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P. Henry. And yours, most noble Bardolph! Bard. [to the Page.] Come, you virtuous ass, you bashful fool, must you be blushing? Wherefore blush you now? What a maidenly man at arms are you become? Is it such a matter, to get 5 a pottle-pot's maiden-head?

Page. He call'd me even now, my lord, through a red lattice, and I could discern no part of his face from the window: at last, I spy'd his eyes; and methought he had made two holes in the ale wife's new petticoat, and peep'd through.

P. Henry. Hath not the boy profited? Bard. Away, you whoreson upright_rabbet, away!

for he misuses thy favours so much, that he swear, thou art to marry his sister Nell. Repent at idle times as thou man'st, and so farewell. Thing, by yea and no, (which is as much as to say, as thou usest him) Jack Falstaff, with my familiars; Joha with my brothers and sisters; and Sir John, with all Europe. My lord, I will steep this letter in sack, and make him eat it.

P. Henry. That's to make him eat twenty of his 10 words. But do you use me thus, Ned? must I marry your sister?

Page. Away, you rascally Althea's dream, 15 away!

P. Henry. Instruct us, boy: What dream, boy? Page. Marry, my lord, Althea dream'd shel was deliver'd of a firebrand; and therefore I call him her dream.

P. Henry. A crown's worth of good interpretation.-There it is, boy. [Gives him money.

Poins. O, that this good blossom could be kept from cankers!-Well, there is six-pence to preserve thee.

Bard. An you do not make him be hang'd among you, the gallows shall have wrong.

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Pons. May the wench have no worse fortune! but I never said so.

P. Henry. Well, thus we play the fool with the time; and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds, and mock us.-Is your master here in London? Bard. Yes, my lord.

P. Henry. Where sups he? doth the old boar
ced in the old frank??
[cheap.
Bard. At the old place, my lord; in East-
P. Henry. What company?

Puge. Ephesians, my lord; of the old church.
P. Henry. Sup any women with him?
Page. None, my lord, but old mistress Quick-
25ly, and mistress Doll Tear-sheet.

P. Henry. And how doth thy master, Bardolph? Bard. Well, my good lord." He heard of your grace's coming to town; there's a letter for you. 30 ́P. Henry. Deliver'd with good respect.-And how doth the martlemas' your master?

Bard. In bodily health, sir.

Poins. Marry, the immortal part needs a physician: but that moves hot him; though that be 35 sick, it dies not.

P. Henry. I do allow this wen' to be as familiar with me as my dog: and he holds his place; for, look you, how he writes.

Poins reads. John Falstaff, knight,-Every 40 man must know that, as oft as he hath occasion to name himself. Even like those that are kin to the king; for they never prick their finger, but they say, There is some of the king's blood spilt.-How comes that? says he, that takes upon him not to 45 conceive: the answer is as ready as a borrower's cap'; I am the king's poor cousin, sir.

P. Henry. Nay, they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet. But to the letter:

Poins. Sir John Falstaff, knight, to the son of the king, nearest his father, Harry prince of Wales, greeting.-Why, this is a certificate.

P. Henry. Peace!

P. Henry. What pagan' may that be? Page. A proper gentlewoman, sir, aud a kingwoman of my master's.

P. Henry. Even such kin, as the parish heifers are to the town bull.--Shall we steal upon them, Ned, at supper? [you.

Poins. I am your shadow, my lord; I'll follow P. Henry. Sirrah, you boy,--and Bardolph;— no word to your master, that I am yet come to town: There's for your silence.

Bard. I have no tongue, sir.

Page. And for mine, sir,-I will govern it. P. Henry. Fare ye well; go.-This Doll Tear sheet should be some road.

Poins. I warrant you, as common as the way between St. Alban's and London.

P. Henry. How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night in his true colours, and not ourselves be seen?

Poins. Put on two leather jerkins, and aprons, and wait upon him at his table as drawers.

P. Henry. From a god to a bull? a heavy descension! it was Jove's case. From a prince to a prentice a low transformation! that shall be 50mine: for, in every thing, the purpose must weigh with the folly. Follow me, Ned. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Warkworth Castle. Enter Northumberland, Lady Northumberland, and Lady Percy. North. I pray thee, loving wife, and gentle daughter,

Poins. I will imitate the honourable Roman' in brevity:―sure he means brevity in breath; short-55 winded.--I commend me to thee, I commend thee, and Ileave thee. Be not too familiar with Poins;

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That is, the autumn, or rather the latter spring; meaning, the old fellow with juvenile passions. Martlemas is corrupted from Martinmas, the feast of St. Martin, the eleventh of November. i. e. this tumid excrescence of a man. Warburton explains this allusion by observing, that a man who goes to borrow money, is of all others the most complaisant; his cap is always at hand. -"By the honourable Roman is probably intended Julius Cæsar, whose veni, vidi, vici, seems to be alluded to in the beginning of the letter. Frank is sty. Probably the cant word in those times for topers. The cant word perhaps for prostitute.

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Give even way unto my rough affairs:
Put not you on the visage of the times,
And be, like them, to Percy troublesome.

L. North. I have given over, I will speak no

more:

Do what you will; your wisdom be your guide.
North. Alas, sweet wife, my honour is at pawn;
And, but my going, nothing can redeem it.

L. Percy. Oh, yet, for heaven's sake, go not to
these wars!

The time was, father, that you broke your word
When you were more endear'd to it than now;
When yourown Percy, when my heart's dearHarry,
Threw many a northward look, to see his father
Bring up his powers; but he did long' in vain.
Who then persuaded you to stay at home?
There were two honours lost; yours, and your son's.
For yours,-may heavenly glory brighten it!
For his, it stuck upon him, as the sun

In the grey vault of heaven: and, by his light,
Did all the chivalry of England move

To do brave acts: he was, indeed, the glass

Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.

He had no legs, that practis'd not his gait:

Then join you with them, like a rib of steel,
To make strength stronger; but, for all our loves,
First let them try themselves: So did your son;
He was so suffer'd; so came I a widow;
And never shall have length of life enough,
To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes,
That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven,
For recordation to my noble husband. [mind

North. Come, come, go in with me: 'tis with my
10 As with the tide swell'd up unto its height,
That makes a still stand, running neither way.
Fain would I go to meet the archbishop,
But many thousand reasons hold me back:-
I will resolve for Scotland; there am I,
15Till time and vantage crave my company. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV.
London.

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1 Draw. What the devil hast thou brought there? apple-Johns? Thou know'st, Sir John cannot endure an apple-John'.

2 Draw. Mass, thou say'st true: The prince

And speaking thick, which naturemade his blemish, 25 once set a dish of apple-Johns before him, and told

Became the accents of the valiant;

For those that could speak low, and tardily,
Would turn their own perfection to abuse,

To seem like him: So that, in speech, in gait,
In diet, in affections of delight,

In military rules, humours of blood,

He was the mark and glass, copy and book,
That fashion'dothers. And him,-0 wondrous him!
O miracle of men!-him did you leave,
(Second to none, unseconded by you)
To look upon the hideous god of war
In disadvantage; to abide a field,
Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name
Did seem derensible:-so you left him:
Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong,
To hold your honour more precise and nice
With others, than with him; let them alone;
The marshal, and the archbishop, are strong:
Had my sweet Harry had but halt their numbers,
To-day might 1, hanging on Hotspur's neck,
Have talk'd of Monmouth's grave.

North. Beshrew your heart,

Fair daughter! you do draw my spirits from me,
With new lamenting ancient oversights.
But I must go, and meet with danger there;
Or it will seek me in another place,

And find me worse provided.

L. North. O, fly to Scotland,

'Till that the nobles, and the armed commons,

Have of their puissance made a little taste.
L. Percy. If they get ground and vantage of

the king,

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him, there were five more Sir Johns; and, putting off his hat, said, I will now take my leave of these six dry, round, old, wither'd knights. It anger'd him to the heart; but he hath forgot that.

1 Draw. Why, then, cover, and set them down: And see if thou can'st find out Sneak's noise; mistress Tear-sheet would fain hear some music. Dispatch:-The room where they supp'd is too hot; they'll come in straight.

2 Draw. Sifrah, here will be the prince and master Poins anon: and they will put on two of our jerkins, and aprons; and Sir John must not know it: Bardolph hath brought word.

1 Draw. Then here will be old utis': It will 40 be an excellent stratagem.

2 Draw. I'll see, if I can find out Sneak. [Exit. Enter Hostess and Doll Tear-sheet.

Host. Sweet-heart, methinks you are now in an jexcellent good temperality: your puisidge beats as 45 extraordinarily as heart would desire; and your colour, I warrant you, is as red as any rose: But, 'faith, you have drank too much canaries; and that's a marvellous searching wine, and it perfumes the blood ere we can say,-What's this? How do you now?

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Dol. Better than I was. Iem.

Host. Why, that was well said; A good heart's worth gold. Look, here comes Sir John. Enter Falstaff.

Fal. When Arthur first in court-Empty the jordan-and was a worthy king: How now, mistress Doll? [Exit Drawer.

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Theobald conjectures that the poet wrote look in vain. Alluding to the plant, rosemary, so called, and used in funerals. This apple will keep two years, but becomes very wrinkled and shrivelled. Dr. Johnson says, Sneak was a street minstrel, and therefore the drawer goes out to listen if he can hear him in the neighbourhood. A noise of musicians anciently signified a concert or company of them. Falstaff addresses them as a company in another scene of this play. "Utis, a

word yet in use in some counties, signifying a merry festival, from the French huit, octo, ab A. S. Eahra, octava festi alicujus. Old utis signifies festivity in a great degree.

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Host.

Host. Sick of a calm': yea, good sooth. Ful. So is all her sect; if they be once in a calm, they are sick.

Dol. You muddy rascal, is that all the comfort you give me?

Fal. You make fat rascals', mistress Doll. Dol. I make them! gluttony and diseases make them; I make them not.

Fal. If the cook help to make the gluttony, you help to make the diseases, Doll: we catch of you, Doll, we catch of you; grant that, my poor virtue, g.ant that.

Dol. Ay, marry; our chains, and our jewels.

Host. Tilly-fally, Sir John, never tell me; your ancient swaggerer comes not in my doors. I was before master Tisick, the deputy, the other day: and, as he said to me,-it was no longer ago than 5 Wednesday last,-Neighbour Quickly, says he;— master Dumb, our minister, was by then;Neighbour Quickly, says he, receive those that are rivil; for, saith hè, you are in an ill name;—now he said so, I can tell whereupon; for, says he, you 10 are an honest woman, and well thought on; theretore take heed what guests you receive: Receive, says he, no swaggering companions.—There comes none here:—you would bless you to, hear what he said:-no, lll no swaggerers.

Fal. Your brooches, pearls, and owches*;—for to serve bravely, is to come halting off, youts know: To come off the breach with his pike bent bravely, and to surgery bravely; to venture upon the charg'd chambers' bravely :

Dol. Hang yourself, you muddy conger, hang yourself!

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Host. Why, this is the old fashion; you two never meet, but you fall to some discord: you are both, in good troth, as rheumatic as two dry toasts'; you cannot one bear with another's confirmities. What the good-jere! one must bear, 25 and that must be you: you are the weaker vessel, as they say, the emptier vessel. [To Doll. Dol. Can a weak empty vessel bear such a huge full hogshead? There's a whole merchant's venture of Bourdeaux stuff in him; you have not seen a 30 hulk better stuff'd in the hold.-Come, I'll be friends with thee, Jack: thou art a going to the wars; and whether I shall ever see thee again, or no, there is nobody cares.

Re-enter Drawer.

Draw. Sir, ancient Pistol's below, and would speak with you.

Del. Hang him, swaggering rascal! let him not come hither: it is the foul-mouth'dst_rogue_in] England.

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Host. If he swagger, let him not come here: no, by my faith; I must live amongst my neighbours; I'll no swaggerers: I am in good name and fame with the very best:-Shut the door---there! comes no swaggerers here; I have not liv'd all thi 15 while, to have swaggering now;-shut the door I pray you.

Fal. Dost thou hear, hostess?

Host. Pray you, pacify yourself, Sir John: there comes no swaggerers here.

Ful. Dost thou hear? it is mine ancient.

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Meaning, probably, of a qualm.

Ful. He's no swaggerer, hostess; a tame cheater, he; you may stroak him as gently as a puppy-greyhound: he will not swagger with a Barbary hen, if her feathers turn back in any shew of resistance.-Call him up, drawer.

Host. Cheater, call you him? I will bar no honest man my house, nor no cheater: But I do not love swaggering, by my troth; I am the worse, when one says-swagger; feel, masters how I shake; look you, I warrant you.

Dol. So you do, hostess.

Host. Do? yea, in very truth, do I, an 'twere
an aspen leaf: I cannot abide swaggerers.
Enter Pistol, Bardolph, and Page.
Pist. 'Save you, Sir John!

Fal. Welcome, ancient Pistol. Here, Pistol, I charge you with a cup of sack: do you discharge Jupon mine hostess.

Pist. I will discharge upon her, Sir John, with two bullets.

Fal. She is pistol-proof, sir; you shall hardly

offend her.

Host. Come, I'll drink no proofs, nor no bullets: Pll drink no more than will do me good, for no man's pleasure, I".

Pist. Then to you, mistress Dorothy; I will charge you.

Dot. Charge me; I scorn you, scurvy companion! What! you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away, you mouldy rogue, away! am meat for your master.

Pist. I know you, mistress Dorothy.

Dol. Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung, away; by this wine, I'll thrust my knite in your mouldy chaps, an you play the saucy 50 cuttle with me. Away! you bottle-ale rascal! you basket-hilt stale juggler, you !—Since when, I

That is, her profession; or perhaps ser may be meant. 3 Falstaff alludes to a phrase of the forest. Lean deer are cal ed rascal deer. He tell her she calls him wrong, for being fat, he cannot be a rascal. 4 This is a line in an old song. Brooches were chains of gold that women wore formerly about their necks. Owches were bosses of gold set with diamonds. Instead of gold and diamonds Falstaff intends to describe the several stages of the venereal disease. To understand this quibble, it is necessary to observe, that a chamber signifies not only an apartment, but a piece of ordnance. Achamber is likewise that part of a mine where the powder is lodged. Rheumatic, in the cant language of those times, signified capricious, humoursome. 7 Which cannot meet but they grate one another. Ancient Pistol is the same as Ensign Pistol. Gamester and cheater were, in Shakspeare's age, synonimous terms. 10 The humour of this consists in the woman's mistaking the title of cheater (or gamester) for that officer of the exchequer called an escheator, well known to the common people of that time; and named, either corruptly or satirically, a cheater. "The duplication of the pronoun was very common.. The French still use this idiom-Je suis Parisien, moi. "In the cant of thievery, to nip a bung was to cut a purse. Cittle and cuttle-boung were the cant terms for the knife used by the sharpers of that age to cut the bottoms of purses, which were then worn hanging at the girdle. ргау

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pray you, sir?-What, with two points' on your
shoulder? much!

Pist. I will murder your ruff for this.
Fal. No more, Pistol; I would not have you
go off here: discharge yourself of our company,
Pistol.

Host. No, good captain Pistol; not here, sweet captain.

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Dol.Captain! thou abominable damn'd cheater, art thou not asham'd to be call'd-captain? If cap-10 tains were of my mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking their names upon you before you have earn'd them. You a captain, you slave! for what? for tearing a poor whore's ruil in a bawdyhouse-He a captain! Hang him, rogue! He 15 lives upon mouldy stew'd prunes, and dry'd cakes'. A captain! these villains will make the word captain as odious as the word occupy'; which was an excellent good word before it was ill sorted: therefore captains had need look to it.

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Pist. Die men, like dogs; give crowns like pins; Have we not Hiren here?

Host. O' my word, captain, there's none such here. What the good-jere! do you think I would deny her? I pray, be quiet.

Pist. Then Feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis": Come, give's some sack.

-Si fortuna me tormenta, sperato me contenta.— Fear we broadsides? no, let the fiend give fire: Give me some sack;--and, sweetheart, lye thou [Laying down his sword. Come we to full points here; and are et ceterus nothing?

there.

Fal. Pistol, I would be quiet.

Pist. Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif": What!

we have seen the seven stars.

Dol. Thrust him down stairs; I cannot endure such a fustian rascal.

Pist. Thrust him down stairs! know we not Galloway nags11?

Fal. Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shovegroat shilling: nay, if he do nothing but speak Bar-nothing, he shall be nothing here.

Bard. Pray thee, go down, good ancient. Fal. Hark thee hither, mistress Doll. Pist. Not I: I tell thee what, corporal dolph;—I could tear her :--I'll be reveng'd on her.

Page. Pray thee, go down.

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Pist, I'll see her damn'd first;-To Pluto's damned lake, to the infernal deep, where Erebus and torturers vile also. Hold hook and line', say I. Down! down, dogs! down, faitors! Have we 30| not Hiren' here?

Host. Good captain Peesel, be quiet; it is very late: I beseek you now, aggravate your choler. Pist. These be good humours, indeed! Shall pack-horses,

And hollow-pamper'd jades of Asia3,
Which cannot go but thirty miles a day,
Compare with Cæsars, and with Cannibals',

And Trojan Greeks? nay, rather damn them with
King Cerberus; and let the welkin roar.
Shall we fall foul for toys?

Host. By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words.

Burd. Be gone, good ancient: this will grow to a brawl anon.

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Bard. Come, get you down stairs.

Pist. What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrewThen death

Rock me asleep, abridge my doleful days!
Why then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds
Untwine the sisters three! Come, Atropos, I say!
[Snatching up his sword.
Host. Here's goodly stuff toward!
Fal. Give me my rapier, boy.
Dot. I pray thee, Jack, I pray thee, do not draw.
Fal. Get thee down stairs.

[Drawing, and driving Pistol out. Host. Here's a goodly tumult! I'll forswear keeping house, before I'll be in these tirrits and rights. So; murther, I warrant now.-Alas, alas! put up your naked weapons, put up your 4naked weapons.

Dol. I pray thee, Jack, be quiet; the rascal is gone. Ah, you whoreson little valiant villain, you! Host. Are you not hurt i' the groin? methought he made a shrewd thrust at your belly. [Re-enter Bardolph.

As a mark of his commission. 2 Much was a common expression of disdain at that time, of the same sense with that more modern one, Marry come up. Meaning, that he liv'd on the refuse provi sions of bawdy-houses and pastry-cooks' shops. The allusion to stew'd prunes, and all that is necessary to be known on that subject, has been already explained in our notes on other passages of these Plays. Occupant seems to have been formerly a term for a woman of the town, as occupier was for a wencher. These words are introduced in ridicule of some absurd and fustian passages from plays, in which Shakspeare had been a performer, and from which the greater part of Pistol's character seems to be composed. i. e. traitors, rascals. 'Hiren was sometimes a cant term for mistress or harlot ; Pistol may therefore mean, "Have we not a strumpet here? and why am I thus used by her?" These lines are in part a quotation out of an old absurd fustian play, entitled, Tamburlain's Conquests; or, The Scythian Shepherd. Cannibal is used by a blunder for Hannibal. 10 Mr. Steevens observes, that as Hiren was sometimes used to denote a mistress or harlot, Pistol may be supposed to give it on this occasion, as an endearing name, to his sword, in the same spirit of fondness that he presently calls it-sweet-heart. Pistol delights in bestowing titles on his weapon. In this scene he also calls itAtropos. "A burlesque on a line in an old play, called The Battle of Alcazar, &c. 12 That is, shall we stop here? 13i. e. I kiss thy fist. 14 That is, common hackneys. 15 Mr. Steevens supposes this expression to mean a piece of polished metal made use of in the play of shovel-board. fragment of an ancient song, supposed to have been written by Anne Boleyn; for which see Sir John Hawkins's General History of Music, vol. III. p. 31.

16 This is a

Fal.

Fal. Have you turn'd him out of doors? Bard. Yes, sir, the rascal's drunk: you have burt him, sir, in the shoulder.

Fal. A rascal! to brave me!

Dol. Ah, you sweet little rogue, you! Alas, 5 poor ape, how thou sweat'st? Come, let me wipe thy face-come on, you whoreson chops:-Ah, rogue! I love thee.-Thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better than the nine worthies: Ah, vil-10 lain!

Ful. A rascally slave! I will toss the rogue in a

blanket.

Dol. Do, if thou dar'st for thy heart: if thou do'st, I'll canvass thee between a pair of sheets. Enter Musick.

Page. The musick is come, sir.

Fal. Let them play;-Play, sirs.-Sit on my knee, Doll. A rascal bragging slave! the rogue fled from ine, like quicksilver.

Dol. I'faith, and thou followd'st him like a church. Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig', when wilt thou leave fighting o'days, and foining of nights, and begin to patch up thine old body for heaven? Enter,behind,Prince Henry and Poins, disguised like drawers.

Fal. Peace, good Doll! do not speak like a death's head'; do not bid me remember mine end. Dol. Sirrah, what humour is the prince of? Fal. A good shallow young fellow: he would have made a good pantler, he would have chipp'd bread well.

Dol. They say, Poins had a good wit.

faculties he hath, that shew a weak mind and an able body, for the which the prince admits him: for the prince himself is such another; the weight of a hair will turn the scale between their averdupois.

P. Henry. Would not this nave of a wheel' have his ears cut off?

Poins. Let's beat him before his whore.

P. Henry. Look, if the wither'd elder hath not his poli claw'd like a parrot.

Poins. Is it not strange, that desire should so many years out-live performance?

Fal. Kiss me, Doll.

P. Henry, Saturn and Venus this year in con 15 junction! what says the almanack to that?

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Fal. He a good wit? hang him, baboon!-his 35 wit is as thick as Tewksbury' mustard; there is no more conceit in him, than is in a mallet.

Dol. Why doth the prince love him so then? Fal. Because their legs are both of a bigness; and he plays at quoits well; and eats conger and 40 fennel and drinks off candles' ends for flapdragons; and rides the wild mare with the boys; and jumps upon joint-stools; and swears with a good grace: and wears his boot very smooth, like

Poins. And, look, whether the fiery Trigon', his man, be not lisping to his master's old tables"; his note book, his counsel-keeper.

Fut. Thou dost give me flattering busses. Dol. Nay, truly; I kiss thee with a most constant heart.

Fal. I am old, I am old.

Dol. I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy young boy of them all.

Fal. What stuff wilt have a kirtle" of? I shall receive money on Thursday: thou shalt have acap to-morrow. A merry song, come: it grows late, we'll to bed. Thou’lt forget me, when I am gone.

Dol. By my troth, thou'lt set me a weeping, an thou say'st so: prove that ever I dress myself handsome 'till thy return.—Well, hearken the end, Fal. Some sack, Francis.

P. Henry. Poins. Anon, anon, sir. Ful. Ha a bastard son of the king's?—and art not thou Poins, his brother?

P. Henry. Why, thou globe of sinful continents, what a life dost thou lead?

Fal. A better than thou; I am a gentleman, thou art a drawer.

P. Henry. Very true, sir; and I come to draw you out by the ears.

Host. O, the Lord preserve thy good grace! welcome to London.-Now heaven bless that sweet face of thine! what, are you come from

to the sign of the leg; and breeds no bate with 45 Wales? telling of discreet stories: and such other gambol

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3

Fal. Thou whoreson mad compound of ma

For tidy Sir Thomas Hanmer reads tiny; but they are both words of endearment, and equally proper. Bartholomew bour-pig is a little pig made of paste, sold at Bartholomew-fair, and given to chil dren for a fairing. * Mr. Sicevens says it was the custom for the bawds of that age to wear a death's head in a ring, upon their middle finger. Tewksbury, a market-town in Gloucestershire, was formerly noted for imustard-balls made there, and sent into other parts. * Conger with fennel was formerly regarded as a provocative. A hap-dregin is some small combustible body, fired at one end, and put afloat in a glass of liquor. It is an act of a toper's dexterity to toss off the glass in such a manner as to prevent the fap-dragon from doing mischief Ben Jonson speaks of those who eat candies' ends, as an act of love and gallantry. But perhaps our author, by Poins swallowing candles? ends by way of flap-dragons, meant to indicate no more than that the prince loved him because he was always ready to do any thing for his amusement, however absurd or unnatural. This expression may not perhaps be improperly elucidated by a passage in The Merry Wives of Windsor, where Mrs. Quickly, enumerating the virtues of John Rugby, adds, that "he is no tell-tale, no breed-bate.” Alluding to the roundness of Falstaff, who was called round man in contempt before. Meaning, that this was indeed a prodigy; astrologers having remarked, that Saturn and Venus are never conjoined. Trigonum igneum is the astronomical term when the upper planets meet in a fiery sign. 10 Dr. Warburton thinks, we should read, clasping too his master's old tables, i. e. embracing his master's cast-off whore, and now his bawd [his note-book, his counsel-keeper], "Mr.Steevens conjectures, that kirtle here means a petticoat,

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jesty,

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