Fal. Stand here by 'me, Master Robert Shallow; I will make the King do you grace. I will 'leer upon him as he comes by; and do but mark the 'countenance that he will give me. O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you. But 't is no matter; this 'poor show doth better: this doth 'infer the zeal I had to see him,―

Shal. It doth so.

Fal. It shows my 'earnestness of affection,—

Shal. It doth so.

Fal. My 'devotion,

Shal. It doth, it doth, it doth.

Fal. As it were, to ride day and night; and not to deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to 'shift*

me,

Shal. It is most certain.

Fal. But to stand stained with travel, and 'sweating with desire to see him; thinking of nothing else; putting all affairs else in 'oblivion, as if there were nothing else to be done but to see 'him.

Shal. 'T is so, indeed.

Shouts are heard within, and the trumpets sound. The King and his Train of Attendants enter, the Chief Justice among them. Falstaff eagerly presses forward, followed by Pistol.

Fal. Heaven save thy grace, King Hal! 'my royal Hal! Pist. The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

Fal. Heaven save thee, my sweet boy!

King.... My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man. Ch. Just. Have you your wits? 'know you what 't is you speak?

Fal. My King! my Jove! I speak to 'thee, my heart!
King. I know thee not, old man: Fall to thy 'prayers;
How ill 'white airs become a fool and jester!
I have long 'dreamed of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane;
But, being 'awake, I do 'despise my dream.
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest:
Presume not that I 'am the thing I 'was;

For 'Heaven doth know,-so shall the 'world perceive,-
That I have turned away my 'former self;

So will I those that kept me 'company.

*Change clothing.

When thou dost hear I 'am as I 'have been,
Approach me, and 'thou shalt be as thou 'wast,-
The tutor and the feeder of my riots :

'Till then, I 'banish thee, on pain of death,
(As I have done the rest of my misleaders,)
Not to come near our person by ten mile.
For 'competence of life, I will allow you,
That 'lack of means enforce you not to evil :
And, as we hear you do 'reform yourselves,

Give you advancement.-Be 't 'your charge, my lord,
To see 'performed the tenor of our word.-

Set on.

Ex. King and
Train.

As the royal procession moves onward, Falstaff says to his friend : Fal. Master Shallow, . . . I owe you a thousand pound. Shal. Ay, marry, Sir John; which I beseech you to let me have 'home with me.

Fal. That can hardly be, Master Shallow. Do not you grieve at this; I shall be sent for, in 'private, to him: look you, he must 'seem thus to the world. Fear not your advancement: I will be 'the man 'yet, that shall make you 'great.

Shal. cannot conceive how; unless you should give me your doublet, and stuff me out with straw. I beseech you, good Sir John, let me have five 'hundred of my thousand.

Fal. Sir, I will be as good as my 'word: this that you heard was but a 'colour.

Shal. A colour, I fear, that you will 'die in, Sir John. Fal. Fear 'no colours: go with me to dinner :-come, Lieutenant Pistol;-come, Bardolph: I shall be sent for soon at 'night.

As they are proceeding to this promised dinner, Prince John, the Chief Justice and his officers, return. The Chief Justice speaks: Ch. Just. Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet;*

Take all his company along with him.

Fal. My lord! my lord!

Ch. Just. I cannot 'now speak: I will hear you soon.—
Take them away.

The prisoners are led off. Prince John says:

P. John. I like this fair proceeding of the King's:
He hath intent, his wonted followers

Shall all be very well 'provided for ;

* A prison in London.

But all are 'banished,―till their conversations
Appear more wise and modest to the world.
Meantime, the King hath called his Parliament.
I will lay odds,-that, ere this year expire,
We bear our 'civil swords, and native fire,
As far as 'France. I heard a 'bird so sing,
Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the King.
Come, will you hence?

EPILOGUE,

Spoken by a Dancer.

[Exeunt..

First, my 'fear; then, my 'court'sy; last, my 'speech. My fear is, your displeasure; my court'sy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a 'good speech 'now, you undo me: for what I 'have to say is of mine own 'making; and what indeed I 'should say, will, I doubt, prove mine own 'marring.

If my 'tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to use my 'legs? and yet that were but 'light payment, to 'dance out of your debt. But a good 'conscience will make any possible satisfaction; and so will 'I. All the 'gentlewomen here have forgiven me: if the 'gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentle-'women,—which was never seen before in such an

assembly.

One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will 'continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France: where, for anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for 'Oldcastle* died a 'martyr, and this is 'not the man. My tongue is weary; when my 'legs are too, I will bid you good night; and so kneel down before you; but, indeed, to pray for the Queen.†

[Exit.

END OF HENRY IV-PART II.

*Alluding to Sir John Oldcastle, a character in the old play, and the supposed original of Sir John Falstaff. + Queen Elizabeth.

KING HENRY V.

It will be observed that the play of "The Life of Henry the Fift" is not included in Meres' list of 1598: it must have been written in 1599.

Shakespeare, in this play, makes very little use of the older drama known as "The Famous Victories of Henrye the Ffyft, conteyning the Honourable Battell of Agin Court," which was performed before 1588, but not printed until 1598. It was originally performed at the Globe Theatre-the "Wooden O" of the Prologue-and first printed in 1600, with the following title: "The Cronicle History of Henry the Fift. With his battell fought at Agin Court in France. Togither with Auntient Pistoll. As it hath bene sundry times played by the right honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his servants." This early edition wants the Chorus and several scenes. The play was afterwards rewritten by Shakespeare; so that, in the folio of 1623, it is almost doubled in size.

The character of Henry the Fifth was evidently a public favourite : he has a prominent place in three of these Historical plays: in which he figures successively as the affectionate, ardent Youththe gay licentious Prince-and the brave high-minded King, the greatest of England's Warrior Monarchs.

This last-named personage is frequently introduced. To connect historical events, unfitted for dramatic representation, each Act is introduceď by a kind of prologue-speaker or Chorus, who describes events necessary for the auditor to know. These prologues, says Schlegel, unite epic pomp and solemnity with lyrical simplicity: In them the Dramatist sings as a poetical herald what he could not represent to the eye; and by them the spectators are constantly reminded that the peculiar greatness of the actions cannot be developed on a narrow stage: and that they must supply, from their imaginations, the deficiencies of the representation. The reign of Henry the Fifth extended from 1413 till 1422. The Time, therefore, occupies more than eight years.

The Scene, at the beginning of the play, is in England; but, at the end, in France.

Dr. Johnson remarks that Shakespeare was evidently sensible of the absurdity of representing battles within the limits of a theatre; and, dilating chiefly on this point as an apology, the Chorus comes forward:

Chor. O for a Muse of 'fire, that would ascend
The brightest 'heaven of invention !

A 'kingdom for a stage, 'princes to 'act,
And 'monarchs to 'behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of 'Mars ;* and at his heels,
Leashed-in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and
Fire,

Crouch for employment. Pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraiséd spirit that hath dared,
On this unworthy scaffold,† to bring forth
So great an object: Can this cockpit‡ hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram,
Upon this little stage,s the very 'casques
That did affright the air at 'Agincourt?
O, pardon! Since a crookéd figure may
Attest, in little place, a million;

So let us, 'ciphers to this great account,
On your 'imaginary forces work.

'Suppose, within the girdle of these walls,
Are now confined two mighty Monarchies,
Whose high uprearéd and abutting fronts
The perilous narrow Ocean parts asunder:
Piece-out our imperfections with your 'thoughts:
Into a 'thousand parts divide one man,
And make 'imaginary puissance;

'Think, when we talk of horses, that you 'see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth:-

+ Stage.

* Demeanour of the God of War. The old Phoenix Theatre in Drury Lane had been a cockpit. This play was originally performed at the Globe, a circular wooden building. § O. R. within this Wooden O.