Fal. How now, how now, mad wag? what, in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff-jerkin?

P. Henry. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hoftefs of the tavern?

Fal. Well, thou haft called 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 hast paid all there.

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

Fal. Yea, and so us'd it, that were it not here apparent, that thou art heir apparent-But, I pr'ythee, fweet wag, fhall there be a gallows ftanding in England, when thou art king; and refolution thus fobb'd as it is, with the rufty curb of old father antic, 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,

a paffage which leads me to believe that a robe or fuit of durance was fome kind of lafting ftuff, fuch as we call at prefent, everlafting. A debtor, cajoling the officer who had just taken him up, fays, "Where did't thou buy this buff? Let me not live "but I will give thee a good fuit of durance. Wilt thou take my bond," &c.

Again, in The Devil's Charter, 1607, " Varlet of velvet, my moccado villain, old heart of durance, my ftrip'd canvas "fhoulders, and my perpetuana pander." STEEVENS.

- I'll be a brave judge.] This thought, like many others, is taken from the old play of Henry V.

Hen. 5." Ned, as foon as I am king, the first thing I will do "fhall be to put my lord chief juftice out of office; and thou fhalt be my lord chief juftice of England."

Ned." Shall I be lord chief juice? by gogs wounds, I'll be the bravest lord chief justice that ever was in England."

STEEVENS.

P. Henry.

P. Henry. Thou judgeft falfe already: I mean, thou fhalt have the hanging of the thieves, and so 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. 2 For obtaining of fuits?-

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of fuits; whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as 3 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 4 a hare, or 5 the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

Fal.

2 For obtaining of fuits ?] Suit, fpoken of one that attends at court, means a petition; ufed with refpect to the hangman, means the cloaths of the offender. JOHNSON.

3

a gib-cat―] A gib-cat means, Í know not why, an old cat. JOHNSON.

A gib-cat is the common term in Northamptonshire, and all adjacent counties, to exprefs a be-cat. In fome part of England he is called a ram-cat. In Shropshire, where a tup is the term for a ram, the male cat is called a tup-cat. PERCY.

As melancholy as a gib'd cat is a proverb enumerated among others in Ray's Collection. STEEVENS.

4a hare,-] A hare may be confidered as melancholy, becaufe fhe is upon her form always folitary; and, according to the phyfic of the times, the flesh of it was fuppofed to generate melancholy. JOHNSON.

5-the melancholy of Moor-ditch ?] This I do not understand, unless it may allude to the croaking of frogs. JOHNSON.

I rather believe this to have been faid in allufion to its fituation in refpect of Moor-gate, the prison, and Bedlam the hospital. It appears likewife from Stowe's Survey, that a broad ditch called Deep-ditch formerly parted the hofpital from Moorfields; and what has a more melancholy appearance than ftag

nant water?

In the old play of Nobody and Somebody, 1598, the clown fays, "I'll bring the Thames through the middle of the city, "empty Moor-ditch at my own charge, and build up Paul's fteeple without a collection."

66

So

Fal. Thou haft the most unfavoury fimilies; and art, indeed, the moft 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 street about you, Sir; but I mark'd him not, and yet he talk'd very wifely; but I regarded him not, and yet he talk'd wifely; and in the street too.

P. Henry. Thou did'ft well; for wifdom cries out in the streets, and no man regards it.

Fal. 70, 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 must 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?

So again, in A Woman never vex'd, com. by Rowley, 1632. "I fhall fee thee in Ludgate again fhortly.' "Thou lyest "again, 'twill be at Moor-gate, beldame, where I fhall fee thee "in the ditch, dancing in a cucking-ftool." STEEVENS.

6

the most comparative-] Sir T. Hanmer, and Dr. Warburton after him, read, incomparative, I fuppofe for incomparable, or peerless; but comparative here means quick at comparisons, or fruitful in fimilies, and is properly introduced.

JOHNSON. This epithet is used again, in act 3. fc. 2. of this play, and apparently in the fame fenfe:

ftand the pufh

"Of every beardless vain comparative." STEEVENS. 70, thou haft, &c.] For iteration Sir T. Hanmer and Dr. Warburton read attraction, of which the meaning is certainly more apparent; but an editor is not always to change what he does not understand. In the laft fpeech a text is very indecently and abufively applied, to which Falftaff anfwers, thou haft damnable iteration, or, a wicked trick of repeating and applying holy texts. This I think is the meaning. JOHNSON.

Fal.

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 purse-taking.

Fal. 8 Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no fin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins! Now fhall we know, if Gadfhill have fet a match. O, if men were to be fav'd 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.

8 In former editions:

Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no fin for a man to labour in his vocation.

Enter Poins.

Poins. Now hall we know, if Gadhill have fet a match.] Mr. Pope has given us one fignal obfervation in his preface to our author's works. "Throughout his plays," fays he, "had all "the fpeeches been printed without the very names of the per"fons, I believe one might have applied them with certainty to every speaker." But how fallible the moft fufficient critic may be, the paffage in controverfy is a main inftance. As fignal a blunder has efcaped all the editors here, as any through the whole fet 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 Gadfhill, and immediately after to be able to give a full account of him?—No; Falstaff, seeing Poins at hand, turns the ftream of his difcourfe from the prince, and fays, "Now fhall we know, whether Gadfhill 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 as he has returned the prince's falutation, cries, by way of anfwer, "What fays "Monfieur Remorfe? What fays Sir Jack Sack-and Sugar?" THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald has faftened on an obfervation made by Mr. Pope, hyperbolical enough, but not contradicted by the erroneous reading in this place, the fpeech, like a thousand others, not being fo characteristic as to be infallibly applied to the fpeaker. Theobald's triumph over the other editors might have been abated by a confeffion, that the first edition gave him at leaft a glimpfe of the emendation. JOHNSON.

P. Henry.

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 Madeira, and a cold capon's leg?

P. Henry. Sir John ftands to his word, the devil fhall 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 Gadfhill: 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 yourselves : Gadfhill lies to-night at Rochester; I have bespoke fupper to-morrow night in Eaft-cheap: we may do it, as fecure as fleeep: if you will I will ftuff go, purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home, and be hang'd.

your

Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; 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.

Fal. There is neither honefty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'ft not of the blood royal, 9 if thou dar'ft not cry, ftand, for ten fhillings.

P. Henry. Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap.

9- if thou dar'ft not cry, ftand, &c.] The prefent reading may perhaps be right; but I think it neceffary to remark, that all the old editions read, if thou dar'ft not fland for ten fillings. JOHNSON.

Fal.