Fal. We haue heard the chimes at midnight M. Shallow. Sha. That we haue that we haue, that we haue, in faith fir John we haue, our watch-worde was hemboies, come lets to dinner, come lets to dinner, Iefus the daies that wee haue feene, come, come. Exeunt.

Bul. Good maister corporate Bardolfe, ftand my friend, and heres foure Harry ten fhillings in French crowns for you, in very truth fir, I had as liue be hangd fir as go, and yet for mine owne part fir I do not care, but rather because I am vnwilling, and for mine owne part haue a defire to stay with my friends, elfe fir I did not care for mine owne part fo much. Bard. Go to, stand aside.

Moul. And good mafter corporall captaine, for my dames fake ftand my friend, fhe has no body to doe any thing about her when I am gone, and she is old and cannot helpe her felfe, you fhall haue forty fir.

Bar. Go to, stand afide.

Feeble. By my troth I care not, a man can die but once, we owe God a death, Ile nere beare a bafe mind, and't bee my definy fo, and't be not, fo, no man's too good to ferue's prince, and let it go which way it will, he that dies this yeere is quit for the next.

Bar. Well faid, th'art a good fellow.

Feeble. Faith Ile beare no base mind.

Enter Falftaffe and the iuftices.

Fal. Come fir, which men fhall I haue?

Shal. Foure of which you pleafe.

Bar. Sir, a word with you, I haue three pound to free Mouldy and Bulcalfe.

Fal. Go to, well.

Shal. Come fir John, which foure wil you haue?

Fal. Do you chufe for me.

Shal. Mary then, Mouldy, Bulcalfe, Feeble, and Sadow.

Fal.

Fal. Mouldy and Bulcalfe, for you Mouldy ftay at home, you are past feruice: and for your part Bulcalfe, grow til you come vnto it, I will none of you.

til

Shal. Sir John, fir Iohn, doe not your felfe wrong, they are your likelieft men, and I would haue you ferude with the best.

Fal. Wil you tel me (mafter Shallow) how to chufe a man? care I for the limbe, the thewes, the ftature, bulke and big affemblance of a man: giue me the fpirit M. Shalow: heres Wart, you fee what a ragged apparance it is, a fhall charge you, and difcharge you with the motion of a pewterers hammer, come off and on fwifter then he that gibbets on the brewers bucket: and this fame halfe facde fellow Shadow, giue me this man, he presents no marke to the enemy, the fo-man may with as great aime leuel at the edge of a pen-knife, and for a retraite how swiftly wil this Feeble the womans tailer runne off? O giue mee the fpare men, and spare me the great ones, putte mee a caliuer into Warts hand Bardolfe.

Bar. Hold Wart, trauers thas, thas, thas.

Fal. Come mannage me your caliuer: fo, very wel, go to, very good, exceeding good, O giue me alwaies a little leane, olde chopt ballde, fhot: well faid yfaith Wart, th'art a good fcab, hold, theres a tefter for thee.

Shal. He is not his crafts-mafter, he doth not do it right; I remember at Mile-end greene, when I lay at Clements inne, I was then fir Dagonet in Arthurs how, there was a little quiuer fellow, and a would mannage you his peece thus, and a would about and about, and come you in, and come you in, rah, tah, tah, would a fay, bounce would a fay, and away again would a go, and againe would a come: I fhall nere fee fuch a fellow.

Fal. Thefe fellowes wooll doe well M. Shallow, God keep you M. Scilens, I will not vfe many words with you, fare you wel gentlemen both, I thank you, I must a dofen mile to night: Bardolfe, giue the fouldiers coates.

VOL. II.

M m

Shal.

Shal. Sir John, the Lord bleffe you, God profper your af faires, God fend vs peace at your returne, vifit our house, let our old acquaintance be renewed, peraduenture I will with ye to the court.

Fal. Fore God would you would.

Shal. Go to, I haue fpoke at a word, God keep you.
Fal. Fare you well gentle gentlemen.

Exit.

Shal. On Bardolfe, leade the men away, as I returne I will fetch off these iuftices, I do fee the bottome of iuftice Shallow, Lord, Lord, how fubiect we old men are to this vice of lying, this fame ftaru'd iuftice hath done nothing but prate to me, of the wildneffe of his youth, and the feates he hath done about Turne-bull street, and euery third word a lie, dewer paid to the hearer then the Turkes tribute, I doe remember him at Clements inne, like a man made after fupper of a cheese paring, when a was naked, he was for all the worlde like a forkt reddish, with a head fantastically carued vpon it with a knife, a was fo forlorne, that his demenfions to any thicke fight were inuincible, a was the very gemies of famine, yet lecherous as a monkie, and the whores cald him mandrake, a came ouer in the rereward of the fashion, and fung those tunes to the ouer-fchutcht hufwiues, that he heard the car-men whistle, and fware they were his fancies or his good-nights, and nowe is this vices dagger become a fquire, and talkes as familiarly of Iohn a Gaunt, as if he had bin fworne brother to him, and Ile be fworne a nere faw him but once in the tyltyard, and then he burft his head for crowding among the marshalles men, I faw it, and told Iohn a Gaunt he beate his owne name, for you might haue thrust him and all his aparell into an eele-fkin, the cafe of a treble hoboy was a mansion for him a court, and now has he land and beefes. Well, Ile be acquainted with him if I returne, and t'fhal go hard, but Ile make him a philofophers two ftones to me, if the yong dafe be

a baite

a baite for the old pike, I fee no reason in the law of nature but I may fnap at him: let time fhape, and there an end.

Enter the archbishop, Mowbray, Bardolfe, Hastings, within the forrest of Gaultree.

Bifb. What is this forreft calld?

Haft. Tis Gaultree forreft, and't fhal please your grace. Bish. Here stand, my lords, and fend discouerers forth, To know the numbers of our enemies.

Haft. We haue fent forth already.
Bishop. Tis well done,

My friends and brethren (in these great affaires)
I must acquaint you, that I haue receiu'd
New dated letters from Northumberland,
Their cold intent, tenure, and fubftance thus:
Here doth he with his perfon, with fuch powers,
As might hold fortance with his qualitie,
The which he would not leuy: whereupon
He is retirde to ripe his growing fortunes,
To Scotland, and concludes in hearty prayers,
That your attempts may ouer-liue the hazard

And fearefull meeting of their opposite.

Mowb. Thus do the hopes we haue in him touch ground, And dafh themfelues to peeces.

Enter messenger.

Haftings. Now, what newes?

Messenger. Weft of this forrest, scarcely off a mile,

In goodly forme comes on the enemy,

And by the ground they hide, I iudge their number

Vpon, or neere the rate of thirty thousand.

Mowbray. The iuft proportion that we gaue them out, Let vs fway on, and face them in the field.

Bishop. What wel appointed leader fronts vs heere?

Enter Weftmerland.

Mowbray. I thinke it is my lord of Weftmerland. Weft. Health and faire greeting from our generall, The prince lord Iohn and duke of Lancaster.

Bishop. Say on my lord of Westmerland in peace,
What doth concerne your comming?

Weft. Vnto your grace doe I in chiefe addreffe
The fubftance of my fpeech: if that rebellion
Came like it felfe, in base and abiect rowtes,
Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rage,
And countenaunft by boyes and beggary.
I fay, if damnd commotion fo appeare,
In his true, natiue, and moft proper shape,
You, reuerend father, and these noble lordes,
Had not beene heere to dreffe the owgly forme
Of bafe and bloody infurrection

With your faire honours. You (lord archbishop)
Whofe fea is by a ciuile peace maintainde,

Whofe beard the filuer hand of peace hath toucht,
Whofe learning and good letters peace hath tutord,
Whose white inueftments figures innocence,
The doue, and very bleffed fpirite of peace.
Wherefore do you fo ill tranflate your felfe
Out of the fpeech of peace that beares fuch grace,
Into the harsh and boyftrous tongue of warre?
Turning your bookes to graues, your incke to bloud,
Your pennes to launces, and your tongue diuine,
To a lowd trumpet, and a point of warre?

Bifb. Wherefore do I this? fo the queftion ftands:
Briefly, to this end we are all difeafde:

The dangers of the daie's but newly gone,
Whose memorie is written on the earth,
With yet appearing blood, and the examples
Of euery minutes inftance (prefent now,)

Hath