Fal. Well, thou haft call'd her to a reckoning many a time and oft.

P. Henry. Did I ever call thee to pay thy part?'

Fal. No, I'll give thee thy due, thou haft paid all there.

P. Henry. Yea, and elsewhere, fo far as my coin would ftretch; and where it would not, I have us'd my credit.

Fal. Yea, and fo us'd it, that were it not here apparent, that thou art heir apparent But, I pr'ythee, fweet wag, fhall there be Gallows ftanding in England, when thou art King? and refolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rufty curb of old father antick, the law? Do not thou, when thou art a King, hang a thief.

P. Henry. No: thou fhalt.

Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.

P. Henry. Thou judgeft falfe already: I mean, thou fhalt have the hanging of the thieves, and fo become a rare hangman.

Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in fome fort it jumps with my humour, as well as waiting in the Court, I can tell you.

P. Henry. For obtaining of fuits?

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of fuits; whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a gib-cat, or a lugg'd bear.

P. Henry. Or an old Lion, or a lover's lute. Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe. P. Henry. What fay'ft thou to a Hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

and art,

Fal. Thou haft the most unfavoury fimilies; indeed, the most comparative, rafcallieft, fweet young Prince But, Hal, I pr'ythee, trouble me no more with vanity; I would to God, thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were to be bought an old lord of the Council rated me the other day in the freet about you, Sir; but I mark'd him not, and yet he talk'd very wifely, and in the street toɔ.

VOL. IV.

E

P. Henry.

P. Henry. Thou didit well; for wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.

Fal. O, thou haft damnable iteration, and art, indeed, able to corrupt a faint. Thou haft done much harm unto me, Hal, God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing and now am I, if a man fhould fpeak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I muft give over this life, and I will give it over; by the lord, an I do not, I am a villain. I'll be damn'd for never a King's fon in chriftendom.

P. Henry. Where fhall we take a purse to morrow, Jack?

Fal. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me.

P. Henry. I fee a good amendment of life in thee, from praying to purfe-taking.

(4) Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal. 'Tis no

fin

(4) Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my Vocation, Hal. 'Tis no Sin for a Man to labour in bis Vocation.

Enter Poins.

Poins. Now fhall we know, if Gads-hill have jet a Match.] Mr. Pope has given us one fignal Obfervation in his Preface to our Author's Works. Throughout bis Plays, fays he, bad all the Speeches been printed without the very Names of the Perfons, I believe, one might have apply'd them with Certainty to every. Speaker. But how fallible the most fufficient Critick may be, the Paffage in Controverfy is a main Infiance. As fignal a

Blunder has efcap'd all the Editors here, as any one thro' the whole Set of Plays. Will any one perfuade me, Shakespeare could be guilty of fuch an Inconfiftency, as to make Poins at his first Entrance want News of Gads-bill, and immediately af ter to be able to give a full Account of him? No; Falfaf, feeing Poins at hand, turns the Stream of his Difcourfe from the Prince, and fays, Now fhall we know whether Gadsbill has fet a Match for Us; and then immediately falls into Railing and Invectives against Poins. How admirably is This in Character for Falstaff! And Poins,---- who knew well his abusive manner, feems in part to overhear him; and fo foon

fin for a man to labour in his vocation.

Peins!

Now thall we know, if Gads-hill have fet a match. O, if men were to be faved by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him!

Enter Poins.

This is the most omnipotent Villain, that ever cry'd, Stand, to a true Man.

P. Henry. Good morrow, Ned. Poins. Good morrow, fweet Hal. What fays Monfieur Remorfe? what fays Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how agree the devil and thou about thy foul, that thou foldeft him on Good-Friday laft, for a cup of Madera, and a cold capon's leg?

P. Henry. Sir John ftands to his word; the devil shall have his bargain, for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs; He will give the devil his due.

Poins. Then thou art damn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

P. Henry. Elfe he had been damn'd for cozening the devil.

Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gads-hill; there are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purfes. I have vifors for you all; you have horfes for your felves: Gads-hill lies to night in Rochefter, I have befpoke supper to morrow night in Eaft-cheap; we may do it, as fecure as fleep: you will go, I will ftuff your purfes full of crowns; you will not, tarry at home and be hang'd.

if

if

Fal. Hear ye, redward; if I tarry at home, and go not, I'll hang you for going.

Poins. You will, chops?

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?

P. Henry. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.

as he has return'd the Prince's Salutation, cries, by way of An fwer, What fays Monfieur Remorfe? What fays Sir John Sack and Sugar?

E 2

Fal.

Fal. There is neither honefty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'ft not of the blood royal, if thou dar'ft not cry, ftand, for ten fhillings. P. Henry. Well then, once in my days I'll be a mad

P. Henry. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. Fal. By the lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art King.

P. Henry. I care not.

Poins. Sir John, I pr'ythee, leave the Prince and me alone; I will lay him down fuch reafons for this adventure, that he fhall go.

Fal. Well, may'it thou have the fpirit of perfuafion, and he the ears of profiting, that what thou fpeak'st may move, and what he hears may be believ'd; that the true Prince may (for recreation fake,) prove a false thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewel, you fhall find me in Eaf-cheap.

P. Henry. Farewel, thou latter fpring! Farewel, allhallown fummer!

[Exit Fal. Peins. Now, my good fweet hony lord, ride with us to morrow. I have a jeft to execute, that I cannot manage alone. (5) Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gads

bill,

(5) Falstaff, HARVEY, ROSSIL, and Gads-hill fall rob thofe Men that We have already way-laid.] Thus the whole Stream of Editions, from the First downwards. But thus We have two Perfons named, as Characters in this Play, that never were once inferted among the Dramatis Perfonæ in any of the Impreffions whatsoever. But let us fee who they were, that committed this Robbery; and then, perhaps, we may be able to account for this Pair of additional Thieves, as They at prefent feem. In the fecond Act, We come to a Scene of the High-way. Falstaff, wanting his Horfe, which had been hid on purpose to plague him, calls out on Hal, Poins, Bardolfe, and Peto; and fays, He has a great Mind to leave thefe Rogues. Prefently, Gads-bill joins 'em, with Intelligence of Travellers -You Four being at hand; upon which the Prince says, fball front 'em in the narrow Lane, Ned Poins and I will walk

lewer.

bill, fhall rob thofe men that we have already waylaid; your self and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from off my shoulders.

P. Henry. But how shall we part with them in fetting forth?

Poins. Why, we will fet forth before or after them; and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they adventure upon the exploit themselves, which they fhall have no fooner atchiev'd, but we'll fet upon them.

P. Henry. Ay; but, 'tis like, they will know us by our horfes, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be our felves.

Poins. Tut, our horfes they fhall not fee, I'll tye them in the wood; our vizors we will change after we leave them; and, firrah, I have cafes of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.

P. Henry. But, I doubt, they will be too hard for us. Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turn'd Back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he fees reafon, I'll forfwear arms. The virtue of this jeft will be, the incomprehenfible lies that this fame fat rogue will tell us when we meet at fupper; how thirty at least he fought with, what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and, in the reproof of this, lies the jeft.

P. Henry. Well, I'll go with thee; provide us all

lower. So that the Four to be concern'd are Falstaff, Bardolfe, Peto, and Gads-bill. Accordingly, the Robbery is committed: and the Prince and Poins afterwards rob them Four. When the Matter comes to an Examination in the Boar's-Head Tavern, the Prince rallies Peto and Bardolfe for their running away; who confefs the Charge. Upon the Evidence now is it not plain, that Bardoife and Peto were two of the four Robbers? And who then can doubt, but Harvey and Roffil were the Names of the Actors that perform'd thofe two Parts; and by Miftake, in the old Play-house Books, put instead of the Names of the Characters to be represented by them?