Phoebus, he, that wandering knight so fair. And I pr'ythee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save thy Majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have Prince. What, none? Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter.5 Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty: 6 let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the Moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the Moon, under whose countenance we steal. Prince. Thou say'st well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the Moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the Moon. As, for proof, now: A purse of gold most resolutely snatch'd on Monday night, and most dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing Lay by, and spent with crying Bring in; now in as low an ebb as the foot of the lad 4 Falstaff, with great propriety, according to the old astronomy, calls the Sun a wandering knight. The words probably are from some forgotten ballad. 5 Not so much grace as will serve for saying grace before meat. Eggs and butter appear to have been a favourite lunch.— Roundly, in the next line, is speak plainly, or bluntly. 6 Falstaff is an inveterate player upon words, as here between night and knight, beauty and booty. A squire of the body originally meant an attendant on a knight. As to Diana's foresters, Hall the chronicler tells of a pageant exhibited in the reign of Henry VIII., wherein were certain persons called Diana's knights. 7 The meaning and application of the phrase Lay by, as here used, are somewhat in doubt. It was in use as a nautical term for to slacken sail. So in King Henry VIII., iii. 1 : "Even the billows of the sea hung their heads, and then lay by "; that is, sank to rest. Some think that in the text it is a der, and by-and-by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.8 Fal. By the Lord, thou say'st true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench? Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle.9 And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?10 Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and thy quiddities?11 what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin? Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern? Fal. Well, thou hast call'd her to a reckoning many a time and oft. Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit. 46 phrase addressed by highwaymen to the persons they have waylaid, like 'Stand! and deliver." But I believe no clear authority is brought for that explanation. So I suspect it was a phrase used by highwaymen to each other when watching for their game; and meant be still, or stand close; something like the phrase of our time, "lie low and keep dark." So stand close occurs twice in ii. 2, of this play. — Bring in was the call of revellers to the waiters to bring in more wine. 8 Referring to the liability which thieves incurred of being promoted to the high place of hanging. " 9 Shakespeare has several allusions to the classical honey of Hybla, the name of a district in Sicily where the honey, celebrated by the poets for its superior flavour, was found. So in Julius Cæsar, v. 1: But, for your words, they rob the Hybla bees, and leave them honeyless." that in this play, as originally written, Falstaff bore the name of Oldcastle; and "old lad of the castle" is no doubt a relic of that naming. It is certain 10 A buff jerkin was a jerkin or coat made of ox-hide, and was commonly worn by sheriff's officers. It seems to have been called a robe of durance, both because of its great durability, and because it was the wearer's business to put debtors and criminals in durance. 11 Quips and quiddities are gibes and subtile allusions or sly retorts. Strictly speaking, a quiddity is a nice distinction. Fal. Yea, and so used it, that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir-apparent 12-But, I pr'ythee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobb'd as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? 13 Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief. Prince. No; thou shalt. Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge. Prince. 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 14 with my humour; as well as waiting in the Court, I can tell you. Prince. For obtaining of suits? Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, 15 whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood,16 I am as melancholy as a gib-cat or a lugg'd bear.17 12 An intimation that, but for his prospect of the throne, the Prince would be credit-broken. To express the thought in full, were a greater liberty than Falstaff dares to take with the Prince. 13 Antic, as the word is here used, means buffoon. Speaking of the law as a venerable buffoon is a right Falstaffian stroke of humour. In Richard II., ii. 2, the word is so applied to Death: "Within the hollow crown Death keeps his Court; and there the antic sits, scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp." - Fobb'd is tricked or cheated. 14 Jumps is accords or agrees. See vol. iii, page 160, note 5. 15 There is a quibble here between suits in the sense of petitions and the suits of clothes, which the hangman inherited from those whom he executed. Waiting in the Court for the granting of one's petitions used to be as tedious as "the law's delay." 16 As a sort of compromise between reverence and profanity, various oaths became so curtailed and disguised in the use, that their original meaning was almost lost. Among these, 'Sblood and Zounds were very common, the original forms being "God's blood" and " 'God's wounds." 'Slight, "God's light," was another. 17 A gib-cat is a male cat. Tom cat is now the usual term. Ray has this proverbial phrase, "as melancholy as a gibd cat." In Sherwood's English and French Dictionary we have “ a gibbe or old male cat." - A lugg'd bear was probably a bear made cross by having his cars pulled or plucked. Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute. Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.18 Prince. What say'st thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch? 19 Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes, and art, indeed, the most comparative,20 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 mark'd him not; and yet he talk'd very wisely,—but I regarded him not; and yet he talk'd wisely, and in the street too. Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it. Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration,21 and art, indeed, able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon 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 18 Lincolnshire bagpipes was proverbial. The allusion, if there be any, is yet unexplained. 19 The hare seems to have been proverbial as a type of melancholy. In illustration of the text, Staunton aptly quotes from Turberville's Book on Hunting and Falconry: "The hare first taught us the use of the hearbe called wyld Succory, which is very excellent for those which are disposed to be melancholicke: shee herselfe is one of the most melancholicke beasts that is, and to heale her own infirmitie she goeth commonly to sit under that hearbe." ― Moor ditch, a part of the ditch surrounding the city of London, opened to an unwholesome morass, and therefore had an air of melancholy. So in Taylor's Pennylesse Pilgrimage, 1618: "My body being tired with travel, and my mind attired with moody muddy, Moore-ditch melancholy." 20 Comparative is here used for one who is fond of making comparisons. 21 That is, a naughty trick of repetition, referring, no doubt, to what the Prince keeps doing throughout this scene; namely, iterating, retorting, and distorting Falstaff's words. a villain: I'll be damn'd for never a king's son in Christendom. Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack? Fal. Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one: an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me.22 Prince. I see a good amendment of life in thee,— from praying to purse-taking. Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labour in his vocation. Enter POINTZ. - Pointz - Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match.23 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. Prince. Good morrow, Ned. Pointz. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse? what says Sir John Sack-and-sugar? 24 Jack, how 22 To baffle is to use contemptuously, or treat with ignominy; to unknight. It was originally a punishment of infamy inflicted on recreant knights, one part of which was hanging them up by the heels. The degrading of a false knight is thus set forth in The Faerie Queene, v. 3, 37, showing how Sir Artegall's iron page, Talus, served Braggadochio: First he his beard did shave, and fowly shent; And broke his sword in twaine, and all his armour sperst. 23 Setting a match appears to have been one of the technicalities of thievery. Thus in Ratsey's Ghost, a tract printed about 1606: "I have been many times beholding to tapsters and chamberlains for directions and setting of matches." 24 A deal of learned ink has been shed in discussing what Sir John's favourite beverage might be. Nares has pretty much proved it to have been the Spanish wine now called Sherry. So in Blount's Glossographia: “Sherry sack, so called from Xeres, a town of Corduba in Spain, where that kind of sack is made." And in Markham's English Housewife: "Your best sacks |