We doubt not of a fair and lucky war, : [Exeunt. SCENE changes to Quickly's house in Eastcheap. Enter Pistol, Nim, Bardolph, Boy, and Quickly. Quick. P R'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines. Pistol. No, for my manly heart doth yern. Bardolph, be blith: Nim, rouze thy vaunting veins: Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead, And we must yern therefore. Bard. Would I were with him wheresome'er he is, either in heaven or in hell. Quick. Nay, fure, he's not in hell; he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. He made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom child; a' parted even just between twelve and one, even at the turning o'th' tide: For after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his finger's end, I knew there was but one way; for (18) his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a' babled of green fields. How now, Sir John? quoth I: what, man? (18) His Nofe was as sharp as a Pen, and a Table of green fields.] So the first Folio. Mr. Pope has observ'd, that these Words, and a Table of green fields, are not in the old 4to's. This Nonsense, (continues He,) got into all the following Editions by a pleasant Mistake of the Stage-Editors, who printed from the common peacemeal-written Parts in the Play-house. A Table was bere directed to be brought in (it being a Scene in a Tavern where they drink at parting ;) and this Direction crept into the Text from the Margin. Greenfield was the Name of the Property-man in that time who furnish d man? be of good cheer: fo a' cried out God, God, God, three or four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him, a' shou'd not think of God; I hop'd, there was no need to trouble himself with any fuch thoughts yet: fo a' bad me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as a stone: then I felt to his knees, and so upward, and upward, and all was as cold as any stone. Nim. They fay, he cried out of fack. Quick, Ay, that a' did. Quick. Nay, that a' did not. Furnish'd Implements, &c. for the Actors. A Table of Greenfield's. As to the History of Greenfield being then Property-man, whether it was really fo, or it be only a gratis dictum, is a Point which I shall not contend about. But were we to allow this marginal Direction, and suppose that a Table of Greenfield's was wanting; yet it never was customary in the Promptor's Book, (much less, in the peacemeal Parts ;) where any fuch Directions are marginally inserted for Properties or Implements wanted, to add the Property-man's Name, whose Business it was to provide them. Befides, the furnishing Chairs and Tables is not the Province of the Property-man, but of the Scene-keepers. But there is a stronger Objection yet against this Observation advanced by the Editor. He feems to imagine, that when Implements are wanted in any Scene, the Direction for them is mark'd in the middle of that Scene, though the Things are to be got ready against the Beginning of it. But the Directions for Entrances and Properties wanting, ('tis well known,) are always mark'd in the Book at about a Page in Quantity before the Actors quoted are to enter, or the Properties to be used; that the Stage may not stand still. And therefore, Greenfield's Table can be of no Ufe to us for this Scene. Nor, indeed, is any Table requifite. The Scene, 'tis true, is in a Tavern; but the Company have no Business to fit down. There is not the leaft Intimation of any Drink going round: It is in Pistol's own House, as he had married Quickly: he and his Comerades are on their Feet, and just setting out for France. The Description of Falstaffe's Death, and what he talk'd of, is the only Thing that retards them for a few Minutes: after which they kiss their Hostess, and part. The Conjectural Emendation I have given, is so near to the Traces of the Letters in the corrupted Text; that I have ventur'd to infert it as the genuire Reading. It has certainly been observ'd (in particular, by the Superstition of Women ;) of People near Death, when they are delirious by a Fever, that they talk of removing: as it has of Those in a Calenture, that they have their heads run on green Fields. To bable, or babble, is to mutter, or speak indiscriminately; like Children, that cannot yet talk; or like dying Persons, when they are losing the Use of Speech. Boy. Yes, that he did; and said, they were devils in carnate. Quick. A' could never abide carnation, 'twas a colour he never lik'd. Boy. He faid once, the deule would have him about women. Quick. He did in some fort, indeed, handle women; but then he was rheumatick, and talk'd of the whore of Babylon. Boy. Do you not remember, he saw a Flea stick upon Bardolph's nose, and said, it was a black foul burning in hell? Bard. Well, the fuel is gone, that maintain'd that fire: that's all the riches I got in his service. Nim. Shall we shogg? the King will be gone from Southampton. Pist. Come, let's away. My love, give me thy lips: Look to my chattels, and my moveables; Let senses rule; the word is, pitch and pay; Trust none, for oaths are straws; men's faiths are wafer-cakes, And hold-fast is the only dog, my Duck, Go, clear thy crystals. Yoke-fellows in arms, : To fuck, to fuck, the very blood to fuck. Boy. And that's but unwholsome food, they say. Pift. Touch her soft mouth and march. Bard. Farewel, hostess. Nim. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but adieu. Pift. Let housewifery appear; keep close, I thee command. Quick. Farewel; adieu. [Exeunt. SCENE SCENE changes to the French King's Palace. Enter the French King, the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, and the Constable. Fr. King. THUS HUS come the English with full power upon us, And more than carefully it us concerns Therefore the Dukes of Berry, and of Britain, As fear may teach us out of late examples; Dau. My most redoubted father, As were a war in expectation. Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth, No, with no more, than if we heard that England Con. O peace, Prince Dauphin ! With With what great state he heard their embassie; Dau. Well, 'tis not fo, my lord high constable. Fr. King. Think we King Harry strong; (19) While that his mountain Sire, on mountain standing, But why mountain Sire? The French King does not mean to say any thing derogatory, or scoffingly of King Edward the Third; as Fluellin afterwards, in this Play, as a Welchman, is styl'd Mountain-Squire: nor is the Size, or Stature of King Edward alluded to, as if he had been inftar Montis. I have no Doubt, but our Author intended mounting Sire, i. e. highminded, afpiring. In this Senfe, in the first Act, the Archbishop of Canterbury feems to be speaking of this Prince. While his most mighty Father on a hill, &c. And the Epithet, mounting, our Poet has more than once employ'd in these Significations. So in Love's Labour loft ; Who e'er be was, he shew'd a mounting Mind. And in King John. But this is worshipful Society; And fits the mounting Spirit like My felf: Up |