Fal. No abuse, Hal. Fal. No abuse, Ned, i' the world; honest Ned, none. 310 I dispraised him before the wicked, that the wicked none. Prince. See now, whether pure fear and entire cowardice Poins. Answer, thou dead elm, answer. Fal. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph irrecover- 325 able; and his face is Lucifer's privy-kitchen, where 313. him] thee Q. 320. us.] vs: Q; vs? Ff. 314. a true] true Ff 3, 4. 312. the wicked] Falstaff burlesques the language of the Puritans in reference to those outside the Puritan fold. So in Marston, The Dutch Courtezan, 1. ii: "though I am a bawd. yet I trust I am none of the wicked that eat fish o' Fridays." See Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. iii: "Busy [a Puritan]. Take not part with the wicked"; and The Puritan, 1. iii: "Simon [a Puritan]. . if he be one of the wicked, he shall perish," ... 314. careful] full of care or concern for another's welfare. So in Richard III. II. ii. 96: "a careful mother," and Haughton, Englishmen for My Money, II. ii: "your careful father." 320. close with] make one's peace with, as in Winter's Tale, Iv. iii. 834, 835. Brome, The New Academy, III. i: "I'le close w' ye." . 322, 323. whose . nose] Cf. Gammer Gurton's Needle, v. i: "your learning shines not out at your nose." In "zeal" there is again mockery of the Puritans. Cf. Dekker, If this be not a good Play, etc (Pearson, iii. 358): "Puritan. Tis a burning zeale must consume the wicked"; Glapthorne, Wit in a Constable, v. i: "precise Taylors, that doe sip, In zeal." 316. faith] om. Ff. 324. dead elm] Perhaps, as Schmidt suggests, an allusion to the poor support Falstaff had given to Doll (his "vine"); cf. Comedy of Errors, 11. ii. 173: Thou art an elm, my husband, I a vine." For the association of the vine with the elm, see Virgil, Georgics, i, 2, 3. Perhaps the reference is to Falstaff's fondness for sack. 325. pricked... Bardolph] marked Bardolph's name on his list by a "prick." This is still the method employed in selecting sheriffs. Cf. III. ii. 111 post. Irrecoverable, irredeemably. 326 Lucifer's privy-kitchen] See the "straight unto the master-cook * * * * For many a spit here hath she And many a good spit hath she Lucifer would have a privy-kitchen for he doth nothing but roast malt-worms. For the boy, there is a good angel about him; but the devil out- Prince. For the women? Fal. For one of them, she's in hell already, and burns poor souls. For the other, I owe her money; and whether she be damned for that, I know not. Host. No, I warrant you. 330 Fal. No, I think thou art not; I think thou art quit for 335 that. Marry, there is another indictment upon thee, for suffering flesh to be eaten in thy house, contrary to the law; for the which I think thou wilt howl. 328, 329. outbids] blinds Q. is Ff. 330. women?] weomen. Q. 332. the other] th' other Q. See Nabbes, The Springs Glory (Bullen, Old Eng. Plays, New Series, ii. 230), where Shrovetide says: "At any Noblemans house I can licke my fingers in a privy kitchen." 327. malt-worms] topers. Gammer Gurton's Needle, 11. i: "Then doth she trowl to me the bowl Even as a maltworm should," and Jack Straw, III. 328. good angel] An allusion to the popular belief that every individual has a guardian angel. This, indeed, is the teaching of the Church, based upon S. Matthew, xviii. 10. Cf. Porter, Two Angry Women of Abington (Haz. Dods., vii. 320): "They say, every man hath two spirits attending on him, either good or bad”; J. Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque (Haz. Dods., xi. 271); Massinger, The Duke of Milan, III. i: "He was indeed to me as my good angel To guard me from all dangers." 330. For the women ?] A quibble is perhaps intended here. Theobald (ed. 2) read women,-. For "in hell" Collier conjectured a hell. 331. burns poor souls] See the passage from the Four P.P. cited in note to line 326 ante, and Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen, IV. iii: " Fail. Daughter. 'tis a sore life they have i' th' Other place, such burning, frying... and there th' offending part burns." There is also, apparently, a quibbling allusion to venereal disease (cf. Comedy of Errors, IV. iii. 58). Hanmer's emendation burns, poor soul! is ingenious and may be right. For the exclamation, "poor soul!" cf. Lyly, 331. she's] she Sapho and Phao, 1. iv: “men are good soules (poor soules)." 333. be damned] sc. in the theological sense. Fletcher, The Chances, IV. iii: "She is twice damn'd that lives in hell, When heaven is shewn," and A Yorkshire Tragedy, ii: "he that has No coyne is damnd in this world." For the mimicry of the Puritans, see note to 1 Henry IV. 1. ii. 99. 335. quit] acquitted; cf. Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller (McKerrow, ii. 297): "I was quit by proclamation." 337, 338. contrary to the law] An allusion to enactments of the reign of Elizabeth, placing restrictions upon the sale of meat in Lent. A Proclamation of 1560 imposed a fine of £20 for each offence on any butcher slaughtering animals, without a licence, in Lent. Statutes of 5 and 27 Eliz. are cited by Madden (Diary of Master William Silence, p. 70): "If any innholder, tav erner... ... hath uttered or put to sale any kind of flesh victual upon any day in the time of Lent . . . except it be to such person as . . . had lawful licence to eat the same according to the Statute thereof made," etc. For a vigorous criticism of these laws, and of the methods of the promoters or informers who battened on them-" corruption of promoters, And other poisonous officers"-see Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. From this play we learn that unscrupulous persons took advantage of the provisions of the law in favour of the sick (cf. III. ii: "my wife lies in—a foutra for promoters "; Host. All victuallers do so: what's a joint of mutton or two in a whole Lent? Prince. You, gentlewoman, Dol. What says your grace? Fal. His grace says that which his flesh rebels against. 340 [Knocking within. Host. Who knocks so loud at door? Look to the door there, Francis. Enter PETO. Prince. Peto, how now! what news? Peto. The king your father is at Westminster; And there are twenty weak and wearied posts Prince. By heaven, Poins, I feel me much to blame, 345 350 355 339. victuallers] vitlars Qq. 341. gentlewoman,-] Theobald; gentlewoman. Qq, Ff. 343. Knocking within.] Knocking heard. Capell; Peyto knockes at doore. Qq; om. Ff. 344. at] at the Ff 3, 4. 344. to the] too 'th Qq. 345. Francis.] Francis? Ff. 346. Enter Peto.] om. Qq. 353. to] too Qq. cf. Nabbes, The Springs Glory, where Shrovetide says in reference to Lent: "Should all faile, the wenches . . . shall long, and have the Phisitians ticket.") or purchased immunity from the promoters at ten groats a-piece for a whole Lent (cf. II. ii). The laws commanding a Lenten fast were designed to encourage the fisheries, and were not repealed till 1863. 338. wilt howl] sc. in the other world. So in Davenport, King John and Matilda, iv. ii: "We smile towards Hell, but, howl when we are in," and Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen, IV. iii: "'tis a sore life they have i' th' Other place, such burning . . . To hear there a proud Lady, and a proud City wife howl together: one cries oh that I ever did it.. and then howls." . 339. joint of mutton] A standing dish in inns and taverns; see e.g. Greene, Frier Bacon and Frier Bungay, 1. ii. 343. His grace . . .] A quibble on grace" in the theological sense state or condition of being divinely influenced." Hudson refers to Galatians, V. 17. For the expression "flesh rebels against," cf. Glapthorne, Albertus Wallenstein, 1. iii. 344. at door] See note to 1 Henry IV. II. iv. 287. 348. twenty] Used of an indefinite number, as in Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, iv. i: "I went to twenty taverns Where I saw twenty drunk," etc., and Beaumont and Fletcher, A King and No King, III. iii. Cf. "a dozen" in line 350 post. 355. tempest of commotion] Echoed in Ford, The Broken Heart, IV. ii: "No tempests of commotion shall disquiet The calms of my composure." 355, 356. the south vapour] The south wind was regarded as a harbinger of tempest and rain. See 1 Henry IV. v. i. 3-6. Fletcher, Valentinian, v. ii: "Like a south wind, I have sung And drop upon our bare unarmed heads. Give me my sword and cloak. Falstaff, good night. [Exeunt Prince Henry, Poins, Peto, and Bardolph. Fal. Now comes in the sweetest morsel of the night, and we must hence, and leave it unpicked. [Knocking 360 within.] More knocking at the door! Re-enter BARDOLPH. How now! what's the matter? Bard. You must away to court, sir, presently; A dozen captains stay at door for you. Fal. [To the Page] Pay the musicians, sirrah. Farewell, 365 hostess; farewell, Doll. You see, my good wenches, how men of merit are sought after the undeserver 358. Give... night.] as two lines Ff. Exeunt Prince and Poynes. Qq; Exit. Ff. 370 358. Exeunt . . .] Capell; 360, 361. Knocking within.] Knock. Capell; om. Qq, Ff. 361. door!] doore? Q 2, Ff; doore, Q 1. 362. Re-enter B.] Capell. 365. To . . .] Capell. through all these tempests," and Lodge and Greene, A Looking Glasse, etc., IV. i: 66 But lo, an hoast of blacke and sable Gan to eclipse Lucinas siluer face; A gust of winde did reare the ... night] See v. iii. 49, 50 post. Cf. Breton, Fantastickes: "It is now the sixth hour, the sweet time of the morning," and Rowley, A Match at Midnight, 1. i: “she made us slip the very cream o' th' morning." For a possible equivocation, see Peele, Edward the First, ii: "let the friar alone with his flesh... the Church ... teaches you to abstain from these morsels"; Marston, The Fawn, Iv. i; and T. Heywood, The Captives, 11. ii. 365. To the . musicians] The Page carried Falstaff's purse (1. ii. 231 ante), and it was the duty of a page to make incidental payments in behalf of his master. See The Return from 367, 368. the und server . . . on] An apparent reminiscence of this occurs in Chapman, May-Day, 1. i: "that employment should go with the undeserver, while men of service sit at home." 369. post] in haste, as in Richard II. v. ii. 112, and Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of Burning Pestle, 111. iv. Dol. I cannot speak; if my heart be not ready to burst, well, sweet Jack, have a care of thyself. Fal. Farewell, farewell. [Exeunt Falstaff and Bardolph. Host. Well, fare thee well; I have known thee these twenty nine years, come peascod-time; but an 375 honester and truer-hearted man,—well, fare thee well. Bard. [Within] Mistress Tearsheet! Host. What's the matter? Bard. [Within] Bid Mistress Tearsheet come to my 380 master. Host. O, run, Doll, run; run, good Doll: come. [She comes blubbered.] Yea, will you come, Doll? [Exeunt. 372. burst,-] burst- Ff 1, 2; burst. Ff 3, 4; burst: Qq. 373. Exeunt...] Capell; Exit. Ff, Q 2 (Mus., Steev., Dev.); om. Q 2 (Cap.), Q 1 (Hall.). 376. man,-] man- Ff 1-3; man. F 4; man: Qq. 378. Within] Capell. 382, 383. come... Doll?] come, shee comes blubberd, yea! will you come Doll ? Qq (she Q 2.. yea? Q 1); om. Ff. 375, 376. an honester... man] Cf. I. T., Grim the Collier of Croydon, III. i: "Marian [to Forrest]. Well, go thy way, for the true-heardedst man That liveth, and as full of honesty." For the comparative "truer-hearted," cf. Chapman, Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, I. ii: "a viler-minded man," and Massinger, The City Madam, 1. iii: “opener handed." 382, 383. She . . . blubbered] Dyce first marked "Doll comes blubbered," as a stage-direction. Blubbered, disfigured with weeping; so in Dekker, The Shomakers Holiday (Pearson, i. 13): "this blubbered Jane"; cf. Kyd, Cornelia, III. i: "blubbred eyes," and Chapman, Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany, III, i: "blubber'd cheeks." |