Well, I will back him straight: O esperance!

Bid Butler lead him forth into the park.
Lady. But hear you, my lord,
Hot. What say'st, my lady?

Lady. What is it carries you away?
Hot. My horse,

My love, my horse.

Lady. Out, you mad-headed ape!
A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen,
As you are toss'd with. In faith,

[Exit Serv.

I'll know your business, Harry, that I will.
I fear, my brother Mortimer doth stir
About his title ; and hath sent for you,
To line his enterprize: But if you go
Hot. So far afoot, I shall be weary, love.
Lady. Come, come, you paraquito, answer me
Directly to this question that I ask.

In faith, I'll break thy little finger, Harry,
An if thou wilt not tell me all things true.
Hot. Away,

Away, you trifler!-Love ?—I love thee not,
I care not for thee, Kate: this is no world,
To play with mammets, and to tilt with lips:
We must have bloody noses, and crack'd crowns,"
And pass them current too. Gods me, my horse !—
What say'st thou, Kate? what would'st thou have with me?
Lady. Do you not love me? do you not, indeed?
Well, do not then; for, since you love me not,
I will not love myself. Do you not love me?
Nay, tell me, if you speak in jest, or no.

Hot. Come, wilt thou see me ride?
And when I am o'horse-back, I will swear
I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate;
I must not have you henceforth question me
Whither I go, nor reason whereabout:
Whither I must, I must; and, to conclude,
This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate.
I know you wise; but yet no further wise,

[6] This was the motto of the Percy family.
[7] Puppets. JOHNSON.

MALONE.

[8] Cracked crowns, signifies at once, cracked money' and a 'broken head. • Current,' will apply to both; as it refers to money, its sense is well known; as it is applied to a broken head, it insinuates that a soldier's wounds entitle him to universal reception. JOHNSON

Than Harry Percy's wife: constant you are;
But yet a woman and for secrecy,

No lady closer; for I well believe,

Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know;
And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate!

Lady. How! so far?

Hot. Not an inch further. But hark you, Kate Whither I go, thither shall you go too;

To-day will I set forth, to-morrow you.—

Will this content you, Kate ?

T dy. It must, of force.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

Eastcheap. A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern. Enter Prince HENRY and POINS.

P. Hen. Ned, pr'ythee, come out of that fat room, and lend me thy hand to laugh a little.

Poins. Where hast been, Hal?

P. Hen. With three or four loggerheads, amongst three or four score hogsheads. I have sounded the very base string of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn brother to a leash of drawers; and can call them all by their christian names, as-Tom, Dick, and Francis. They take it already upon their salvation, that, though I be but Prince of Wales, yet I am the king of courtesy; and tell me flatly I am no proud Jack, like Falstaff; but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy,-by the Lord, so they call me ; and when I am king of England, I shall command all the good lads in Eastcheap. They call-drinking deep, dying scarlet: and when you breathe in your watering, they cry-hem! and bid you play it off.-To conclude, I am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour, that I can drink with any tinker in his own language during my life. I tell thee, Ned, thou hast lost much honour, that thou wert not with me in this action. But, sweet Ned,-to sweeten which name of Ned, I give thee this pennyworth of sugar, clapped even now in my hand by an under-skinker;' one that never spake other English in his life, than-Eight shillings and sixpence, and-You are welcome; with

[1] A tapster, an under-drawer. Skink is drink, and skinker is one that serves drink at table.

JOHNSON.

this shrill addition,-Anon, anon, sir! Score a pint of bas tard in the Half-moon, or so. But, Ned, to drive away the time till Falstaff come, I pr'ythee, do thou stand in some by-room, while I question my puny drawer, to what end he gave me the sugar; and do thou never leave calling-Francis, that his tale to me may be nothing but― anon. Step aside, and I'll show thee a precedent.

Poins. Francis !

P. Hen. Thou art perfect.
Poins. Francis !

[Exit POINS.

Fran. Anon, anon, sir.-Look down into the Pomegranate, Ralph.

P. Hen. Come hither, Francis.

Fran. My lord.

P. Hen. How long hast thou to serve, Francis?
Fran. Forsooth, five year, and as much as to-
Poins. [Within.] Francis!

Fran. Anon, anon, sir.

P. Hen. Five years! by'rlady, a long lease for the clinking of pewter. But, Francis, darest thou be so va liant, as to play the coward with thy indenture, and to show it a fair pair of heels, and run from it?

Fran. O lord, sir! I'll be sworn upon all the books in England, I could find in my heart—

Poins. [Within.] Francis!

Fran. Anon, anon, sir.

P. Hen. How old art thou, Francis?

Fran. Let me see,-about Michaelmas next I shall bePoins. [Within.] Francis!

Fran. Anon, sir.-Pray you, stay a little, my lord. P. Hen. Nay, but hark you, Francis: For the sugar thou gavest me,-'twas a pennyworth, was't not?

Fran. O lord, sir! I would, it had been two.

P. Hen. I will give thee for it a thousand pound: ask me when thou wilt, and thou shalt have it. 'Poins. [Within.] Francis!

Fran. Anon, anon.

P. Hen. Anon, Francis? No, Francis: but to-mor

[2] This scene, helped by the distraction of the drawer, and grimaces of the Prince, may entertain upon the stage, but affords not much delight to the reader. The author has judiciously made it short.

VOL. V.

JOHNSON.

12

morrow, Francis; or, Francis, on Thursday; or, indeed, Francis, when thou wilt. But, Francis,

Fran. My lord?

4

P. Hen. Wilt thou rob this leathern-jerkin, crystal-button, nott-pated, agate-ring, puke-stocking, caddis-garter, smooth-tongue, Spanish pouch,

Fran. O lord, sir, who do you mean?

P. Hen. Why then, your brown bastard is your only drink; for, look you, Francis, your white canvas doublet will sully in Barbary, sir, it cannot come to so much. Fran. What, sir?

:

Poins. [Within.] Francis!

P. Hen. Away, you rogue; Dost thou not hear them call? [Here they both call him: the drawer stands amazed, not knowing which way to go.

Enter Vintner.

Vint. What! stand'st thou still, and hear'st such a calling? Look to the guests within. [Exit FRANCIS.] My lord, old sir John, with half a dozen more, are at the door; Shall I let them in?

P. Hen. Let them alone awhile, and then open the door. [Exit Vintner.] Poins!

Re-enter POINS.

Poins. Anon, anon, sir.

P. Hen. Sirrah, Falstaff and the rest of the thieves are at the door; Shall we be merry?

Poins. As merry as crickets, my lad. But hark ye; what cunning match have you made with this jest of the drawer? come, what's the issue?

P. Hen. I am now of all humours, that have show'd themselves humours since the old days of goodman

[3] A person is said to be noll-pated when the hair was cut short and round.

PERCY.

[4] The Prince intends to ask the drawer, whether he will rob his master, whom be denotes by many contemptuous distinctions. JOHNSON.

In Barret's Alvearie, an old Latin and English dictionary, printed in 1580, I find a puke colour explained as being a colour between russet and black, and is rendered in Latin, pullus. STEEVENS.

[5] Caddis was, I believe, a kind of coarse ferret. The garters of Shakespeare's time were worn in sight, and consequently were expensive. He who would submit to wear a coarser sort, was probably cailed by this contemptuous distinction. STEEVENS

[6] Bastard was a kind of sweet wine. The prince finding the waiter not able, or not willing to understand his instigation, puzzles him with unconnected prattle, and drives him away.

JOHNSON.

Adam, to the pupil age of this present twelve o'clock at midnight. [Re-enter FRANCIS with wine.] What's o'clock, Francis?

Fran. Anon, anon, sir.

P. Hen. That ever this fellow should have fewer words than a parrot, and yet the son of a woman!-His industry is-up-stairs, and down-stairs; his eloquence, the parcel of a reckoning. I am not yet of Percy's mind," the Hotspur of the north; he that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands and says to his wife, Fye upon this quiet life! I want work. O my sweet Harry, says she, how many hast thou killed to day? Give my roun horse a drench, says he; and answers, Some fourteen, an hour after; a trifle, a trifle. I pr'ythee, call in Falstaff; I'll play Percy, and that damned brawn shall play dame Mortimer his wife. Rivo, says the drunkard. Call in ribs, call in tallow.

Enter FALSTAFF, Gadshill, BARDOLPH, and PETO. Poins. Welcome, Jack, Where hast thou been? Fal. A plague of all cowards, I say, and a vengeance too! marry, and amen!-Give me a cup of sack, boy -Ere I lead this life long, I'll sew nether-stocks, and mend them, and foot them too. A plague of all cowards! Give me a cup of sack, rogue.-Is there no virtue extant ? [He drinks.

P. Hen. Didst thou never see Titan kiss a dish of butter? pitiful-hearted Titan, that melted at the sweet tale of the son? if thou did'st, then behold that compound.

Fal. You rogue, here's lime in, this sack too: There is nothing but roguery to be found in villanous man: Yet a coward is worse than a cup of sack with lime in it ;' a

[7] The drawer's answer had interrupted the train of the Prince's discourse. He was proceeding thus, I am now of all humours that have snewed the unselves humours I am not yet " Perry's mind," that is, Tunwilling to indulge myself in gaiety and frolic, and try all the varities of humaine. “I am not yer of Prey's mind," who thinks all the time lost that is not spent in bloodshed, forgets decency and civility, and has ungaing but the barren talk of a brutal soldier. JOHNS. [8] Ribi, that is, oriak. HANMER.

[9] Our author might have written—pitifw-hearted Titan, who melted at the sweet tale of his son; i. e. of Phaeton, who, by a plausible tory. won on the easy nature of his father so far, as to obtain from him the guidance of his own chariot for a day. STLEVENS.

[1] Sack, the favourite beverage of sir John Fal taff, was, according to the in formation of a very old gentle liquor compounded of sherry, cyder, and