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afoot again, for all the coin in thy father's exchequer. What a plague mean ye to colt me thus3?

P. Hen. Thou liest: thou art not colted, thou art uncolted.

Fal. I pr'ythee, good prince Hal, help me to my horse; good king's son.

P. Hen. Out, you rogue! shall I be your ostler?

Fal. Go, hang thyself in thine own heir-apparent garters! If I be ta'en, I'll peach for this. An I have not ballads made on you all, and sung to filthy tunes, let a cup of sack be my poison: when a jest is so forward, and afoot too, I hate it.

Gads. Stand.

Enter GADSHILL.

Fal. So I do, against my will.

Poins. O! 'tis our setter: I know his voice.

Enter BARDOLPH.

Bard. What news?

Gads. Case ye, case yes; on with your visors: there's money of the king's coming down the hill; 'tis going to the king's exchequer.

Fal. You lie, you rogue: 'tis going to the king's

tavern.

Gads. There's enough to make us all.

Fal. To be hanged.

3 What a plague mean ye to COLT me thus ?] To colt is to trick or fool, as Johnson explains, and as many quotations would prove. The prince in his reply plays upon the word, in reference to the fact that Falstaff was on foot, colted," by reason of the loss of his horse.

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Go, hang thyself-] previous to that of 1608. 5 Gads. Case ye, case ye ;] There is some little confusion of persons here in all the old copies, quarto and folio. "Bardolph, what news?" is made part of what Poins says, and Bardolph is made to reply, "Case ye, case ye," &c. Our text is regulated as Johnson recommended. The fact seems to be, that " Bardolph," as a prefix, was mistaken by the printer, and he was thus made a person addressed instead of speaking. Gadshill was the "setter," and ought to bring the information.

"Go" is from the folio: it is wanting in the quartos

P. Hen. Sirs, you four shall front them in the narrow lane; Ned Poins and I will walk lower: if they 'scape from your encounter, then they light on us.

Peto. But how many be there of them"?

Gads. Some eight, or ten.

Fal. Zounds! will they not rob us?

P. Hen. What, a coward, sir John Paunch?

Fal. Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your grandfather; but yet no coward, Hal.

P. Hen. Well, we leave that to the proof".

Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind the hedge: when thou needest him, there thou shalt find him. Farewell, and stand fast.

Fal. Now cannot I strike him, if I should be hanged. P. Hen. Ned, [Aside to POINS] where are our disguises?

Poins. Here, hard by: stand close.

[Exeunt P. HENRY and POINS. Fal. Now, my masters, happy man be his dole, say I: every man to his business.

Enter Travellers.

1 Trav. Come, neighbour: the boy shall lead our horses down the hill; we'll walk afoot awhile, and ease our legs.

Thieves. Stand!

Trav. Jesu bless us !

Fal. Strike; down with them; cut the villains' throats. Ah! whorson caterpillars! bacon-fed knaves! they hate us youth: down with them; fleece them.

6 How many be THERE of them ?] So the 4to, 1598: that of 1599, “How many be they of them?" and the subsequent quartos have, "But how many be they of them?" The folio omits both there and they, "But how many be of

them ?"

7 Well, we leave that to the proof.] The folio has "We'll leave that," &c. and makes other more minute variations in this scene.

8

happy man be his DOLE,] i. e. happiness be his portion, or " dole." See Vol. iii. p. 123, note 6, and 439, note 8.

1 Trav. O! we are undone, both we and ours, for

ever.

Fal. Hang ye, gorbellied knaves. Are ye undone? No, ye fat chuffs; I would, your store were here! On, bacons, on! What! ye knaves, young men must live. You are grand-jurors are ye? We'll jure ye, i' faith. [Exeunt FAL. &c. driving the Travellers out'.

Re-enter Prince HENRY and POINS.

P. Hen. The thieves have bound the true men2. Now could thou and I rob the thieves, and go merrily to London, it would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for ever.

Poins. Stand close; I hear them coming.

Re-enter Thieves.

Fal. Come, my masters; let us share, and then to horse before day. An the prince and Poins be not two arrant cowards, there's no equity stirring: there's no more valour in that Poins, than in a wild duck.

P. Hen. Your money.
Poins. Villains.

[Rushing out upon them.

[As they are sharing, the PRINCE and POINS set upon them. They all run away, and FALSTAFF, after a blow or two, runs away too, leaving the booty behind them3.]

9 Hang ye, GORBELLIED knaves.] "Gorbellied" is a very common epithet used for fat-bellied, corpulent. The etymology is uncertain, but perhaps from gor, which, in the dialect of Craven, still means rotten or decayed. (See Holloway's Gen. Dict. of Provincialisms, 8vo, 1838.) Gor is Saxon for dung, and hence Skinner and Junius derive "gorbellied." On the other hand, in Derbyshire it should seem that the word gorrel-bellied, for pot-bellied, is a word yet employed. No etymology is given by our lexicographers for gorrel. In "Liugua," (Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. v. 189,) "a gorbelly" signifies a glutton.

1 Exeunt Fal. &c. driving the Travellers out.] The old stage-direction in all the old editions is, "Here they rob them and bind them." It is very clear, however, that Falstaff and the rest go out, leaving the stage to the prince and Poins, who return to it.

2 The THIEVES have bound the TRUE MEN.] Here again we see "thieves" and "true men " put in opposition. See p. 251, note 2.

3 — leaving the booty behind them.] This is verbatim the oldest stage-direction, which there can be no objection to preserve instead of the modern alteration.

P. Hen. Got with much ease1.

horse:

Now merrily to

The thieves are scatter'd, and possess'd with fear
So strongly, that they dare not meet each other;
Each takes his fellow for an officer.

Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death,
And lards the lean earth as he walks along:
Wer't not for laughing, I should pity him.
Poins. How the rogue roar'd!

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Warkworth. A Room in the Castle.

Enter HOTSPUR, reading a Letter.

-"But for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house."—He could be contented,-why is he not then? In respect of the love he bears our house :he shows in this, he loves his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me see some more. "The purpose you undertake, is dangerous ;"-Why, that's certain 'tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. "The purpose you undertake, is dangerous; the friends you have named, uncertain; the time itself unsorted, and your whole plot too light for the counterpoise of so great an opposition.”—Say you so, say you so? I say unto you again, you are a shallow, cowardly hind, and you lie. What a lackbrain is this! By the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant:

K

Got with much ease.] This speech is printed as prose in all the old copies. 5 By the Lord,] The folio, 1623, merely I protest; and just afterwards, instead of "zounds!" it substitutes "by this hand:" elsewhere the Master of the Revels seems to have objected even to "by this hand."

a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation: an excellent plot, very good friends. What a frostyspirited rogue is this? Why, my lord of York commends the plot, and the general course of the action. 'Zounds! an I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with his lady's fan. Is there not my father, my uncle, and myself? lord Edmund Mortimer, my lord of York, and Owen Glendower? Is there not, besides, the Douglas? Have I not all their letters, to meet me in arms by the ninth of the next month, and are they not, some of them, set forward already? What a pagan rascal is this! an infidel! Ha! you shall see now, in very sincerity of fear and cold heart, will he to the king, and lay open all our proceedings. O! I could divide myself, and go to buffets, for moving such a dish of skimmed milk with so honourable an action. Hang him! let him tell the king: we are prepared. I will set forward to-night.

Enter Lady PERCY.

How now, Kate? I must leave you within these two hours.

Lady. O, my good lord! why are you thus alone? For what offence have I this fortnight been

A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed?

Tell me, sweet lord, what is't that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start so often when thou sit'st alone?
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks,
And given my treasures, and my rights of thee,
To thick-ey'd musing, and curs'd melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers", I by thee have watch'd,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;

* In THY faint slumbers,] So the two earlier quartos, and no doubt rightly. The later quartos and folio have "my faint slumbers;" but Lady Percy was watching, not slumbering.

VOL. IV.

S

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