three such enemies again as that fiend Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? Art thou not horribly afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at it? Prince. Not a whit, i' faith; I lack some of thy instinct. Rebuked Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to-morrow 410 when thou comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an answer. Prince. Do thou stand for my father, and examine me upon the particulars of my life. Fal. Shall I content: this chair shall be my state, this dagger my sceptre, and this cushion my crown. Prince. Thy state is taken for a joined-stool, thy golden sceptre for a leaden dagger, and thy precious rich crown for a pitiful bald crown! Fal. Well, an the fire of grace be not quite out of thee, now shalt thou be moved. Give me a cup of sack to make my eyes look red, that it may be thought I have wept; for I must speak in passion, and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein. Prince. Well, here is my leg. Fal. And here is my speech. Stand aside, nobility. Host. O Jesu, this is excellent sport, i' faith! 418. joined-stool, a kind of folding-chair. 425. in King Cambyses' vein, in the ranting vein of the 'lamentable tragedy' of that name by Thomas Preston, c. 1569. 427. my leg, my bow, the leg in bowing being drawn back; 420 430 hence the phrase 'to make a leg,' to salute. 431. Weep not, sweet queen, etc. In King Cambyses a similar situation actually occurred a stage direction expressly enjoining that the queen should weep. Host. O, the father, how he holds his countenance ! Fal. For God's sake, lords, convey my tristful queen; For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes. Host. O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry players as ever I see! Fal. Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good ticklebrain. Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time, but also how thou art accom- 440 panied for though the camomile, the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears. That thou art my son, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion, but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be son to me, here lies the point; why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries? a 450 question not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief and take purses? a question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth the company thou 434. tristful, grieving. 437. harlotry, rogue, vagabond; the term, on the hostess' lips, can have had little, but in any case not its strict, meaning. Juliet is called a 'harlotry' by her father; so, Lady Mortimer below, I iii. 1. 199. 438. tickle-brain, the nickname of a strong liquor. 441. though the camomile, etc.; a parody (but by no means a caricature) of the 450. micher, truant, vagabond. keepest: for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink but in tears, not in pleasure but in passion, not in words only, but in woes also: and yet there is a virtuous man whom I have often noted 460 in thy company, but I know not his name. Prince. What manner of man, an it like your majesty ? Fal. A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble carriage; and, as I think, his age some fifty, or, by 'r lady, inclining to three score; and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff: if that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then 470 the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit decide by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff: him keep with, the rest banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where hast thou been this month? Prince. Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I'll play my father. Fal. Depose me? if thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbit-sucker or a poulter's 480 hare. Prince. Well, here I am set. Fal. And here I stand: judge, my masters. Prince. Now, Harry, whence come you? Fal. My noble lord, from Eastcheap. Prince. The complaints I hear of thee are grievous. Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false: nay, I'll tickle ye for a young prince, i' faith. 472. peremptorily, decidedly. 480. rabbit - sucker, suckingrabbit. 480. poulter, poulterer. 482. set, seated. 489. tickle ye for a young prince, play the part with a vengeance. Prince. Swearest thou, ungracious boy? hence- 490 forth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace: there is a devil, haunts thee in the likeness of an old fat man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years? 500 Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villanous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing? Fal. I would your grace would take me with you: whom means your grace? Prince. That villanous abominable misleader of youth, Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan. Fal. My lord, the man I know. Prince. I know thou dost. Fal. But to say I know more harm in him than in myself, were to say more than I know. That he is old, the more the pity, his white hairs do witness it; but that he is, saving your reverence, a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked! if to 495. bolting-hutch, receptacle into which meal is sifted. 497. bombard, a large vessel for liquor, from which the smaller were replenished. 498. roasted Manningtree ox. This was probably one of the accompaniments of the fairs which the town of Manning 510 tree (Essex) was privileged to hold. 499. vice, iniquity; both names for the clown or harlequin of the Moralities. 500. vanity, a character in the Moralities. 506. take me with you, explain your meaning. be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damned: if to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine are to be loved. No, my 520 good lord; banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him thy Harry's company, banish not him thy Harry's company : banish plump Jack, and banish all the world. Prince. I do, I will. [A knocking heard. [Exeunt Hostess, Francis, and Bardolph. Re-enter BARDOLPH, running. Bard. O, my lord, my lord! the sheriff with a most monstrous watch is at the door. Fal. Out, ye rogue! Play out the play: I have much to say in the behalf of that Falstaff. Re-enter the Hostess. Host. O Jesu, my lord, my lord! Prince. Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddlestick what's the matter? Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they are come to search the house. Shall I let them in ? 530 Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit thou art essentially 540 mad, without seeming so. 534. Heigh, heigh! etc. This speech is given to Falstaff by Ff. 'The devil rides upon a fiddle - stick'; like 'heighty tighty,' a phrase of ridicule for a needless ado. 539. never call a true piece of gold, etc.; i.e. don't slander the pure gold of my character as |