2

black George Bare, and Francis Pickbone, and Will Squele, a Cotswold man,'-you had not four such swinge-bucklers in all the inns of court again: and, I may say to you, we knew where the bona-robas 3 were; and had the best of them all at commandment. Then was Jack Falstaff, now sir John, a boy, and page to Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk.

Sil. This sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon about soldiers?

5

4

Shal. The same sir John, the very same. I saw him break Skogan's head at the court gate, when he was a crack, not thus high; and the very same day did I fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn. O, the mad days that I have spent! and to see how many of mine old acquaintance are dead!

Sil. We shall all follow, cousin.

Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all: all shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair? Sil. Truly, cousin, I was not there.

Shal. Death is certain.-Is old Double of your town living yet?

Sil. Dead, sir.

Shal. Dead!-See, see!-he drew a good bow:And dead!-he shot a fine shoot:-John of Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on his head. Dead! he would have clapped i' the clout at twelve score; and carried you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would have done a

6

1 The Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire were famous for rural sports of all kinds.

2 Swinge-bucklers and swash-bucklers were terms implying rakes and rioters.

3"Buona-roba as we say, good stuff; a good, wholesome, plump-cheeked wench." Florio.

4 Shakspeare probably got his idea of Scogan from his jests, which were published by Andrew Borde in the reign of king Henry VIII. 5 A crack is a boy.

6 Hit the white mark at twelve score yards. By the statute 33 Hen. VIII. c. 9, every person turned of seventeen years of age, who shoots at a less distance than twelve score, is to forfeit six shillings and eight pence.

man's heart good to see.

now?

-How a score of ewes

Sil. Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds.

Shal. And is old Double dead?

Enter BARDOLPH, and one with him.

Sil. Here come two of sir John Falstaff's men, as I think.

Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you, which is justice Shallow?

Shal. I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this county, and one of the king's justices of the peace. What is your good pleasure with me?

Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you; my captain, sir John Falstaff; a tall gentleman, by Heaven, and a most gallant leader.

Shal. He greets me well, sir: I knew him a good backsword-man. How doth the good knight? may I ask how my lady his wife doth?

Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated, than with a wife.

Shal. It is well said, in faith, sir; and it is well said indeed too. Better accommodated!-it is good: yea, indeed, it is; good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable. Accommodated!-it comes from accommodo: very good; a good phrase.1

Bard. Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase, call you it? By this good day, I know not the phrase; but I will maintain the word with my sword, to be a soldierlike word, and a word of exceeding good command. Accommodated: that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated; or, when a man is,-being,-whereby, he may be thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing.

It appears that it was fashionable in the Poet's time to introduce this word accommodate upon all occasions. Ben Jonson, in his Discoveries, calls it one of the perfumed terms of the time.

Enter FALSTAFF.

Shal. It is very just.-Look, here comes good sir John. Give me your good hand, give me your worship's good hand. By my troth, you look well, and bear your years very well: welcome, good sir John. Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master Robert Shallow.-Master Sure-card, as I think.

Shal. No, sir John: it is my cousin Silence, in commission with me.

Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you should be of the peace.

Sil. Your good worship is welcome.

Fal. Fie! this is hot weather.-Gentlemen, have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient men? Shal. Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit? Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you.

So, so, so, so: them appear as -Let me see;

Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the roll?-Let me see, let me see. Yea, marry, sir.-Ralph Mouldy:-let I call; let them do so, let them do so.where is Mouldy?

Moul. Here, an't please you.

Shal. What think you, sir John? a good-limbed fellow; young, strong, and of good friends.

Fal. Is thy name Mouldy?

Moul. Yea, an't please you.

Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert used.

Shal. Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i' faith! things that are mouldy, lack use. Very singular good!-In faith, well said, sir John; very well said.

Fal. Prick him. [To SHALLOW. Moul. I was pricked well enough before, an you could have let me alone; my old dame will be undone now, for one to do her husbandry, and her drudgery; you need not to have pricked me; there are other men fitter to go out than I.

Fal. Go to; peace, Mouldy, you shall it is time you were spent. Moul. Spent!

go. Mouldy,

Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside. Know you where you are ?-For the other, sir John,-let me see. Simon Shadow !

Fal. Ay, marry, let me have him to sit under; he's like to be a cold soldier.

Shal. Where's Shadow?

Shad. Here, sir.

Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou?
Shad. My mother's son, sir.

Fal. Thy mother's son! like enough; and thy father's shadow; so the son of the female is the shadow of the male. It is often so, indeed; but not much of the father's substance.

Shal. Do you like him, sir John?

Fal. Shadow will serve for summer,-prick him ;for we have a number of shadows to fill up the muster book.

Shal. Thomas Wart!

Fal. Where's he?

Wart. Here, sir.

Fal. Is thy name Wart?

Wart. Yea, sir.

Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart.
Shal. Shall I prick him, sir John?

Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame stands 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!

Fee. Here, sir.

Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble?

Fee. A woman's tailor, sir.

Shal. Shall I prick him, sir?

Fal. You may; but if he had been a man's tailor, he would have pricked you.-Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battle, as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat?

Fee. I will do my good will, sir; you can have no

more.

Fal. Well said, good woman's tailor! well said,

courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse.-Prick the woman's tailor well, master Shallow; deep, master Shallow.

Fee. I would Wart might have gone, sir.

Fal. I would thou wert a man's tailor; that thou might'st mend him and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to a private soldier, that is the leader of so many thousands. Let that suffice, most forcible

Feeble.

Fee. It shall suffice, sir.

Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend. Feeble.-Who is next?

Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the green!

Fal. Yea, marry, let us see Bull-calf.

Bull. Here, sir.

Fal. 'Fore God, a likely fellow !-Come, prick me Bull-calf till he roar again.

Bull. O Lord! good my lord captain,

Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked? Bull. O Lord, sir! I am a diseased man.

Fal. What disease hast thou?

Bull. A whoreson cold, sir; a cough, sir; which I eaught with ringing in the king's affairs, upon his coronation-day, sir.

Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will take such order, that thy friends shall ring for thee.-Is here all?

Shal. Here is two more called than your number; you must have but four here, sir ;-and so, 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 see you, in good troth, master Shallow.

Shal. O, sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill in Saint George's Fields? Fal. No more of that, good master Shallow, no more of that.

1 There is, in fact, but one more called than Falstaff required; perhaps we might, with Mr. Capel, omit the word two.