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John, let me have five hundred of my thou-
sand.

Fal. Sir, I will be as good as my word: this that
you heard was but a color.

Shal. A color that I fear you will die in, Sir
John.

Fal. Fear no colors: go with me to dinner: come, Lieutenant Pistol; come, Bardolph: 100 I shall be sent for soon at night.

Re-enter Prince John, and the Lord Chief Justice; Officers with them.

Ch. Just. Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet:

Take all his company along with him.

Fal. My lord, my lord,—

Ch. Just. I cannot now speak: I will hear you

soon.

Take them away.

Pist. Si fortuna me tormenta, spero contenta.

[Exeunt all but Prince John and the

Chief-Justice. Lan. I like this fair proceeding of the king's:

He hath intent his wonted followers

101. "soon at night"; this very night.-C. H. H.

107. “si fortuna," etc., so in Q. Pistol had quoted his motto before (2 ii. 4. 201) in an equally incorrect but indifferent form according to the old texts; he is not intended to be either correct or consistent. His use of it in his present situation may be suggested by the tale of Hannibal Gonzaga (as pointed out by Farmer), "who vaunted on yielding himself a prisoner, as you may read in an old collection of tales called Wits Fits and Fancies :

Si Fortuna me tormenta

Il Speranza me contenta."-C. H. H.

Shall all be very well provided for;

But all are banish'd till their conversations Appear more wise and modest to the world. Ch. Just. And so they are.

110

Lan. The king hath call'd his parliament, my lord.

Ch. Just. He hath.

Lan. I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,

We bear our civil swords and native fire

As far as France: I heard a bird so sing,
Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the

king. Come, will

you hence?

[Exeunt. 120

113. "I heard a bird so sing"; a proverbial expression still extant. -I. G.

EPILOGUE

Spoken by a Dancer.

First my fear; then my courtesy; last my speech. My fear is, your displeasure; my courtesy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me: for what I have to say is of mine own making; and what indeed I should say will, I doubt, prove mine

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EPILOGUE. Shakespeare's authorship of this epilogue has been doubted, and it has been described as "a manifest and poor imitation of the epilogue to As You Like It." It is noteworthy that it occurs already in the Q. (1600), though with one important difference; the words "and so kneel down queen" (11. 36, 37) are printed there at the end of the first paragraph, after "infinitely.” It seems probable, therefore, that the epilogue originally ended there, and that the remaining lines were added somewhat later. One is strongly tempted to infer that the additions to the epilogue were called forth by the success of the first and second parts of the play of Sir John Oldcastle, written evidently to vindicate the character of Falstaff's original, and put on the stage as a counterattraction to Henry IV, hence the words, added in a spirit of playful defiance, "for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man" (1. 33). The first part of Sir John Oldcastle was performed for the first time about November 1, 1599, the second part, dealing with the Lollard's death, was evidently written by the end of the year. The First Part of the true and honourable history of the Life of Sir John Oldcastle, the good Lord Cobham, appeared in two editions in 1600; Shakespeare's name had been impudently printed on the title-page of the former and less correct edition; the authors were Munday, Drayton, Wilson, and Chettle. The "Second Part" is not known to exist.-I. G.

own marring. But to the purpose, and so
to the venture. Be it known to you, as it is
very well, I was lately here in the end of a 10
displeasing play, to pray your patience for
it and to promise you a better. I meant
indeed to pay you with this; which, if like an
ill venture it come unluckily home, I break,
and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here
I promised you I would be, and here I com-
mit my body to your mercies: bate me some,
and I will pay you some, and, as most debt-
ors do, promise you infinitely.

If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit 20
me, will you command me to use my legs?
and yet that were but light payment, to
dance out of your debt. But a good con-
science will make any possible satisfaction,
and so would I. All the gentlewomen here
have forgiven me: if the gentlemen will not,
then the gentlemen do not agree with the
gentlewomen, which was never seen before
in such an assembly.

One word more, I beseech
you. If you
be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our

30

31, 32. "our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine in France"; Shakespeare changed his mind. "The public was not to be indulged in laughter for laughter's sake at the expense of his play. The tone of the entire play of Henry V would have been altered if Falstaff had been allowed to appear in it. Agincourt is not the field for splendid mendacity. There is no place for Falstaff any longer on earth; he must find refuge in Arthur's bosom.' But the public would not absolve "our humble author of his promise, and they were to make merry again with their favorite

round about the oak Of Herne the hunter.'"-I. G.

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humble author will continue the story, with
Sir John in it, and make you merry with
fair Katharine of France: where, for any
thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat,
unless already a' be killed with your hard
opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and
this is not the man. My tongue is weary:
when my legs are too, I will bid you good
night: and so kneel down before you; but, 40
indeed, to pray for the queen.

41. "pray for the queen"; most of the ancient interludes conclude with a prayer for the king or queen. Hence, perhaps, the Vivant Rex et Regina, at the bottom of our modern play bills.-H. N. H.

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