Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.

P. Hen. Thou judgest false already; I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves, and so become a rare hangman.

Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you. P. Hen. For obtaining of suits?"

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits: whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat, or a lugged bear.

P. Hen. Or an old lion; or a lover's lute.

Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe."

P. Hen. What say'st thou to a hare," or the melancholy of Moor-ditch ?a

Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes; and art, indeed, the most comparative, rascalliest,-sweet young prince, But, Hal, I pr'ythee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought: An old lord of the council rated me the other day in the street about you, sir; but I marked him not: and yet he talked very wisely; but I regarded him not: and yet he talked wisely, and in the street too.

P. Hen. Thou did'st well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.

Fal. O thou hast damnable iteration :d and art, indeed, able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon

u For obtaining of suits?] Suit, spoken of one that attends at court, means a petition; used with respect to the hangman, means the clothes of the offender. -JOHNSON.

—a gib cat,] i. e. An old he cat.

y Lincolnshire bagpipe.] That this was a real instrument, and not the croaking of frogs, as supposed by Mr. Steevens, is evident from the passage which Mr. Boswell has quoted out of Armin's Nest of Ninnies.

za hare,] The Egyptians, in their hieroglyphicks, expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form.-STEEVENS.

a

the melancholy of Moor-ditch ?] It appears from Stowe's Survey, that a broad ditch, called Deep-ditch, formerly parted the hospital from Moorfields; and what has a more melancholy appearance than stagnant water?— STEEVENS.

no man regards it.]-Proverb. i. 20 and 24.

d

damnable iteration;] i. e. A wicked trick of repeating and applying

holy texts.-JOHNSON.

me, Hal,-God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, 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; by the Lord, 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, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins!-Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. 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-Sugar? 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 damn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

P. Hen. Else he had been damn'd for cozening the devil.

have set a match.] i. e. Made an appointment.

Sack-and-Sugar?] Much enquiry has been made about Falstaff's sack, and great surprise expressed at his having mixed it with sugar. As they are here mentioned for the first time in this play, it may not be improper to observe, that it is probable that Falstaff's wine was sherry; a spanish wine, originally made at Xeres. He frequently himself calls it sherries-sack. Nor will his mixing sugar with it appear extraordinary, when it is known, that it was in our author's time a very common practice to put sugar into all wines.→ MALONE.

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 night in Eastwill cheap; we may do it as secure as sleep: If you go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home, and be hang'd.

Fal. Hear me, 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.

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. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

P. Hen. I care not.

Poins. Sir John, I pr'ythee, leave the prince and me alone; I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure, that he shall go.

Fal. Well, may'st 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 abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: You shall find me in Eastcheap.

the poor

P. Hen. Farewell, thou latter spring! Farewell, Allhallown summer !h [Exit FALSTAFF. Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow; I have a jest to execute, that I cannot ma

g

stand for ten shillings.] A double quibble, stand means to be worth and to contend for: the real or the royal was of the value of ten shillings. All-hallows is All-saints,

h

All-hallown summer.] i. e. A late summer.

which festival is the first of November.

nage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill, shall rob those men that we have already way-laid; 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, 'tis like, that they will know us, by our horses, by our habits, and by every 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, sirrah, 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 forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies that this same 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 night' in Eastcheap, there I'll sup. Farewell.

Poins. Farewell, my lord.

[Exit POINS.

P. Hen. I know you all, and will a while uphold

The unyok'd humour of your idleness;

Yet herein will I imitate the sun :

i

"The ap

for the nonce.] i. e. For the once, for the thing in question. titude of many of our monosyllables beginning with a vowel, to assume the n is well known."-Gifford's Ben Jonson, vol. iii. 218.

k

1

· reproof-] Reproof is confutation.

to-morrow night-] We should certainly read to-night. The robbery was to be committed at four in the morning.-STBEVENS.

Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours, that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But, when they seldom come, they wish'd-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behaviour I throw off,
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes ;"
And, like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
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.

[Exit.

The same.

Another Room in the Palace.

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,

And you have found me; for accordingly,

You tread upon my patience: but, be sure,
I will from henceforth rather be myself,

Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition ;"

m

shall 1 falsify men's hopes :] To falsify hope is to exceed hope, to give much where men hoped for little.

This speech is very artfully introduced to keep the prince from appearing vile in the opinion of the audience; it prepares them for his future reformation; and, what is yet more valuable, exhibits a natural picture of a great mind offering excuses to itself, and palliating those follies which it can neither justify nor forsake.-JOHNSON.

n I will from henceforth rather be myself,

Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition ;] i. e. I will from henceforth rather put on the character that becomes me, and exert the resentment of an