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Feeble. Here, Sir.

Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble?

Feeble. A woman's tailor, Sir.

Shal. Shall I prick him, Sir?

Fal. You may but if he had been a man's tailor, be would have prick'd you. Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battel, as thou haft done in a woman's petticoat?

Feeble. I will do my good will, Sir; you can have

no more.

Fal. Well faid, good woman's tailor; well faid, courageous Feeble. Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful Dove, or moft magnanimous moufe. Prick the woman's tailor well, mafter Shallow, deep, mafter Shallow.

Feeble. I would, Wart might have gone, Sir.

Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor, that thou might'ft mend him, and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to be a private foldier, that is the leader of fo many thousands. Let that fuffice, most forcible Feeble.

Feeble. It fhall fuffice.

Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble. Who is the next?

Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the Green,

Fal. Yea, marry, let us fee Bull-calf.

Bul. Here, Sir.

Fal. Trust me, a likely fellow. Come, prick me Bull-calf, till he roar again.

Bul. Oh, good my lord captain,

Fal. What, doft thou roar before th'art prickt?
Bul. Oh, Sir, I am a difeafed man.

Fal. What disease haft thou?

Bul. A whorfon Cold, Sir; a cough, Sir, which I caught with ringing in the King's affairs, upon his Coronation-day, Sir.

Fal. Come, thou fhalt go to the wars in a gown:

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we will have away thy Cold, and I will take fuch order that thy friends fhall ring for thee. Is here all?

Shal. There is two more called than your number, must have but four here, Sir; and fo, I pray you, you go in with me to dinner.

Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to fee you, in good troth, mafter Shallow.

Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember fince we lay all night in the wind-mill in Saint George's fields? Fal. No more of that, good master Shallow, no more of that.

Shal. Ha! it was a merry night. And is Jane Night-work alive?

Fal. She lives, mafter Shallow.

Shal. She never could away with me.

Fal. Never, never. She would always fay, fhe could not abide mafter Shallow,

Shal. By the mafs, I could anger her to the heart. She was then a + Bona-roba. Doth fhe hold her own well?

Fal. Old, old, mafter Shallow.

Shal. Nay, fhe must be old, fhe cannot chufe buţ be old; certain, fhe's old, and had Robin Nightwork by old Night-work, before I came to Clement's Inn.

Sil. That's fifty-five years ago.

Shal. Ha, coufin Silence, that thou hadft feen That, that this knight and I have seen!hah, Sir John, faid I well?

Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Mafter Shallow.

Shal. That we have, that we have, in faith, Sir John, we have. Our watch-word was, hem, boys.-Come, let's to dinner.-Oh, the days that we have feen! come,

come.

4 Bona-Roba. A fine fhowy wanton,

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Bul

Bul. [afide to Bardolph] Good master corporate Bardolph, ftand my friend, and here is four Harry ten fhillings in French Crowns for you; in very truth, Sir, I had as lief be hang'd, Sir, as go; and yet for my own part, Sir, I do not care, but rather because I am unwilling, and for my own part, have a defire to stay with my friends; elfe, Sir, I did not care for mine own part fo much.

Bard. Go to; ftand afide.

Moul. And good mafter corporal captain, for my old Dame's fake ftand my friend; fhe hath no body to do any thing about her when I am gone, and fhe's old and cannot help her felf; you fhall have forty, Sir.

Bard. Go to; ftand aside.

Feeble. I care not, a man can die but once; we owe God a death, I will never bear a base mind; if it be my destiny, fo; if it be not, fo. No man is too good to ferve his Prince; and let it go which way it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next.

Bard. Well faid, thou art a good fellow.
Feeble. 'Faith, I will bear no bafe mind.
Fal. Come, Sir, which men fhall I have?
Shal. Four of which you please.

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Bard. Sir, a word with you: 5 I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bull-calf.

Fal. Go to: well.

Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you have? Fal. Do you chuse for me.

Shal. Marry then, Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble, and Shallow.

Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf For you, Mouldy, ftay at home till you are paft fervice; and for your part, Bull-calf, grow till you come unto it. I will none of you.

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I have three pound] Here seems to be a wrong computation. He had forty fhillings

for each. Perhaps he meant to conceal part of the profit.

Shal.

Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong, they are your likelieft men, and I would have you with the best.

you ferv'd

Fal. Will you tell me, mafter Shallow, how to chufe a man? care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk and big femblance of a man? give me the spirit, mafter Shallow. Here's Wart; you fee what a ragged appearance it is, he fhall charge you and discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off and on,fwifter than he that gibbets on the brewer's bucket. And this fame half-fac'd fellow Shadow, give me this man, he prefents no mark to the enemy; the fo-man may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife. And, for a retreat, how swiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off? O give me the fpare men, and fpare me the great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.

Bard. Hold, Wart, traverfe; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So, very well, go to, very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a little, lean, old, chopt, bald shot. Well faid, Wart, thou art a good fcab. Hold, there is a tefter for thee.

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Shal. He is not his craft-mafter, he doth not do it right. I remember at Mile-End Green, when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's Show,

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Show, there was a little quiver fellow, and he would manage you his piece thus; and he would about, and about, and come you in, and come you in; rah, tah, tah, would he say; bounce, would he fay, and away again would he go, and again would he come. I fhall never fee fuch a fellow.

Fal. These fellows will do well. Mafter Shallow, God keep you; farewel, mafter Silence. I will not ufe many words with you, fare you well, gentlemen both. I thank you, I must a dozen mile to night. Bardolph, give the foldiers coats.

Shal. Sir John, heaven blefs you, and profper your affairs, and fend us peace. As you return, visit my house. Let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure, I will with you to the Court.

Fal. I would you would, master Shallow. Shal. Go to; I have spoke at a word. Fare you well. [Exeunt Shal. and Sil. Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bardolph, lead the men away. As I return, I will fetch off these Juftices. I do fee the bottom of Juftice Shallow. How fubject we old men are to this Vice of lying! this fame ftarv'd Justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he hath done about Turnbal-ftreet; and every third word a lie, more duly paid to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him at Clement's Inn, like a man made after fupper of a cheese-paring. When he was naked, he was for all the world like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carv'd upon

be found in La Mort d'Arthure, an old romance much celebrated in our authour's time, or a little before it. When papifry, fays Aftham in his Schoolmafier, as a Fanling pool overforved all England, few books were read in our tongue faving certain books of chialry, as they faid, for patime

and pleafure; which books, as feme fay, were made in monafteries by idle monks. As one, for example, La Mort d'Arthure. In this romance Sir Dagonet is King Arthur's fool. Shakespeare would not have shown his justice capable of representing any higher character.

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