2

Pift. 'Tis femper idem; for abfque hoc nihil eft. 'Tis all in all, and all in every part.

Skal. 'Tis fo, indeed.

Pift. My Knight, I will enflame thy noble liver, and make thee rage.

Thy Dol and Helen of thy noble thoughts

Is in bafe durance and contagious prifon;
Haul'd thither by mechanick dirty hands.

Rowze up revenge from Ebon den, with fell Alecto's fnake,

For Dol is in. Piftol fpeaks nought but truth.

Fal. I will deliver her.

Pift. There roar'd the fea; and trumpet-clangour

founds.

SCENE

VIII.

The Trumpets found. Enter the King, and his train. Fal. God fave thy Grace, King Hal, my royal Hal! Pift. The heav'ns thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

Fal: God fave thee, my sweet boy!

King. My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man. Ch. Juft. Have you your wits? know you, what 'tis you fpeak?

Fal. My King, my Jove, I fpeak to thee, my heart! King. I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers: How ill white hairs become a fool and jefter! I have long dream'd of fuch a kind of man, So furfeit-fwell'd, fo old, and fo profane;

2 'Tis all in every part.] The fentence alluded to is, 'Tis all in all, and all in every part.

And fo doubtless it fhould be read. 'I'is a common way of expreffing one's approbation of a right measure, to fay, 'tis all in all. To which this phantaftic character adds, with fome humour, and all in every part: which, both together, make up the philofophic fentence, and compleat the abfurdity of Piftol's phrafeology.

But,

dream.

But, being awake, I do defpife my
Make less thy body, (hence!) and more thy grace;
Leave gormandizing. Know, the Grave doth gape
For thee, thrice wider than for other men.
Reply not to me with a fool-born jeft;
Prefume not, that I am the thing I was:
For heav'n doth know, fo fhall the world perceive,
That I have turn'd away my former felf,
So will I thofe that kept me company.
When thou doft hear I am as I have been,
Approach me, and thou fhalt be as thou waft,
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 mif-leaders,
Not to come near our perfon by ten miles.
For competence of life, I will allow you,
That lack of means enforce you not to Evil:
And as we hear you do reform your felves,
We will according to your ftrengths and qualities
Give
you advancement. Be't
Be't your charge, my lord,

3 Know, the Grave doth gape

For thee, thrice wider than for other men.

Reply not to me with a fool-born jeft;] Nature is highly touched in this paffage. The king having fhaken off his vani ies, fchools his old companion for his follies with great feverity: he affumes the air of a preacher; bids him fall to his prayers, feek grace, and leave gormandizing. But that word unluckily prefenting him with a pleasant idea, he cannot forbear pursuing it. Know, the Grave doth gape for thee thrice wider, &c. and is just falling back into Hal, by an humourous allufion to Falstaff's bulk; but he perceives it immediately, and fearing Sir John fhould take the advantage of it, checks both himself and the knight, with

Reply not to me with a fool born jeft;

and fo refumes the thread of his difcourfe, and goes moralizing on to the end of the chapter. Thus the poet copies nature with great skill, and fhews us how apt men are to fall back into their old cuftoms, when the change is not made by degrees, and bought into a habit, but determined of at once on the motives of honour, intereft or reason.

To fee perform'd the tenour of our word.
Set on.

SCENE

[Ex. King, &c.

IX.

Fal. Mafter 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, Mr. Shallow. Do not you grieve at this; I fhall be fent 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. I cannot perceive how, unless you give me your doublet, and ftuff me out with ftraw. I befeech 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 fhall be fent for foon at night.

Enter Chief Justice and Prince John.

Ch. Juft. Go, carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet, Take all his company along with him.

Fal. My lord, my lord,

Ch. Juft. I cannot now fpeak, I will hear you foon. Take them away.

Pift. Si fortuna me (a) tormenta, il fperare me contenta.

[Exeunt.

[(a) - tormenta, il fperare me contenta. Oxford Editor-Vulg. turmento fpera me contento.]

Manent

Manent Lancaster, and Chief Justice.

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

Shall all be very well provided for;

But they are banifh'd, till their converfations
Appear more wife and modeft to the world.
Ch. Juft. And fo they are.

Lan. The King hath call'd his Parliament, my lord,
Ch. Juft. He hath.

Lan. I will lay odds, that ere this year expire,
We bear our civil fwords and native fire

As far as France. I heard a bird so fing,

Whose musick, to my thinking, pleas'd the King.
Come, will you hence?

[Exeunt.

EPILOGUE.

EPILOGUE.

F

Spoken by a DANCER.

IRST, my fear; then, my court fie; laft, my fpeech. My fear is your difpleasure; my court' fie, my duty; and my fpeech, to beg your pardons. If you If you look for a good speech now, you undo me; for what I have to fay is of mine own making, and what, indeed, I should say, will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and fo to the venture. Be it known to you,

(as it is very well) I was lately here in the end of a difpleafing Play, to pray your patience for it, and to promife you a better. I did mean, indeed, to pay you with this; which if, like an ill venture, it come unluckily home, I break; and you, my gentle creditors, lofe. Here, I promifed you, I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies: bate me fome, and 1 will pay you fome, and, as moft debtors do, promise you infinitely.

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 confcience will make any poffible fatisfaction, and fo will I. All the gentlewomen bere have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in fuch an affembly.

One word more, I beseech you; if you be not too much clay'd with fat meat, our bumble author will continue the ftory with Sir John in it, and make you merry with