Falstaff. Seven, by these hilts, or I am a villain else. Prince. [aside to POINS] Prithee, let him alone; we shall have more anon. Falstaff. Dost thou hear me, Hal? Prince. Aye, and mark thee too, Jack. Falstaff. Do so, for it is worth the listening to. These uine in buckram that I told thee of Prince. So, two more already. 5 Falstaff. Began to give me ground: but I followed me close, came in foot and hand; and with a thought seven 10 of the eleven I paid. Prince. out of two! Oh, monstrous! eleven buckram men grown Falstaff. But three knaves in Kendal green came at my back and let drive at me; for it was so dark, Hal, 15 that thou couldst not see thy hand. Prince. These lies are like their father that begets. them; gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Why, thou clay-brained, not-pated fool, thou greasy tallow-keech,— Falstaff. What, art thou mad? art thou mad? is not 20 the truth the truth? Prince. Why, how couldst thou know these men in Kendal green when it was so dark thou couldst not see thy hand? come, tell us your reason; what say'st thou to this? Poins. Come, your reason, Jack, your reason. 25 Falstaff. What, upon compulsion? Zounds, and I were at the strappado or all the racks in the world, I would not tell you on compulsion. Give you a reason on compulsion! if reasons were as plenty as blackberries, I 30 would give no man a reason upon compulsion, I. Prince. I'll be no longer guilty of this sin; this sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this horseback-breaker, this huge hill of flesh, - Falstaff. Away, you starveling, you eelskin, you dried 5 neat's tongue, you stockfish. Oh, for breath to utter what is like thee! you tailor's yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck, — Prince. Well, breathe awhile and then to it again; and when thou hast tired thyself in base comparisons, hear 10 me speak but this: Poins. : Mark, Jack. We two saw you four set on four; you bound them and were masters of their wealth. Mark now, how a plain tale shall put you down. Then did we two 15 set on you four; and with a word, out-faced you from your prize and have it; yea, and can show it you here in the house and, Falstaff, you carried yourself away as nimbly, with as quick dexterity, and roared for mercy and still run and roared, as ever I heard bull calf. What a 20 slave art thou, to hack thy sword as thou hast done and then say it was in fight! What trick, what device, what starting-hole, canst thou now find out to hide thee from this open and apparent shame? Poins. Come, let's hear, Jack; what trick hast thou 25 now? Falstaff. By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made ye. Why, hear ye, my masters; was it for me to kill the heir apparent? should I turn upon the true prince? why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules; 30 but beware instinct; the lion will not touch the true prince. Instinct is a great matter; I was a coward on k: a name formerly given to various Spanish wines. ér stocks: stockings. Ti'tan: according to Roman myty, the Titans were six giants, sons of Heaven and Earth. ame Titan was applied to various mythological persons sed to be descended from them - among others to Helios, n god. Hence Titan came to be a common name for the nd so it is used here. Shotten herring: one that has dised its spawn and is lank and lean. Buck'ram: a coarse used for wearing apparel, very different from the material earing that name. Prith'ee: pray thee. Ken'dal green: h named from Kendal in England, formerly celebrated s cloth manufacture. Kendal green was the livery of Hood and outlaws in general. Not'-pat ěd: having the ut short. Keech: a lump of fat rolled up by the butcher. pa'do: a military punishment by which the offender was to the top of a beam and then let fall the length of the in this way the limbs were often broken or dislocated. a long narrow sword. This and the preceding terms applied to the prince on account of his slenderness. Swallow-time BY RICHARD JEFFERIES Richard Jefferies (1848-1887): An English journalist and essayist, best known for his books on nature. Among his works are "The Gamekeeper at Home," "Nature near London," ""Life of the Fields," "Red Deer," and "The Open Air." The eave swallows have come at last with the midsummer time, and the hay and white clover and warm winds that breathe hotly, like one that has been running uphill; with the paler hawkweeds, whose edges are so 5 delicately trimmed and cut and balanced, almost as if made by deft human fingers to human design, whose globes of down are like geometrical circles built up of facets, instead of by one revolution of the compasses; with foxglove, and dragon fly, and yellowing wheat; with 10 green cones of fir, and boom of distant thunder, and all things that say, "It is summer." Not many of them even now, sometimes only two in the air together, sometimes three or four, and one day eight, the very greatest number- a mere handful, for these eave swallows at such 15 times should crowd the sky. The white bars across their backs should be seen gliding beside the dark fir copse a quarter of a mile away. They should be seen everywhere, over the house, and to and fro the eaves, where half last year's nest remains; over the meadows and high up in 20 the blue ether. White breasts should gleam in the azure height, appearing and disappearing as they climb or sink, and wheel and slide through those long boomerang-like flights that suddenly take them a hundred yards aside. |