Hoft. No, nor I neither; I'll be at your elbow. Phang. An I but fift him once; an he come but within my "vice ; W Hoft. I am undone by his going; I warrant you, he's an infinitive thing upon my score :-Good master Phang, hold him fure;-good master Snare, let him not scape. He comes continuantly to Pye-corner, (faving your manhoods) to buy a faddle; and he's indited to dinner to the * lubbar's head in Lombard-street, to mafter Smooth's the filkman: I pray ye, fince my exion is enter'd, and my case so openly known to the world, let him be brought in to his answer. A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear: and I have borne, and borne, and borne; and have been fub'd off, and fub'd off, from this day to that day, that it is a fhame to be thought on. There is no honesty in such dealing; unless a woman should be made an afs, and a beaft, to bear every knave's wrong. y Enter Sir John Falstaff, Bardolph, and the Page. Yonder he comes; and that arrant malmfey-nose knave, Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do your offices, mafter Phang, and mafter Snare; do me, do me, do me your offices. Fal. How now? who's mare's dead? what's the matter? Phang. Sir John, I arreft you at the fuit of mistress Quickly. Fal. Away, varlets !-Draw, Bardolph; cut me off the villain's head; throw the quean in the kennel. u vice:]-grafp. a by his going ;]-if he goes upon this expedition, and leaves my debt unpaid. x lubbar's]-libbard's, leopard's. y loan, or fum for a poor defolate woman, a widow to rifk. z malmsey]-red from drinking. the quean]-the impudent vixen. Hoft Hoft. Throw me in the kennel? I'll throw thee in the kennel. Wilt thou? wilt thou? thou baftardly rogue!" -Murder, murder! O thou honey-fuckle villain! wilt thou kill God's officers, and the king's? O thou honeyfeed rogue! thou art a honey-feed;" a man-queller, and a woman-queller. Fal. Keep them off, Bardolph. Phang. A rescue! a rescue! Hoft. Good people, bring a rescue or two,-Thou wo't, wo't thou? thou wo't, wo't thou? do, do, thou rogue! do, thou hemp-feed! Page. Away, you fcullion! you rampallian! you fuftilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe. Enter the Chief Justice, attended. Ch. Just. What's the matter? keep the peace here, ho! Hoft. Good my lord, be good to me! I befeech you, stand to me! Ch. Juft. How now, fir John? what, are you brawling here? Doth this become your place, your time, and business? You should have been well on your way to York.Stand from him, fellow; Wherefore hang'ft thou on him? Hoft. O my moft worshipful lord, an't please your grace, I am a poor widow of Eaft-cheap, and he is arrested at my fuit. Ch. Juf. For what fum? Hoft. It is more than for fome, my lord; it is for all, all I have: he hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his :—but boney-fuckle]-homicidal. с honey-feed]-homicide. da man-queller, and a woman-queller,.]—a man-flayer, a woman. flayer; the plague of both fexes. you feullion! &c.]-you greafy, fufty, termagant ftrumpet. I will have some of it out again, or I'll ride thee o'nights, like the mare. Fal. I think, I am as like to ride the mare, if I have any vantage of ground to get up. Ch. Juft. How comes this, fir John? Fie! what man of good temper would endure this tempeft of exclamation? Are you not afham'd, to enforce a poor widow to fo rough a course to come by her own? Fal. What is the grofs fum that I owe thee? Hoft. Marry, if thou wert an honeft man, thyself, and the money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a parcelgilt goblet, fitting in my Dolphin-chamber, at the round table, by a fea-coal fire, on wednesday in Whitfun-week, when the prince broke thy head for likening his father to a finging-man of Windfor; thou didst swear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me, and make me my lady thy wife. Canft thou deny it? Did not goodwife Keech, the butcher's wife, come in then, and call me goffip Quickly? coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar; telling us, she had a good dish of prawns; whereby thou didft defire to eat fome; whereby I told thee, they were ill for a green wound? And didft thou not, when she was gone down stairs, defire me to be no more fo familiarity with fuch poor people; faying, that ere long they should call me madam? And didft thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee thirty fhillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath; deny it, if thou canst. k Fal. My lord, this is a poor mad foul; and fhe fays, up and down the town, that her eldeft fon is like you: she hath been in good cafe, and, the truth is, poverty hath distracted her. But for these foolish officers, I beseech you, I may have redress against them. Ch. Juft. Sir John, fir John, I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the false way. It is not a confident brow, nor the throng of words that come with fuch more than impudent fawciness from you, can thrust me from a level confideration; I know, you have practis'd upon the easy-yielding spirit of this woman, and made her serve your uses both in purse and person. Hoft. Yes, in troth, my lord. Ch. Just. Pr'ythee, peace :-Pay her the debt you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done her; the one you may do with fterling money, and the other with current repentance. Fal. My lord, I will not undergo 'this fneap without reply. You call honourable boldness, impudent fawcinefs if a man will make curt'fy, and fay nothing, he is virtuous: No, my lord, my humble duty remember'd, I will not be your fuitor; I fay to you, I do defire deliverance from these officers, being upon hafty employment in the king's affairs, Cb. Juft. You speak as having power to do wrong: but anfwer in the effect of your reputation, and fatisfy the poor woman. Fal. Come hither, hoftess. [Taking her afide. Enter a Messenger. Ch. Juft. Now, master Gower; What news? Gower. The king, my lord, and Henry prince of Wales Are near at hand: the reft the paper tells. Fal. As I am a gentleman, Hoft. Nay, you faid fo before, this freap]-reprimand, rebuke, Fal. .. Fal. As I am a gentleman ;- -Come, no more words of it. Hoft. By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain to pawn both my plate, and the tapestry of my dining-chambers. n Fal. Glaffes, glaffes, is the only drinking: and for thy walls,-a pretty flight drollery, or the ftory of the prodigal, or the German hunting in water-work, is worth a thousand of thefe bed-hangings, and these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound, if thou canft. Come, if it were not for thy humours, there is not a better wench in England. Go, wash thy face, and draw thy action: Come, thou must not be in this humour with me; do'st not know me? Come, come, I know thou wast set on to this. Hoft. Pray thee, fir John, let it be but twenty nobles; I am loth to pawn my plate, in good earnest, la. Fal. Let it alone; I'll make other fhift: you'll be a fool ftill. Hoft. Well, you fhall have it, though I pawn my gown. I hope, you'll come to fupper: You'll pay me all together? Fal. Will I live?-Go, with her, with her; hook on, hook on. [To Bardolph. Hoft. Will you have Doll Tear-fheet meet you at fupper? Fal. No more words; let's have her. [Exeunt Hoftefs, Bardolph, Officers, &. Ch. Just. I have heard better news. Fal. What's the news, my good lord? Ch. Juft. Where lay the king last night? bunting]-hunting-piece in water-colours. ° draw]-withdraw. book on, book on.]-stick close to her, and keep her in good ha mour. Fal. |