Page. Ephesians, my lord; of the old church." Prince. Sup any women with him?

Page. None, my lord, but old mistress Quickly, and mistress Doll Tear-sheet.

Prince. What pagan

10 may that be?

Page. A proper gentlewoman, sir, and a kinsw man of my master's.

Prince. Even such kin as the parish heifers are to the town bull. 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.

Prince. Fare ye well; go. [Exeunt BARDOLPH and Page.] — This Doll Tear-sheet should be some

road.

Poins. I warrant you, as common as the way between St. Albans and London.

Prince. How might we see Falstaff bestow himself" to-night in his true colours, and not ourselves be seen?

Poins. Put on two leather jerkins, and aprons, and wait upon him at his table as drawers.

Prince. From a god to a bull? a heavy descen

A slang phrase probably signifying topers, or jolly companions of the old sort.

10 Massinger, in The City Madam, has used this phrase for a wench: "In all these places I've had my several pagans billeted."

That is, bear, or behave himself. So in As You Like It, Act iv. sc. 3: "The boy bestows himself like a ripe sister."

H.

sion! 12 it was Jove's case. From a prince to a prentice? a low transformation! that shall be mine; for in every thing the purpose 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 daugh

ter,

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-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
For yours, may heavenly glory brighten it!
For his, - it stuck upon him, as the sun
In the gray vault of heaven and by his light

son's:

12 So in the quarto; in the folio, declension. Descension seems to be a word of the Poet's own coining, and therefore perhaps the editors of the folio changed it, as not having sufficient authority.

H.

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 practis'd not his gait;'
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish
Became the accents of the valiant;

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,

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,

1 This and the twenty-one lines following are not in the quarto * Speaking thick is speaking quick, rapidity of utterance. So in Cymbeline: "Say, and speak thick: love's counsellor should fill the bores of hearing." See also Macbeth, Act i. sc. 3, note 12.

Or it will seek me in another place,
And find me worse provided.

Lady N.

O! fly to Scotland, 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,

3

To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes,
That it may grow and sprout as high as heaven,
For recordation to my noble husband.

North. Come, come, go in with me.

my mind,

"Tis with

As with the tide swell'd up unto its 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. [Exeunt

SCENE IV. London.

A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern, Eastcheap.

Enter two Drawers.

1 Draw. What the devil hast thou brought there? apple-Johns? thou know'st Sir John cannot endure an apple-John.'

3 Alluding to the plant rosemary, so called because it was the symbol of remembrance, and therefore used at weddings and funerals. Thus Ophelia says, -"There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." See The Winter's Tale, Act iv. sc. 3, note 5.

This apple, which was said to keep two years, is well

2 Draw. Mass, thou say'st 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, wither'd knights." It anger'd' him to the heart, but he hath forgot that.

1 Draw. Why, then, cover, and set them down: and see if thou canst find out Sneak's noise; 3 mistress Tear-sheet would fain hear some music. Despatch:- – The room where they supp'd is too hot; they'll come in straight.

2 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.

1 Draw. By the mass, here will be old utis: it will be an excellent stratagem.

described by Philips: "Nor John-apple, whose wither'd rind entrench'd by many a furrow, aptly represents decrepid age." Falstaff has already said of himself, "I am withered like an old apple-John."

2 Anger was sometimes used for simple grief or distress, without implying any desire to punish. Thus in St. Mark, iii. 5, speaking of our Saviour: "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts."

H.

3 A noise, or a consort, was used for a set or company of musicians. Sneak was a street minstrel, and therefore the drawer goes out to listen for his band. In the old play of King Henry V.: "There came the young prince, and two or three more of his companions, and called for wine good store, and then sent for a noyse of musitians." —The folio closes this speech at music, the rest being only in the quarto.

4 We have seen several times already that old was often used as an augmentative, something as huge is used now. See Much Ado about Nothing, Act v. sc. 2, note 7. — Utis, sometimes spelt utas, and derived by Skinner from the French huit, properly meant the octave of a saint's day, and hence was applied generally to sport-making and festivity. Thus in A Contention between Liberality and Prodigality, 1602: "With some roysting harmony let