Текст книги "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition"

Автор книги: William Shakespeare

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I should not die but in Jerusalem,

Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land;

But bear me to that chamber; there I’ll lie;

In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.

Exeunt, bearing the King in his bed

5.1 Enter Shallow, ⌈Silence,⌉ Sir John Falstaff, Bardolph, and the Page

SHALLOW (to Sir John ) By cock and pie, you shall not away tonight.—What, Davy, I say!

SIR JOHN You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.

SHALLOW I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused; excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve; you shall not be excused.—Why, Davy!

Enter Davy

DAVY Here, sir.

SHALLOW Davy, Davy, Davy; let me see, Davy; let me see. William Cook—bid him come hither.—Sir John, you shall not be excused.

DAVY Marry, sir, thus: those precepts cannot be served. And again, sir: shall we sow the headland with wheat?

SHALLOW With red wheat, Davy. But for William Cook; are there no young pigeons?

DAVY Yes, sir. Here is now the smith’s note for shoeing and plough-irons.

SHALLOW Let it be cast and paid. Sir John, you shall not be excused.

DAVY Sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be had; and, sir, do you mean to stop any of William’s wages, about the sack he lost at Hinkley Fair?

SHALLOW A shall answer it. Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of short-legged hens, a joint of mutton, and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, tell William Cook.

DAVY Doth the man of war stay all night, sir?

SHALLOW Yea, Davy. I will use him well; a friend i’th’ court is better than a penny in purse. Use his men well, Davy, for they are arrant knaves, and will backbite.

DAVY No worse than they are back-bitten, sir, for they have marvellous foul linen.

SHALLOW Well conceited, Davy. About thy business, Davy.

DAVY I beseech you, sir, to countenance William Visor of Wo’ncot against Clement Perks o’th’ Hill.

SHALLOW There is many complaints, Davy, against that Visor. That Visor is an arrant knave, on my knowledge.

DAVY I grant your worship that he is a knave, sir; but yet God forbid, sir, but a knave should have some countenance at his friend’s request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served your worship truly, sir, this eight years. An I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I have little credit with your worship. The knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore I beseech you let him be countenanced.

SHALLOW Go to; I say he shall have no wrong. Look about, Davy. ⌈Exit Davy⌉ Where are you, Sir John? Come, off with your boots.—Give me your hand, Master Bardolph.

BARDOLPH I am glad to see your worship. 49

SHALLOW I thank thee with all my heart, kind Master Bardolph. ⌈To the Page⌉ And welcome, my tall fellow.—Come, Sir John.

SIR JOHN I’ll follow you, good Master Robert Shallow.

Exit Shallow ⌈With Silence⌉

Bardolph, look to our horses. 54

Exit Bardolph ⌈With the Page⌉

If I were sawed into quantities, I should make four dozen of such bearded hermits’ staves as Master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to see the semblable coherence of his men’s spirits and his. They, by observing him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like servingman. Their spirits are so married in conjunction, with the participation of society, that they flock together in consent like so many wild geese. If I had a suit to Master Shallow, I would humour his men with the imputation of being near their master; if to his men, I would curry with Master Shallow that no man could better command his servants. It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught as men take diseases, one of another; therefore let men take heed of their company. I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow to keep Prince Harry in continual laughter the wearing out of six fashions—which is four terms, or two actions—and a shall laugh without intervallums. O, it is much that a lie with a slight oath, and a jest with a sad brow, will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him laugh till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up!

SHALLOW (within) Sir John!

SIR JOHN I come, Master Shallow; I come, Master Shallow.

Exit

5.2 Enter the Earl of Warwick ⌈at one door⌉, and the Lord Chief Justice ⌈at another door⌉

WARWICK

How now, my Lord Chief Justice, whither away ?

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE How doth the King ?

WARWICK

Exceeding well: his cares are now all ended.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I hope not dead.

WARWICK He’s walked the way of nature,

And to our purposes he lives no more.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I would his majesty had called me with him.

The service that I truly did his life

Hath left me open to all injuries.

WARWICK

Indeed I think the young King loves you not.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I know he doth not, and do arm myself

To welcome the condition of the time,

Which cannot look more hideously upon me

Than I have drawn it in my fantasy.

Enter Prince John of Lancaster, and the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester

WARWICK

Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry.

O, that the living Harry had the temper

Of he the worst of these three gentlemen !

How many nobles then should hold their places,

That must strike sail to spirits of vile sort !

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

O God, I fear all will be overturned.

PRINCE JOHN

Good morrow, cousin Warwick, good morrow.

GLOUCESTER and CLARENCE Good morrow, cousin.

PRINCE JOHN

We meet like men that had forgot to speak.

WARWICK

We do remember, but our argument

Is all too heavy to admit much talk.

PRINCE JOHN

Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Peace be with us, lest we be heavier I

GLOUCESTER

O good my lord, you have lost a friend indeed;

And I dare swear you borrow not that face

Of seeming sorrow—it is sure your own.

PRINCE JOHN (to Lord Chief Justice)

Though no man be assured what grace to find,

You stand in coldest expectation.

I am the sorrier; would ’twere otherwise.

CLARENCE (to Lord Chief Justice)

Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair,

Which swims against your stream of quality.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Sweet princes, what I did I did in honour,

Led by th’impartial conduct of my soul;

And never shall you see that I will beg

A ragged and forestalled remission.

If truth and upright innocency fail me,

I’ll to the King my master, that is dead,

And tell him who hath sent me after him.

Enter Prince Harry, as King

WARWICK Here comes the Prince.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

Good morrow, and God save your majesty I

PRINCE HARRY

This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,

Sits not so easy on me as you think.

Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear.

This is the English not the Turkish court;

Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,

But Harry Harry. Yet be sad, good brothers,

For, by my faith, it very well becomes you.

Sorrow so royally in you appears

That I will deeply put the fashion on,

And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad;

But entertain no more of it, good brothers,

Than a joint burden laid upon us all.

For me, by heaven, I bid you be assured

I’ll be your father and your brother too.

Let me but bear your love, I’ll bear your cares.

Yet weep that Harry’s dead, and so will I;

But Harry lives that shall convert those tears

By number into hours of happiness.

PRINCE JOHN, GLOUCESTER, and CLARENCE

We hope no other from your majesty.

PRINCE HARRY

You all look strangely on me, (to Lord Chief Justice)

and you most.

You are, I think, assured I love you not.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I am assured, if I be measured rightly,

Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.

PRINCE HARRY

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

Th’immediate heir of England? Was this easy?

May this be washed in Lethe and forgotten ?

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I then did use the person of your father.

The image of his power lay then in me;

And in th’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 judgement;

Whereon, as an offender to your father,

I gave bold way to my authority

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,

Be you contented, wearing now the garland,

To have a son set your decrees at naught—

To pluck down justice from your awe-full 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 profaned,

See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,

Behold yourself so by a son disdained;

And then imagine me taking your part,

And in your power soft silencing your son.

After this cold considerance, sentence me;

And, as you are a king, speak in your state

What I have done that misbecame my place,

My person, or my liege’s sovereignty.

PRINCE HARRY

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

Th‘unstainèd sword that you have used to bear,

With this remembrance: that you use the same

With the like bold, just, and impartial spirit

As you have done ’gainst me. There is my hand.

You shall be as a father to my youth;

My voice shall sound as you do prompt mine ear,

And I will stoop and humble my intents

To your well-practised 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;

And with his spirits 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 flowed 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-governed nation;

That war, or peace, or both at once, may be

As things acquainted and familiar to us;

(To Lord Chief Justice)

In which you, father, shall have foremost hand.

(To all) Our coronation done, we will accite,

As I before remembered, all our state;

And, God consigning to my good intents,

No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say,

‘God shorten Harry’s happy life one day.’ Exeunt

5.3 ⌈A table and chairs set forth.⌉ Enter Sir John Falstaff, Shallow, Silence, Davy ⌈With vessels for the table⌉, Bardolph, and the Page

SHALLOW (to Sir John) Nay, you shall see my orchard, where, in an arbour, we will eat a last year’s pippin of mine own grafting, with a dish of caraways, and so forth—come, cousin Silence—and then to bed.

SIR JOHN Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and a rich.

SHALLOW Barren, barren, barren; beggars all, beggars all,

Sir John. Marry, good air.—Spread, Davy; spread, Davy.

⌈Davy begins to spread the table⌉

Well said, Davy.

SIR JOHN This Davy serves you for good uses; he is your serving-man and your husband.

SHALLOW 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. (To Silence) Come, cousin.

SILENCE Ah, sirrah, quoth-a, we shall

(sings)

Do nothing but eat, and make good cheer,

And praise God 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.

SIR JOHN There’s a merry heart, good Master Silence! I’ll give you a health for that anon.

SHALLOW Good Master Bardotph!—Some wine, Davy.

DAVY ⌈to Sir john⌉ Sweet sir, sit. ⌈To Bardolph⌉ I’ll be with you anon. ⌈To Sir John⌉ Most sweet sir, sit. Master page, good master page, sit.

⌈All but Davy sit. Davy pours wine⌉

Proface! What you want in meat, we’ll have in drink; but you must bear; the heart’s all.

SHALLOW Be merry, Master Bardolph and my little soldier there, be merry.

SILENCE (sings)

Be merry, be merry, my wife has all,

For women are shrews, both short and tall,

’Tis merry in hall when beards wags all,

And welcome merry shrovetide.

Be merry, be merry.

JOHN I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this mettle.

SILENCE Who, I? I have been merry twice and once ere now.

Enter Davy ⌈With a dish of apples⌉

DAVY There’s a dish of leather-coats for you.

SHALLOW Davy!

DAVY Your worship! I’ll be with you straight. ⌈To Sir John⌉ A cup of wine, sir?

SILENCE ⌈sings⌉

A cup of wine

That’s brisk and fine,

And drink unto thee, leman mine,

And a merry heart lives long-a.

SIR JOHN Well said, Master Silence.

SILENCE And we shall be merry; now comes in the sweet o’th’ night.

SIR JOHN Health and long life to you, Master Silence! He drinks

SILENCE Fill the cup and let it come. I’ll pledge you a mile to th’ bottom.

SHALLOW Honest Bardolph, welcome! If thou want’st anything and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart! (To the Page) Welcome, my little tiny thief, and welcome indeed, too!-I’ll drink to Master Bardolph, and to all the cavalieros about London.

He drinks

DAVY I hope to see London once ere I die.

BARDOLPH An I might see you there, Davy!

SHALLOW By the mass, you’ll crack a quart together, ha, will you not, Master Bardolph?

BARDOLPH Yea, sir, in a pottle-pot.

SHALLOW By God’s liggens, I thank thee. The knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that; a will not out; ’tis true-bred.

BARDOLPH And I’ll stick by him, sir.

SHALLOW Why, there spoke a king! Lack nothing, be merry!

One knocks at the door within

Look who’s at door there, ho! Who knocks?

⌈Exit Davy⌉

⌈Silence drinks⌉

SIR JOHN ⌈to Silence⌉ Why, now you have done me right!

SILENCE ⌈sings⌉ Do me right,

And dub me knight—

Samingo.

Is’t not so?

SIR JOHN ’Tis so.

SILENCE Is’t so?—Why then, say an old man can do somewhat.

⌈Enter Davy⌉

DAVY An’t please your worship, there’s one Pistol come from the court with news.

SIR JOHN From the court? Let him come in.

Enter Pistol

How now, Pistol?

PISTOL Sir John, God save you.

SIR JOHN What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

PISTOL

Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.

Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in

this realm.

SILENCE By‘r Lady, I think a be—but goodman Puff of Bar’son.

PISTOL Puff?

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!—

Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend,

And helter-skelter have I rode to thee,

And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,

And golden times, and happy news of price.

SIR JOHN I pray thee now, deliver them like a man of this world.

PISTOL

A foutre for the world and worldlings base!

I speak of Africa and golden joys.

SIR JOHN

O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news?

Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.

SILENCE ⌈singing⌉

‘And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.’

PISTOL

Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons?

And shall good news be baffled?

Then Pistol lay thy head in Furies’ lap.

SHALLOW Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.

PISTOL Why then, lament therefor.

SHALLOW Give me pardon, sir. If, sir, you come with news from the court, I take it there’s but two ways: either to utter them, or conceal them. I am, sir, under the King in some authority.

PISTOL

Under which king, besonian? Speak, or die.

SHALLOW

Under King Harry.

PISTOL Harry the Fourth, or Fifth?

SHALLOW

Harry the Fourth.

PISTOL A foutre for thine office!

Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king.

Harry the Fifth’s the man. I speak the truth.

When Pistol lies, do this, (making the fig) and fig me,

Like the bragging Spaniard.

SIR JOHN What, is the old King dead?

PISTOL

As nail in door. The things I speak are just.

SIR JOHN Away, Bardolph, saddle my horse! Master Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land; ’tis thine. Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities.

BARDOLPH O joyful day!

I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.

PISTOL What, I do bring good news?

SIR JOHN (to Davy) Carry Master Silence to bed.

⌈Exit Davy with Silence⌉

Master Shallow—my lord Shallow—be what thou wilt, I am fortune’s steward—get on thy boots; we’ll ride all night.—O sweet Pistol!—Away, Bardolph!

⌈Exit Bardolph⌉

Come, Pistol, utter more to me, and withal devise something to do thyself good. Boot, boot, Master Shallow! I know the young King is sick for me. Let us take any man’s horses—the laws of England are at my commandment. Blessed are they that have been my friends, and woe to my Lord Chief Justice.

PISTOL

Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also!

‘Where is the life that late I led?’ say they.

Why, here it is. Welcome these pleasant days. Exeunt

5.4 Enter Beadles, dragging in Mistress Quickly and Doll Tearsheet

MISTRESS QUICKLY No, thou arrant knave! I would to God that I might die, that I might have thee hanged. Thou hast drawn my shoulder out of joint.

FIRST BEADLE The constables have delivered her over to me; and she shall have whipping-cheer, I warrant her. There hath been a man or two killed about her.

DOLL TEARSHEET Nut-hook, nut-hook, you lie! Come on, I’ll tell thee what, thou damned tripe-visaged rascal, an the child I go with do miscarry, thou wert better thou hadst struck thy mother, thou paper-faced villain.

MISTRESS QUICKLY O the Lord, that Sir John were come! He would make this a bloody day to somebody. But I pray God the fruit of her womb miscarry!

FIRST BEADLE If it do, you shall have a dozen of cushions again; you have but eleven now. Come, I charge you both go with me, for the man is dead that you and Pistol beat amongst you.

DOLL TEARSHEET I’ll tell you what, you thin man in a censer, I will have you as soundly swinged for this, you bluebottle rogue, you filthy famished correctioner! If you be not swinged, I’ll forswear half-kirtles.

FIRST BEADLE Come, come, you she knight-errant, come!

MISTRESS QUICKLY O God, that right should thus o’ercome might! Well, of sufferance comes ease.

DOLL TEARSHEET Come, you rogue, come; bring me to a justice.

MISTRESS QUICKLY Ay, come, you starved bloodhound.

DOLL TEARSHEET Goodman death, goodman bones!

MISTRESS QUICKLY Thou atomy, thou!

DOLL TEARSHEET Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal.

FIRST BEADLE Very well. Exeunt

5.5 Enter ⌈two⌉ Grooms, strewing rushes

FIRST GROOM More rushes, more rushes!

SECOND GROOM The trumpets have sounded twice.

⌈FIRST⌉ GROOM ‘Twill be two o’clock ere they come from the coronation. Exeunt

Enter Sir John Falstaff, Shallow, Pistol, Bardolph, and the Page

SIR JOHN Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow. I will make the King do you grace. I will leer upon him as a comes by, and do but mark the countenance that he will give me.

PISTOL God bless thy lungs, good knight.

SIR JOHN Come here, Pistol; stand behind me. (To Shallow) O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you! But ’tis no matter; this poor show doth better; this doth infer the zeal I had to see him.

⌈SHALLOW⌉ It doth so.

SIR JOHN It shows my earnestness of affection—

PISTOL It doth so.

SIR JOHN My devotion—

PISTOL It doth, it doth, it doth.

SIR JOHN As it were, to ride day and night, and not to deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift me—

SHALLOW It is most certain.

⌈SIR JOHN⌉ But to stand stained with travel and sweating with desire to see him, thinking of nothing else, putting all affairs in oblivion, as if there were nothing else to be done but to see him.

PISTOL ’Tis semper idem, for absque hoc nihil est: ’tis all in every part.

SHALLOW ’Tis so indeed.

PISTOL

My knight, I will inflame thy noble liver,

And make thee rage.

Thy Doll, and Helen of thy noble thoughts,

Is in base durance and contagious prison,

Haled thither

By most mechanical and dirty hand.

Rouse up Revenge from ebon den with fell Alecto’s

snake,

For Doll is in. Pistol speaks naught but truth.

SIR JOHN I will deliver her.

⌈Shouts within.⌉ Trumpets sound

PISTOL

There roared the sea, and trumpet-clangour sounds!

Enter King Harry the Fifth, Prince John of Lancaster, the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the Lord Chief Justice, ⌈and others⌉

SIR JOHN

God save thy grace, King Hal, my royal Hal!

PISTOL

The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal imp of fame!

SIR JOHN God save thee, my sweet boy!

KING HARRY

My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE (to Sir John)

Have you your wits? Know you what ’tis you speak?

SIR JOHN

My king, my Jove, I speak to thee, my heart!

KING HARRY

I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers.

How ill white hairs becomes a fool and jester!

I have long dreamt of such a kind of man,

So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane;

But being awake, I do despise my dream.

Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace.

Leave gormandizing; know the grave doth gape

For thee thrice wider than for other men.

Reply not to me with a fool-born jest.

Presume not that I am the thing I was,

For God doth know, so shall the world perceive,

That I have turned away my former self;

So will I those that kept me company.

When thou dost hear I am as I have been,

Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou wast,

The tutor and the feeder of my riots.

Till then I banish thee, on pain of death,

As I have done the rest of my misleaders,

Not to come near our person by ten mile.

For competence of life I will allow you,

That lack of means enforce you not to evils;

And as we hear you do reform yourselves,

We will, according to your strengths and qualities,

Give you advancement. (To Lord Chief Justice) Be it

your charge, my lord,

To see performed the tenor of our word. (To his train)

Set on! Exeunt King Harry and his train

SIR JOHN Master Shallow, I owe you a thousand pound.

SHALLOW Yea, marry, Sir John; which I beseech you to let me have home with me.

SIR JOHN That can hardly be,, Master Shallow. Do not you grieve at this. I shall be sent for in private to him. Look you, he must seem thus to the world. Fear not your advancements. I will be the man yet that shall make you great.

SHALLOW I cannot perceive how, unless you give me your doublet and stuff me out with straw. I beseech you, good Sir John, let me have five hundred of my thousand.

SIR JOHN Sir, I will be as good as my word. This that you heard was but a colour.

SHALLOW A colour I fear that you will die in, Sir John.

SIR JOHN Fear no colours. Go with me to dinner. Come, Lieutenant Pistol; come, Bardolph. I shall be sent for soon at night.

Enter the Lord Chief Justice and Prince John, with officers

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE (to officers)

Go carry Sir John Falstaff to the Fleet.

Take all his company along with him.

SIR JOHN My lord, my lord!

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE

I cannot now speak. I will hear you soon.—

Take them away.

PISTOL

Si fortuna me tormenta, spero me contenta.

Exeunt all but Prince John and Lord Chief Justice

PRINCE JOHN

I like this fair proceeding of the King’s.

He hath intent his wonted followers

Shall all be very well provided for,

But all are banished till their conversations

Appear more wise and modest to the world.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE And so they are.

PRINCE JOHN

The King hath called his parliament, my lord.

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE He hath.

PRINCE JOHN

I will lay odds that, ere this year expire,

We bear our civil swords and native fire

As far as France. I heard a bird so sing,

Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the King.

Come, will you hence? Exeunt

Epilogue Enter Epilogue

EPILOGUE First my fear, then my curtsy, last my speech.

My fear is your displeasure; my curtsy, my duty; and my speech to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me; for what I have to say is of mine own making, and what indeed I should say will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture. Be it known to you, as it is very well, I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to pray your patience for it, and to promise you a better. I did mean indeed to pay you with this; which, if like an ill venture it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here I promised you I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies. Bate me some, and I will pay you some, and, as most debtors do, promise you infinitely.

If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to use my legs? And yet that were but light payment, to dance out of your debt. But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction, and so would I. All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in such an assembly.

One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Catherine of France; where, for anything I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat—unless already a be killed with your hard opinions. For Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night, and so kneel down before you—but, indeed, to pray for the Queen.

⌈He dances, then kneels for applause.⌉ Exit

ADDITIONAL PASSAGES

Along with some substantial additions, Shakespeare probably made a number of short excisions when preparing the finished version of the play. The following, present in the Quarto but entirely or substantially omitted in the later Folio text, are the most significant:

A. AFTER 2.2.22

And God knows whether those that bawl out the ruins of thy linen shall inherit his kingdom—but the midwives say the children are not in the fault, whereupon the world increases, and kindreds are mightily strengthened.

B. AFTER ‘LIQUORS!’, 3.1-52

O, if this were seen,

The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,

What perils past, what crosses to ensue,

Would shut the book and sit him down and die.

C. AFTER ‘FAMINE.’, 3.2.309

yet lecherous as a monkey; and the whores called him ‘mandrake’. A came ever in the rearward of the fashion, and sung those tunes to the overscutched hussies that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware they were his fancies or his good-nights.