Wart. Here, Sir. Fal. Is thy name Wart? Wart. Yea, Sir. Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart. Shal. Shall I prick him down, Sir 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, Sir; you can do it: I commend you well. Francis Feeble. Feeble. Here, Sir. Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble? Shal. Shall I prick him, Sir? Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he would have prick'd you. Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battel, as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat? Feeble. I will do my good will, Sir; you can have no more. Fal. Well faid, good woman's tailor ; well faid, Courageous Feeble: thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful Dove, or moft magnanimous mouse. Prick the woman's tailor well, mafter Shallow, deep, mafter Shallow. I can Feeble. I would, Wart might have gone, Sir. Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor, that thou might'ft mend him, and make him fit to go. not put him to be a private foldier, that is the leader of fo many thousands. Let that fuffice, moft forcible Feeble. Feeble. It fhall fuffice. Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble. Who is the next? Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the Green. Fal. Yea, marry, let us fee Bull-calf. 1 You can do it, Sir;] i. e. you know how to jest. Bul. Bul. Here, Sir. Fal. Truft me, a likely fellow. Come, prick me Bull-calf, till he roar again. Bul. Oh, good my lord captain, Fal. What, doft thou roar before th'art prickt? Fal. What disease haft thou? Bul. A whorfon Cold, Sir; a cough, Sir, which I caught with ringing in the King's affairs, upon his Coronation-day, Sir. 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 called than your number, you must have but four here, Sir; 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 fee you, in good troth, mafter Shallow. Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember fince we lay all night in the wind-mill in Saint 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 Night-work alive? Fal. She lives, master Shallow. Shal. She never could away with me. Fal. Never, never: fhe would always fay, she could not abide mafter Shallow. Shal. By the mafs, I could anger her to the heart: fhe was then a Bona-roba. Doth fhe hold her own well? Fal. Old, old, mafter Shallow. Shal. Nay, fhe must be old, she cannot chuse but be old; certain, fhe's old, and had Robin Nightwork by old Night-work, before I came to Clement's Inn. Sil. That's fifty-five years ago. Shal. Ha, coufin Silence, that thou hadst seen That, that this knight and I have seen!hah, Sir John, faid I well? Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow. Shal. That we have, that we have, in faith, Sir John, we have our watch-word was, hem, boys. — Come, let's to dinner; Oh, the days that we have feen! come, come. Bul. Good mafter corporate Bardolph, ftand my friend, and here is four Harry ten fhillings in French Crowns for you: in very truth, Sir, I had as lief be hang'd, Sir, as go; and yet for my own part, Sir, I do not care, but rather because I am unwilling, and for mine own part, have a defire to stay with my friends; elfe, Sir, I did not care for mine own part fo much. Bard. Go to; stand aside. Moul. And good mafter corporal captain, for my old Dame's-fake ftand my friend: fhe hath no body to do any thing about her when I am gone, and fhe's old and cannot help her felf: you fhall have forty, Sir. Bard. Go to; stand aside. Feeble. I care not, a man can die but once; we owe God a death, I will never bear a base mind: if it be my destiny, fo: if it be not, fo. No man is too good to ferve his Prince; and let it go which way it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next. Bard. Well faid, thou art a good fellow. Bard. Sir, a word with you: - I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bull-calf. Fal. Go to: well. Shal Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you have? Fal. Do you chufe for me. Shal. Marry then, Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble, and Shadow. Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf: for you, Mouldy, stay at home till you are past service: and for your part, Bull-calf, grow till you come unto it: I will none of you. Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong, they are your likelieft men, and I would have you ferv'd with the best. Fal. Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to chuse a man? care I for the limb, the thewes, the ftature, bulk and big semblance of a man? give me the spirit, mafter Shallow. Here's Wart; you see what a ragged appearance it is: he fhall charge you and discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off and on, fwifter than he that gibbets on the brewer's bucket. And this fame half-fac'd fellow Shadow, give me this man, he prefents no mark to the enemy; the fo-man may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife and, for a retreat, how fwiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off? O give me the fpare men, and spare me the great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph. Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver: fo, very well, go to, very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a little, lean, old, chopt, bald shot. Well faid, Wart, thou art a good scab: hold, there is a tefter for thee. Shal. He is not his craft-mafter, he doth not do it right. I remember at Mile-End Green, when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's Show; there was a little quiver fellow, and he would manage you his piece thus; and he would about, and about, and come you in, and come you in: rah, tah, tah, would he fay; bounce, would he fay, and away S 4 again again would he go, and again would he come: I fhall never see such a fellow. Fal. These fellows will do well. Mafter Shallow, God keep you; farewel, mafter Silence. I will not ufe many words with you, fare you well, gentlemen both. I thank you, I must a dozen mile to night. Bardolph, give the foldiers coats. Shal. Sir John, heaven bless you, and profper your affairs, and send us peace. As you return, vifit my house. Let our old acquaintance be renewed: peradventure, I will with you to the Court. Fal. I would you would, mafter Shallow. Shal. Go to: I have spoke at a word. Fare you well. [Exit. Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. On, Bardolph, lead the men away. "As I return, I will fetch "off these Juftices: I do fee the bottom of Juftice "Shallow. How fubject we old men are to this Vice "of lying! this fame ftarv'd Justice hath done no"thing but prated to me of the wildness of his youth, "and the feats he hath done about Turnbal-ftreet; "and every third word a lie, more duly paid to the "hearer than the Turk's tribute. I do remember him "at Clement's Inn, like a man made after fupper of a cheese-paring. When he was naked, he was for all "the world like a forked radifh, with a head fantasti 66 2 cally carv'd upon it with a knife. He was fo for"lorn, that his dimenfions to any thick fight were "invincible. He was the very Genius of famine, yet leacherous as a Monkey, and the whores call'd him Mandrake: he came ever in the rere-ward of the fafhion; and fung those tunes to the over-fcutcht hufwives that he heard the carmen whiftle, and fware they were his Fancies, or his Good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger become a Squire, and talks as familiarly of John of Gaunt as if he had been fworn brother 2 Over-feutcht] i. e, whipt, carted. Mr. Pope. to |