You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me; Enter Lord John of Lancaster. King. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancas ter. Lan. Health, peace, and happiness to my royal fa ther! King. Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, son But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown Where is my Lord of Warwick? Prince. 231 My Lord of Warwick! Re-enter Warwick, and others. King. Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did swoon? It hath been prophesied to me many years, Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land: 235. "'Tis called Jerusalem"; probably from the tapestries of the history of Jerusalem with which it was hung; now used for the meetings of Convocation.-I. G. ACT FIFTH SCENE I Gloucestershire. Shallow's house. Enter Shallow, Falstaff, Bardolph, and Page. Shal. By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away Fal. You must excuse me, Master Robert Shal. I will not excuse you; you shall not be Davy. Here, sir. Enter Davy. Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, 10 Davy. Marry, sir, thus; those precepts cannot 1. "By cock and pie"; a trivial oath, originally containing a corruption of the names God and "pica" (the Catholic service-book); but in Shakespeare's time supposed to refer to the two birds.— C. H. H. 12. "William cook"; that is, William the cook; servants being then often thus distinguished by the quality of their service.-H. N. H. be served: and, again, sir, shall we sow Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William Davy. Yes, sir. Here is now the smith's note for shoeing and plow-irons. Shal. Let it be cast and paid. Sir John, you shall not be excused. Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir? i' the court is better than a penny in purse. Davy. No worse than they are backbitten, sir; Shal. Well conceited, Davy: about thy business, 30 Davy. I beseech you, sir, to countenance Wil- 40 32, 33. “A friend i court is better than a penny in purse"; cp. The Romaunt of the Rose, 5540: "For frende in court aie better is Than peny is in purse, certis"; Camden gives the same proverbial expression.—I. G. liam Visor of Woncot against Clement Shal. There is many complaints, Davy, against . Davy. I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but yet, God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself when a knave is not. I 50 have served your worship truly, sir, this eight years; and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I have but a very little credit with your worship. The knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech your worship, let him be countenanced. Look about, Davy. Shal. Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. [Exit Davy.] Where Come, come, come, off 60 with your boots. Give me your hand, Master Bardolph. 41. "Woncot," a village in Gloucestershire, Woodmancote (still pron. Woncot); a family of Visor or Vizard has been associated with it since the sixteenth century, and a house on the adjoining Stinchcombe Hill (now as then locally known as "the Hill") was then occupied by the family of Perkes. (Cf. Madden, The Diary of William Silence, p. 86.)—C. H. H. 52. "and if I cannot," etc.; this is no exaggerated picture of the course of justice in Shakespeare's time. Sir Nicholas Bacon, in a speech to parliament, 1559, says, "Is it not a monstrous disguising to have a justice a maintainer, acquitting some for gain, enditing others for malice, bearing with him as his servant, overthrowing the other as his enemy?" A member of the house of commons, in 1601, says, "A justice of peace is a living creature, that for half a dozen chickens will dispense with a dozen of penal statutes.”—H. N. H. Bard. I am glad to see your worship. Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master Bardolph: and welcome, my tall fellow [to the Page]. Come, Sir John. Fal. I'll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow. [Exit Shallow.] Bardolph, look to our horses. [Exeunt Bardolph and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should make 70 four dozen of such bearded hermits' staves as Master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his: they, by observing of him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like serving-man: their spirits are so married in conjunction with the participation of society that they flock together in consent, like so many wild-geese. If I had a 80 suit to Master Shallow, I would humor his men with the imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of another: 80-85. This is a most shrewd and searching commentary on what has just passed between Shallow and Davy in Falstaff's presence. It is impossible to hit them more aptly, to take them off more felicitously. Of course Sir John could not be the greatest of makesports, as he is, unless he were, or at least were capable of being something more. And in fact he has as much practical sagacity and penetration as the king, there being no other person in the play, except Prince Henry, that dives so quickly and deeply into the characters of those about him.-H. N. H. |