— phatic, but less correct. All-hallown summer-summer in November, on the first of which month is the feast of Allhallows, or All Saints. Falstaff, &c. In the old copies we read, "Falstaff, Harvey, Rossil, and Gadshill." Harvey and Rossil were, most probably, the names of actors; for Bardolph and Peto were two of the four robbers. (See Act II.) The correction was made by Theobald. d Sirrah, in this and other passages, is used familiarly, and even sharply, but not contemptuously. The word is supposed to have meant, originally, Sir, ha! which etymology agrees with Shakspere's general application of the term. • For the nonce. Gifford's explanation of this phrase (which is also the interpretation of Lord Hailes) is undoubtedly the true one. "For the nonce is simply for the once-for the one thing in question, whatever it be. *** The progress of this expression is distinctly marked in our early writers,-' a ones'-'an anes'-'for the ones '-' for the nanes'-' for the nones'-' for the nonce."" (Ben Jonson's Works, iii. 218.) forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this fat rogue will tell us, when we meet at supper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this lies the jest. P. HEN. Well, I'll go with thee; provide us all things necessary and meet me. To-morrow nighta in Eastcheap, there I'll sup. Farewell. POINS. Farewell, my lord. P. HEN. I know you all, and will awhile uphold The unyok'd humour of your idleness; Yet herein will I imitate the sun, Who doth permit the base contagious clouds Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes Than that which hath no foil to set it off. I'll so offend to make offence a skill; Redeeming time when men think least I will. SCENE III.-The same. Another Room in the Palace. [Exit POINS. [Exit. Enter KING HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and others. K. HEN. My blood hath been too cold and temperate, Unapt to stir at these indignities, • To-morrow night. Steevens thinks we should read to-night, for the robbery was to be committed at four in the morning. But the prince is thinking less of the exploit at Gadshill than of "the virtue of this jest—when we meet at supper,"—after the robbery. Perhaps some intermediate place of meeting was thought of by the Prince;-but he breaks off exultingly, with his head full of the supper "to-morrow night." We have ventured to point the passage in this sense. b Hopes-expectations. Thus, the Tanner of Tamworth said to Edward IV., “I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow." And you have found me; for, accordingly, Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud. And that same greatness too which our own hands NORTH. My lord, K. HEN. Worcester, get thee gone, for I do see Danger and disobedience in thine eye: O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, The moody frontier of a servant brow. You have good leave to leave us; when we need Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded, Were, as he says, not with such strength denied As was deliver'd to your majesty: Either envy, therefore, or misprision, Is guilty of this fault, and not my son. HOT. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. A But, I remember, when the fight was done, He was perfumed like a milliner; d And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held A pouncet-box, which ever and anon Condition-temper of mind. [Exit WOR. TO NORTH. • Frontier. Steevens says "frontier was anciently used for forehead;" but assuredly it is not so used here. What means "the moody forehead of a brow?" Capell, who has been unwisely neglected, through his general obscurity, tells us that "frontier is a metaphorical expression, highly proper, implying-armed to oppose: opposition to the will of a master being as plainly indicated by such a 'brow' as the king is describing, as war by a town or town's frontier furnished against invasion." (Notes and Various Readings,' vol. i., p. 153.) • Neat and trimly. All the old copies have and, which all modern editions omit. his nose, and took 't away again; He gave And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly, With many holiday and lady terms He question'd me; among the rest, demanded I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold, Out of my grief and my impatience Answer'd neglectingly, I know not what; He should, or should not;-for he made me mad, To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman Of guns, and drums, and wounds, (God save the mark!) And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth Betwixt my love and your high majesty. To such a person, and in such a place, K. HEN. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners; But with proviso, and exception, That we, at our own charge, shall ransom straight Who, in my soul, hath wilfully betray'd • Snuff. Aromatic powders were used as snuff long before the introduction of tobacco. b ↳ I answer'd indirectly. So the quartos. The folio, "made me to answer indirectly." |