The fervice that I truly did his life,
Hath left me open to all injuries.

War. Indeed, I think, the young king loves
you not.

Ch. Juft. I know, he doth not; and do arm
myself,

To welcome the condition of the time;
Which cannot look more hideously upon me
Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.
Enter Lord John of Lancaster, Glofter, and
rence, &c.

War. Here come the heavy iffue of
Harry:-

Cla

dead

O, that the living Harry had the temper
Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen!
How many nobles then should hold their places,
That must strike fail to fpirits of vile fort!

Ch. Juft. Alas, I fear, all will be overturn'd.
Lan. Good morrow, coufin Warwick.
Glo. Cla. Good morrow, coufin.

Lan. We meet like men that had forgot to speak.
War. We do remember; but our argument
Is all too heavy to admit much talk.

Lan. Well, peace be with him that hath made

us heavy!

Ch. Juft. Peace be with us, left we be heavier!
Glo. O, good my lord, you have loft a friend
indeed :

And I dare fwear, you borrow not that face
Of feeming forrow; it is, fure, your own. [find,
Lan. Though no man be affur'd what grace to
You ftand in coldest expectation:

I am the forrier; 'would, 'twere otherwife.
Cla. Well, you must now speak Sir John
staff fair;

War. Here comes the prince.

Enter King Henry.

Ch. Juft. Good morrow; and heaven fave your majesty !

K. Henry. This new and gorgeous garment, majefty,

Sits not fo eafy on me as you think.

Brothers, you mix your fadness with fome fear;
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath fucceeds,

But Harry, Harry :-Yet be fad, good brothers,
For, to speak truth, it very well becomes you;
Sorrow fo royally in you appears,

That I will deeply put the fashion on,

And wear it in my heart. Why then, be fad :
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burthen laid upon us all.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be affur'd,
I'll be your father and your brother too;
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep that Harry's dead; and fo will I :
But Harry lives, that fhall convert thofe tears,
By number, into hours of happiness.

Lan. &c. We hope no other from your majesty,
K. Henry. You all look ftrangely on me :—and
you moft;
[To the Ch. Juft.

You are, I think, affur'd I love you not.
Ch. Juft. I am affured, if I be measur❜d rightly,
Your majefty hath no just cause to hate me.

K. Henry. No! How might a prince of my
great hopes forget

So great indignities you laid upon me?
What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prifon
Fal-The immediate heir of England! Was this eafy ?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?

Which iwims against your stream of quality.
Ch. Juft. Sweet princes, what I did, I did in
honour,

Led by the impartial conduct of
foul;
my
And never fhall you fee, that I will beg
A ragged and foreftall'd remiflion 1.—
If truth and upright innocency fail me,
I'll to the king my mafter that is dead,
And tell him who hath fent me after him.

Ch. Juft. I then did ufe the person of your
father;

The image of his power lay then in me :
And, in the administration of his law,
Whiles I was bufy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleafed to forget my place,
The majefty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I prefented,
And ftruck me in my very feat of judgment?;
Whereon,

I Meaning, a base ignominious pardon, begged by a voluntary confeffion of offence, and anticipation of the charge. 2 The chief juftice, in this play, was Sir William Gafcoigne, of whom the followng memoir is given by Sir John Hawkins: "While at the bar, Henry of Bolingbroke had been his client; and upon the decease of John of Gaunt, by the above Henry, his heir, then in banishmcnt, he was appointed his attorney, to fue in the court of Wards the livery of the eftates defcended to him. Richard II. revoked the letters patent for this purpofe, and defeated the intent of them, and thereby furnished a ground for the invafion of his kingdom by the heir of Gaunt; who becoming afterwards Henry IV. appointed Gafcoigne chief juftice of the King's Bench in the first year of his reign. In that itation Gascoigne acquired the character of a learned, an upright, a wife, and an intrepid judge. The ftory fo frequently alluded to of his committing the prince for an infult on his perfon, and the court wherein he prefided, is thus related by Sir Thomas Elyot, in his book entitled The Governour: "The mofte renomed prince king Henry the fyfte, late kynge of Englande, durynge the lyte of his father, was noted to be fiers and of wanton courage it hapued, that one of his feruantes, whom he well fauoured, was for felony by him committed, arrained at the kynges benche: whereof the prince being aduertifed, and incenfed by lyghte perfones aboute him, in furious rage came hastily to the barre, where his feruant flode as a prifoner, and commaunded hym to be vngyued and fet at libertie: wherat all men were abalhed, referued the chiefe juftice, who bumbly exhorted the prince, to be contented, that his feruaunt mought be ordred, accordynge to. the aunciente lawes of this realme; or if he wolde haue hym faued from the rigour of the lawes, that

Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold way to my authority,
And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a fon fet your decrees at nought;
To pluck down juftice from your awful bench;
To trip the courfe of law, and blunt the fword
That guards the peace and fafety of your perfon:
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a fecond body 2.
Queftion your royal thoughts, make the cafe yours;
Be now the father, and propofe a fon 3 :
Hear your own dignity fo much profan'2,
See your moft dreadful laws fo loofely flighted,
Behold yourself so by a fon difdained;
And then imagine me taking your part,
And, in your power, fo filencing your fon :-
After this cold confiderance, fentence me ;
And, as you are a king, fpeak in your ftate,--
What I have done, that mifbecame my place,
My perfon, or my liege's fovereignty.

K. Henry. You are right, justice, and you weigh
this well;

Therefore ftill bear the balance, and the sword:
And I do with your honours may increase,
'Till you do live to fee a fon of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.

So fhall I live to speak my father's words;—
Happy am I, that have a man fo bold,
That dares do juftice on my proper fon:
And not lefs happy, having fuch a fon,
That would deliver up his greatnes fo

Into the hands of jaftice.-You did commit me :
For which, I do commit into your hand
The unftained fword that you have us'd to bear;
With this remembrance,-That you use the fame
With the like bold, juft, and impartial fpirit,
As you have done 'gainft me. There is my hand;
You fhall be as a father to my youth:

6

My voice fhall found as you do prompt mine ear;
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practis'd, wife directions.-
And, princes all, believe me,
I befeech you;-
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections 5;
And with his fpirit fadly I furvive,
To mock the expectations of the world;
To fruitrate prophecies; and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my feeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity, 'till now:
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the fea;
Where it thall mingle with the state of floods 7,
And flow henceforth in formal majefty.
Now call we our high court of parliament :
And let us chufe fuch limbs of noble counfel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best-govern'd nation';
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us ;-
In which you, father, fhall have foremost hand.-
[To the Lord Chief Justice.
Our poronation done, we will accite,
As 1 before remember'd, all our ft..te:

he fhulde opteyne, if he moughte, of the kynge his father, his gratious pardon, wherby no lawe or inftyce fhulde be derogate. With whiche aufwere the prince nothynge appealed, but rather more inflamed, endeuored him felfe to take away his feruant. The iuge confidering the perillous example, and inconuenience that mought therby infue, with a valvant spirite and courage, commanded the prince upon his alegeance, to leaue the prifoner, and depart his way. With which commandment the prince being fet all in a fury, all chated and in a terrible maner, came vp to the place of iugement, men thynking that he wold haue flayne the iuge, or haue done to hym fome damage: but the iuge fittynge ftyl! without mouing, declaring the maicftie of the kynges place of iugement, and with an affured and bolde countenaunce, had to the prince, thefe wordes followyng, "Syr, remembre your felfe, I kepe here the place of the kyng your foueraine lorde and father, to whom ye owe doubla obedience, wherfore ettefoones in his naine, I charge you defyite of your wylfulnes and vnlaufull enterprife, & from hensforth giue good example to thofe, whyche hereafter shall be your propre fubiectes. And nowe, for your contempte and difobedience, goo you to the pryfone of the kynges benche, wherevnto I commytte you, and remayne ye there prifoner vntyll the pleafure of the kynge your lather be further knowen." With whicle wordes beinge abathed, and alfo wondrynge at the meruaylous grauitic of that worthypfulle juityce, the noble prince layinge his weapon aparte, doyng reuerence, departed, and wente to the kynges benche, as he was commanded. Whereat his feruauntes difdaynynge, came and thewed to the kynge all the hole affaire. Whereat he awhyles tudyenge, after as a man all rauyihed with gladneffe, holdynge his eicn and handes vp towarde heuen, abraided, faying with a loude voice, O mercyfull God, howe moche am I, aboue all other men, bounde to your infinite goodnes, specially for that ye haue gyuen me a iuge, who feareth nat to minifter iuftyce, and alfo a fonne, who can fuffre femblably, and obeye iuftyce ?" And here it may be noted, that Shakspeare has deviated from hiftory in bringing the chief juftice and Henry V. together; for it is exprefsly faid by Fuller, in his Worthies in Yorkshire, and that on the best authority, that Gafcoigne died in the life-time of his father, viz. on the first day of November, 14 Henry IV. See Dugd. Origines Juridic. in the Chronica Series, fol. 54 56. Mr, Malone adds, that in the foregoing account of this tranfaction, there is no mention of the prince's having ftruck Gascoigne, the chief justice,-Speed, however, who quotes Elyot, fays, on I know not what authority, that the prince gave the judge a blow on the face. To defeat the procefs of juftice. 2 i, e. to treat with contempt your acts executed by a reprefentative. 3 i, e. image to yourself a fon. 4 i. e. admonition, 5 The meaning feems to be-My wild difpofitions having ceafed on my father's death, and being now as it were buried in his tomb, he and wildne fs are interred in the fame grave. i. e. feriously, gravely. Sad is oppofed to wild. 7 i. e. the affembly, or general meeting of the floods: for all rivers, running to the lea, are there reprefented as holding their feffions,

KK 4

And

So merrily, and ever among fo merrily, &c. Fal. There's a merry heart -Good master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

Shal. Give mafter Bardolph fome wine, Davy.
Davy. Sweet fir, fit;-I'll be with you anon;
-moft fweet fir, fit.--Matter page, good mafter
fit: 3 Proface! What you want in meat,
page,
we'll have in drink. But you muft bear; The
heart's 4 all.
[Exit.
Shal. Be merry, mafter Bardolph ;-and my
little foldier there, be merry.

Sil. [Singing] Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;
For women are farews, both fhort and tall:

'Tis merry in ball, when beards wag all,

And welcome merry (brove-tide.

Fal. I did not think, mafter Silence had been a How now, Pistol? man of this mettle.

Sil. Who I? I have been merry twice and once, ere now.

1 A comfit or confection fo called in our author's time, according to Dr. Warburton; but a dish of apples of that n me, according to Dr. Goldimith; and Mr. Steevens fays, there is a pear called a caraway, which may be corrupted from caillouel, Fr. 2 Here the double sense of the word dear mult be remembered. 3 Italian from profaccia; that is.much good may it do you. 4 That is, the intention with which the entertainment is given. This was the term by which an airy, fplendid, irregular fellow was diftinguished. 6 To do a man right and to do him reafun, were formerly the ufual expreffions in pledging healths. He who drank a bumper expected a bumper fhould be drank to his toaft. It was the cuitom of the good fellows in Shakipeare's days to drink a very large draught of wine, and fometimes a lefs palatable potation, on their knees, to the health of their miftreis. He who performed this exploit was dubb'd a knight for the evening. 7 Samingo, that is, San Domingo, as Șir T. Hanmer has rightly obferved. But what is the meaning and propriety of the name here, has not been fhewn. Juftice Silence is here introduced as in the inidit of his cups: and Mr. Warton fays, he remembers a black-letter ballad, in which either a San Domingo, or a fignior Domingo, is celebrated for his miraculous feats in drinking. Silence, in the abundance of his feitivity, touches upon fome old fong, in which this convivial faint er fignior was the burden. Perhaps too the pronunciation is here fuited to the character.

good.-Sweet knight, thou art now one of the ride all night :-Oh, fweet Pistol -Away, Bargreatest men in the realm. dolph.-Come, Piftol, utter more to me; and,

Sil. Indeed I think 'a be; but goodman Puff of withal, devife fomething to do thyfelf good.→ Barfon.

Pift. Puf?

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward bafe !--
Sir John, I am thy Piftol, and thy friend,
And helter-fkelter have I rode to thee;
And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
And golden times, and happy news of price.

Fil. I prythee now, deliver them like a man of this world.

P. A foutra for the world, and worldlings bafe! I fpeak of Africa, and golden joys.

Boot, boot, mafter Shallow; I know, the young
king is fick for me. Let us take any man's
borfes; the laws of England are at my command-
ment. Happy are they which have been my
friends; and woe to my lord chief juftice!

Pift. Let vultures vile feize on his lungs alfo!
Where is the life that Lite I led 4, say they :
Why, here it is; Welcome thefe pleasant days.
[Exeunt,

SCENE
Aftreet in London.

Fal. O base Affyrian knight, what is thy news? | Enter Hoftefs Quickly, Doll Tear-fbeet, and Beadies, Let king Cophetua know the truth thereof.

Hoft. No, thou arrant knave; I would I might

Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and foln. [Sings. die, that I might have thee hang'd: thou hait Pi. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? drawn my fhoulder out of joint. And fhall good news be baffled ?

Then, Piftol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.

Bead. The contables have deliver'd her over [ing. to me; and the fhall have whipping-cheer enough,

Shal. Honeft gentleman, I know not your breed-I warrant her: There hath been a man or two, Pit. Why then, iament therefore.

lately, kill'd about her.

Shal. Give me pardon, fir.-If, fir, you come Dol. Nut-hook, nut-hook 5, you lie. Come on; with news from the court, I take it, there is but I'll tell thee what, thou damn'd tripe-vifag'd_raf two ways; either to utter them, or to conceal cal; if the child I now go with, do mifcarry, thou them. I am, fir, under the king, in fome au-hadit hetter thou hadft ftruck thy mother, thou thority.

die.

Pift. Under which king, 2 Bezonian speak, or

Shal. Under king Harry,

Pit. Harry the fourth or fifth }

Sbal. Harry the fourth.

Pift. A foutra for thine office!

Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king;
Harry the fifth's the man. I fpeak the truth:
When Piftol lies, do this; and fig me 3, like
The bragging Spaniard.

Fal. What is the old king dead?

Pift. As nail in door: the things I speak, are just, Fal. Away, Bardolph; faddle my horfe.--Mafter Robert Shallow, chufe what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine.-Piftol, I will double-charge thee with dignities.

paper-fac'd villain.

Hoft. O the Lord, that Sir 'ohn were come! he would make this a bloody day to fomebody. But I pray God, the fruit of her womb miscarry ! Bend. If it do, you fhall have a dozen of cu faions again; you have but eleven now. Come, I charge you both go with me; for the man is dead, that you and Piftol beat among you.

6

Dol. I'll tell thee what, thou thin man in a cen for! I will have you as foundly fwing'd for this, you blue-bottle-rogue! you filthy famith'd correctioner! if you be not fwing'd, I'll forfwear half-kir,les 9.

Bead. Come, come, you she knight-errant ; come. Hoft. O, that right fhould thus overcome might! Well; of futterance comes ease.

Dol. Come, you rogue, come; bring me to a

Hoft., Ay; come, you starv'd blood-hound.
Dol. Goodman death! goodman bones!
Hoft. Thou atomy 10, thou!

Bard. O joyful day! -I would not take a juftice. knighthood for my fortune. Pift. What? I do bring good news? Fal. Carry mafter Silence to bed.-Matter Shallow, my lord Shallow, be what thou wilt, I am fortune's fteward. Get on thy boots; we'll

Dal. Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal 11 !
Bead. Very well.
[Exeunt.

I Lines taken from an old bombaft play of King Cophetua; of whom, we learn from Shak fpeare, there were ballads too. See Love's Labour's Loft. 2 This is a term of reproach, frequent in the writers contemporary with our poet. Bifognefo, a needy perfon; thence, metaphorically, a bale fcoundrel. To fig, in Spanish higas dar, is to infult by putting the thumb between the fore and middle finger. From this Spanish cultom we yet fay in contempt, "a fig for you.” 4 Words of an old ballad. 5 It has been already obferved on the Merry Wives of Windfor, that mut-hook seems to have been in thofe times a name of reproach for a catchpole; or mut-hook might probably have been as common a term of reproach as rogue is at prefent. 6 That is, to ftuff her out that the might counterfeit pregnancy. 7 Thefe old ceniers of thin metal had generally at the bottom the figure of fome faint railed up with a hammer, in a barbarous kind of imboiled or chafed work. The hunger-starved beadle is compared, in fubitance, to one of these thin railed figures, by the fame kind of humour that Piftol, in The Merry Wives, calls Slender a laten bilboe. 8 A name probably given to the beadle, from the colour of his livery; or perhaps the allufion may be to the great flesh fly, commonly called a blue-bottle. 9 A half-kirtle was the fame kind of thing as we call at prefent a fhortgown, or a bed-gown; and was the drefs of the courtezans of the time. 19 Atomy, for anatomy. 11 Lean deer were called rafcul deer.

SCENE

SCEN E

V.

A public place near Weftminster Abbey. Enter two Grooms, ftrewing rushes 1. 1 Groom. More rushes, more rushes. 2 Groom. The trumpets have founded twice. 1 Groom. It will be two o'clock ere they come from the coronation: Difpatch, dispatch.

[Exeunt Grooms. Enter Falstaff, Shallow, Pistol, Bardolph, and the Boy. Fal. Stand here by me, master Robert Shallow; I will make the king do you grace: I will leer upon him as a comes by; and do but mark the countenance that he will give me.

Pift. 'Blefs thy lungs, good knight !

I have long dream'd of fuch a kind of man,
So furfeit-fwel!'d, fo old, and fo profane 3;
But, being awake, I do defpife my dream.
Make lefs thy body, hence, and more thy grace;
Leave gormandizing; know, the grave doth gape
For thee thrice wider than for other men:-
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest;
Prefume not, that I am the thing I was:
That I have turn'd away my former self;
For heaven doth know, fo fhall the world perceive,
So will I thofe that kept me company.
When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me; and thou shalt be as thou waft,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots:
As I have done the rest of my misleaders,—
'Till then, I banish thee on pain of death,—
Not to come near our person by ten miles.

Fal. Come here, Piftol; ftand behind me.
O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I
would have bestow'd the thousand pound I bor-For competence of life, I will allow you s
row'd of you. [To Shallow.] But 'tis no matter;
this poor fhow doth better: this doth infer the

zeal I had to fee him.

Shal. It doth fo.

Fal. God fave thee, my fweet boy!
King. My lord chief juftice, speak to that vain
Ch. Juft. Have you your wits? know you what
'tis you speak?

[heart! Fal. My king! my Jove! 1 fpeak to thee, my King. I know thee not, old man: Fall to thy

prayers;

How ill white hairs become a fool, and jefter!

That lack of means enforce you not to evil :
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves, [ties,—
We will,-according to your ftrength, and quali-
Give you advancement.-Be it your charge, my
lord,

To fee perform'd the tenor of our word.→
Set on.
[Exit King, &c.
Fal. Mafter Shallow, I owe you a thoufand
pound.

Shal. Ay, marry, Sir John; which I befeech you to let me have home with me.

Fal. That can hardly be, mafter Shallow. Do vate to him: look you, he must seem thus to the not you grieve at this; fhall be fent for in pri

world.

the man yet, that shall make you great.
Fear not your advancement; I will be

Shal. I cannot perceive how; unless you give
me your doublet, and ftuff me out with ftraw. I
dred of my thousand.
befeech you, good Sir John, let me have five hun-

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

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

Come, lieutenant Pittol; come, Bardolph :—1 shall
Fal. Fear no colours; go with me to dinner.
be fent for foon at night.

Re-enter the Chief Justice, Prince John, &c.
Ch. Juft. Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet;
Take all his company along with him.
Fal. My lord, my lord,-

Ch. Juft. I cannot now speak: I will hear you foon. Take them away.

Pift. Si fortuna me tormenta, fpero me contenta.
[Exeunt,

Manent Lancaster, and Chief Justice.
Lan. I like this fair proceeding of the king's:
He hath intent, his wonted followers
Shall all be very well provided for;
But all are banish'd, till their converfations
Appear more wife and modeft to the world,

2 Imp

1 At ceremonial entertainments, it was the custom to ftrew the floor with rufhes. means progeny; and is probably derived from Imp-yn, a Welch word, which primitively fignifics 3 Profane, in our author, often fignifies love of talk, without the particular idea Ch. Juft

a fprout, a fucker.

now given it.