Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, being as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him thy Harry's company, banish not him thy Harry's company; banish plump Jack, and banish all the world. [A knocking heard.

[Exeunt Hostess, FRANCIS, and Bardolph.

P. Hen. I do, I will.

Re-enter BARDOLPH, running.

Bard. O, my lord, my lord! the sheriff, with a most monstrous watch, is at the door.

to

Fal. Out, you rogue! play out the play: I have much in the behalf of that Falstaff.

say

Re-enter Hostess, hastily.

Host. O, my lord, my lord!

Fal. Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddle-stick. What's the matter?

Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door : they are come to search the house; shall I let them in?

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? Never call a true piece of gold a counterfeit thou art essentially mad, without seeming so.1

P. Hen. And thou a natural coward, without instinct. Fal. I deny your major: 2 if you will deny the sheriff, so; if not, let him enter; if I become not a cart3 as well

1 Never call a true, &c.] Falstaff seems to mean that as he himself, though so much vilified, was a true piece of gold and no counterfeit, so the mad-cap prince was mad in reality, and needed no contrivance to make himself appear a madman.

2 Your major.] There is here a quibble between major officer, or mayor, and the major proposition of a syllogism.

tion.

A cart.] The cart in which criminals were conveyed to execu

as another man, a plague on my bringing up! I hope I shall as soon be strangled with a halter, as another.

P. Hen. Go, hide thee behind the arras; the rest walk up above. Now, my masters, for a true face, and good conscience.

Fal. Both which I have had; but their date is out, and therefore I'll hide me.

[Exeunt all but the PRINCE and PETO.

P. Hen. Call in the sheriff.

Enter Sheriff and Carrier.

Now, master sheriff; what's your will with me?
Sher. First, pardon me, my lord.

A hue and cry

Hath follow'd certain men unto this house.

A

P. Hen. What men?

Sher. One of them is well known, my gracious lord; gross fat man.

Car.

As fat as butter.

P. Hen. The man, I do assure you, is not here;
For I myself at this time have employed him.
And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee,
That I will, by to-morrow dinner-time,
Send him to answer thee, or any man,
For any thing he shall be charged withal:
And so let me entreat you leave the house.
Sher. I will, my lord.
Have in this robbery lost

There are two gentlemen
three hundred marks.

P. Hen. It may be so; if he have robbed these men, He shall be answerable; and so, farewell.

Sher. Good night, my noble lord.

P. Hen. I think it is good morrow; is it not?

1 Behind the arras.] Behind the wall curtains. were often hung round with tapestry curtains.

Apartments

Sher. Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock.

[Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier. P. Hen. This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's: go, call him forth.

Peto. Falstaff!-fast asleep behind the arras, and snorting like a horse.

P. Hen. Hark, how hard he fetches breath: search his pockets. [He searcheth his pockets, and findeth certain papers.] What hast thou found?

Peto. Nothing but papers, my lord.

P. Hen. Let's see what they be read them.

2s. 2d.

Item, Sack, two gallons.

Item, Anchovies, and sack after supper
Item, Bread.

ob.1

P. Hen. O monstrous! but one half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!-What there is else, keep close; we'll read it at more advantage: there let him sleep till day. I'll to the court in the morning: we must all to the wars, and thy place shall be honourable. I'll procure this fat rogue a charge of foot; and, I know, his death will be a march of twelve-score.2 The money shall be paid back again with advantage. Be with me betimes in the morning; and so good morrow, Peto. Peto. Good morrow, good my lord.

[Exeunt.

Ob.] A halfpenny was thus signified in old times. It is a con

traction of the Latin obolum.

2 Twelve-score.] This expression was of frequent occurrence in relation to archery, cannon, &c., and denoted twelve score yards.

ACT III.

SCENE I.—Bangor. A Room in the Archdeacon's House.
Enter HOTSPUR, WORCESTER, MORTIMER, and GLENDOWER.
Mor. These promises are fair, the parties sure,
And our induction full of prosperous hope.

Hot. Lord Mortimer, and cousin Glendower,-
Will you sit down?

And, uncle Worcester :-a plague upon it!
I have forgot the map.

Glend. No, here it is. Sit, cousin Percy,
Sit, good cousin Hotspur : for by that name
As oft as Lancaster doth speak of you,
His cheek looks pale; and, with a rising sigh,
He wisheth you in heaven.

Hot. And you in hell, as often as he hears
Owen Glendower spoke of.

Glend. I cannot blame him: at my nativity,
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets; and, at my birth,

The frame and huge foundation of the earth
Shaked like a coward.

Hot. Why, so it would have done at the same season, if your mother's cat had but kittened, though yourself had never been born.

Glend. I say, the earth did shake when I was born.

Our induction.] Our introduction or commencement.

Hot. And I say, the earth was not of my mind,

If you suppose, as fearing you, it shook.

Glend. The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.

Hot. O, then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire, And not in fear of your nativity.

Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth

In strange eruptions; oft the teeming earth
Is with a kind of colic pinched and vexed
By the imprisoning of unruly wind

Within her womb; which for enlargement 3 striving,
Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down
Steeples, and moss-grown towers. At your birth,
Our grandam earth, having this distemperature,
In passion shook.

Cousin, of 2

many men

Glend.
I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave
To tell you once again,—that, at my birth,
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes;
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds
Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields.
These signs have marked me extraordinary;
And all the courses of my life do show

I am not in the roll of common men.

Where is the living,-clipped in3 with the sea
That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales,-
Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me?
And bring him out, that is but woman's son,
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art,
And hold me pace in deep experiments.

1 Enlargement.] Disengagement; liberation.
2 Of.] From; on the part of.
Clipped in.] Included within.