Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert us'd. Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i'faith! things, that are mouldy, lack use: Very fingular good!-Well faid, fir John; very well faid. Fal. Prick him. Moul. I was prick'd well enough before, an you could have let me alone: my old dame will be undone now, for one to do her husbandry, and her drudgery: you need not to have prick'd me, there are other men fitter to go out than I. Fal. Go to; peace, Mouldy, you fhall it is time you were spent. Moul. Spent! go. Mouldy, Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; ftand afide; Know you where you are?-For the other, fir John :-let me see ;— Simon Shadow ! Fal. Ay marry, let me have him to fit under, he's like to be a cold foldier. Shal. Where's fhadow? Shad. Here, fir. Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou? Shad. My mother's fon, fir. Fal. Thy mother's fon! like enough; and thy father's fhadow fo the fon of the female is the fhadow of the male: It is often fo, indeed; but not much of the father's substance. Shal. Do you like him, fir John? Fal. Shadow will ferve for fummer,-prick him ;-for we have a number of fhadows to fill up the mufter-book. Shal. Thomas Wart! Fal. Where's he? Wart. Here, fir, Afhadows]-names for which pay is received, though there are no fuch men. Fal. Fal. Is thy name Wart? Wart. Yea, fir. Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart. Shal. Shall I prick him, fir John? Fal. It were fuperfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame ftands upon pins: prick him no more. Shal. Ha, ha, ha!-you can do it, fir; you can do it: I commend you well.-Francis feeble! Feeble. Here, fir. Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble? Shal. Shall I prick him, fir? Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's taylor, he would have prick'd you.-Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou haft done in a woman's petticoat? Feeble. I will do my good will, fir; you can have no more. Fal. Well faid, good woman's taylor! well faid, courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or moft magnanimous mouse.-Prick the woman's taylor well, mafter Shallow; deep, mafter Shallow. Feeble. I would, Wart might have gone, fir. Fal. I would, thou wert a man's taylor; that thou might'ft mend him, and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a private foldier, that is the leader of fo many d thousands: Let that suffice, most forcible Feeble. Feeble. It fhall fuffice, fir. Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble.-Who is next? Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the green! Fal. Yea, marry, let us fee Bull-calf. bis buil]-hangs hollow, as if fet upon pins. in an enemy's battle,]-in an engagement. thousands-of lice. Bull. Bull. Here, fir. Fal. Trust me, a likely fellow!-Come, prick me Bull-calf, 'till he roar again. Bull. Oh! good my lord captain,——— Fal. What, doft thou roar before thou art prick'd? Bull. O lord, fir! I am a difeas'd man. Fal. What disease haft thou? Bull. A whorefon cold, fir; a cough, fir; which I caught with ringing in the king's affairs, upon his coros nation day, fir. Fal. Come, thou fhalt go to the wars in a gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will take fuch order, that' thy friends fhall ring for thee.-Is here all? Shal. There is two more call'd than your number, you must have but four here, fir;-and fo, I pray you, go in with me to dinner. Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth, master Shallow. Shal. O, fir John, do you remember fince we lay all night in the wind-mill in faint George's fields? Fal. No more of that, good mafter Shallow, no more of that. Shal. Ha, it was a merry night. And is Jane Nightwork alive? Fal. She lives, mafter Shallow. Shal. She could never away with me. Fal. Never, never: fhe would always fay, fhe could not abide master Shallow. Shal. By the mafs, I could anger her to the heart. She Doth fhe hold her own well? was then a bona-roba. Fal. Old, old, master Shallow. Shal. Nay, fhe must be old; fhe cannot chufe but be old; old; certain, fhe's old; and had Robin Night-work by old Night-work, before I came to Clement's-inn. Sil. That's fifty-five years ago. Shal. Ha, coufin Silence, that thou hadft Teen that that this knight and I have seen!Ha, fir John, said I well? Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, mafter Shallow. Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; in faith, fir John, we have; our watch-word was, Hem, boys! -Come, let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner :-0, the days that we have feen!-Come, come. [Exeunt Falstaff, and Justices. Bull. Good mafter corporate Bardolph, ftand my friend; and here is four Harry ten fhillings in French crowns for you. In very truth, fir, I had as lief be hang'd, fir, as go: and yet, for mine own part, fir, I do not care; but, rather, because I am unwilling, and, for mine own part, have a defire to stay with my friends; elfe, fir, I did not care, for mine own part, fo much. Bard. Go to; stand afide. Moul. And good master corporal captain, for my old dame's fake, ftand my friend: fhe has nobody to do any thing about her, when I am gone; and she is old, and cannot help herfelf: you fhall have forty, fir. Bard. Go to; ftand aside. Feeble. I care not;-a man can die but once ;—we owe God a death;-I'll ne'er bear a base mind :-an't be my destiny, fo; an't be not, fo: No man's too good to serve his prince: and, let it go which way it will, he that dies this year, is quit for the next. Bard. Well faid; thou'rt a good fellow. Feeble. 'Faith, I'll bear no base mind. [Re-enter Falstaff, and Justices. forty, fir.forty fhillings for my discharge alfo,-four too, fir. e Jour Harry ten fillings of me too, fir. Fal. Fal. Come, fir, which men fhall I have? Skal. Four of which you please. f Bard. Sir, a word with you:-I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bull-calf. Fal. Go to; well. Shal. Come, fir John, which four will you have? Shal. Marry then,-Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble, and Shadow. Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf :-For you, Mouldy, stay at home ftill, you are past service :-and, for your part, Bull-calf,-grow 'till you come unto it; I will none of you. Shal. Sir John, fir John, do not yourself wrong; they are your likeliest men, and I would have you ferv'd with the best. -- Fal. Will you tell me, mafter Shallow, how to chuse a man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the ftature, bulk and big affemblance of a man? give me the spirit, master Shallow. Here's Wart;-you see what a ragged appearance it is he shall charge you, and discharge you, with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off, and on, swifter than he' that gibbets-on the brewer's bucket. And this fame half-fac'd fellow Shadow,-give me this man; he presents no mark to the enemy; the foe man may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife: And, for a retreat,-how swiftly will this Feeble, the woman's taylor, run off? O, give me the spare men, and fpare me the great ones.-Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph. k Bard. Hold, Wart, 'traverse; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver. So:-very well: f three pound-finking one for himself. affemblage. k 8 till you are. i that gibbets on the brewer's bucket,]-that hangs the buckets to the a caliver]--a fufee, a firelock. traverfe ;]-you handle it improperly. yoke. -go |