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harm upon ine, Hal,-God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give it over; by the lord, an I do not, I am a villain; I'll be damn'd for never a king's fon in Christendom. P. Henry. Where fhall we take a purfe to-morrow, Jack?

Fal. Where thou wilt, lad, I'll make one; an I do not, call me villain, and baffle me".

P. Henry. I fee a good amendment of life in thee; from praying, to purfe-taking.

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Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no

fin

and baffle me.] See Mr. Tollet's note on K. Rich. II. act I. fc. i. STEEVENS.

"In former editions:

Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no fin for a man to labour in his vocation.

Enter Poins.

Poins. Now hall we know, if Gadshill have fet a match.] Mr. Pope has given us one fignal obfervation in his preface to our author's works. 66 Throughout his plays," fays he, " had all the fpeeches been printed without the very names of the perfons, I believe one might have applied them with certainty to every speaker." But how fallible the moft fufficient critic may be, the paffage in controverfy is a main inftance. As fignal a blunder has efcaped all the editors here, as any through the whole set of plays. Will any one perfuade me, Shakespeare could be guilty of fuch an inconfiftency, as to make Poins at his first entrance want news of Gadshill, and immediately after to be able to give a full account of him? -No; Falstaff, feeing Poins at hand, turns the ftream of his discourse from the prince, and fays: "Now shall we know, whether Gadshill has fet a match for us ;" and then immediately falls into railing and invectives against Poins. How admirably is this in character for Falstaff! And Poins, who knew well his abufive manner, feems in part to overhear him: and fo foon as he has returned the prince's falutation, cries, by way of anfwer: "What fays Monfieur Remorfe? What fays fir Jack Sack-and-Sugar?"

THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald has faftened on an observation made by Mr. -Pope, hyperbolical enough, but not contradicted by the erroneous reading in this place, the fpeech, like a thoufand others, not be

fin for a man to labour in his vocation. Poins!Now fhall we know, if Gadshill have fet a match'. O, if men were to be fav'd by merit, what hole in hell were hot enough for him?

Enter Poins.

This is the moft omnipotent villain, that ever cry'd, Stand, to a true man.

P. Henry. Good morrow, Ned.

Poins. Good morrow, fweet Hal.-What fays monfieur Remorfe? What fays fir John Sack-and-Sugar? Jack, how agrees the devil and thee about thy foul, that thou foldeft him on Good-friday laft, for a cup of Madeira, and a cold capon's leg?

P. Henry. Sir John ftands to his word, the devil fhall have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs, He will give the devil his due.

Poins. Then art thou damn'd for keeping thy word with the devil.

P. Henry. Elfe he had been damn'd for cozening the devil.

Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four o'clock, early at Gadshill: There are pilgrims going to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London with fat purfes: I have vifors for you all, you have horses for yourselves : Gadshill lies to-night in Rochefter; I have bespoke fupper to-morrow night in East-cheap; we may do it as fecure as fleep: If you will go, I will ftuff your purfes full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home, and be hang'd.

ing fo characteristic as to be infallibly applied to the speaker. Theobald's triumph over the other editors might have been abated by a confeffion, that the first edition gave him at least a glimpse of the emendation. JOHNSON.

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a match.-] Thus the quartos 1599, and 16c8. The folio reads:

a watch, STEEVENS.

Fal

Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home, and go not, I'll hang you for going. Poins. You will, chops?

Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?

P. Henry. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.

Fal. There's neither honefty, manhood, nor good fellowship in thee, nor thou cam'ft not of the blood royal, if thou dar'ft not stand for ten fhillings.

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P. Henry. Well then, once in my days I'll be a mad-cap.

Fal. Why, that's well faid.

P. Henry. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home. Fal. By the lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

P. Henry. I care not.

Poins: Sir John, I pr'ythee, leave the prince and me alone; I will lay him down fuch reafons for this adventure, that he shall go.

Fal. Well, may'ft thou have the spirit of perfuafion, and he the ears of profiting, that what thou fpeakeft may move, and what he hears may be believed, that the true prince may (for recreation fake) prove a falfe thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewel: You fhall find me in Eaft-cheap.

P. Henry. Farewel, thou latter fpring! farewel All-hallown fummer?! [Exit Falstaff.

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Poins.

if thou dar'ft not cry, and, &c.] The prefent reading may perhaps be right; but I think it neceffary to remark, that all the old editions read:-if thou dar'ft not ftand for ten fillings. JOHNSON.

Falstaff is quibbling on the word royal. The real or royal was of the value of ten fillings. Almoft the fame jeft occurs in a fubfequent fcene. The quibble, however, is loft, except the old reading be preferved. Cry, ftand, will not fupport it. STEEVENS.

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All-hallown fummer!] All-hallows is All-hallown-tide, or All-faints' day, which is the first of November. We have ftill a church

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Poins. Now, my good fweet honey lord, ride with us to-morrow; I have a jeft to execute, that I cannot manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill, fhall rob those men that we have already way-laid; yourself, and I, will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head from my fhoulders.

P. Henry. But how fhall we part with them in setting forth?

Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they adventure

a church in London which is abfurdly filed St. All-hallows, as if a word which was formed to exprefs the community of faints, could be appropriated to any particular one of the number. In The Play of the four Ps, 1569, this mistake (which might have been a common one) is pleasantly expofed :

"Pard. Friends, here you fhall fee, even anone,

"Of All-hallows the bleffed jaw-bone,

"Kifs it hardly, with good devotion: &c."

The characters in this fcéne are striving who fhould produce the greateft falfhood, and very probably in their attempts to excell each other, have out-ly'd even the Romish Kalendar.

Shakespeare's allufion is defign'd to ridicule an old man with youthful paffions. So, in the fecond part of this play: "the Martlemas your mafter." STEEVENS.

In former editions:

Falftaff, Harvey, Rofil, and Gadhill, fhall rob thefe men that we have already way-laid;] Thus we have two perfons named, as characters in this play, that never were among the dramatis perfona. But let us fee who they were that committed this robbery. In the fecond act we come to a scene of the highway. Falstaff, wanting his horfe, calls out on Hal, Poins, Bardolph, and Pero. Prefently Gadshill joins them, with intelligence of travellers being at hand; upon which the prince fays: You four Shall front 'em in a narrow lane, Ned Poins and I will walk lower. So that the four, to be concerned are Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadfhill. Accordingly, the robbery is committed; and the prince and Poins afterwards rob thefe four. In the Boar's-head tavern, the prince rallies Peto and Bardolph for their running away, who confefs the charge. Is it not plain that Bardolph and Peto were two of the four robbers? And who then can doubt, but Harvey and Roffil were the names of the actors, THEOBALD.

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upon the exploit themselves: which they fhall have no fooner atchieved, but we'll set upon them.

P. Henry. Ay, but, 'tis like, that they will know us, by our horses, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves.

Poins. Tut! our horfes they fhall not fee, I'll tie them in the wood; our vifors we will change, after we leave them; and, firrah, I have cafes of buckram 2 for the nonce, to immafk our noted outward gar

ments.

us.

P. Henry. But, I doubt, they will be too hard for

Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turn'd back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he fees reason, I'll forfwear arms. The virtue of this jeft will be, the incomprehenfible lies that this fame fat rogue will tell us, when we meet at fupper: how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and, in the 'reproof of this, lies the jeft.

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P. Henry. Well, I'll go with thee; provide us all things neceffary, and meet me to-morrow night in Eaft-cheap, there I'll fup. Farewel.

Poins. Farewel, my lord.

[Exit Poins.

2 -for the nonce, -] That is, as I conceive, for the occafion. This phrafe, which was very frequently, though not always very precifely, ufed by our old writers, I fuppofe to have been originally a corruption of corrupt Latin. From pro-nunc, I fuppofe, came for the nunc, and fo for the nonce; just as from adnunc came a-non. The Spanish entonces has been formed in the fame manner from in-tunc. TYRWHITT.

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4

-- to

reproof] Reproof is confutation. JOHNSON. -to-morrow night. -] I think we fhould read: night. The difguifes were to be provided for the purpose of the robbery which was to be committed at four in the morning; and they would come too late if the prince was not to receive them 'till the night after the day of the exploit. This is a fecond inftance to prove that Shakespeare could forget in the end of a scene what he had faid in the beginning. STEEVENS.

P. Henry.

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