King. No!

How might a prince of my great hopes forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison The immediate heir of England! Was this easy?3 May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?

Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your father; The image of his power lay then in me: And, in the administration of his law, Whiles I was busy for the commonwealth, Your highness pleased to forget my place, The majesty and power of law and justice, The image of the king whom I presented, And struck me in my very seat of judgment; Whereon, as an offender to your father, gave bold way to my authority,

I

4

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person:
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son:"
Hear your own dignity so much profan'd,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdained;

And then imagine me taking your part,

3 — Was this easy?] That is, was this not grievous? Shakspeare has easy in this sense elsewhere. JOHNSON.

To trip the course of law,] To defeat the process of justice;

a metaphor taken from the act of tripping a runner.

And mock your workings in a second body.] To treat with contempt your acts executed by a representative.

6

and propose a son:] i. e. image to yourself a son, contrive for a moment to think you have one.

And, in your power, soft silencing your son:
After this cold considerance, sentence me;
And, as you are a king, speak in your state,7
What I have done, that misbecame my place,
My person, or my liege's sovereignty.

King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this well;

Therefore still bear the balance, and the sword:
And I do wish your honours may increase,
Till you do live to see a son of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.
So shall I live to speak my father's words;-
Happy am I, that have a man so bold,
That dares do justice on my proper son:
And not less happy, having such a son,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hands of justice.-You did commit me:
For which, I do commit into your hand
The unstained sword that you have us❜d to bear;
With this remembrance,8-That you use the same
With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit,
There is my hand;
You shall be as a father to my youth:

As you have done 'gainst me.

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear; And I will stoop and humble my intents

To your well-practis'd, wise directions.

And, princes all, believe me, I beseech you ;—
My father is gone wild' into his grave,

For in his tomb lie my affections;

7 in your state,] In your regal character and office, not with the passion of a man interested, but with the impartiality of a legislator. JOHNSON.

8 remembrance,] That is, admonition.

9 My father is gone wild-] The meaning is-My wild dispositions having ceased on my father's death, and being now as it were buried in his tomb, he and wildness are interred in the same grave.

And with his spirit sadly I survive,'
To mock the expectation of the world;
To frustrate prophecies; and to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. The tide of blood in me
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity, till now:
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the sea;
Where it shall mingle with the state of floods,'
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of parliament:
And let us choose such limbs of noble counsel,
That the great body of our state may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us ;-
In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.-
[To the Lord Chief Justice.

Our coronation done, we will aceite,

As I before remember'd, all our state:

And (God consigning to my good intents,)

No prince, nor peer, shall have just cause to say,— Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Glostershire. The Garden of Shallow's House.

Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, SILENCE, BARDolph, the Page, and DAVY.

Shal. Nay, you shall see mine orchard: where, in an arbour, we will eat a last year's pippin of my

1

with his spirit sadly I survive,] Sadly is the same as soberly, seriously, gravely. Sad is opposed to wild. JOHNSON. the state of floods,] i. e. dignity of floods, or of the

2

ocean.

own graffing, with a dish of carraways, and so forth;-come, cousin Silence;-and then to bed.

Fal. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling,

and a rich.

Shal. Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all, sir John:-marry, good air.-Spread, Davy; spread, Davy; well said, Davy.

Fal. This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving-man, and your husbandman.

Shal. A good varlet, a good varlet, a very good varlet, sir John.-By the mass, I have drunk too much sack at supper:A good varlet. Now sit down, now sit down:-come, cousin.

Sil. Ah, sirrah! quoth-a,-we shall

Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer, [Singing.
And praise heaven for the merry year ;
When flesh is cheap and females dear,'
And lusty lads roam here and there,
So merrily,

And ever among so merrily.

Fal. There's a merry heart!-Good master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

Shal. Give master Bardolph some wine, Davy. Davy. Sweet sir, sit; [Seating BARDOLPH and the Page at another table.] I'll be with you anon:most sweet sir, sit.- -Master page, good master page, sit: proface! What you want in meat, we'll have in drink. But you must bear; The heart's all.'

[Exit.

3 and females dear, &c.] This very natural character of Justice Silence is not sufficiently observed. He would scarcely speak a word before, and now there is no possibility of stopping his mouth.

4 proface!] Italian from profaccia; a cant term in Italy, that is, much good may it do you.

5

The heart's all.] That is, the intention with which the entertainment is given. The humour consists in making Davy act as master of the house. JOHNSON.

Shal. Be merry, master Bardolph;—and my little soldier there, be merry.

Sil. Be merry, be merry, my wife's as all;

[Singing.

For women are shrews, both short and tall: 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all, And welcome merry shrove-tide.

Be merry, be merry, &c.

Fal. I did not think, master Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Sil. Who I? I have been merry twice and once,

ere now.

Re-enter Davy.

Davy. There is a dish of leather-coats for you.

Shal. Davy,

[Setting them before BARDOLPH.

Davy. Your worship?-I'll be with you straight.

[TO BARD.]-A cup of wine, sir?

Sil. A cup of wine, that's brisk and fine,

And drink unto the leman mine;

And a merry heart lives long-a.

Fal. Well said, master Silence.

[Singing.

Sil. And we shall be merry;-now comes in the sweet of the night.

Fal. Health and long life to you, master Silence.
Sil. Fill the cup, and let it come;

I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.

Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: If thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart.— Welcome, my little tiny thief; [To the Page.] and welcome, indeed, too. I'll drink to master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes' about London.

9-leather-coats-] The apple commonly denominated russetine, in Devonshire, is called the buff-coat.

7

cavaleroes-] This was the term by which an airy,