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the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-
scutcht' huswives, that he heard the carmen
whistle, and sware--they were his fancies, or his
good-nights. And now is this vice's' dagger be-
come a squire; and talks as familiarly of John of
Gaunt, as if he had been sworn brother to him: and
I'd be sworn he never saw him but once in the
Tilt-yard; and then he burst' his head, for croud-
ing among the marshal's men. I saw it; and told
John of Gaunt, he beat his own name': for you[10]

might have truss'd him, and all his apparel, into
an eel-skin: the case of a treble hautboy was a
mansion for him, a court: and now he hath land
and beeves. Well; I will be acquainted with him,
if I return: and it shall go hard, but I will make
him a philosopher's two stones to me: If the young
dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason,
in the law of nature, but I may snap at him'.
Let time shape, and there an end.
[Exeunt.

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York. What well-appointed leader fronts us here?
Mowb. I think, it is my lord of Westmoreland.
West. Health and fair greeting from our general,
30 The prince, lord John, and duke of Lancaster.
York. Say on, my lord of Westmoreland,in peace;
What doth concern your coming?
West. Then, my lord,

My friends and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you, that I have receiv'd
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cold intent, tenour, and substance, thus:-35
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers
As might hold sortance with his quality,
The which he could not levy; whereupon
He is retir'd, to ripe his growing fortunes,
To Scotland: and concludes in hearty prayers,
That your attempts may over-live the hazard,
And fearful meeting of their opposite. [ground,
Morb. Thus do the hopes we had in him touch
And dash themselves to pieces.

Enter a Messenger.

Hast. Now, what news?

Unto your grace do I in chief address
The substance of my speech. If that rebellion
Came like itself, in base and abject routs,
Led on by bloody youth', guarded" with rage,
And countenanc'd by boys, and beggary;
I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd,
40 In his true, native, and most proper shape,
You, reverend father, and these noble lords,
Had not been here, to dress the ugly form
Of base and bloody insurrection

With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,45 Whose see is by a civil peace maintain'd;

Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd;

i. e. according to Mr. Pope, whipt, carted; though Dr. Johnson rather thinks that the word means dirty or grimed; and that the word huswives agrees better with this sense. Ray, however, among his north-country words, confirms Pope's meaning, by saying that an overswitch'd huswife is a strumpet. Euncies and Goodnights were the titles of little poems. 3lice was the name given to a droll figure, her totore nach shewn upon our stage, and brought in to play the fool and make sport for the popu face. His dress was always a long jerkin, a fool's cap with asses' ears, and a thin wooden dagger, such as is still retained in the modern figures of Harlequin and Scaramouch. The word is an abbrevation of device; for in our o'd dramatic shows, where he was first exhibited, he was nothing more than an artificial figure, a puppet moved by machinery, and then originally called device or vice. The smith's machine called a vice, is an abbreviation of the same sort. It was very satirical in Falstaff to compare Shallow's activity and impertinence to such a machine as a wooden dagger in the hands and management of a buffoon. To break and to burst were, in our poet's time, synonimously used. To brast had the same meaning. That is, beat gaunt, a fellow so slender, that his name might have been Gauni. One of which was an universal medicine, and the other a transmuter of base metals into gold. 'That is, if it be the law of nature that the stronger may seize upon the weaker, Falstaff may, with great propriety, devour Shallow. Dr. Johnson thinks this word, which is used in Holinshed, was intended to express the uniform and forcible motion of a compact body. Well-appointed is completely accoutred. Bloody youth means only sanguine youth, or youth full of blood, and of those passions which blood is supposed to incite or nourish. Guarded is an expression taken from dress and means the same as faced, turned up.

Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor'd,
Whose white investments' figure innocence,
The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,-
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself

West. When ever yet was your appeal deny'd? Wherein have you been galled by the king? What peer bath been suborn'd to grate on you? That you should seal this lawless bloody book

And consecrate commotion's civil edge'?

Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace,Of forg'd rebellion with a seal divine,
Into the harsh and boist'rous tongue of war?
Turning your books to graves', your ink to blood,
Your pens to lances; and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet, and a point of war?

York. Wherefore do I this-so the question 10

stands.

Briefly, to this end :-We are all diseas'd;
And, with our surfeiting, and wanton hours,
Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,
And we must bleed for it: of which disease
Our late king, Richard, being infected, dy'd.
But, my most noble lord of Westmoreland,
I take not on me here as a physician:
Nor do I, as an enemy to peace,
Troop in the throngs of military men:
But, rather, shew a while like fearful war,
To diet rank minds, sick of happiness;
And purge the obstructions, which begin to stop
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weigh'd
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we
suifer,

And find our griefs heavier than our offences.
We see which way the stream of time doth run,
And are enforc'd from our most quiet sphere
By the rough torrent of occasion;
And have the summary of all our griefs,
When time shall serve, to shew in articles;
Which, long ere this, we offer'd to the king,
And might by no suit gain our audience:
When we are wrong'd, and would unfold our griefs,
We are deny'd access unto his person
Even by those men that most have done us wrong.
The danger of the days but newly gone,
(Whose memory is written on the earth
With yet appearing blood), and the examples
Of every minute's instance, (present now)
Have put us in these ill-beseeming arms;
Not to break peace, or any branch of it;
But to establish here a peace indeed,
Concurring both in name and quality.

York. My brother-general, the common-wealth,
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular*.

West. There is no need of any such redress;
Or, if there were, it not belongs to you.

Morb. Why not to him, in part; and to us all,
That feel the bruises of the days before;
And suffer the condition of these times
15 To lay a heavy and unequal hand
Upon our honours?

West. O my good lord Mowbray,
Construe the times to their necessities,
And you shall say indeed, it is the time,
20 And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet, for your part, it not appears to me,
Either from the king, or in the present time,
That you shall have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on: Were you not restor'd
25 To all the duke of Norfolk's seigniories,
Your noble and right-well-remember'd father's?
Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father

lost,

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'Formerly, all bishops wore white even when they travelled. The white investment meant the episcopal rochet. For graves Dr.Warburton very plausibly reads glaives, and is followed by Sir Thomas Hanmer. Mr. Steevens says, "We might perhaps as plausibly read greaves, which is spelled graves in Warner's Albion's England," i, e. armour for the legs, a kind of boots: and adds, that the metamorphosis of leathern covers of books into greaves, i.e. boots, seems to be more apposite than the conversion of them into instruments of war. Glave is the Erse word for a broad-sword, and glaifis Welshfor a hook. It was an old custom, continued from the time of the first croisades, for the pope to consecrate the general's sword, which was employed in the service of the church. To this custom the line in question alludes. 4 + Dr. Warburton explains this passage thus: "My brother general the commonwealth, which ought to distribute its benefits equally, is become an enemy to those of his own house, to brothers born, by giving some all, and others none; and this (says he) I make my quarrel or grievance, that honours are unequally distributed;" the constant birth of male-contents, and source of civil commotions. Dr. Johnson, however, believes there is an error in the first line, which perhaps may be rectified thus: "My quarrel general, the common-wealth, &c. That is, my general cause of discontent is public mismanagement; my particular cause a domestic injury done to my natural brother, who had been beheaded by the king's order;" a circumstance mentioned in the First Part of the Play. 'An armed staff is a lance. To be in charge, is to be fixed in the rest for the encounter. Or, the visiers, i. e. the perforated part of their helmets, through which they could see to direct their aim,

6

West.

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The earl of Hereford was reputed then

In England the most valiant gentleman:

That no conditions of our peace can stand.
Hast.Fear you not that: if we can make our peace
Upon such large terms, and so absolute,
As our conditions shall insist upon,

Who knows, on whom fortune would then have 5 Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.

smil'd?

10

But, if your father had been victor there,
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry:
For all the country, in a general voice,
Cry'dhate upon him; andall their prayers, and love,
Were set on Hereford, whom they doated on,
And bless'd, and grac'd indeed, more than the king.
But this is mere digression from my purpose.—
Here come I from our princely general,
To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace,
That he will give you audience: and wherein
It shall appear, that your demands are just,
You shall enjoy them; every thing set off,
That might so much as think you enemies.
Mowb.But he hath forc'd us to compel this offer; 20
And it proceeds from policy, not love.

West. Mowbray, you over-ween, to take it so;
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear:
For, lo! within a ken, our army lies;
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best;
Then reason wills, our hearts should be as good:
Say you not then, our offer is compeil'd.
Alowb. Well, by my will, we shall admit no
parley.

West. That argues but the shame of your offence:
A rotten case abides no handling.

Hast. Hath the prince John a full commission,
In very ample virtue of his father,
To hear, and absolutely to determine
Of what conditions we shall stand upon?

West. That is intended' in the general's name:
I muse, you make so slight a question.

York. Then take, my lord of Westmoreland,
this schedule;

For this contains our general grievances :—
Each several article herein redress'd;

All members of our cause, both here and hence,

That are insinew'd to this action,

15

Mowb. Ay, but our valuation shall be such,
That every slight and false-derived cause,
Yea, every idle, nice, and wanton reason,
Shall, to the king, taste of this action:
That, were our loyal faiths martyrs in love,
We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind,
That even our corn shall seem as light as chat,
And good from bad find no partition.

York. No, no, my lord; Note this,—the king
is weary

Of dainty and such picking grievances:
For he hath found,-to end one doubt by death,
Revives two greater in the heirs of life,
And therefore will he wipe his tables clean;
And keep no tell-tale to his memory,
That may repeat and history his loss
To new remeinbrance: For full well he knows,
He cannot so precisely weed this land,
As his misdoubts present occasion:
25 His foes are so enrouted with his friends,
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfasten so, and shake a friend:
So that this land, like an offensive wife,
That hath enrag'd him on to offer strokes;
30 As he is striking, holds his infant up,

And hangs resolv'd correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.

Hast. Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods
On late offenders, that he now doth lack
35 The very instruments of chastisement:
So that his power, like to a fangless lion,
May offer, but not hold.

York. 'Tis very true;

And therefore be assured, my good lord marshal,
40 If we do now make our atonement well,
Our peace will, like a broken limb united,
Grow stronger for the breaking.

45

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Mowb. Be it so.

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In sight of both our battles we may meet;
And either end in peace, which heaven so frame!
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.

York. My lord, we will do so. [Exit West.
Mowb. There is a thing within my bosom 60

tells me,

SCENE

Another part of the forest.
Enter on one side Mowbray, the Archbishop, Hast-
ings, and others: from the other side, Prince
John of Lancaster, Westmoreland, Officers, &c.
Lan. You are well encounter'd here, my cousin
Mowbray :-

4

'Meaning, included in the office of a general. 2 That is, by a pardon of due form and legal validity. For confined, Mr. Steevens proposes to read confirm'd. Awful banks are the proper limits of reverence. Perhaps we might read-lawful. i. e. piddling, insignificant grievances, Alluding to a table-book of slate, ivory, &c.

Good

Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop;-
And so to you, lord Hastings-and to all.-
My lord of York, it better shew'd with you,
When that your flock, assembled by the bell,
Encircled you, to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text;
Than now to see you here an iron man,
Chearing a rout of rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to sword, and life to death.
That man, that, sits within a monarch's heart,
And ripens in the sun-shine of his favour,
Would he abuse the countenance of the king,
Alack, what mischiefs might be set abroach,
Inshadow of such greatness! With you, lord bishop,
It is even so!-Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books of God?
To us, the speaker in his parliament;
To us, the imagin'd voice of heaven itself;
The very opener, and intelligencer,
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven,
And our dull workings: O, who shall believe,
But you misuse the reverence of your place;
Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,
As a false favourite doth his prince's name,
In deeds dishonourable? You have taken up',
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The subjects of his substitute, my father;
And, both against the peace of heaven and him,
Have here up-swarm'd them.

York. Good my lord of Lancaster,

I am not here against your father's peace:
But, as I told my lord of Westmoreland,
The time misorder d doth, in common sense,
Crowd us, and crush us, to this monstrous form,
To hold our safety up. I sent your grace
The parcels and particulars of our grief;

The which hath been with scorn shov'd from the

court,

Whereon this Hydra son of war is born:

My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress'd;
Upon my life, they shall. If this may please you,
Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
As we will ours: and here, between the armies,
5 Let's drink together friendly, and embrace;
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home,
Of our restored love, and amity. [dresses.

York. I take your princely word for these reLan. I give it you, and will maintain my word: 10 And thereupon I drink unto your grace.

15

Hast. Go, captain, and deliver to the army
This news of peace; let them have pay, and part;
I know, it will well please them: Hie thee, cap-
tain.
[Exit Captain.
York. To you, my noble lord of Westmoreland.
West. I pledge your grace: And, if you knew
what pains

I have bestowed, to breed this present peace,
You would drink freely: but my love to you
20 Shall shew itself more openly hereafter.
York. I do not doubt you.

231

30

35

West. I am glad of it.

Health to my lord, and gentle cousin, Mowbray.
Mob. You wish me health in very happy sea-

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Mowb. This had been chearful, after victory.. York. A peace is of the nature of a conquest; For then both parties nobly are subdu'd,

Whose dangerous eyes may well be charm'd asleep, 40 And neither party loser.

With grant of our most just and right desires;
And true obedience, of this madness cur'd,

Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.

Moub. If not, we ready are to try our fortunes
To the last man.

Hast. And though we here fall down,
We have supplies to second our attempt;
If they miscarry, theirs shall second them:
And so, success of mischief shall be born;
And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up,
Whiles England shall have generation.
Lan. You are too shallow, Hastings, much too

shallow,

To sound the bottom of the after-times.

Lan. Go, my lord,

And let our army be discharged too.--[Exit West.
And, good my lord, so please you, let our trains
March by us; that we may peruse the men

45 We should have cop'd withal.

50

York. Go, good lord Hastings,

And, ere they be dismiss'd, let them march by. [Exit Hastings. Lan. I trust, lords, we shall lie to-night toge ther.-

Re-enter Westmoreland.

Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still? West. The leaders, having charge from you to stand,

West. Pleaseth your grace, to answer them di- 55 Will not go off until they hear you speak.

rectly,

How far-forth you do like their articles?

Lun. I like them all, and do allow them well:
And swear here by the honour of my blood,
My father's purposes have been mistook;
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning, and authority.-

Lun. They know their duties.
Re-enter Hastings.

Hast. My lord, our army is dispers'd already:
Like youthful steers unyok'd,theytake their course,
60 East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke
up,
[place.
Each hurries towards his home, and sporting

To take up is to levy, to raise in arms.

Success for succession.

11

West.

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nour,

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Fal. I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus: I never knew yet, but rebuke and check was the reward of valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a bullet? Have 1, in my poor and old motion, the expedition of thought? I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility; I have founder'd nine-score and odd posts: and here, travel-tainted as I am, have, in my pure and immaculate valour, taken Sir John 10 Colevile of the dale, a most furious knight, and valorous enemy: But what of that? he saw me, and yielded; that I may justly say with the hooknos'd fellow of Rome',-I canie, saw, and over

15

came.

Lan. It was more his courtesy than your de serving.

Fal. I know not; here he is, and here I yield him: and I beseech your grace, let it be book'd with the rest of this day's deeds; or, by the Lord,

I will perform with a most christian care.
But for you, rebels,-look to taste the due
Meet for rebellion, and such acts as yours.
Most shallowly did you these arms commence,
Fondly' brought here, and foolishly sent hence.-
Strike up your drums, pursue the scatter'd stray;
Heaven, and not we, hath safely fought to-day.-20I will have it in a particular ballad else, with mine
Some guard these traitors to the block of death;
Treason's true bed, and yielder up of breath.
[Exeunt. Alarum. Excursions.

SCENE III.

Another part of the Forest.
Enter Falstaff, and Colevile, meeting.
Fal. What's your name, sir? of what condition
are you? and of what place, I pray?

Cole. I am a knight, sir; and my name is-
Colevile of the dale.

own picture on the top of it, Colevile kissing my foot: To the which course if I be enforced, if you do not all shew like gilt two-pences to me; and I, in the clear sky of fame, o ershine you as much 25 as the full moon doth the cinders of the element, which shew like pin's heads to her; believe not the word of the noble: Therefore let me have right, and let desert mount.

30

Fal. Well then, Colevile is your name; a knight is your degree; and your place, the dale: Colevile shall still be your name; a traitor your degree; 35 and the dungeon your place,--a place deep enough; so shall still be Colevile of the dale'. you Cole. Are you not Sir John Falstaff?

Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye yield, sir? or shall I sweat for you? If 140 do sweat, they are drops of thy lovers, and they weep for thy death: therefore rouse up fear and trembling, and do observance to my mercy.

Cole. Ithink you are Sir John Falstaff";" and, in that thought, yield me.

45

Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine, and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but iny name. An I had but al belly of any indifferency, I were simply the most active fellow in Europe: My womb, my womb, 50 my womb undoes me.-Here comes our general. Enter Prince John of Lancaster, and Westmorl. Lan. The heat' is past, follow no farther now; Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland.[Exit West. Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while? When every thing is ended, then you come:— These tardy tricks of your's will, on my life, One time or other break some gallows' back.

i. e. foolishly.

55

Lun. Thine's too heavy to mount.
Fal. Let it shine then.

Lan. Thine's too thick to shine.

Fal. Let it do something, my good lord, that may do me good, and call it what you will. Lan. Is thy name Colevile?

Cole. It is, my lord.

Lan. A famous rebel art thou, Colevile.
Fal. And a famous true subject took him.
Cole. I am, my lord, but as my betters are,
That led me hither: had they been rul'd by me,
You should have won them dearer than you have.

Ful. I know not how they sold themselves: but thou, like a kind fellow, gav'st thyself away;

and I thank thee for thee.

Re-enter Westmoreland.
Lan. Have you left pursuit ?

West. Retreat is made, and execution stay’d.
Lan. Send Colevile, with his confederates,
To York, to present execution.--
Blunt,lead him hence; and see you guard him sure.
[Exeunt some with Colevile.
And now dispatch we toward the court, my lords;
I hear, the king my father is sore sick:
Our news shall go before us to his majesty,—
Which, cousin, you shall bear,--to comfort him;
And we with sober speed will follow you.

Fal. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go through Glostershire; and, when you come to court, stand my good lord' 'pray in your good relport.

The sense of dale is included in deep; a dale is a deep place; a dungeon is a deep place: he that is in a dungeon may be therefore said to be in a dule. That is, the eagerness of revenge. Cæsar. i. e. stand my good friend in your favourable report of me.

Lan.

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