Enter Exton and a Servant. Exton. Didft thou not mark the King, what words he spake? Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear? Serv. Thofe were his very words. Exton. Have I no friend?-quoth he; he spake it twice, And urg'd it twice together; did he not? Exton. And fpeaking it, he wiftly look'd on me, I SCENE X. Changes to the Prison at Pomfret-Castle. Enter King Richard. Have been studying, how to compare And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news. Ten thousand bold Scots, three and twenty Knights, On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hot-fpur took To beaten Dowglas, and the Earls of Athol, And is not this an honourable spoil? A gallant prize? ha, coufin, is it not? Weft. In faith, a conqueft for a Prince to boast of. K. Henry. Yea, there thou mak'ft me fad, and mak'ft me fin In Envy, that my lord Northumberland Should be the father of fo bleft a fon, A fon, who is the theam of Honour's tongue, Of my young Harry. O could it be prov'd, Coufin, What think you, Of this young Percy's pride? the prifoners, Weft. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcester, Malevolent to you in all aspects, 8 Which makes him plume himself, and briftle up The & Which makes him PRUNE this the Oxford Editor gives his bimfelf-Doubtless Shake- fiat. Speare wrote PLUME. And to I WARBURTON. I am not fo confident as thofe two The Creft of youth against your Dignity. K. Henry. But I have fent for him to answer this; Coufin, on Wednesday next our Council we SCENE II. An Apartment of the Prince's. [Exeunt. Enter Henry Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falftaff. Now Fal. [OW, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. Henry. Thou art fo fat-witted with drinking old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches in the afternoon, that thou haft forgotten to demand that truly, which thou would't truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houses, and the bleffed Sun himfelf a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata. I fee no reafon why thou should'st be fo fuperfluous, to demand the time of the day. two editors. The metaphor is taken from a cock who in his pride prunes him/elf; that is, picks off the loofe feathers to fmooth the reft. To prune and to plume, fpoken of a bird, is the fame. 9 Than cut of anger can be uttered.] That is, More is to be faid than anger will fuffer me to Jay: More than can iffue from a mind difturbed like mine. To demand that truly, which thou wouldst truly know.] The Prince's objection to the question feems to be, that Falstaff had asked in the night what was the time of day. Fal. Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal. For we, that take purses, go by the moon and seven stars, and not by Phabus, he, that wandring knight so fair. And I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art Kingas God fave thy Grace (Majefty, I fhould fay; for grace thou wilt have none.) P. Henry. What! none? Fal. No, by my troth, not fo much as will ferve to be prologue to an egg and butter. P. Henry. Well, how then?. roundly. come- -roundly, Fal. Marry, then, fweet wag, when thou art King, let not us that are fquires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's booty. Let us be Diana's forefters, gentlemen of the fhade, minions of the Moon; and let men fay, we be men of good government, being governed as the Sea is, by our noble and chafte miftrefs the Moon, under whofe countenance we- fteal. P. Henry. Thou fay'ft 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 govern'd as the Sea is, by the Moon. As for proof, now a purse of gold moft refolutely fnatch'd on Monday night, and moft diffolutely fpent on Tuesday morning; got with fwearing, lay by; and spent with crying, bring In former editions, Let nst Us, that are Squires of the Night's body, be call'd Thieves of the Day's Beauty.] This conveys no manner of Idea to me. How could they be called Thieves of the Day's Beauty? They robbed by Moonhine; they could not fteal the fair Day-light. 1 have ventured to fubftitute, Booty: and this I take to be the Meaning. Let us not be called Thieves, the Purliners of that Booty, which, to the Proprietors, was the Pur 3 I 2 But in: in: now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder; and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Fal. By the lord, thou fay'st true, lad: and is not mine Hoftefs of the tavern a moft fweet wench? P. Henry. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of 4 As the Honey of Hybla, my the John Oldcastle is one of his Gang, and called Jockie: and Ned and Gads-bill are two other Com-From this old imperrades. fect Sketch, I have a Sufpicion, Shakespeare might form his two Parts of Henry the IVth, and his Hiftory of Henry V: and confequently, 'tis not improbable, that he might continue the mention of Sir John Oldcastle, till fome Defcendants of that Family moved Queen Elizabeth to command him to change the Name. THEOBALD. my old lad of the cafle;] This alludes to the name Shakespear first gave to this buffoon character, which was Sir John Oldcafle: And when he changed the name, he forgot to strike out this expreffion that alluded to it. The reafon of the change was this, one Sir John Oldcastle having fuffered in the time of Henry V. for the opinions of Wickliffe, it gave offence; and therefore the Poet altered it to Falftaff, and endeavours to remove the scandal, in the Epilogue to the fecond Fuller takes part of Henry IV. notice of this matter in his Stage-Poets Church History, have themselves been very bold with, and others very merry at, the memory of Sir John Oldcastle, whom they have fancied a boon companion, a jovial rozfier, and coward |