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KING HENRY THE FOURTH
SECOND PART

SHAKESPEARE
KING HENRY THE FOURTH
SECOND PART
WITH
INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
K. DEIGHTON
London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1893
[All rights reserved]
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION,
KING HENRY THE FOURTH, FIRST PART, .
NOTES,
INDEX TO NOTES,
209132
"
PAGE
vii
1
96
193
.
ร
INTRODUCTION.
THOUGH on account of its length Henry the Fourth is
divided into two parts, it is in reality one play; and it
will be convenient to treat it as such. The following
Introduction will, therefore, preface both Parts, they
being published separately to suit the requirements of
students.
For both Parts the authority is Holinshed's Chronicle,
but there also existed when they were written a worth-
less anonymous play called The Famous Victories of
Henry the Fifth, containing the honourable battell of Agin-
court, in which occur the leading incidents of Shake-
speare's play. The first Part was written either in 1596
or 1597, and the second Part at all events before the
25th of February, 1598. The first Part was entered in
the Stationers' Registers by Andrew Wise, Feb. 25th,
1597-8, as "A booke intitled the Historye of Henry
iiiith, with his battaile at Shrewsburye against Henry
Hottspurre of the Northe, with the conceipted Mirth of
Sir John Falstaffe." Now it is certain that Sir John
Falstaff was originally called Sir John Oldcastle. Thus
in Field's Amends for Ladies, 1618, we have
"Did you never see
The play where the fat knight, hight Oldcastle
Did tell you truly what this honour is?"
vii
viii
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
(C
a passage first cited by Farmer, evidently referring to
Falstaff's soliloquy on honour, Pt. I. v. 2. 130-144, and
probably showing, as Halliwell observes, that "some of
the theatres, in acting Henry IV., retained the name of
Oldcastle after the author had altered it to Falstaff."
In the same Part, i. 2. 47, 8, the Prince calls Falstaff
my old lad of the castle," on which Warburton points
out that when the poet changed the name he forgot this
allusion to it: in Pt. II. iii. 2. 27-9, Shallow says,
"Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy, and
page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk "-a post which
Reed has shown was really held by Oldcastle: in
i. 2. 137, of the same Part, Falstaff's speech in the
quarto of 1600 has the prefix "Old," which, Theobald.
remarks, proves "that, the play being printed from the
stage manuscript, Oldcastle had been all along altered
into Falstaff, except in this single place by an oversight;
of which the printers not being aware continued these
initial traces of the original name." Lastly, in the
Epilogue to Pt. II., we have, "If you be not too much
cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue
the story, with Sir John in it,... where, for anything I
know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless a' be killed
with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr and
this is not the man." The entry in the Stationers'
Registers, quoted above, shows that the name had been
changed before the first Part was printed in 1597-8;
and the alteration being made in the second Part also,
except in the single place already mentioned, it follows
that that Part also must have been written before Feb.
25th, 1597-8. Rowe mentions as a tradition of the
cause of the change that some of the Oldcastle family
INTRODUCTION.
ix
being then remaining, the Queen was pleas'd to
mmand him [the poet] to alter it [the name]; upon
hich he made use of Falstaff"; and, says Dyce,
ferring to Halliwell, "the statement is supported by
r. James's Epistle Dedicatory to his unpublished work,
he Legend and Defence of the Noble Knight and Martyr,
here we are told that Shakespeare changed the name
dcastle to Falstaff, 'offence being worthily taken by
ersonages descended from his [Oldcastle's] title, as
eradventure by manie others also whoe ought to have
m in honourable memorie.'
The period embraced by the first Part is about ten
onths, from September 14th, 1402, to July 21st, 1403;
the second Part, ten years, from 1403 to 1413.
As Shakespeare, except in a few minor particulars,
lows actual history, it will not be necessary to go in
y minute detail into the course of the play. But the
nnection between Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth,
d Henry the Fifth is so close, that in order to under
and the poet's treatment of Henry's usurpation, and
e consequences to which it gave birth, it is important
look backward and forward to those three plays.
he usurpation takes place in Richard the Second, and
hile it is yet imminent, not completed, the Bishop of
rlisle foreshadows the tronbles destined to convulse
e realm. In iv. 1. 132-149, he says,
"I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks,
Stirr'd up by God, thus boldly for his king.
My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king,
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
And if you crown him, let me prophesy :
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act;
b
X
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars
Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
O, if you raise this house against this house,
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed earth.
Prevent, resist it, let it not be so,
Lest child, child's children, cry against you 'woe'!”
In the two Parts of Henry IV. we see the immediate
fulfilment of this prophecy. Though the king's intro
ductory words, Pt. I. i. 1. 1-33, speak of intestine war
as having come to an end, and of his armies as about to
be employed in the recovery of the Holy Land, he ha
hardly finished when Westmoreland comes in to an
nounce the capture of "the noble Mortimer " in hi
endeavour to subdue the "irregular and wild Glen
dower." He goes on to recount the fight between
"young Harry Percy and brave Archibald, That ever
valiant and approved Scot." This is again followed by
the conspiracy of Hotspur, Worcester, Mortimer, Glen
dower, and Douglas, which is crushed at the battle c
Shrewsbury. In the second Part we have the Earl c
Northumberland concerting measures of insurrection
the Archbishop of York, Mowbray, and Hastings i
open defiance of the king, their capture by a stratagem
and the death of Henry the Fourth shortly after. I
both Parts the king is haunted with the dread of retr
bution hanging over him on account of his forcibl
seizure of the crown. In Pt. I. iii. 2. 4-11, addressin
Prince Henry, he says,
INTRODUCTION.
xi
"I know not whether God will have it so,
For some displeasing service I have done,
That, in his secret doom, out of my blood
He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
But thou dost in thy passages of life
Make me believe that thou art only mark'd
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven
To punish my mistreadings."
In Pt. II. iii. 1. 45-79, he bemoans the "time's condition,"
and tries to make excuses for his usurpation. Shortly
afterwards, iv. 4. 54-66, he anticipates the evil days.
which will follow when Prince Henry succeeds to the
crown, his heart being still filled with the fears ex-
pressed in the passage quoted above. These gloomy
ticipations are again eloquently recited in iv. 5.
9-138; and when the Prince, defending himself against
the charge of desiring his father's death in order that he
may ascend the throne, speaks of the "noble change
that he has "purposed," the king, iv. 5. 184-220, reverts
to the "by-paths and indirect crook'd ways" by which
he "met" his "crown," tells the Prince "how trouble-
some it sat upon" his "head," how that he hopes it
shall descend" to him "with better quiet, Better
opinion, better confirmation," and finally, still conscious!
of the likelihood of intestine troubles, advises him
"to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of former days."
>>
In Henry V. we are shown the newly-crowned king
ready to follow his father's advice by making war upon
France. Just before starting on his expedition, he
liscovers the plot of Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, and
xii
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
persuades himself that this discovery is an indication of
Heaven's satisfaction with the war he is undertaking ;
"We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason lurking in our way
To hinder our beginnings."
On the eve of the battle of Agincourt the remembrance
of his father's usurpation finds expression in an appeal
to God not on that day to think
upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown";
he pleads,
"I Richard's body have interred new,
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood;
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chantries where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard's soul";
and finally vows,
"More will I do ;
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon."
His rule is strong and beneficent, and so long as he lives
the questionable character of his title to the crown is
forgotten, or forgiven, not merely in consequence of the
manner in which he busies men's minds, and finds occu
pation for their restless energies, but because of the
contented pride with which a king so thoroughly English
is regarded by a nation which he has raised to a pitch
of greatness never hitherto attained. But he is an except
INTRODUCTION.
xiii
tional king, and it is by exceptional virtues alone that
such a position as he has inherited can be maintained.
The moment his strong arm is withdrawn, and the
people have no one to look to but a prince like Henry
the Sixth, feeble alike in mind and body, the conten-
tious passions of the nobles burst forth again in all their
violence; the right derived from Henry the Fourth goes
for nothing; Edward the Fourth, the nearest lineal
descendant of Edward the Third, succeeds to the throne;
and Henry the Fourth's usurpation is, so to speak,
avenged.
We may now examine the characters of the play.
We first meet with Henry, then only Bolingbroke, The King.
Duke of Hereford, in the opening scenes of Richard the
Second, where for his rivalry with the Duke of Norfolk
and in it the disturbance of his country's peace,—such
is Richard's pretended excuse,-—he is banished from
England for "twice five summers. On the death,
however, of his father Gaunt, he returns without per-
mission to claim his heritage of the Duchy of Lancaster,
when Richard's arbitrary and impolitic seizure of his
"royalties and rights," together with the known discon-
tent of the people at his reckless exactions and feeble
government, give him a pretext for making war upon
the king whose crown, with the aid of other ill-affected
mobles, he quickly wrests from him. Henry's character
as portrayed in Richard the Second is uniform with
its development in Henry the Fourth. Earthy in his
aspirations, with nothing very exalted, nothing very
lovable about him, he knows what he wants, is skilful
in reading the minds of those about him, whether high
or low, and, unlike his vacillating opponent, goes

xiv
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
straight forward to his point. He can wait, he can
flatter, can use dissimulation; but his waiting is not
dilatoriness, in his flattery he does not descend to
unworthy familiarity, under his dissimulation he masks
his designs, yet cloaks no treachery. With instinctive
insight into the situation he contrives that his deposition
of Richard should appear as much forced upon him as
sought by him, and every step he takes is taken with
deliberate, well-planned, advance. Towards the con-
federate lords he is gracious without enthusiasm; a
courageous opponent, like the Bishop of Carlisle, he
punishes with rigour and yet with politic generosity;
for a weak and fallen foe, like Richard, he has a feeling
of pity, contemptuous as that pity may be. Self-con-
tained and self-assured, he has no need to be vindictive
or petty. Of his country's wrongs and sufferings he
has as clear a perception as of his own wrongs and
sufferings; and if his first dictates are those of selfish-
ness, it is an enlightened selfishness which sees that
self alone cannot be safely gratified. To be really
powerful himself, he knows that he must make his
country powerful and prosperous, so far as good govern-
ment can effect that end. To ensure permanence to his
rule, it is essential that tranquillity and justice should
prevail throughout the land. At the opening of the
present play Henry had been seated on the throne for
three years. Resting his claims on a parliamentary
title, he was constrained to rule in accordance with
constitutional law, and dared not, even if he wished it,
attempt that independence of the crown which had been
Richard's ruin. He had courted and won the support
of the chief nobles; he had further purchased the

INTRODUCTION.
XV
support of the Church by basely countenancing the
persecution of the Reformers, and to their resentment
he owed a considerable aggravation of the incessant
revolts that threatened his reign. But at the time at
which Shakespeare continues his career, he deludes him-
self with the belief that he has quelled all disorder,
and may now prepare himself for a crusade against the
Moslems who still heid "the sepulchre of Christ," an
undertaking we may imagine dictated by the idea of
busying "giddy minds," a policy he afterwards
preaches to his son,-and intended by way of pro-
pitiation of God's displeasure, quite as much as resulting
from any fervour of religious enthusiasm. His delusion,
however, is short-lived, and he turns to meet the danger
which he finds threatening him not more in the success-
ful defiance of the Welsh chieftain, Glendower, than in
the haughty demeanour of the Northumberland faction
to whose help he owed his accession to the throne.
And here his usual policy deserts him. Partly that he
fancies himself stronger than he really is, partly that he
cannot shut out from his view the claims to the crown
of Edmund Mortimer, nephew to Lady Percy, he allows
himself to be drawn into a quarrel with the Percies,
who thereupon throw themselves into the arms of
Glendower and raise the standard of rebellion. A
slight concession might, for the time at least, have
secured the continued good will of this powerful party;
but Henry probably feels only too acutely the galling
bands of obligation, probably has in his mind Richard's
prophetic words to Northumberland,
And he shall think that thou, which know'st the way
To plant unrightful kings, will know again,
xvi
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
Being ne'er so little urged, another way
To pluck him headlong from the usurped throne";
and is not sorry that the struggle should come in which
he may rid himself of the burden of gratitude, and give
a lesson of his power to such as may be disposed to
question it. However this may be, the die is cast and
the king committed to war with his former supporters.
Fortune goes with him, the rebels are completely routed,
Hotspur slain, and his father driven to take refuge in
Scotland. Rebellion, however, again makes head; this
time under the lead of the Archbishop of York, Mow-
bray, and Hastings, and though after a protracted
struggle the king's cause triumphs, he is by this time
well nigh broken in health and spirits. As Clarence
says, Pt. II. iv. 4. 118-120,
"The incessant care and labour of his mind
Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in,
So thin that life looks through and will break out"
;
he becomes morbidly anxious, broods over the troubles
of his country, reviews his past life with a yearning
sense of failure in his best hopes, trembles for his sons
when he shall be gone, is conscious of the little love he
has enjoyed, would pry into the secrets of futurity, and
tries to comfort himself once more with the dream of
peace of mind to be found in a war waged for religion
not for any personal aggrandisement. This solace is
denied him, but death unloads him of his burden, and
before he passes away his restless soul is calmed by the
knowledge that his son, for whose affection in spite of
his lonely reserve he had so craved, is indeed what he
could wish him to be, and that he may lay aside all his
INTRODUCTION.
xvii
anxieties alike as to his children and as to the realm for
the possession of which he has sacrificed so much of
truer happiness. If his character
If his character is not one that
inspires enthusiasm, his indomitable fixity of purpose
may fairly compel admiration; if subtlety of intellect
dwarfed the more amiable traits of affection and sym-
pathy, such hardness of disposition was at all events
something better than the emotional feebleness of him
whom he displaced; if policy was his leading trait,
there was in it, as Hudson remarks, "much of the
breadth and largeness which distinguish the statesman
from the politician."
As in the case of the king, we must refer back to Prince Henry.
Richard the Second for the first mention of the Prince
who is, in v. 3. 1-22, already a source of anxiety to his
father on account of the "dissolute crew" with whom
he consorts, though even then the king discerns “some
sparks of better hope, which elder years May happily
bring forth." Our next reference to him is in i. H. IV.
i 1. 78-91, where the king compares him unfavourably
with Hotspur. The first time he is actually presented
to us is in i. 2 of the same Part. His light-hearted dis-
position, fond of excitement and adventure, finding no
qutlet in more serious enterprise, had led him into an
unwise intimacy with the witty but debauched old knight,
Sir John Falstaff. With Sir John are his low associates,
Poins, Peto, Gadshill and Bardolph, who on the first
scene in which the Prince comes before us, have
arranged a robbery of some travellers during the night.
Poins persuades the Prince to pretend that he will
join in the exploit, disclosing to him at the same time
an under plot of his own by which he and the Prince
xviij
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
are to separate themselves from Falstaff and his com
panions, and in disguise to rush upon them after the
robbery and make them disgorge their booty. This
adventure is followed by two scenes at the Boar's Head
Tavern in Eastcheap, where the Prince joins in all the
revelry of his boon-companions, makes friends with the
drawers, and altogether behaves himself as a roistering
madcap. In these low haunts of dissipation he is roused
by the news of the insurrection of the rebels. At once
leaving his associates, he joins the King, excuses himself
for his former irregularities (iii. 2. 18-28) and in answer
to his father's reproof promises amendment (iii. 2. 92, 93,
and 130-159). Again, just before the battle of Shrews-
bury (v. 1. 83-100), he confesses that he has hitherto
been a 'truant to chivalry'; and to show the reality of
his repentance, proposes a single combat with Hotspur
to decide the question at issue, and so avoid the blood
shed of a general battle between the two forces. Tho
noble modesty with which the challenge is made is
eloquently set forth by Sir R. Vernon, who worthily
appreciates the Prince's character (v. 2. 51-68). It is,
however, declined. The armies engage at Shrewsbury,
the Prince fights with splendid courage, and encountering
Hotspur, kills him. The rebels being overcome and the
necessity for showing himself in his nobler and truer
colours being past, the hero of Shrewsbury sinks again
into the rake of Eastcheap. There we find him at the
Boar's Head Tavern with his former wild companions
But the circumstances around him have changed, and he
has changed with them. What in his earlier days seemed
to him, conscious of the depths of his own character, to
be pardonable frivolity, now takes a different colouring


INTRODUCTION.
xix
om the gloomy aspect of the events in which he has
ayed a part and those which are clearly not far distant.
Here for the first time," says Gervinus, "he is ashamed
this low taste, and reproaches himself for associating
th Poins and his friends, and for becoming initiated
to all their meanest secrets. The thought of his
ther's sickness and possible death has softened him;
is sad even to weeping. His heart bleeds inwardly,
t intercourse with his frivolous companions has un-
customed him to the demeanour of sorrow and sadness.
pins construes this change into hypocrisy, and looks
oon his former hilarity at the prospect of the crown as
is natural mood. The princely blood in Henry is
used. Thou think'st me,' he says to Poins, 'as far
the devil's book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and
ersistency: let the end try the man.' He receives letters
om Falstaff in the old familiar tone, but in the manner
I which he receives them, in the manner in which he
onverses with Poins, a separation of feeling is per-
eptible. The seriousness of circumstances, the sickness.
f his father, the approach of the period of his high
ocation, have roused him, and the resolutions of that
rst soliloquy which we heard from him begin to ripen
to action. He can no longer with that irresistible
umour resign himself as before to the frivolities of his
d friends; he remembers his dignity at every moment.
etween the promptings of his old vein. 'We play the
pols with the time,' he says, ' and the spirits of the wise
in the clouds and mock us. Nor is his return to
Hearing that fresh
his kind of life long continued.
bels are in arms against his father, he exclaims (Pt.

, ii. 4. 390-95).

XX
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame,
So idly to profane the precious time,
When tempest of commotion, like the south
Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt
And drop upon our bare unarmed heads.
Give me my sword and cloak.”
With these words he at once quits his companion
and repairs to Westminster, where, shortly before h
coming, the King had again expressed to Warwick h
fears of what would happen on his coming to the thron
and had been assured by Warwick that he had mistake
his character (Pt. ii., iv. 4. 20-80). Here the Prince find
the King lying asleep on his death-bed with the crow
upon his pillow. Taking the crown up, he puts it or
declaring to himself that he will wear it worthily (iv.
43-7). The King, awaking, finds the crown gone, assume
that the Prince, who he learns has been in the room, ha
taken it away, and on the Prince's return reproache
him with longing for his death, and grieves for th
future of England when his son shall have succeede
him (iv. 5. 93-138). The Prince indignantly repudiate
the charge, and endeavours to quiet his father's fear
for the welfare of the country (iv. 5. 139-155). Th
King dies almost immediately after this interview, and
the time has come for the Prince, now Henry the Fifth
to show that his assurances to his father were not mer
boasting, but that he is really worthy of the fortune
which have fallen upon him. In the first scene in which
he appears in his new position, we find him trying
comfort his brothers with the assurance of his sympath
and protection (v. 2. 57-61). He then turns to the Chie
Justice, who had committed him for contempt of Cour

$
INTRODUCTION.
xxi
when in his youthful days he had struck him in his
very seat of judgment.' Pretending that such an
ndignity to his royalty can never be forgotten, he
ives the Chief Justice the opportunity of justifying
imself, which he does in noble language (v. 2. 73-101).
To this, Henry, never having seriously borne any malice.
owards the Chief Justice, replies in the fine speech
which concludes the Second Scene of the Fifth Act
v. 2. 102-145).
The sincerity of his professions of amendment is shown
by his treatment of Falstaff, who supposes that he is now
o be made a great man (v. 4. 42-75). This winds up
he play of Henry IV., and we next meet the newly-
rowned King in the opening of Henry V., where the
Archbishop pronounces upon him an eulogy which,
hough somewhat extravagant, is in a large measure
ustified by his subsequent behaviour. We now find
him thoughtful, sober, merciful; on fire with martial
rdour, but ardour tempered by prudence; anxious to
do what is right; ready to listen to good advice; and
n every respect fully upholding his kingly dignity.
The virtues which he now displays were of course
always inherent in his character, though hidden for a
time by the wild exuberant spirits of his youth. The
difference in his behaviour is due to the difference of
his position. How deeply he is sobered by events is
shown in everything he does; in the care with which he
makes preparations for invading France while providing
at the same time for the safety of his own kingdom;
in the dignity with which he receives the French am-
bassador; in his treatment of the conspirators; in his
behaviour before Harfleur; in his deep consideration for
xxii
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
The Earl of
Northumber-
land.
the well-being of his soldiers; and no less in the reflec
tions we find him making upon his own position afte
conversing in disguise with the common soldiers Bate
and Williams on the eve of the battle.
From first to last, he is a man of sterling virtues
bold, honest, simple-hearted, loving towards his friends
just towards his enemies, and though inclined in hi
earlier days to let his talents run to waste, yet ready
when the right hour has struck, to lay aside frivolity
and show himself equal to the demands made upon him
In Northumberland there is nothing admirable. A
traitor to Richard, he is soon to show himself equally
faithless to Henry. His first defection might appea
to have reasonable grounds in special indignation a
Richard's treatment of Bolingbroke, and in genera
abhorrence of that king's cruelty towards his subjects
were it not that his later conduct betrays nothing
nobler than selfish motives accompanied by vacillation
and a readiness to devolve upon others that hazard
which he should have been the first to encounter
From sharing in the fight at Shrewsbury he is kep
by a convenient sickness, though he is willing that hi
son and brother should tempt their fate and "
see how
fortune is disposed to" them.
them. Their defeat and hi
son's death fall upon him with a heavy blow, and in
the first bitterness of his grief he talks loudly of wha
he will do, but ends by hiding himself in Scotland
From this safe retreat he encourages the Archbishop
Mowbray, and Hastings to another trial of arms, bu
his letters are cold in "intent, honour, and substance,
and he excuses his holding aloof on the plea that he has
been unable to levy "such powers As might hold sort
INTRODUCTION.
xxiii
nce with his quality." Later on he does indeed issue
orth from his retreat "With a great power of English
nd of Scots," but is defeated by the Sheriff of York
ven before the king's army can come up, and perishes
n the field.
No greater contrast to his father could easily be found Hotspur.
han in Hotspur. For coldness and calculating prud-
nce in the one, we have a boiling heat, a reckless
courage in the other. For smooth-tongued courtesy, a
daring disregard of persons; for "half-faced fellowship,"
thorough-going scorn for all but the most earnest,.
nost strenuous, co-operation in act as in policy. Com-
pare the oily moderation of the father seeking to soothe
Henry's wrath with the son's explosion into almost
nsolent reproach as he chivalrously defends Mortimer
against the imputation of revolt. To Northumberland
such an explosion seems madness, and his rebukes are
coldly contemptuous. Hotspur's fury is indeed out of
all bounds, and he throws himself into the plot against
Henry with a ferocity of eagerness that augurs ill for
his conduct of affairs should he get the upper hand in
the counsels of his party. Yet his cautious father and
ncle know well how needful to their purpose is such
unshrinking audacity, know the value of his intemperate
animation in kindling into fervour the spirits of those
who must share in their hazardous enterprise, and be
goaded with a like contempt for the odds they have to
face. For the more subtle-witted elders it may be to
scheme and organize, his it must be to execute. They
and their confederate, Glendower, know also that his
acknowledged prowess in arms is a large factor in
their success, and Morton exaggerates nothing when he
xxiv
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
says that "from his metal was his party steel'd." I
was, indeed, this recognition of his splendid courag
that won for him a deference such as was shown him b
his colleagues. The fiery Glendower, seeing in him
spirit like his own, submits to being thwarted, contra
dicted, laughed at for his claims to supernatural powers
for, says Mortimer,
"He holds your temper in a high respect
And curbs himself even of his natural scope
When you come 'cross his humour; faith, he does :
I warrant you, that man is not alive
Might so have tempted him as you have done,
Without the taste of danger and reproof."
So, again, when the spirit of the conspirators begins t
droop at the news that Northumberland cannot, or wil
not, join them in the first shock of arms, it is Hotspur'
impetuous hopefulness that, far from being depressed
finds a good omen in his absence; in his eyes tha
absence
"lends a lustre and more great opinion,
A larger dare to our great enterprise,
Than if the earl were here; for men must think,
If we without his help can make a head
To push against a kingdom, with his help
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down."
He rejoices to find that the king is speeding to meet
them, that the time is at hand when "fields and blow
and groans" shall "applaud" their "sport"; he looks
with eager delight to the moment when he shall meet
"the madcap Prince of Wales" in even shock of war
and is no whit daunted though he learns that the
encounter must be hazarded without the help of Glen
INTRODUCTION.
XXV
dower who "comes not in, o'er-ruled by prophecies."
Worcester would delay, but Hotspur is supported by
the hot-blooded Douglas, and the counsels of prudence
are set aside. Blunt, Henry's envoy of peaceful terms,
is met by angry reproaches of the king's perfidy towards
those to whom he owed everything; and though
Hotspur so far restrains himself as to agree to consider
the proposals made to him, yet when Worcester, sent to
state the grievances which Henry has promised to listen
to, returns with the intelligence—the false intelligence—
that nothing but chastisement is to be looked for,
Hotspur welcomes the rebuff as leaving nothing now but
an appeal to arms. In the battle he meets the Prince
by whose hand he falls, his last regret being not for the
loss of life, but for the loss of reputation. Hotspur
makes no pretensions to statesmanship. He indeed
scorns anything like statecraft. But he is the soul of
honour, full of generous impulse and lofty thought, full
too of unconscious poetry which bursts forth on every
occasion, though he ridicules "mincing poetry" in
others and compares it to "the forced gait of a shuffling
nag." We can see also in his interview with his wife
that, despite his seeming roughness, he has an affec-
tionate nature, and that his widow's tribute to her
"heart's dear Harry" is not all paid to his heroism.
In that passionate outburst of grief Shakespeare skilfully
contrives to keep up the impression he has given us
from the first of Hotspur's youthfulness; for though he
was in reality nearly twenty years older than Henry, he
is represented as the Prince's co-eval, partly that in this
way the rivalry between the two may appear the closer,
partly that we may the more thoroughly enjoy his
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xxvi
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
i
Glendower.
untamed animal spirits, the recklessness which we asso-
ciate with youth, the sanguine gaiety of heart, the
freakish character of his humour as seen in the badinage
of his wife, in the mocking raillery of Glendower, in the
petulance of his gibes against the king after their
stormy collision.
The Welsh chieftain is a curious compound of the
mystic and the man of action, the lover of poetry, art,
refinement, and the turbulent, headstrong, assertor of
his rights. He is as much in earnest in the one direc-
tion as in the other, thoroughly believes in himself,
his supernatural powers, and his distance of superiority
from all other men, and is driven almost wild with fury
at Hotspur's daring to question his commerce with
devilish agency. Indeed, to his scarcely sane imagina-
tion these pretensions are more than mere material
possessions or success, and the very intensity of his
belief in himself acts strongly upon others; insomuch
that even Henry, it is said, when failing in his earliest
attempts to bring him into subjection, found consolation
in the thought that he had been baffled not so much by
superiority of arms and tactics as by assistance derived
from the unseen world-a hint of which we see in the
anger of the king at "that great magician, damned
Glendower," and in his assertion that Mortimer “durst
as well have met the devil alone As Owen Glendower
for an enemy." In all this Shakespeare does but follow
the old chronicles, while, as in the scene at Bangor, he
contrives to emphasize the arrogant complacency and
sombre-textured concentration, no less than the refine-
ment of speech and imaginative sensibility belonging to
one brought up in courtly ways and studious habits,
INTRODUCTION.
xxvii
but driven in upon himself by loneliness of life amid
wild, mountainous, and barren scenery, or again ascribes
his absence from the field of Shrewsbury to the paralys-
ing hold which superstition had upon him, though in
reality that absence was due to the impossibility of
bringing up his forces in time. Shakespeare also evi-
dently intends that he should be a foil to Hotspur's
unimaginative energy, that scorns culture of the mind,
has no room for dreams, and believes in nothing but
hard-hitting blows.

Hallow
Chief-Justice.
Reference to this personage is made in Rymer's The Lord
Fodera as one of the "attornies" to Bolingbroke when
he sought restitution of his rights unjustly withheld
by Richard, and his elevation to the bench followed
shortly upon Henry's accession to the throne. In
history he is represented as a high-minded judge who
did not hesitate to refuse the king's requirement that he
should pass sentence of death on Archbishop Scroop;
and the committal to prison of Prince Henry for
striking him in court-an actual
an actual occurrence--gives
Shakespeare the opportunity of doing justice to his
fearless character and respect for his high office. On
Henry's death Falstaff and his boon companions not
unnaturally chuckle at the idea of revenging them-
selves on those who had reproved their scandalous
courses, and if the father himself failed to see to the
bottom of his son's character, it is not to be wondered
at that the Chief-Justice should anticipate evil times for
the commonwealth and retribution on his own head.
Yet he scorns to "beg A ragged and forestall'd remis-
sion," and boldly vindicates the "indignities" of which
the new king pretends to complain, his fearlessness
xxviii
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
The Arch-
bishop of
York.
being rewarded by an answer in which the sovereign
honouring a subject honours himself still more. But
the poet is not content with showing us the Chief-
Justice in his judicial aspect alone. His interviews
with Falstaff are made the medium for bringing out-
whether in accordance with history or not-a mellow
humour and good-natured toleration that make his
character lovable as well as honoured. He is, of course,
bound to reprove the old sinner, but even when he does
so with severest accents, it is easy to see that he enjoys
the frolic of the thing, and allows himself to lengthen
out the scenes because, like all who are brought into
contact with "plump Jack," he is unable to resist the
charm of his witty buffoonery, and cannot for the life of
it take him altogether seriously. On both occasions he
sets out with the sternness of the judge, but is evidently
glad that he has no official status to maintain, gradually
relaxes the rigour of his sentences, and before the adieux
are made, is no doubt glad to get away without compro-
mising his dignity by the open betrayal of an enjoy-
ment which he cannot but feel.
This prelate plays an important part in the troubles
of the reign, and though he of course transgresses his
first duty of loyal obedience, he does so more from a
mistaken consideration for the public welfare than for
any self-scheming hopes. It is true that Shakespeare,
confounding him with the brother of the Earl of Wilt-
shire, represents vengeance for that brother's death as
among the motives of his rebellion. But the eulogy
put into Morton's mouth, Pt. II. i. 1. 187-209, does
justice to that "integrity of life and incomparable
learning" which, "with the reverend aspect of his

INTRODUCTION.
xxix
amiable personage, moved," says Holinshed, "all men
to have him in estimation"; and nothing in the play
discredits such eulogy. He is prompt and resolute, he
has considered well the cause in which he acts, he sets
forth his complaints in temperate and weighty words,
is ready on the redress of grievances to lay down his
arms, but is determined, if such redress is refused, to
make his appeal to the God of battles. His promise
he punctually redeems when an honourable peace is
offered him by Lancaster, only to find his trust in that
prince's good faith rewarded by judicial murder.
It has been remarked by Hudson in a fine piece Falstaff.
of criticism on Falstaff that Henry's youthful days
being represented by historians as spent in the wildest
indulgence of riotous mirth, the poet had no way
to set forth this part of the man's life but by creating
one or more representative characters, concentrating
in them such a fund of mental attractions as might
overcome the natural repugnance of an upright and
noble mind to their vices. . . . It must be no ordinary
companionship that yields entertainment to such a
spirit even in its loosest moments. Whatever bad
or questionable elements may mingle in his mirth, it
must have some fresh and rich ingredients, some spark-
ling and generous flavour to make him relish it.
Here then we have a sort of dramatic necessity for
the character of Falstaff. To answer the purpose
it was imperative that he should be just such a
marvellous congregation of charms and vices as he
is."
Perhaps in order to get at the real
nature of such a companion as the Prince chose, it
may be useful to look at him from the point of
XXX
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
((
view of his wit, his vices, and his courage or want
of courage. By his wit I mean not only those
flashes of verbal agility which light up the whole
play, but that ingenuity of resource whereby he eludes
seemingly inevitable disgrace, and "out of this nettle,
danger," plucks "this flower, safety." At our first
introduction to him, he is scheming to persuade the
Prince to join in a midnight robbery, and his sallies
of repartee are somewhat laboured in their effort. But
the circumstances are not such as to give free scope
for a display of his characteristic talents. When we
come to the meeting with the Prince after the robbery,
we see him in the full swing of his mendacity set off
by a dexterity not to be baffled. His lies are, indeed,
gross as a mountain, open, palpable," but a man of
his keen wit would not expand Gadshill's statement
of "
some dozen antagonists into "two or three and
fifty," or his own first statement of two whom he had
killed into seven, or involve himself in such a contra-
diction as to describe the colour of his assailants' dress
while at the same time declaring the night to be so
dark that "thou couldst not see thy hand," without
having some ruse in the background; and here his
device clearly is to invite certain detection and create
mirth by the agility with which he will wind out of
toils he has provided for the Prince to make use of.
At the same time I cannot, with Hudson, believe that
he all the while suspected who his assailants were; for
this, it seems to me, would rob his claim to "instinct"
of much of its comicality, and moreover when the Prince
taunts him with his flight, there is in his answer a
certain sense of shame not without reality. The
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༢
INTRODUCTION.
xxxi
remainder of the scene has the same object of en-
tangling the Prince in delight at the buffoonery with
which, while pretending a defence of his life, he in
reality girds at himself and so ministers opportunities
for the exercise of that wit in others of which he
later on boasts himself to be the cause. Scarcely less
humorous is his fantastic contrition when alone with
Bardolph, a contrition in which he so often indulges
that the Prince gives him the soubriquet of "Monsieur
Remorse." Well aware that he is a hopelessly dissolute
old scoundrel, and that he has done his best to make
others as bad as himself, he yet sets up, even to one
who knows him so well, the excuse of having been led
astray by evil company, and while boasting that natur-
ally he "was as virtuously given as a gentleman need
be," defines his virtuous propensities by every vice that
a gentleman need be ashamed of. With the Hostess,
whose entry he suspects to be with the object of demand-
ing the repayment of money lent to him, he has his
shift ready, and to anticipate her complaints tries to
take away the credit of her house by the insinuation
that she harbours thieves who have picked his pocket.
of valuable belongings. When the Prince, appealed
to, supports her cause, Falstaff so contrives to divert
the subject by an amusing altercation with her champion
that she is quite thrust aside, and he in the end, assum-
ing the air of one who has been wronged, out of the
plenitude of his generosity forgives her whose forgive-
ness he himself stood in need of. His dexterity of
evasion is equally conspicuous in the action at Shrews-
bury, not merely in the stratagem by which he saves
his life, but in the use he makes of Hotspur's death,
xxxii
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
audaciously trying to make out that the victory was
his and that the Prince had been as much mistaken
in supposing that he himself had killed Percy as in
the belief that he had seen his old boon companion.
lying dead on the field. "I grant you," he says, "I
was down and out of breath; and so was he: but we
rose both at an instant and fought a long hour by
Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, so; if not,
let them that should reward valour bear the sin upon.
their own heads. I'll take it upon my death, I gave
him this wound in the thigh: if the man were alive
and would deny it, 'zounds, I would make him eat a
piece of my sword"-a rhapsody of truth and falsehood
in keeping with his "one pennyworth of bread to this
intolerable deal of sack" which, prefaced as it is by
his exclamation "Lord, Lord, how this world is given.
to lying!", so tickles the Prince's humour that he is
ready to countenance the claim set up by the old rogue,
and says,
"if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have."
A further and eminent example of the nimbleness with
which Falstaff disarms hostility and shakes reproof off
his feathers is seen in his interviews with the Chief-
Justice which I have already noticed; as again in the
second stormy scene with the Hostess whose demands.
he not only does not satisfy, but whose facility he
actually cajoles into further lendings; and in the device
whereby he eludes the Prince's anger after vilifying
him behind his back, thus verifying Poins's words,
My lord, he will drive you out of your revenge and
turn all to a merriment if you take not the heat."
INTRODUCTION.
xxxiii
With Shallow and Silence he has no need for any
great exertion of his subtler legerdemain. Rightly
gauging their readiness to be duped and knowing of
old what manner of man the former was, he easily
amuses them with puns and quibbles, playing upon
Shallow's eagerness to show himself before Silence as
having in his salad days been a roystering blade who
had shared in the debaucheries of high life, and ex-
citing Silence's respectful admiration by hints of what
he could tell if he chose, while in one of his delicious
soliloquies he chuckles with Rabelaisian laughter as
he sums up the despicable lies of a creature who had
ever been the scoff of his companions for want of all
manliness and now in his old age complacently rallies
himself upon vices which the heat of youth might in
a measure have excused if he had had the courage to
indulge in them. Such a bubble of pretension Falstaff
cannot resist pricking. Out of his follies he "will de-
vise matter enough to keep Prince Harry in continued
laughter the wearing out of six fashions"-a piece of
witty malice harmless enough, but he will also take.
care that those follies shall be turned to profitable
account in supplying his own wants, and this "Vice's
dagger" who has "land and beefs" is without difficulty
tempered" into lending a thousand pounds of which
he is never again to see a penny. It must of course
be borne in mind that when Falstaff triumphs over
the Prince or the Chief-Justice it is to a large extent
because they are willing that he should triumph, their
enjoyment lying in an encouragement of his shifts and
doublings that they may see the full measure of his
elasticity; while in the case of the Hostess and still.
(C
xxxiv
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
more of Shallow the gullery of which they are the
subject is an experience altogether unpleasant and one
that their weak natures would gladly resist if it were
possible. But the skill with which Falstaff adapts his
fly to his fish is none the less great because the one
prey feels the hook which only tickles the other. His
deception of Shallow is indeed not only painful to its
subject but of a kind that prevents all sympathy with
its perpetrator, and, as Maurice Morgann remarks,*
"after this we ought not to complain if we see poetic
justice duly executed upon him, and that he is finally
given up to shame and dishonour." Falstaff's pet vices
are sensuality and dishonesty. He is besides profane,
profligate, insolent; without principle, honour or truth.
How is it, then, that a character compounded of such
ingredients occasions in us no disgust, but rather com-
pels our enjoyment and takes captive our affection?
Morgann finds a partial solution of the difficulty in
the fact that Shakespeare has been careful to guard
Falstaff's vices on the one hand "from all appearance
of malicious motive, and indeed from the manifestation
of any ill principle whatever, which must have produced
disgust,—a sensation no less opposite to laughter than
is respect; and, on the other, from the notice, or even
apprehension, in the spectators, of pernicious effect;
which produces grief and terror, and is the proper pro-
vince of tragedy alone." This, if it does not account
for our positive liking, does so for the absence of dislike.
His sensuality, though sufficiently gross, is accompanied
by no obtrusive exhibition of selfishness, while it is
accompanied by unfailing humour and good fellowship.
Essay on the Character of Sir John Falstaff, p. 183.
*
INTRODUCTION.
XXXV
""
His dishonesty, except in the case of Shallow, wears
the aspect of a joke, and when he wheedles “mine
Hostess out of her money and cheats her of promised
marriage, she is made to appear almost an accomplice.
in her own loss and disappointment. He tries to
borrow money which he knows he can never repay,
but this also is an enormous jest, for how but in jest
could he offer such security as Bardolph Even when
he defrauds Shallow of his thousand pounds he no doubt
quiets his conscience in the belief that his intimacy
with the Prince will enable him to gild the pill of that
vain braggart's mortification by some favour of which
he may boast on returning to the congenial society of
Silence and his hinds. His profanity and insolence.
are masked by his wit; his profligacy seems only in
keeping with his surroundings; while as for his lies,
they are rather exhalations of rodomontade wanting
in the worst essence of lies in that they are employed
with no malicious intent and cannot be expected to
deceive. Still we should have little but contempt and
disgust for such a character if it were not balanced
by some positive make-weights. Among these are hist
unfailing good-humour, his presence of mind in all
exigencies, his fertility of resource, the consciousness.
of his own depravity which he does not seek to gloze
by hypocrisy, the feeling with which he possesses us
that his associates cannot resist an affection for him,
and even his physical drawbacks, his corpulence and
grey hairs, in rebellion against his ever youthful de-
sires and that buoyancy of spirits which nothing can
keep down.
The question whether Falstaff was, as at first sight
xxxvi
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.

he seems to be, a coward, is one that requires some
consideration. Morgann's brilliant and delightful essay
of nearly two hundred pages is written to prove that
cowardice is by no means the feature in Falstaff's por-
trait that Shakespeare intended to emphasize. Rather
the object was by skilfully concealed art "to make
secret impressions upon us of courage, and to preserve.
those impressions in favour of such a character which
was to be held up for sport and laughter on account
of actions of apparent cowardice and dishonour." He
was to be placed in such circumstances that the im-
putation of cowardice would necessarily follow, though
there was no intention of detecting and exposing the
false pretences of a coward. If beneath the apparent
we look for the real man, we shall find that neither
in his early life nor in what we see of his general
conduct in the play countenances the idea of his
being deficient in courage. He had been page to
the Duke of Norfolk, a fact which certifies to his
respectability of position and inferentially to his possess-
ing the instincts of a gentleman; had associated with
John of Gaunt, who certainly would have had nothing
to do with a poltroon; had served for many years in
the army and earned knighthood, then a purely military
title; when the war breaks out the Prince procures for
him "
a charge of foot," a trust which in such ticklish
times so keen a soldier would not have committed to
one whose courage was questionable; Lord Bardolph
when reporting the issue of the action at Shrewsbury,
couples his capture with the death of the Blunts and
other nobles; Sir John Colvile surrenders to the mere
mention of his name; he shows the greatest eagerness
INTRODUCTION.
xxxvii
to join the army in active operations; takes his soldiers
into the thick of the fight where they are soundly
peppered, and he himself must have been in great
danger; earns from the Prince, who supposes him to be
dead, a tribute of regret he would hardly have bestowed
on one whose cowardice he despised. On two occasions
his want of courage is made the source of much merri-
ment. In the battle of Shrewsbury he counterfeits
death to avoid its certain reality at the hands of the
terrible Douglas so much his superior in youth and
activity, and redoubtable among the redoubtable war-
riors of the time. Even here, however, his presence of
mind and the readiness of his stratagem almost atone
for his avoidance of an issue so entirely at variance with
a nature that never affects "the full strains of honour,"
so altogether illogical to a mind by which the pleasures
of life were the highest possessions to be conceived.
Again, out of the robbery at Gadshill he emerges in by
no means glowing colours. But here also his want of
heroism is not without palliation. "In the present
instance," says Morgann,* "Falstaff had done an illegal
act; the exertion was over; and he had unbent his
mind in security. The spirit of enterprise, and the
animating principle of hope were withdrawn:-in this
situation he is unexpectedly attacked; he has no time
to recall his thoughts, or bend his mind to action. He
is not now acting in the profession and in the habits of
a soldier; he is associated with known cowards; his
assailants are vigorous, sudden, and bold; he is con-
scious of guilt; he has dangers to dread of every form,
present and future; prisons and gibbets, as well as
* P. 119.
xxxviii
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
not "
sword and fire; he is surrounded with darkness; and
the sheriff, the hangman, and the whole posse comitatus
may be at his heels-without a moment for reflection,
is it wonderful that, under these circumstances, he
should run and roar, and carry his guts away with as
much dexterity as possible?" Poins, who alone sug-
gests Falstaff's cowardice, had anticipated that he would
fight longer than he sees cause"; yet it was not
so much an exposure of his cowardice that was to
reward the stratagem in which the Prince joins, as
the incomprehensible lies "with which he was sure to
delight his companions in accounting for his defeat."
The incident is artfully placed by Shakespeare in the
forefront of the play in order to give us an impression
which shall insensibly abide with us throughout, that
we may be in no danger of forgetting Falstaff's vicious.
nature in our admiration of his brilliant wit, a danger
that would have been certain if the courage implied by
subtle touches were seen in objective prominence.
Shakespeare's design is not to make his cowardice or
even his sensuality and other vices the primary objects.
of satire and condemnation. What he emphasizes is,
that Falstaff's reliance upon his wit and intellect to
extricate him from all difficulties, to conquer fortune
without any regard for moral principle, and in defiance
of the facts and laws of the world, is a thing deserving
of, and certain to meet with, penalties rigorous and
overwhelming. Reality and poetry alike demand this
justice.
The play as a whole is a marvel of dramatic force in
the rich variety of characters so dissimilar and each so
attractive in its way. Had Falstaff been omitted, there
і
INTRODUCTION.
xxxix
is enough in Mrs. Quickly, Shallow, and Silence to have.
furnished out the reputation of any other comic dra-
matist. Had these also been taken away, together with
Falstaff's parasites and companions, the serious portions
would have remained as an historical picture far supe-
rior to any of the poet's earlier efforts in that direction.
Shakespeare has now made a vast stride in his know-
ledge of the world, and at the same time of dramatic
art and dramatic form. He has cast away the fetters of
rhyme, the quibbles and fantastic reasoning that abound
in King John and Richard the Second, and the turgid vein
that runs through Richard the Third. He has penetrated
deeply into the heart of men and things, has acquired
an intimacy with social life, and developed a natural
humour that casts into the shade all the straining of
the professed humourists. He is no longer adolescent,
but adult; and though there still remain for him the
grander flight of his supreme tragedies, and the tender
romance of his latest days, he has attained the summit
of comic power blended with, and giving breadth to,
the serious business of practical action.
THE SECOND PART OF
KING HENRY THE FOURTH
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
RUMOUR, the Presenter.
KING HENRY the Fourth.
HENRY, PRINCE OF WALES, afterwards
King Henry V.,
THOMAS, DUKE OF CLARENCE,
PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER,
PRINCE HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER,
EARL OF WARWICK.
EARL OF WESTMORELAND.
EARL OF SURREY.
his sons.
GOWER.
HARCOURT.
BLUNT.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE of the King's Bench.
A Servant of the Chief-Justice.
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND.
SEROOP, Archbishop of York.—
LORD MOWBRAY.

LORD BARDOLPH.
LORD HASTINGS.
SIR JOHN COLEVILE.
TRAVERS and MORTON, retainers of Northumberland.
SIR JOHN FALSTAFF.
His Page.
BARDOLPH.
PISTOL.
POINS.
РЕТО.
SHALLOW, country justices.
SILENCE,
DAVY, Servant to Shallow.
MOULDY, SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, and BULLCALF, recruits.
FANG and SNARE, sheriff's officers.
LADY NORTHUMBERLAND.
LADY PERCY.
MISTRESS QUICKLY, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap.
DOLL TEARSHEET.
Lords and Attendants; Porter, Drawers, Beadles, Grooms, etc.
A Dancer, speaker of the Epilogue.
SCENE: England.
THE SECOND PART OF
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
INDUCTION.
Warkworth. Before the Castle.
Enter RUMOUR, painted full of tongues.
Rum. Open your ears; for which of you will stop
The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks ?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth :
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
I speak of peace, while covert enmity
Under the smile of safety wounds the world :
And who but Rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful musters and prepared defence,
Whiles the big year, swoln with some other grief,
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,
And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wavering multitude,
Can play upon it. But what need I thus
10

20
3
3
4
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
My well-known body to anatomize
Among my household? Why is Rumour here?
I run before King Harry's victory ;
Who in a bloody field by Shrewsbury
Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops,
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels' blood. But what mean I
To speak so true at first? my office is
To noise abroad that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword,
And that the king before the Douglas' rage
Stoop'd his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this worm-eaten hold of ragged stone,
Where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,
Lies crafty-sick the posts come tiring on,
:
And not a man of them brings other news
Than they have learn'd of me from Rumour's tongues
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs.
ACT I.
SCENE I. The same.
Enter LORD BARDOLPH.
L. Bard. Who keeps the gate here, ho?
The Porter opens the gate.
30
[Exit. 40
Where is the earl?
Port. What shall I say you are ?
L. Bard.
Tell thou the earl
That the Lord Bardolph doth attend him here.
Port. His lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard :
Please it your honour, knock but at the gate,
And he himself will answer.
SCENE 1.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
5
II.
LO
Enter NORTHUMBERLAND.
L. Bard.
Here comes the earl.
[Exit Porter.
North. What news, Lord Bardolph ? every minute now
Should be the father of some stratagem :
The times are wild; contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly_hath broke loose
And bears down all before him.
L. Bard.
Noble earl,
I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.
North. Good, an God will!
L. Bard.
As good as heart can wis`, :
The king is almost wounded to the death;
And, in the fortune of my lord your son,
Prince Harry slain outright; and both the Blunts
Kill'd by the hand of Douglas; young Prince John
And Westmoreland and Stafford fled the field;
And Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk Sir John,
Is prisoner to your son: O, such a day,
So fought, so follow'd and so fairly won,
Came not till now to dignify the times,
Since Cæsar's fortunes!
North.
How is this derived ?
Saw you the field? came you from Shrewsbury?
10
20
L. Bard. I spake with one, my lord, that came from
thence,
A gentleman well bred and of good name,
That freely render'd me these news for true.
North. Here comes my servant Travers, whom I sent
On Tuesday last to listen after news.
Enter TRAVERS.
L. Bard. My lord, I over-rode him on the way;
And he is furnish'd with no certainties
More than he haply may retail from me.
30
North. Now, Travers, what good tidings comes with you?
6
[ACT 1.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Tra. My lord, Sir John Umfrevile turn'd me back
With joyful tidings; and, being better horsed,
Out-rode me. After him came spurring hard
A gentleman, almost forspent with speed,
That stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse.
He ask'd the way to Chester; and of him
I did demand what news from Shrewsbury:
He told me that rebellion had bad luck
And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold.
With that, he gave his able horse the head,
And bending forward struck his armed heels
Against the panting sides of his poor jade
Up to the rowel-head, and starting so
He seem'd in running to devour the way,
Staying no longer question.
North.
Ha! Again:
Said he young Harry Percy's spur was cold?
Of Hotspur Coldspur? that rebellion
Had met ill luck?
L. Bard.
My lord, I'll tell you what;
If my young lord your son have not the day,
Upon mine honour, for a silken point
I'll give my barony: never talk of it.
40

50
North. Why should that gentleman that rode by Travers
Give then such instances of loss?
L. Bard.
Who, he?
He was some hilding fellow that had stolen
The horse he rode on, and, upon my life,
Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news.
Enter MORTON.
North. Yea, this man's brow, like to a title leaf,
Foretells the nature of a tragic volume:
So looks the strond whereon the imperious flood
Hath left a witness'd usurpation.
Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury?
60
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
7
Mor. I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord ;
Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask
To fright our party.
North.
How doth my son and brother?
Thou tremblest; and the whiteness in thy cheek
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.
Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,
So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,
Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him half his Troy was burnt;
But Priam found the fire ere he his tongue,
And I my Percy's death ere thou report'st it.
This thou wouldst say, 'Your son did thus and thus ;
Your brother thus: so fought the noble Douglas :'
Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds :
But in the end, to stop my ear indeed,
Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,
Ending with 'Brother, son, and all are dead.'
Mor. Douglas is living, and your brother, yet ;
But, for my lord your son,-
North.
Why, he is dead.
See what a ready tongue suspicion hath !
He that but fears the thing he would not know
Hath by instinct knowledge from others' eyes
That what he fear'd is chanced. Yet speak, Morton ;
Tell thou an earl his divination lies,
And I will take it as a sweet disgrace
And make thee rich for doing me such wrong.
Mor. You are too great to be by me gainsaid :
Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain.
North. Yet, for all this, say not that Percy's dead.
I see a strange confession in thine eye:
Thou shakest thy head and hold'st it fear or sin
To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so ;
The tongue offends not that reports his death :
And he doth sin that doth belie the dead,
70
80

90
8
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Not he which says the dead is not alive.
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office, and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,
Remember'd knolling a departing friend.
L. Bard. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead.
Mor. I am sorry I should force you to believe
That which I would to God I had not seen;
But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,
Rendering faint quittance, wearied and out-breathed,
To Harry Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat down
The never-daunted Percy to the earth,
From whence with life he never more sprung up.
In few, his death, whose spirit lent a fire
Even to the dullest peasant in his camp,
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away
From the best-temper'd courage in his troops;
For from his metal was his party steel'd;
Which once in him abated, all the rest
Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead :
And as the thing that's heavy in itself,
100
110
Upon enforcement flies with greatest speed,
So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss,
Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear
That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim
Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety,
Fly from the field. Then was that noble Worcester
Too soon ta'en prisoner; and that furious Scot,
The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword ·
Had three times slain the appearance of the king,
'Gan vail his stomach and did grace the shame
Of those that turn'd their backs, and in his flight,
Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all
Is that the king hath won, and hath sent out
A speedy power to encounter you, my lord,
Under the conduct of young Lancaster
120
130
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
9
And Westmoreland. This is the news at full.
North. For this I shall have time enough to mourn.
In poison there is physic; and these news,
Having been well, that would have made me sick,
Being sick, have in some measure made me well :
And as the wretch, whose fever-weaken'd joints,
Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life,
Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire
Out of his keeper's arms, even so my limbs,
Weaken'd with grief, being now enraged with grief,
140
Are thrice themselves. Hence, therefore, thou nice crutch!
A scaly gauntlet now with joints of steel
Must glove this hand and hence, thou sickly quoif!
Thou art a guard too wanton for the head
Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit.
Now bind my brows with iron; and approach
The ragged'st hour that time and spite dare bring
To frown upon the enraged Northumberland!
Let heaven kiss earth! now let not Nature's hand
Keep the wild flood confined! let order die !
And let this world no longer be a stage
To feed contention in a lingering act;
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,
And darkness be the burier of the deed!
good.
Tra. This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.
150

160
L. Bard. Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour.
Mor. The lives of all your loving complices
Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er
To stormy passion, must perforce decay.
You cast the event of war, my noble lord,
And summ'd the account of chance, before you said
'Let us make head.' It was your presurmise,
That, in the dole of blows, your son might drop :
You knew he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge,
170
10
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
More likely to fall in than to get o'er ;
You were advised his flesh was capable
Of wounds and scars and that his forward spirit
Would lift him where most trade of danger ranged:
Yet did you say 'Go forth;' and none of this,
Though strongly apprehended, could restrain
The stiff-borne action: what hath then befallen,
Or what hath this bold enterprise brought forth
More than that being which was like to be?
L. Bard. We all that are engaged to this loss
Knew that we ventured on such dangerous seas
That if we wrought out life 'twas ten to one;
And yet we ventured, for the gain proposed
Choked the respect of likely peril fear'd;
And since we are o'erset, venture again.
Come, we will all put forth, body and goods.
Mor. 'Tis more than time: and, my most noble lord,
I hear for certain, and do speak the truth,
The gentle Archbishop of York is up
With well-appointed powers: he is a man
Who with a double surety binds his followers.
My lord your son had only but the corpse,
But shadows and the shows of men, to fight;
For that same word, rebellion, did divide
The action of their bodies from their souls ;
And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd,
As men drink potions, that their weapons only |
Seem'd on our side; but, for their spirits and souls,
This word, rebellion, it had froze them up,
As fish are in a pond. But now the Bishop
Turns insurrection to religion :
Supposed sincere and holy in his thoughts,
He's followed both with body and with mind;
And doth enlarge his rising with the blood
Of fair King Richard, scraped from Pomfret stones
Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause;
180
190
200
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
11
Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land,
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke ;
And more and less do flock to follow him.
North. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth,
This present grief had wiped it from my mind.
Go in with me; and counsel every man
The aptest way for safety and revenge :
Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed:
Never so few, and never yet more need.
SCENE II. London. A street.
210
[Exeunt.
Enter FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his sword and buckler.
Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me the
brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to
invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent
or is invented on me: I am not only witty in myself, but
the cause that wit is in other men. I do here walk before
thee like a sow that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one.
If the prince put thee into my service for any other reason
than to set me off, why then I have no judgement. Thou
mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap than to wait
at my heels. I was never manned with an agate till now:
but I will inset you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile
apparel, and send you back again to your master, for a
jewel,—the juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin is
not yet fledged. I will sooner have a beard grow in the
palm of my hand than he shall get one on his cheek; and
yet he will not stick to say his face is a face-royal: God
may finish it when he will, 'tis not a hair amiss yet he may
keep it still at a face-royal, for a barber shall never earn
sixpence out of it; and yet he 'll be crowing as if he had
writ man ever since his father was a bachelor. He may
keep his own grace, but he's almost out of mine, I can
assure him. What said Master Dombledon about the satin
for my short cloak and my slops?
23
12
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Page. He said, sir, you should procure him better assur-
ance than Bardolph: he would not take his band and yours ;
he liked not the security.
t
struck ab teen

Fal. Let him be damned, like the glutton! pray. God his
tongue be hotter! a rascally yea-forsooth knave! to bear a
gentleman in hand, and then stand upon security! The
smooth-pates do now wear nothing but high shoes, and
bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is through
with them in honest taking up, then they must stand upon
security. I had as lief they would put ratsbane in my
mouth as offer to stop it with security. I looked a' should
have sent me two and twenty yards of satin, as I am a true
knight, and he sends me security. Where's Bardolph ?
Page. He's gone into Smithfield to buy your worship
a horse.
head whe
در
Fal. I bought him in Raul's, and he'll buy me a horse in
Smithfield an I could get me but a wife in the stews, I
were manned, horsed, and wived.
Enter the LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE and Servant.
41
Page. Sir, here comes the nobleman that committed the
prince for striking him about Bardolph.
Fal. Wait close; I will not see him.
Ch. Just. What's he that goes there?
Serv. Falstaff, an 't please your lordship.
Ch. Just. He that was in question for the robbery?
Serv. He, my lord: but he hath since done good service at
Shrewsbury; and, as I hear, is now going with some charge
to the Lord John of Lancaster.
Ch. Just. What, to York? Call him back again.
Serv. Sir John Falstaff!
Fal. Boy, tell him I am deaf.
Page. You must speak louder; my master is deaf.
50
Ch. Just. I am sure he is, to the hearing of any thing
good. Go, pluck him by the elbow; I must speak with him.
Serv. Sir John !
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
13

my pres
Fal. What a young knave, and begging! Is there not
wars? is there not employment? doth not the king lack
subjects? do not the rebels need soldiers? Though it be a
shame to be on any side but one, it is worse shame to beg
than to be on the worst side, were it worse than the name
of rebellion can tell how to make it.
Serv. You mistake me, sir.
63
Fal. Why, sir, did I say you were an honest man? setting
my knighthood and my soldiership aside, I had lied in my
throat, if I had said so.
Serv. I pray you, sir, then set your knighthood and your
soldiership aside; and give me leave to tell you, you lie in
your throat, if you say I am any other than an honest man.
Fal. I give thee leave to tell me so ! I lay aside that
which grows to me! If thou gettest any leave of me, hang
me; if thou takest leave, thou wert better be hanged. You
hunt counter: hence! avaunt!
Serv. Sir, my lord would speak with you.
Ch. Just. Sir John Falstaff, a word with you.
74
Fal. My good lord! God give your lordship good time of
day. I am glad to see your lordship abroad: I heard say
your lordship was sick : I hope your lordship goes abroad by
advice. Your lordship, though not clean past your youth,
hath yet some smack of age in you, some relish of the
saltness of time; and I most humbly beseech your lordship
to have a reverent care of your health.
83
Ch. Just. Sir John, I sent for you before your expedition
to Shrewsbury.
Fal. An't please your lordship, I hear his majesty is
returned with some discomfort from Wales.
Ch. Just. I talk not of his majesty you would not come
when I sent for you.
Fal. And I hear, moreover, his highness is fallen into this
same apoplexy.
91
Ch. Just. Well, God mend him! I pray you, let me
speak with you.
14
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Fal. This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy,
an't please your lordship; a kind of sleeping in the blood,
a tingling.
Ch. Just. What tell you me of it? be it as it is.
Fal. It hath it original from much grief, from study and
perturbation of the brain: I have read the cause of his
effects in Galen: it is a kind of deafness.
100
Ch. Just. I think you are fallen into the disease; for you
hear not what I say to you.
Fal. Very well, my lord, very well: rather, an 't please
you, it is the disease of not listening, the malady of not
marking, that I am troubled withal.
Ch. Just. To punish you by the heels would amend the
attention of your ears; and I care not if I do become your
physician.
Fal. I am as poor as Job, my lord, but not so patient :
your lordship may minister the potion of imprisonment to
me in respect of poverty; but how I should be your patient
to follow your prescriptions, the wise may make some dram
of a scruple, or indeed a scruple itself.
113
Ch. Just. I sent for you, when there were matters against
you for your life, to come speak with me.
Fal. As I was then advised by my learned counsel in the
laws of this land-service, I did not come.
Ch. Just. Well, the truth is, Sir John, you live in great
infamy.
Fal. He that buckles him in my belt cannot live in less.
Ch. Just. Your means are very slender, and your waste is
great.
122
Fal. I would it were otherwise; I would my means were
greater, and my waist slenderer.
Ch. Just. You have misled the youthful prince.
Fal. The young prince hath misled me: I am the fellow
with the great belly, and he my dog.
Ch. Just. Well, I am loath to gall a new healed wound :
your day's service at Shrewsbury hath a little gilded over

1 peat praviti
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
نسقة هنا
15
your night's exploit on Gad's-hill: you may thank the
unquiet time for your quiet o'erposting that action.
Fal. My lord?
131
Ch. Just. But since all is well, keep it so wake not a
sleeping wolf.
Fal. To wake a wolf is as bad as to smell a fox.
Ch. Just. What! you are as a candle, the better part burnt
out.
Fal. A wassail candle, my lord, all tallow if I did say of
wax, my growth would approve the truth.
Ch. Just. There is not a white hair on your face but
should have his effect of gravity.
Fal. His effect of gravy, gravy, gravy.
141
Ch. Just. You follow the young prince up and down, like
his ill angel.
Fal. Not so, my lord; your ill angel is light; but I hope
he that looks upon me will take me without weighing: and
yet, in some respects, I grant, I cannot go I cannot tell.
Virtue is of so little regard in these costermonger times that
true valour is turned bear-herd: pregnancy is made a
tapster, and hath his quick wit wasted in giving reckonings :
all the other gifts appertinent to man, as the malice of this
age shapes them, are not worth a gooseberry. You that are
old consider not the capacities of us that are young; you do
measure the heat of our livers with the bitterness of your
galls and we that are in the vaward of our youth, I must
confess, are wags too.
:
156
Ch. Just. Do you set down your name in the scroll of
youth, that are written down old with all the characters of
age? Have you not a moist eye? a dry hand? a yellow
cheek? a white beard? a decreasing leg? an increasing belly?
is not your voice broken? your wind short? your chin
double? your wit single? and every part about you blasted
with antiquity? and will you yet call yourself young? Fie,
fie, fie, Sir John!
164
Fal. My lord, I was born about three of the clock in the
7.
16
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
afternoon, with a white head and something a round belly.
For my voice, I have lost it with halloing and singing of
anthems. To approve my youth further, I will not: the
truth is, I am only old in judgement and understanding;
and he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let
him lend me the money, and have at him! For the box of
the ear that the prince gave you, he gave it like a rude
prince, and you took it like a sensible lord. I have checked
him for it, and the young lion repents; marry, not in ashes
and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack.
175
Ch. Just. Well, God send the prince a better companion!
Fal. God send the companion a better prince! I cannot
rid my hands of him. bundened with pience
Ch. Just. Well, the king has severed you and Prince
Harry I hear you are going with Lord John of Lan-
caster against the Archbishop and the Earl of Northum-
berland.

:
182
Fal. Yea; I thank your pretty sweet wit for it. But look
you pray, all you that kiss my lady Peace at home, that our
armies join not in a hot day; for, by the Lord, I take but
two shirts out with me, and I mean not to sweat extra-
ordinarily if it be a hot day, and I brandish any thing but
a bottle, I would I might never spit white again. There is
not a dangerous action can peep out his head but I am thrust
upon it well, I cannot last ever: but it was alway yet the
trick of our English nation, if they have a good thing, to
make it too common. If ye will needs say I am an old man,
you should give me rest. I would to God my name were not
so terrible to the enemy as it is: I were better to be eaten
to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with
perpetual motion.
Ch. Just. Well, be honest, be honest; and God bless your
expedition!
Fal. Will your lordship lend me a thousand pounds to
furnish me forth?


200
Ch. Just. Not a penny, not a penny; you are too impatient
туу
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
17
to bear crosses. Fare you well: commend me to my cousin
Westmoreland.
[Exeunt Chief-Justice and Servant.
Fål. If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle. Boy!
Page. Sir?
Fal. What money is in my purse?
Page. Seven groats and two pence.
:
207
Fal, I can get no remedy against this consumption of the
purse borrowing only lingers and lingers it out, but the
disease is incurable. Go bear this letter to my Lord of
Lancaster; this to the prince; this to the Earl of Westmore-
land; and this to old Mistress Ursula, whom I have weekly
sworn to marry since I perceived the first white hair on my
chin. About it: you know where to find me. [Exeunt.
SCENE III. York.
The ARCHBISHOP's palace.
Enter the ARCHBISHOP, the LORDS HASTINGS, MOWBRAY, and
BARDOLPH.
Arch. Thus have you heard our cause and known our means;
And, my most noble friends, I pray you all,
Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes :
And first, lord marshal, what say you to it?
Mowb. I well allow the occasion of our arms;
But gladly would be better satisfied
How in our means we should advance ourselves
To look with forehead bold and big enough
Upon the power and puissance of the king.
Hast. Our present musters grow upon the file
To five and twenty thousand men of choice ;
And our supplies live largely in the hope
Of great Northumberland, whose bosom burns
With an incensed fire of injuries.
10
L. Bard. The question then, Lord Hastings, standeth thus;
Whether our present five and twenty thousand
May hold up head without Northumberland ?
Hast. With him we may.
B
18
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
/
Yea, marry, there's the point :
L. Bard.
But if without him we be thought too feeble,
My judgement is, we should not step too far
Till we had his assistance by the hand;
For in a theme so bloody-faced as this
Conjecture, expectation, and surmise
Of aids incertain should not be admitted.
Hast. 'Tis very true, Lord Bardolph; for indeed
It was young Hotspur's case at Shrewsbury.
L. Bard. It was, my lord; who lined himself with hope,
Eating the air on promise of supply,
Flattering himself in project of a power
Much smaller than the smallest of his thoughts:
And so, with great imagination
Proper to madmen, led his powers to death
And winking leap'd into destruction.
Hast. But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt
To lay down likelihoods and forms of hope.
L. Bard. Yes, if this present quality of war,
Indeed the instant action-a cause on foot-
Lives so in hope as in an early spring
20
30
We see the appearing buds; which to prove fruit,
Hope gives not so much warrant as despair
40
That frosts will bite them. When we mean to build,
We first survey the plot, then draw the model;
And when we see the figure of the house,
Then must we rate the cost of the erection ;
Which if we find outweighs ability,
What do we then but draw anew the model
In fewer offices, or at last desist
Which is almost to pluck a kingdom down
To build at all? Much more, in this great work,
And set another up, should we survey
The plot of situation and the model,
Consent upon a sure foundation,
Question surveyors, know our own estate,
50
SCENE III.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
19
How able such a work to undergo,
To weigh against his opposite; or else
We fortify in paper and in figures,
Using the names of men instead of men :
Like one that draws the model of a house
Beyond his power to build it; who, half through,
Gives o'er and leaves his part-created cost
60
A naked subject to the weeping clouds
And waste for churlish winter's tyranny.
Hast. Grant that our hopes, yet likely of fair birth,
Should be still-born, and that we now possess'd
The utmost man of expectation,
I think we are a body strong enough,
Even as we are, to equal with the king.
L. Bard. What, is the king but five and twenty thousand?
Hast. To us no more; nay, not so much, Lord Bardolph.
For his divisions, as the times do brawl,
Are in three heads: one power against the French,
And one against Glendower; perforce a third
Must take up us: so is the unfirm king
In three divided; and his coffers sound
With hollow poverty and emptiness.
70
Arch. That he should draw his several strengths together
And come against us in full puissance,
Need not be dreaded.
Hast.
If he should do so,
He leaves his back unarm'd, the French and Welsh
Baying him at the heels: never fear that.
L. Bard. Who is it like should lead his forces hither?
Hast. The Duke of Lancaster and Westmoreland;
Against the Welsh, himself and Harry Monmouth :
But who is substituted 'gainst the French,
I have no certain notice.
Arch.
Let us on
And publish the occasion of our arms.
The commonwealth is sick of their own choice;
80

20
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
4
1
Their over-greedy love hath surfeited :
An habitation giddy and unsure
:

90
fchlenes f
Common head
Hath he that buildeth on the vulgar heart.
Q thou fond many, with what loud applause
Didst thou beat heaven with blessing Bolingbroke,
Before he was what thou wouldst have him be!
And being now trimm'd in thine own desires,
Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of him,
That thou provokest thyself to cast him up.
So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge
Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard;
And now thou wouldst eat thy dead vomit up,
And howl'st to find it. What trust is in these times?
They that, when Richard lived, would have him die,
Are now become enamour'd on his grave:
Thou, that threw'st dust upon his goodly head
When through proud London he came sighing on
After the admired heels of Bolingbroke,
Criest now 'O earth, yield us that king again,
And take thou this!' O thoughts of men accursed!
Past and to come seems best; things present worst.
Moub. Shall we go draw our numbers and set on?
Hast. We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone.

100

110
[Exeunt.
ACT II.
SCENE I. London. A street.
Enter HOSTESS, FANG and his Boy with her, and SNARE
following.
Host. Master Fang, have you entered the action ?
Fang. It is entered.
Host. Where's your yeoman? Is 't a lusty yeoman! will a'
stand to 't?
Fang. Sirrah, where 's Snare?
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
21
Host. O Lord, ay! good Master Snare.
Snare. Here, here.
Fang. Snare, we must arrest Sir John Falstaff.
Host. Yea, good Master Snare; I have entered him and
all.
Snare. It may chance cost some of us our lives, for he will
stab.
12
Host. Alas the day! take heed of him; in good faith, he
cares not what mischief he does, if his weapon be out: he will
foin like any devil; he will spare neither man, woman, nor
child.
Fang. If I can close with him, I care not for his thrust.
Host. No, nor I neither: I'll be at your elbow.
Fang. An I but fist him once; an a' come but within my
vice,-
20
Host. I am undone by his going; I warrant you, he's an
infinitive thing upon my score. Good Master Fang, hold him
sure good Master Snare, let him not 'scape. A' comes con-
tinuantly to Pie-corner-saving your manhoods—to buy a
saddle; and he is indited to dinner to the Lubber's-head in
Lumbert street, to Master Smooth's the silk-man: I pray ye,
since my exion is entered and my case so openly known to the
world, let him be brought in to his answer. A hundred mark
is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear: and I have
borne, and borne, and borne, and have been fubbed off, and
fubbed off, and fubbed off, from this day to that day, that it
is a shame to be thought on. There is no honesty in such
dealing; unless a woman should be made an ass and a beast,
to bear every knave's wrong. Yonder he comes; and that
arrant malmsey-nose knave, Bardolph, with him. Do your
offices, do your offices: Master Fang and Master Snare, do
me, do me, do me your offices.
Enter FALSTAFF, Page, and BARDOLPH.
37
Fal. How now! whose mare's dead? what's the matter?
Fang. Sir John, I arrest you at the suit of Mrs. Quickly.
22
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II
Fal. Away, varlets! Draw, Bardolph: cut me off the
villain's head throw the quean in the channel.
41
Host. Throw me in the channel! I'll throw thee in the
channel. Wilt thou? Wilt thou? thou rogue! Murder,
murder! Ah, thou honey-suckle villain! wilt thou kill God's
officers and the king's? Ah, thou honey-seed rogue! thou
art a honey-seed, a man-queller, and a woman-queller.
Ful. Keep them off, Bardolph.
Fang. A rescue! a rescue!
Host. Good people, bring a rescue or two. Thou wo’t, wo't
thou? thou wo't, wo't ta? do, do, thou rogue! do, thou
hemp-seed!
51
Fal. Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian!
Enter the LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE, and his men.
Ch. Just. What is the matter? keep the peace here, ho!
Host. Good my lord, be good to me. I beseech you, stand
to me.
Ch. Just. How now, Sir John! what are you brawling
here ?
59
Doth this become your place, your time and business?
You should have been well on your way to York.
Stand from him, fellow wherefore hang'st upon him?
Host. O my most worshipful lord, an't please your grace, I
am a poor widow of Eastcheap, and he is arrested at my suit.
Ch. Just. For what sum?
Host. It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all, all I
have. He hath eaten nie out of house and home; he hath
put all my substance into that fat belly of his but I will
have some of it out again, or I will ride thee o' nights like
the mare.
Ch. Just. How comes this, Sir John? Fie! 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?
71

SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
23
Host. Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself and the
money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet,
sitting in my Dolphin-chamber, at the round table, by a sea-
coal fire, upon Wednesday in Wheeson week, when the prince
broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-man 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
a mess of vinegar; 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 so famili-
arity 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.

89
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 in person. 101
Host. Yea, in truth, my lord.
Ch. Just. Pray thee, peace. Pay her the debt you owe her,
and unpay the villany you have done her: the one you may
do with sterling money, and the other with current repent-
ance.
Fal. My lord, I will not undergo this sneap without reply.
You call honourable boldness impudent sauciness : if a man
24
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
will make courtesy and say nothing, he is virtuous: no, my
lord, my humble duty remembered, I will not be your suitor.
I
say to
to you, I do desire deliverance from these officers, being
upon hasty employment in the king's affairs.
112
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.
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. Faith, you said so before.
120
Fal. As I am a gentleman. Come, no more words of it.
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 and for thy
walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the Prodigal,
or the German hunting in water-work, is worth a thousand of
these bed-hangings and these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it
be ten pound, if thou canst. Come, and 'twere not for thy
humours, there's not a better wench in England. Go, wash
thy face, and draw the action. 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 loath to pawn my plate, so God save me, la!
Fal. Let it alone; I'll make other shift: you'll be a fool
still.
138
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? [To Bardolph] Go, with her, with her;
hook on, hook on.
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
25
Host. Will you have Doll Tearsheet meet you at supper?
Fal. No more words; let's have her.
[Exeunt Hostess, Bardolph, Officers, and Boy.
Ch. Just. I have heard better news.
Fal. What's the news, my lord?
Ch. Just. Where lay the king last night?
Gow. At Basingstoke, my lord.
Fal. I hope, my lord, all's well: what is 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?
150
159
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.
170
Ch. Just. Now the Lord lighten thee! thou art a great fool.
SCENE II. London. Another street.
Enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS.
Prince. Before God, I am exceeding weary.
[Exeunt.
Poins. Is't come to that? I had thought weariness durst
not have attached one of so high blood.
here
S

26
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT II.
Prince. Faith, it does me; though it discolours the com-
plexion of my greatness to acknowledge it. Doth it not show
vilely in me to desire small beer?
Poins. Why, a prince should not be so loosely studied as to
remember so weak a composition
Let
8
Prince. Belike then my appetite was not princely got; for,
by my troth, I do now remember the poor creature, small
beer. But, indeed, these humble considerations make me out
of love with my greatness. What a disgrace is it to me to
remember thy name! or to know thy face to-morrow! or to
take note how many pair of silk stockings thou hast, viz.
these, and those that were thy peach-coloured ones! or to
bear the inventory of thy shirts, as, one for superfluity, and
another for use! But that the tennis-court-keeper knows
better than I; for it is a low ebb of linen with thee when
thou keepest not racket there; as thou hast not done a great
while, because the rest of thy low countries have made a
shift to eat up thy holland.
21
Poins. How ill it follows, after you have laboured so hard,
you should talk so idly! Tell me, how many good young.
princes would do so, their fathers being so sick as yours at
this time is ?
Prince. Shall I tell thee one thing, Poins?
Poins. Yes, faith; and let it be an excellent good thing.
Prince. It shall serve among wits of no higher breeding
than thine.
Poins. Go to; I stand the push of your one thing that you
will tell.
31
Prince. Marry, I tell thee, it is not meet that I should be
sad, now my father is sick albeit I could tell to thee, as to
one it pleases me, for fault of a better, to call my friend, I
could be sad, and sad indeed too.
Poins. Very hardly upon such a subject.
Prince. By this hand, thou thinkest me as far in the devil's
book as thou and Falstaff for obduracy and persistency: let
the end try the man. But I tell thee, my heart bleeds
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
27
inwardly that my father is so sick and keeping such vile
company as thou art hath in reason taken from me all osten-
tation of sorrow.
Poins. The reason?
42
Prince. What wouldst thou think of me, if I should weep?
Poins. I would think thee a most princely hypocrite.
Prince. It would be every man's thought; and thou art a
blessed fellow to think as every man thinks: never a man's
thought in the world keeps the road-way better than thine :
every man would think me an hypocrite indeed. And what
accites your most worshipful thought to think so?
50
Poins. Why, because you have been so fewd and so much
engraffed to Falstaff.
Prince. And to thee.
l'oins. By this light, I am well spoke on; I can hear it
with mine own ears: the worst that they can say of me is
that I am a second brother and that I am a proper fellow of
my hands; and those two things, I confess, I cannot help.
By the mass, here comes Bardolph.
Enter BARDOLPH and Page.
Prince. And the boy that I gave Falstaff: a' had him from
me Christian; and look, if the fat villain have not trans-
formed him ape.
Bard. God save your grace!
Prince. And yours, most noble Bardolph !
61
Bard. Come, you virtuous ass, you bashful fool, must you
be blushing? wherefore blush you now? What a maidenly
man-at-arms are you become!
Page. A' calls me e'en now, my lord, through a red lattice,
and I could discern no part of his face from the window: at
last I spied his eyes, and methought he had made two holes
in the ale-wife's new petticoat and so peeped through.
Prince. Has not the boy profited?
Bard. Away, you upright rabbit, away !
Page. Away, you rascally Althaa's dream, away!
70
28
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Prince. Instruct us, boy; what dream, boy?
Page. Marry, my lord, Althea dreamed she was delivered
of a fire-brand; and therefore I call him her dream.
Prince. A crown's worth of good interpretation: there 'tis,
boy.
Poins. O, that this good blossom could be kept from
cankers! Well, there is sixpence to preserve thee.
80
Bard. An you do not make him hanged among you, the
gallows shall have wrong.
Prince. And how doth thy master, Bardolph ?
Bard. Well, my lord. He heard of your grace's coming to
town: there's a letter for you.
Poins. Delivered with good respect. And how doth the
martlemas, your master?
Bard. In bodily health, sir.
Poins. Marry, the immortal part needs a physician; but
that moves not him: though that be sick, it dies not.
90
Prince. I do allow this wen to be as familiar with me as
my dog; and he holds his place; for look you how he
writes.
Poins. [Reads] 'John Falstaff, knight,'--every man must
know that, as oft as he has occasion to name himself: even
like those that are kin to the king; for they never prick
their finger but they say, 'There's some of the king's blood
spilt.' How comes that?' says he, that takes upon him not
to conceive. The answer is as ready as a borrower's cap, 'I
am the king's poor cousin, sir.'
100
Prince. Nay, they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it
from Japhet. But to the letter :
Poins. [Reads] 'Sir John Falstaff, knight, to the son of the
king, nearest his father, Harry Prince of Wales, greeting.'
Why, this is a certificate.
Prince. Peace!
Poins. [Reads] 'I will imitate the honourable Romans in
brevity' he sure means brevity in breath, short-winded.
'I commend me to thee, I commend thee, and I leave thee.
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
29
1
Be not too familiar with Poins; for he misuses thy favours
so much, that he swears thou art to marry his sister Nell.
Repent at idle times as thou mayest; and so, farewell.
112
'Thine, by yea and no, which is as much as to say, as
thou usest him, JACK FALSTAFF with my familiars,
JOHN with my brothers and sisters, and SIR JOHN
with all Europe.'
My lord, I'll steep this letter in sack and make him eat it.
Prince. That 's to make him eat twenty of his words. But
do you use me thus, Ned? must I marry your sister?
Poins. God send the wench no worse fortune!
never said so.
But I
121
Prince. Well, thus we play the fools with the time, and
the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and mock us. Is
your master here in London?
Bard. Yea, my lord.
Prince. Where sups he? doth the old boar feed in the old
frank? (
Bard. At the old place, my lord, in Eastcheap.
Prince. What company ?
Page. Ephesians, my lord, of the old church.
Prince. Sup any women with him?
130
Page. None, my lord, but old Mistress Quickly and Mis-
tress Doll Tearsheet.
Prince. What pagan may that be?
Page. A proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinswoman of my
master's.
Prince. Shall we steal upon them, Ned, at supper?
Poins. I am your shadow, my lord; I'll follow you.
Prince. Sirrah, you boy, and Bardolph, no word to your
master that I am yet come to town: there's for your silence.
Bard. I have no tongue, sir.
Page. And for mine, sir, I will govern it.
141
Prince. Fare you well; go. [Exeunt Bardolph and Page.]
How might we see Falstaff bestow himself to-night in his
true colours, and not ourselves be seen?
30
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT II.

Poins. Put on two leathern jerkins and aprons, and wait
upon him at his table as drawers.
Prince. From a God to a bull? a heavy descension! it was
Jove's case. From a prince to a prentice? a low trans-
formation! that shall be mine; for in every thing the pur-
pose must weigh with the folly. Follow me, Ned. [Exeunt.
SCENE III.
Warkworth. Before the castle.
Enter NORTHUMBERLAND, LADY NORTHUMBERLAND,
and LADY PERCY.
North. I pray thee, loving wife, and gentle daughter,
Give even way unto my rough affairs :
Put not you on the visage of the times
And be like them to Percy troublesome.
Lady N. I have given over, I will speak no more :
Do what you will; your wisdom be your guide.
North. Alas, sweet wife, my honour is at pawn ;
And, but my going, nothing can redeem it.
Lady P. O yet, for God's sake, go not to these wars!
The time was, father, that you broke your word,
When you were more endear'd to it than now ;
When your own Percy, when my heart's dear Harry,
Threw many a northward look to see his father
Bring up his powers; but he did long in vain.
Who then persuaded you to stay at home?
There were two honours lost, yours and your son's.
For yours, the God of heaven brighten it!
For his, it stuck upon him as the sun
In the grey vault of heaven, and by his light
Did all the chivalry of England move
To do brave acts: he was indeed the glass
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves :
He had no legs that practised not his gait;
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,
Became the accents of the valiant ;
calme
Kelbelles


20
SCENE III.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
31
For those that could speak low and tardily
Would turn their own perfection to abuse,
To seem like him; so that in speech, in gait,
In diet, in affections of delight,
In military rules, humours of blood,
20
He was the mark and glass, copy and book,
That fashion'd others. And him, O wondrous him!
O miracle of men! him did you leave,
Second to none, unseconded by you,
To look upon the hideous god of war
In disadvantage; to abide a field
Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name
Did seem defensible: so you left him.
Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong
To hold your honour more precise and nice
With others than with him! let them alone :
The marshal and the archbishop are strong :
Had my sweet Harry had but half their numbers,
To-day might I, hanging on Hotspur's neck,
Have talk'd of Monmouth's grave.
North.
Beshrew your heart,
Fair daughter, you do draw my spirits from me
With new lamenting ancient oversights.
But I must go and meet with danger there,
Or it will seek me in another place
And find me worse provided.
Lady N.
40
O, fly to Scotland,
50
Till that the nobles and the armed commons
Have of their puissance made a little taste.
Lady P. If they get ground and vantage of the king,
Then join you with them, like a rib of steel,
To make strength stronger; but, for all our loves,
First let them try themselves. So did your son ;
He was so suffer'd: so came I a widow;
And never shall have length of life enough
To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes,
32
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven,
For recordation to my noble husband.
North. Come, come, go in with me. 'Tis with my mind
As with the tide swell'd up unto his height
That makes a still-stand, running neither way :
Fain would I go to meet the archbishop,
But many thousand reasons hold me back.
I will resolve for Scotland: there am I,
Till time and vantage crave my company.
60
[Exeunt.
SCENE IV. London. The Boar's-head Tavern in Eastcheap.
Enter two Drawers.
First Draw. What the devil hast thou brought there?
apple-johns? thou knowest Sir John cannot endure an
apple-john.
Sec. Draw. Mass, thou sayest true. The prince once set a
dish of apple-johns before him, and told him there were five
more Sir Johns, and, putting off his hat, said 'I will now
take my leave of these six dry, round, old, withered knights.'
It angered him to the heart: but he hath forgot that. 8
First Draw. Why, then, cover, and set them down and
see if thou canst find out Sneak's noise; Mistress Tearsheet
would fain hear some music. Dispatch: the room where
they supped is too hot; they'll come in straight.
:
Sec. Draw. Sirrah, here will be the prince and Master
Poins anon; and they will put on two of our jerkins and
aprons; and Sir John must not know of it: Bardolph hath
brought word.
First Draw. By the mass, here will be old Utis: it will be
an excellent stratagem.
Sec. Draw. I'll see if I can find out Sneak.
Enter Hostess and DOLL TEARSHEET.
18
[Exit.
Host. I' faith, sweetheart, methinks now you are in an
excellent good temperality: your pulsidge beats as extra-
SCENE IV. KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
33
ordinarily as heart would desire; and your colour, I warrant
you, is as red as any rose, in good truth, la! But, i' faith,
you have drunk too much canaries; and that 's a marvellous
searching wine, and it perfumes the blood ere one can say
'What's this?' How do you now?
Dol. Better than I was: hem!
Host. Why, that's well said; a good heart's worth gold.
Lo, here comes Sir John.
Enter FALSTAFF.
Fal. [Singing] 'When Arthur first in court.'
Drawer]-[Singing] 'And was a worthy king.'
Mistress Doll!
Host. Sick of a calm; yea, good faith.
29
[Exit First
How now,
Fal. So is all her sect; an they be once in a calm, they are
sick.
Dol. You muddy rascal, is that all the comfort you give me?
Fal. You make fat rascals, Mistress Doll.
Dol. Hang yourself, you muddy conger, hang yourself!
Host. By my troth, this is the old fashion; you two never
meet but you fall to some discord: you are both, i' good
truth, as rheumatic as two dry toasts; you cannot one bear
with another's confirmities. What! one must bear, and that
must be you: you are the weaker vessel, as they say, the
emptier vessel.
Dol. Can a weak empty vessel bear such a huge full hogs-
head? there's a whole merchant's venture of Bourdeaux stuff
in him; you have not seen a hulk better stuffed in the hold.
Come, I'll be friends with thee, Jack: thou art going to the
wars; and whether I shall ever see thee again or no, there is
nobody cares.
Re-enter First Drawer.
50
First Draw. Sir, Ancient Pistol's below, and would speak
with you.
Dol. Hang him, swaggering rascal! let him not come
hither it is the foul-mouthed'st rogue in England.
C
34
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT II.
Host. If he swagger, let him not come here: no, by my
faith; I must live among my neighbours; I'll no swaggerers:
I am in good name and fame with the very best: shut the
door ;
there comes no swaggerers here: I have not lived all
this while, to have swaggering now: shut the door, I pray
you.
Fal. Dost thou hear, hostess?
60
Host. Pray ye, pacify yourself, Sir John: there comes no
swaggerers here.
Fal. Dost thou hear? it is mine ancient.
Host. Tilly-fally, Sir John, ne'er tell me your ancient
swaggerer comes not in my doors. I was before Master
Tisick, the debuty, t' other day; and, as he said to me, 'twas
no longer ago than Wednesday last, 'I' good faith, neighbour
Quickly,' says he; Master Dumbe, our minister, was by
then; 'neighbour Quickly,' says he, 'receive those that are
civil; for,' said he, 'you are in an ill name:' now a' said so,
I can tell whereupon; 'for,' says he, 'you are an honest
woman, and well thought on; therefore take heed what
guests you receive: receive,' says he, 'no swaggering com-
panions.' There comes none here: you would bless you to
hear what he said no, I'll no swaggerers.
76
Fal. He's no swaggerer, hostess; a tame cheater, i' faith;
you may stroke him as gently as a puppy greyhound: he'll not
swagger with a Barbary hen, if her feathers turn back in any
show of resistance. Call him up, drawer. [Exit First Drawer.
Host. Cheater, call you him? I will bar no honest man my
house, nor no cheater: but I do not love swaggering, by my
troth; I am the worse, when one says swagger: feel, masters,
how I shake; look you, I warrant you.
Dol. So you do, hostess.
Host. Do I? yea, in very truth, do I, an 'twere an aspen
leaf: I cannot abide swaggerers.
Enter PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and Page.
Pist. God save you, Sir John!
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
35
Fal. Welcome, Ancient Pistol. Here, Pistol, I charge you
with a cup of sack: do you discharge upon mine hostess. 90
Host. Come, I'll drink no more than will do me good, for
no man's pleasure, I.
Pist. Then to you, Mistress Dorothy; I will charge you.
Dol. Charge me! I scorn you, scurvy companion. What!
you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen mate! Away,
you mouldy rogue, away!
Pist. I know you, Mistress Dorothy.
Dol. Away, you cut-purse rascal! you filthy bung, away!
by this wine, I'll thrust my knife in your mouldy chaps, an
you play the saucy cuttle with me. Away, you bottle-ale
rascal! you basket-hilt stale juggler, you! Since when, I
pray you, sir? God's light, with two points on your
shoulder? much!
103
Pist. God let me not live, but I will murder your ruff for
this.
Fal. No more, Pistol; I would not have you go off here:
discharge yourself of our company, Pistol.
Host. No, good Captain Pistol; not here, sweet captain.
Dol. Captain! thou abominable damned cheater, art thou
not ashamed to be called captain? An captains were of my
mind, they would truncheon you out, for taking their names
upon you before you have earned them. You a captain!
you slave, for what? He a captain! hang him, rogue! he
lives upon mouldy stewed prunes and dried cakes.
captain! God's light, these villains will make the word as
odious as the word 'occupy ;' which was an excellent good
word before it was ill sorted therefore captains had need
look to 't.
:
Bard. Pray thee, go down, good ancient.
Fal. Hark thee hither, Mistress Doll.
A
120
Pist. Not I: I tell thee what, Corporal Bardolph, I could
tear her I'll be revenged of her.
:
Page. Pray thee, go down.
Pist. I'll see her damned first; to Pluto's damned lake, by
36
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
this hand, to the infernal deep, with Erebus and tortures vile
also. Hold hook and line, say I. Down, down, dogs! down,
faitors! Have we not Hiren here?
Host. Good Captain Peesel, be quiet; 'tis very late, i̇' faith :
I beseek you now, aggravate your choler.
Pist. These be good humours, indeed! Shall pack-horses
And hollow pamper'd jades of Asia,
Which cannot go but thirty mile a-day,
Compare with Cæsars, and with Cannibals,
And Trojan Greeks? nay, rather damn them with
King Cerberus; and let the welkin roar.
Shall we fall foul for toys?
131
Host. By my troth, captain, these are very bitter words.
Bard. Be gone, good ancient: this will grow to a brawl
anon,
Pist. Die men like dogs! give crowns like pins! Have we
not Hiren here?
141
Host. O' my word, captain, there's none such here. What!
do you think I would deny her? For God's sake, be quiet.
Pist. Then feed, and be fat, my fair Calipolis.
Come, gives 's some sack.
'Si fortune me tormente, sperato me contento.'
Fear we broadsides? no, let the fiend give fire:
Give me some sack: and, sweetheart, lie thou there.
[Laying down his sword.
Come we to full points here; and are etceteras nothing?
Fal. Pistol, I would be quiet.
150
Pist. Sweet knight, I kiss thy neif: what! we have seen
the seven stars.
Dol. For God's sake, thrust him down stairs: I cannot
endure such a fustian rascal.
Pist. Thrust him down stairs !
Fal. Quoit him down, Bardolph, like a shove-groat shilling:
nay, an a' do nothing but speak nothing, a' shall be nothing
here.
Bard. Come, get you down stairs.
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
37
161
Pist. What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrue ?
[Snatching up his sword.
Then death rock me asleep, abridge my doleful days!
Why, then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds
Untwine the Sisters Three! Come, Atropos, I say!
Host. Here's goodly stuff toward !
Fal. Give me my rapier, boy.
Dol. I pray thee, Jack, I pray thee, do not draw.
Fal. Get you down stairs. [Drawing, and driving Pistol out.
Host. Here's a goodly tumult ! I'll forswear keeping
house, afore I'll be in these tirrits and frights. So; murder,
I warrant now. Alas, alas! put up your naked weapons, put
up your naked weapons. [Exeunt Pistol and Bardolph.
Dol. I pray thee, Jack, be quiet; the rascal's gone. Ah,
you little valiant villain, you!
173
Host. Are you not hurt i' the groin? methought a' made a
shrewd thrust at your belly.
Re-enter BARDOLPH.
Fal. Have you turned him out o' doors?
Bard. Yea, sir. The rascal's drunk you have hurt him,
sir, i' the shoulder.
Fal. A rascal! to brave me !
Dol. Ah, you sweet little rogue, you!
179
Alas, poor ape, how
face; come on, you
thou sweatest! come, let me wipe thy
chops ah, rogue ! i' faith, I love thee thou art as valorous
as Hector of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times
better than the Nine Worthies: ah, villain!
Fal. A rascally slave! I will toss the rogue in a blanket.
Dol. Do, an thou darest for thy heart.
Enter Music.
Page. The music is come, sir.
Fal. Let them play. Play, sirs. Sit on my knee, Doll. A
rascal bragging slave! the rogue fled from me like quick-
silver.
190
38
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Dol. I' faith, and thou followedst him like a church. Thou
little tidy Bartholomew boar-pig, when wilt thou leave fight-
ing o' days and foining o' nights, and begin to patch up thine
old body for heaven?
Enter, behind, PRINCE HENRY and POINs, disguised.
Fal. Peace, good Doll! do not speak like a death's-head;
do not bid me remember mine end.
Dol. Sirrah, what humour's the prince of?
Fal. A good shallow young fellow a' would have made a
good pantler, a' would ha' chipped bread well.
Dol. They say Poins has a good wit.
200
Fal. He a good wit? hang him, baboon ! his wit's as thick
as Tewksbury mustard; there's no more conceit in him than
is in a mallet.
Dol. Why does the prince love him so, then?
Fal. Because their legs are both of a bigness, and a' plays
at quoits well, and eats conger and fennel, and drinks off
candles' ends for flap-dragons, and rides the wild-mare with
the boys, and jumps upon joined-stools, and swears with a
good grace, and wears his boots very smooth, like unto the
sign of the leg, and breeds no bate with telling of discreet
stories; and such other gambol faculties a' has that show a
weak mind and an able body, for the which the prince admits
him for the prince himself is such another; the weight of a
hair will turn the scales between their avoirdupois.
Prince. Would not this nave of a wheel have his ears cut off?
Look, whether the withered elder hath not his poll clawed
like a parrot.
Fal. Kiss me, Doll.
Prince. Saturn and Venus this year in conjunction! what
says the almanac to that?
220
Poins. And, look, whether the fiery Trigon, his man, be not
lisping to his master's old tables, his note-book, his counsel-
keeper.
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
39
}
Fal. Thou dost give me flattering busses.
Dol. By my troth, I kiss thee with a most constant heart.
Fal. I am old, I am old.
Dol. I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy young
boy of them all.
Fal. What stuff wilt have a kirtle of? I shall receive
money o' Thursday: shalt have a cap to-morrow. A merry
song, come it grows late. Thou 'lt forget me when I am
232
gone.
Dol. By my troth, thou 'lt set me a-weeping, an thou
sayest so: prove that ever I dress myself handsome till thy
return well, hearken at the end.
Fal. Some sack, Francis.
Prince. Anon, anon, sir.
Poins.
[Coming forward.
Fal. Ha! a bastard son of the king's? And art not thou
Poins his brother?
Prince. Why, thou globe of sinful continents, what a life
dost thou lead?
241
Fal. A better than thou: I am a gentleman; thou art a
drawer.
Prince. Very true, sir; and I come to draw you out by the
ears.
Host. O, the Lord preserve thy good grace! by my troth,
welcome to London. Now, the Lord bless that sweet face of
thine! O Jesu, are you come from Wales?
Fal. Thou mad compound of majesty, by this light flesh
and corrupt blood, thou art welcome.
Dol. How, you fat fool! I scorn you.
250
Poins. My lord, he will drive you out of your revenge and
turn all to a merriment, if you take not the heat.
Prince. You candle-mine, you, how vilely did you speak of
me even now before this honest, virtuous, civil gentlewoman!
Host. God's blessing of your good heart! and so she is, by
my troth.
Fal. Didst thou hear me?
40
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Prince. Yea, and you knew me, as you did when you ran
away by Gad's-hill: you knew I was at your back, and
spoke it on purpose to try my patience.
261
Fal. No, no, no; not so; I did not think thou wast
within hearing.
Prince. I shall drive you then to confess the wilful abuse;
and then I know how to handle you.
Fal. No abuse, Hal, o' mine honour; no abuse.
Prince. Not to dispraise me, and call me pantler and
bread-chipper and I know not what?
Fal. No abuse, Hal.
Poins. No abuse ?
270
Fal. No abuse, Ned, i' the world; honest Ned, none. I
dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked might not
fall in love with him; in which doing, I have done the part
of a careful friend and a true subject, and thy father is to
give me thanks for it. No abuse, Hal: none, Ned, none :
no, faith, boys, none.
Prince. See now, whether pure fear and entire cowardice
doth not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to
close with us? is she of the wicked? is thine hostess here of
the wicked? or is thy boy of the wicked? or honest Bardolph,
whose zeal burns in his nose, of the wicked?
Poins. Answer, thou dead elm, answer.
281
Fal. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecoverable;
and his face is Lucifer's privy-kitchen, where he doth
nothing but roast malt-worms. For the boy, there is a good
angel about him; but the devil outbids him too.
Prince. For the women?
Fal. For one of them, I owe her money; and whether she
be damned for that, I know not.
Host. No, I warrant you.
290
Fal. No, I think thou art not; I think thou art quit for
that. Marry, there is another indictment upon thee, for
suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house, contrary to the law ;
for the which I think thou wilt howl.
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
41
Host. All victuallers do so: what's a joint of mutton or
two in a whole Lent?
Prince. You, gentlewoman,-
Dol. What says your grace?
Fal. His grace says that which his flesh rebels against.
[Knocking within.
Host. Who knocks so loud at door? Look to the door
there, Francis.
Enter PETO.
Prince. Peto, how now! what news?
Peto. The king your father is at Westminster;
And there are twenty weak and wearied posts
Come from the north: and, as I came along,
I met and overtook a dozen captains,
Bare-headed, sweating, knocking at the taverns,
301
And asking every one for Sir John Falstaff.
Prince. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame,
So idly to profane the precious time,
310
When tempest of commotion, like the south
Borne with black vapour, doth begin to melt
And drop upon our bare unarmed heads.
Give me my sword and cloak. Falstaff, good night.
[Exeunt Prince Henry, Poins, Peto, and Bardolph.
Fal. [Knocking within] More knocking at the door!
Re-enter BARDOLPH.
How now! what's the matter?
Bard. You must away to court, sir, presently;
A dozen captains stay at door for you.
318
Fal. [To the Page] Pay the musicians, sirrah. Farewell,
hostess; farewell, Doll. You see, my good wenches, how
men of merit are sought after the undeserver may sleep,
when the man of action is called on. Farewell, good wenches :
if I be not sent away post, I will see you again ere I go.
Dol. I cannot speak; if my heart be not ready to burst,-
well, sweet Jack, have a care of thyself.
42
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [AOT III.
Fal. Farewell, farewell. [Exeunt Falstaff and Bardolph.
Host. Well, fare thee well: I have known thee these
twenty nine years, come peascod-time; but an honester and
truer-hearted man,-well, fare thee well.
Bard. [Within] Mistress Tearsheet!
Host. What's the matter?
330
Bard. [Within] Bid Mistress Tearsheet come to my master.
Host. O, run, Doll, run; run, good Doll: come. [She
comes blubbered.] Yea, will you come, Doll?
[Exeunt.
Wonduful
рассад
SCENE I.
ACT III.
Westminster. The palace.
Enter the King in his nightgown, with a Page.
King. Go call the Earls of Surrey and of Warwick;
But, ere they come, bid them o'er-read these letters,
And well consider of them: make good speed. [Exit Page.
How many thousand of my poorest subjects
Are at this hour asleep! O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,
And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
In loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch
A watch-case or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal
up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge
And in the visitation of the winds,
20
10

SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
43
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
With deafening clamour in the slippery clouds,
That, with the hurly, death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude,
And in the calmest and most stillest night
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
30
Enter WARWICK and SURREY.
War. Many good morrows to your majesty!
King. Is it good morrow, lords?
War. 'Tis one o'clock, and past.
King. Why, then, good morrow to you all, my lords.
Have you read o'er the letters that I sent you?
War. We have, my liege.
King. Then you perceive the body of our kingdom
How foul it is; what rank diseases grow,
And with what danger near the heart of it.
War. It is but as a body yet distemper'd;
Which to his former strength may be restored
With good advice and little medicine :
My Lord Northumberland will soon be cool'd.
King. O God! that one might read the book of fate,
And see the revolution of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent,
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
40
Into the sea! and, other times, to see
The beachy girdle of the ocean
50
Too wide for Neptune's hips; how chances mock,
And changes fill the cup of alteration

With divers liquors! O, if this were seen,
The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
What perils past, what crosses to ensue,
44
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Would shut the book, and sit him down and die.
'Tis not ten years gone
Since Richard and Northumberland, great friends,
Did feast together, and in two years after
Were they at wars: it is but eight years since
This Percy was the man nearest my soul,
Who like a brother toil'd in my affairs
And laid his love and life under my foot,
Yea, for my sake, even to the eyes of Richard
Gave him defiance. But which of you was by-
You, cousin Nevil, as I may remember-
When Richard, with his eye brimful of tears,
Then check'd and rated by Northumberland,
Did speak these words, now proved a prophecy?
'Northumberland, thou ladder by the which
My cousin Bolingbroke ascends my throne;'
Though then, God knows, I had no such intent,
But that necessity so bow'd the state
That I and greatness were compell'd to kiss :
'The time shall come,' thus did he follow it,
60
[To Warwick.
'The time will come, that foul sin, gathering head,
Shall break into corruption :' so went on,
Foretelling this same time's condition
And the division of our amity.
War. There is a history in all men's lives,
Figuring the nature of the times deceased ;
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life, which in their seeds
And weak beginnings lie intreasured.
Such things become the hatch and brood of time;
And by the necessary form of this
King Richard might create a perfect guess
That great Northumberland, then false to him,
Would of that seed grow to a greater falseness;
Which should not find a ground to root upon,
70
80
90
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
45
Unless on you.
King.
Are these things then necessities?
Then let us meet them like necessities :
And that same word even now cries out on us :
They say the bishop and Northumberland
Are fifty thousand strong.
It cannot be, my lord ;
War.
Rumour doth double, like the voice and echo,
The numbers of the fear'd. Please it your grace
To go to bed. Upon my soul, my lord,
The powers that you already have sent forth
Shall bring this prize in very easily.
To comfort you the more, I have received
A certain instance that Glendower is dead.
Your majesty hath been this fortnight ill,
And these unseason'd hours perforce must add
Unto your sickness.
King.
I will take your counsel:
And were these inward wars once out of hand,
We would, dear lords, unto the Holy Land.
100
[Exeunt.
SCENE II. Gloucestershire. Before JUSTICE SHALLOW'S
house.
Enter SHALLOW and SILENCE, meeting; MOULDY, SHADOW,
WART, FEEBLE, BULLCALF, a Servant or two with them.
Shal. Come on, come on, come on, sir; give me your hand,
sir, give me your hand, sir: an early stirrer, by the rood!
And how doth my good cousin Silence?
Sil. Good morrow, good cousin Shallow.
Shal. And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow? and your
fairest daughter and mine, my god-daughter Ellen?
Sil. Alas, a black ousel, cousin Shallow !
Shal. By yea and nay, sir, I dare say my cousin William is
become a good scholar he is at Oxford still, is he not?
Sil. Indeed, sir, to my cost.
10
46
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Shal. A' must, then, to the inns o' court shortly. I was
once of Clement's Inn, where I think they will talk of mad
Shallow yet.
Sil. You were called 'lusty Shallow' then, cousin.
Shal. By the mass, I was called any thing; and I would
have done any thing indeed too, and roundly too. There was
I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, and black George
Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele, a Cotswold
man; you had not four such swinge-bucklers in all the inns
o' court again. Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy,
and page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk.
21
Sil. This Sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon about
soldiers?
Shal. The same Sir John, the very same.
:
I see him break
Skogan's head at the court-gate, when a' was a crack not thus
high and the very same day did I fight with one Sampson
Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn. Jesu, Jesu, the
mad days that I have spent! and to see how many of my old
acquaintance are dead !
Sil. We shall all follow, cousin.
30
How a
Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: death, as
the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die.
good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair?
Sil. By my troth, I was not there.
Shal. Death is certain. Is old Double of your town living
yet?
Sil. Dead, sir.
Shal. Jesu, Jesu, dead! a' drew a good bow; and dead!
a' shot a fine shoot: John a Gaunt loved him well, and betted
much money on his head. Dead! a' would have clapped i'
the clout at twelve score; and carried you a forehand shaft
a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would have done
a man's heart good to see. How a score of ewes now? 43
Sil. Thereafter as they be a score of good ewes may be
worth ten pounds.
Shal. And is old Double dead?
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
47
Sil. Here come two of Sir John Falstaff's men, as I think.
Enter BARDOLPH and one with him.
Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you,
which is Justice Shallow ?
Shal. I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this
county, and one of the king's justices of the peace: what is
your good pleasure with me?
52
Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you; my captain,
Sir John Falstaff, a tall gentleman, by heaven, and a most
gallant leader.
Shal. He greets me well, sir. I knew him a good back-
sword man. How doth the good knight? may I ask how my
lady his wife doth ?
Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated than
with a wife ?
60
Shal. It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is well said indeed
too. Better accommodated! it is good; yea, indeed, is it :
good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable.
Accommodated! it comes of 'accommodo:' very good; a
good phrase.
Bard. Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase
call you it? by this good day, I know not the phrase; but I
will maintain the word with my sword to be a soldier-like
word, and a word of exceeding good command, by heaven.
Accommodated; that is, when a man is, as they say, accom-
modated; or when a man is, being, whereby a' may be
thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing.
Shal. It is very just.
Enter FALSTAFF.
Look, here comes good Sir John. Give me your good hand,
give me your worship's good hand: by my troth, you like
well and bear your years very well: welcome, good Sir John.
Fal. I am glad to see you well, good Master Robert
Shallow Master Surecard, as I think?
48
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Shal. No, Sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission
with me.
80
Fal. Good Master Silence, it well befits you should be of
the peace.
Sil. Your good worship is welcome.
Fal. Fie! this is hot weather, gentlemen. Have you pro-
vided me here half a dozen sufficient men.
Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit?
Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you.
Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where 's the roll?
Let me see, let me see, let me see. So, so, so, so, so, so, so :
yea, marry, sir: Ralph Mouldy! Let them appear as I call;
let them do so, let them do so. Let me see; where is Mouldy?
Moul. Here, an 't please you.
92
Shal. What think you, Sir John? a good-limbed fellow;
young, strong, and of good friends.
Fal. Is thy name Mouldy?
Moul. Yea, an 't please you.
Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used.
Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i' faith! things that are
mouldy lack use: very singular good! in faith, well said, Sir
John, very well said.
Fal. Prick him.
100
Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you could have
let me alone my old dame will be undone now for one to do
her husbandry and her drudgery: you need not to have
pricked me; there are other men fitter to go out than I.
Fal. Go to peace, Mouldy; you shall go. Mouldy, it is
time you were spent.
Moul. Spent!
Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside : know you where
you are? For the other, Sir John: let me see: Simon
Shadow !
111
Fal. Yea, marry, let me have him to sit under: he's like
to be a cold soldier.
Shal. Where's Shadow?
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
49
Shad. Here, sir.
Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou?
Shad. My mother's son, sir.
Fal. Thy mother's son like enough, and thy father's
shadow: so the son of the female is the shadow of the
male: it is often so, indeed; but much of the father's
substance !
Shal. Do you like him, Sir John?
121
Fal. Shadow will serve for summer; prick him, for we
have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book.
Shal. Thomas Wart!
Fal. Where 's he?
Wart. Here, sir.
Fal. Is thy name Wart?
Wart. Yea, sir.
Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart.
130
Shal. Shall I prick him down, Sir John?
Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon his
back and the whole frame stands upon pins: prick him no
more.
Shal. Ha, ha, ha! you can do it, sir; you can do it: I
commend you well. Francis Feeble !
Fee. Here, sir.
Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble?
Fee. A woman's tailor, sir.
Shal. Shall I prick him, sir?
140
Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he ’ld ha’
pricked you. Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's
battle as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat?
Fee. I will do my good will, sir: you can have no more.
Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well said, courageous
Feeble! thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove or most
magnanimous mouse. Prick the woman's tailor: well, Master
Shallow; deep, Master Shallow.
Fee. I would Wart might have gone, sir.
149
Fal. I would thou wert a man's tailor, that thou mightst
D
50
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
mend him and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a
private soldier that is the leader of so many thousands : let
that suffice, most forcible Feeble.
Fee. It shall suffice, sir.
Ful. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble. Who is next?
Shal. Peter Bullcalf o' the green!
Ful. Yea, marry, let's see Bullcalf.
Bull. Here, sir.
Fal. 'Fore God, a likely fellow! Come, prick me Bullcalf
till he roar again.
Bull. O Lord! good my lord captain,——
Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked?
Bull. O Lord, sir! I am a diseased man.
Fal. What disease hast thou ?
160
Bull. A cold, sir, a cough, sir, which I caught with ringing
in the king's affairs upon his coronation-day, sir.
Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we will
have away thy cold; and I will take such order that thy
friends shall ring for thee. Is here all?
169
Shal. Here is two more called than your number; you
must have but four here, sir: and so, I pray you, go in with
me to dinner.
Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry
dinner. I am glad to see you, by my troth, Master Shallow.
Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember since we lay all night
in the windmill in Saint George's field?
Fal. No more of that, good Master Shallow, no more of
that.
Shal. Ha! 'twas a merry night. Ha, cousin Silence, that
thou hadst seen that that this knight and I have seen! Ha,
Sir John, said I well?
181
Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow.
Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; in faith,
Sir John, we have our watchword was 'Hem boys!' Come,
let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner: Jesus, the days that we
have seen! Come, come. [Exeunt Falstaff and the Justices.
}
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
51
Bull. Good Master Corporate Bardolph, stand my friend;
and here 's four Harry ten shillings in French crowns for you.
In very truth, sir, I had as lief be hanged, sir, as go: and
yet, for mine own part, sir, I do not care; but rather,
because I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a desire
to stay with my friends; else, sir, I did not care, for mine
own part, so much.
Bard. Go to; stand aside.
:
Moul. And, good master corporal captain, for my old
dame's sake, stand my friend she has nobody to do any
thing about her when I am gone; and she is old, and cannot
help herself you shall have forty, sir.
Bard. Go to; stand aside.
199
Fee. By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once; we
owe God a death; I'll ne'er bear a base mind: an 't be my
destiny, so; an 't be not, so: no man is too good to serve 's
prince; and let it go which way it will, he that dies this
year is quit for the next.
Bard. Well said; thou 'rt a good fellow.
Fee. Faith, I'll bear no base mind.
Re-enter FALSTAFF and the Justices.
Fal. Come, sir, which men shall I have?
Shal. Four of which you please.
Bard. Sir, a word with you: I have three pounds to free
Mouldy and Bullcalf.
Fal. Go to; well.
Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you have?
Fal. Do you choose for me.
210
Shal. Marry, then, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble and Shadow.
Fal. Mouldy and Bullcalf: for you, Mouldy, stay at home
till you are past service: and for your part, Bullcalf, grow
till you come unto it: I will none of you.
Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong: they are
your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the
best.
220
52
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT III.
Fal. Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose a
man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk,
and big assemblance of a man! Give me the spirit, Master
Shallow. Here's Wart; you see what a ragged appearance
it is: a' shall charge you and discharge you with the motion
of a pewterer's hammer, come off and on swifter than he
that gibbets on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-
faced fellow, Shadow; give me this man he presents no
mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim
level at the edge of a penknife. And for a retreat; how
swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor run off! O, give
me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.
caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.
Put me a
233
Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus.
Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So very well: go
to: very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a little,
ean, old, chapt, bald shot. Well said, ' faith, Wart;
thou 'rt a good scab : hold, there's a tester for thee.
Shal. He is not his craft's master; he doth not do it right.
I remember at Mile-end Green, when I lay at Clement's
Inn,—I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's show,—there was
a little quiver fellow, and a' would manage you his piece
thus; and a' would about and about, and come you in and
come you in: 'rah, tah, tah,' would a' say; 'bounce' would
a' say; and away again would a' go, and again would a'
come: I shall ne'er see such a fellow.
you.
Fal. These fellows will do well, Master Shallow. God
keep you, Master Silence: I will not use many words with
Fare you well, gentlemen both: I thank you : I must
a dozen mile to-night. Bardolph, give the soldiers coats. 250
Shal. Sir John, the Lord bless you! God prosper your
affairs! God send us peace! At your return visit our
house; let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure
I will with ye to the court.
Fal. 'Fore God, I would you would, Master Shallow.
Shal. Go to; I have spoke at a word. God keep you. 256
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
53
:
Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. [Exeunt Justices.]
On, Bardolph; lead the men away. [Exeunt Bardolph,
Recruits, &c.] As I return, I will fetch off these justices: I
do see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Lord, Lord, how
subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This same
starved justice hath done nothing but prate to me of the
wildness of his youth, and every third word a lie, duer paid
to the hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him
at Clement's Inn like a man made after supper of a cheese-
paring when a' was naked, he was, for all the world, like a
forked radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it with
a knife a' was so forlorn, that his dimensions to any thick
sight were invincible: a' was the very genius of famine; a'
came ever in the rearward of the fashion, and sung those
tunes to the over-scutched huswives that he heard the
carmen whistle, and sware they were his fancies or his good-
nights. And now is this Vice's dagger become a squire, and
talks as familiarly of John a Gaunt as if he had been sworn
brother to him; and I'll be sworn a' ne'er saw him but once
in the Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head for crowding
among the marshal's men. I saw it, and told John a Gaunt
he beat his own name; for you might have thrust him and all
his apparel into an eel-skin; the case of a treble hautboy was
a mansion for him, a court: and now has he land and beefs.
Well, I'll be acquainted with him, if I return; and it shall
go hard but I will make him a philosopher's two stones to me:
if the young dace be a bait for the old pike, I see no reason in
the law of nature but I may snap at him. Let time shape, and
there an end.
[Exit.
ACT IV.
SCENE I.
Yorkshire. Gaultree Forest.
Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, MOWBRAY,
HASTINGS, and others.
Arch. What is this forest call'd?
Hast. 'Tis Gaultree Forest, an 't shall please your grace.
.
54
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
Arch. Here stand, my lords; and send discoverers forth
To know the numbers of our enemies.
Hast. We have sent forth already.
Arch.
'Tis well done.
My friends and brethren in these great affairs,
I must acquaint you that I have received
New-dated letters from Northumberland;
Their cold intent, tenour and substance, thus:
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers
As might hold sortance with his quality,
The which he could not levy; whereupon
He is retired, to ripe his growing fortunes,
To Scotland and concludes in hearty prayers
That your attempts may overlive the hazard
And fearful meeting of their opposite.
Mowb. Thus do the hopes we have in him touch ground
And dash themselves to pieces.
10
Hast.
Enter a Messenger.
Now, what news?
20
Mess. West of this forest, scarcely off a mile,
In goodly form comes on the enemy;
And, by the ground they hide, I judge their number
Upon or near the rate of thirty thousand.
Mowb. The just proportion that we gave them out.
Let us sway on and face them in the field.
Arch. What well-appointed leader fronts us here ?
Enter WESTMORELAND.
Mowb. I think it is my Lord of Westmoreland.
West. Health and fair greeting from our general,
The prince, Lord John and Duke of Lancaster.
Arch. Say on, my Lord of Westmoreland, in peace :
What doth concern your coming?
West.
Unto your grace do I in chief address
Then, my lord,
30
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
55
The substa ce of my speech. If that rebellion
Came like itself, in base and abject routs,
Led on by bloody youth, guarded with rags,
And countenanced by boys and beggary,
I say, if damn'd commotion so appear'd,
In his true, native and most proper shape,
You, reverend father, and these noble lords
Had not been here, to dress the ugly form
Of base and bloody insurrection
With your fair honours. You, lord archbishop,
Whose see is by a civil peace maintain❜d,
Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touch'd,
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutor❜d,
Whose white investments figure innocence,
The dove and very blessed spirit of peace,
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself
Out of the speech of peace that bears such grace,
Into the harsh and boisterous tongue of war;
Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,
Your pens to lances and your tongue divine
To a loud trumpet and a point of war?
Arch. Wherefore do I this? so the question stands.
Briefly to this end we are all diseased,
And with our surfeiting and wanton hours
Have brought ourselves into a burning fever,
And we must bleed for it; of which disease
Our late king, Richard, being infected, died.
But, my most noble Lord of Westmoreland,
I take not on me here as a physician,
Nor do I as an enemy to peace
Troop in the throngs of military men;
But rather show awhile like fearful war,
To diet rank minds sick of happiness
And purge the obstructions which begin to stop
Our very veins of life. Hear me more plainly.
I have in equal balance justly weigh'd
1
40
50
60
56
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
What wrongs our arms may do, what wrongs we suffer,
And find our griefs heavier than our offences.
We see which way the stream of time doth run,
And are enforced from our most quiet there
By the rough torrent of occasion;
And have the summary of all our griefs,
When time shall serve, to show in articles?
Which long ere this we offer'd to the king,
And might by no suit gain our audience :
When we are wrong'd and would unfold our griefs,
We are denied access unto his person
70
Even by those men that most have done us wrong.
The dangers of the days but newly gone,
Whose memory is written on the earth
With yet appearing blood, and the examples
Of every minute's instance, present now,
Hath put us in these ill-beseeming arms,
Not to break peace or any branch of it,
But to establish here a peace indeed,
Concurring both in name and quality.
West. When ever yet was your appeal denied?
Wherein have you been galled by the king?
What peer hath been suborn'd to grate on you,
That you should seal this lawless bloody book
Of forged rebellion with a seal divine
And consecrate commotion's bitter edge?
Arch. My brother general, the commonwealth,
To brother born an household cruelty,
I make my quarrel in particular.
West. There is no need of any such redress
Or if there were, it not belongs to you.
;
ཀ
Mowb. Why not to him in part, and to us all
That feel the bruises of the days before.
And suffer the condition of these times
To lay a heavy and unequal hand
Upon our honours ?
80°
90
100
:
SCENE.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
57
?
West
O, my good Lord Mowbray,
Construe the times to their necessities,
And you shall say indeed, it is the time,
And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet for your part, it not appears to me
Either from the king or in the present time--
That you should have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on: were you not restored
To all the Duke of Norfolk's signories,
Your noble and right well remember'd father's?
Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost,
That need to be revived and breathed in me?
The king that loved him, as the state stood then,
Was force perforce compell'd to banish him :
And then that Henry Bolingbroke and he,
Being mounted and both roused in their seats,
Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,
Their armed staves in charge, their beavers down,
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel
And the loud trumpet blowing them together,
Then, then, when there was nothing could have stay'd
My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,-
O, when the king did throw his warder down,
His own life hung upon the staff he threw ;
Then threw he down himself and all their lives
That by indictment and by dint of sword
Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.
110
120
129
West. You speak, Lord Mowbray, now you know not what.
The Earl of Hereford was reputed then
In England the most valiant gentleman :
Who knows on whom fortune would then have smiled?
But if your father had been victor there,
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry :
For all the country in a general voice
Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers and love
Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on
$


58
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
And bless'd and graced indeed, more than the king.
But this is mere digression from my purpose.
Here come I from our princely general
To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace
That he will give you audience; and wherein
It shall appear that your demands are just,
You shall enjoy them, every thing set off
That might so much as think you enemies.
Mowb. But he hath forced us to compel this offer ;
And it proceeds from policy, not love.
West. Mowbray, you overween to take it so ;
This offer comes from mercy, not from fear :
For, lo! within a ken our army lies,
Upon mine honour, all too confident
To give admittance to a thought of fear.
Our battle is more full of names than yours,
Our men more perfect in the use of arms,
Our armour all as strong, our cause the best ;
Then reason wills our hearts should be as good :
Say you not then our offer is compell'd.
Mowb. Well, by my will we shall admit no parley.
West. That argues but the shame of your offence:
A rotten case abides no handling.
Hast. Hath the Prince John a full commission,
In very ample virtue of his father,
To hear and absolutely to determine
Of what conditions we shall stand upon?
West. That is intended in the general's name :
I muse you make so slight a question.
140
150
160
Arch. Then take, my lord of Westmoreland, this schedule,
For this contains our general grievances :
Each several article herein redress'd,
All members of our cause, both here and hence,
That are insinew'd to this action,
Acquitted by a true substantial form
And present execution of our wills
170
SCENE 1.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
59
To us and to our purposes confirmed,
We come within our awful banks again
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.
West. This will I show the general. Please you, lords,
In sight of both our battles we may meet;
And either end in peace, which God so frame !
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.
Arch.
My lord, we will do so.
180
[Exit West.
Mowb. There is a thing within my bosom tells me
That no conditions of our peace can stand.
Hast. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace
Upon such large terms and so absolute
As our conditions shall consist upon,
Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
Mowb. Yea, but our valuation shall be such
That every slight and false-derived cause,
Yea, every idle, nice and wanton reason
Shall to the king taste of this action;
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,
We shall be winnow'd with so rough a wind
That even our corn shall seem as light as chaff
And good from bad find no partition.
Arch. No, no, my lord. Note this; the king is weary
Of dainty and such picking grievances :
For he hath found to end one doubt by death
Revives two greater in the heirs of life,
And therefore will he wipe his tables clean
And keep no tell-tale to his memory
That may repeat and history his loss
To new remembrance; for full well he knows
He cannot so precisely weed this land
As his misdoubts present occasion:
His foes are so enrooted with his friends
That, plucking to unfix an enemy,
He doth unfasten so and shake a friend:
190
200
60
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
So that this land, like an offensive wife
That hath enraged him on to offer strokes,
As he is striking, holds his infant up
And hangs resolved correction in the arm
That was uprear'd to execution.
Hast. Besides, the king hath wasted all his rods
On late offenders, that he now doth lack
The very instrument of chastisement :
So that his power, like to a fangless lion,
May offer, but not hold.
Arch.
'Tis very true :
And therefore be assured, my good lord marshal,
If we do now make our atonement well,
Our peace will, like a broken limb united,
Grow stronger for the breaking.
Могов.
Be it so.
Here is return'd my Lord of Westmoreland.
Re-enter WESTMORELAND.
210
220
West. The prince is here at hand pleaseth your lordship
To meet his grace just distance 'tween our armies.
Mowb. Your grace of York, in God's name, then, set for-
ward.
Arch. Before, and greet his grace: my lord, we come.
SCENE II. Another part of the forest.
[Exeunt.
Enter, from one side, MOWBRAY, attended; afterwards the
ARCHBISHOP, HASTINGS, and others: from the other side,
PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, and WESTMORELAND ;
Officers, and others with them.
Lan. You are well encounter'd here, my cousin Mowbray :
Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop;
And so to you, Lord Hastings, and to all.
My Lord of York, it better show'd with you
When that your flock, assembled by the bell
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
61
Encircled you to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text
Than now to see you here an iron man,
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to sword and life to death.
That man that sits within a monarch's heart,
And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,
Would he abuse the countenance of the king,
Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach
In shadow of such greatness! With you, lord bishop,
It is even so. Who hath not heard it spoken
How deep you were within the books of God?
To us the speaker in his parliament ;
To us the imagined voice of God himself;
The very opener and intelligencer
Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven
And our dull workings. O, who shall believe
But you misuse the reverence of your place,
Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,
As a false favourite doth his prince's name,
In deeds dishonourable? You have ta'en up,
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The subjects of his substitute, my father,
And both against the peace of heaven and him
Have here up-swarm'd them.
Arch.
10
20
Good my Lord of Lancaster, 30
I am not here against your father's peace;
But, as I told my Lord of Westmoreland,
The time misorder'd doth, in common sense,
Crowd us and crush us to this monstrous form,
To hold our safety up. I sent your grace
The parcels and particulars of our grief,
The which hath been with scorn shoved from the court,
Whereon this Hydra son of war is born;
Whose dangerous eyes may well be charmed asleep
With grant of our most just and right desires,
40
62
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
And true obedience, of this madness cured,
Stoop tamely to the foot of majesty.
Mowb. If not, we ready are to try our fortunes
To the last man.
Hast.
And though we here fall down,
We have supplies to second our attempt:
If they miscarry, theirs shall second them;
And so success of mischief shall be born
And heir from heir shall hold this quarrel up
Whiles England shall have generation.
Lan. You are too shallow, Hastings, much too shallow, 50
To sound the bottom of the after-times.
West. Pleaseth your grace to answer them directly
How far forth you do like their articles.
Lan. I like them all, and do allow them well,
And swear here, by the honour of my blood,
My father's purposes have been mistook,
And some about him have too lavishly
Wrested his meaning and authority.
My lord, these griefs shall be with speed redress'd ;
Upon my soul, they shall. If this may please you,
Discharge your powers unto their several counties,
As we will ours: and here between the armies
Let's drink together friendly and embrace,
That all their eyes may bear those tokens home
Of our restored love and amity.
Arch. I take your princely word for these redresses.
Lan. I give it you, and will maintain my word :
And thereupon I drink unto your grace.
Hast. Go, captain, and deliver to the army
This news of peace: let them have pay, and part :
I know it will well please them. Hie thee, captain.
60
70
[Exit Officer.
Arch. To you, my noble Lord of Westmoreland.
West. I pledge your grace; and, if ye knew what pains
I have bestow'd to breed this present peace,
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
63
You would drink freely but my love to ye
Shall show itself more openly hereafter.
Arch. I do not doubt you.
West.
I am glad of it.
Health to my lord and gentle cousin, Mowbray.
Mowb. You wish me health in very happy season ;
For I am, on the sudden, something ill.
Arch. Against ill chances men are ever merry ;
But heaviness foreruns the good event.
80
West. Therefore be merry, coz; since sudden sorrow
Serves to say thus, 'some good thing comes to-morrow.'
Arch. Believe me, I am passing light in spirit.
Mowb. So much the worse, if your own rule be true.
[Shouts within.
Lan. The word of peace is render'd: hark, how they shout!
Mowb. This had been cheerful after victory.
Arch. A peace is of the nature of a conquest ;
For then both parties nobly are subdued,
And neither party loser.
Lan.
90
Go, my lord,
[Exit Westmoreland.
And let our army be discharged too.
And, good my lord, so please you, let your trains
March by us, that we may peruse the men
We should have coped withal.
Arch.
Go, good Lord Hastings,
[Exit Hastings.
And, ere they be dismissed, let them march by.
Lan. I trust, lords, we shall lie to-night together.
Re-enter WESTMORELAND.
Now, cousin, wherefore stands our army still?
West. The leaders, having charge from you to stand,
Will not go off until they hear you speak.
Lan. They know their duties.
Re-enter HASTINGS.
Hast. My lord, our army is dispersed already :
100
64
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Like youthful steers unyoked, they take their courses
East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up,
Each hurries toward his home and sporting-place.
West. Good tidings, my Lord Hastings; for the which
I do arrest thee, traitor, of high treason:
And you, lord archbishop, and you, lord Mowbray,
Of capital treason I attach you both.
Mowb. Is this proceeding just and honourable?
West. Is your assembly so?
Arch. Will you thus break your faith?
Lan.
110
I pawn'd thee none:
I promised you redress of these same grievances
Whereof you did complain; which, by mine honour,
I will perform with a most Christian care.
But for you, rebels, look to taste the due
Meet for rebellion and such acts as yours.
Most shallowly did you these arms commence,
Fondly brought here and foolishly sent hence.
Strike up our drums, pursue the scatter'd stray:
God, and not we, hath safely fought to-day.
Some guard these traitors to the block of death,
Treason's true bed and yielder up of breath.
SCENE III. Another part of the forest."
120
[Exeunt.
Alarum. Excursions. Enter FALSTAFF and COLEVILE,
meeting.
Fal. What's your name, sir? of what condition are you,
and of what place, I pray ?
Cole. I am a knight, sir; and my name is Colevile of the
dale.
Ful. Well, then, Colevile is your name, a knight is your
degree, and your place the dale: Colevile shall be still your
name, a traitor your degree, and the dungeon your place, a
place deep enough; so shall you be still Colevile of the dale.
SCENE III.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
65
Cole. Are not you Sir John Falstaff?
9
Fal. As good a man as he, sir, whoe'er I am. Do ye yield,
sir? or shall I sweat for you? If I do sweat, they are the
drops of thy lovers, and they weep for thy death: therefore
rouse up fear and trembling, and do observance to my mercy.
Cole. I think you are Sir John Falstaff, and in that thought
yield me.
Fal. I have a whole school of tongues in this belly of mine,
and not a tongue of them all speaks any other word but my
name. An I had but a belly of any indifferency, I were
simply the most active fellow in Europe: my womb, my
womb, my womb, undoes me. Here comes our general.
Enter PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, WESTMORELAND,
BLUNT, and others.
Lan. The heat is past; follow no further now:
Call in the powers, good cousin Westmoreland.
20
[Exit Westmoreland.
Now, Falstaff, where have you been all this while?
When every thing is ended, then you come :
These tardy tricks of yours will, on my life,
One time or other break some gallows' back.
Fal. I would be sorry, my lord, but it should be thus:
I never knew yet but rebuke and check was the reward of
valour. Do you think me a swallow, an arrow, or a bullet?
have I, in my poor and old motion, the expedition of thought?
I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possi-
bility; I have foundered nine score and odd posts: and here,
travel-tainted as I am, have, in my pure and immaculate
valour, taken Sir John Colevile of the dale, a most furious
knight and valorous enemy. But what of that? he saw me,
and yielded; that I may justly say, with the hook-nosed
fellow of Rome, 'I came, saw, and overcame.'
37
Lan. It was more of his courtesy than your deserving.
Fal. I know not here he is, and here I yield him : and I
beseech your grace, let it be booked with the rest of this
E
66
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
day's deeds; or, by the Lord, I will have it in a particular
ballad else, with mine own picture on the top on 't, Colevile
kissing my foot: to the which course if I be enforced, if you
do not all show like gilt twopences to me, and I in the clear
sky of fame o'ershine you as much as the full moon doth the
cinders of the element, which show like pins' heads to her,
believe not the word of the noble: therefore let me have
right, and let desert mount.
Lan. Thine 's too heavy to mount.
Fal. Let it shine, then.
Lan. Thine 's too thick to shine.
50
Fal. Let it do something, my good lord, that may do me
good, and call it what you will.
Lan. Is thy name Colevile?
Cole. It is, my lord.
Lan. A famous rebel art thou, Colevile.
Fal. And a famous true subject took him.
Cole. I am, my lord, but as my betters are
That led me hither: had they been ruled by me
You should have won them dearer than you have.
60
Fal. I know not how they sold themselves: but thou, like
a kind fellow, gavest thyself away gratis; and I thank thee
for thee.
Re-enter WESTMORELAND
Lan. Now, have you left pursuit ?
West. Retreat is made and execution stay'd.
Lan. Send Colevile with his confederates
To York, to present execution :
Blunt, lead him hence; and see you guard him sure.
[Exeunt Blunt and others with Colevile.
And now dispatch we toward the court, my lords:
I hear the king my father is sore sick :
Our news shall go before us to his majesty
Which, cousin, you shall bear to comfort him,
And we with sober speed will follow you.
70
3
SCENE III.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. 11.
67
Ful. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go
Through Gloucestershire: and, when you come to court,
Stand my good lord, pray, in your good report.
Lan. Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition,
Shall better speak of you than you deserve.

78
[Exeunt all but Falstaff.
Fal. I would you had but the wit: 'twere better than
your dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded
boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh;
but that's no marvel, he drinks no wine. There's never
none of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin
drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-
meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness: they
are generally fools and cowards; which some of us should be
too, but for inflammation. A good sherris-sack hath a two-
fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me
there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapours which
environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of
nimble fiery and delectable shapes; which, delivered o'er to
the voice, the tongue, which is the birth, becomes excellent
wit.
The second property of your excellent sherris is, the
warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left
the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity
and cowardice; but the sherris warms it and makes it course
from the inwards to the parts extreme: it illumineth the
face, which as a beacon gives warning to all the rest of this
little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners
and inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the
heart, who, great and puffed up with this retinue, doth any
deed of courage; and this valour comes of sherris. So that
skill in the weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-
work; and learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil,
till sack commences it and sets it in act and use. Hereof
comes it that Prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he
did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile
and bare land, manured, husbanded and tilled with excellent
68
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
endeavour of drinking good and good store of fertile sherris,
that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand
sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should
be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.
Enter BARDOLPH.
How now, Bardolph ?
Bard. The army is discharged all and gone.
113
Fal. Let them go. I'll through Gloucestershire; and there
will I visit Master Robert Shallow, esquire: I have him
already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and
shortly will I seal with him. Come away.
SCENE IV.
Westminster.
[Exeunt.
The Jerusalem Chamber.
Enter the KING, the PRINCES THOMAS OF CLARENCE and
HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, and others.
King. Now, lords, if God doth give successful end
To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,
We will our youth lead on to higher fields.
And draw no swords but what are sanctified
Our navy is address'd, our power collected,
Our substitutes in absence well invested,
And every thing lies level to our wish:
Only, we want a little personal strength;
And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot,
Come underneath the yoke of government.
War. Both which we doubt not but your majesty
Shall soon enjoy.
10
King.
Humphrey, my son of Gloucester,
Where is the prince your brother?
Glou. I think he's gone to hunt, my lord, at Windsor.
King. And how accompanied?
Glou.
I do not know, my lord.
King. Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with him?
Glou. No, my good lord; he is in presence here.
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
69
Teeky q
a belo
Clar. What would my lord and father?
King. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence
How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?
He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas;
Thou hast a better place in his affection
Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy,
And noble offices thou mayst effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,
Between his greatness and thy other brethren :
Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love,
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace
By seeming cold or careless of his will;
For he is gracious, if he be observed :
He hath a tear for pity and a hand
Open as day for melting charity :
Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he 's flint,
As humorous as winter and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
His temper, therefore, must be well observed :
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth ;
But, being moody, give him line and scope,
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,
Confound themselves with working.
And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends,
A hoop of gold to bind thy brothers in,
That the united vessel of their blood,
Mingled with venom of suggestion-
As, force perforce, the age will pour it in-
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong
As aconitum or rash gunpowder.
Learn this, Thomas,
20
30
40
Clar. I shall observe him with all care and love.
49
King. Why art thou not at Windsor with him, Thomas?
Clar. He is not there to-day; he dines in London.
King. And how accompanied? canst thou tell that ?
Clar. With Poins, and other his continual followers.
70
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
H
King. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds ;
And he, the noble image of my youth,
Is overspread with them: therefore my grief
Stretches itself beyond the hour of death :
The blood weeps from my heart when I do shape
In forms imaginary the unguided days
And rotten times that you shall look upon
When I am sleeping with my ancestors.
For when his headstrong riot hath no curb,
When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,
When means and lavish manners meet together,
O, with what wings shall his affections fly
Towards fronting peril and opposed decay !
War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite :
The prince but studies his companions
Like a strange tongue, wherein, to gain the language,
'Tis needful that the most immodest word
Be look'd upon and learn'd; which once attain'd,
Your highness knows, comes to no further use
But to be known and hated. So, like gross terms,
The prince will in the perfectness of time
Cast off his followers; and their memory
Shall as a pattern or a measure live,
By which his grace must mete the lives of others,
Turning past evils to advantages.
King. 'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb
In the dead carrion.
Enter WESTMORELAND.
69

70
Who
Who's here?
Westmoreland?
West. Health to my sovereign, and new happiness
Added to that that I am to deliver!
Prince John your son doth kiss your grace's hand:
Mowbray, the Bishop Scroop, Hastings and all
Are brought to the correction of your law;
There is not now a rebel's sword unsheathed,
-80
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
71
But Peace puts forth her olive every where.
The manner how this action hath been borne
Here at more leisure may your highness read,
With every course in his particular.
King. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird,
Which ever in the haunch of winter sings
The lifting up of day.
Enter HARCOURT.
Look, here's more news.
Har. From enemies heaven keep your majesty ;
And, when they stand against you, may they fall
Aş those that I am come to tell you of!
The Earl Northumberland and the Lord Bardolph,
With a great power of English and of Scots,
Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown :
The manner and true order of the fight
This packet, please it you, contains at large. +
90
100
King. And wherefore should these good news make me
sick?
Will Fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in foulest letters ?
She either gives a stomach and no food ;
Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast
And takes away the stomach; such are the rich,
That have abundance and enjoy it not.
I should rejoice now at this happy news;
And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy :
O me! come near me; now I am much ill.
Glou. Comfort, your majesty !
Clar.
O my royal father !
West. My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself, look up.
War. Be patient, princes; you do know, these fits
Are with his highness very ordinary.
Stand from him, give him air; he'll straight be well.
Clar. No, no, he cannot long hold out these pangs :
110
72
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
The incessant care and labour of his mind
Hath wrought the mure that should confine it in
So thin that life looks through and will break out.
Glou. The people fear me; for they do observe
Unfather'd heirs and loathly births of nature :
The seasons change their manners, as the year
Had found some months asleep and leap'd them over.
Clar. The river hath thrice flow'd, no ebb between ;
And the old folk, time's doting chronicles,
Say it did so a little time before
That our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.
War. Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers.
Glou. This apoplexy will certain be his end.
King. I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence
Into some other chamber: softly, pray.
120
130
[Exeunt.
SCENE V. Another chamber.
The KING lying on a bed: CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK,
and others in attendance.
King. Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends;
Unless some dull and favourable hand
Will whisper music to my weary spirit.
War. Call for the music in the other room.
King. Set me the crown upon my pillow here.
Clar. His eye is hollow, and he changes much.
War. Less noise, less noise!
Prince.
Enter PRINCE HENRY.
Who saw the Duke of Clarence?
Clar. I am here, brother, full of heaviness.
Prince. How now ! rain within doors, and none abroad !
How doth the king?
10
Glou. Exceeding ill.
Prince.
Heard he the good news yet?
SCENE V.]
73
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Tell it him.
Glou. He alter'd much upon the hearing it.
Prince. If he be sick with joy, he 'll recover without physic.
War. Not so much noise, my lords: sweet prince, speak
low;
The king your father is disposed to sleep.
Clar. Let us withdraw into the other room.
War. Will 't please your grace to go along with us?
Prince. No; I will sit and watch here by the king.
20
[Exeunt all but the Prince.
Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow,
Being so troublesome a bedfellow?
O polish'd perturbation! golden care!
That keep'st the ports of slumber open wide
To many a watchful night! sleep with it now!
Yet not so sound and half so deeply sweet
As he whose brow with homely biggen bound
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,
That scalds with safety. By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather which stirs not :
Did he suspire, that light and weightless down
Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my father!
This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep
That from this golden rigol hath divorced
So many English kings. Thy due from me
Is tears and heavy sorrows of the blood,
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously:
My due from thee is this imperial crown,
Which, as immediate from thy place and blood,
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it sits,
30
40
Which God shall guard: and put the world's whole strength
Into one giant arm, it shall not force
This lineal honour from me: this from thee
74
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me.
King. Warwick! Gloucester ! Clarence!
[Exit.
Re-enter WARWICK, GLOUCESTER, CLARENCE, and the rest.
Clar. Doth the king call?
49
War. What would your majesty? How fares your grace?
King. Why did you leave me here alone, my lords?
Clar. We left the prince my brother here, my liege,
Who undertook to sit and watch by you.
King. The Prince of Wales! Where is he? let me see him:
He is not here.
War. This door is open; he is gone this way.
Glou. He came not through the chamber where we stay'd.
King. Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow?
War. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here.
King. The prince hath ta'en it hence: go, seek him out. 60
Is he so hasty that he doth suppose
My sleep my death?
Find him, my Lord of Warwick; chide him hither.
This part of his conjoins with my disease,
[Exit Warwick.
And helps to end me. See, sons, what things you are!
How quickly nature falls into revolt
When gold becomes her object!
For this the foolish over-careful fathers
Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care,
Their bones with industry ;
For this they have engross'd and piled up
The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved gold;
For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts and martial exercises:
When, like the bee, culling from every flower
The virtuous sweets,
Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey,
We bring it to the hive, and, like the bees,
Are murdered for our pains. This bitter taste
Yield his engrossments to the ending father.
70
80
SCENE V.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
75
Re-enter WARWICK.
Now, where is he that will not stay so long
Till his friend sickness hath determined me?
War. My lord, I found the prince in the next room,
Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks,
With such a deep demeanour in great sorrow
That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood,
Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife
With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.
King. But wherefore did he take away the crown?
Re-enter PRINCE HENRY.
Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry.
Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.
90
[Exeunt Warwick and the rest.
Prince. I never thought to hear you speak again.
King. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that thought :
I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.
Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair

That thou wilt needs invest thee with my honours
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!
Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little for my cloud of dignity
Is held from falling with so weak a wind
100
That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.
Thou hast stolen that which after some few hours
Were thine without offence; and at my death
Thou hast seal'd up my expectation :
Thy life did manifest thou lovedst me not,
And thou wilt have me die assured of it.
Thou hidest a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,
Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart,
To stab at half an hour of my life.
What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour?
110
Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself,
76
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse
Be drops of balm to sanctify thy head:
Only compound me with forgotten dust;
Give that which gave thee life unto the worms.
Pluck down my officers, break my decrees;
For now a time is come to mock at form:
Harry the Fifth is crown'd: up, vanity!
Down, royal state! all you sage counsellors, hence !
And to the English court assemble now,
From every region, apes of idleness!
Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your scum :
Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance,
Revel the night, rob, murder, and commit
The oldest sins the newest kind of ways?
Be happy, he will trouble you no more;
England shall double gild his treble guilt,
England shall give him office, honour, might;
For the fifth Harry from curb'd license plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.
O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
When that my care could not withhold thy riots,
What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,
Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!
Prince. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my tears,
The moist impediments unto my speech,
I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke
Ere you with grief had spoke and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your crown;
And He that wears the crown immortally
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more
Than as your honour and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
120
130
140
SCENE V.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
77
Which my most inward true and duteous spirit
Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending.
God witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,
O, let me in my present wildness die
And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed !
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,
I spake unto this crown as having sense,
Hath fed upon the body of my father;
*
And thus upbraided it: 'The care on thee depending
Therefore, thou best of gold art worst of gold :
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,
Preserving life in medicine potable ;
But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,
Hast eat thy bearer up.' Thus, my most royal liege,
Accusing it, I put it on my head,
To try with it, as with an enemy
That had before my face murder'd my father,
The quarrel of a true inheritor.
150
160
But if it did infect my blood with joy,
170
Or swell my thoughts to auy strain of pride:
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine
Did with the least affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to the might of it,
Let God for ever keep it from my head
And make me as the poorest vassal is
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
King. O my son,
God put it in thy mind to take it hence,
That thou mightst win the more thy father's love,
180
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it!
Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
78
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
That ever I shall breathe. God knows, my son,
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways
I met this crown; and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head.
To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation ;
For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me
190
But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid
My gain of it by their assistances;
Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears
Thou see'st with peril I have answered;
For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument and now my death
:
Changes the mode; for what in me was purchased,
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;
So thou the garland wear'st successively.
Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green ;
And all my foes which thou must make thy friends,
Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanced
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displaced: which to avoid,
V
I cut some off; and had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land,
Lest rest and lying still might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels ; that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days.
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O God forgive ;
200
210
SCENE V.1 KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
79
And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
Prince. My gracious liege,
You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right must my possession be :
Which I with more than with a common pain
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.
Enter LORD JOHN OF LAncaster.
220
King. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster.
Lan. Health, peace, and happiness to my royal father!
King. Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, son John ;
But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare wither'd trunk: upon thy sight
My worldly business makes a period.
Where is my Lord of Warwick?
Prince.
My Lord of Warwick !
Enter WARWICK, and others.
King. Doth any name particular belong
Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?
War. 'Tis call'd Jerusalem, my noble lord.
King. Laud be to God! even there my life must end.
It hath been prophesied to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerusalem ;
Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land :
But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie ;
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.
230
240
[Exeunt.
ACT V.
SCENE I. Gloucestershire. SHALLOW's house.
Enter SHALLOW, FALSTAFF, BARDOLPH, and Page.
Shal. By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away to-night.
What, Davy, I say!
Fal. You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.
80
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Shal. I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused;
excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve;
you shall not be excused. Why, Davy!
Davy. Here, sir.
Enter DAVY.
Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, Davy, let me see, Davy; let me
see, Davy; let me see: yea, marry, William cook, bid him
come hither. Sir John, you shall not be excused.
10
Davy. Marry, sir, thus; those precepts cannot be served:
and, again, sir, shall we sow the headland with wheat?
Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook: are
there no young pigeons?
Davy. Yes, sir. Here is now the smith's note for shoeing
and plough-irous.
Shal. Let it be cast and paid. Sir John, you shall not be
excused.
Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be
had: and, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages,
about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair?
21
Shal. A' shall answer it. Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of
short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any pretty little
tiny kickshaws, tell William cook.
Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, sir?
Shal. Yea, Davy. I will use him well a friend i' the
court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well,
Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite.
Davy. No worse than they are backbitten, sir; for they
have marvellous foul linen.
30
Shal. Well conceited, Davy: about thy business, Davy.
Davy. I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of
Wincot against Clement Perkes of the hill.
Shal. There is many complaints, Davy, against that Visor :
that Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.
Davy. I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but
yet, God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some counten-
SCENE I.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
81
ance at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to
speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served your
worship truly, sir, this eight years; and if I cannot once or
twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I
have but a very little credit with your worship. The knave is
mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech your worship,
let him be countenanced.
Shal. Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. Look about,
Davy. [Exit Davy.] Where are you, Sir John? Come,
come, come, off with your boots. Give me your hand, Master
Bardolph.
Bard. I am glad to see your worship.
49
Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master Bar-
dolph; and welcome, my tall fellow [to the Page]. Come, Sir
John.
Fal. I'll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow. [Exit
Shallow.] Bardolph, look to our horses. [Exeunt Bardolph
and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should make
four dozen of such bearded hermits' staves as Master Shallow.
It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his
men's spirits and his: they, by observing of him, do bear
themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them,
is turned into a justice-like serving-man their spirits are so
married in conjunction with the participation of society that
they flock together in consent, like so many wild-geese. If I
had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humour his men with
the imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I
would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better
command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing
or ignorant carriage is caught, as men take diseases, one of
another therefore let men take heed of their company. I
will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince
Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of six fashions,
which is four terms, or two actions, and a' shall laugh with-
out intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a slight oath
and a jest with a sad brow will do with a fellow that never
T
82
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him laugh
till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up!
Shal. [Within] Sir John !
Fal. I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master Shallow.
75
[Exit.
SCENE II.
Westminster.
The palace.
Enter WARWICK and the LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE, meeting.
War. How now, my lord chief-justice! whither away?
Ch. Just. How doth the king?
War. Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended.
Ch. Just. I hope, not dead.
War.
He's walk'd the way of nature;
And to our purposes he lives no more.
Ch. Just. I would his majesty had call'd me with him:
The service that I truly did his life
Hath left me open to all injuries.
War. Indeed I think the young king loves you not.
Ch. Just. 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.
10
Enter LANCASTER, CLARENCE, GLOUCESTER, WESTMORELAND,
and others.
War. Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry :
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 sail to spirits of vile sort!
Ch. Just. O God, I fear all will be overturn'd !
Lan. Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.
Glou. Good morrow, cousin.
Clar.
20
SCENE II. KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
83
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. Just. Peace be with us, lest we be heavier !
Glou. O, good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed;
And I dare swear you borrow not that face
Of seeming sorrow, it is sure your own.
Lan. Though no man be assured what grace to find,
You stand in coldest expectation :
I am the sorrier; would 'twere otherwise.
Clar. Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair ;
Which swins against your stream of quality.
Ch. Just. Sweet princes, what I did, I did in honour,
Led by the impartial conduct of my soul;
And never shall you see that I will beg
A ragged and forestall'd remission.
If truth and upright innocency fail me,
I'll to the king my master that is dead,
And tell him who hath sent me after him.
War. Here comes the prince.
Enter KING HENRY the Fifth, attended.
Ch. Just. Good morrow; and God save your majesty!
King. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,
Sits not so easy on me as you think.
Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear :
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, by my faith, it very well becomes you :
Sorrow so royally in you appears
That I will deeply put the fashion on
And wear it in my heart: why then, be sad;
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
30
40
50
84
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT V.
For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured,
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 so will I ;
But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears
By number into hours of happiness.
Princes. We hope no other from your majesty.
King. You all look strangely on me and you most;
You are, I think, assured I love you not.
Ch. Just. I am assured, if I be measured rightly,
Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.
King. No!
How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?
What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?
Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me:
And, in the administration of his law,
Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majesty and power of law and justice,
The image of the king whom I presented,
And struck me in my very seat of judgement ;
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 son set your decrees at nought,
To pluck down justice from your awful bench,
To trip the course of law and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person ;
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
60
70
80
90
SCENE II.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
85
Be now the father and propose a son,
Hear your own dignity so much profaned,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdain'd ;
And then imagine me taking your part
And in your power soft silencing your sou:
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty. -
King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;
Therefore still bear the balance and the sword:
And I do wish your honours may increase,
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words:
'Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son ;
And not less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice.' You did commit me :
For which, I do commit into your hand
The unstained sword that you have used to bear;
With this remembrance, that you use the same
With the like bold, just and impartial spirit
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand.
You shall be as a father to my youth:
My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will stoop and humble my intents
To your well-practised wise directions.
And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you ;
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections;
And with his spirit sadly I survive,
To mock the expectation of the world,
To frustrate prophecies and to raze out
100
110
120
86
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now:
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament :
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
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;
130
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.
Our coronation done, we will accite,
140
As I before remember'd, all our state :
And, God consigning to my good intents,
No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,
God shorten Harry's happy life one day!
[Exeunt.
SCENE III. Gloucestershire. SHALLOW's orchard.
Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, DAVY, BARDOLPH,
and the Page.
Shal. Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour,
we will eat a last year's pippin of my own graffing, with a
dish of caraways, and so forth: come, cousin Silence: and
then to bed.
Fal. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and a rich.
Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all, Sir
John: marry, good air. Spread, Davy; spread, Davy: well
said, Davy.
Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses ; he is your
serving-man and your husband.
10
Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet, Sir
SCENE III.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
87
P
John by the mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper :
a good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down; come, cousin.
Sil. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a, we shall
Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer.
Fal. There's a merry heart!
give you a health for that anon.
[Singing.
Good Master Silence, I'll'
Shal. Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy.
Davy. Sweet sir, sit; I'll be with you anon; most sweet
sir, sit. Master page, good master page, sit. Proface!
What you want in meat, we'll have in drink but you must
bear; the heart's all.
[Exit. 22
Shal. Be merry, Master Bardolph; and, my little soldier
there, be merry.
Sil. Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;
For women are shrews, both short and tall :
'Tis merry in hall when beards wag all,
And welcome merry Shrove-tide.
Be merry, be merry.
[Singing.
Fal. I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this
mettle.
31
Sil. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once ere now.
Re-enter Davy.
Davy. There's a dish of leather-coats for you.
L
Shal. Davy!
[To Bardolph.
Davy. Your worship! I'll be with you straight [to Bar-
dolph]. A cup of wine, sir?
Sil.
A cup of wine that's brisk and fine,
[Singing.
And drink unto the leman mine;
And a merry heart lives long-a.
Fal. Well said, Master Silence.
40
Sil. An we shall be merry, now comes in the sweet o' the
night.
Fal. Health and long life to you, Master Silence.
88
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
[ACT V.
Sil.
Fill the cup, and let it come;
I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.
[Singing.
Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome; if thou wantest any
thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart. Welcome, my
little tiny thief [to the Page], and welcome indeed too. I'll
drink to Master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleros about
London.
Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die.
Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,—
50
Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together, ha! will
you not, Master Bardolph ?
Bard. Yea, sir, in a pottle-pot.
Shal. By God's liggens, I thank thee: the knave will stick
by thee, I can assure thee that. A' will not out; he is true
bred.
Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir.
59
Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry.
[Knocking within.] Look who's at door there, ho! who
knocks?
Fal. Why, now you have done me right.
Sil.
[Exit Davy.
[To Silence, seeing him take off a bumper.
Do me right,
[Singing.
And dub me knight:
Samingo.
Is 't not so ?
Fal. 'Tis so.
Sil. Is 't so? Why then, say an old man can do somewhat.
1
Re-enter Davy.
Davy. An't please your worship, there's one Pistol come
from the court with news.
Fal. From the court! let him come in.
71
Enter PISTOL.
How now, Pistol !
Pist. Sir John, God save you!
SCENE III. KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
89
Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?
Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good. Sweet
knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in this realm.
Sil. By 'r lady, I think a' be, but goodman Puff of Barson.
Pist. Puff!
Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!
Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend,
And helter-skelter have I rode to thee,
And tidings do I bring and lucky joys
And golden times and happy news of price.
80
Fal. I pray thee now, deliver them like a man of this
world.
Pist. A foutre for the world and worldlings base!
I speak of Africa and golden joys.
Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?
Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.
Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.
Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons ?
And shall good news be baffled?
Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.
90
[Singing.
Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.
Pist. Why then, lament therefore.
Shal. Give me pardon, sir: if, sir, you come with news.
from the court, I take it there's but two ways, either to utter
them, or to conceal them. I am, sir, under the king, in some
authority.
Pist. Under which king, Besonian? speak, or die.
Shal. Under King Harry.
Pist.
Shal. Harry the Fourth.
Pist.
100
Harry the Fourth? or Fifth ?
A foutre for thine office!
Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king;
Harry the Fifth's the man. I speak the truth :
When Pistol lies, do this; and fig me, like
The bragging Spaniard.
Fal. What, is the old king dead ?
90
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Pist. As nail in door: the things I speak are just.
109
Fal. Away, Bardolph! saddle my horse. Master Robert
Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine.
Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities.
Bard. O joyful day!
I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.
Pist. What! I do bring good news.
Fal. Carry Master Silence to bed. Master Shallow, my
Lord Shallow,-be what thou wilt; I am fortune's steward
-get on thy boots: we'll ride all night. O sweet Pistol !
Away, Bardolph! [Exit Bard.] Come, Pistol, utter more to
me; and withal devise something to do thyself good. Boot,
boot, Master Shallow: I know the young king is sick for me.
Let us take any man's horses; the laws of England are at my
commandment. Blessed are they that have been my friends;
and woe to my lord chief-justice!
Pist. Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also !
'Where is the life that late I led?' say they :
Why, here it is; welcome these pleasant days!
SCENE IV. London. A street.
[Exeunt.
Enter Beadles, dragging in HOSTESS QUICKLY and
DOLL TEARSHEET.
Host. No, thou arrant knave; I would to God that I
might die, that I might have thee hanged: thou hast drawn
my shoulder out of joint.
First Bead. The constables have delivered her over to me;
and she shall have whipping-cheer enough, I warrant her:
there hath been a man or two lately killed about her.
Dol. Nut-hook, nut-hook, you lie.
Host. O the Lord, that Sir John were come! he would
make this a bloody day to somebody.
First Bead. Come, I charge you both go with me; for the
man is dead that you and Pistol beat amongst you.
11
SCENE IV.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
91
Dol. I'll tell you what, you thin man in a censer, I will
have you as soundly swinged for this,— you blue-bottle rogue,
you filthy famished correctioner, if you be not swinged, I'll
forswear half-kirtles.
First Bead. Come, come, you she knight-errant, come.
Host. O God, that right should thus overcome might!
Well, of sufferance comes ease.
Dol. Come, you rogue, come; bring me to a justice.
Host. Ay, come, you starved blood-hound.
Dol. Goodman death, goodman bones!
Host. Thou atomy, thou!
20
Dol. Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal.
First Bead. Very well.
[Exeunt.
SCENE V. A public place near Westminster Abbey.
Enter two Grooms, strewing rushes.
First Groom. More rushes, more rushes.
Sec. Groom. The trumpets have sounded twice.
First Groom. Twill be two o'clock ere they come from the
coronation dispatch, dispatch.
:
[Exeunt.
Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and Page.
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.
Pist. God bless thy lungs, good knight.
8
Fal. Come here, Pistol; stand behind me. O, if I had had
time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the
thousand pound I borrowed of you. But 'tis no matter; this
poor show doth better: this doth infer the zeal I had to see
him.
Shal. It doth so.
Fal. It shows my earnestness of affection, —
Shal. It doth so.
92
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Fal. My devotion,-
Shal. It doth, it doth, it doth.
Fal. As it were, to ride day and night; and not tc
deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift
me,-
Shal. It is best, certain.
21
Fal. But to stand stained with travel, and sweating with
desire to see him; thinking of nothing else, putting all affairs
else in oblivion, as if there were nothing else to be done but
to see him.
Pist. 'Tis 'semper idem,' for 'obsque hoc nihil est :''tis all
in every part.
Shal. 'Tis so, indeed.
Pist. My knight, I will inflame thy noble liver,
And make thee rage.
Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts,
Is in base durance and contagious prison ;
Haled thither
By most mechanical and dirty hand :
Rouse up revenge from ebon den with fell Alecto's snake,
For Doll is in. Pistol speaks nought but truth.
Fal. I will deliver her.
30
[Shouts within, and the trumpets sound.
Pist. There roar'd the sea, and trumpet-clangor sounds.
Enter the KING and his train, the LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE
among them.
Fal. God save thy grace, King Hal! my royal Hal! 40
Pist. The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of
fame !
Fal. God save thee, my sweet boy!
King. My lord chief-justice, speak to that vain man.
Ch. Just. Have you your wits? know you what 'tis you
speak?
Fal. My king! my Jove! I speak to thee, my heart!
SCENE V.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
93
:
King. I know thee not, old man fall to thy prayers ;
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester !
I have long dream'd of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swell'd, so old and so profane ;
But, being awaked, I do despise my dream.
Make less 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 :
Presume not that I am the thing I was;
For God doth know, so shall the world perceive.
That I have turn'd away my former self;
So will I those that kept me company.
When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots :
Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,
As I have done the rest of my misleaders,
Not to come near our person by ten mile.
For competence of life I will allow you,
That lack of means enforce you not to evil :
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,
We will, according to your strengths and qualities,
Give you advancement. Be it your charge, my lord,
To see perform'd the tenour of our word.
Set on.
50
60
70
[Exeunt King, etc.
Fal. Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pound.
Shal. Yea, marry, Sir John; which I beseech you to let
me have home with me.
Fal. That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not you
grieve at this; I shall be sent for in private to him: look
you, he must seem thus to the world: fear not your advance-
ments; I will be the man yet that shall make you great. 80
Shal. I cannot well perceive how, unless you should give
me your doublet and stuff me out with straw. I beseech you,
good Sir John, let me have five hundred of my thousand.
94
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
Fal. Sir, I will be as good as my word: this that you
heard was but a colour.
Shal. A colour that I fear you will die in, Sir John.
Fal. Fear no colours: go with me to dinner: come,
Lieutenant Pistol; come, Bardolph: I shall be sent for soon
at night.
Re-enter PRINCE JOHN, 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.
90
[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
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.
Lan. The king has 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 ?
100
[Exeunt.
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
EPILOGUE.] KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
95
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 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 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 commit my body to your
mercies: bate me some and I will pay you some and, as most
debtors do, promise you infinitely.
14
If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit 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 conscience
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.
:
21
One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much
cloyed with fat meat, our 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, indeed,
to pray for the queen.
30
NOTES.
INDUCTION.
AN INDUCTION, or prologue, was not infrequently prefixed to a
play to inform the audience of such facts as they would not
gather from the play itself, as, for instance, in The Taming of
the Shrew. Here it serves merely to link together the two parts
of the play.
STAGE DIRECTION. Enter Rumour, painted full of tongues.
Such a presentation of Rumour was not uncommon. Among
others, Farmer refers to Hawes's Pastime of Pleasure, where she
is spoken of as A goodly lady, envyroned about With tongues of
fire"; to one of Sir Thomas More's Pageants, Fame, I am
called, mervayle you nothing Thoughe with tonges I am com-
passed all round"; and to Chaucer's elaborate portrait of her in
The Booke of Fame.
1. for which stop, I say open your ears, for I know that
none of you will wish to stop them.
2. vent,
an opening for air or smoke, an air hole, flue …..
F. fente,
a cleft, rift, chinke, slit, cranny'; Cotgrave. A par-
ticipial substantive from the verb fendre, to cleave. Lat. findere,
to cleave "... (Skeat, Ety. Dict.). To be distinguished from vent,
sale, to vent, to sell, from F. vente, a sale, from Lat. vendere, to
sell; and from vent, to snuff up air, breathe, puff out, from F.
rent, wind, from Lat. ventum, accusative of ventus, wind. In re-
gard to this last, Skeat says, "If we had a large collection of
quotations illustrative of the use of vent as a verb, I suspect it
would appear that the connection with the F. vent, wind, was due
solely to a misunderstanding and misuse of the word, and that it
is etymologically due to Vent (1) [ = flue] or Vent (2) [ = sale], or
to confusion of both
3. the drooping west, the idea is that of flowers hanging down
their heads as the sun sets. Malone illustrates by Macb. iii. 2.
52. 3, "Good things of day begin to droop and drowse, Whiles
night's black agents to their preys do rouse.
96
""
INDUCTION.]
97
NOTES.
4. post-horse, " post originally signified a fixed place, as a
military post; then, a fixed place on a line of road where horses
are kept for travelling, a stage, or station; thence it was trans-
ferred to the person who travelled in this way, using relays of
horses, and finally to any quick traveller (Eastwood and
Wright, Bible Wordbook, quoted by Skeat, Ety. Dict.): still,
continually, ever.
7. The which, see note on i. 1. 164.
,,
10. Under... safety, appearing all the while in such harmless
and pleasant guise.
12. Make... defence, exhibit the alarmed mustering of troops
in preparation against attack; the converse of the
"covert
enmity" which is preparing to "wound the world"; musters,
from O. F. mostre, for monstre, a pattern, view, sight, display,
from Lat. monstrare, to show.
13. Whiles, the old genitive of while, time, used adverbially:
swoln grief, in reality pregnant with some other grievance,
cause of anxiety.
15. And no such matter, though in reality nothing of the kind,
nothing to do with war, ails the time.
17. And of... stop, and so easy of management: the stop is the
hole in the pipe on which the finger is placed to stop or to let out
the air blown into it. Cp. Haml. iii. 2. 76, "Whose blood and
judgement are so well commingled, That they are not a pipe for
fortune's finger To sound what stop she please"; iii. 2. 373,
govern these ventages with your finger and thumb, give it
breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent
music. Look you, these are the stops.”
18. the blunt... heads, the dull-witted monster with innumer-
able heads; "the many-headed multitude," as they are called in
Cor. ii. 3. 18.
(
20. what need I. It is doubtful whether this is equivalent to
why need I,' or 'what need is there that I,' i.e. whether what
is an adverb and need a verb, or what an adjective and need a
noun; cp. M. A. i. 1. 318, "What need the bridge much broader
than the flood?", and see Abb. § 297.
22. my household, those who belong to the same family as
myself, the audience of the theatre who like him disseminate
reports.
27, 8. But what... first? But if I acted up to my character, I
should not tell the truth at first, but should scatter abroad a
number of false reports.
33. the peasant towns, is generally taken to mean the rural
towns. Dyce, with Collier's MS. Corrector, reads "pleasant
towns," and remarks "one may wonder why Rumour should men-
G
98
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
tion only the peasant towns' (a most strange expression), as if
so busy a personage, in the long journey from Shrewsbury to
Warkworth, had failed to 'call in' at the more important
places."
35. this worm-eaten hold ... stone, this time-decayed fortress :
in its literal sense worm-eaten is now applied to wood only;
ragged perhaps indicates not merely the rough, rugged stones of
which the castle was built, but the worn appearance given them
by time.
37. crafty-sick, pretending illness, in order to move the pity
of the King: come tiring on, come on exhausted by their weari-
some journeys.
40. They bring ... wrongs, they bring reassuring news which
is false, and so more dangerous than news of evil that was true.
ACT I. SCENE I.
STAGE DIRECTION. Lord Bardolph. "This person was Thomas
Bardolph, fifth Baron ... [who] joining in the archbishop's in-
surrection against Henry IV., was defeated at Bramham Moor,
where he was taken but sore wounded, so that he shortly after
died of his hurts.' Holinshed"... (French, S. G.).
2. What, more indefinite than who, as including the rank, pro-
fession, etc., as well as the personality.
3. attend, waits for, wishes to speak with.
4. is walk'd. Here is expresses the present state, whereas has
would express the activity necessary to cause the present state.
5. Please it, if it please.
S. Should be, may be expected to be, is likely to be: stratagem,
appalling or disastrous circumstance; cp. R. J. iii. 5. 211,
Álack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems Upon
so soft a subject as myself ! "
15. in the fortune
upon your son.
son, by the good fortune which attended
19. Harry Monmouth's brawn, that mass of flesh that waited
on the Prince: hulk, properly a clumsy, heavy, ship; from Gk.
óλkás, a ship which is towed, a ship of burden, Gk. kev, to
draw, drag.
22. to dignify the times, to give lustre to the age.
23. How is this derived? Whence did you obtain your in-
formation?
27. That freely... true, who in all honesty assured me of this
news being trustworthy; for freely, cp. Oth. ii. 3. 335, “Iago.
SCENE I.]
99
NOTES.
I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kindness. Cas. I
think it freely.
29. to listen after, to inquire for with all diligence; cp. to
hearken after,” R. III. i. l. 54, "He hearkens after prophecies
and dreams.'
>>
30. over-rode, caught up and passed on the way.
...
32. More than me, except perhaps such as he received from
me and may hand on to you.
34. turn'd me back, met me and sent me back to you.
37. forspent, utterly exhausted; for- is intensive as in forgo,
forlorn, forswear, etc.
38. to breathe, to give breath to, to rest; so intransitively
i. H. IV. i. 3. 102, ii. 4. 275, v. 3. 46.
...
42. And that young cold, cp. below, 1. 51. The meaning of
course is that Hotspur was cold in death.
43. With that... head, with those words he gave the rein to
his powerful horse. Though two lines lower the horse is called a
'poor jade" there is no contradiction, the meaning being that
the horse was a powerful one, but that having been ridden so
far and so fast it had become jaded, and was now panting with
exhaustion.
44. bending forward, as a rider does when vigorously applying
the spur.
46. Up to the rowel-head, so as to force the rowel right into
the sides of the animal; the 'rowel' is a little wheel armed with
sharp points at the end of the spur; through F. rouelle, from
Low Lat. rotella, a little wheel: starting so, with a sudden start,
his horse answering his application of the spur.
•
و
47. to devour the way. So Catullus, xxxv. 7, “viam vorabit.
Steevens compares Job, xxxix. 24, He [the horse] swalloweth
the ground with fierceness and rage." Jonson, Sejanus, v. 10,
has, But with that speed... With which they greedily devour
the way."
48. Staying... question, not waiting to be questioned by me
any further on the matter: Again, repeat to me what he said.
50. Of Hotspur Coldspur? did he say that from being Hotspur
my son had become Coldspur?
52. have not the day, has not been victorious in the battle;
day, for day of battle, combat, and, as here, for victory, is fre-
quent in Shakespeare.
53. a silken point, a tag or lace for tying parts of the dress,
especially the breeches, and so for something of little value.
54. my barony, the property which goes with my title: never
talk of it, do not for a moment believe that it is otherwise.
100
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
56. instances, particulars, as of Hotspur's death.
57. hilding, according to Skeat, short for hilderling, M. E.
hinderling, base, degenerate, from A.S. hinder, behind, with
suffix -ling.
59. Spoke at a venture, merely made a guess, spoke at random.
60. like to a title leaf. Steevens points out that title-pages to
elegies, as well as the intermediate leaves, were formerly totally
black, and most commentators see here an allusion to this prac-
tice. But it seems hardly necessary to suppose anything more
than a title-page announcing the nature of the volume's contents.
62. strond, an older spelling of 'strand.'
63. a witness'd usurpation, evidence of its inroads; witness'd
is here not a participle but an adjective formed from the noun
witness, and the phrase is equivalent to 'an usurpation of which
there is a witness.'
65. I ran, not merely 'I came,' but I was obliged to come
at full speed, to take to flight in consequence of our defeat.'
67. doth, probably here not a case of the third person plural
in -th, but of the inflection of the third person singular of a verb
preceding the subject in the plural, more common with the in-
flection in -s.
69. Is apter, shows greater readiness.
71. dead in look, looking more dead than alive woe-begone,
the past participle of 'bego' in the sense of 'beset as by an
environment, affected by an influence, good or evil,' is now used
only in the phrase 'woe-begone,' though Murray, Engl. Dict.,
quotes need-begone' from Barbour, St. Alexis, also 'well,'
'evil,'' sore,' begone, and points out that the phrase originally
was 'him was wo begone,' i.e. to him woe had closed round.
74. But Priam... tongue, but Priam became aware of the fire
before the messenger could bring himself to deliver his message;
'to find one's tongue' is a common phrase for bringing oneself to
speak after continuing silent, as though the person suddenly
became aware that he had a tongue and some cause to use that
organ.
78. greedy ear, ear eager to drink in your news.
79. to stop indeed, as though to prevent my ever listening
to words again.
80. a sigh... praise, a sigh which is sufficient to dissipate,
undo, all your commendations of their valour.
84. See what ... hath! See how quickly suspicion finds its
tongue; said in reference to his own prompt exclamation "Why,
he is dead.
85. but fears, has no other prompting than his fears.
SCENE I.]
101
NOTES.
88. Tell thou... lies, though I am an earl, and to give the lie
to one of my rank would under other circumstances be a gross
insult, do not hesitate to say that the suspicion I have put into
words is a lying utterance.
91. gainsaid, contradicted; the prefix is the A.S. gegn, against.
92. Your spirit is too true, not a lying spirit, such as was
allowed to enter into the mouths of false prophets. Cp. i. Kings,
xxii. 21, 22, “And there came forth a spirit, and stood before
the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said
unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will
be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." That there
is this allusion, and that spirit here does not mean merely
'mind,' 'soul,' is I think shown by Northumberland's use of the
word divination, which Morton takes up.
93. for all this, in spite of all this that you say about my spirit
and my fears. Johnson would give this line to Lord Bardolph
on the ground of its being contradictory to the remainder of
Northumberland's speech, but Northumberland evidently pauses
after his words, and looks earnestly at Morton, in whose face, as
Rolfe says, he meets with no encouraging response. His worst
fears are now confirmed, and he prepares himself to listen to the
details of his loss.
94. a strange confession, the admission of Hotspur's death
betrayed by his look, but which yet his lips refused to make.
95. fear, a dangerous thing; cp. below. iv. 5. 196, "all these
bold fears Thou see'st with peril I have answered."
98. And he doth sin, Daniel would read "Only he sins," but
the negative in the previous line, "offends not," here linked by
the copula And, is equivalent to a positive 'is guiltless.'
101. a losing office, a thankless task.
102. sullen bell. The dismal monotony of the single bell tolled
when the spirit of a man is taking flight, as opposed to a peal of
bells, is here indicated. The "passing-bell," as it is called, is
still rung in some parts of England, but the origin of the custom
is disputed. Douce is inclined to think that it may have been
introduced with a view to scaring away demons watching to take
possession of the dying man's soul; by others the bell is sup-
posed to have been tolled to solicit prayers for the passing soul,
or to admonish those living to meditate upon their own death;
cp. V. A. 702, "And now his grief may be compared well To one
sore sick that hears the passing-bell.'
103. knolling, the reading of the folios; the quarto gives
'tolling. Both words were originally used in the transitive
sense of striking a bell so as to make it ring, and later of the
bell itself sounding; the Welsh word cnill means a passing-bell.
102
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
108. Rendering faint quittance, feebly endeavouring to give
back blow for blow with a like strength: out-breathed, out of
breath, spent, exhausted.
112. In few, in a few words; to cut my story short: a fire, a
glow of animation.
114. bruited, noised abroad, generally made known; F. bruit,
a great noise, clamour.
115. best-temper'd, the metaphor is from the tempering of
metal, the bringing of it to a proper degree of hardness.
116. For from ... steel'd, for those on his side derived all their
hardihood from his example; metal is here used both literally
and figuratively, both for metal and mettle, two spellings of the
same word.
117. abated, blunted; cp. R. III. v. 5. 35, "Abate the edge of
traitors, gracious Lord." Johnson denies that this is the meaning
here, and gives "reduced to a lower temper, or as workmen call
it, let down"; but he does not support his explanation by any
instance of the word in this technical sense, and steel'd seems to
indicate that Hotspur's metal, so keen itself, had given them
their edge.
118. Turn'd ... lead. Here the metaphor seems to be continued
by likening the behaviour of the soldiers to the edge of a weapon
turned back in use, as that of a leaden weapon would be turned,
though of course the meaning is that Hotspur's soldiers again
became the same dull-spirited louts that they were before his
spirit animated them. The word heavy then suggests to the
speaker the simile he goes on to use.
120. Upon enforcement, when an impetus is given to it.
123. fled. Dyce adopts Walker's conjecture fly. Vaughan
suggests flew.
127. well-labouring, labouring to good purpose, effective in
its use.
128. the appearance of the king, several of the king's adherents
being dressed to counterfeit the king's person; see Pt. I. v. 4.
129. vail his stomach, lower his haughty courage; cp. Cor. iii.
1. 98, "If he have power, Then vail your ignorance.'
129, 30. did grace... backs, by imitating their example lent to
it a grace which it would not otherwise have had.
133. A speedy power, a force marching with all speed.
138. Having been... sick, which, if I had been well, would
have made me sick; Abb. § 330, notices the " disposition to
place participles, as though used absolutely, before the words
which they qualify.
139. Being sick, now that I am sick.
SCENE I.]
103
NOTES
141. buckle under life, are unable to support the limbs of the
living man, falter under the weight they have to bear. Cp.
Jonson, The Staple of News, ii. 1. 7, "teach this body To bend,
and these my aged knees to buckle In adoration"; and Marston,
Antonio and Mellida, Pt. I. iv. 1. 76-8, “O rotten props of the
crazed multitude, How still you double, falter under the lightest
chance That strains your veins." Knight points out that the
word is used precisely in the same sense nowadays when applied
to a horse.
142. his fit, the paroxysm of ague: like a fire, with a furious
bound, as incapable of being restrained as a flame of fire.
144. Weaken'd... grief. In the former instance grief is used of
bodily agony, in the latter of mental agony; for the former, cp.
Pt. Ï. v. 1. 134, "Can honour... take away the grief of a
wound?"
145. nice, dainty; suitable only to those who have the leisure
to be careful about their ailments, not to one who has such
reason for active work.
147. sickly quoif, cap which is a badge of sickness; quoif,
another form of 'coif,' and a doublet of 'cup,' a close-fitting, cup-
shaped, cap, what we now call a 'skull-cap.
148. wanton, delicate, effeminate; almost the same as "nice,"
1. 145.
149. flesh'd with conquest, by conquest made eager for further
combat; a metaphor from the practice of encouraging young
dogs to the chase by feeding them on raw flesh; cp. H. V. ii. 4.
50, "The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us"; iii. 3. 11,
And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart.'
150. iron, sc. of his helmet: approach, let there approach.
151. ragged'st, roughest; Shakespeare uses "ragged" where
we should have used “rugged," both literally and figuratively ;
of the former sense we have already had an example in the
Induction, 1. 35; for the latter, cp. Sonn. vi. 1, "winter's ragged
hand."
152. the enraged Northumberland, sc. who will retort the frown
with equal anger.
153. Let ... earth, let heaven and earth be mingled in hideous
confusion.
154. flood, ocean; as frequently in Shakespeare; wild is
apparently proleptic, the ocean which will have become wild
from not being confined within its usual limits; cp. Oth. ii. 1. 17,
"the enchafed flood" order, the regular working of the laws of
nature.
156. To feed... act, to supply the spirit of enmity with food
during a long-drawn-out struggle; stage and act are of course
104
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
"Thou
used in their technical senses; cp. Macb. ii. 2. 5, 6,
seest, the heavens, as troubled with man's act, Threaten his
bloody stage" and so scene, 1. 159.
:
157. one spirit... Cain, no other spirit than that of Cain, the
first-born child of Adam and Eve, and the murderer of his brother,
Abel.
159. rude, horrid, dreadful, violent.
160. And darkness... dead, and the whole creation be extinct
and buried in universal darkness. Vaughan thinks that the
metaphors from the stage is here continued by an allusion to the
extinguishing of the lights in the theatre at the close of the
performance.
161. This strained... wrong, in using such violent language
you are giving way to a passion that is unworthy of your natural
firmness of character.
162. divorce... honour, do not allow wisdom and a sense of
your dignity, which ought to be joined together, to be put
asunder; equally consult both.
163. complices, confederates, allies; generally used by Shake-
speare in a bad sense.
164. the which "is generally used either where the antecedent,
or some word like the antecedent, is repeated, or else where such
a repetition could be made if desired. In almost all cases there
are two or more possible antecedents from which selection must
be made " (Abb. § 270), as here lives, complices, health.
164, 5. if you ... passion, if you give way to, abandon yourself
to, such passionate outbursts.
166. cast, the past tense, calculated.
167. the account of chance, what was the utmost possibility of
success or failure.
168. make head, raise an armed force in rebellion against the
king; cp. Pt. I. iii. 1. 64, J. C. iv. 1. 42.
169. the dole of blows, the dealing of blows, the interchange of
blows with the enemy; dole, that which is dealt out, a portion,
more frequently a portion dealt out in charitable gifts.
170, 1. You knew... o'er, cp. Pt. I. i. 3. 193, 4,
"to o'erwalk a
current roaring loud On the unsteady footing of a spear."
172. were advised, knew full well; cp. H. V. i. 2. 251, "bids
you be advised there's nought in France That can be with a
nimble galliard won": capable, susceptible; cp. K. J. iii. 1. 12,
"I am sick and capable of tears.'
174. where most... ranged, where there was the greatest com-
merce, intercourse, with danger; where danger stalked about in
most various shape.
SCENE I.]
105
NOTES.
175. none of this, no risks and perils.
""
177. The stiff-borne action, the course so obstinately pursued ;
for the same idea in a literal sense, cp. Haml. i. 5. 95,
"And
you, my sinews, grow not instant old, But bear me stiffly up.'
179. More than... be? beyond the actual occurrence of that
which it was so probable would occur?
180. engaged ... loss, shareholders in their unfortunate enter-
prise; the figure is that of a mercantile engagement. For the
construction, Malone compares Pt. 1. iii. 2. 98, "He hath more
worthy interest to the state Than thou the shadow of succession."
182. That if... one, that the chances of success were ten to one
against us.
184. Choked... fear'd, completely did away with all considera-
tion of the danger that was to be feared as likely to be encoun-
tered; for this figurative sense of Choked, cp. M. M. v. 1. 427,
"else imputation... might reproach your life And choke your
good to come"; so T. Ñ. v. 1. 150, it is the baseness of thy
fear That makes thee strangle thy propriety."
N.
185. o'erset, overthrown, turned upside down: venture again,
let us make one more attempt to regain our position.
186. Come... goods, come, we will set out once more, risking
our all, life and worldly wealth.
189. up, sc. in revolt.
191. double surety, i.e. of his spiritual and personal authority.
192. the corpse, the body without the soul, only the gross
material body unanimated by that which alone is worth any-
thing, the spirit: only but is a redundancy.
196. queasiness, sickly feeling of aversion to the task.
197. potions, sc. medicinal.
199. froze, the inflection in -en being commonly dropped in
Elizabethan English.
201. Turns... religion, gives to that which as revolt against
constituted authority would seem sinful, the sanction of religion.
202. Supposed, he being looked upon.
204, 5. And doth ... stones, and gives to his insurrection a
wider scope by hallowing it with the sacred pretext of retribu-
tion for a foul murder; Pomfret, the castle in which Richard was
put to death.
206. Derives... cause, makes heaven the source and origin of
the cause in which he fights; puts forth the will of heaven as
prompting and authorizing his revolt.
207. doth bestride... land, stands over and protects a land
struck down by tyranny, as in battle a brave man will stand over
106
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
and protect the body of a comrade lying at the mercy of the foe;
cp. Pt. I. v. 1. 122, "Hal, if thou see me down in the battle and
bestride me, so; 'tis a point of friendship"; Macb. iv. 3. 4,
"Let us rather like good men Bestride our down-fall'n
birthdom."
...
209. more and less, high and low; cp. Macb. v. 4. 12, “Both
more and less, have given him the revolt.'
214. posts, messengers; see note on Induction, 4.
215. Never so few, never were our friends so few in number.
SCENE II.
1. take... me, think it a fine thing to gibe at me, turn me into
ridicule; cp. Cor. i. 1. 260,"he will not spare to gird the gods.
The literal sense of to gird or gride is to strike, pierce, cut
through.
2. foolish-compounded, made up of follies.
4. is invented on me, as though Falstaff was the block or
framework upon which the witticism was shaped.
5. that wit... men, of the existence or generation of wit in
other men.
5, 6. I do here... one, having no other attendant but you, I
look like a sow that has over-lain and crushed to death her
whole farrow of young ones.
8. to set me off, to make me a mark for ridicule in the com-
parison between my enormous bulk and your diminutiveness.
9. mandrake, the plant mandragora, the root of which was
thought to resemble the human figure: to be worn in my cap, as
brooches were worn for ornament.
10. manned with an agate, had an attendant no bigger than an
agate stone; agate stones, worn in rings, etc., often had little
figures engraved upon them, but whether the reference is to this
or merely to the size of the stone is disputed. In M. A. iii. 1.
65, Hero says that Beatrice would compare a tall man to а
lance ill-headed," a short man to "an agate very vilely cut."
13. the juvenal, the youth; but always used by Shakespeare
with a comical sense, as in L. L. L. i. 2. 8, M. N. D. iii. 1. 97.
14. I will sooner hand, there is much more likelihood of my
getting a beard to grow in the palm of my hand. Abbott, § 319,
remarks, "there is a slight meaning of purpose, as though it
were, I will sooner make a beard grow,' derived from the
similarity in sound of the common phrase 'I will sooner die,
starve, than, etc.'"
16. stick to say, hesitate to say: a face-royal, a pun upon a
SCENE II.]
107
NOTES.
kingly face and the face or head on the coin called a
worth ten shillings.
"royal,"
17. finish it, make it complete by adding a beard: not a hair
amiss, not disfigured by so much as a single hair.
17-9. he may keep ... of it, he may maintain it at its full value,
need not have to deduct anything from its full price, for he will
never need to spend so much as a sixpence upon it by having it
shaved. This is virtually Mason's explanation, and undoubtedly,
I think, the right one. Johnson, reading "as a face-royal," ex-
plains, "that is, a face exempt from the touch of vulgar hands.
So, a stag-royal is not to be hunted, a mine-royal is not to be
dug." The reading as
"is that of the later folios, and seems to
me a very inferior one, though modern editors almost without
exception adopt it; the quarto and the first folio give "at," and
this reading is in accordance with ordinary phraseology: he '11 be
crowing, you will constantly be hearing him boasting, priding
himself upon it.
19, 20. had writ man, had had the right to style himself a
man; cp. Lear, v. 3. 35, "About it; and write happy when
thou hast done"; A. W. ii. 3. 67, “I'ld give bay Curtal and his
furniture, My mouth no more were broken than these boys', And
writ as little beard," i.e. showed no greater proof of age.
...
20, 1. He may grace, he may stand as high in his own
favour, estimation; with a pun upon the word 'grace' as a title.
23. slops, breeches of a large, loose, fashion.
24. assurance, security, surety band, an old spelling of bond
in its various senses.
;
27, 8. like the glutton... hotter, like the rich man in hell, who
in his torture cried out for a drop to cool his tongue; see Luke,
xvi. 24: a rascally... knave, an oily-tongued, cringing, villain
one ready enough with his expressions of compliance. Cp.
Hotspur's scorn of such milk-and-water protestations, Pt. I. iii.
1. 252-61.
28, 9. to bear... hand, to think that he should deceive me by
the appearance of readiness to take my orders; to "bear in
hand was to encourage with specious promises without the in-
tention of fulfilling them; cp. M. M. i. 4. 51, Macb. iii. 1. 81,
and the similar phrase in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, iii. 3. 3,
"Both held in hand, and flatly both beguiled": stand upon, to
insist upon, make a difficulty about.
30. smooth-pates, sleek-headed fellows, i.e. as bland and sub-
servient in manner as they are sleek in appearance.
30, 1. wear nothing... girdles, are mere self-important, preten-
tious, upstarts, betraying their self-importance by their high-
heeled shoes and the big bunches of keys they wear at their
108
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
waists as though they had vast wealth to lock up: through, i.q.
thorough (which Pope substituted), downright, not standing
upon petty economies: taking up, obtaining goods on trust.
33. I had as lief, I would as gladly. The idiom represents an
earlier impersonal idiom "Me were lief," i.e. it would be pleasant
to me; from A.S. leóf, dear: ratsbane, poison; but originally a
generic term for anything injurious to rats, not a specific poison.
34. as offer... security, as endeavour to silence me by using
the word "security": looked, expected: a', he; a and ha occur
in Old English for he, she, it, they.
38. I bought him in Paul's. "The body of old St. Paul's church
in London was a constant place of resort for business and amuse-
Advertisements were fixed up there, bargains made,
servants hired, politics discussed, &c. &c." (Nares, Gloss.).
ment.
40, 1. an I could... wived, an allusion to a proverbial saying,
"Who goes to Westminster for a wife, to St. Paul's for a man,
and to Smithfield for a horse, may meet with a quean, a knave,
and a jade.'
STAGE DIRECTION. Enter the Lord Chief-Justice.
This was
Sir William Gascoigne, appointed Chief-Justice in 1401; the
date of his death is uncertain.
44. Wait close, keep close to me, do not give them an oppor-
tunity of speaking to you.
45. What's he, rather more indefinite than "who's he?”
47. He that was in question... robbery, he who was suspected
of the robbery, and regarding whom inquiry was made.
49. some charge, some commission entrusted to him; here of a
military character.
58. What!... begging! Falstaff pretends to misunderstand the
servant's action in plucking him by his coat sleeve, and says,
"What! have you, a sturdy young fellow like you, taken to
begging as your profession?" knave is used in its older sense of
boy,' youth'; A.S. cnafa, a later forin of cnapa, a boy.
58, 9. Is there not wars? "When the subject is as yet future
and, as it were, unsettled, the third person singular might be re-
garded as the normal inflection" (Abb. § 335).
61. but one, except the king's side.
62, 3. were it worse it, even if a worse name than rebellion
could be given to it: can tell, knows how, is able.
65. Why, ... man? how have I mistaken you? I never called
you an honest man.
65, 7. setting... aside... so, if for the moment I may lay aside my
knighthood and my dignity as a soldier, I should accuse myself
of lying grossly if I had said that you were an honest man.
To
SCENE II.]
109
NOTES.
"lie in the throat" was worse than to lie from the lips. Staunton
quotes from a curious old Italian treatise on War and the Duello
a passage in which the different gradations of giving the lie are
enumerated, as the simple "Thou liest"; then "Thou liest in
the throat"; "Thou liest in the throat like a rogue"; "Thou
liest in the throat like a rogue as thou art," the last being an
insult which could not be passed over without a challenge to
combat. Cp. Webster, The Devil's Law Case, iv. 2, "I'll give
the lie in the stomach,-That's somewhat deeper than the throat."
71, 2. that which grows to me, that which is part and parcel
of me, as much so as the very flesh and skin of my body: hang
me, may I be hanged, i.e. assuredly you will not get such leave
from me.
>>
73, 4.
You hunt counter, you are on the wrong scent, you are
making a gross blunder; to "hunt counter was to mistake the
course of the game, to trace the scent backwards; cp. Haml. iv.
5. 110, "How cheerfully on the false trail they cry! O, this is
counter, you false Danish dogs!" Some editors see in the word
counter an allusion to two prisons of that name in London, the
one in the Poultry, the other in Wood Street, but this is straining
the language too far: avaunt! away out of my path! an ex-
pression shortened from the F. en avant, forward! march! from
Lat. ab ante, from before.
">
77, 8. God give ... day, a common form of courteous salutation ;
so after-noon, the salutation" God gi' god-den,'
"God ye god.
den," "God dig-you den," all corruptions of "God give you
good evening."
78-80. goes... advice, are acting upon your physician's advice
in thus venturing into the open air.
81. some smack, some taste, savour; cp. M. M. ii. 2. 5, "All
sects, all ages, smack of this vice"; so Cor. iv. 7. 46, "As he
hath spices of them all."
81, 2. some relish... time, some indications that you are no
longer quite in first freshness of youth and robust health.
87. with some discomfort, not altogether so much at ease as
he might be in mind. The discomfort was due to the proceedings
of Glendower and the Earl of March.
90, 1. this same apoplexy, this abominable apoplexy that
you know of so well; in the phrase this same there is almost
always a sense of contempt, disgust, depreciation. According to
some authorities, Henry in his later days had seizures of
apoplexy, according to others, of epilepsy.
97. What... it? why do you talk to me of this apoplexy? Abb.
§ 253, gives other instances of this adverbial use of what in Cymb.
iii. 4. 34, J. C. ii. 1. 123, A. C. v. 2. 317.
110
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
98. it original, the old provincial form of the possessive is
found in several other passages in Shakespeare, but more gene-
rally in 'baby-talk' or where contempt is indicated; most
modern editors follow the later folios in reading its.
99, 100. his effects, its effects; his formerly representing the
possessive of the neuter as well as of the masculine gender.
105. marking, paying heed.
106, 7. To punish... ears, if I were to punish you by imprison-
ment it would cure this disease of wilful deafness; to "lay by the
heels " was the technical phrase for committing to prison, and
there is perhaps, as Knight suggests, a further allusion to the
baffling of a knight by hanging him or his likeness up head
downwards.
107, 8. and I care
curing you in this way.
physician, and I should not object to
110, 1. may minister poverty, may order me to be im-
prisoned as being one who has no means of livelihood; in potion
Falstaff is carrying on the Chief-Justice's figure of being his
physician.
111, 2. but how I... prescriptions, as to my bearing patiently
your lordship's method of cure; with a pun on the word patient
in the sense of one under medical treatment.
112, 3. the wise... itself, wise men may be inclined to doubt;
again introducing a pun by reference to the weights used in com-
pounding prescriptions and to scruple in its figurative sense.
115. for your life, in which your life was at stake.
116, 7. my learned... land-service, my counsel, advocate,
learned as to the laws that bear upon land-service of this kind;
Falstaff is punning on military service on land, his own exploit
in the matter of the robbery, and the serving of writs or summonses.
Schmidt, Lex., says that Falstaff uses the term land-service "im-
properly," but it is humorously rather than "improperly" used.
120. He that ... less. As Delius points out, Falstaff pretends to
take infamy as though it were some kind of material for clothing.
124. my waist slenderer. Falstaff makes the same pun in M. W.
i. 3. 45-7, Indeed, I am in the waist two yards about; but I am
now about no waste; I am about thrift.'
>>
126, 7. I am the fellow... dog, supposed to be an allusion to a
well-known beggar who was fat and blind, and had to be led
about by a dog.
128. to fall... wound, to punish you for an offence which has
in some measure been condoned by your recent good service in
the war.
129. gilded over, given it a fairer appearance than it would
SCENE II.]
111
NOTES.
naturally have; the base metal being overlaid by a coating of
purer metal; cp. Pt. I. v. 4. 162, "I'll gild it (sc. Falstaff's lie)
with the happiest terms I have."
130, 1. you may thank ... action, if it had not been that the
land is so disturbed by war, you would not have got so easily
over your exploit, the consequences of it would have been made
more serious to you, so you have good reason to be thankful to
that war.
133, 4. wake not wolf, another form of the proverb "Let
sleeping dogs lie"; here meaning do not risk any change for the
worse by returning to your evil ways.
138. A wassail candle, a candle such as is burnt at feasts;
wassail, wes hál, a salutation used at drinking-bouts equivalent
to "be of good health"; from A. S. wes, be thou, and hál, health:
all tallow, and therefore quickly burning out.
138, 9. if I did say ... truth, Falstaff puns on the verb to "wax,"
i.e. to grow big approve, prove; as frequently.
141. should have gravity, should teach you to behave with
the gravity befitting old age.
144. ill angel, evil genius; human beings were supposed to
be accompanied through life by two angels, the one good and the
other evil who contended for the mastery over his actions.
145. your ill... light. A pun on the word angel, meaning a gold
coin, which varied in value from 6s. 8d. when first coined by
Edward IV. in 1465 to 7s. 6d. and 8s. in the reign of Henry
VIII., and 10s. in that of Edward VI. It was so called from
having on the obverse the figure of the archangel St. Michael
piercing the dragon. A light angel was one below its proper
weight, and so below its proper value; your is used colloquially,
that angel which you and everybody else know so well; cp. A. C.
ii. 7. 29, 30, “Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud
by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile'; Haml. iv.
3. 24, 5, Your worm is your only emperor for diet; your fat
king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but
one table."
146. take... weighing, will have no doubt of my being full
weight.
147. I cannot go. An equivoque upon 'I cannot walk (with ease),'
and I cannot pass current': I cannot tell, another equivoque
upon 'I do not know what to say,' and 'I cannot be used in a
reckoning.'
148. costermonger times, huckstering times, times in which
nothing is thought of except making money by petty traffic; a
costermonger' is a seller of costards, a kind of apple, hence
any petty dealer.
112
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
148, 9. that true valour... bear-herd, that men of real valour
can find no better occupation than that of bear-leader in exhibi-
tions: pregnancy, men of ready, quick, wit; the adjective in this
sense is frequent in Shakespeare.
150. in giving reckonings, in making out tavern bills.
151, 2. as the malice... them, owing to the direction given to
them by the present times which are too envious to value them
duly.
...
153-5. you do measure galls, old age has turned everything
with you to bitterness, and you apply the light with which you
consequently see all things to judge of the hot passions of us who
are still in the vigour and freshness of youth in the vaward, in
the fore-front, the van; another spelling of van-ward, or van-
guard, the front of an army.
156. are wags too, are not only young, but full of the waggish-
ness, frolicsome characteristics, of that period of life.
158. written down, plainly marked as.
161. wind, breath, sc. when any exertion has to be made.
162. your wit single, your intellect feeble, silly; cp. Cor. iii.
1. 40, "your helps are many, or else your actions would grow
wondrous single.
163. will you yet call, are you still determined to call, do
you still persist in calling yourself young?
166. something... belly, a somewhat round belly.
167. For my voice, as regards my voice, which you say is
broken.
168. anthems, sacred songs, generally portions of the Bible set
to music and sung in churches, cathedrals, etc. Cp. Jonson,
The Silent Woman, iii. 2, "He got this cold with sitting up late
and singing catches with the cloth-workers": To approve not,
as for any further proof of my youth, I will not attempt it;
To approve, the indefinite infinitive.
...
170. caper with me, make a match with me at capering:
marks, a coin originally worth 13s. 4d.
171. and have at him, and I am ready enough to engage in
the contest with him. This elliptical use of have, with the sense
of "I will have" or 'let us have" is common in Shakespeare
with "after, at," "to," "through," "with": For the box,
as regards the blow; from Danish bask, a slap, thwack.
173. checked, rebuked, chidden.
174. marry, a corruption of (by) Mary, the Virgin Mother of
Christ; a petty cath employed in avoidance of the statutes
against profane swearing.
SCENE II.]
113
NOTES.
66
174, 5. ashes and sackcloth, an oriental fashion of contrition
or mourning for the loss of those dear, frequently mentioned in
the Bible: sack, a Spanish wine generally of a dry character,
though there were also sweet varieties. They (i.e. the different
kinds of Sack) probably first came into favour in consequence of
their possessing greater strength and durability, and being more
free from acidity, than the white wines of France and Germany:
and owed their distinctive appellation to that peculiar sub-
astringent taste which characterizes all wines prepared with
gypsum (Henderson, History of Ancient and Modern Wines,
quoted by Dyce, Gloss.").
ور
183. I thank... it. "Falstaff ascribes this unwelcome employ-
ment on military service to the influence of the Chief Justice
(Delius) look, see, take care.
184. you that kiss... home, you who stay at home calmly
enjoying the blessings of peace which we warriors labour to
secure you.
184, 5. that our armies... day. With the inference that if it is
too hot for him to exert himself, there will be little hope of a
continuance of those blessings of peace.
187. and I brandish, i.e. an, if, I, etc.
C
188. I would... again, "may I never again have wine enough
to produce this effect; or rather, perhaps, may I never have a
debauch over-night, to make me thirsty in the morning...
Spungius says, in Massinger, The Virgin Martyr, iii. 3, Had I
been a pagan still, I should not have spit white for want of drink.'
That is, for want of more drink to remedy the effect of what
he had taken before. It was noticed also as a consequence of
habitual intemperance. The unlucky pages in Lyly's Mother
Bombie say that their masters had sodden their livers in sack for
forty years, and 'That makes them spit white broath, as they do,'
Act iii. sc. 1" (Nares, Gloss.). Rabelais, bk. ii. ch. 7, writes,
every man found himself so a-dry with drinking these flat
wines, that they did nothing but spit, and that as white as
Maltha cotton, saying 'We have got the Pantagruel, and our
very throats are salted."
189, 90. but I... it, without my being set to deal with it:
always yet, ever up to the present day; on alway and always,
Skeat says,
"The usual A. S. form is ealne weg, where both
words are in the accusative singular; In Hali Meidenhad,
we find alles weis, where both words are in the genitive singular.
This occasional use of the genitive singular, and the common
habit of using the genitive singular suffix es as an adverbial
suffix, have produced the second form always. Both forms are
thus accounted for."
192. If ye will needs say, if you must say, as you have just
H
114
[ACT J.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
now said; needs, like always, having the genitival suffix in an
adverbial sense.
194. I were better, an ungrammatical remnant of ancient
usage, the more correct form of the phrase being '(to) me (it)
were better.'
195. a rust. Most modern editors follow Steevens in omitting
the indefinite article, though without any sufficient reason:
scoured to nothing, worn to nothing, like a weapon from which
the rust is being constantly scoured.
202. to bear crosses, with a play upon crosses in the sense (1)
of misfortunes, (2) of money stamped with a cross; the same pun
occurs in A. Y. L. ii. 4. 12, L. L. L. i. 2. 36: commend me, give
my commendations, compliments.
204. fillip me... beetle. "A diversion is common with boys in
Warwickshire and the adjoining counties, on finding a toad, to
lay a board about two or three feet long, at right angles, over a
stick about two or three inches in diameter... Then placing the
toad at A [the point at one end of the board shown in the sketch
given], the other end is struck by a bat or large stick, which
throws the creature forty or fifty feet perpendicular from the
earth, and its return in general kills it. This is called Filliping
the Toad. A three-man beetle is an implement used for driving
piles; it is made of a log of wood about eighteen or twenty inches
diameter, and fourteen or fifteen inches thick, with one short
and two long handles... A man at each of the long handles man-
ages the fall of the beetle, and a third man, by the short handle,
assists in raising it to strike the blow. Such an implement was,
without doubt, very suitable for filliping so corpulent a being as
Falstaff" (Steevens). A somewhat similar implement, though
worked by two men only, may still be seen in use by paviours
in ramming down stones in a roadway.
207. groats, a coin worth fourpence.
208. consumption. With a play on the word as meaning the
disease phthisis.
214. About it, make haste about the business.
SCENE III.
STAGE DIRECTION. the Archbishop. "This prelate, Richard
Le Scrope, was second son of Richard, Lord Scrope of Bolton,
who had been chancellor in the reign of Richard II.... Nearly all
historians... have made the mistake, fallen into by the poet, in
calling the archbishop a brother of the Earl of Wiltshire, who
was a Scrope of Masham (French, S. G.): Hastings.
"The
person here intended who took part in the archbishop's rebellion
was Sir Ralph Hastings, not Lord Hastings.'... Hume, who
SCENE III.]
115
NOTES.
calls him Sir Ralph, says that his life was spared after the dis-
persion of the confederates; other writers, followed by the
dramatist, state that he was beheaded"... (id.).
1. known, become acquainted with.
4. lord marshal. The title of Earl Marshal of England was and
still is hereditary in the family of the Duke of Norfolk. This
Lord Mowbray was the eldest son of Thomas Mowbray, Duke of
Norfolk, but on account of his father's attainder by Richard the
Second he never enjoyed the superior title, which however was
restored to his brother who succeeded him in consequence of his
dying without issue.
5. the occasion... arms, what in 1. 1 is called “ our cause.
6-9. But gladly... king, but should be glad to be shown at
greater length how in respect to our means we may expect so far
to improve our position as to be able boldly to meet the mighty
power in arms against us under the king.
10, 1. Our present... choice, our present muster-roll of troops
which we can put into the field of battle amounts to five and
twenty thousand picked soldiers; file, list, line, Low Lat. fila, a
string of things.
12, 3. And our... Northumberland, and we have large expecta-
tion of reinforcements from the Earl of Northumberland.
17. May hold up head, are capable of offering a confident
resistance; may originally meant to be able.'
(
20. step too far, take a step which we shall be unable to
retrace.
21. had, should have: by the hand, close at hand, so near that
we can grasp it.
22-4. For in a theme... admitted, for in a business of so
desperate a nature we cannot afford to trust anything to such
doubtful security as that of conjecture, etc. We must have
certainties not probabilities for a basis: incertain, Shakespeare
uses both this form and "uncertain."
26. It was... Shrewsbury, this trusting to probabilities was
what caused Hotspur's downfall at Shrewsbury.
27. who lined... hope, for he fed himself on, fortified his
determination with, mere hopes; cp. Pt. I. ii. 3. 86, " to line his
enterprise."
28. Eating... supply, feeding upon the unsubstantial fare of
mere promises of succour; cp. Haml. iii. 2. 99, "I eat the air,
promise-crammed" (sc. like the chameleon which was believed to
feed upon air).
29, 30. Flattering ... thoughts, vainly buoying himself up with
the idea of what he would do with reinforcements which turned
116
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
out to be utterly incommensurate with the lowest of his am-
bitious designs; for project, cp. M. A. iii. 1. 55, "she cannot
love, Nor take no shape nor project of affection, She is so self-
endeared."
31, 2. with great... madmen, with the extravagant ideas
peculiar to, characteristic of, madmen.
33. winking, closing his eyes to actual facts; blindly.
35. To lay down... hope, to draw out formal estimates of what
we may hope for; to make, as it were, a budget of our income in
the matter of hope.
36-41. Yes, if this... them. I have adopted Knight's punctua-
tion of this passage, though without much feeling of certainty
that it is not corrupt. With this punctuation the meaning will
be, Yes, it does do harm to lay down these likelihoods if the
circumstances of the war in which we are about to engage-or,
rather I should say, the emergency in which we are actually
placed, the matter being no longer one of consideration but one
in which action has been already taken,-afford no surer prospect
of ripening to success than buds which appear in an unusually
early spring do of maturity; for as in the case of those buds the
danger of their being nipped by frost is greater than the hope of
their developing into fruit, so in our case the danger of being
crushed is greater than the hope of overcoming our enemies.
Most modern editors adopt Malone's conjecture in for if; for
Indeed the principal conjectures are 'Impel,' 'Induc'd,' 'Indued,'
'End in'; for instant, instanc'd,' and 'infant.' For which to
prove fruit, see Abb. § 354.
42. the plot, sc. of ground on which the building is to be
erected.
43. the figure, the architect's plan.
45. outweighs ability, is beyond our means.
47. In fewer offices, with fewer rooms for the servants, such as
the kitchens, pantries, butteries, etc. Cp. R. II. i. 2. 69,
empty lodgings and unfurnish'd walls, Unpeopled offices": for
or at least, Hanmer reads 'or else,' Capellor, at last,' and at
least is of course illogical as it would be a much greater change
of plans to give up building altogether than to modify the size of
the house.
49. Which is down, the object or plan of which is to, etc.
52. Consent foundation, determine upon a sure foundation
after deliberate consultation.
...
53. know... estate, ascertain clearly what our means are.
54, 5. How able ... opposite, how far we are in a position to
undertake the work in such a way as shall be adequate to the
difficulties in our path: here the figurative and the literal mean-
SCENE III.]
117
NOTES.
ings are blended together, his opposite meaning in the former
that which is opposed to our estate, in the latter our opponents';
from our means the pronoun 'we' is to be inferred.
57. Using ... men, trusting to a paper-army only.
59. who, half through, and then, having got half through his
undertaking.
60. his part-created cost, his expensive erection only partly
complete.
61. A naked ... clouds, exposed to the downpour of rain from
the clouds which seem to bewail the builder's folly.
62. waste, a subject for destruction.
64. Should be still-born, should come to no happy birth, should
be as futile as a child born dead.
64, 5. and that we... expectation, and that we cannot look
for a single man beyond what we have already; possess'd rather
than possess as of a matter already settled and done with.
67. to equal with, to meet on equal terms.
68. What ... thousand? i.e. five and twenty thousand strong.
69. To us no more, so far as we are concerned, so far as concerns
the force we have to deal with, that is the whole of his strength.
70, 1. For his divisions heads, for owing to the various
quarrels in which he is involved, his forces are cut up into three
divisions.
71. against the French, "During this rebellion of Northumber-
land and the Archbishop, a French army of twelve thousand
men landed at Milford Haven, in Wales, for the aid of Owen
Glendower" (Steevens). Henry, however, did not meet them
till after the defeat of the rebels.
73. Must take up us, must deal with us, encounter us; cp.
H. V. ii. 4. 72, “ Take up the English short": unfirm, insecurely
seated on his throne.
74, 5. his coffers ... emptiness, his coffers ring hollow from
being so empty. Cp. H. V. iv. 4. 70-3, "I did never know so
full a voice issue from so empty a heart; but the saying is true,
'The empty vessel makes the greater sound.'
76. his several strengths, his divided resources; but in reality
they seem never to have been divided.
78, 9. If he should ... unarm'd, Abbott, § 371, on conditional
sentences, remarks, "Sometimes the consequent is put graphi-
cally, in the present merely for vividness."
80. Baying... heels, following him closely and barking at him;
to bay is a curtailed form of abay, from F. abbayer, to bark at.
81. like, likely.
118
[ACT I.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
82. The Duke of Lancaster. Malone points out that this is an
anachronism, Prince John not having been created a duke till the
second year of Henry the Fifth's reign.
84. is substituted, acts as the king's deputy; the substantive
in this sense is frequent in Shakespeare.
85. notice, information.
87. their own choice, sc. Henry.
88. hath surfeited, has gratified itself to excess, and now is
beginning to nauseate that in which it once so delighted.
91. thou fond many, thou foolish multitude; fond is originally
fonned, the passive participle of the verb fonnen, to act foolishly;
many, here used as a substantive, as in Cor. iii. 1. 66, "The
mutable, rank-scented many."
92. beat heaven, with the reverberations of their cries; cp.
R. J. iii. 5. 21, "the lark, whose notes do beat The vaulty
heaven."
94. trimm'd... desires, decked out in the blessings which you
courted, sc. the accession of Henry to the throne.
96. That thou... up, are so eager to vomit him up, get rid of
him, that you do not wait to be provoked to the action, but
actually provoke yourselves to do so: an allusion to the taking
of emetics in order to stir up the stomach to reject food that is
obnoxious to it.
97. thou common dog, the comparison is to a low-bred hound
that will greedily eat any food; with a play on the word common
in reference to the common people, the commonalty.
98. glutton, gluttonous; cp. V. A. 399, "his glutton eye
iii. H. VI. ii. 3. 138, "venom toads"; and see Abb. § 22:
bosom, (1) heart in which you once cherished him, (2) stomach.
...
99. And now thou up, and now you would again feast on
that which you have vomited up, your dead king; an allusion
to Proverbs, xxvi. 11, "As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool
returneth to his folly."
100. And howl'st ... it, and utter cries of eager desire to find it.
102. on, of.
103. Thou, that ... head, see R. II. v. 2. 4-6, "At that sad
stop, my lord, Where rude misgovern'd hands from windows'
tops Threw dust and rubbish on King Richard's head.
وو
104, 5. When through ... Bolingbroke, when at the heels of the
admired Bolingbroke he rode in such sad plight through London,
then rejoicing at his downfall.
109. draw our numbers, assemble our forces; cp. K. J. iii. i.
339, "Cousin, go draw our puissance together."
SCENE III.]
119
NOTES.
110. We are ... gone, time bids us move forwards, and we must
obey its commands.
ACT II. SCENE I.
1. entered the action, set in motion the legal process against
Falstaff; though the Hostess's language is of doubtful accuracy.
As in 1. 27 below, the Hostess uses the corruption "exion,"
Dyce substitutes that form here.
3. yeoman, bailiff's follower, tipstaff.
3, 4. will a'... it? will he boldly execute the arrest?
9, 10. I have entered... all, I have taken all the necessary
steps for the action against him.
13. Alas the day! sorrow on the day! though the words the
day add little to the force of the exclamation; alas is from the
"O. F. a, ah! and las, wretched (that I am)" (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
The commoner form of the expression was Alackaday," or
"Alack the day."
15. foin, thrust, lunge, with his sword; O. F. fouine, an eel-
spear.
19, 20. An I but fist ... vice, if I can only lay my grasp upon
him, if only he comes within reach of my vice-like clutch.
...
21. I am
going, if he once gets away, I shall be undone, for
there will be no further hope of recovering what he owes me.
21, 2. an infinitive... score, he is infinitely in my debt.
23. continuantly, continually, constantly: Pie-corner, near
Giltspur Street, afterwards famous as the point at which the
Great Fire ended.
24. saving your manhoods. An apologetic expression, as though
she had said something that she ought not.
25. indited, invited: Lubber's-head, the Hostess's corruption
of "Libbard's (i.e. leopard's) head." In former days houses were
not numbered, but in place of numbers they had over their doors
some sign or emblem, a custom still prevailing in inns in country
towns and villages.
26. Lumbert street, Lombard Street, which derived its name
from the Lombardy merchants who frequented it in early times.
silk-man, silk-mercer.
27. exion, the Hostess's corruption of action.
28, 9. A hundred mark... one, a hundred marks is a long score,
debt, to run up; with a play on the word mark in the sense of a
coin of that name and of a mark made as a reckoning. For one,
Theobald conjectured loan; Collier, score; Grant White, ow'n,
i.e. owing lone, solitary, single; Steevens points out that in
Pt. I. Mistress Quickly had a husband alive.
120
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
30. fubbed off, put off with excuses; cp. Cor. i. 1. 97, "to fob
off our disgrace with a tale"; the two forms being only varieties
of spelling. Halliwell, Arch, and. Prov. Dict., gives to "fub, to
put off, deceive. At marbles, an irregular mode of projecting the
taw by an effort of the whole hand, instead of the thumb only."
33, 4. unless a woman... wrong, unless women are to be made
mere beasts of burden to be treated in any shameful way that
knaves may choose.
35. malmsey-nose knave, red-nosed villain; the redness being
due to the amount of malmsey wine he had drunk: malmsey, a
strong sweet wine, from Malvasia, a town on the east coast of
the Morea.
35, 6. your offices, the duty of arresting Falstaff.
37. do me, i.e. in my behalf.
38. whose mare's dead? What, is all this fuss about nothing?
So, in Jonson's Every Man in His Humour, iv. 1, Wellbred,
entering upon a dispute, exclaims "How now! who's cow has
calved?"
40. cut me, as above, 1. 37, "Do me."
41. quean, hussy, jade, vile woman; originally the same word
as queen, the sense being woman ": channel, gutter of the street,
kennel. In former days these "channels" with running water
in them commonly fringed the kerb of the pathway at the sides
of streets, and they are still to be seen in old towns.
44. honey-suckle, the Hostess's corruption of 'homicidal,' as
honey-seed is of "homicide.
46. a man-queller, a man-slayer, homicide; the old verb to
quell" meaning to kill, subdue; A.S. cwellan.
48. A rescue! a rescue! the usual cry for assistance when the
king's officers were resisted by force; the phrase was originally
"at rescue," i.e. "to the rescue!" The Hostess takes the word
to be some weapon that the officer called for. To make a
rescue was to deliver a captured man from the custody of an
officer, as in C. E. iv. 4. 114, "Thou, gaoler, thou, I am thy
prisoner wilt thou suffer them To make a rescue.
51. hemp-seed! generally taken as another of the Hostess's
corruptions of 'homicide,' which seems unlikely. More probably,
it seems to me, she means 'you rascal born for a halter,' halters
"Ye shall
being woven out of hemp. Cp. ii. H. VI. iv. 7. 95,
have a hempen caudle then and the help of hatchet"; H. V. iii. 6.
45, "And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate.
52. scullion, properly one of the lowest menials in a household
who wiped out the pots and dishes; here merely a term of abuse:
rampallian, a term of abuse common in the old dramatists, and
more commonly spelt rampallion," possibly with some connec-
(C
SCENE I. ]
121
NOTES.
tion in the mind of the speaker with a ramping lion, one who
springs upon a person as a bailiff might. Cp. the more modern
term "rapscallion": fustilarian, apparently a coinage of Falstaff's
mint, and possibly from Lat. fustis, a cudgel, or one who carries
a cudgel, as a bailiff's follower did.
"
59. Stand from him, let go of him.
63. some, the Hostess does not understand the Chief-Justice's
sum.
""
67. the mare, the night-mare; an incubus to whose agency
horrible dreams, accompanied by oppression of the breast, were
supposed to be due; the word in this sense is, says Skeat, from
the root mar, to pound, crush.
68, 9. what man... exclamation? how could any man of a
noble nature so wrong a woman as to provoke her to such a
tempest of reproaches as those with which she justly assails you?
71. to come by her own, to recover what is due to her.
73, 4. thyself... too, you would admit that you owe me not
only the money I claim but yourself in marriage: Steevens says
that in articles parcel-gilt, i.e. partly gilt, the gilding was upon
those parts only that were embossed, i.e. in relief.
75. Dolphin-chamber. It was customary to give particular
names to each room in an inn; cp. Pt. I. ii. 4. 30, "Score a pint
of bastard in the Half-Moon"; 1. 42, "look down into the
Pomgarnet."
76. Wheeson, Whitsun; the week beginning with Whit-Sun-
day, i.e. white Sunday, seven weeks after Easter. The origin of
the term is supposed to be from that season being specially ap-
pointed for christenings and ordinations, at which ceremonies
white garments were worn. For the minute prolixity of the
Hostess's speech here compare that of the garrulous old Nurse
in R. J. i. 2. 16 et seqq.
77. broke this head, cracked the skin of your head, so that the
blood flowed from it; cp. R. J. i. 3. 38, "she broke her brow,”
i.e. bruised her forehead: liking, likening; cp. i. H. VI. iv. 6.
48, "like me to the peasant boys of France."
79. my lady. As a knight, Falstaff could bring that title to the
woman he married; cp. K. J. i. 1. 184, " Well, now can I make
any Joan a lady,” said by the newly knighted Faulconbridge.
80. goodwife Keech, my gossip Keech; the word Keech means
the fat of an ox or a cow, rolled up by the butcher in a round
lump, and so is appropriately given here to the wife of a butcher,
as in H. VIII. i. 1. 55, it is applied to Wolsey, a butcher's son.
81. gossip, literally 'related in God,' i.c. one who stands
sponsor in baptism for a child. Gossips, then," says Trench,
Eng. Past and Present, are first the sponsors, brought by the act
CC
122
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
of a common sponsorship into affinity and near familiarity with
one another; secondly, these sponsors, who being thus brought
together, allow themselves with one another in familiar, and
then in trivial and idle, talk; thirdly, they are any who allow
themselves in this trivial and idle talk" so cronies, intimate
friends; nowadays the word is used only of the idle talk of such
cronies.
82. a mess of vinegar, a portion, small quantity of vinegar ;
properly that which is set on the table, from O. F. mes, Low Lat.
mittere, to place; Malone compares the Scriptural phrase
mess of pottage.'
83. whereby, whereupon.
84. a green wound, a fresh, not yet healed, wound.
85, 6. to be... people, not to allow such low people to be on
such familiar terms with me as to call me "gossip Quickly" and
borrow trifles of me in this way.
87. call me madam, call me "my lady," use terms of respect
to me.
88. I put thee... book-oath, I call upon you to answer, taking
your Bible-oath to the truth of your words.
90, 1. up and down the town, publicly, wherever she goes.
92. in good case, comfortably off, not the poor woman she now
is: distracted her, driven her out of her senses.
93, 4. I may against them, I may be set free and they be
punished for having dared to arrest me.
98. such more... sauciness, such impudence as deserves a
stronger term than sauciness.
98, 9. can thrust ... consideration, can deter me from taking a
fair view of the case and seeing justice done to the poor woman.
...
105, 6. with sterling repentance. The Chief-Justice puns
upon the words sterling and current, which are used of coin
that passes as of good, full, recognised, value; sterling, a
shortened form of easterling," the Easterlings or North Ger-
man nierchants being the first moneyers in England.
107. sneap, rebuke, reprimand; to "sneap" to pinch, check,
is connected with to "snub"; for its literal sense, cp. L. L. L.
i. 1. 100, "Biron is like an envious sneaping frost That bites the
first-born infants of the spring"; W. T. i. 2. 13, "that may blow
No sneaping winds at home, to make us say 'This is put forth
too truly.'
109. make courtesy, show deference, humility; the 'courtesy,'
modern curtsy,' was formerly used of men as well as of women;
nowadays the word is used of women only, and especially of
those of humbler rank showing deference to their superiors,
SCENE I.]
123
NOTES.
the word "bow" having taken its place for a salutation between
equals.
110. my humble... remembered, be it said with all mindfulness
of the respect due to your position: I will ... suitor, I do not ask
it with the humility of a suitor, but claim it as the right of one
now acting in the king's behalf in a matter of urgent importance.
Falstaff," observes Knight, "claimed the protection legally
called quia profecturus," i.e. as being about to set forth (on the
king's affairs).
66
act up
113. You speak... wrong, you talk as though your commission
on the king's business justified you in robbing a poor woman.
114. answer... reputation,
to what your reputation
promises" (Schmidt); effect, tenour, import; cp. H. V. v. 2. 72,
our just demands; Whose tenours and particular effects You
have enscheduled briefly in your hands": satisfy, pay her what
is due.
CC
120. As I am a gentleman, I promise you on my faith as a
gentleman; said aside to the Hostess.
122. no more... it, let's have no more discussion of the matter.
123. By this on. Mrs. Quickly mixes up two forms of oath,
by heaven," and "by this ground": I must be fain to, I shall
have to bring myself to, I shall be obliged to consent to; fain,
glad, eager;
"the sense," says Skeat, "seems to have been
originally 'fixed'; hence suited,' 'satisfied,' 'content. In
modern usage, in which however the word is somewhat rare,
there is almost always a sense of constraint implied.
124. tapestry, with which walls were formerly hung. The
finest tapestry came from Arras, a town in Artois, France, and
was often called arras.
>>
126. Glasses... drinking, don't bother yourself with regrets
about your plate, there is nothing so pleasant to drink out of as
glasses.
127. drollery, a picture or sketch of some scene of low
humour" (Dyce, Gloss.). In the Tempest, iii. 3. 21, the word is
used of a puppet-show the Prodigal, i.e. of the parable of the
prodigal son in Scripture.
:
128. the German... water-work, "the representation of a Ger-
man boar-hunt,-perhaps some particular boar-hunt, executed
in water-colour (or distemper ?) on cloth" (Dyce, Gloss.).
129. these bed-hangings, said contemptuously of her tapestries
as being fit for bed curtains only: fly-bitten, fly-blown, mouldy.
129, 30. Let it be... canst, make up the sum (which she is to
lend him) to ten pounds, if you can.
131. humours, fits of ill temper.
124
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
132. draw, withdraw.
134. set on, instigated; one so generous as you are could not
have thought of such a thing of your own accord.
135. let it be... nobles, be satisfied with twenty nobles;
noble," a coin worth 6s. Sd.
137, 8, Let it alone ….. still, never mind, don't trouble yourself
in the matter, I'll manage to get the money in some other
quarter; you will be a fool to the end of your life, and never
know what is to your own advantage; i.e. you will lose the
chance of having me for a husband for the sake of a few pounds.
142. hook on, go with her and do not leave her till she has
pawned her goods and got the money.
144. No more words, as you like; do anything you please.
145. I have... news, this is not as good news as it might be.
148. Basingstoke, in Hampshire, about fifty miles from
London.
151. Come... back? are all his troops returning with him?
156. of me, from me.
160. shall I entreat
dine with me?
...
dinner? will you let me persuade you to
163, 4. being you are to, go, it being your commission to
enlist soldiers on your way to join Prince John. For "being
that, since, cp. M. A. iv. 1. 251, "Being that I flow in
grief."
168, 9. he was ... me, hinting that he had learnt his politeness
from the Chief-Justice: the right... grace, the perfection of art
in fencing, the highest skill in logical combat; cp. A. Y. L. iii.
2. 127, that's the right virtue of a medlar."
170. tap... fair, hit for hit, and so to separate in all good
feeling, without any soreness at getting the worst of the en-
counter.
171. lighten, with a pun on 'enlighten' and on 'make lighter,'
i.e. less of a fool.
SCENE II.
3. attached, laid hands upon, arrested; 'attach' and 'attack'
are doublets: blood, rank, birth.
4, 5. though it... it, though it detracts from my greatness to
own it; a humorous way of saying 'it makes me blush.'
7, 8. Why, a prince ... composition, well, to tell the truth, a
prince's inclinations ought not to concern themselves with any-
thing of so mean a nature as small beer; with a pun on studied,
and on composition in its sense of a literary production.
SCENE II.]
125
NOTES.
9. Belike then... got, probably then, though I myself am of
princely origin, my appetite is derived from some less noble
source.
12, 3. What a disgrace... name! if it is unworthy of me to
think of such a thing as small beer, how much more unworthy of
me is it to concern myself with you in any way, even so far as to
remember your name! Cp. K. J. i. 1. 187, "if his name be
George, I'll call him Peter; For new-made honour doth forget
men's names.
15. those that were... ones, sc. but which from much wearing
and often washing have long since lost their colour. This colour
seems to have been a favourite one; cp. Jonson, E. M. I. H. H.
iv. 4, “two pair of silk sockings ... a peach colour and another.”
15, 6. to bear, sc. in memory, mind: for superfluity, as a
change.
18, 9. for it is... there, for things must be at a very low ebb
with you in regard to changes of linen when you are not found
amusing yourself there, i.e. as long as you have a decent shirt to
wear you are sure to be wasting your time at the tennis court;
with a pun on racket in the sense of noisy amusement and that
of the bat used in playing tennis.
20, 1. the rest... holland, i.e. because you have been obliged
to use the holland of your shirts to make you breeches; with a
pun on the Low Countries, or Netherlands, and Holland, and a
further pun on shift (1) contrivance, (2) a change of clothes, (3)
a shirt, especially the underlinen of women.
22. laboured so hard, i.e. in war.
28. shall serve, will do, will be quite good enough, for, etc.
30. I stand the push, I anı ready to meet the thrust; cp. Pt. I.
iii. 2. 66, "To laugh at gibing boys and stand the push Of every
beardless vain comparative.
32. meet, fitting, proper.
33. albeit, although; properly a phrase all(though) it be.
36. Very hardly... subject, you would find it a very hard task
to be really sad at your father's illness, i.e. you would be only too
glad if your father were sick unto death.
...
37, 8. as far persistency, as utterly without feeling, and as
thorough a villain as yourself and Falstaff.
40, 2. and keeping... sorrow, and (yet) from associating with
such scum as you, I am naturally disinclined to make any show
of my sorrow.
48. keeps the road-way, follows the beaten track of men in
general.
50. accites, incites, provokes; properly, summons.
126
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT II.
51. lewd, profane, debauched: engraffed, closely bound to ;
the old word was 'graff,' our form graft' being really the pas-
sive participle, 'graffed' used as though it were an infinitive.
Shakespeare employs both forms. To graft' is to insert the
bud of one species of a plant in the stem of another in order to
improve it, the bud thus inserted being tied with string, matting,
etc., to the stem, and in time becoming one with it. Cp.
W. T. iv. 4. 92-4, "We... make conceive a bark of baser kind
By bud of nobler race."
54. By this light. A petty form of oath, corrupted from "by
God's light," an oath which we often find in the form "'slight":
spoke, for the contracted form of past participles, see Abb. § 343.
56. a second brother, one as dear to my friends as another
brother.
56, 7. a proper hands, like "a tall fellow of thy hands,"
W. T. v. 2. 178, a well-built, handy, fellow: I cannot help, as
though he were confessing to some depreciatory estimation of him-
self.
58. the mass, the sacrament of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper.
59, 60. a' had him ... Christian, when I gave him to Falstaff,
he was still a human being and a Christian.
60, 1. transformed him ape, turned him into an ape, by the
fantastic livery put upon him.
65, 6. a maidenly man-at-arms, more like a blushing miss than
the personal attendant on such a warrior as your master.
67, 8. A' calls me ... window, he called to me a minute ago
through the window of a tavern and I could not distinguish his
face from the red panes of glass in it: the windows of ale-houses
were furnished with lattices of various colours, but especially red,
and a
"red lattice" became synonymous with a tavern; cp.
Marston, i. Antonio and Mellida, v. 1. 224, "I am not as well
known by my wit as an alehouse by a red lattice"; so in M. W.
ii. 2. 28, your red lattice phrases," i.e. your tavern talk.
68-70. at last through, at last I caught sight of his eyes
which seemed to be peeping out from two holes cut in the Hostess's
new scarlet petticoat; these petticoats of scarlet were common
formerly. For another description of Bardolph's scarlet face, see
Pt. I. iii. 3. 27-59.
71. Has not ... profited? sc. from his intercourse with Falstaff.
you rabbit, you young scamp, more like a rabbit on its hind
legs than anything else in the world.
...
75, 6. Althæa... fire-brand. Johnson points out that Shakespeare
has mixed up Althæa's brand, which was real, with Hecuba's
dream of a brand that was to consume Troy; but possibly, as
Clarke suggests, the mistake was intentional in order to mark the
SCENE II.]
127
NOTES.
Page's smattering of know edge picked up from the Prince, Fal-
staff, and the rest.
77. A crown's worth... interpretation, your interpretation de-
serves a reward of a crown; which coin the Prince then gives the
boy.
SO. cankers, worms that prey upon the blossoms of flowers ;
the word is a doublet of " cancer," Lat. cancer, a crab, from the
disease eating into the flesh like a crab with its claws.
...
81, 2. An you do wrong, if with the teaching he gets among
you he does not come to be hanged, then all I can say is that the
gallows will have been cheated of its due-a proverbial saying of
a guilty man escaping punishment.
86. Delivered ... respect. Poins jeers at Bardolph's courtesy in
delivering the letter to the Prince.
86, 7. martlemas. A corruption of "Martinmas," the feast
of St. Martin on the 11th of November, in sarcasm of the youth-
ful frivolity of one so far on in years; cp. Pt. I. i. 2. 177, 8,
Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, All-hallown summer !”
90. it dies not, it is as vigorous as ever in evil thoughts.
91. this wen, this wretched excrescence upon my greatness,
like a wen, a tumour, on a man's body.
92. holds his place, behaves as though he were a part of myself,
asserts his intimacy with me.
94, 5. every man... himself, he is determined that every one
should know he is a knight, for he never speaks of himself with-
out dragging in that fact.
98, 9. takes ... conceive, pretends not to understand, in order
to please the speaker by giving him the opportunity of explain-
ing a borrower's cap, which the borrower is always so ready to
take off to any one who he hopes will lend him money.
101, 2. Nay, they will... Japhet, yes, assuredly they will prove
their kinship to us, even if they have to go as far back as the flood
to prove it: nay is elliptical, nay, there is no mistake about that.
104. nearest his father, i.e. eldest son; an affectation of
Falstaff's.
107. Romans. Some editors follow Warburton in reading
Roman, supposing the allusion to be to Julius Caesar's brief
missive to the Senate after defeating Pharnaces, king of Pontus,
B.C. 47, Veni, vidi, vici, "I came, I saw, I overcame, as Rosalind
renders it, A. Y. L. v. 2. 35, and the sentence, "I commend ……
leave thee" gives some colour to the supposition.
...
109. I commend me to thee, I recommend myself to you, I
greet you with all good wishes: I commend thee, I offer you my
words of praise on your exploits.
128
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
112. at idle times, when you have nothing better to do.
113. by yea and no, i.e. yours if you use me well, not yours if
you use me badly.
117. steep, soak; Poins feeling sure that Falstaff would be
ready enough to devour it for the sake of the sack with it.
118. That's to make ... words. To make a man eat his word is
figuratively to make him recall them, abjure them, and the
Prince here says that Poins will be punishing him dreadfully by
making him eat not one but a large number of his words; twenty,
for an indefinite number. Steevens compares the old play of Sir
John Oldcastle; "The Sumner. I'll eat my word. Harpoole. I
mean you shall eat more than your own word, I'll make you eat
all the words in the process."
122. play the fools. We should now say 'play the fool,' taking
the phrase as a compound verb, 'play-the-fool.
>
126, 7. doth the old ... frank. The Prince likens Falstaff to an
old boar for his voracity, and alludes to the Boar's Head tavern
in Eastcheap, Falstaff's common resort; frank, an enclosure in
which animals, generally boars, were fattened for the table ;
Cotgrave gives "Engraisser, To feed, franke, fatten." Ford also,
The Broken Heart, iii. 2. 147, uses the word as a verb,
franks his lust In swine-security.
"}
one that
130. Ephesians. A cant name for a boon-companion, toper;
apparently from the words of the old church an allusion to the
admonishment of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians against
drunkenness; so Corinthian was a term for a loose liver, probably
with allusion to the sins denounced by St. Paul in his Epistle to
the Corinthians, though the Corinthians were notorious from
early times for their debauchery of the old church, of the old
sort, his usual companions; so Middleton, The Phoenix, i. 4. 41,
says of a set of rogues, "they belong all to one church.”
134. pagan.
The word originally meant nothing more than a
villager, Lat. pagus, a village, thence, like heathen, a dweller on
a heath, one unconverted, because people living in remote
districts were not converted so early as those in towns; here for
a loose woman.
135. proper, decent, respectable, honest.
142. govern it, put a curb upon it, restrain it.
144. bestow himself, show himself, behave in his true colours,
not such as he put on when in the Prince's company and not...
seen, without being seen.
148. From a god... bull, referring to Jupiter's transformation
into a bull when seeking Europa's love: descension, descent;
not otherwhere found; the folios give "declension."
SCENE II.]
129
NOTES.
150. the purpose... folly, the object in view must be weighed
with the folly employed and be an excuse for it.
SCENE III
STAGE DIRECTION. Northumberland. The great house of Percy
descended from one of the Norman captains who fought at
Hastings, William de Percy. The Earl here was the son of the
third Baron Percy of Alnwick, one of the heroes of Crecy, and
brother of Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester: Lady Northumber-
land, the Earl's second wife, Maud Lucy, widow of the Earl of
Angus Lady Percy, Elizabeth, daughter of Edmund Mortimer,
Earl of March.
2. Give even ... affairs, do not seek to hinder the stern course I
am obliged to take; the figure probably is, as so often in Shake-
speare, from a bowling-green.
3. Put not you... times, do not look gloomily upon me as the
time does, do not frown upon the undertaking on which I am
resolved.
4. Percy, i.e. himself.
7. at pawn, at stake, pledged.
8. but, except.
11. more endear'd... now, bound by more urgent reasons to
make it good, maintain it.
13, 4. Threw... powers, was constantly looking to the north in
hopeful expectation of seeing your forces approach; for long
Theobald proposed look.
15. Who then... home? a question of appeal equivalent to the
negative 'no one then,' etc.
17. For yours... it! as for your honour, may God restore its
tarnished lustre !
18. it stuck upon him, it stood out in conspicuous brightness;
cp. Haml. v. 2. 268, "Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest
night Stick fiery off indeed"; A. C. v. 2. 79, "His face was as
the heavens; and therein stuck A sun and moon, which kept their
course and lighted The little O, the earth."
21, 2. he was indeed... themselves. In Haml, iii. 1. 161, the
Prince is spoken of as "The glass of fashion, and the mould of
form.
""
23. He had gait, all who could boast any legs at all made it
their aim to imitate his manner of walking; gait, " a particular
use of M. E. gate, a way... -Icel. gata, a way, path, road; It
is clear that the word was thus used, because popularly con-
nected with the verb to go; at the same time, the word is not
I
...
130
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
really derived from that verb, but from the verb to get " (Skeat,
Ety. Dict.).
24, 5. And speaking ... valiant, and that which in him was a
natural defect, his habit of rapid utterance, was adopted by his
brave companions as though it were something becoming; for
speaking thick, cp. Cymb. iii. 2. 58, "say, and speak thick."
27. their own perfection, their naturally perfect manner of
speech.
29. affections of delight, those things which they took delight
in, eagerly affected.
30. humours of blood, caprices of temper, disposition.
31. mark, sc. at which they aimed.
32. That fashion'd others, that shaped others to perfection ;
cp. Cymb. i. 1. 49, "A sample to the youngest, to the more
mature A glass that feated them," i.e. formed, fashioned, them.
34. Second, inferior: unseconded, unaided.
36. In disadvantage, at a disadvantage, with forces unequal to
those of the enemy: to abide a field, to undergo a combat.
38. defensible, capable of offering a defence; for adjectives
having both an active and a passive meaning, see Abb. §§ 3, 445 :
left him, sc. without help, deserted him.
40, 1. To hold ... him! to consider yourself bound by more
scrupulous considerations of honour to stand by others than by
him.
45. Monmouth's grave, the Prince's death: Beshrew, a mild
form of imprecation often used playfully, as in M. V. iii. 2. 14.
46. draw... me, take away my courage and determination.
50. provided, armed, furnished with what is necessary for
my needs.
51. Till that. For that,' as a conjunctional affix, see Abb.
§ 287.
52. puissance, power; here as a dissyllable, but often as a
trisyllable.
54. a rib of steel, cp. M. A. iv. 1. 153, "O, that is stronger
made Which was before barr'd up with ribs of iron.”
55. for all our loves, we adjure you by all the love we both
bear you.
56. So did your son, your son fought without any such assist-
ance.
...
57. He was widow, he was allowed thus to try his strength,
and thus it was he perished.
59. To rain upon remembrance, to bedew with tears my loving
memory of him.
Warburton points out the allusion to the plant
SCENE III.]
131
NOTES.
rosemary used at funerals as an emblem of remembrance, and
compares W. T. iv. 4. 74-6, “For you there's rosemary and rue;
these keep Seeming and savour all the winter long: Grace and
remembrance be to you both."
61. For recordation to, in memory of.
62-4. 'Tis with ... way, my mind is in the state of the tide,
which when it has reached its height pauses, neither flowing nor
ebbing, i.e. I am in a state of doubt, the influences that would
draw me in either direction being equally powerful.
67, 8. I will... company, I will make up my mind to go to
Scotland, and there shall I be found till opportunity and ad-
vantage bid me take active measures.
SCENE IV.
2. apple-johns. A species of apple still found in Warwickshire,
which, though it will keep for a long time, quickly becomes
wrinkled and withered. Wise, Shakspere and his Birthplace,
p. 98, quotes Philips, Cider, bk. i., "Its withered rind, en-
trenched By many a furrow, aptly represents Decrepit age.
6. putting off his hat, i.e. with a gesture of mock respect.
8. to the heart, bitterly.
""
9. cover... down, put the cover on the dish of apples and set
them on the table for dessert.
10. noise, band of musicians; commonly used by Elizabethan
writers in this sense.
12. straight, straightway, immediately.
14. anon, immediately; literally in one (minute), A.S. on án,
in one.
15. Sir John it, Falstaff must be kept in the dark about it.
17. old Utis, rare fun; old as an intensive occurs frequently in
Shakespeare, e.g. M. V. iv. 2. 15, Macb. ii. 3. 2.
Utis, or
rather Utas, quasi huitas from huit [eight] French.
The eighth
day, or space of eight days, after any festival "... (Nares, Gloss.).
21. temperality, in Mrs. Quickly's language=frame of body :
pulsidge, pulse.
24. canaries, a wine from the Canary islands, a kind of sweet
sack. The plural is Mrs. Quickly's own.
25. searching, penetrating: perfumes the blood, fills the blood
with fumes, excites, stirs it up. Though Mrs. Quickly misuses
the word here, Steevens shows that to "perfume" was seriously
used of wine as in Hall's translation of the Iliad, "good Chrise
with wine so red The aulter throughly doth perfume"; and so
we still speak of the perfume or bouquet of wine.
132
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
...
30. 'When Arthur court.' From an old ballad printed in
Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, of which Malone
gives two lines, "When Arthur first in court began, And was
approved King.
33. a calm, i.e. a qualm, a sudden attack of nausea; from A.S.
cwealm, a pestilence.
34. sect. It is doubtful whether the word here means 'class,'
'profession,' or 'sex,' for which it is sometimes used: an they...
calm, Falstaff of course uses calm in its proper sense, and means
whenever they are becalmed, have no wind for their ventures,
no opportunity for exercising their trade.
36. muddy, dirty, impure.
41. rheumatic, possibly for 'splenetic,' as Hanmer explains;
Steevens says the word in the cant language of the times signified
'capricious,' 'humoursome,' but Mrs. Quickly is evidently in-
tended to misuse the word, as in H. V. ii. 3. 40, where appa-
rently she means 'lunatic' as two dry toasts, "which cannot
meet but they grate one another" (Johnson).
42. confirmities, infirmities.
48. I'll be friends with thee. On the line "Friends am I with
you all," J. C. iii. 1. 220, Craik writes, "This grammatical im-
propriety, Henley very well remarks, 'is still so prevalent as
that the omission of the anomalous s would give some uncouth-
ness to the sound of an otherwise familiar expression.' We
could not, indeed, say 'Friend am I with you all'; we should
have to turn the expression in some other way. In Troilus and
Cressida, iv. 4. 71, however, we have And I'll grow friend with
danger. Nor does the pluralism of friends depend upon that of
you
all: I am friends with you' is equally the phrase in address-
ing a single person. I with you am is felt to be equivalent to
I and you are.” Cp. also Lear, iv. 1. 35, "And yet my mind
Was then scarce friends with him.
(
49, 50. there is nobody cares, i.e. nobody who cares; for the
omission of the relative, see Abb. § 244. Possibly Doll here
hardly means all that her words imply; 'nobody knows and
nobody cares' was a common expression of indifference to a
result, and it is the former half rather than the latter that seems
to have been intended here.
51. Ancient, ensign; like which modern word ancient repre-
sented both the standard carried and the officer who carried it;
as the title of a commissioned officer, the lowest grade in an in-
fantry regiment, the word has of late years disappeared.
56. I must neighbours, I can't afford, living where I do, to
have fellows of that kind frequenting my house; I must keep up
SCENE IV.]
133
NOTES.
appearances and not disgrace my neighbourhood: swaggerers,
noisy, blustering, fellows; bullies.
58. there comes here, I will have no swaggerers coming
here; see Abb. § 335.
62. pacify yourself, satisfy yourself; be assured that I will
have no swaggerers here.
65. Tilly-fally, tut, tut; an exclamation of impatience or con-
tempt, said by Douce to be a hunting call from the French; cp.
T. Ñ. ii. 3. 83 : ne'er tell me, it's no good your telling me that
he's your ancient.
66. was before, was summoned before.
66-9. Master Tisick... Dumbe. "The names," says Blakeway,
are ludicrously intended to denote that the deputy was pursy
and short-winded: the minister one of those who did not preach
sermons of his own composition, but only read the homilies set
forth by authority :-such clergymen being termed by the
puritans, in a phrase borrowed from the prophet [Isaiah], dumb
dogs"... The passage referred to is in Isaiah, lvi. 10, "His
watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb
dogs, they cannot bark.” Tisick, an old spelling of phthisis,
formerly written phthisick, the difficulty of sounding phth being
got over by substituting t, as also in the Italian tisica; so Milton
writes "half a dozen ptisical mottoes."
69, 70. was by then, was present at the time.
name, you have got
71. civil, orderly, well-behaved: you are... name, you
yourself a bad name, people speak ill of you.
71, 2. now a' said ... whereupon, I know now why he said so,
it was for admitting such riotous fellows as your ancient.
75. There comes none here, I am not going to lose my good
character by having such fellows here.
75, 6. you would bless... said, it would do your heart good to
hear, etc.
77. a tame cheater, a cant phrase for "a man who uses false
dice and other tricks, but is harmless else" (Schmidt). Steevens
compares B. and F., The Fair Maid of the Inn, iv. 2, "and will
be drawn into the net By this decoy-duck, this tame cheater"
and Schmidt "the silly cheat" in W. T. iv. 3. 28. So Webster,
Northward Ho, ii. 1, "what tame swaggerer was this I met,
Doll?"
79. a Barbary hen, "a fowl with feathers that grow in a natural
ruffle and reversal; making Falstaff's illustration ludicrously
true to those who have seen a specimen of this bird" (Clarke):
if her feathers turn back, if she erect her feathers, as a fowl when
angry or frightened will do.
134
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
82. nor no cheater. Warburton points out that the Hostess
mistakes "the title of cheater (which our ancestors gave to him
whom we now, with better manners, call a gamester), for that
officer of the exchequer called an escheator, well known to the
people of that time; and named, either corruptly or satirically,
a cheater."
C
83. I am the worse, I feel ill.
86, 7. an 'twere leaf. Abbott, § 104, supposes an ellipsis in
this phrase, which here may be supplied by and the shaking
could not be more if it were that of an aspen leaf'; the leaves of
the aspen tree quiver with the slightest breeze. "The form
aspen," [i.e. for the tree itself], says Skeat, "is a singular cor-
ruption. Aspen is properly an adjective, like gold-en, wood-en,
and the substantive is asp. The tree is still called asp in Here-
fordshire, and in the South and West of England it is called
aps"
Here, joined with leaf, the adjectival form is correct.
89, 90. I charge... hostess, I pledge you in a cup of sack, and
call upon you to drink to the health of your Hostess; with a
pun upon the charging, loading, a pistol. For similar puns on
Pistol's name, cp. H. V. ii. 1. 55, 60.
94. companion, frequently used in Shakespeare in a bad sense,
for a low fellow.
95. lack-linen mate, fellow who has scarcely a change of linen
to put on when that he is wearing becomes too dirty to wear;
for mate, in this contemptuous sense, cp. T. S. i. 1. 58, “To
make a stale of me amongst these mates.
>>
98. bung, cutpurse; to "nip a bung" was thieves' cant for to
'cut a purse,' pick a pocket, and in Beaumont and Fletcher's
Coxcomb, ii. 2, the word appears to be used for 'knife,' "Put up
your cut-purse ... sheathe your bung." In Shakespeare's day the
purse was commonly worn suspended from the girdle, and so was
easily cut' by a thief.
100. cuttle. "We are informed by Greene that 'The knife [for
cutting a purse is called] the Cuttle boung,' Notable Discovery of
Coosenage. ; and so too by Dekker (who has Cuttle-bung') in
his Belman of London, etc. 1608; and here perhaps cuttle may
be explained 'cut-purse'; but the context would rather show
(as Nares in Gloss. suggests) it is equivalent to 'cutter, swag-
gerer, bully (Dyce, Gloss.).
...
100, 1. bottle-ale rascal. Shakespeare again uses bottle-ale for
"bottled-ale" in T. N. ii. 3. 29: you basket-hilt... juggler, you
impostor who pretend to pass yourself off as a soldier on the
strength of your wearing a sword; a 'basket-hilt' was one made
of narrow plates of steel curved into the shape of a basket, and
serving as a protection to the hand. This form is that in use
SCENE IV.]
135
NOTES.
in the swords of the present day, and, made of wicker, in the
foils used in single-stick; the older form was that of a bar of
steel at right angles to the blade, but when the thrust, as
opposed to the downward cut, came more into use, the older form
afforded no protection.
...
101, 2. Since when sir? how long have you known me that
you venture to address me in this way? God's light, i.e. by
God's light, by the light of heaven.
102, 3. with two ... shoulder, you fellow who ape the dress of
an officer, with your two epaulets on your shoulders: much! a
term of ineffable contempt and disgust, you are a pretty fellow
to call yourself an officer!
104. but I will murder your ruff, if I do not spoil your finery
for you: ruff, an ornamental frill worn round the throat, an
article of dress to which much thought was given in those days.
106, 7. I would not ... company, I don't require any proof here
of the execution you can do, the only going off needed of you now
is your going off from this company; of course with a pun on his
name.
111. truncheon you out, drive you out of the room with a
cudgel; Doll more than hints her contempt for Falstaff in not
chastising his follower for allowing himself to be called captain,
a title to which Falstaff had a right.
116. occupy. The commentators give many instances of the verb
and its derivatives used in a cant sense.
117. ill sorted, debased by the context in which it is used.
117, 8. therefore ... to 't, therefore those who have a right to
the title will do well to take jealous care that it is not assumed
by every scoundrel.
120. Hark thee hither, come near and hear what I have to say.
124-6. to Pluto's... also. Pistol's bombast here is supposed to
be in parody of a passage in George Peele's Battle of Alcazar,
1594: Hold line, means, if it has any meaning, may my projects
hold good! a figure of course from a fishing line and hook which
do not snap with the weight of a fish on them. Steevens quotes
one of his suspiciously ready "ancient black-letter ballads,
"Hold hooke and line, Then all is mine."
127. faitors, vagabonds, rascals. Dyce, Gloss., quotes Cot-
grave's Dictionary, "Vagabond. A vagabond, roamer, faitour,
&c." The word literally means nothing more than "doer," then
"evil-doer": Have we ...
Have we ... here? another of Pistol's tags from
some old play, probably Peele's Turkish Mahomet, and Hyren the
Fair Greek, which is now lost, Hiren being the Greek “ Irene,"
a proper name meaning "peace."
tr
136
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
II.
129. aggravate, moderate, alleviate; the same misuse of the
word is made by Bottom in M. N .D. i. 2. 84.
130. These be... indeed! This is a pretty fuss you are making,
abusing me and wishing to thrust me out.
...
131, 2. hollow day. A misquotation from Marlowe, ii. Tam-
burlaine, iv. 4. 1, 2, "Holla, ye pamper'd jades of Asia! What!
can ye draw but twenty miles a day," etc.
133. Cannibals, Pistol's mistake for " Hannibals."
135. let the welkin roar, part of the words of an old ballad,"
says Steevens, "entitled, What the Father Gathereth with the
Rake, the Son doth Scatter with the Forke," and often quoted ;
welkin, the clouds, the sky, from A.S. wolcnu, clouds, plural of
wolcen, a cloud.
136. Shall we ... toys, shall we quarrel for trifles ?
140. Die men... pins! are men to die like dogs! are crowns to
be given away as though they were the merest trifles! Steevens
quotes Ram-Alley, 1611, "Your lieutenant's an ass.
How an
ass?
Die men like dogs?", but Shakespeare must have gone to
some earlier work.
142. there's none such here. Mrs. Quickly supposes Pistol to be
asking about some woman named Hiren. If Pistol's words are
intended to have any meaning at all, it may be that, as has been
suggested, he is apostrophizing his sword by what he considers an
endearing term.
144. Then feed... Calipolis, another adaptation of lines from
Peele, The Battle of Alcazar, "Feed then, and faint not, my fair
Calipolis"; "Hold thee, Calipolis; feed, and faint no more";
"Feed and be fat, that we may meet the foe."
146. Si fortune... contento. The Cambridge Editors remark,
"As the quotation is made by Pistol ... we have left it uncorrected.
It would hardly be consistent to put correct Italian, or Spanish,
into his mouth. All the editors assume that Italian is the lan-
guage meant, and give it, as such, more or less correctly. If
Pistol's sword were a Toledo blade, the motto would be Spanish.
In that case 'si' and 'me' would need no alteration. Mr. Douce
mentions a sword inscribed with a French version of the motto".
The meaning is 'If fortune plague me, hope contents me.'
147. give fire, send forth flames from hell; an expression used
of a gun, etc., being discharged.
149. Come we... nothing? Johnson explains, "shall we stay
here, shall we have no further entertainment?", but in the pun
on full points in the sense of (1) full stops and (2) the point of
a sword held out full against an adversary's breast, there seems
to be a reference in Pistol's mind to the further proceedings of
fighting, which in allusion to full stops he indicates by the word
SCENE IV.]
137
NOTES.
I
etceteras. It is possible also, I think, that in etceteras Pistol is
referring to the belongings of a sword, the "" hangers," etc. Cp.
Osric's fantastic language in Haml. v. 2. 136, 7, "Six French
rapiers and poniards, with their assigns, as girdle, hangers, and
So.
151. neif, fist, hand; cp. M. N. D. iv. 1. 20, “Give me your
neaf, Mounsieur Mustardseed"; Jonson, The Poetaster, iii. 1.
writes neuf.
we
151, 2. what!... stars, what! you and I have often been com-
panions in our midnight enterprises; cp. Pt. I. i. 2. 16,
that take purses go by the moon and the seven stars," i.e. the
Pleiades.
154. such a fustian rascal, such a braggadocio, a fellow stuffed
with such high-sounding terms; fustian, a warm cotton stuff,
was used figuratively, both as a substantive and an adjective, of
language turgid and nonsensical; cp. Oth. ii. 3. 282, "Discourse
fustian with one's own shadow"; T. N. ii. 5. 119, “a fustian
riddle." So, "bombast," cotton used to stuff out garments,
used figuratively fustian, Oth. i. 1. 13, "with a bombast cir-
cumstance Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war.
>>
>>
156. Quoit him down, throw him down stairs: a shove-groat
shilling. Shove-groat" or shovel-board" was a game played
on a table which had lines or divisions marked with figures, the
object being to propel the shilling by the palm of the hand from
the edge of the table on to the highest marked figures on the
lines; thus somewhat resembling the game of "hop-scotch,
which may still be seen played on the pavement by children,
the equivalent to the shilling being a piece of delf, chalk, etc.,
propelled by a hop of the feet. Shove-groat, as the word
implies, was originally played with a groat, the broad shillings
of Edward the Sixth being substituted later on.
157. an a' do nothing... here, if he can do nothing but talk
all this empty nonsense, we will not have him here.
160. have incision, proceed to blood-letting, have recourse to
our swords; incision was the technical term for bleeding; cp.
L. L. L. iv. 3. 97, and for a figurative sense, R. II. i. 1. 155:
imbrue, shed blood; properly to cause to drink, from O. F.
embruer, to make to imbibe, soak, drench.
161. Then death... asleep.
asleep. From a song "attributed," says
Dyce, "with great improbability to Anne Boleyn, and perhaps
with as little likelihood to her brother Viscount Rochford."
163. Untwine... three, i.e. untwine the thread of life spun by
the three Fates, of whom Clotho held the thread, Lachesis spun
it, and Atropos cut it. Dyce supposes that Shakespeare had in
his mind the lines from Sackville's Mirrour for Magistrates,
"And what may boote to stay the Sisters three, When Atropos
138
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT II.
perforce will cut the thred? The Dolefull Day was come, when
you might see Northampton fielde with armed men orespred."
164. Here's goodly stuff! here's a precious tumult.
169. tirrits, probably for 'terrors,' with some idea in Mrs.
Quickly's mind of an assimilation to frights.
169, 70. So ; now, I warrant the upshot of it all will be
murder.
175. shrewd, cruel, vicious; originally the past participle of
the verb to t t
shrew," i.e. to curse.
180. ape, a term of endearment, as we still use 'monkey' of
children.
181. chops. This comparison to a piece of meat is applied to
Falstaff by Poins in Pt. Î. i. 2. 151.
184. the Nine Worthies. These nine heroes so often mentioned
in Elizabethan literature were Hector, Alexander the Great,
Julius Cæsar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabæus, Arthur, Char-
lemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon, the three first Gentiles or
Heathens, the three next Jews, and the three last Christians :
villain, used as a term of endearment.
191. followedst... church, looking as you followed him like
some enormous building on the move.
192. tidy Bartholomew boar-pig. A reference to the sale of
roasted pigs at St. Bartholomew's fair. 'Tidy," says Clarke,
"here seems to be used for 'plump,' 'full ripe,' well con-
ditioned.'... A more appropriate image for representing the
appearance of the rotund Falstaff, hot, glistening, reeking from
his encounter with the pestiferous Pistol, could hardly be de-
vised." Walker would read "Bartholomew-tide."
193. foining, see note on ii. 1. 17, above.
193, 4. begin... heaven, begin to repent and fit yourself for
your end. Cp. H. V. ii. 3. 18-23, where Mrs. Quickly, relating
the circumstances of Falstaff's death, says, "How now, Sir
John' quoth I, 'what, man! be of good cheer.' So a' cried out
'God, God, God!' three or four times. Now I, to comfort him,
bid him a' should not think of God; I hoped there was no need
to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet."
195. a death's head. An allusion to the wearing of rings with a
death's-head engraved upon them as remembrances of death.
197. humour, disposition, character.
198. A good... fellow, a good enough sort of a fellow, but not
over-burdened with brains.
199. pantler, the manager of a pantry where provisions are
kept, just as butler is one who looks after bottles; cp. W. T. iv.
4. 56, This day she was both pantler, outler, cook, Both dame
<
SCENE IV.]
139
NOTES.
and servant"; ultimately from Lat. panis, bread: a' would..
well, he would have been a good hand at cutting slices of bread.
202. Tewksbury mustard. Tewksbury is a market-town in
the county of Gloucester, formerly noted for mustard-balls made
there, and sent to other parts of the country (Grey) conceit,
imagination, ideas : mallet, it is doubtful whether the meaning is
a wooden hammer, or a mallard,' a wild duck, which like
woodcock,' Shakespeare uses in a contemptuous sense, A. C. iii.
10. 20. Tollet compares Milton's Prose Works, "Though the
fancy of this doubt be as obtruse and sad as any mallet," where
mallard is evidently intended.
205. both of a bigness, both much about the same size.
207. flap-dragons. In former days gallants used to vie with
each other in drinking off flap-dragons to the health of their
mistresses,—which flap-dragons were generally raisins, and some-
times even candles' ends, swimming in brandy, or some other
strong spirits, whence, when on fire, they were snatched by the
mouth and swallowed" (Dyce). A relic of this pastime, under the
name of 'snap-dragon,' is, or was a few years ago, still in vogue
among children, generally on Christmas Eve. A large dish being
filled with raisins floating in brandy set on fire, the fun consists
in snatching out the raisins without burning the fingers, and
eating them in their heated state.
207, 8. rides ... boys, plays at see-saw with the boys joined-
stools, or joint stools, what we should now call 'folding-stools,'
stools with a joint in them made to fold up. This practice of
leaping over joint-stools seems to have been a common one; cp.
Middleton, A Chaste Maid, etc., iii. 3. 120, "If you leapt over a
joint-stool or two "Twere not amiss," i.e. to show his agility;
Jonson, The Silent Woman, v. 1, "I protest, Sir John, you
lift as many join'd stools, and leap over them, if you would use it."
209, 10. like unto leg, looking almost as smooth as the
painting of a booted leg for the sign of an inn or a house.
210, 1. breeds no bate ... stories, "excites no censure for tell-
ing them modest stories, or, in plain English, tells them nothing
but immodest ones (Douce).
212, 3. admits him, receives him with favour.
214. their avoirdupois, their respective weights; avoirdupois,
the standard by which commodities, except gold, silver, and
gems, are weighed; properly three words, avoir, have, du, of the,
pois, weight.
215. this nave, the nave, the central portion of the wheel
through which the axle passes, is a fitting likeness to Falstaff s
belly, and there is perhaps a pun on nave and "knave," as
Delius suggests; cp. Haml. ii. 2. 518, "Break all the spokes and
140
[ACT II.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. IÎ.
fellies from her wheel, And bowl the round nave down the hill of
heaven."
...
216, 7. Look, parrot, see if he is not having his head
scratched by Doll, as a parrot scratches its head with its claw;
the words Look, whether express an amused surprise.
219. Saturn ... conjunction ! "This was, indeed, a prodigy.
The astrologers, says Ficinus, remark that Saturn and Venus
are never conjoined " (Johnson): Saturn, the eldest of the gods,
father of Jove, by whom he was dethroned.
221. the fiery Trigon, Bardolph with his fiery face. "Trigonum
igneum is the astronomical [astrological] term when the [three]
upper planets meet in a fiery sign. The fiery Trigon, I think,
consists of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius... (Steevens).
222, 3. lisping to counsel-keeper, i.e. is making love to the
Hostess, so long the confidant of his master, Falstaff; tables, or
a table-book, a memorandum book, diary, in which private
thoughts, secrets, etc., are entered.
224. busses, kisses; though here used in the familiar and
somewhat comical sense it now has, the word formerly was
equivalent to'kiss' in its more serious sense; cp. K. J. iii. 4. 35,
"I will think thou smilest And buss thee as thy wife.
227. scurvy, wretched, miserable; like "scabby" and "scald,"
the word was of old used as a term of general contempt; literally,
afflicted with scurf; the substantive " scurvy," as the name of a
disease, is of later origin, and probably, says Skeat, an adapta-
tion of the Low Lat. medical term scorbutus.
229. kirtle, petticoat; though also used for a jacket and petti-
coat together.
234, 5. prove... return, i.e. assuredly no one will ever see me
dressed in my best till you come back; I shall never in your
absence wish to attract any one's admiration: hearken at the
end, if you don't believe my words, wait till you return and
then see whether I have not been true to you; ask people how I
have behaved in your absence; for hearken in this sense, cp.
M. A. v. 1. 216.
239. Poins his, i.e. Poins's.
240. thou globe... continents, you mass of sin; with a pun on
globe and continents, the latter word meaning also that which
contains or covers; cp. Lear, iii. 2, 58, A. C. iv. 14. 40.
248. light, used figuratively, and perhaps, as Delius says, with
an expansion of the common asseveration, "by this light!"
253. if you take not the heat, if you do not strike while the
iron is hot, if you give him time to extricate himself from his
difficulty and do not chastise him promptly. Steevens compares
Lear, i. 1. 312, "We must do something, and i' the heat.
>>
SCENE IV.]
141
NOTES.
254. candle-mine, "thou inexhaustible magazine of tallow"
(Johnson).
259, 60. Yea... Gad's-hill, said ironically in reference to Fal-
staff's pretence that when after the robbery at Gadshill he ran
away from the Prince and his companions instead of resisting
them, he did so because he knew the Prince by instinct; see
Pt. I. ii. 4. 295, etc.
265. handle, treat, punish.
274, 5. is to give me thanks, ought, is bound in all justice,
to give, etc.
278, 9. to close with us, in order to be on good terms with us,
to make peace with us; cp. M. M. v. 1. 346, "Hark, how the
villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses!" of the
wicked, among the wicked, one of that number.
:
283. pricked down... irrecoverable, put him down in his list as
one of those certain for his prey; the phrase to 'prick' or to
'prick down' had its origin in the custom of making a mark with
a pin against the name of a person in a list. Sheriffs are still so
nominated by a puncture against the names in the list of qualified
persons, and in College Chapels the attendance of undergraduates
is registered in the same way. Cp. below, iii. 2. 121, etc., J. C.
iii. 1. 216, "Will you be pricked in number of our friends?"
285. malt-worms, beer-swillers; fellows who consume malt as
ravenously as worns that get into and consume grain; cp. Pt. I.
ii. 1. 83.
285, 6. For the boy,... too, as for the boy, his good angel
accompanies him in life; but even in his case the devil is more
than a match for his guardian, outbids him by the greater attrac-
tions of sin with which he tempts the boy.
288, 9. whether she ... not, whether the fact of my owing her
money is enough to damn her, I do not know.
290. No, I warrant you, Mrs. Quickly perhaps means both
'No, I warrant I am not damned,' and 'No, I warrant you don't
know and you don't care.'
291, 2. I think... that, I think that as far as that is concerned
you are free from the danger of being damned; and possibly with
the further meaning 'I think you have had all the payment you
are likely to get' there is... thee, there is another charge to
which you are liable.
292, 3. for suffering... law, for allowing meat to be eaten in
your house during Lent; which was contrary to statutes passed
in the reign of Elizabeth and James I.
295. victuallers, keepers of taverns: what's... Lent? surely
the sale of a joint or two during so long a period is no great
offence.
142
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT III.
299. His grace... against, a pun upon grace as a title applied
to princes, etc., and grace in the sense of virtuous disposition
as opposed to flesh, the fleshy, sensual, inclinations.
304. posts, see note on Induction, 1. 4.
310. to profane, to turn to such bad uses.
311, 2. like the south ... vapour, hanging over us like the south
wind charged with noxious vapours; for the pestilential character
attributed to the south wind, cp. A. Y. L. iii. 5. 50, Cor. ii.
3. 32.
318. at door, for the omission of the definite article, see Abb.
§ 143.
323. post, in great haste.
328. peascod-time, the time at which peas are full in the pod,
i.e. the summer.
STAGE DIRECTION. blubbered, with her face full of tears.
The word formerly had not the comical sense it now connotes.
ACT III. SCENE I.
STAGE DIRECTION. nightgown, i.e. what we should now call
'dressing-gown.
6. how have I frighted thee, by what deeds have I so shocked
you that you refuse to come near me?
9. smoky cribs, the hovels of peasants from which the smoke
of the fire had no outlet by way of chimney.
10. uneasy pallets, the hard straw mattresses on which
peasants lie as contrasted with the luxuriously soft beds of
kings; pallet, from F. paillet, a heap of straw, Lat. palea, straw.
11. And hush'd ... slumber, hushed to rest by the buzzing of
night-flies, which to any but such sound sleepers as peasants
would be a hindrance to sleep. In 1. 9 the abstract sleep implies
the concrete'sleepers' who are here hush'd.
κωνωπ-,
13. canopies, from "the Gk. kwVWTELÓV, KTVWTεîov, an Egyptian
bed with mosquito curtains.-Gk. kovoπ-, stem of káva, a gnat,
mosquito; lit. 'cone-faced,' or an animal with a cone-shaped
head, from some fancied resemblance to a cone.-Gk. kŵvos, a
cone; and , a face, appearance "... (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
",
15. the vile, the low-born, mean.
16, 7. leavest... bell. It is doubtful whether watch-case means
the case or box in which a sentinel kept watch, or the case of a
watch containing an alarum; on the latter supposition the two
expressions are synonymous, and the repeated indefinite article
would not be expected; on the former, though the comparison
SCENE I.]
143
NOTES.
of the king's bed to the box of a sentinel is apt enough, the
figure is somewhat strained in comparing that bed to a bell that
is rung to give an alarm.
20. In cradle. For the omission of the definite article, see Abb.
$ 89.
21. in the visitation... winds, while the winds are incessantly
raging around the mast; visitation is a frequentative and inten-
sive form implying repeated, constant, coming.
22. ruffian, rude, boisterous; cp. J. C. i. 3. 38, "But let the
ruffian Boreas once enrage The gentle Thetis"; Oth. ii. 1. 7,
"A fuller blast ne'er shook our battlements; If it hath ruffian'd
so upon the sea, What ribs of oak, Can hold the mortise?
For the personification of an irrational antecedent, see Abb. § 264.
24. in the slippery clouds, for clouds Pope gives shrouds, a
reading which Dyce adopts on the ground that slippery is a
strange epithet to clouds. But surely the word may mean
'swiftly gliding,' quickly passing from one shape to another.
25. hurly, turmoil, tumult; from F. hurler, to howl; cp.
K. J. iii. 4. 169, "I see this hurly all on foot"; and its re-
duplicated form in Macb. i. 1. 3, and as an adjective in i. H. IV.
v. 1. 78. death itself awakes, wakens the dead.
28. most stillest, for the double superlative, see Abb. § 11.
29. to boot, besides; A.S. bót, profit, advantage.
30. Then happy... down! then, humble peasants, lie down
happy in the knowledge that sleep will quickly close your eye-
lids. Numerous conjectures have been made here, but, it seems
to me, unnecessarily; among the best are Warburton's "Then,
happy lowly clown!" and Coleridge's "Then, happy low-lie-
down!"
33. Is it ... lords? Is it past midnight? has the day begun?
morrow, morning, from M. E. morwe by change of the final -we
into -ow.
35. all, as applied to two persons only, occurs again in
ii. H. VI. ii. 2. 26.
38, 9. Then you perceive... is, for the redundant object here,
see Abb. § 414.
41. distemper'd, out of order, not radically diseased.
44. be cool'd, in the ardour of his opposition; carrying on the
figure of medical treatment in cases of fever.
46, 7. And see... level, and see how, as the times roll on,
mountains are levelled.
50, 1. The Beachy... hips, i.e. see how the ocean retreats,
leaving a beach wider than is needed as its boundary; for giräle
in this sense, cp. Cymb. iii. 1. 81, "if you seek us afterwards in
}
144
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
other terms, you shall find us in our salt-water girdle." Such a
receding of the sea, compensated by encroachment in other
directions, has taken place in various parts of the English coast,
the losses being chiefly on the east and the gains on the west;
ocean, a trisyllable; cp. Sonn. lxiv. 5-11: how chances mock,
how we are beguiled and baffled by the chances which come in
our way and seem to offer advantage. The folios give mocks,
which Schmidt would retain, taking "chances mocks" as =
mocks of chance.
52, 3. And changes
with liquors of varying,
as = the
liquors, and how the cup of life is filled
changeful taste.
53-6. O, if this ... die. These lines are omitted in the folio, and
Grant White believes that if Shakespeare ever wrote them, he
afterwards omitted them because of their weakness. He calls
them ""
a square block of puling commonplace let into a grand
and vigorous passage," and notices that they divide a perfect
line and make a not very well placed hemistich.
54, 5. The happiest youth... ensue, even one whose life had so
far been as bright as earthly happiness could make it, and who
still had all the hopefulness that belongs to youth, looking back
upon the years he had lived, with the perils already encountered,
and looking onward to the years still before him, with the dis-
appointments that might naturally be anticipated, would, etc.
The grammatical construction is what perils being past, what
crosses still remained to be encountered.'
57. gone, ago, as we should now say; here ten years is equi-
valent to a period of ten years.'
...
63. And laid foot, so loved me that he was ready to put his
very life at my disposal, to risk everything for my sake.
64. even to the eyes, boldly to his face.
66. You, cousin... remember, you, cousin Nevil, if I remember
rightly. Warwick was not present on the occasion, but the
king's words are spoken doubtfully of what took place when he
himself was not an eye-witness. Steevens points out that "the
earldom of Warwick was, at this time, in the family of Beau-
champ, and did not come into that of the Nevils till many years
after, in the latter end of the reign of King Henry VI., when it
descended to Anne Beauchamp (the daughter of the earl here
introduced), who was married to Richard Nevil, Earl of Salis-
bury."
68. check'd, rebuked; cp. Pt. I. i. 2. 220, "I have checked him
for it."
70, 1. Northumberland ... throne, see R. II. v. 1. 55-68.
72-4. I had ... kiss, had it not been that kingly power was
brought so low that I was compelled to embrace greatness, I
SCENE I.]
145
NOTES.
should have had no intention of mounting the throne. The image
is that of a person compelled to bow the head to receive a salute.
75. thus it, this is how he went on. Between shall in this
line and will in the next Shakespeare does not appear to have
intended any difference, both tenses here implying certain
futurity; in the passage in R. II. v. 1. 55, from which the
quotation is made, we have "will come" only.
76. gathering head, coming to a head, as a tumour does; cp.
Temp. v. 1. 1, "Now does my project gather to a head"; Haml.
iv. 4. 27, "This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,
That inward breaks."
77. Shall... corruption, shall burst forth in a putrid discharge,
i.e. shall show itself in an outburst of treasonable violence.
80-6. There is a history... time, all men in the course of their
life are witnesses of events which by their likeness to those of
bygone days are, as it were, a history of them; and by observa-
tion of these a man may foretell with much accuracy the drift of
events as yet only conceived in the womb of the future, events
which will be brought to the birth by time. Cp. Macb. i. 3.
58-60, “If you can look into the seeds of time, And say which
grain will grow and which will not, Speak then to me.
87-92. And by... you, and by the form which this history in-
evitably assumed in Richard's case (i.e. from the consequences
inevitably to be drawn from the disloyalty to himself), he might
conclude with certainty that Northumberland, false to him,
would be falser still to others, his perfidy necessarily finding in
you, Richard's successor, the only soil in which it could come to
a ranker growth, i.e. you, as Richard's successor, being the only
person towards whom it was possible for him to show still baser
treachery.
92, 3. Are these... necessities, is such a consequence a neces-
sary one? if so, let us meet it as things inevitable should be met,
with courage and constancy.
94. cries... us, loudly calls upon us to be up and doing.
97. like... echo, as is the case with the voice redoubled by its
echo.
98. Please... grace, let your grace be pleased.
፡፡
103. instance, information, assurance; a word," says Dyce,
Gloss., "used by Shakespeare with various shades of meaning
which it is not always easy to distinguish,- motive, inducement,
cause, ground; symptom, prognostic; information, assurance;
proof, example, indication"": that Glendower is dead, he did
not really die till after Henry himself.
104. this fortnight, the whole of this last fortnight.
K
146
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT III.
105. unseason'd, unseasonable, extended beyond a proper
season, very late.
107. out of hand, finished off.
108. We would... unto, the verb of motion, as frequently,
omitted.
SCENE II.
2. the rood, the cross of Christ; and particularly the crucifix,
the image of Christ cut upon or affixed to such cross; from A.S.
ród, a gallows, cross, properly a rod or pole. These roods were
commonly placed in rood-lofts or shrines in the arch between
the nave and the chancel of a church or cathedral.
5. bedfellow, intimate friend. The custom of men sleeping in
the same bed was one which obtained even so late as the middle
of the seventeenth century. In H. V. ii. 2. 8, Lord Scroop is
the man that was his [the king's] bedfellow.
spoken of as
CC
""
5, 6. your fairest ... Ellen, the lovely Ellen, your daughter and
my god-daughter; i.e. she for whom he had stood god-father or
sponsor at baptism.
7. Alas, a black ousel, ah, she has no claims to such beauty as
you attribute to her, she is but a plain lass; said in affected dis-
paragement; a black ousel, a blackbird. Cp. Dekker, The Sun's
Darling, iii. 1, "Hu. This is that Alteza, That Rhodian wonder,
gaz'd at by the Sun; I fear'd thine eyes should have beheld a
face, The Moon has not a dearer; this! a dowdy! Fol. An
ouzle! this a queen-apple, or a crab, she gave you?"
8. By yea and nay, by my troth, assuredly, without doubt.
10. to my cost, and a good round sum he costs me with his ex-
travagance. Silence speaks of his son's wildness with pretended
severity and secret satisfaction.
11. the inns o' court. These were formerly much more numerous
than at present, the chief ones of modern times being Lincoln's
Inn, the Temple, Inner and Middle, and Gray's Inn Clement's
Inn, now an Inn of Court dependent on the Temple, but origin-
ally intended for the use of patients coming to the so-called
miraculous waters of St. Clement's Well, is at the entrance of
Wych Street.
16. and roundly too, and without much ceremony; with a
will.
18, 9. a Cotswold man. Cotswold Downs in Gloucestershire were
famous for rural sports of all kinds; and probably, as Steevens
says, "Shallow by distinguishing Will Squele as a Cotswold man
meant to have him understood as one who was well versed in
manly exercises, and consequently of a daring spirit, and an
SCENE II.]
147
NOTES.
Nares
athletic constitution": swinge-bucklers, riotous fellows.
(Gloss.) says that "a swinge-buckler is something more than a
swash-buckler; the latter was one who only made a dashing and
a noise with the bucklers; the other swinged those which were
opposed to him "; but this is probably only a fanciful distinction ;
to swinge is the causal of to swing.
19, 20. four such again, four such other swinge-bucklers.
21. page... Norfolk, see Introduction.
CC
25. Skogan's head. "It appears," says Dyce (Gloss.), "that
there were two Skogans of considerable celebrity; Henry
Skogan, a poet, who lived in the reign of King Henry the
Fourth, and John Skogan, a facetious personage, educated at
Oriel College, Oxford, who lived at a later period in the
fifteenth century; and that, in spite of the anachronism, Shake-
speare here alludes to John Scogan. Jonson, The Fortunate
Isles, speaks of Skogan as a fine gentleman, and master of
arts, Of Henry the Fourth's time, that made disguises For the
king's sons, and writ in ballad-royal Daintily well"; on which
passage Gifford notes that this Skogan (Henry), according to
Stowe, sent a ballad to the young prince (Shakespeare's Hal)
and his brother while they were at supper in the Vintry,
amongst the merchants,"" which looks as if the two persons had
been confounded, and it has been doubted whether Henry and
John were not one and the same: a crack, a young boy; fre-
quently with the notion of pertness, impudence, understood.
'
27. Gray's Inn, in Holborn, once at the head of the inns; but
now ranking fourth in importance.
28. mad days, wild days, days spent in rioting and revelry.
32, 3. How a good ... fair?
fair? What price did a good yoke of
bullocks fetch at Stamford fair? Shallow's transition to worldly
matters is amusing in its suddenness.
38. a' drew a good bow, he was a good shot with a bow.
40, 1. Dead!... score, can it be that such a good archer as he
is dead? he would send an arrow into the centre of the target at
a distance of two hundred and forty yards; the clout was the
nail or pin by which the target was fastened to its support.
41, 2. carried you... half, he would send a forehand shaft as
far even as fourteen or fourteen and a half score yards (280 to
290 yards); a forehand shaft was, says Nares, "an arrow par-
ticularly formed for shooting straight forward; concerning which
Ascham says that it should be big-breasted. His account is,
however, rather obscure: Again the big-breasted shaft is fit
for him which shooteth right afore him, or else the breast, being
weak, should never withstand that strong pithy kind of shoot-
ing; thus the underhand must have a small breast, to go clean
148
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
away out of the bow, the forehand must have a big breast, to
bear the great might of the bow."" For you, in this colloquial
use, see Abb. § 220.
43. How a score ... now? at what rate is a score of ewes selling
now?
44. Thereafter as they be, that depends upon their condition.
Cp. Lamb, Essays of Elia, Imperfect Sympathies, "You will never
be the wiser, if I sit here answering your questions till midnight,'
said one of those upright Justicers to Penn, who had been putting
law-cases with a puzzling subtlety. Thereafter as the answers
may be,' retorted the Quaker": may be, sc. if they are in good
condition.
51. justices of the peace. A title given to persons of position
and credit appointed to maintain the peace in the counties in
which they reside.
52. good pleasure, will, desire.
54. tall, brave, spirited; generally used either with irony or
braggart language, or ridiculed, or put into the mouth of mean
persons.
A
56, 7. I knew him ... man, when I knew him he was, etc.
backsword was a sword with only one cutting edge and also a
stick with a basket-hilt, used instead of a sword in fencing, and
it is in this latter sense that the word is here used.
59, 60. is better... wife, is better off without a wife. Cp.
Jonson, E. M. I. H. H. 1. 3, " Hostess, accommodate us with an-
other bed-staff here quickly. Lend us another bed-staff-the
woman does not understand the words of action"; on which
Gifford remarks, "Accommodation, as the poet tells us in his
Discoveries, was at this time a modish expression, and what he
calls, one of the perfumed terms of the age.""
64. comes of, is derived from.
66, 7. Phrase call you it? Bardolph in his ignorance fancies
some disparagement in the word phrase.
...
69. a word command, what Bobadil in the quotation above
includes among
"words of action," words such as would be ap-
propriate in the mouths of men in command.
75, 6. you like well, you are looking well, in good case; cp.
L. L. L. v. 2. 268," Well-liking wits they have; gross, gross;
fat, fat"; M. W. ii. 1. 57, as long as I have an eye to make
difference of men's liking.
""
79, 80. in commission with me, like myself in the commission
of the peace, a justice of the peace.
·
81, 2. it well befits. peace, playing upon his name "Silence."
85. sufficient, able-bodied, fit for service.
SCENE II.]
149
NOTES.
94. of good friends, respectably connected.
97. 'Tis the more used, that's all the more reason why you
should be used at once, and so have the mould rubbed off you.
102, 3. I was pricked well enough... alone, you might just as
well have let me alone for I have always had plenty of pricking,
goading, by my wife. Schmidt explains pricked here as "dressed
up, trimmed," a meaning which seems to me quite to miss the
point of Mouldy's answer for one, for want of one; cp. H. V.
i. 2. 114, "cold for action"; Macb. i. 5. 37,
; Macb. i. 5. 37, "dead for breath"
A. W. i. 2. 17, “sick For breathing"; T. S. iv. 3. 9, "starved
for meat.'
107. spent, used, turned to account; cp. R. J. ii. 4. 140,
"something stale and hoar ere it be spent."
113. cold, with a pun on the sense of wanting in ardour and
that of cool as a place in the shade.
119. son... shadow, with a pun on son and sun.
120. it is often so, indeed, it often happens that a son is but a
shadow of his father, i.e. but a poor creature compared with his
father: but much, but very little; for this ironical use of much,
see note on ii. 4. 143, above.
123. serve for, do well for; with a pun on serve in its military
sense.
124. a number... muster-book, i.e. names of men enrolled for
whom the officer commanding drew pay though they had no real
existence.
133, 4. prick him no more, sc. for he has already been pricked
sufficiently by the pins he stands on; his legs from their thinness
being contemptuously so likened.
135. you can do it, you are the man to make jokes.
141, 2. he 'ld ha' pricked you, sc. with his needle.
143. battle, battalions, line of battle.
148. deep, i.e. prick him deep; make sure of him : with a play
on Shallow's name.
151, 2. I cannot soldier, it will not do to put him to so
degrading an employment as that of a private soldier: the leader
thousands, alluding to the fact that one wart on the hands,
etc., is commonly followed by a great many more.
159. a likely fellow, a sturdy, well-built, fellow.
165, 6. with ringing... day, when employed on his majesty's
service in ringing the joy bells at his coronation. Bullcalf is
careful to mention the occasion of his catching cold as a plea for
exemption from service now.
150
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
167. gown, sc. instead of a soldier's uniform, to keep him
warm.
168. have away, get rid of.
168, 9. I will take... thee, I will take such measures that your
friends shall ring in your stead; with the double meaning of
ringing a funeral peal if he should fall in the war. For take
order, cp. R. II. v. 1. 53, Oth. v. 2. 72.
170, 1. you must have
here, according to the directions sent
to me, you are not entitled to press, enlist, more than four here.
Malone points out that only five have been called, and that
either the transcriber or the poet himself is answerable for the
inaccuracy.
...
176. the windmill. "Fairthorne's Map of London, 1658 ...
delineates the entire line of houses from London Bridge to their
termination in St. George's fields, and shows the Windmill
beyond them (Fairholt, quoted by Dyce, Gloss.). The
Windmill mentioned in Jonson's E. M. I. H. H. i. 1, was a
tavern in Lothbury, and it looks as if a tavern were meant here
also, for Churchyard, quoted by Steevens, speaks of this wind-
mill as a place where hackney horses were hired.
177, 8. No more... that. Falstaff pretends to be ashamed of
his youthful escapade.
181. said I well? is that not true what I have said of your
frolics?
182. We have heard... midnight, yes, I admit that we have
revelled it together, known many a midnight bout.
184. our watchword, our private signal, rallying-cry.
187. corporate, Bullcalf's blunder for 'corporal.'
188. Harry ten shillings. Douce points out that there were no
ten-shilling pieces in the reign of Henry IV., they not being
coined till the reign of Henry VII.; though worth half a sovereign
only, the coin is called in Jonson's Alchemist, iii. 2, a Harry's
sovereign" in French crowns, the crowns in which Bullcalf
tenders payment of the forty shillings were worth something less
than five shillings each.
189. had as lief, would as gladly; see note on i. 2. 33, above.
195. corporal captain. Mouldy improves upon Bullcalf's blunder.
196. stand my friend, sc. by persuading Falstaff to let him off.
198. forty, sc. shillings.
199. Go to, an expression used sometimes, as here, in encour-
agement; more often in reproach: stand aside, i.e. among those
not to be enlisted.
200, 1. we owe God a death, we must pay our debt to nature
sooner or later; cp. Pt. I. v. 1. 127.
SCENE II.]
151
NOTES.
202. so, very good: serve's, serve his.
204. is quit... next, will not have to pay his debt, to die, next
year.
209. three pounds. Probably, as Johnson suggests, Bardolph
means to keep back part of the bribe offered him.
216, 7. grow it, alluding to his name Bullcalf.
219, 20. with the best, as well as the best among your troops.
221. Will you tell me... a man, have you the assurance, the
presumption, to teach me whom I should choose?
222. thewes, sinews, strength; from "A.S. theάw, habit,
custom, behaviour. The base is thau, evidently from the Teu-
tonic base THU, to be strong, to swell.
It will thus be seen
that the sense of bulk, strength, comes straight from the root,
and is the true one (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
223. big assemblance of a man, a man who is bulk and nothing
but bulk, mere size and show: Give me the spirit, what I value
is a man's spirit.
225, 6. a' shall charge... hammer, you shall see him load and
fire his piece as swiftly as the strokes of one hammering pewter.
226, 7. come off... bucket, retreat and advance with the nim-
bleness with which a man fixes the slings on a barrel of beer
when it is to be hoisted. These slings, large grapnels or callipers,
have to be attached at each end of the barrel simultaneously so
as to grip it at the moment the strain is put upon the chain by
which it is hoisted. Falstaff uses gibbets, in comparison to the
process of hanging a man.
227, 8. half-faced fellow. Falstaff compare's Shadow's sharp,
meagre, countenance to the face in profile seen on coins; cp.
K. J. i. 1. 92-4, "Because he hath a half-face, like my father.
With half that face would he have all my land: A half-faced
groat five hundred pound a year!"
232. spare men, thin men.
233. a caliver, "a light kind of musket or harquebus, originally,
it appears of a certain calibre, introduced during the 16th
century; it seems to have been the lightest portable fire-armı,
excepting the pistol, and to have been fired without a 'rest.'.
Apparently the same word as calibre [i.e. the bore of a gun]"
(Murray, Eng. Dict.).
234. traverse, march up and down; a military word of com-
mand; used also of moving the feet with proportion, as in
dancing.
235. manage me, let me see you handle.
237. chapt, wizened, wrinkled: shot, shooter.
238. a good scab, a fine fellow of your sort; alluding again to
152
[ACT III.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
his name, a wart being of a scabby nature: tester, sixpence; so
called from having the head (O. F. teste, mod. F. tête) of the
sovereign on it; another form of the word was teston.
239. He is not.. craft's-master, he is but a poor hand at
managing a musket.
240. Mile-end Green, a suburb at the east of London where
the train-bands, or militia of the day, were exercised: lay,
resided.
241. I was then... show, I then acted the part of Sir Dagonet
(King Arthur's jester) in the exhibition of archery of Arthur's
knights; a society of archers who took the names of Arthur's
knights.
242. little quiver fellow, little brisk, active, fellow; little
fellow whose motions were like the quivering of a leaf.
243, 4. and a' would in, he would be here, there, and every-
where in a minute, backwards and forwards with the rapidity of
lightning.
249, 50. I must a dozen mile, I must march a dozen miles.
256. I have ... word, I have said it; there is no need for more
words; used with conclusive emphasis: cp. M. A. ii. 1. 118, 125,
"Urs. You are Signor Antonio. Ant. At a word, I am not
Urs. You are he, you are he. Ant. At a word, I am not."
259. fetch off, plunder, make booty of.
259, 60. I do see... Shallow, I have got the measurement of
Justice Shallow, can see right through him, to his utmost depth;
with a pun.
263, 4. duer paid... tribute, paid with greater punctuality
than the Turk's (the Sultan's) revenue; a reference to the
rigorous exactions of the Sultan from those subject to him.
265, 6. like a man... cheese-paring, like figures cut out of the
rind of cheese when men who have supped amuse themselves in
that way for all the world, exactly.
268. forlorn, meagre, wretched looking; such a scare-crow.
268, 9. thick sight, dim sight: invincible, this, the reading
of the quarto and the folios, is retained by many editors with the
explanation not to be mastered by,' etc. Others follow Rowe
in reading "invisible": the very genius, the very spirit.
269, 70. a' came ever... fashion, in his dress and habits he was
always behind the times; cp. J. C. iv. 1. 36-9, “A barren-spirited
fellow; one that feeds On objects, orts, and imitations, Which,
out of use and staled by other men, Begin his fashion."
271. overscutched, probably, whipped over and over again.
272. carmen, car drivers, waggoners. Cp. Jonson, Bartholo-
mew Fair, i. 1, "If he meet but a carman in the street, he will
SCENE II.]
153
NOTES.
whistle him and all his tunes over at night in his sleep": his
fancies, airs of his own composing, love-songs: good-nights, songs
he has written for serenades.
273. this Vice's dagger. In the old Moralities, or plays exhibit-
ing the various moral qualities, the Vice or fool was represented
as belabouring the devil with his sword of lath, to which Falstaff
here compares Shallow; cp. 7. N. iv. 2. 132-9, "I'll be with
you again, In a trice, Like to the old Vice, ... Who with dagger
of lath, In his rage and his wrath, Cries, ah, ha! to the devil" ;
and H. V. iv. 4. 74-7.
274. sworn brother, "an expression originally derived from
the fratres jurati, who in the days of chivalry mutually bound
themselves by oath to share each other's fortune" (Dyce); cp.
H. V. ii. 1. 9, M. A. i. 1. 73, ì. H. IV. ii. 4. 7.
276. the Tilt-yard, in Westminster, where tournaments were
held burst his head, broke his head.
277. the marshal, who regulated the proceedings in the tourna-
ment.
278. he beat name, beat one who well deserved the name of
gaunt; John a Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, uncle to Richard II.,
was so called from his birthplace, Ghent, near Brussels, the
proper prouunciation of the word being thus corrupted; a of.
279. an eel-skin, so in K. J. i. 1. 141, the Bastard says of his
brother, "And if my legs were two such riding-rods, My arms
such eel-skins stuff'd," etc.: a treble hautboy, formerly," says
Knight, "there were three kinds of hautboy,-the treble, tenor,
and bass. We have now but the first of these. The bassoon has
superseded the last, and the other is a desideratum": the word
is from F. haut, high, and bois, wood; a wooden instrument of
high tone. A treble hautboy would be the smallest of the three,
and the case correspondingly small.
280. beefs, beeves, as we should now say, oxen.
282. a philosopher's two stones. It is doubtful whether this
means, as Malone says, "twice the value of the philosopher's
stone," or refers, as Warburton has it, to the two stones "one of
which was an universal medicine and the other a transmuter of
base metals into gold." In Jonson's Alchemist, ii. 1, Face says
of the lapis philosophicus, ""Tis a stone, And not a stone; a
spirit, a soul, and a body; Which if you do dissolve, it is dis-
solv'd; If you coagulate, it is coagulated; If you make it to fly,
it flieth." The former explanation seems to me the preferable one.
283. if the young... pike, the dace is still a favourite bait in
trolling for pike, a voracious river fish common in most parts of
England. Shallow is of course the dace, Falstaff the pike.
284, 5. and there an end, and so much for that matter.
154
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
ACT IV. SCENE I.
2. Gaultree Forest, "this forest is in the North Riding of
Yorkshire, and was formerly called Galtres Forest "...(Knight).
3. discoverers, scouts, spies.
4. To know, to ascertain.
8. New-dated, of recent date.
10. Here doth person, here he would like to be in person.
11. As might... quality, as might correspond with his rank.
12. whereupon, in consequence of which inability.
13. to ripe ... fortunes, to wait till he can mature his advan-
tages; growing is proleptic, his fortunes which he trusts will
thereby grow to a riper state.
15, 6. may overlive... opposite, may survive the terrible en-
counter with him to whom you are opposed; for adjectives, like
fearful, having both an active and a passive tense, see Abb. § 3;
opposite, frequent in Shakespeare as a substantive = adversary,
opponent.
17. touch ground, fall to the ground.
21. hide, cover.
23. The just.. out, that is the very number at which we
estimated them.
24. Let us sway on, let us march boldly forward; sway in-
dicates the heavy swing of a large body of men in motion; so in
J. C. i. 3. 3, "the sway of earth" is the balanced swing of
earth.
25. well-appointed, well-equipped, well-accoutred.
29. in peace, without fear of being interrupted.
30. What doth... coming, what does your coming import? cp.
i. H. VI. v. 3. 116, "Why, what concerns his freedom unto me?
33. Came ... routs, came in its own proper guise, in throngs of
despicable wretches; cp. below, iv. 2. 9, "Cheering a rout of
rebels with your drum."
34. bloody youth, a strange expression here, may possibly
mean headstrong youth.' Warburton conjectured heady, which
Dyce adopts: guarded with rags, the quarto and the folios read
rage, which Delius and Knight retain; rags is a conjecture made
by both Walker and Collier's MS. Corrector; guarded is trimmed,
faced, as frequently in Shakespeare. We have the same figure
in Pt. I. v. 1. 74, "To face the garment of rebellion With some
fine colour that may please the eye Of fickle changelings and
poor discontents," and again just below, II. 38, 9.
35. boys and beggary, beggarly boys.
SCENE I.]
155
NOTES.
36. commotion, insurrection, anarchy.
39. Had not been, would not have been to dress, to give to it
the appearance of dignity which it assumes by association with
honourable men like yourselves.
42. Whose see ... maintain'd, who owe the quiet possession of
your archbishopric to the preservation of peace in the state; see,
literally seat, from O. F. sed, se, from Lat. sedes, a seat.
43. Whose beard... touch'd, who have lived to a good age in all
the enjoyment of a peaceful life.
44. Whose learning...tutor'd, whom peace has enabled to culti-
vate learning and literature.
45. white investments, "formerly (says Dr. Hody, Hist. of
Convocations, p. 141) all bishops wore white, even when they
travelled" (Grey).
46. The dove, from its gentleness and its white colour an
emblem of white-robed peace.
50. graves. According to Dyce and Staunton this is only
another spelling of greaves, armour to protect the legs, some-
times made of leather, and in that way resembling the covers of
books.
52. a point of war, a signal given by the blast of a trumpet ;
Dyce quotes Green, Orlando Furioso, "To play him hunt's-up
with a point of war"; to which Staunton adds Peele, Edward I.,
Sound proudly here a perfect point of war"; and Shirley, The
Duke's Mistress, "Sa, sa, sa! Now sound a point of war.
55. surfeiting hours, our hours spent in over-indulgence and
luxury; there should be no comma after surfeiting, as in some
editions, that word being used in an adjectival sense.
57. bleed, used in a double sense of the slaughter in war, and
of the bleeding by a surgeon, formerly the common practice in
cases of fever.
60. I take physician, I do not take upon myself to play the
part of a physician and prescribe the remedies to be used. Cp.
C. E. v. 1. 242, “took on him as a conjurer."
63. But rather ... war, but rather for the time being put on the
semblance of dreadful war.
64. To diet... happiness, to bring into a healthy state by
means of regular habits those who have become cloyed by excess
of good fortune. In 1. 60 Nicholson would read but for not, and
certainly the archbishop in this and the two next lines seems to
be taking on him the very part he there declaims.
69. griefs, grievances; as often in Shakespeare.
71. our most quiet there, the perfect peace which we once en-
joyed there, sc. in the stream of time; most modern editors, in-
156
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
cluding Delius, who is generally so cautious in accepting
emendations, follow Warburton in reading sphere for there, but
it seems to me very doubtful whether Shakespeare would speak
of being enforced from a sphere by a torrent, for he never seems
to use the word sphere without reference to the Ptolemaic spheres
in which the planets were fixed. The use of most with a sub-
stantive is frequent in Shakespeare and the other Elizabethan
dramatists.
74. articles, definite particulars.
75. Which, sc. the summary.
76. And might... audience, and were in spite of everything
refused the audience that we craved.
77-9. When we are wrong'd... wrong, the speaker passes from
a particular to a general statement.
82. yet appearing, still to be seen; which has not yet sunk
into the ground.
83. Of every minute's instance, of which every minute brings
proof; for instance, see note on iii. 1. 103, above.
89. galled, treated with contumely; the word was formerly
used in some instances with a stronger sense than it now has.
90. What peer ... you, what peer has been secretly instigated
by the king to offer you any annoyance? the reference is to l. 79
in the archbishop's speech. To suborn' is from the Latin
subornare, to furnish or supply in an underhand way.
92. forged, that has no genuine cause of existence.
93-6. And consecrate particular. That there is corruption
here seems beyond doubt. Lines 93 and 95 are omitted in the
folio; but even with their omission the sense is abrupt and in-
complete, and there seems an obvious antithesis between brother
general and brother born, an antithesis which would also be lost
if we followed Johnson in reading "My quarrel general" with
the explanation "my general cause of discontent is public mis-
management; my particular cause, a domestic injury done to my
natural brother, who had been beheaded by the king's order
(see Pt. I. i. 3. 270, 1, "The archbishop... who bears hard His
brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop)." The Cambridge
Editors say,
"Mr. Singer supposed that after commonwealth a
line had been lost, something to the following effect: Whose
wrongs do loudly call out for redress.' Mr. Julius Lloyd writes
to us: "I am sure the lines are transposed and should be read
thus: 'I make my quarrel in particular My brother; general,
the commonwealth.' The transposition is proved, further, by the
separation of the doubtful lines: And consecrate commotion's
bitter edge To brother born an household cruelty,' which are
plainly continuous." Mr. Spedding writes: “I think some lines
SCENE I.]
157
NOTES.
And
have been lost. If And consecrate commotion's bitter edge'
belongs to Westmoreland's speech, there must have been another
line to complete the cadence both in sound and sense.
again, if "There is no need of any such redress' is the beginning
of his next speech, it is equally clear that something about 're-
dress' must have been said between. The opposition between
'brother general' and 'brother born' reads to me like Shake-
speare, and not likely to have come in by accident; and though
the transposition of the lines [as suggested by Mr. Lloyd] is in-
genious and intelligible and in another context might be natural,
it does not come naturally in the context proposed. Conjecture
seems hopeless in such a case.' On the whole, we are of opinion
that several lines have been omitted, and those which remain
displaced, and that this is one of the many passages in which the
true text is irrecoverable."... Unless the word redress can be
referred to the archbishop's previous speech, which seems very
improbable, Mr. Spedding's objection appears to me unanswer-
able, while Mr. Lloyd's proposal to connect 11. 93 and 95 does not
in my opinion give any satisfactory sense. On the other hand, I
do not feel that there is any necessity for a line after edge to
complete the cadence either in sound or sense. In 1. 93 War-
burton sees an allusion to the custom of the Pope's consecrating
the sword of the general when employed in the service of the
church.
98. it not belongs to you, it is not you who should under-
take it.
100. the days before, the days gone by.
102, 3. To lay ... honours, unjustly to depress our high rank
and dignity; for unequal, cp. A. C. ii. 5. 101, "To punish me
for what you make me do Seems much unequal.”
104, 5. Construe indeed, if you interpret what is done by
the necessities which compel us to the course we take, you will
be obliged to admit that, etc.
107-10. Yet for your part... on, yet so far as you personally are
concerned, it does not seem to me that you have the smallest
cause for complaint either in the king's actions or in the course
of events; grief, grievance; as in 11. 73, 7.
111. signories, rights and possessions belonging to his title as
Duke of Norfolk.
113, 4. What thing, ... me? so far as honour was concerned,
my father had forfeited nothing that it was necessary to restore
in my favour; in breathed there is an ellipsis of re-, similar to
that so common in adverbial and superlative inflections.
115. as the state stood then, i.c. when Richard was king.
116. force perforce, the use of force in an adverbial sense =
of
158
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH.
II.
necessity is frequently strengthened by perforce, as in K. J. iii.
1. 142, ii. H. VI. i. 1. 258.
117. And then that, and at that time when; see Abb. § 284.
Staunton conjectured "And when" here and "O, then " for " 0,
when" in 1. 125, and Dyce so reads, Capell having already made
the latter alteration. Others join that as a demonstrative pro-
noun with Henry Bolingbroke.
118. roused in their seats, erect in their saddles and eager for
the fray.
119. Their neighing spur. Schmidt says "probably = their
coursers, by neighing, challenging the spur to give the signal of
setting off," and, both as regards_construction and sense, this
seems to me more likely than Delius's explanation, they
spurring their neighing coursers to the encounter," for mention
of the onset should come at the end of the description, and ac-
cording to Shakespeare's narrative in R. II. i. 3, the combat was
stayed before a charge could be made.
In
120. armed staves, lances: their beavers down, their helmets
being closed; as was done when going into combat; the beaver,
"the lower portion of the face-guard of a helmet, when worn
with a visor; but occasionally serving the purposes of both.
the 14th century applied to the moveable face-guard of the basinet,
otherwise called vizière, ventaille, or aventaille. In the early part
of the 15th century the beaver appears formed of overlapping
plates, which can be raised or depressed to any degree desired by
the wearer. In the 16th century it again became confounded
with the visor, and could be pushed up entirely over the top of
the helmet, and drawn down at pleasure' (Planche); M. E.
baviere, a O. F. bavière, orig. a child's bib, f. bave, saliva
(Murray, Eng. Dict.). Cp. Haml. i. 2. 230, "Haml. Then saw
you not his face? Hor. Ô,
Hor. O, yes, my lord; he wore his beaver up.
121. sights of steel, the slits made in the beaver in order to
enable the combatants to see, and called "beaver-sights.'
Op.
...
"3
125. warder, staff, truncheon, which he bore as president of
the combat, and the throwing down of which was a signal for the
combat to cease; see R. II. i. 3. 117. The conjecture then for
when has already been mentioned; but there seems to me the
"His own
great objection to it that it makes 1. 126,
threw,"
altogether too abrupt, and I have therefore marked an aposiopesis
after Bolingbroke, 1. 124.
128, 9. That by indictment... Bolingbroke, that in the present
reign have perished either by legal condemnation or in the field
of battle.
131. Earl, this should be "Duke"; see R. II.
133. Who knows smiled? it is very doubtful which of the
two would have fallen; said in answer to 11. 123, 4.
SCENE I.]
159
NOTES.
135. He ne'er ... Coventry, he would never have escaped from
Coventry (where the lists were held) with his life; it is here used
indefinitely; see Abb. § 226.
142. griefs, grievances; as above.
145, 6. every thing... enemies, everything being so arranged as
to remove all pretext for your being thought enemies. Probably,
as Clarke suggests, the language here is intentionally ambiguous.
149. you overween... so, in fancying that the offer is one dictated
by policy and not by love, you attach too great weight to your
own power of resisting the king and compelling him to grant
your demands.
151. within a ken, so near at hand that it may be seen.
154. Our battle, our army, battalions.
157. Then reason wills... good, it is the will of reason that our
courage should be as good as yours; we reasonably may be as
confident as you; the old copies read will, which Pope corrected.
159. by my will, if my party will be guided by me.
160, 1. That argues ... handling, such a determination merely
shows that you are ashamed of your violent proceedings; a case
so bad as yours shrinks from being discussed; the figure is from
fruit which is so rotten that it will not bear taking in the hand:
hardling, a trisyllable; see Abb. § 477.
163. In very
father, whereby he represents his father in all
his authority; which makes him his father's plenipotentiary.
165. Of what... upon, upon what conditions we shall come to
an understanding, agreement.
166. intended, implied, understood; cp. A. C. ii. 2. 40, "How
intend you, practised?"
167. muse, wonder; a sense of the word much commoner in
Shakespeare than that of 'meditate': slight, trivial.
168. schedule, list; literally a small leaf of paper.
170. Each several... redress'd, on condition that each par-
ticular grievance receives redress.
171. both here and hence, wherever they may be.
172. insinew'd to this action, firmly knitted together in the
execution of this design; bound by the strongest possible ties to
carry out our opposition to the king; cp. iii. H. VI. ii. 6. 91,
So shalt thou sinew both these lands together"; i. H. IV. iv.
4. 17, "Who with them was a rated sinew too"; K. J. v. 2. 63,
'so, nobles, shall you all, That knit your sinews to the strength
of mine.
173. Acquitted... form, a formal and legally valid pardon
being made out.
160
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
174, 5. And present... confirmed, and the immediate execution
of our desires being assured so far as we ourselves and our pur-
poses are concerned. This seems to be the sense if Capell's
conjecture confirmed be adopted, though the words convey little
more than is expressed by 1. 170. The quarto reads confinde,
the folios confin'd, out of which it appears impossible to extract
a meaning. Johnson conjectured consign'd, with the explanation
"let the execution of our demands be put into our hands accord-
ing to our declared purposes"; and this conjecture was accepted
by Malone, though with the sense of sealed, ratified, confirmed,
comparing v. 2. 143, below, H. V. v. 2. 90, 326. Schmidt
retains confin'd, taking it as stated with precision, but the word,
whatever be the true reading, must, I think, in point of gram-
matical construction be in the same position with redress'd, 1. 170,
and Acquitted, 1. 173, and therefore belong to execution.
176. our awful banks, "the proper limits of reverence" (John-
son). For the figurative sense of banks, cp. Per. ii. 4. 24,
Know that our griefs are risen to the top, And now at length
they overflow their banks."
CC
177. And knit... peace, and use every effort to strengthen
peace.
178, 9. Please you, meet, let us, if it be your good pleasure,
hold a conference on the matter in sight of the two armies.
180. which ... frame, as I trust God may ordain.
181, 2. Or to the place... it, or, if we can come to no agree-
ment, may then and there put the matter to the decision of arms.
183. a thing, one thing; see Abb. § 81.
184. That no ... stand, that whatever terms of peace we may
make they will not be lasting terms.
...
187. As our upon, as shall be the basis of our proposals; as
shall be that on which we stand in making our proposals; cp.
Per. i. 4. 83, "Welcome is peace, if he on peace consist.”
189. our valuation, the estimation, opinion, in which we shall
be held.
190. false-derived, that has its source in falsehood.
191. nice, frivolous, trivial.
193. That, were... love, that even if our loyalty to the king
were ready to prove its intensity by submitting to the fiercest
trials. Malone compares H. VIII. iv. 1. 8, "the citizens...
have shown at full their royal minds," i.e. their devotion to the
king, and again in the same play, i. 4. 86, "I'll make my royal
choice," i.e. choice of a king. For other instances of a peculiar
use of royal, see Schmidt, s.v.
194. We shall be, for this irregularity in the sequence of
SCENE I.]
161
NOTES.
tenses, cp. i. H. VI. ii. 4. 98, 9, "And that I'll prove on better
men than Somerset, Were growing time once ripen'd to my will";
and see Abb. § 371.
198. Of dainty... grievances, of such frivolous and carefully
sought out grievances, grievances to be discovered only by
minute investigation; cp. for the ellipsis, V. A. 1147, "It shall
be sparing and too full of riot," where "too" belongs to both
adjectives.
199. to end, the ending; the infinitive used indefinitely.
200. in the heirs of life, in those who survive and inherit the
grievance.
201. tables, memorandum books.
202. And keep... memory, and keep nothing that shall tell tales
to his memory.
...
203, 4. That may remembrance, that by recording his loss.
may bring it ever and anon to his recollection.
205, 6. He cannot... occasion, he cannot on every suspicion
that presents itself to his mind thin off each particular object of
offence.
209. so, in this way, by this action.
210. offensive, provoking.
213, 4. And hangs ... execution, and suspends the blow that
was about to fall.
219. May offer
hold, may make an attempt to seize, but not
be able to keep its hold.
221. atonement, peace, agreement; to "atone" is literally to
make at one, to join what had been disunited.
222, 3. Our peace breaking, cp. Oth. ii. 3. 328-31, "this
broken joint between you and her husband entreat her to
splinter; and, ... this crack of your
this crack of your love shall grow stronger than
it was before."
225, 6. pleaseth ... armies, may it please your lordship to meet
his grace midway between the two armies; if it please your
lordship to meet, etc., it will be well.
228. Before, precede me; the verb of motion omitted: we
come, we will follow closely after you.
SCENE II.
STAGE DIRECTION. Prince John of Lancaster. The third son
of Henry IV., Constable of England, Governor of Berwick, and
Warden of the East Marches towards Scotland; made Duke of
York by his brother, Henry V., and Lieutenant of the whole
realm of England' during that king's absence in France: West-
L
162
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
moreland, Ralph Nevil, created Earl of Westmoreland by Richard
II. in 1397, was the first to join Bolingbroke's standard, and was
rewarded for his treachery by being made Earl Marshal, Gover-
nor of Carlisle, Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland,
etc. It was his stratagem which induced the rebel leaders to
disband their forces.
1. You are
here, I am glad to meet you here.
C
5. When that. For the conjunctional affix that, see Abb. § 287.
8. an iron man, clad in armour. "Holinshed says of the
Archbishop that coming foorth amongst them clad in armour,
he incouraged and pricked them foorth to take the enterprise in
hand'" (Steevens).
10. Turning ... sword, employing in your warfare not the word
of God, the spiritual weapon it becomes you to wield, but the
material weapon, the sword, which suits not your sacred office.
Cp. M. W. iii. 1. 44, "What, the sword and the word! do you
study them both, master parson?" and Bacon, Essay of Unity
in Religion, "There be two swords the ordinance of God."
...
11. sits heart, is privy to the sovereign's counsels and
objects.
13. Would he ... king, if he should turn to evil purpose the
favour he finds with the king.
14. abroach, running, flowing.
on broche, to set abroach, to tap,
"The M. E. phrase is setten
Imitated from the F. mettre
en broche, to tap a barrel, viz. by piercing it; from F. brocher,
to broach, to spitt'; Cot.-F. broche, a broach, spitt'; Cot.'
(Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
15. In shadow ... greatness! while under such mighty pro-
tection.
17. deep, deeply versed, read.
18. To us... parliament, our president in the parliament of
God; speaker, here the technical term for the presiding officer
in the House of Commons, as the Lord Chancellor in the House
of Lords.
...
19. To us himself, whose voice is to us as the voice of God;
whose voice when you speak we look upon as the voice of God.
20-2. The very... workings, the very medium between God and
us, whereby his grace and holy will is revealed to our under-
standings painfully groping in the dark; intelligencer is more
frequently used in a bad sense, either as a go-between, or as a
spy, informer.
23. But you misuse, that you do not misuse.
24. countenance, favour, support.
SCENE II.]
163
NOTES.
26-8. You have... substitute, under the pretext of a religious
cause you have enrolled in rebellious arms the subjects of God's
vicegerent in this kingdom. The old copies give zeal of God,
which has been explained as zeal in God's behalf; the reading in
the text, Capell's conjecture, is supported by ll. 24, 5, by ta'en
up, and by counterfeited; for ta'en up, = levied, cp. ii. 1. 199,
above, "you are to take soldiers up in the counties."
30. here up-swarm'd them, assembled them in full force.
31. against, in opposition to, with any view of disturbing.
33-5. The time up, the disorder of the times compels us, out
of a sense of the dangers that threaten us all, to muster in this
monstrous form in order to make good our common safety.
Mason explains in common sense as according to the dictates
of reason, but 1. 34, emphasizing their gathering together in a
closely-banded union, indicates, I think, the idea of community of
danger as prominent in the speaker's mind: monstrous, terrible
in appearance.
36. parcels, details; literally, small parts.
37. shoved from the court, unceremoniously rejected.
38. Whereon, as a consequence of which rejection: this Hydra
son of war, this offspring of war with as many heads as the
Hydra; war being personified here.
39. well, easily and thoroughly. Steevens points out that the
allusion is to the dragon charmed to rest by the spells of Medea.
40. With grant, by the concession.
42. Stoop... majesty, throw itself submissively at the foot, etc.
45. supplies, reinforcements.
46. theirs, reinforcements of those reinforcements.
47. success, succession; cp. W. T. i. 2. 394, our parents'
noble names, In whose success we are gentle.”
48. heir from heir, one heir to this quarrel after another.
49. Whiles, the old genitive used adverbially, as 'needs,'
'twice' (twies): shall have generation, shall have sons born to
her; cp. Lear, i. 1. 119, "he that makes his generation messes
To gorge his appetite."
51. the after-times, the future.
52. directly, in plain terms.
53. How far forth, to what extent.
54. allow them well, admit their validity.
56. mistook, for the form of the participle, see Abb. § 343.
57. about him, near his person; his intimate friends.
63. friendly, like friends, in a friendly way.
164
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
་
64. That all….. home, that all your army may see and report, etc.
70. part, depart.
74. to breed, to bring about, bring to the birth; with a play
on pains in the sense of pains of childbirth.
80. something, somewhat.
SI, 2. Against ... event, when evil is about to happen men's
spirits are always at their highest, and on the other hand they
are depressed when good fortune is at hand; for Against, cp.
M. N. D. iii. 2. 99, "I'll charm his eyes against she do appear,
¿.e. in anticipation of her appearing. Steevens compares Romeo's
unusual cheerfulness just before he hears of Juliet's death, v. 1.
3-5, "My bosom's lord sits lightly in his throne; And all this
day an unaccustom'd spirit Lifts me above the ground with cheer-
ful thoughts.
84. Serves to say thus. Walker would read 'Seems to say
this,'
but the reading in the text seems to me more forcible, 'Has this
good purpose, that of foretelling,' etc.
85. passing, exceedingly, surpassingly; as very frequently in
Shakespeare.
87. The word ... render'd, the announcement of peace having
been concluded has been made to them.
88. had been, would have been.
93. your trains. The old copies read 'our trains,' which Johnson
and Steevens defend on the ground that the Prince wishes both
sides to have the gratification of seeing the respective forces;
but the Prince's words that we ... withal seem clearly to refer to
the gratification he proposes to himself, and the Archbishop's
direction to Hastings, let them march by, which can apply to his
forces only, are, I think, conclusive in favour of Capell's cor-
rection.
95. We should ... withal, we should have had to encounter;
withal, when used as a preposition, is always in Shakespeare at
the end of the clause or sentence.
97. shall lie ... together, shall pass the night in company,
bivouac together.
105. sporting-place, place of customary amusement.
107. of high treason, on a charge of high treason. Shakespeare,
as here, generally uses of to express the cause of arrest, but in
M. M. i. 4. 66, C. E. iv. 2, 49, Lear, v. 3. 82, the preposition
is on.
112. I pawn'd thee none, I gave you no pledge of personal
safety.
116. look... due, prepare yourselves to experience the just
consequence.
SCENE II.]
165
NOTES.
118. shallowly, foolishly, without fathoming the depth of
things; cp. above 1. 50.
119. Fondly, weakly, foolishly see note on i. 3. 91.
120. the scattered stray, the forces now dispersed in every
direction.
121. God, to-day, it is to God, not to ourselves, that we owe
the result of this day's combat.
123. Treason's ... breath, the proper bed for traitors to lie
upon, and to be brought to render up their lives.
SCENE III.
STAGE DIRECTION. Colevile. Though condemned to death,
Coleville was, according to Hume, spared; and "if so," says
French, "no doubt he was the same Sir John Colvyl, Knight,
who was one of the retinue of Henry V. in his expedition to
France, 1415" and perhaps the same Sir John Colvill who
was Governor of Wisbeach Castle in 1416, and whose grandfather
of the same name served with Edward III. in his French wars."...
1. condition, rank.
•
5, 6. your degree, the rank and designation conferred on you.
8. still... dale, Falstaff jests upon the word dale, meaning a
hollow between hills, a valley.
11. shall I sweat for you? am I to have the trouble of forcibly
capturing you?
11, 2. they are... death, you may look upon the drops of
perspiration which I shall sweat as the tears shed by those who
care for you, i.e. I shall kill you if you give me the trouble of
using force.
...
13. do observance mercy, show homage to the mercy I offer
you, thankfully accept mercy at my hands.
16. school, crowd, number.
18. of any indifferency, of any moderate size.
19. womb, used comically for 'belly.'
STAGE DIRECTION. Blunt. Probably the son of Sir Walter
Blunt of Pt. I., who fell at the battle of Shrewsbury.
21. The heat is past, "the violence of resentment, the eager-
ness of revenge" (Johnson) is now at an end.
...
25, 6. These tardy. back, sooner or later you will be hanged
for your shirking of duty, though no gallows are strong enough
to bear your weight.
27. I would... thus, I should be sorry, my lord, not to find
myself chidden as you chide me; Falstaff's converse of "Praise
undeserved is satire in disguise."
166
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
28. check, reproof; cp. above, i. 2. 173.
32. I have foundered... posts, I have ridden, till they broke
down, some nine score and odd post horses.
33. travel-tainted, though weary and bestained by my journey;
in the next line he figuratively compares his valour, which no-
thing could taint, with his person, showing such conspicuous
marks of his hurried march.
36, 7. the hook-nosed ... Rome, Julius Cæsar; see note on ii. 2.
107, above.
38. It was more ... deserving, you have to thank his courtesy
in yielding rather than any merit of your own, for his capture.
40. booked, recorded, registered, so that all men may know
of it.
41, 2. I will have it... else, I will have a ballad written to
specially celebrate that deed of mine; such ballads commonly
had at the head a picture indicative of the contents.
44. gilt two-pences, two-penny pieces washed with gold: to
me, compared with me.
46. the cinders of the element, a comical expression for the
stars, which in comparison with the moon show but small points
of light like coals nearly burnt out: the element, the sky; also
used in a comical sense; cp. T. N. iii. 1. 65, 6,
"who you are
and what you would are out of my welkin, I might say 'element,'
but the word is over-worn to her, compared to her.
>>
47. the noble, noble persons like myself.
51. thick, in a double sense, thick in bulk, and thick in opacity.
53. and call will, I care nothing what name you give to the
event, so long as it is to my advantage, benefit.
...
54. Colevile, here and in the next line a trisyllable.
60. You should... have, you would have had to pay much
more dearly for your victory over them; they would not, if they
had taken my advice, have yielded without a struggle.
61. sold themselves, for a price, in consideration of certain
promises.
62. gratis, without making any stipulations.
63. for thee, for the present you have made to me of yourself.
64. left pursuit, ceased pursuing the dispersed army.
69. dispatch we, let us prepare to march.
73. with sober speed, with such speed as circumstances will
admit of.
76. Stand my good lord, act as my patron; cp. Lear, ii. 1. 42,
"conjuring the moon To stand his auspicious mistress." Percy
points out that 'Be my good lord' was the old court phrase used
SCENE III.]
167
NOTES.
by a person who asked a favour of a man of rank; and quotes a
letter of the Earl of Northumberland desiring Cardinal Wolsey
would so farbe his good lord,' as to empower him to imprison a
person who had defrauded him.
77. in my condition, so far as it is consistent with my position
as general in reporting the results of my operations.
79, 80. I would ... dukedom, I only wish you had so much in-
telligence as would enable you to speak better of me than I
deserve; such a gift would be worth more than a dukedom to
you; but here does not qualify wit, but belongs rather to I would.
Prince John was not a Duke at this time; see note on stage
direction at beginning of scene ii.
81. nor a man cannot, for the emphatic double negative, see
Abb. § 406.
82, 3. There's never... proof, none of these sober-witted,
precise, boys ever prove worth anything; ever show themselves
worth anything when put to the proof.
83-5. for thin drink... green-sickness, for by drinking nothing
but water and such-like liquids, and feeding so much on fish,
they become as hysterical and full of vapours as young girls;
fish-meals, a fish diet would be less inflammatory than one of
flesh; green-sickness, a hysterical disorder, characterized by
paleness of face, to which females are subject.
87. but for inflammation, if we were not warmed and stimu-
lated by generous wine: sherris-sack, sack from Xeres in Spain,
what would now be called dry sherry.
SS. ascends me... brain, makes its way up to the brain, much
to my benefit; for me, in this usage implying some result to the
speaker, and often, as here, to others in the same position as the
speaker, see Abb. § 220.
89. crudy, crude; cp. "vasty," H. V. Prol. 12, and "hugy?
used by both Marlowe and Peele.
90. forgetive, inventive; cp. Haml. iv. 7. 90, "in forgery of
shapes and tricks." The word appears to be a coinage of Shake-
speare's.
92. the voice, the tongue. If the reading is genuine, the two
words must be taken as in apposition. Staunton remarks,
"Tongue was, possibly, only an interlineation, the poet not
having determined whether to adopt 'voice' or 'tongue"": which
is the birth, in which the delectable shapes conceived in the
brain come to the birth.
93. your excellent sherris, for your see note on i. 2. 145 above.
Cp. Webster, Northward Ho, v. 1, “do not call for sack, lest
it betray the coldness of your manhood."
168
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
95. which is the badge, which whiteness and paleness of the
lines is the mark, etc.
98,9. this little kingdom, man, cp. Cor. ii. 1. 68, "If you see
this in my microcosm"; Lear, iii. 1. 10, "Strives in his little
world of man to out-scorn The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and
rain," i.e. in his own person.
99, 100. the vital... spirits, the lesser bodily powers. Cp.
Menenius's fable in Cor. i. 1, 99. etc.
101, 2. any deed, sc. that it is called on to do.
103. skill in the weapon, skill in the management of the
weapon.
104. kept by a devil. Steevens points out that gold, and other,
mines were formerly supposed to be guarded by evil spirits.
105. commences ... act.
act. Tyrwhitt thinks it probable "that
Shakespeare in these words alludes to the Cambridge Commence-
ment and to the Oxford Act; for by those different names our
two Universities have long distinguished the season at which
each of them gives to her respective students a complete author-
ity to use those hoards of learning which have entitled them to
their several degrees in arts, law, physic, divinity." It is in
favour of Tyrwhitt's view that the verb to " commence
frequently used in this technical sense by the old dramatists,
particularly Massinger.
is
109. good and good store, good sherris and plenty of it.
116, 8. I have him ... him, I have already begun moulding him
to my designs, and before long will turn him to good account.
The figure is from working up with finger and thumb the soft
wax formerly used in sealing an envelope.
SCENE IV.
"Thomas
STAGE DIRECTION. Frince Thomas of Clarence.
Plantagenet, born 1388, was created July 9, 1411, by his father
Earl of Albemarle and Duke of Clarence. He was chosen
President of his father's Council when Prince Hal was in disgrace.
He was some time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Captain of
Calais, and Lieutenant-General of France and Normandy. He
was a distinguished commander, and was killed at the battle of
Beaugé in Anjou, March 23, 1421" (French, S. G.): Prince
Humphrey of Gloucester. "This prince, fourth and youngest son
of King Henry IV., was named after his maternal grandfather,
Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. ... He was made a K.G.
by his father" (id.) and Duke of Gloucester by his brother,
Henry V.
2. debate, quarrel, contest; both substantive and verb were of
SCENE IV.]
169
NOTES.
เ
old used in a stronger sense than nowadays, and not confined
to oral or mental controversy.
3. higher fields, nobler contests.
4. sanctified, by being drawn in the cause of religion.
5. address'd, prepared; ultimately from Lat. ad, to, and
directus, passive participle of dirigere, to set straight, right.
6. Our substitutes invested, our deputies, vice-gerents, have
been duly clothed with the authority they are to wield in our
absence.
10. Come underneath, submit themselves to.
11. Both which, the personal strength and the submission of
the rebels.
17. in presence, present.
20. How chance, how does it chance; cp. C. E. i. 2. 42, “how
chance thou art return'd so soon?" M. Ñ. D. i. 129, “How chance
the roses there do fade so fast?" See Abb. § 37.
27. omit him not, do not fail to seek his affection.
30. if he be observed, if proper attention be paid to him.
31, 2. He hath... charity, his tears are ready when pity
demands them, his hand is all generosity when his heart is
softened by a tale of distress.
34. humorous, capricious, splenetic.
35. flaws, according to Edwards and Dyce, "small blades of
ice ; according to Schmidt "probably gusts carrying ice with
them."
38. blood, temperament.
:
39. being moody, when he is in a moody, morose frame of
mind; see Abb. § 377 line and scope, liberty to indulge his
inclinations; the figure is from angling, in which the hooked fish
is allowed to plunge about till it is worn out by its own exertions
and can then be landed.
41. Confound... working, exhaust themselves by their own
indulgence.
43. A hoop... in, the figure is that of hooping together the
several staves of a cask so as to form one compact whole; cp.
A. C. ii. 2. 117, "Yet if I knew What hoop should hold us
stanch"; and Haml. i. 3. 63, "Grapple them to thy soul with
hoops of steel."
45. Mingled... suggestion, though poisonous insinuations be
made to rend their brotherly union.
46. As, force... in- such as are certain to be offered by those
living with them; As is what Ingleby, Shakespeare, The Man and
the Book, i. 147, calls "the conjunction of reminder, being em-
Dor M
170
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
ployed by Shakespeare and his contemporaries to introduce a
subsidiary statement, qualifying, or even contradicting, what goes
before, which the person addressed is required to take for
granted." He instances A. Y. L. iii. 5. 39, M. M. ii. 4. 89,
A. C. i. 4. 22. For force perforce, see note on iv. 1. 116.
47. Shall never leak, an allusion to the belief that poison
dropped into a vessel will cause it to break: though it do work,
even if it should work.
48. rash, sudden, violent, explosive.
53. other his... followers, others who are usually his com-
panions; this use of other is frequent in Shakespeare.
54. fattest, richest, most fertile.
58. The blood... shape, I shed tears of blood, tears of most
heart-felt grief, when I picture to myself.
59. unguided days, days of anarchy and license.
60. rotten times, times of corruption and vice.
64. When means... together, when the opportunity is at hand
to gratify his licentious inclinations.
65. with what wings, how swiftly.
66. Towards... decay, towards danger and ruin which shall
meet those desires half way.
67. look.. quite, see in him evils which have no place in his
nature. The idea is of looking beyond an object and so over-
looking its real form and character.
71-3. which once hated, the result of which knowledge is
to recognize the word as one to be shunned.
74. in the perfectness of time, when the time is ripe.
77. mete, measure, judge of.
79, 80. 'Tis seldom ... carrion, it is rarely that the bee having
built its comb in a carcase forsakes it, and it is improbable that
my son having so industriously built his hopes of pleasure upon
such evil company, will abandon it. For seldom when Singer
conjectures "seldom-when," which some editors adopt; but
there does not seem to be anything gained by this, for when may
"that
be regarded as an affix similar to
"while that,
in
CC
though that," etc.
84. Bishop, i.e. archbishop.
...
""
رو
90. With every particular, with every detail of the various
events; his, its; for particular, as a substantive = minute detail,
cp. A. W. iv. 3. 207, "let me answer to the particular of the
inter'gatories."
92. the haunch of winter, the latter end of winter.
93. The lifting ... day, the breaking of day, i. e. cheerful times.
SCENE IV.]
171
NOTES.
95. stand against, oppose.
105. a stomach, an appetite.
106. Such ... health, such is the case of the poor who have the
health and appetite to enjoy.
109. I should rejoice, I ought to rejoice.
110. my sight fails, owing to the dizziness caused by his fit.
111. much ill, very ill; for much, as an adverb, cp. J. C. iv. 3.
255, "I am much forgetful," A. Y. L. i. 2. 196, "much guilty."
117. hold out, bear up against, resist.
=
119. Hath wrought the mure, has worked its way through the
wall; Hath, the singular, care and labour being taken as a single
idea; mure wall, was frequent in old days. Steevens compares
Waller, "The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decayed, Let's
in new light thro' chinks that time has made"; and points out
that the same image in almost the same words occurs in the fourth
book of Daniel's Civil Wars, where Henry's sickness is spoken
of: "
Wearing the wall so thin, that now the mind Might well look
thorow and his frailtie find." As the first edition of this poem
was published in 1595, it appears that Shakespeare was the
borrower.
66
121. fear, frighten: observe, sc. with awe-stricken attention.
122. Unfather'd heirs, "productions not brought forth accord-
ing to the stated laws of generation " (Johnson). Staunton says,
This passage has been strangely misunderstood. By loathly
births of nature, are, of course, meant, monstrous mis-shapen pro-
ductions of nature. But the unfather'd heirs ... were certain
so-called prophets, who pretended to have been conceived by
miracle, like Merlin." He then quotes Spenser's description of
the birth of Merlin, and adds, "And Montaigne refers to such
miraculous conceptions in his Essay entitled the Apology for
Raymond Sebond,” In Mahomet's religion, by the easie beliefe of
that people, are many Merlins found; That is to say, fatherless
children; Spiritual children, conceived and borne devinely in the
wombs of virgins, and that in their language beare names, im-
porting as much This interpretation seems to me quite
unnecessary: loathly births of nature, is merely an explanation
or extension of Unfather'd heirs, and we have the same hendiadys
with the same expression "unfather'd" in Sonn. xcvii. 10,
this abundant issue seem'd to me But hope of orphans and un-
father'd fruit." Delius and Schmidt couple the words of nature
>
""
with both heirs and births.
"Yet
123. change their manners, the summer being like the winter,
etc. Cp. M. N. D. ii. 1. 107-14, "The seasons alter: hoary.
headed frosts Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose, And on
old Hiems' thin and icy crown An odorous chaplet of sweet
172
[ACT IV.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
summer buds Is, as in mockery, set: the spring, the summer,
The childing autumn, angry winter, change Their wonted liveries,
and the mazed world, By their increase, now knows not which is
which."
123, 4. as the year... over, as the year would do if it had
found, etc. 'As," says Abb. § 107, like 'an,' appears to be
(though it is not) used by Shakespeare for as if... the 'if' is im-
plied in the subjunctive.'
>>
125. The river... between.
This is from Holinshed who re-
lates the portent as though it were a fact; "In this year (1412)
and upon the twelfth day of October, were three floods in the
Thames, the one following upon the other, and no ebbing be-
tween."
126. time's doting chronicles, the foolish chroniclers of fabulous
or portentous events; cp. Haml. ii. 2. 548, "they (the players)
are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time.'
128. Edward, the Third: sick'd, sickened.
130. This apoplexy. It was epilepsy rather than apoplexy
from which the king suffered.
SCENE V.
2. some dull... hand, some hand with soothing, drowsy, touch
on the chords of the instrument.
9. rain... doors, sc. the rain of tears.
11. Heard... yet, with yet we should now use the perfect, not
the past tense or the aorist.
14, 5. If he be sick... physic, if joy be the only cause of his
ailing, he will need no physic to restore him to health.
23. O polish'd ... care! O thou that lookest so bright and yet
art the cause of so much unrest! thou that art of such rich value
and yet instead of ease bringest trouble with thee!
24. the ports of slumbers, the eyelids; cp. A. Y. L. iii. 5. 13,
t eyes, who shut their coward gates on atomies.
>>
25. To many night, so that many a wakeful night may enter,
i.e. so that the eyelids may be kept awake for many a night:
sleep... now! is it not strange that my father should sleep with
it beside him on his pillow?
26-8. Yet not so sound... night, yet he does not sleep half so
soundly and sweetly as he who with his homely nightcap about
his head snores throughout the night-watches; biggen, cap, from
F. béguin, from the Beguines, women who were followers of
Lambert le Begue (i.e. the Stammerer), and wore a peculiar kind
of cap.
The word was originally used in English of a child's cap;
so Jonson, The Silent Woman, iii. 2, You that have ... been a
SCENE V.]
173
NOTES.
""
courtier from the biggen to the night-cap," i.e. from infancy to
age; it was also used, as in Volpone, v. 5, for a lawyer's cap,
"Good advocate... Get you a biggin more.
For watch, cp.
Oth. i. 1. 124, "At this odd-even and dull watch o' the night
"originally perhaps," says Schmidt, "the time from one relief of
sentinels to another."
31. That scalds with safety, which, while affording protection,
fiercely burns its wearer: gates of breath, lips; cp. above, 1. 24.
33. suspire, breathe, respire; in the only other passage in
which Shakespeare uses the word, K. J. iii. 4. 80, it means 'to
be born.'
36. rigol, circle; cp. Lucr. 1745, "About the mourning and
congealed face Of that black blood a watery rigol goes.' Malone
quotes from Nashe's Lenten Stuffe, "The ringol or ringed circle
was compact and chalkt out," and thinks that this was perhaps
the right spelling of the word; but the derivation is from It.
rigólo, which Florio explains as a little wheel under a sledge
also a rolling round log" also a round dance. Cp. Macb. i. 5.
29,
the golden round."
...
>>
38. heavy... blood, sorrow deeply felt throughout my nature.
42, 3. Which, me, which by due course descends to me as
nearest to you in position and blood; cp. Haml. i. 2. 109, "You
are the most immediate to our throne. Here immediate from
means 'nearest in a descending scale.'
44, 5. and put... arm, and though the whole world's strength
should be put into, concentrated in, one giant arm.
63. chide him hither, send him hither and rebuke him for
having gone away.
64. This part of his, the part he has just played; sc. the eager-
ness he has shown to wear the crown.
69. thoughts, anxiety for the interests of their children.
71. engross'd, heap up. Cp. Pt. I. iii. 2. 148.
72. The canker'd ... gold, the heaps of gold in amassing which
they have polluted their souls by the crooked means they
have used.
73, 4. to invest ... exercises, to train their sons up in arts, etc.,
as though they were part and parcel of their existence; to adorn
them with arts, etc., as though they were as much a part of their
equipment as the very clothes they wear.
76. The virtuous sweets, the sweet virtues, essential properties,
of the flowers; cp. M. N. D. iii. 2. 367, “Then crush this herb
Whose liquor hath this virtuous property To take from thence
all error"; 4. Y. L. iii. 2. 127, "the right virtue of the
medlar.
...
174
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
77. Our thighs ... wax, cp. M. N. D. iii. 1. 172, "The honey.
bags steal from the humble-bees, And for night-tapers crop their
waxen thighs." For the scansion of the line, see Abb.¯§ 510,
though I should prefer to regard thighs as a dissyllable.
79. Are murdered ... pains, are rewarded for all our trouble
only by being put to death; as bees formerly were in order to
obtain the honey in the comb.
79, 80. This bitter... father, such is the bitterness that the
father lays up for his own latter days in amassing wealth for his
children; bitter, as contrasted with the honey brought to the
For the image here, cp. A. W. i. 3. 64-7.
hive.
82. Till his friend... me, till sickness, his ally, has put an end
to me; so intransitively, "Must all determine here?" Cor. iii. 3.
43, v. 3. 120.
85. With such ... sorrow, with bitter sorrow plainly manifested
in every gesture; with every evidence of deep sorrow.
...
86. which never blood, whose thirst is never satisfied by
anything but blood.
91. Depart the chamber. For the omission of the preposition
after verbs of motion, see Abb. § 198.
93. Thy wish... thought, it was your wish that gave birth to
that thought.
94. I stay... thee, my continuing in the land of the living
seems to you unduly protracted.
95. mine empty chair, proleptic, the chair that will be emptied
by my death.
96. That thou... honours, that you cannot help dressing your-
self in the insignia of my sovereignty; needs, the old genitive
used adverbially.
99-101. for my cloud ... drop.
drop. The metaphor is that of a cloud
which is prevented from falling in rain by the strength of the
wind; but under the word cloud there is the idea of a mantle
draping the figure, and in weak wind a reference to the weakness
of his breath my day is dim, my day begins to set in darkness.
103. Were thine, would have been yours.
103, 4. and at my death... expectation, and now at my death
you have fully confirmed the opinion I had of you.
...
106. And thou it, and you are determined that at my death
I should be in no doubt on the matter.
108. whetted, sharpened; cp. M. V. iv. 1. 123, 4, "Not on
thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew, Thou makest thy knife
keen."
109. To stab at, to make thrusts at; at indicates the endea-
vour: hour, a dissyllable.
I
SCENE V.]
175
NOTES.
110. forbear me, spare to attack me.
111. get thee gone. "An idiom; that is to say a peculiar
form of expression, the principle of which cannot be carried out
beyond the particular instance. Thus we cannot say either
Make thee gone, or He got him (or himself) gone. Phraseologies,
on the contrary, which are not idiomatic are paradigmatic, or
may serve as models or moulds for others to any extent. All
expression is divided into these two kinds" (Craik on J. C. ii.
4. 2).
112, 3. And bid ... dead, and bid the bells to ring a merry peal
in honour of your accession to the throne, not a sad and solemn
peal bewailing my death.
115. drops of balm, an allusion to the holy oil with which
sovereigns are anointed at their coronation; cp. H. V. iv. 1.
277, "Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball," etc.; the
word is a contracted form of balsam, an aromatic plant.
116. compound ... dust, mingle my dust with that of my long-
dead ancestors.
119. form, order, decorum.
122. assemble now, let these now gather together.
123. apes of idleness, fantastic fools that rejoice in nothing
but empty frivolity.
124. purge... scum, now is the opportunity to get rid of all
that is worthless within your boundaries.
126, 7. Revel ... ways? For the omission of the preposition in
the adverbial expression of time, Revel the night, and the same
omission in the adverbial expression of manner, the newest kind
of ways, see Abb. § 202.
129. gild... guilt.
26, Macb. ii. 2. 57.
This pun occurs again H. V., ii. Chor.
132. the wild dog, sc. license.
133. flesh his tooth, satiate himself; cp. H. V. ii. 4. 50.
135. When that, ... riots, considering that all the care that I
was able to bestow upon you was not sufficient to check your
excesses.
136. when riot... care, when the object of your care, your
sole aim, is the indulgence of excess. Tyrwhitt understands
care here to be personified = regent, guardian ;
guardian; and Delius
concurs.
138. thy old inhabitants, in early days England was greatly
infested with wolves, and rewards were given for their heads as
nowadays for those of tigers, etc., in India.
141. I had forestall'd ... rebuke, I should have prevented by
176
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
interruption this weighty and deeply-felt rebuke; dear, used in
Shakespeare as an intensive in various senses.
145, 6. If I affect ... renown, if I love it in any way except in
so far as it represents your honour and renown.
147. this obedience, this act of obeisance,
148. inward true, thoroughly loyal, loyal to my very heart.
149. this prostrate... bending, in apposition with obedience,
the outward and visible form of the inward and spiritual grace.
151. no course of breath, no breath issuing between your
lips.
152. it, the belief that the king was no longer breathing.
157. to think you were, at the thought that you were dead.
158. as having sense, as though it had intelligence and could
understand my words.
159. The care
accompaniment.
depending, the trouble which is your necessary
162. in carat, in intrinsic value; a 'carat,' supposed to be
derived from Gr. Keρáriov, little horn, the fruit of the locust tree,
is (1) the seed or bean of the carob-tree, (2) a measure of weight
used for diamonds and other precious stones, (3) a proportional
measure of one twenty-fourth used in stating the fineness of gold,
(4) worth, value, in which last sense the word has been con-
founded with caract, mark, sign, character (Murray, Eng. Dict.
abbreviated). Jonson writes caracts in The Devil is an Ass, i. 3,
and elsewhere.
163. Preserving... potable, seeing that when made drinkable
as a medicine it preserves health. That there is a reference to
the aurum potabile, the grand elixir of the alchemists, which
they pretended would restore youth and confer immortality, is
of course plain; but there is probably also the allusion which
Johnson sees to the "opinion that a solution of gold has great
medicinal virtues, and that the incorruptibility of gold might be
communicated to the body impregnated with it." Steevens and
Henley show that gold was formerly made potable, or at all
events was believed to be so made, though whether to be given
as a medicine seems doubtful. In India the dust of gold, pearls,
and other precious stones is still often mixed in medicines taken
by wealthy and credulous personages.
165. bearer, wearer; cp. above, 1. 29: eat, see Abb. § 343.
167-9. To try... inheritor, as a loyal inheritor to fight out the
quarrel that I had with it for murdering you.
171. strain of pride, proud impulse, feeling; cp. Cor. v. 3. 149,
"Thou hast affected the fine strains of honour."
172. rebel, rebellious; cp. J. C. iii. 1. 40, "such rebel blood."
SCENE V.]
177
NOTES.
173. affection, disposition, inclination; cp. M. M. ii. 4. 168,
'by the affection that now guides me most."
174. Give... it, show alacrity in receiving, taking to itself, the
power that it (the crown) symbolized.
181. in excuse of it, sc. of taking away the crown.
183. counsel, advice.
186. I met this crown, their crown came in my way; a
euphemism for 'I became possessed of.’
188. To thee... quiet, to you the inheritance of it shall come
with peace and so be a better possession. The king does not
mean that he himself had enjoyed any peace in its possession,
but that possession, to himself a sorrow rather than a joy, shall
to his son be one worth having.
189. Better... confirmation, your subjects will look upon your
possession of the crown in a more favourable light and with
greater loyalty.
190, 1. For all... earth, for while you inherit the crown, you
will inherit nothing of the stain that has attached to my forcible
seizure of it, all such discredit will be buried in my grave.
192. boisterous, violent, unscrupulous.
193, 4. And I had... assistances, and so long as I lived there
were many living to reproach me with the debt I owed to their
helping hands; assistances, acts of assistance; the plural of an
abstract noun being very common in Shakespeare. The king
speaks of himself as no longer among the living.
195, 6. Which daily ... peace, and these reproaches constantly
led to outbreaks which disfigured the peace that seemed to pre-
vail, the peace that was apparent rather than real fears,
terrors; cp. Pt. I. i. 3. S7, "Shall we buy treason? and indent
with fears When they have lost and forfeited themselves?"
197. answered, met and overcome.
199. Acting that argument, representing in action all these
struggles; argument, like scene in the previous line, being used
in its technical theatrical sense, that of which a dramatic play
treats; ; so Pt. I. ii. 4. 310, “the argument shall be thy running
away.
>>
200. purchased, acquired, not inherited; cp. A. C. i. 4. 14,
'His faults... hereditary Rather than purchased"; and here
with something of the bad sense which the substantive often had.
201. more fairer, for the double comparative, see Abb. § 11.
202. the garland, the crown; so below v. 2. 84, R. III. iii. 2.
40: successively, as inheriting it from me.
204. griefs, grievances.
M
178
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT IV.
205. my foes. The old copies give "thy friends," which was
probably caught from the end of the line; my foes is a conjecture
made by both Dyce and Lettsom and supported by the former
from H. V. ii. 2. 29-31, "those that were your father's enemies
Have steep'd their galls in honey, and do serve you With hearts
create of duty and of zeal." Clarke explains the old text as
meaning "those who are friendly inclined to the prince, and
whom, he goes on to say, must be made securely friends," and
considers the whole passage to be purposely confused as indicat-
ing the perplexity of the king with his disaffected nobles and
with those whom he hoped to attach to his dynasty. The Cam-
bridge Editors adopt Tyrwhitt's conjecture
"
my friends."
207-9. By whose ... displaced, to whose violent measures I owed
my accession to the throne, and by whose power I might reason-
ably entertain a dread of being deposed.
210. I cut some off. Here again I have followed Dyce in adopt-
ing Mason's conjecture, some, for them. How the prince was to
make those his friends whom the king had cut off, if the words
are to be taken in their usual sense, one cannot see. Delius says
that they do not mean removed by death, but clipped of their
power; but there is no authority for such an interpretation,
while many in the next line seems to me distinctly contrasted
with some in this.
...
212, 3. might make state, might lead them to inquire too
closely into the tenure by which I hold the crown.
214. giddy, restless, fond of distractions.
215, 6. that action... days, that active enterprise, transferred
from this country to other lands, may obliterate the memory of
my deeds in former days.
219, 20. How I came... live. "This," says Johnson, "is a
true picture of a mind divided between heaven and earth. He prays
for the prosperity of guilt while he deprecates its punishment.
Cp. Haml. iii. 3. 51-6, where the guilty king recognizes the incon-
sistency of praying for mercy and retaining "the offence.'
وو
229. with youthful ... flown, there seems to be a double image
here, that of the swiftness with which youth flies, and that of the
light wing with which a bird flies from a tree.
230, 1. upon thy sight... period, now that I have seen you, my
work on earth is finished.
235. Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Chamber was "built by Abbot
Littlington between 1376 and 1386 as a guest-chamber for the
Abbot's House. It probably derived its after-name from tapestry
pictures of the History of Jerusalem with which it was hung.
Here, in the ancient chamber where Convocation now holds its
meetings, Henry IV. died of apoplexy, March 20, 1413" (Hare,
Walks in London).
SCENE V.]
179
NOTES.
237, 8. It hath... Jerusalem, Steevens quotes a similar equivocal
prediction about Pope Sylvester II. who, having sold himself to
the devil and being told by him that he should die in Jerusalem,
entered a church which he found by inquiry to be called "Jeru-
salem in Vy Laterane," and there expired. Shakespeare's account
of Henry's death is from Holinshed, who derived it from Fabyan's
Chronicle.
ACT V. SCENE I.
:
1. By cock and pie, here cock is a perversion of the name of
God, an intermediate form of which was gock, and pie “is a F.
form of the Lat. pica, which was the old name of the Ordinate
'quod usitato vocabulo dicitur Pica, sive directorium sacerdotum'
[which in ordinary parlance is called Pica, or the priests' guide],
Sarum Breviary, fol. 1, cited in Proctor, On the Book of Common
Prayer, p. 8. The name pica, lit. magpie, was doubtless given to
these rules from their confused appearance, being printed in the
old black-letter type on white paper, so that they resembled the
colours of the magpie "... (Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
2. What, an exclamation of impatience, used like "When !",
and Why immediately afterwards, when some one summoned
delayed coming.
9. William cook, William, the cook. "It appears from this
instance, as well as many others, that anciently the lower orders
of people had no surnames, or, if they had, were only called by
the titles of their several professions (Steevens).
•
11. precepts, warrants, summonses; cp. H. V. iii. 3. 26, “We
may as bootless spend our vain command... As send precepts to
the leviathan To come ashore"; Middleton, Blurt, Master-
Constable, i. 2, "I am to charge you not to keep a soldiering ...
without a precept.'
12. the headland, a strip of land at the end of a field where
the plough is turned in cutting the furrows. Vaughan says,
"This accords with an old practice of sowing a later wheat on
the headland than in the rest of the field, because the headland,
being used for turning the plough, naturally came into condition
for sowing later than the rest of the field. It is still common in
some parts to see red wheat-that is a spring wheat-on the head-
land, together with white wheat-that is, winter wheat--in the
field."
15. note, account.
16. plough-irons, coulters, shares.
17. cast, added up.
19. link, chain for letting the bucket down: had, obtained,
bought.
180
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
21. Hinckley, a town in Leicestershire.
22. answer it, pay for the loss.
24. kickshaws, trifles; a corruption of the F. quelque chose,
something.
26, 7. a friend ... purse, Steevens quotes The Romaunt of the
Rose, “For frende in courte aie better is, Than penny is in purse,
certis."
28. arrant, "a variant of 'errant,' 'wandering, vagrant, vaga-
bond,' which from its frequent use in such expressions as arrant
thief, became an intensive, 'thorough, notorious, down-right,'
especially from its original association, with opprobrious names
...
(Murray, Eng. Dict.). Though generally used in a bad sense,
it is sometimes found in a good one, c.g. Ford, The Fancies, Chaste
and Noble, iii. 2, ""Tis scarcely possible To distinguish one of
these vile naughty packs From true and arrant ladies." So
several times in Beaumont and Fletcher.
29. backbitten, sc. by fleas, etc.
31. Well conceited, a clever answer! Davy using in a literal
sense the word Shallow had used figuratively.
...
33. Wincot. Wise, Shakespeare and his Birthplace, p. 76, says
that "Wincot is still the name of a farm near Stratford, where,
probably, there was once a village," and that "the Cherry-
Orchard Farm," in the same neighbourhood, "is still called the
Hill Farm; and whoever lives there is to this day spoken of as
Mr. A., or Mr. B., of the Hill, and is so named from time im-
memorial in the Weston parish register."
41. bear out... man, support, countenance, a knave in a dispute
with an honest man; take his part with success.
45. Go to, here an expression of encouragement; very good, so be
it: Look about, lose no time with your preparations for the dinner.
51. tall, brave; but with ironical reference to his size.
55. quantities, small portions, faggots.
56. bearded hermits' staves, walking-sticks carved with the
head of a bearded hermit for the handle.
57. the semblable... his, how closely the characters of master
and man agree.
60. a justice-like serving-man, a servant who gives himself the
airs of a justice of the peace.
60, 1. their spirits... society, from constantly associating to-
gether their natures have become so much of a muchness.
62. in consent, with one accord, with instinctive agreement.
64. of being... master, of being a crony, a 'chum' of their
master.
A
SCENE I.]
181
NOTES.
65. would curry Shallow, would flatter Shallow by telling
him, etc. "The phrase to curry favour is a corruption of M. E.
to curry favell, i.e. to rub down a horse. Favell was a common
old name for a horse" (Skeat, Ety. Dict.), to curry" meaning
originally to dress leather. Skeat quotes Piers Plowman's Crede,
365, "Thei curry kinges," i.e. flatter them.
68. their company, those they associate with.
...
71. which is four actions, a period equal to four terms or
the duration of two actions at law. "In the time of Shake-
speare," says Knight, "the law terms regulated what we now
term the season. The country gentlemen and their families then
came up to town to transact business and to learn the fashions.
Johnson notices the humour of making a spendthrift compute
time by the operation of an action for debt.
72. intervallums. Falstaff is probably thinking of the legal
recesses, and, having had recourse to law phrases, here employs
a Latin word to be in keeping with them.
73. sad brow, serious face; sad in this sense is very frequent
in Shakespeare, c.g. M. A. i. 1. 185, A. Y. L. iii. 2. 227.
73, 4. that never shoulders, that never knew what it is to
have the rheumatism, etc., i.e. that is still young and ready to
laugh.
75. a wet up, all in wrinkles, like a cloak that has been
folded up while wet and has so become full of creases.
SCENE II.
3. Exceeding well, a euphemism for 'dead'; cp. A. C. ii. 5. 33,
"Mess. First, madam, he is well. Cho. Why, there's more
gold. But, sirrah, mark, we use To say the dead are well.”
5. to our purposes, so far as we are concerned.
7. truly, loyally, with my best efforts.
8. injuries, ill treatment at the hands of the new king and his
friends.
11. To welcome, to meet with a smiling face, courageously.
13. fantasy, imagination, fancy; of which latter word fantasy
is the older form.
14. the heavy issue, the sorrowful offspring.
16. Of him gentlemen, of any of his brothers, even the worst
of them; not meaning any one of them in particular, but the
worst whichever that might be.
18. strike sail, lower sail, humble themselves.
22. that had ... speak, that had lost the custom of greeting one
another with friendly talk.
182
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
23, 4. We do remember... talk, it is not that we have forgotten
such talk, but that the subject of our thoughts is too sad for
many words: all, adverbially, altogether.
26. Peace... heavier, rather we have reason to pray for peace
on our own behalf, for without it we shall be sadder than we are
even now.
30, 1. Though no man... expectation, though none of us know
how far we may expect to be treated with favour by him, you,
alas, have least reason to be hopeful.
32. the sorrier, here the is the ablative of the demonstrative
pronoun, that, by so much the more sorry by how much I have
reason for my sorrow; see Abb. § 94.
33. speak... fair, flatter, court.
which goes
34. Which swims ... quality, as we should say,
against the grain of your nature'; your stream of quality = the
stream of your quality; for the transposition, see Abb. § 423.
35. in honour, with honourable intention.
;
36. Led by ... soul, guided thereto by a deep sense of justice.
38. A ragged... remission, here ragged seems to mean 'beg-
garly,' 'not worth the having,' and is used in Lucr. 892, in a
figurative sense, "Thy secret pleasure turns to open shame... Thy
smoothing titles to a ragged name" of forestalled remission
various explanations have been given; a pardon begged by a
voluntary confession of offence and anticipation of the charge"
(Johnson); a remission that it is predetermined shall not be
granted, or will be rendered nugatory" (Mason); a pardon
asked before it is granted" (Malone); a pardon supplicated,
not offered freely" (Knight); a pardon "regarded with preju-
dice" (Schmidt) a pardon cut off beforehand" (Delius). The
expression occurs twice in Massinger, The Duke of Milan, iii. 1.
152, "Nor come I as a slave, Pinion'd and fetter'd, in a squalid
weed, Falling before thy feet, kneeling and howling, For a fore-
stall'd remission"; The Bondman, iii. 3. 170,"better expose Our
naked breasts to their keen swords, and sell Our lives with the
most advantage, than to trust In a forestall'd remission, or yield
up Our bodies to the furnace of their fury, Thrice heated with
revenge. To me it seems clear that the sense is "a pardon on
conditions which I am prevented by honour from accepting";
and this sense would, I think, suit the passages in Massinger.
46. you mix... fear, your sorrow for our dead father seems
mingled with some fear of what you are to expect from me.
48. Not Amurath... succeeds, you need not fear such treatment
at my hands as the brothers of a new Sultan have to expect at
his.
Farmer points out that when Amurath the Third died in
1596, his successor Mahomet invited all his brothers to a feast
SCENE II.]
183
NOTES.
and there had them strangled, a fact to which it is probable that
allusion is here made.
54, 5. But entertain... all, but let us all bear our share of our
common grief, and do not you seek to engross it to my exclusion.
58. Let me but bear cares, let me only carry your love with
me, and I will bear the burden of your anxieties.
...
60, 1. that shall convert... happiness, who for every tear you
shed shall give you an hour of happiness.
62. no other, nothing else; not otherwise; whether the phrase
is here substantival or adverbial seems doubtful.
65. measured, judged, estimated. For the consequent hath in
the next line, see Abb. § 371.
68. great hopes, expectations of succeeding to the throne.
69. So great me, perhaps a confusion between 'so great in-
dignities laid upon me,' and 'the great indignities you laid upon
me.'
71. Was this easy? was forgetfulness of this an easy thing?
was it easy to forget such treatment? Steevens thinks the words
may perhaps mean was this a slight offence?' but the context of
11. 68 and 72 seem against such an explanation.
73. I then did use ... father, I then acted as your father's vice-
gerent.
74. The image
me, in me was symbolized his power; in me
resided the outward manifestation of his might.
77. my place, my office as Chief Justice.
81. as an offender, to be joined with you in 1. 83.
82. I gave... authority, I did not hesitate to use my authority.
83. If the deed were ill, the subjunctive implies that the Chief-
Justice does not himself think it was ill.
84. garland, crown; as above, iv. 5. 202.
87. To trip... law, to trip up law when proceeding in its course.
90. your workings... body, your own acts done by your agent.
91. make ... yours, put yourself in the position of your father
at that time.
92. propose a son, imagine to yourself a son of your own; cp.
T. C. ii. 2. 146, "I propose not merely to myself The pleasure
such a beauty brings with it"; and T. A. ii. 1. 80.
96. taking your part, acting as your representative.
97. And in your power... son, and in the exercise of your power
gently rebuking your son.
98. After... considerance, after calmly considering my position.
99. speak in your state, in your character as a king.
184
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
101. my liege's sovereignty, the power of him who was then
my sovereign.
102. you weigh this well, you judge rightly of the circum-
stances.
103. the balance... sword, the emblems of his office.
104. your honours may increase, you may continue to live with
ever increasing honour.
109. proper, own; Lat. proprius.
112. commit me, sc. to prison.
115. remembrance, admonition, warning.
116. impartial, showing no regard for persons.
'
123, 4. My father... affections, my wild dispositions having
ceased on my father's death, and being now as it were buried in
his tomb, he and wildness are interred in the same grave. Cp.
H. V. i. 1. 24-7, "The courses of his youth promised it not. The
breath no sooner left his father's body, But that his wildness,
mortified in him, Seem'd to die too"". (Malone).
125. And with ... survive, and I live on animated with the
serious spirit that belonged to him.
128. who, for the relative personifying an irrational antecedent,
see Abb. § 264.
129. After my seeming, in accordance with what I seemed to
be.
130. vanity, frivolous courses.
132. the state of floods, probably means, as Malone says,
"with the majestic dignity of the ocean, the chief of floods
though there is also an allusion to kingly state. There is some-
thing of the same idea in M. V. v. 1. 94-7, "A substitute shines
brightly as a king Until a king be by, and then his state
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook Into the main of waters.
134. call we, let me call; it is time for me to call.
135. such limbs ... counsel, such wise counsellors to direct our
movements; with a play on limbs, members of the body politic,
in allusion to the word parliament in the line above.
138, 9. That war ...
us, cp. H. V. i. 1. 41-7.
141. accite, summon; cp. T.A. i. 1. 27, "He by the senate is
accited home.
142. remember'd, made mention.
143. consigning to, ratifying, joining in setting his seal to;
cp. H. V. v. 2. 90.
SCENE III.]
185
NOTES.
SCENE III.
1. orchard, garden; as always in Shakespeare; literally ort-
yard, i.e. yard in which orts, vegetables, are grown.
2. pippin, a species of apple of which there are several varieties,
the golden pippin, the ribstone pippin, etc. According to Wedg-
wood, the word probably means an apple raised from the pip or
seed: graffing. This is the proper form of the word, the later
form graft being the p.p. graffed, graft, turned into a verb in
the infinitive; from Lat. graphium, a style or iron pen for
writing with, from Gk. ypápav, to write, then a slip or young
shoot from its resemblance to the shape of a pointed pencil. In
Macò. iv. 3. 51, we have grafted as the p.p., but in R. III. iii.
7. 127, the more correct form graffed, "Her royal stock graffed
with ignoble plants.'
3. caraways, a sweetmeat formerly often eaten with apples at
dessert; from the Ar. karwiyá, an umbelliferous plant with
aromatic fruits or seeds still used to flavour cakes: and so forth,
and trifles of such kinds.
7. good air, Shallow pretends to depreciate his possessions;
'don't say a good dwelling and rich, for there is nothing sub-
stantial about it, it is mere air'; with an allusion to good air in
the sense of a good climate.
9, 10. your serving-man ... husband, your servant at table,
etc., and one who looks after your farm, garden, etc.
11. varlet, servant. 'An older spelling was vaslet, which
became varlet, vallet, valet.... Vaslet is for vassalet [a form not
found], the regular diminutive of O. F. vassal, a vassal; so that
a varlet was originally a young vassal, stripling; hence, a ser-
vant, etc.; and finally a valet, and a varlet as a term of reproach'
(Skeat, Ety. Dict.).
16, 7. I'll give you
in return for that song.
>>
anon, I will at once pledge your health
20. Proface, welcome. "This expression is equivalent to
'Much good may it do you': 'Prouface, prounface: Souhait qui
veut dire, bien vous fasse; proficiat [a wish equivalent to may it
do you good, in Lat. proficiat]. Roquefort's Gloss. de la Langue
Romaine: Buon pro ui faccia, much good may it doe you.'
Florio's Ital. and Engl. Dict." (Dyce, Gloss.). So Cotgrave:
"Prou. for Proufit; whence Bon prou leur face. Much good
may it do them." Cp. Heywood, The Wise- Woman of Hogsdon,
iv. 1, "The dinner's half done, and before I say grace, And bid
the old knight and his guest proface."
21, 2. but you must bear ... all, but you must make allowance
for any shortcomings; the desire to please you is everything;
186
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II. [ACT V.
i.e. if we could give you better entertainment we would, and
you must take the will for the deed.
26. shrews, sour tempered creatures.
27. 'Tis merry all, a proverbial saying found in old ballads,
from which Silence's songs are patched up.
28. Shrove-tide, the tide or season for shrift or confession
immediately preceding Lent; before which period of fasting
festivities are kept up for several days ending with Shrove
Tuesday, when confession of sins must be made.
32. twice and once, now and then; a deprecatory way of
saying 'pretty often.'
33. leather-coats,
or leatheran coats as they are now called,
an apple peculiar to the neighbourhood of Stratford.
A very
old tree of this species was standing, till recently, at Weston
Sands, from which other young trees have been raised. The
fruit is still highly valued, possessing a fine white pulp, of a
delicate acid flavour, beneath its thick, tough rind, whence it
derives its name, sometimes to be met with in the more southern
counties, under the forms of 'leather-jacket,' 'buff-coat,' and
'russetine'" (Wise, Shakspere and his Birthplace, pp. 96, 7).
38. leman, mistress.
39. long-a, the additional syllable for the sake of the metre
is common in old ballads; cp. W. T. iv. 3. 133, “Jog on, jog
on, the foot-path way, And merrily hent the stile-a." For the
sentiment, Steevens compares Proverbs, xiv. 30, "A merry heart
is the life of the flesh "; and Eccles. xxx. 22, "Gladness prolongs
his days."
his!
40. Well said, well done! bravo!
41, 2. An we shall ... night, if we are determined to be merry,
now is the time to enjoy ourselves; cp. above, ii. 4. 396, and
W. T. iv. 3. 3.
44. let it come, let it pass round.
45. I'll pledge... bottom, I drink off a cup to your health even
though it were a mile to the bottom of it. Cp. R. J. i. 4. 85,
"healths five-fathom deep."
47. beshrew thy heart, bad luck to you! it is yourself who
are to be blamed.
49. cavaleros, gay fellows, roisterers, gallants.
53. crack a quart, drink a flagon; so we still speak of 'crack-
ing' a bottle of wine.
55. in a pottle-pot, a tankard containing two quarts.
56. liggens, perhaps a corruption of lifelings, as we have 'God's
bodikins,' i.e. God's little body.
SCENE III.]
187
NOTES.
57. will not out, will not fail you; according to Staunton, "a
sportsman's saying applied to hounds."
63. have done me right, to do a man right, or reason, is an
expression in frequent use among the old dramatists for answer-
ing a toast by drinking one in return; both forms are found as
late as Dryden.
65. dub me knight. "It was the custom of the good fellows
of Shakespeare's days to drink a very large draught of wine... on
their knees, to the health of their mistress. He who performed
this exploit was dubb'd a knight for the evening " (Malone).
66. Samingo, a corruption of "San Domingo": the lines are
taken, as Steevens points out, from one of Nashe's plays.
67. Is 't not so? do not the lines run thus?
76. Not the ill wind... good. The modern proverb is 'It is an
ill wind that blows no man good,' but Malone quotes a dialogue
by Sir William Bulleyne, 1564, No winde but it doth turn
some man to good," showing that the construction in the text is
the older one.
78. goodman, gaffer, old fellow; a familiar appellation
especially of old rustics; cp. M. A. iii. 5. 10, "goodman Verges":
Barson, according to Percy, a corruption of Barston, a village in
Warwickshire, between Coventry and Solyhull; according to
Wise, of Barton, a village some ten or twelve miles from
Stratford. Silence is referring to Falstaff's bodily size, which
he says, punning, is exceeded only by that of goodman Puff, whose
name indicates his size.
80. Puff in thy teeth, I throw the word back in your teeth;
Puff being not only a name, but an exclamation of contempt, like
Pooh! Pshaw! Pish!
82. helter-skelter, at break-neck speed; literally meaning in a
disorderly, confused, manner; a reduplicative word like 'hugger-
mugger,' 'hurly-burly,' etc.
84. of price, worth hearing.
85, 6. like a man... world, i.e. not in such fantastic jargon as
you are making use of.
87. A foutre, or foutra, an expression of contempt.
89, 90. O base... thereof. To humour Pistol, Falstaff falls into
a similar strain of bombast, his words being probably taken from
some old play or ballad.
91. Scarlet, and John. Will Scarlet was one of the companions,
and little John chief lieutenant, of Robin Hood, i.e. the Earl of
Huntingdon, who, being outlawed in Henry the Third's reign,
lived with a band of followers in Sherwood Forest and spent
the time in archery and in taking toll from rich persons passing
through the Forest.
188
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
92. the Helicons. Pistol having heard the word Helicon, a
range of mountains in Boeotia sacred to Apollo and the Muses,
apparently supposes the Helicons to be certain redoubtable per-
sonages.
...
95. I know breeding, I have not the pleasure of knowing
who you are.
“
96. Why... therefore, probably a scrap from some play. Walker
compares Ford, Love's Sacrifice, iv. 1, "If I must hang, why then
lament therefore," and Pistol himself, H. V. iii. 6. 53, Why
then, rejoice therefore," and H. V. iii. 2. 6, "Falstaff is dead,
And we must yearn therefore.'
>>
99, 100. in some authority, in a position of some authority.
101. Besonian. "The Italian origin of the word besonian
('Bisogno, need, want. Also a fresh needy soldier ... Bisognoso,
needy, necessitous' Florio's Ital. and Eng. Dict.), shows that it
properly means a needy fellow, a beggar'; but it was also used
in the sense of a raw or needy soldier'; and eventually it
became a term of reproach-'a knave, a scoundrel"" (Dyce,
Gloss.). On this a writer in the Edinburgh Review, July, 1869,
remarks, "Here the term besonian is obviously used by Pistol to
emphasise Shallow's rustic ignorance, to contrast the humdrum
country justice plunged in provincial obscurity and vegetating
on his paternal acres, with the dashing big-worded marshalist
fresh from town, with the latest intelligence from the court
Pistol could not mean to suggest that Shallow was a beggar, a
needy soldier, a knave, or a scoundrel. He uses besonian simply
as a thrasonical phrase of martial contempt for the bucolic mind,
an intimation that Shallow, Justice of the Peace though he may
be, and under the king in some authority,' is after all no better
than a peasant. The word is used by Nash, and other con-
temporary poets and dramatists, in exactly the same sense, to
designate the lower class of labourers, boors, and rustics".
Though this is true as to the use of the word elsewhere, it seems
to me hyper-criticism to credit Pistol with any discerning em-
ployment of the term. We have just above had an instance of
his nice derangement of epitaphs in the phrase "the Helicons,
and in his opening address to Silence he does not hesitate to call
him most recreant coward base.' Why should he be more
careful of his language to Shallow?
>>
104. thy tender lambkin, here a term of endearment ; in H. V.
ii. 1. 133, Pistol says to Bardolph and Nym, "for, lambkins we
will live," i.e. we will live as innocently as young lambs.
106. fig me, a reference to a Spanish gesture of contempt,
called making the fig, in which the thumb was thrust out between
the closed fore and middle fingers-a gesture however, not
confined to Spain, but to be seen in England not very long ago,
SCENE III.]
189
NOTES.
109. As nail in door. 'This proverbial expression is oftener
used than understood. The door nail is the nail on which in
ancient doors the knocker strikes. It is therefore used as a
comparison to any one irrecoverably dead, one who has fallen
(as Virgil says) multâ morte, i.e. with abundant death, such as
reiteration of strokes on the head would naturally produce "
(Steevens) just, true.
112 double-charge, with the same pun as in ii. 4. 90.
114. I would ... fortune, I expect a knighthood and something
more than that as my reward.
120. devise good, think of some piece of advancement that
you would wish to befal you: Boot, get on your boots.
121. sick for me, sick for want of me, longing for my company.
126. Where is ….. led ? From some old ballad; quoted again
T. S. iv. 1. 143.
SCENE IV.
2. that I might.. hanged, sc. as my murderer: drawn, dragged,
wrenched.
5. she shall... enough, she, who is so fond of good cheer, shall
have plenty of it, but it will be whipping-cheer; cp. "belly-
cheer," i.e. feasting.
6. about her, in quarrels for her favours.
7. Nut-hook, a contemptuous term for a catchpole, bailiff, his
emblem of office being likened to a hook for pulling down the
branches of a tree when gathering nuts.
12. you thin ... censer. Censers for fumigating rooms (then a
practice very necessary owing to the want of cleanliness so
prevalent) often had, as Steevens remarks, embossed figures in
the middle of the convex lid, such as are still seen on biscuit-
boxes, sugar-basins, etc. Cp. M. A. i. 3. 60, 1, "Being enter-
tained for a perfumer, as I was smoking a musty room," etc.
:
13. swinged, whipped, beaten blue-bottle rogue, beadles
wearing a blue uniform. Doll compares this one to a blue-bottle
fly. So a cant name for a policeman was, and perhaps still is,
blue-bottle.
15. half-kirtles, see note on ii. 4. 229 above.
16. knight-errant. From her warlike disposition, and perhaps
with reference to the experiences in store for her, the bailiff
likens Doll to the knights who wandered about in quest of
chivalrous adventures.
21. Goodman, see note on v. 3. 78, above; Doll likens him to
a skeleton.
190
[ACT V.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
=
""
a
rouse from sleep that fell
22. atomy, i.q. anatomy, skeleton; cp. C. E. v. 1. 238,
mere anatomy K. J. iii. 4. 40, CC
anatomy," sc. Death.
23. rascal, “in the language of the forest, lean deer were called
rascal deer" (Steevens).
SCENE V.
STAGE DIRECTION.
the modern carpet.
strewing rushes, the ancient equivalent to
6. do you grace, greet you kindly leer, wink, give a roguish
look.
7. countenance, favour.
10. bestowed, spent upon my tailor.
20, 1. to shift me, to change the clothes in which I travelled.
23. stained with travel, cp. Pt. I. i. 1. 64, "Stained with the
variation of each soil"; and above, iv. 3. 40, "travel-tainted."
27. 'Tis 'semper... est,' it is 'always the same' for apart from
this there is nothing.' I have followed the Cambridge_editors
in retaining obsque for 'absque,' Pistol's Latin like his French,
etc., being his own. Verplanck," says Grant White, "sug-
gests that these are reminiscences of the mottoes and heraldic
devices that Pistol has seen. Possibly the words following are
Pistol's translation.
>>
30. liver, supposed to be the seat of various passions, anger,
love, etc.
32. Helen... thoughts, she who is to you what Helen was to
the Greeks of old, the type of beauty and the worthy theme of
love.
33. contagious. It would be a disparagement of Pistol to sup-
pose he understood the word very clearly; it was a good mouth-
filling one with a bad sense, and that is enough for him.
36. Alecto. One of the furies, who in later writers were three
in number, Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, and are represented
as the daughters of Night or of Darkness and Earth, their bodies
all black and their hair wreathed with snakes.
39. There roar'd ... sounds, the roaring sea is the shouting mob,
the trumpets' bray announces the approach of the king.
41, 2. imp of fame, the word imp, nowadays used of a mis-
chievous boy, was formerly used for 'progeny,' its original sense
being 'graft,' 'scion,' from M. E. impen, to graft.
47. my heart, my beloved one.
50. I have long ... man, I have long known as in a dream such
a man.
SCENE V.]
191
NOTES.
51. profane, gross in language, foul-mouthed.
53. hence, henceforth, for the future.
56. fool-born, born of folly, prompted by folly.
59. my former self, my former manner of life.
61. When thou dost hear... been, sc. which you will never hear.
63. the feeder riots, one who supplies me with occasions for
rioting.
...
...
70. according qualities, according as you show yourselves
able and fit to receive it.
75, 6. let me have ... me, let me carry back home.
79. he must seem... world, his position as king obliges him to
put on this appearance of rigour fear... advancements, do not
be anxious about your being promoted to high office, that will
come surely enough.
81, 2. I cannot ... straw, Shallow plays upon the word great.
85. a colour, a pretence.
87. Fear no colours, a proverbial saying, common in the old
dramatists, derived from, the wars, and meaning fear no enemy's
colours, standards, and so no enemy; here of course with a pun.
Cp. T. N. i. 5. 5.
88, 9. soon at night, this very night; an expression frequent
in Shakespeare, as also " soon at supper,
soon at five o'clock."
""
90. the Fleet, sc. Prison, in Fleet Street.
91. his company, his associates; which seems hard upon his
poor dupe Shallow!
95. Si fortuna... contenta, see note on ii. 4. 146, above.
97. intent, intention.
99. conversations, manner of life; the older and more literal
sense of the word.
101. And so they are, that is true.
105. our civil swords, the swords lately used by us in civil
war: so native fire, fire kindled in domestic struggles, 'fire and
sword' being used as warfare.
=
106. I heard... sing, an old proverb which survives in the form
A little bird whispered to me.'
EPILOGUE.
1. First my fear, first of all comes the fear I have of the recep-
tion this play will meet with then my courtesy, next I have to
make my bow to you.
4,5. is of... making. Prologues and epilogues were often written
192
[EPILOGUE.
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
II. a
by others than the author of the play, and Grant White thinks
this was implied in these words. He calls the epilogue
manifest and poor imitation" of that to As You Like It: should
say, am bound to say.
6, 7. But to the ... venture, but, without further words, let me
come to business and take the risk whatever it may be.
8. here, i.e. in the same character of epilogue.
10, 1. it come... home, it return upon my hands, no one coming
to take it I break... lose, I become bankrupt, while you, my
gentle creditors, also suffer from my being unable to make you
any other payment.
13. bate me some, excuse me part of my debt. Cp. Cymb. v.
4. 18-21,
16. to use my legs, sc. in trying to win your favour by my
skill in dancing: light, insufficient.
Which he does in Henry the Fifth,
18. would I, I desire to do.
24, 5. with fair ... France.
though Falstaff plays no part in it.
...
27, S. for Oldcastle man, see Introduction. Grant White
thinks that the epilogue was probably spoken on occasion of the
change of the fat knight's name.
29, 30. but, indeed, queen, but said with arch fun-it is
not to you that I kneel, but to pray for the queen; a custom
common at the end of plays.
་
་
A
Abated, i. 1. 117.
Abroach, iv. 1. 14.
Act, iv. 3. 105.
INDEX TO NOTES.
Accommodated, iii. 2. 59.
Advised, i. 1. 172.
Affections, v. 2. 184.
Against, iv. 2. 81.
Agate, i. 2. 10.
Alecto, v. 5. 36.
Althæa, ii. 2. 75.
Buckle under, i. 1. 141.
Bung, ii. 4. 98.
Busses, ii. 4. 224.
C
Caliver, iii. 2. 233.
Canaries, ii. 4. 24.
Candle-mine, ii. 4. 254.
Cankers, ii. 1. 80.
Canopies, iii. 1. 13.
Always, i. 2. 189.
Amurath, v. 2. 48.
Ancient (sb.), ii. 4. 51.
Angel (the coin), i. 2. 145.
Anthems, i. 2. 168.
Apple-johns, ii. 4. 2.
Argument, iv. 5. 199.
Arrant, v. 1. 28.
Aspen, ii. 4. 86.
Atomy, v. 4. 22.
•
Avoirdupois, ii. 4. 214.
B
Backsword, iii. 2. 57.
Balm, iv. 5. 115.
Barbary hen, ii. 4. 79.
Bartholomew boar-pig, ii. 4.192.
Bate, Ep. 13.
Baying, i. 3. 80.
Bear in hand, i. 2. 28.
Beavers, iv. 1. 120.
Beetle, three-man, a, i. 2. 204.
Besonian, v. 3. 101.
Bestride, i. 1. 207.
Biggen, iv. 5. 27.
Capable, i. 1. 172.
Carmen, iii. 2. 272.
Carat, iv. 5. 162.
Carraways, v. 3. 3.
Censer, v. 4. 12.
Cinders, iv. 3. 46.
Cheater, ii. 4. 77, 82.
Cock, v. 1. 1.
Commences, iv. 3. 105.
Costermonger, i. 2. 148.
Cotswold, iii. 2. 18.
Courtesy, ii. 1. 109.
Crosses, i. 2. 202.
Crudy, iv. 3. 89.
Curry favour, v. 1. 65.
Cuttle, ii. 4. 100.
D
Debate, iv. 4. 2.
Defensible, ii. 3. 38.
Depart, iv. 5. 91.
Dolphin-chamber, ii. 1. 75.
Done me right, v. 3. 63.
Drollery, ii. 1. 127.
Dub, v. 3. 65.
N
193
194
KING HENRY THE FOURTH. II.
E
Eel-skin, iii. 2. 279.
Engraffed, ii. 2. 51.
Ephesians, ii. 2. 130.
F
Face-royal, i. 2. 16.
Faitors, ii. 4. 127.
Fig me, v. 3. 106.
Flaws, iv. 4. 35.
Flap-dragons, ii. 4. 207.
Flesh'd, i. 1. 149.
Foin, ii. 1. 15.
Fond, i. 3. 91.
Forgetive, iv. 3. 96.
Forehand shaft, iii. 2. 41.
Forestalled, v. 2. 38.
Frank, ii. 2. 127.
Friends with, ii. 4. 48.
Fubbed off, ii. 1. 30.
Fustian, ii. 4. 154.
Gait, ii. 3. 23.
G
Gibbets, iii. 2. 227.
Gilded over, i. 1. 129.
Gird, i. 2. 1.
Glutton (adj.), i. 3. 98.
Gossip, ii. 1. 81.
Graffing, v. 3. 2.
Graves, iv. 1. 50.
Green-sickness, iv. 3. 85.
Grief, i. 1. 144.
Guarded, iv. 1. 34.
H
Half-faced, iii. 2. 228.
Harry ten shillings, iii. 2. 188.
Have at, i. 2. 171.
Headland, v. 1. 12.
Helicons, v. 3. 92.
Hoop, iv. 4. 43.
Hulk, i. 1. 19.
Hunt counter, i. 2. 73,
Hurly, iii. 1. 25.
I
Imp, v. 5. 41.
Incision, ii. 4. 160.
Insinewed, iv. 1. 172.
Instance, iii. 1. 103.
Invincible, iii. 2. 229.
It its, i. 2. 98.
=
J
Jerusalem, iv. 5. 235.
Joint-stools, ii. 4. 207
Juvenal, the, i. 2. 13.
K
Keech, ii. 1. 80.
Kickshaws, v. 1. 24.
Kirtle, ii. 4. 229.
Knolling, i. 1. 103.
L
Land-service, i. 2. 117.
Lattice, ii. 2. 67.
Leather-coats, v. 3. 33.
Lief, i. 2. 33.
Lined, i. 3. 27.
Listen after, i. 1. 29.
Long-a, v. 3. 39.
M
Malmsey-nose, ii. 1. 35.
Mallet, ii. 4. 202.
Mare, ii. 1. 67.
Martlemas, ii. 2. 86.
Mess, ii. 1. 82.
Musters, Induct. 12.
Mure, iv. 4. 119.
N
Nail in door, v. 3. 109.
Neif, ii. 4. 151.
Nut-hook, v. 4. 7.
Offices, i. 3. 47.
Ousel, iii. 1. 7.
O
*
▼
+
INDEX TO NOTES.
195
Р
Pagan, ii. 2. 134.
Pallet, iii. 1. 10.
Pantler, ii. 4. 199.
Paul's, i. 2. 38.
Philosopher's stones, iii. 2. 282.
Pie, v. 1. 1.
Pippin, v. 3. 2.
Point of war, iv. 1. 52.
Post-horse, Induct. 4.
Potable, iv. 5. 163.
Precepts, v. 1. 11.
Pricked, ii. 4. 283.
Proface, v. 3. 20.
Propose, v. 2. 92.
Purchased, iv. 5. 200.
Quoif, i. 1. 147.
Q
R
Rampallian, ii. 1. 52.
Rebel (adj.), iv. 5. 172.
Remission, v. 2. 38.
Rescue, ii. 1. 48.
Rigol, iv. 5. 36.
Rood, iii. 1. 2.
Rowel-head, i. 1. 46.
Royal, iv. 1. 193.
Ruffian (adj.), iii. 1. 22.
S
Sack, i. 2. 174.
Searching, ii. 4. 25.
Shift, ii. 2. 20.
Shove-groat, ii. 4. 156.
Shrove-tide, v. 3. 28.
Sights, iv. 1. 121.
Single, i. 2. 162.
Skogan, iii. 2. 25.
Sneap, ii. 1. 107.
Spit white, i. 2. 188.
Sterling, ii. 1. 105.
Stiff-borne, i. 1. 177.
Stop, Induct. 17.
Stratagem, i. 1. 8.
Success, iv. 2. 47.
Suspire, iv. 5. 33.
Sway on, iv. 1. 24.
Swinge-bucklers, iii. 2. 19.
T
Tapestry, ii. 1. 124.
Tester, iii. 2. 238.
Tewksbury, ii. 4. 202.
Thewes, iii. 2. 222.
Title-leaf, i. 1. 60.
Tisick, ii. 4. 66.
Traverse, iii. 2. 234.
Trigon, ii. 4. 221.
U
Unfather'd heirs, iv. 4. 122.
Utis, ii. 4. 17.
V
Varlet, v. 3. 11.
Vaward, i. 2. 154.
Vent, Induct. 2.
Vice's dagger, iii. 2. 273.
W
Warder, iv. 1. 125.
Wassail, i. 2. 138.
Watch, iv. 5. 28.
Water-work, ii. 1. 128.
Welkin, ii. 4. 135.
Wheeson, ii. 1. 76.
Woe-begone, i. 1. 71.
Worthies, the Nine, ii. 4. 184.
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and brevity."
•
The Indian Daily News-"The present volume contains the poem in
200 pages, with more than 100 pages of notes, which seem to meet every
possible difficulty."
-ROKEBY. By MICHAEL MACMILLAN, M. A. 3s.; sewed, 2s. 6d.
M.A.
The Guardian-"The introduction is excellent, and the notes show much
care and research.'
MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.
1
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SHAKESPEARE THE TEMPEST. By K. DEIGHTON.
1s. 9d.
The Guardian-" Speaking generally of Macmillan's Series we may say
that they approach more nearly than any other edition we know to the ideal
school Shakespeare. The introductory remarks are not too much burdened
with controversial matter; the notes are abundant and to the point, scarcely
any difficulty being passed over without some explanation, either by a para-
phrase or by etymological and grammatical notes."
"J
The School Guardian-"A handy edition of The Tempest, suitable for
the use of colleges and schools generally Mr. Deighton has prefixed to the
volume an introduction on the date, origin, construction, and characters of
the play, and has added a pretty full collection of notes, with an index of
reference to the passages of the text in question. The 'get up' of this series
is a model of what such books should be.'
-MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. By the same.
2s.
The Schoolmaster-" The notes on words and phrases are full and clear."
The Glasgow Herald-“The notes occupy a larger space than the text
of the play, and are supplemented by a valuable index to the notes, so that
if one remembers any notable word he can find at once a reference that leads
to the proper explanatory note."
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. By the same, 1s. 9d.
-THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. By the same.
ls. 9d.
The Practical Teacher-"The introduction is a good summary of the play,
and the notes are precise, clear, and, we need hardly add, full. A student
who has mastered the contents of this volume will bave a thorough acquaint-
ance with the play, and be prepared for any test of his knowledge of it to
which he may have to be subjected.
""
AS YOU LIKE IT. By the same.
-TWELFTH NIGHT. By the same.
1s. 9d.
ls. 9d.
The Educational News-"This is an excellent edition of a good play."
-THE WINTER'S TALE. By the same.
2s.
The Literary World-"The Introduction gives a good historical and
critical account of the play, and the notes are abundantly full."
-KING JOHN. By the same.
-RICHARD II. By the sanie.
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1s. 9d.
-HENRY IV., Part I.
By the same.
--HENRY IV., Part II.
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The Scotsman-"The text is excellent, the introduction is sufficiently
learned, and elucidates not this play alone, but the dramatic scope of the
Lancastrian tetralogy, and the notes are very full, very explanatory, and not
often superfluous."
The Educational Times-"We have examined the notes with consider-
able care, and we have found, in almost every case, that a full and clear
explanation is given of each difficulty.
The notes are clear and
comprehensive.'
-RICHARD III. By C. H. TAWNEY, M. A.
2s. 6d.; sewed, 2s.
The School Guardian-" Of Mr. Tawney's work as an annotator we can
speak in terms of commendation. His notes are full and always to the point."
-CORIOLANUS. By K. DEIGHTON. 2s. 6d.; sewed, 2s.
-ROMEO AND JULIET. By the same.
-JULIUS CAESAR. By the same.
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The Guardian-"Of Julius Caesar and the Merchant of Venice, edited by
Mr. K. Deighton, we can speak in terms of almost unqualified praise. The
notes are admirably suited to the use of middle forms, being brief, numerous,
and accurate. Besides affording evidence of scholarly attainments on the part
of the annotator, they show a perfect knowledge of the limits of a schoolboy's
capacity, and a rare ability to explain away his difficulties in a simple and
interesting manner.'
""
MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.
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SHAKESPEARE-HAMLET.
-MACBETH. By the same.
By the same. 2s. 6d.; sewed, 2s.
1s. 9d.
The Educational Review-"This is an excellent edition for the student.
The notes are suggestive,
and the vivid character sketches of Mac-
•
beth and Lady Macbeth are excellent."
1s. 9d.
2s.
KING LEAR. By the same.
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By the same.
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2s. 6d.; sewed, 2s.
The Scotsman-"Mr. Deighton has adapted his commentary, both in
Othello and in Cymbeline, with great skill to the requirements and capacities
of the readers to whom the series is addressed."
SOUTHEY LIFE OF NELSON.
3s.; sewed, 2s. 6d.
By MICHAEL MACMILLAN, B.A.
(
The Literary World-"This is included in Macmillan's English Classics
series. The book well deserved such a place. It is too late in the day
in such a notice as this to write one word in praise of Southey's clear and
beautiful English. Mr. Michael Macmillan furnishes an introduction and
notes. The former is a model in its way-explanatory, critical, informing;
the latter are a marvel of fulness and carefulness, and withal nearly as
interesting to read as the book itself. What with these notes and the capital
index, a student ought to be able to 'know the book' from beginning to end.'
SPENSER THE FAERIE QUEENE. Book I. By H. M. PERCIVAL,
M.A. 3s.; sewed, 2s. 6d.
"
TENNYSON-SELECTIONS. By F. J. RowE, M. A., and W. T.
WEBB, M.A. 3s. 6d. Also in two Parts, 2s. 6d. each.
Part I. Recollections of the Arabian Nights, The Lady of
Shalott, The Lotos-Eaters, Dora, Ulysses, Tithonus, The
Lord of Burleigh, The Brook, Ode on the Death of the
Duke of Wellington, The Revenge.-Part II. Oenone, The
Palace of Art, A Dream of Fair Women, Morte d'Arthur,
Sir Galahad, The Voyage, and Demeter and Persephone.
The Scotsman-"The choice of pieces is well made, and the notes are
admirable."
The Journal of Education-"It should find a wide circulation in
English schools.
The notes give just the requisite amount of
help for understanding Tennyson, explanations of the allusions with which his
poems teem, and illustrations by means of parallel passages. A short critical
introduction gives the salient features of his style with apt examples."
The Literary World-"The book is very complete, and will be a good
introduction to the study of Tennyson's works generally."
-ENOCH ARDEN. By W. T. WEBB, M. A. 2s. 6d.
--AYLMER'S FIELD. By W. T. WEBB, M.A. 2s. 6d.
-THE PRINCESS. By P. M. WALLACE, M.A.
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-THE COMING OF ARTHUR and THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. By
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-GARETH AND LYNETTE. By G. C. MACAULAY, M.A. 2s. 6d.
--THE MARRIAGE OF GERAINT,
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GERAINT AND ENID. By G. C.
-THE HOLY GRAIL. By G. C. MACAULAY, M.A. 2s. 6d.
WORDSWORTH-SELECTIONS. By F. J. RowE, M. A., and W. T.
WEBB, M.A.
[In preparation.
MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON.

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
BOUND
MAR 26 1985
UNIV. OF MICH
LIBRARY
3 9015 06352 4253

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