I

Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door: they are come to search the house. 560 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.

Prince. And thou a natural coward, without in-
stinct.

Fal. I deny your major: if you will deny the
sheriff, so; if not, let him enter: if I become
not a cart as well as another man, a plague
on my bringing up! I hope I shall as soon be
strangled with a halter as another.
Prince. 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.
Prince. Call in the sheriff.

570

[Exeunt all except the Prince and Peto.

562. “never call a true piece of gold," etc.; i. e. don't slander the pure gold of my character as spurious; it proves you mad (though you don't seem so) that you do. Falstaff makes believe to carry on his self-defense, though he no longer personates the prince.-C. H. H. 564. "mad"; Ff. 3, 4; the rest "made."-I. G.

566. "your major"; i. e. the proposition that he is a coward (with a quibble).-C. H. H.

571. "Go, hide thee behind the arras"; when arras was first brought into England, it was suspended on small hooks driven into the walls of houses and castles; but this practice was soon discontinued. After the damp of the stone and brickwork had been found to rot the tapestry, it was fixed on frames of wood at such distance from the wall as prevented the damp from being injurious; large spaces were thus left between the arras and the walls, sufficient to contain even one of Falstaff's bulk. Our old dramatists avail themselves of this convenient hiding-place upon all occasions.-H. N. H.

Enter Sheriff and the Carrier.

Now, master sheriff, what is your will with me? Sher. First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and cry Hath follow'd certain men unto this house.

Prince. What men?

580

Sher. One of them is well known, my gracious

Car.

lord,

A gross fat man.

As fat as butter.

590

Prince. The man, I do assure you, is not here;
For I myself at this time have employ'd 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. There are two gentlemen
Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks.
Prince. It may be so: if he have robb'd these men,
He shall be answerable; and so farewell.

578. "hue and cry"; might be raised "either by a precept of a Justice of the Peace, or by a private person who knows of the felony. Such private person was bound to give notice to the Constable; but in the Constable's absence all persons were bound to join in the pursuit" (Stephen's Crim. Law, quoted Jahrbuch, xxxii. 145).-C. H. H. 585. Shakespeare has been blamed for making the prince utter this falsehood. Surely the blame were more justly visited on the prince than on the Poet. Shakespeare did not mean to set forth the connection with Falstaff as altogether harmless; and if he had done so, he would have been untrue to nature. The prince is indeed censurable; yet not so much for telling the falsehood as for letting himself into a necessity either to do so, or to betray his accomplice. What he does is bad enough; but were it not still worse to expose Falstaff in an act which himself has countenanced?-H. N. H. 593. "three hundred marks"; one thousand dollars.-C. H. H.

I

Sher. Good night, my noble lord.

Prince. I think it is good morrow, is it not? Sher. Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock. [Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier.

Prince. This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's. Go, call him forth. 600 Peto. Falstaff!-Fast asleep behind the arras, and snorting like a horse.

Prince. 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.

Prince. Let's see what they be: read them.
Peto. [reads] Item, A capon,

2s. 2d.

4d. 610

Prince. 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 620 honorable. I'll procure this fat rogue a charge of foot; and I know his death will be

601. "Peto"; probably "Poins," according to Johnson; perhaps, the prefix in the MS. was simply "P." The Cambridge editors, however, remark that the formal address is appropriate to Peto rather than to Poins.-I. G.