Ch. Just. How comes this, sir John? Fy! what man of good temper would endure this tempest of exclamation? Are you not ashamed, to enforce a poor widow to so rough a course to come by her own?

Fal. What is the gross sum that I owe thee?

9

Host. Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself, and the money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a parcelgilt goblet, sitting in my Dolphin-chamber, at the round table, by a sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday in Whitsunweek, when the prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-man1 of Windsor; thou didst swear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me, and make me my lady thy wife. Canst thou deny it? Did not goodwife Keech, the butcher's wife, come in then, and call me gossip Quickly? coming in to borrow

"In this piece of ground there is a Mare indeed,
"Which is the quickest Mare in England for speed."

Steevens.

I think the allusion is only a wanton one. Malone. 9 -a parcel-gilt goblet,] A parcel-gilt goblet is a goblet gilt only on such parts of it as are embossed. On the books of the Stationers' Company, among their plate, 1560, is the following entry: Item, nine spoynes of silver, whereof vii gylte and fi parcell-gylte." The same records contain fifty instances to the same purpose of these spoons the saint or other ornament on the handle was the only part gilt. Thus, in Ben Jonson's Alchemist:

66 --- or changing

"His parcel-gilt to massy gold." Steevens.

Langham, describing a bride-cup, says it was "foormed of a sweet sucket barrell, a faire turn'd foot set too it, all seemly besylvered and parcel-gilt." Again, in The XII merry Iestes of the Widdow Edyth:

"A standyng cup with a cover parcell gilt. Ritson. Parcel-gilt means what is now called by artists party-gilt; that is, where part of the work is gilt, and part left plain or ungilded. Malone.

1 for liking his father to a singing-man -] Such is the reading of the first edition; all the rest have-for likening him to a singing man. The original edition is right; the Prince might allow familiarities with himself, and yet very properly break the knight's head when he ridiculed his father. Johnson.

Liking is the reading of the quarto, 1600, and is better suited to dame Quickly than likening, the word substituted instead of it, in the folio. Malone.

2

goodwife Keech, the butcher's wife,] A Keech is the fat of an ox rolled up by the butcher into a round lump. Steevens.

a mess of vinegar; 3 telling us, she had a good dish of prawns; whereby thou didst desire to eat some; whereby I told thee, they were ill for a green wound? And didst thou not, when she was gone down stairs, desire me to be no more familiarity with such poor people; saying, that ere long they should call me madam? And didst thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee thirty shillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath; deny it, if thou

canst.

Fal. My lord, this is a poor mad soul; and she says, up and down the town, that her eldest son is like you: she hath been in good case, and, the truth is, poverty hath distracted her. But for these foolish officers, I beseech you, I may have redress against them.

Ch. Just. Sir John, sir John, I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the false way. It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words that come with such more than impudent sauciness from you, can thrust me from a level consideration; you have, as it appears to me, practised upon the easy-yielding spirit of this woman, and made her serve your uses both in purse and person.

Host. Yea, in troth, my lord.

Ch. Just. Pr'ythee, peace:-Pay her the debt you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done with her; the one you may do with sterling money, and the other with current repentance.

3 a mess of vinegar;] So, in Mucedorus:

"I tell you all the messes are on the table already, "There wants not so much as a mess of mustard." Again, in an ancient interlude published by Rastel; no title or date :

"Ye mary sometyme in a messe of vergesse."

A mess seems to have been the common term for a small proportion of any thing belonging to the kitchen. Steevens.

So the scriptural term: "a mess of pottage." Malone.

4

you have, &c.] In the first quarto it is read thus:-You have, as it appears to me, practised upon the easy-yielding spirit of this woman, and made her serve your uses both in purse and person. Without this, the following exhortation of the Chief Justice is less proper. Johnson.

In the folio the words-" and made her serve" &c. were omitted. And in the subsequent speech "the villainy you have done with her," is improperly changed to "the villainy you have done her." Malone.

Fal. My lord, I will not undergo this sneap" without reply. You call honourable boldness, impudent sauciness: if a man will make court'sy, and say nothing, he is virtuous: No, my lord, my humble duty remembered, I will not be your suitor; I say to you, I do desire deliverance from these officers, being upon hasty employment in the king's affairs.

6

Ch. Just. You speak as having power to do wrong: but answer in the effect of your reputation, and satisfy the poor woman.

Fal. Come hither, hostess.

Enter Gower.

[Taking her aside.

Ch. Just. Now, master Gower; What news?

Gow. The king, my lord, and Harry prince of Wales

Are near at hand: the rest the paper tells.

Fal. As I am a gentleman;

Host. Nay, you said so before. Fal. As I am a gentleman; of it.

-Come, no more words

Host. By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain to pawn both my plate, and the tapestry of my dining-chambers.

Fal. Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking:7 and for thy walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the prodigal, or the German hunting in water-work, is worth

5 this sneap-] A Yorkshire word for rebuke. Pope. Sneap signifies to check; as children easily sneaped; herbs and fruits sneaped with cold weather. See Ray's Collection. Again, in Brome's Antipodes, 1638:

"Do you sneap me too, my lord?"

This word is derived from snyb, Scotch. We still use snub in the same sense. Steevens.

6 ——— answer in the effect of your reputation,] That is, answer in a manner suitable to your character. Johnson.

7

I must be fain to pawn-my plate,

Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking:] Mrs. Quickly is here in the same state as the Earl of Shrewsbury, who, not having been paid for the diet, &c. of Mary Queen of Scots, while she was in his custody, in 1580, writes as follows to Thomas Bawdewyn: "I wold have you bye me glasses to drink in: Send me word what olde plat yeldes the ounce, for I wyll not leve me a cuppe of sylvare to drink in, but I wyll see the next terme my creditors payde." See Lodge's Illustrations of English History, Vol. II, p. 252. Steevens.

9

a thousand of these bed-hangings, and these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound, if thou canst. Come, an it were not for thy humours, there is not a better wench in England. Go, wash thy face, and 'draw thy action:1 Come, thou must not be in this humour with me; dost not know me? Come, come, I know thou wast set on to this.

Host. Pray thee, sir John, let it be but twenty nobles; i' faith I am loth to pawn my plate, in good earnest, la. Fal. Let it alone; I'll make other shift: you'll be a fool still.

Host. Well, you shall have it, though I pawn my gown. I hope, you'll come to supper: You'll pay me all together?

Fal. Will I live?-Go, with her, with her; [to BARDOLPH2] hook on, hook on.

Host. Will you have Doll Tear-sheet meet you at supper?

8

German hunting in water-work,] i. e, in water colours.

Warburton.

So, in Holinshed, p. 819: "The king for himself had a house of timber, &c. and for his other lodgings he had great and goodlie tents of blew waterwork garnished with yellow and white." It appears also from the same Chronicle, p. 840, that these painted cloths were brought from Holland. The German hunting was therefore a subject very likely to be adopted by the artists of that country. Steevens.

The German hunting is, I suppose, hunting the wild boar. Shakspeare, in another place, speaks of "a full-acorn'd boar, a German one." Farmer.

9- these bed-hangings,] We should read dead-hangings, i. e. faded. Warburton.

I think the present reading may well stand. He recommends painted canvas instead of tapestry, which he calls bed-hangings, in contempt, as fitter to make curtains than to hang walls.

1 'draw thy action:] Draw means here withdraw.

Johnson.

M. Mason.

2 to Bardolph] In former editions the marginal direction isto the Officers. Malone.

I rather suspect that the words hook on, hook on, are addressed to Bardolph, and mean, go you with her, hang upon her, and keep her in the same humour. In this sense the expression is used in

The Guardian, by Massinger:

"Hook on; follow him, harpies." Steevens.

Fal. No more words; let's have her.

[Exeunt Host. BARD. Officers, and Boy.

Ch. Just. I have heard better news.

Fal. What's the news, my good lord?

Ch. Just. Where lay the king last night?

Gow. At Basingstoke,3 my lord.

Fal. I hope, my lord, all's well: What's the news, my lord?

Ch. Just. Come all his forces back?

Gow. No; fifteen hundred foot, five hundred horse, Are march'd up to my lord of Lancaster,

Against Northumberland, and the archbishop.

Fal. Comes the king back from Wales, my noble lord?

Ch. Just. You shall have letters of me presently:
Come, go along with me, good master Gower.
Fal. My lord!

Ch. Just. What's the matter?

Fal. Master Gower, shall I entreat you with me to dinner?

Gow. I must wait upon my good lord here: I thank you, good sir John.

Ch. Just. Sir John, you loiter here too long, being you are to take soldiers up in counties as you go.

Fal. Will you sup with me, master Gower?

Ch. Just. What foolish master taught you these manners, sir John?

Fal. Master Gower, if they become me not, he was a fool that taught them me.-This is the right fencing grace, my lord; tap for tap, and so part fair.

Ch. Just. Now the Lord lighten thee! thou art a great fool. [Exeunt.

Enter Prince HENRY and POINS.

P. Hen. Trust me, I am exceeding weary.

Poins. Is it come to that? I had thought, weariness durst not have attached one of so high blood.

3 At Basingstoke,] The quarto reads at Billingsgate. The players set down the name of the place which was the most familiar to them. Steevens.