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sooner it wears. That thou art my son, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my own opinion; but chiefly, a villanous trick of thine eye, and a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me. If then thou be son to me, here lies the point.-Why, being son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher,' and eat blackberries? A question not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief, and take purses? A question to be asked. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch. This pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth defile; so doth the company thou keepest ; for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink, but in tears; not in pleasure, but in passion; not in words only, but in woes also.-And yet there is a virtuous man, whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not his name.

P. Hen. What manner of man, an it like your majesty?

Fal. A good portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent; of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most noble carriage; and, as I think, his age some fifty, or by'r lady, inclining to threescore., And now I remember me, his name is Falstaff: if that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for, Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit, by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff; him keep with, the rest banish. And tell me now, thou naughty varlet, tell me, where hast thou been this month?

P. Hen. Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I'll play my father.

Fal. Depose me? If thou dost it half so gravely, so majestically, both in word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbet-sucker, or a poulter's hare.

1 A micher here signifies a truant. So in an old phrase book, Hormanni Vulgaria, 1509:-" He is a mychar; vagus est non discolus." To mich was to skulk, to hide; and hence the word sometimes also signified a skulking thief, and sometimes a miser.

2 A young rabbit.

P. Hen. Well, here I am set.

Fal. And here I stand;-judge, my masters.
P. Hen. Now, Harry, whence come you?
Fal. My noble lord, from Eastcheap.

P. Hen. The complaints I hear of thee are grievous. Fal. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false.-Nay, I'll tickle ye for a young prince, i' faith.

3

P. Hen. Swear'st thou, ungracious boy? Henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace; there is a devil haunts thee, in the likeness of a fat old man; a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humors, that bolting-hutch1 of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard 2 of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that gray iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty, but in villany? wherein villanous, but in all things? wherein worthy, but in nothing?

Fal. I would your grace would take me with you." Whom means your grace?

P. Hen. That villanous, abominable misleader of youth, Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan.

Fal. My lord, the man I know.

P. Hen. I know thou dost.

Fal. But to say I know more harm in him than in myself, were to say more than I know. That he is old, (the more the pity,) his white hairs do witness it; but that he is (saving your reverence) a whoremaster, that I utterly deny. If sack and sugar be a fault, God

1 The machine which separates flour from bran.

2 A bombard was a very large leathern vessel to hold drink; perhaps so called from its similarity to a sort of cannon of the same name.

3 Manningtree, in Essex, formerly enjoyed the privilege of fairs, by exhibiting a certain number of stage-plays yearly. It appears from other intimations that there were great festivities there, and much good eating at Whitsun ales, &c.

4 i. e. go no faster than I can follow.

help the wicked! If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know, is damned; if to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaoh's lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord; banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins; but for sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more valiant, being as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not him thy Harry's company; banish plump Jack, and banish all the world.

P. Hen. I do, I will.

[A knocking heard. [Exeunt Hostess, FRANCIS, and BARDOLPH.

Re-enter BARDOLPH, running.

Bard. O, my lord, my lord; the sheriff, with a most monstrous watch, is at the door.

Fal. Out, you rogue! Play out the play; I have much to say in the behalf of that Falstaff.

Re-enter Hostess, hastily.

Host. O Jesu, my lord! my lord!

Fal. Heigh, heigh! the devil rides upon a fiddlestick. What's the matter?

Host. The sheriff and all the watch are at the door; they are come to search the house. Shall I let them in ?

Fal. Dost thou hear, Hal? Never call a true piece of gold, a counterfeit; thou art essentially mad, without seeming so.

P. Hen. And thou a natural coward, without instinct. Fal. I deny your major. If you will deny the sheriff, so; if not, let him enter; if I become not a cart as well as another man, a plague on my bringing up! I hope I shall as soon be strangled with a halter as another.

P. Hen. Go, hide thee behind the arras;1—the

1 When arras was first brought into England, it was suspended on small hooks driven into the walls of houses and castles; but this practice was soon discontinued. After the damp of the stone and brickwork had

rest walk up above. Now, my masters, for a true face, and good conscience.

Fal. Both which I have had; but their date is out, and therefore I'll hide me.

[Exeunt all but the Prince and POINS.

P. Hen. Call in the sheriff.

Enter Sheriff and Carrier.

Now, master sheriff, what's your will with me?
Sher. First, pardon me, my lord. A hue and
Hath followed certain men unto this house.

P. Hen. What men?

cry

Sher. One of them is well known, my gracious lord, A gross, fat man.

Car.

As fat as butter.

P. Hen. The man, I do assure you, is not here; For I myself at this time have employed him. And, sheriff, I will engage my word to thee, That I will, by to-morrow dinner time, Send him to answer thee, or any man, For any thing he shall be charged withal; And so let me entreat you leave the house.

Sher. I will, my lord. There are two gentlemen

Have in this robbery lost three hundred marks.

P. Hen. It may be so; if he have robbed these men, He shall be answerable; and so, farewell. Sher. Good night, my noble lord.

P. Hen. I think it is good morrow; is it not? Sher. Indeed, my lord, I think it be two o'clock. [Exeunt Sheriff and Carrier. P. Hen. This oily rascal is known as well as Paul's.1 Go call him forth.

Poins. Falstaff!-Fast asleep behind the arras, and snorting like a horse.

been found to rot the tapestry, it was fixed on frames of wood at such distance from the wall as prevented the damp from being injurious; large spaces were thus left between the arras and the walls, sufficient to contain even one of Falstaff's bulk. Our old dramatists avail themselves of this convenient hiding-place upon all occasions.

1 St. Paul's cathedral.

P. Hen. Hark, how hard he fetches breath! Search

his pockets. [POINS searches.] What hast thou

found?

Poins. Nothing but papers, my lord.

P. Hen. Let's see what they be read them.
Poins. Item, A capon, 2s. 2d.

Item, Sauce, 4d.

Item, Sack, two gallons, 5s. 8d.1

Item, Anchovies, and sack after supper, 2s. 6d.
Item, Bread, a halfpenny.

P. Hen. O monstrous! but one halfpenny-worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!-What there is else, keep close; we'll read it at more advantage: there let him sleep till day. I'll to the court in the morning; we must all to the wars, and thy place shall be honorable. I'll procure this fat rogue a charge of foot; and, I know, his death will be a mark of twelve score. The money shall be paid back again with advantage. Be with me betimes in the morning; and so good morrow, Poins.

2

Poins. Good morrow, good my lord.

[Exeunt.

1 In a very curious letter from Thomas Rainolds, vice-chancellor of Oxford, in 1566, to cardinal Pole, among the Conway Papers, he entreats the suppression of some of the wine taverns in Oxford, and states, as one of his reasons, that "they sell Gascony wine at 16d. a gallon, sacke at 2s. 4d. per gallon, and Malvoisie at 2s. 6d. to the utter ruin of the poor students." In Florio's First Frutes, 1578:-" Claret wine, red and white, is sold for fivepence the quarte, and sacke for sixpence; muscadel and malmsey for eight." Twenty years afterwards, sack had probably risen to eightpence or eightpence halfpenny a quart, which would make the computation of five shillings and eightpence for two gallons correct. To the note on sack, at p. 463, we may add that sack is called Vinum Hispanicum by Coles, and Vin d'Espagne by Sherwood. In Florio's Second Frutes it is Vino de Spagna.

2 A score, in the language of Toxopholites, was twenty yards. A mark of twelve score, meant a mark at a distance of two hundred and forty yards.

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