Quic. Ay, that 'a did. Bard. And of women. Quic. Nay, that 'a did not. Boy. Yes, that 'a did; and said, they were devils in carnate. Quic. 'A could never abide carnation ; 'twas a colour he never liked. Boy. 'A said once, the devil would have him about wo men. Quic. 'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women: but then he was rheumatic,' and talked of the whore of Babylon. Boy. Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose; and 'a said, it was a black soul burning in hell-fire? Bard. Well, the fuel is gone, that maintained that fire. That's all the riches I got in his service. Nym. Shall we shog off? the king will be gone from Southampton. Pist. Come, let's away.-My love, give me thy lips. Look to my chattels, and my moveables: Let senses rule; the word is, Pitch and Pay; Trust none; For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes, Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor. Go, clear thy crystals.-Yoke-fellows in arms, Boy. And that is but unwholesome food, they say. [Kissing her. Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but adieu. Pist. Let housewifery appear; keep close, I thee command. Quic. Farewel; adieu. [Exeunt. Mrs. Quickly mistakes the word incarnate for a colour. HENDERSON. The caution was a very proper one to Mrs. Quickly, who had suffered before, by letting Falstaff run in her debt. STEEVENS. [3] Alluding to the proverbial saying-" Brag is a good dog, but holdfast is a better." DOUCE. [4] Dry thine eyes. JOHNSON. SCENE IV. France. A Room in the French King's Palace. Enter the French King attended; the Dauphin, the duke of BURGUNDY, the Constable, and others. Fr. King. Thus come the English with full power upon us; And more than carefully it us concerns, To answer royally in our defences.. Therefore the dukes of Berry, and of Bretagne, It fits us then, to be as provident As fear may teach us, out of late examples Dau. My most redoubted father, It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe: For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom (Though war, nor no known quarrel, were in question,) But that defences, musters, preparations, Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected, As were a war in expectation. Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth, To view the sick and feeble parts of France: And let us do it with no show of fear; No, with no more, than if we heard that England For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd, Her sceptre so fantastically borne By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth, Con. O peace, prince dauphin! You are too much mistaken in this king: [6] How diffident and decent in making objections. JOHNSON. Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus, Fr. King. Think we king Harry strong; And, princes, look, you strongly arm to meet him. Of that black name, Edward black prince of Wales; [7] Shakespeare not having given us, in the First or Second part of Henry IV. or in any other place but this, the remotest hint of the circumstances here alluded to, the comparison must needs be a little obscure to those who do not know or reflect what some historians have told us, that Henry IV. had entertained a deep jealousy of his son's aspiring superior genius. Therefore, to prevent all umbrage the prince withdrew from public affairs, and amused himself with consorting with a dissolute crew of robbers. It seems to me, that Shakespeare was ignorant of this circumstance when he wrote the two parts of Henry IV for it might have been so managed as to have given new beauties to the character of Hal, and great improvements to the plot. And with regard to these matters, Shakespeare generally tells us all he knew, and as soon as he knew it. WARBURTON. Thomas Otterbourne, and the translator of Titus Livius, indeed, says, that Henry the Fourth, in his latter days, was jealous of his son, and apprehended that he would attempt to depose him; to remove which suspicion, the prince is said (from the relation of an earl of Ormond, who was an eye witness of the fact,) to have gone with a great party of his friends to his father, in the twelfth year of his reign, and to have presented him with a dagger, which he desired the king to plunge into his breast, if he still entertained any doubts of his loyalty: but, I believe it is no where said, that he threw himself into the company of dissolute persons to avoid giving umbrage to his father, or betook himself to irregular courses with a political view of quieting his suspicions. MALONE. [8] To haunt is a word of the utmost horror, which shows that they dreaded the English as goblins and spirits. JOHNSON. [9] Mr. Theobald would read-rounting; that is, high minded, aspiring. The emendation may be right, and yet I believe the poet meant to give an idea of more than human proportion in the figure of the king: Quantus Athos, aut quantus Ery, &c. Virg. "Like Tenerife or Atlas remov'd." Alton. STEEVENS. Mangle the work of nature, and deface The patterns that by God and by French fathers Enter a Messenger. Mes. Ambassadors from Henry king of England Do crave admittance to your majesty. Fr. King. We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them. [Ex. Mess. and certain lords. You see, this chace is hotly follow'd, friends. Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward dogs Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten, Runs far before them. Good my sovereign, Take up the English short; and let them know Of what a monarchy you are the head: As self-neglecting. Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and train. Fr. King. From our brother England? Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majesty. He wills you, in the name of God Almighty, That you divest yourself, and lay apart The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven, To him, and to his heirs; namely, the crown, Unto the crown of France. That you may know, [Gives a paper. [1] His fate is what is allotted him by destiny, or what he is fated to perform.So Virgil, speaking of the future deeds of the descendants of Eneas: "Attollens humeris famamque et fata nepotum." STEEVENS. [2] That is, bark; the sportsman's term. JOHNSON. (3) This genealogy; this deduction of his lineage. JOHNSON. From him the native and true challenger. Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown To whom expressly I bring greeting too. Fr. King. For us, we will consider of this further: To-morrow shall you bear our full intent Back to our brother England. Dau. For the dauphin, I stand here for him: What to him from England ? The mighty sender, doth he prize you at. Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply, It is against my will: for I desire Nothing but odds with England; to that end, As matching to his youth and vanity, I did present him with those Paris balls. Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it, Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe : And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference, (As we, his subjects, have in wonder found,) [4] To chide is to resound, to sche. STEEVENS. |