FAL. No, no, no; not so; I did not think, thou wast within hearing. P. HEN. I shall drive you then to confess the wilful abuse; and then I know how to handle you. FAL. No abuse, Hal, on mine honour; no abuse. P. HEN. Not! to dispraise me; and call mepantler, and bread-chipper, and I know not what? FAL. No abuse, Hal. POINS. No abuse ! FAL. No abuse, Ned, in the world; honest Ned, none. I dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked might not fall in love with him ;-in which doing, I have done the part of a careful friend, and a true subject, and thy father is to give me thanks for it. No abuse, Hal;-none, Ned, none;—no, boys, none. P. HEN. See now, whether pure fear, and entire cowardice, doth not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to close with us? Is she of the wicked? Is thine hostess here of the wicked? Or is the boy of the wicked? Or honest Bardolph, whose zeal burns in his nose, of the wicked? POINS. Answer, thou dead elm, answer. FAL. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecoverable; and his face is Lucifer's privy-kitchen, where he doth nothing but roast malt-worms. For the boy, there is a good angel about him; but the devil outbids him too'. 9 NOT! to dispraise me ;] The Prince means to say, "What! is it not abuse to dispraise me," &c. Some of the modern editors read-No! &c. but, I think, without necessity. So, in Coriolanus: "Com. He'll never hear him. There also Not has been rejected by the modern editors, and No inserted in its place. MALONE. 66 I OUTBIDS him too.] Thus the folio. The quarto readsthe devil blinds him too;" and perhaps it is right. MALONE. P. HEN. For the women, FAL. For one of them,-she is in hell already, and burns, poor soul2! For the other,-I owe her money; and whether she be damned for that, I know not. HOST. No, I warrant you. FAL. No, I think thou art not; I think, thou art quit for that: Marry, there is another indictment upon thee, for suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house, contrary to the law; for the which, I think thou wilt howl. HOST. All victuallers do so: What's a joint of mutton or two in a whole Lent ? P. HEN. You, gentlewoman,- FAL. His grace says that which his flesh rebels against. HOST. Who knocks so loud at door? look to the door there, Francis. 2 Enter PETO. P. HEN. Peto, how now? what news? and burns, poor soul!] Undoubtedly right. The other already, and burns poor souls." in those times, the brennynge, or burning. JOHNSON. This is Sir T. Hanmer's reading. editions had-" she is in hell The venereal disease was called, 3 for suffering flesh to be eaten, &c.] By several statutes made in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. for the regulation and observance of fish-days, victuallers were expressly forbidden to utter flesh in Lent, and to these Falstaff alludes. ĎOUCE. all VICTUALLERS do so:] The brothels were formerly screened, under pretext of being victualling houses and taverns. So, in Webster and Rowley's Cure for a Cuckold: "This informer comes into Turnbull Street to a victualling house, and there falls in league with a wench, &c.-Now, Sir, this fellow, in revenge, informs against the bawd that kept the house," &c. Again, in Gascoigne's Glass of Government, 1575: house with a red lattice you shall find an old bawd called Panderina, and a young damsel called Lamia." at a Barrett, in his Alvearie, 1580, defines a victualling house thus: "A tavern where meate is eaten out of due season,' STEEVENS. PETO. The king your father is at Westminster; And there are twenty weak and wearied posts, Come from the north: and, as I came along, I met, and overtook, a dozen captains, Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns, And asking every one for sir John Falstaff. P. HEN. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame, So idly to profane the precious time; When tempest of commotion, like the south Give me my sword, and cloak:-Falstaff, good night. [Exeunt Prince HENRY, POINS, PETO, and BARDOLPH. FAL. Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night, and we must hence, and leave it unpicked. [Knocking heard.] More knocking at the door? Re-enter BARDOLPH. How now? what's the matter? BARD. You must away to court, sir, presently; a dozen captains stay at door for you. FAL. Pay the musicians, sirrah. [To the Page.]— Farewell, hostess ;-farewell, Doll.-You see, my good wenches, how men of merit are sought after: the undeserver may sleep, when the man of action is called on. Farewell, good wenches: If I be not sent away post, I will see you again ere I go. DOL. I cannot speak ;-If my heart be not ready to burst :-Well, sweet Jack, have a care of thyself. FAL. Farewell, farewell. [Exeunt FALSTAFF and Bardolph. HOST. Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these twenty-nine years, come peascod-time; but an honester, and truer-hearted man,-Well, fare thee well. BARD. [Within.] Mistress Tear-sheet, ---- BARD. [Within.] Bid mistress Tear-sheet come to my master. HOST. O run, Doll, run; run, good Doll". [Eaeunt. ACT III. SCENE I7. A Room in the Palace. T Enter King HENRY in his Nightgown, with a Page. K. HEN. Go, call the earls of Surrey and of Warwick; But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these let ters, And well consider of them: Make good speed. [Exit Page. How many thousand of my poorest subjects Are at this hour asleep!-O sleep, O gentle sleep, 6O run, Doll, run; run, good Doll.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads-“ O run, Doll run; run : Good Doll, come : she comes blubber'd; Yea, will you come, Doll?" STEEVENS. 7 Scene I.] This first scene is not in my copy of the first edition, JOHNSON. There are two copies of the same date, and in one of these [quarto B] the scene has been added. They are in all other respects, alike. It should seem as if the defect in this quarto was undiscovered till most of the copies of it were sold, for only one that I have seen contains the addition. Signature E consists of. six leaves. Four of these, exclusive of the two additional ones, were reprinted to make room for the omission. Steevens. 8 reads: Sleep, gentle sleep,] The old copy, in defiance of metre, “ O sleep, O gentle sleep. " The repeated tragic O was probably a playhouse intrusion. STEEVENS, Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber; Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody? Who take the ruffian billows by the top, 9 A watch-case, &c.] This alludes to the watchman set in garrison-towns upon some eminence, attending upon an alarumbell, which was to ring out in case of fire, or any approaching danger. He had a case or box to shelter him from the weather, but at his utmost peril he was not to sleep whilst he was upon duty. These alarum-bells are mentioned in several other places of Shakspeare. HANMER. In an ancient inventory cited in Strutt's poɲda Angel-cýnnan, vol. iii. p. 70, there is the following article: " Item, a laume or WATCHE of iron, in an iron CASE, with 2 leaden plumets." Strutt supposes, and no doubt rightly, that laume is an error for larum. Something of this kind, I believe, is here intended by watch-case, since this speech does not afford any other expressions to induce the supposition that the King had a sentry-box in his thoughts. HOLT WHITE. Islippery CLOUDS,] The modern editors read shrowds, meaning the rope ladders by which the masts of ships are ascended. The old copy" in the slippery clouds;" but I know not what advantage is gained by the alteration, for shrowds had anciently the same meaning as clouds. I could bring many in-, |