PRINCE. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?

FAL. Well, thou hast called 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.

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FAL. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent― But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a 60 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 with my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you.

58 resolution thus fobbed] boldness or courage thus foiled or deluded. 59 antic] buffoon. Cf. Rich. II, III, ii, 162: "Death . . . the antic

sits."

PRINCE. For obtaining of suits?

FAL. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman 70 hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged bear.

PRINCE. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.

FAL. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. PRINCE. What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

FAL. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes, and art indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where 80

69-71 suits . . . wardrobe] There is a quibble on the word "suits" in the double sense of petitions and clothes. The apparel of executed persons was the hangman's perquisite.

72 gib cat] tom cat.

lugged bear] apparently a tame bear dragged about by showmen by collar and chain.

74 Lincolnshire bagpipe] Elizabethan writers associate bagpipes with Lincolnshire as frequently as modern writers associate them with Scotland.

75 a hare] The hare was invariably credited by Elizabethans with a melancholy temperament. Cf. Drayton's Polyolbion, Book II: a melancholy hare."

76 Moor-ditch] A broad unsavoury morass in Finsbury, which enjoyed among Elizabethans a reputation for generating a very depressing climate.

77 similes] Most of the original editions read smiles, which the fifth Quarto and later Folios correct. For the textual confusion see note on All's Well, V, ii, 23.

78 comparative] fond of comparisons. Cf. L. L. L., V, ii, 832: “Full of comparisons and wounding flouts," and infra, II, iv, 242, and III, ii, 67.*

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 marked him not; and yet he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked 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, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew 90 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 a villain: I'll be damned 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.

PRINCE. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying to purse-taking.

FAL. Why, Hal, 't is my vocation. Hal; 't is no sin for a man to labour in his vocation.

86-87 wisdom . . . regards it] Cf. Proverbs, i, 20, 24: "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; . . . and no man regarded."

88 damnable iteration] an exasperating habit of repeating my words. 98 baffle] disgrace, degrade. Cf. Tw. Night, V, i, 356 (of Malvolio): "How have they baffled thee."

100

Enter POINS

Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match. 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.

POINS. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse? what says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou soldest him on Good Friday last for a cup of Madeira and a cold capon's leg?

PRINCE. Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs: he will give the devil his due.

POINS. Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil.

PRINCE. Else he had been damned for cozening the devil.

POINS. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders

103 Gadshill] This character's name is derived from the place so called near Rochester, which was long infested by highwaymen.

set a match] made an appointment for nefarious purposes; a technical term among robbers. Cf. II, ii, 49, infra, “setter."

109 Sack and Sugar] It was the habit of Elizabethan topers to mix sugar with their wine. Falstaff's favourite beverage was clearly a Spanish wine resembling sherry - he calls it "sherris-sack," 2 Hen. IV, IV, iii, 95 sweetened with copious admixtures of sugar. Cf. II, iv, 454, infra.

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119

riding to London with fat purses: I have vizards for you all; you have horses for yourselves: Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester: I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home and be hanged.

FAL. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not, I'll hang you for going.

POINS. You will, chops?

FAL. Hal, wilt thou make one?

PRINCE. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith. FAL. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.

PRINCE. Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap. FAL. Why, that's well said.

PRINCE. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. FAL. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

PRINCE. I care not.

POINS. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure that he shall go.

FAL. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may

129 Yedward] A colloquial form of Edward.

131 chops] flesh meat, "fat chops."

136 stand for ten shillings] play for the trifling stake of ten shillings. There is a quibble here on the word "royal," the name of a coin of ten shillings' value. For a similar pun see II, iv, 281, infra.

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