on. Host. Say, what thing? what thing? FAL. What thing? why, a thing to thank God HOST. I am no thing to thank God on, I would thou fhould't know it; I am an honeft man's wife: and, setting thy knighthood aside, thou art a knave to call me fo. FAL. Setting thy womanhood afide, thou art a beast to say otherwise, Hosr. Say, what beaft, thou knave thou? P. HEN. An otter, fir John! why an otter? FAL. Why? fhe's neither fish, nor flesh;3 a man knows not where to have her. "And while it is the chance of Robin Hoode "Mat. I am contented; reade on, little John: This lady was afterwarde poisoned by King John at Dunmow Priory, after he had made feveral fruitless attempts on her chastity. Drayton has written her legend. Shakspeare fpeaks of maid Marian in her degraded ftate, when fhe was reprefented by a ftrumpet or a clown. See Figure 2. in the plate at the end of this play, with Mr. Tollet's obfervations on it. STEEVENS. Maid Marian feems to have been the lady of a Whitfun-ale, or morris-dance. The widow in Sir William D'Avenant's Love and Honour, (p. 247,) fays: "I have been Miftrefs Marian in a Maurice ere now.' Morris is, indeed, there fpelt wrong; the dance was not fo called from prince Maurice, but from the Spanish morisco, a dancer of the morris or moorish dance. HAWKINS. or 12 There is an old piece entitled, Old Meg of Herefordshire for a Mayd-Marian, and Hereford Town for a Morris-dance: Morris-dancers in Herefordshire, of 1200 Years old. Lond. 1609, quarto. It is dedicated to one Hall, a celebrated Tabourer in that country. T. WARTON. 3 neither fib, nor flesh;] So, the proverb: nor flesh, nor good red herring." STERVENS. "Neither f Hosr. Thou art an unjust man in saying fo; thou or any man knows where to have me, thou knave thou! P. HEN. Thou fay'ft true, hostess; and he flanders thee moft grofsly. Host. So he doth you, my lord; and faid this other day, you ought him a thousand pound. P. HEN. Sirrah, do I owe you a thousand pound? FAL. A thousand pound, Hal? a million: thy love is worth a million; thou oweft me thy love. HOST. Nay, my lord, he call'd you Jack, and said, he would cudgel you. FAL. Did I, Bardolph? BARD. Indeed, fir John, you faid fo. FAL. Yea; if he faid, my ring was copper. P. HEN. I fay, 'tis copper: Dareft thou be as good as thy word now? FAL. Why, Hal, thou know'ft, as thou art but man, I dare: but, as thou art prince, I fear thee, as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp. P. HEN. And why not, as the lion? FAL. The king himself is to be fear'd as the lion: Doft thou think, I'll fear thee as I fear thy father? nay, an I do, I pray God, my girdle break! I pray God, my girdle break!] Alluding to the old adage" ungirt, unbleft." Thus, in the Phantaftick Age, bl. 1. an ancient ballad: "Ungirt, unbleft, the proverbe fayes, Have got a fashion now adayes "Like Frenchmen, all on points they ftand, "No girdles now they wear," &c. Perhaps this ludicrous imprecation is proverbial. So, in 'Tis merry when Gofips meet, a poem, 4to. 1609: P. HEN. O, if it fhould, how would thy guts fall about thy knees! But, firrah, there's no room for faith, truth, nor honesty, in this bofom of thine; it is all fill'd up with guts, and midriff. Charge an honest woman with picking thy pocket! Why, thou whorefon, impudent, emboss'd rascal,' if there were any thing in thy pocket but tavern-reckonings, memorandums of bawdy-houfes, and one poor pennyworth of fugar-candy to make thee longwinded; if thy pocket were enrich'd with any other injuries but thefe, I am a villain." And yet you will stand to it; you will not pocket up wrong: Art thou not afham'd? FAL. Doft thou hear, Hal? thou know'ft, in the ftate of innocency, Adam fell; and what fhould poor Jack Falftaff do, in the days of villainy? Thou feeft, I have more flesh than another man; and therefore more frailty.You confefs then, you pick'd my pocket? P. HEN. It appears fo by the ftory. "How fay'ft thou, Beffe? fhall it be fo, girle? fpeake: "If I make one, pray God my girdle break!" STEEVENS. This with had more force formerly than at prefent, it being once the custom to wear the purfe hanging by the girdle; fo that its breaking, if not observed by the wearer, was a ferious matter. MALONE. simpudent, embofs'd rafcal,] Embofs'd is fwoln, puffy. So, in King Lear: JOHNSON. "A plague-fore, or emboffed carbuncle." STEEVENS. 6 if thy pocket avere enrich'd with any other injuries but thefe, &c.] As the pocketing of injuries was a common phrase, I fuppofe, the Prince calls the contents of Falstaff's pocket—injuries. STEEVENS. 7 -you will not pocket up wrong:] Some part of this merry dialogue feems to have been loft. I fuppofe Falstaff in preffing the robbery upon his hoftefs, had declared his refolution not to pocket up wrongs or injuries, to which the Prince alludes. JOHNSON. FAL. Hoftefs, I forgive thee: Go, make ready breakfaft; love thy husband, look to thy fervants, cherish thy guests: thou fhalt find me tractable to any honeft reafon: thou feeft, I am pacified.— Still? Nay, pr'ythee, be gone. [Exit Hoftefs.] Now, Hal, to the news at court: for the robbery, lad,-How is that answer'd? P. HEN. O, my fweet beef, I muft ftill be good angel to thee:-The money is paid back again. FAL. O, I do not like that paying back, 'tis a double labour. P. HEN. I am good friends with my father, and may do any thing. FAL. Rob me the exchequer the first thing thou do'st, and do it with unwash'd hands too.3 BARD. Do, my lord. P. HEN. I have procured thee, Jack, a charge of foot. FAL. I would, it had been of horfe. Where fhall I find one that can fteal well? O for a fine thief, of the age of two and twenty, or thereabouts! I am heinously unprovided. Well, God be thanked for these rebels, they offend none but the virtuous; I laud them, I praise them. P. HEN. Bardolph,— 8 do it with unwash'd hands too.] i. e. Do it immediately, So, in The More the Merrier, a collection of Epigrams, 1608: "Fall to ere wash'd his hands, or faid his prayers.' I cannot accede to this explanation. It appears to me that Sulsteft means to Jays, do it without retracting, or repenting offit, when a man is unwilling to engage in à bwiness proposed to lm, or to go I wash. all lengths in it, it is a common expression to say, - I find that when band's of it; & in the Gospel of St Matthew Pilate was forced to condemn Christ by the tumult of the multitude," he took water, and washed his hands saying,; innocent of the blood of this just person. And in Richard. P. HEN. Go bear this letter to lord John of Lancaster, My brother John; this to my lord of Weftmore land. Go, Poins, to horse, to horse; for thou, and I, Meet me to-morrow i' the Temple-hall At two o'clock i'the afternoon: There fhalt thou know thy charge; and there receive Money, and order for their furniture. The land is burning; Percy ftands on high; [Exeunt Prince, POINS, and BARDolph. FAL. Rare words! brave world!-Hoftefs, my breakfast; come: O, I could wish, this tavern were my drum! [Exit. 9 Poins, to horfe,] I cannot but think that Peto is again put for Poins. I fuppofe the old copy had only a P. We have Peto afterwards, not riding with the Prince, but lieutenant to Falftaff. JOHNSON. I have adopted Dr. Johnfon's emendation. STEEVENS. The old copies read-Go, Peto, to horfe. In further fupport of Dr. Johnfon's emendation, it may be observed, that Poins fuits the metre of the line, which would be destroyed by a word of two fyllables. MALONE. M m 4 the second Murderer says -a blobby deed! fain, like Dilate, would I wash my hands This most griecus quilly murder done.” Me Mason |