From this bare, wither'd trunk. Upon thy fight P. Henry. My lord of Warwick !— K. Henry. Doth any name particular belong It hath been prophefy'd to me many years, [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. Shallow's feat in Glo'ftershire. Enter Shallow, Silence, Falstaff, Bardolph, and Page. SHALLOW. Y cock and pye, Sir, you shall not away to 'B night. What! Davy, I say! Fal. You must excufe me, mafter Robert Shallow. Shal. By cock and pye,-] This adjuration, which feems to have been very popular, is ufed in Soliman and Perfeda, 1599, as well as by Shakespeare in The Merry Wives of Windfor. Ophelia likewife fays, By cock they are to blame." Cock is only a corruption of the Sacred Name, as appears from many paffages in the old interludes, Gammer Gurton's Needle, &c. viz. Cocks-bones, cocks-wounds, by cock's mother, and fome others. The pie is a table or rule in the old Roman offices, Hh3 fhewing, Shal. I will not excufe you; you fhall not be excufed; excufes fhall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall ferve; you fhall not be excus'd. Why, Davy! Davy. Here, Sir. Enter Davy. Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy; let me fee, Davy; let me fee-yea, marry, William cook, bid him come hither.-Sir John, you shall not be excus'd. Davy. Marry, Sir, thus:-3 Thofe precepts cannot be ferv'd: and, again, Sir-Shall we fow the headland with wheat? Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But, for William cook: Are there no young pigeons? fhewing, in a technical way, how to find out the service which is to be read upon each day. What was called The Pie by the clergy before the Reformation, was called by the Greeks nag, or the index. Though the word va fignifies a plank in its original, yet in its metaphorical fenfe it fignifies ravić i¿wypadnuím, a painted table or picture; and because indexes or tables of books were formed into fquare figures, refembling pictures or painter's tables hung up in a frame, thefe likewife were called vaxes, or, being marked only with the first letter of the word, ni's or Pies. All other derivations of the word are manifeftly erroneous. In a fecond preface Concerning the Service of the Church, prefixed to the Common Prayer, this table is mentioned as follows, "Moreover, the number and hardness of the rules called "the Pie, and the manifold changes," &c. DR. RIDLEY. A printing letter of a particular fize called the pica, was probably denominated from the pie, as the bre-vier from the breviary, and the primer from the primer. STEEVENS. 2 I will not excufe you, &c.] The fterility of justice Shallow's wit is admirably defcribed, in thus making him, by one of the fineft ftrokes of nature, fo often vary his phrafe, to exprefs one and the fame thing, and that the commoneft. WARBURTON. 3 - ·Those precepts cannot be ferv'd:-} Precept is a juf tice's warrant. To the offices which Falstaff gives Davy in the following fcene, may be added that of justice's clerk. Davy has almost as many employments as Scrub in The Stratagem. JOHNSON. Dary, Davy. Yea, Sir.Here is now the fmith's note for fhoeing and plow-irons. Shal. Let it be caft and paid.Sir John, you shall not be excus'd. [Goes to the other fide of the ftage. Davy. Now, Sir, a new link to the bucket muft needs be had.-And, Sir, do you mean to ftop any of William's wages about the fack he loft the other day at Hinckly fair? Shal. He fhall anfwer it. Some pigeons, Davy; a couple of fhort-legg'd hens; a joint of mutton; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws: tell William cook. Davy. Doth the man of war stay all night, Sir? Shal. Yes, Davy. I will ufe him well. A friend i' the court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well, Davy; for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite. Davy. No worse than they are back-bitten, Sir; for they have marvellous foul linen. Shal. Well conceited, Davy. About thy bufinefs, Davy. Davy. I beseech you, Sir, to countenance William Visor of Woncot against Clement Perkes of the Hill. Shal. There are many complaints, Davy, against that Vifor; that Vifor is an arrant knave on my knowledge. Davy. I grant your worship, that he is a knave, Sir; but yet, God forbid, Sir, but a knave fhould have fome countenance at his friend's requeft. An honest man, Sir, is able to fpeak for himself, when a knave is not. I have ferv'd your worship truly, Sir, these eight years; and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honeft man, I have but very little credit with your worship. The knave is mine honest friend, Sir; therefore, I befeech your worship, let him be countenanc'd. Shal. Go to; I fay, he shall have no wrong. Look about, Davy. Where are you, Sir John? Come, off Hh 4 with with your boots. Give me your hand, mafter Bardolph. Bard. I am glad to see your worship. Shal. I thank thee with all my heart, kind master Bardolph. And welcome, my tall fellow [to the Page]. Come, Sir John. Fal. I'll follow you, good mafter Robert Shallow. [Exeunt Shallow, Silence, &c. Bardolph, look to our horfes.- If I were faw'd into quantities, I should make four dozen of fuch 4 bearded hermit's-ftaves as mafter Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to see the femblable coherence of his mens' fpirits and his: they, by obferving of him, do bear themselves like foolish juftices; he, by converfing with them, is turn'd into a justice-like ferving-man. Their spirits are fo married in conjunction, with the participation of fociety, that they flock together in confent, like fo many wild-geefe. If I had a fuit to mafter Shallow, I would humour his men with the imputation of being near their mafter: if to his men, I would curry with mafter Shallow, that no man could better command his fervants. It is certain, that either wife bearing, or ignorant carriage, is caught, as men take difcales, one of another: therefore let men take heed of their company. I will devife matter enough out of this Shallow to keep prince Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of fix fafhions, (which is four terms or 5 two actions) and he fhall laugh without intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a flight oath, and a jeft with a fad brow, will do with fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders! O, you bearded hermit's-ftaves] He had before called him the flarved juftice. His want of flesh is a standing jeft. JOHNSON. two actions)] There is fomething humorous in making a fpendthrift compute time by the operation of an action for debt. JOHNSON. -fellow that never had the ache-] That is, a young fellow, O, you shall see him laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up. Shal. [within] Sir John! Fal. I come, master Shallow; I come, mafter Shal low. SCE SCENE II. The court, in London. [Exit Falstaff. Enter the earl of Warwick and the lord Chief Justice. War. How now, my lord Chief Juftice? whither away? Ch. Juft. How doth the king? War. Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended. Ch. Juft. I hope not dead? War. He's walk'd the way of nature; And, to our purpofes, he lives no more. Ch. Juft. I would his majefty had call'd me with him: The service that I truly did his life Hath left me open to all injuries. War. Indeed, I think, the young king loves you not. Ch. Juft. I know he doth not; and do arm myself To welcome the condition of the time;: Which cannot look more hideously on me Than I have drawn it in my fantasy. Enter lord John of Lancaster, Gloucester, and Clarence. War. Here come the heavy iffue of dead Harry. O, that the living Harry had the temper Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen, How many nobles then should hold their places, That must strike fail to fpirits of vile fort! fellow, one whofe difpofition to merriment time and pain have not yet impaired. JoHNSON. Ch. Juft. |