I Poins. Come, let's hear, Jack; what trick hast thou now? Fal. By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that made ye. Why, hear you, my masters: was it for me to kill the heir-apparent? should I turn upon the true prince? why, thou knowest I am as valiant as Hercules: but beware instinct; the lion will not touch the true 310 prince. Instinct is a great matter; I was now a coward on instinct. I shall think the better of myself and thee during my life; I for a valiant lion, and thou for a true prince. But, by the Lord, lads, I am glad you have the money. Hostess, clap to the doors: watch to-night, pray to-morrow. Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you! What, shall we be merry? shall we have a 320 play extempore? Prince. Content; and the argument shall be thy running away. Fal. Ah, no more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me! Enter Hostess. Host. O Jesu, my lord the prince! 314. "and thou for a true prince"; the logic of this passage even beats the wit, fine as is the latter. The prince was not the true prince, according to the settled rule of succession. The logic is, that none but a man composed and framed of royalty could inspire a lion with such fear; and on the other hand no beast but the lion is brave and gentle enough to feel this instinctive respect for royalty. So that Falstaff's running from him proves him to be what he is not, and is alike honorable to them both.-H. N. H. I Prince. How now, my lady the hostess! what sayest thou to me? Host. Marry, my lord, there is a nobleman of the court at door would speak with you: he 330 says he comes from your father. Prince. Give him as much as will make him a royal man, and send him back again to my mother. Fal. What manner of man is he? Host. An old man. Fal. What doth gravity out of his bed at midnight? Shall I give him his answer? Prince. Prithee, do, Jack. Fal. Faith, and I'll send him packing. [Exit. 340 Prince. Now, sirs; by 'r lady, you fought fair; so did you, Peto; so did you, Bardolph: you are lions too, you ran away upon instinct, you will not touch the true prince; no, fie! Bard. Faith, I ran when I saw others run. Prince. Faith, tell me now in earnest, how came Falstaff's sword so hacked? Peto. Why, he hacked it with his dagger, and said he would swear truth out of England but he would make you believe it was done 350 in fight, and persuaded us to do the like. Bard. Yea, and to tickle our noses with spear grass to make them bleed, and then to be 332. "a royal man"; the hostess has just called the messenger a nobleman. The prince refers to this, and at the same time plays upon the words "royal man.” Royal and noble were names of coin, the one being 10s., the other 6s. 8d. If, then, the messenger were already a noble man, give him 3s. 4d. and it would make him a royal man.-H. N. H. I slubber our garments with it and swear it I did that I did not this seven year before, I blushed to hear Prince. O villain, thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years ago, and wert taken with the Bard. My lord, do you see these meteors? do Prince. I do. Bard. What think you they portend? Bard. Choler, my lord, if rightly taken. Re-enter Falstaff. Here comes lean Jack, here comes bare-bone. 370 Fal. My own knee! when I was about thy years, 369. "choler"; of course there is a quibble implied here between "choler" and collar. It is observable that the prince deals very much in this kind of implied puns, as if the Poet sought thereby to reconcile the native dignity of this most princely gentleman with his occasional levity and playfulness. Explicit puns were too small a species of wit for such a heroic spirit even to play with.-H. N. H. thumb-ring: a plague of sighing and grief! Poins. O, Glendower. Fal. Owen, Owen, the same; and his son-in law Mortimer, and old Northumberland, and 390 that sprightly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill perpendicular,Prince. He that rides at high speed and with his pistol kills a sparrow flying. Fal. You have hit it. Prince. So did he never the sparow. Fal. Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him; he will not run. Prince. Why, what a rascal art thou then, to praise him so for running! 400 380. "Sir John Bracy"; Ff. Braby. This person is apparently invented by Shakespeare; there is no trace of him in history.-C. H. H. 386. The "Welch hook" was a kind of hedging-bill made with a hook at the end, and a long handle like the partisan or halbert.H. N. H. 389. "O, Glendower"; (?) perhaps we should read, Owen Glendower."-I. G. 393. "with his pistol"; pistols were not in use in the age of Henry IV. They are said to have been much used by the Scotch in Shakespeare's time.-H. N. H. Σ Fal. O' horseback, ye cuckoo; but afoot he will not budge a foot. Prince. Yes, Jack, upon instinct. Fal. I grant ye, upon instinct. Well, he is there too, and one Mordake, and a thousand blue-caps more: Worcester is stolen away to-night; thy father's beard is turned white with the news: you may buy land now as cheap as stinking mackerel. Prince. Why, then, it is like, if there come a 410 hot June and this civil buffeting hold, we shall buy maidenheads as they buy hob-nails, by the hundreds. Fal. By the mass, lad, thou sayest true: it is like we shall have good trading that way. But tell me, Hal, art not thou horrible afeard? thou being heir-apparent, could the world pick thee out three such enemies again as that fiend Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that devil Glendower? art thou not horribly 420 afraid? doth not thy blood thrill at it? Prince. Not a whit, i' faith; I lack some of thy instinct. Fal. Well, thou wilt be horribly chid to-morrow when thou comest to thy father: if thou love me, practise an answer. Prince. Do thou stand for my father, and ex amine me upon the particulars of my life. 408. “you may buy land now,” etc.; this might be aptly quoted as showing that civil disorders had much the same effect on property in Shakespeare's time as in ours.-H. N. H. 411. “civil buffeting”; civil war.—C. H. H. |