SCENE II.-London. A street.

Enter FALSTAFF, with his PAGE bearing his sword and buckler.

Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water? Page. He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy water; but, for the party that owed it, he might have moe diseases than he knew for.

Fal. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me: the brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to

5

Tertia. Ff. London. A Street.] Pope (subst.). .] Enter sir Iohn alone, with his page... Q; 1. Fal.] Iohn Q (passim). 4. owed] own'd 6. foolish-compounded clay, man] foolish-comcompounded clay-man Q, Ff.

SCENE II.] Steevens; Scena Enter Falstaff, with his Page. Enter Falstaffe, and Page. Ff. F 4. 4. moe] more Ff. pounded-clay, man Pope; foolish

SCENE II.

1. Sirrah, you giant] "Sirrah" is similarly used as a prefix to a designation of occupation in 1 Henry IV. II. i. 41: "Sirrah carrier." "You giant" is, of course, an ironical allusion to the diminutive stature of the Page. Cf. R. Tailor, The Hog Hath Lost His Pearl, iii: "Y. Lord W. Ho, you three-footand-a-half! Why, page, I say!" A page, in J. Shirley, The Gamester, IV. i, is described as "This inch and a half!" And, in Shakerley Marmion, The Antiquary, 1. i, Angelia, disguised as a page, is the subject of the question, "What pretty sparkle of humanity have we here?" Tiny pages were the fashion of the period. See Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, v. i. I. what... water?] Allusions are frequent to the method of medical diagnosis referred to in the text. The value of the method is questioned_in Webster, Duchess of Malfi, 1.'ii. For scenes illustrating its practice, see The Return from Parnassus, II. i, and Fletcher, Monsieur Thomas, II. iv, where three physicians disagree in respect to the diagnosis of a case. Cf. also The Puritan, IV. i, and Lingua (Haz. Dods., ix. 357): 66 an urinal. to carry his water to the physician.' N. Breton (The Good and the Badde, 1616) says of the "unlearned physician": "Upon the market day he is much haunted with urinals."

3. party] person. Now vulgar or facetious, but used by serious writers in the sixteenth century. Cf. Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, v. i: "You wrong'd the party," and G. Markham, The English Hus-wife: "compel the sick party to sweat." The word is used in the text, and elsewhere, where now we should say “the patient."

1

4. moe] more in number; see note to Henry IV. IV. iv. 31.

4. knew for] was aware of. No corded in New Eng. Dict., but similar other example of "know for" is recombinations of a verb and the preposition "for" are found. "Think for " and "stand for " are still common among the illiterate. See also Middleviii. 75): "I, not so simple as they ton, Father Hubburds Tales (Bullen, laughed me for "; Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, v. iv; and Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit Without Money, II. i: your commendations are so studied for."

66

invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I
invent or is invented on me: I am not only witty in
myself, but the cause that wit is in other men. I do
here walk before thee like a sow that hath overwhelmed
all her litter but one. If the prince put thee into my
service for any other reason than to set me off, why
then I have no judgement. Thou whoreson mandrake,
thou art fitter to be worn in my cap than to wait at
my heels. I was never manned with an agate till now :
but I will inset you neither in gold nor silver, but in
vile apparel, and send you back again to your master,
for a jewel,-the juvenal, the prince your master,

ΙΟ

15

7. tends] intends Q. 10. overwhelmed] overwhelmd Q; o'rewhelm'd Ff. 13, 36. whoreson] horeson Q; horson Ff. 15. agate] Johnson; agot Q, Ff. 16. inset] in-set Q; sette (or set) Ff. 17. vile] vilde Ff 1-3. 18. jewel,the] iewell, the Q; Iewell. The Ff.

7. invent] Reed (1803) read vent. 13. whoreson] An epithet of contempt, as frequently.

13. mandrake] A plant, the forked root of which was supposed to resemble the human figure. Many superstitious

court

beliefs were associated with the man-
drake. Its root was fabled to utter a
groan when pulled up; see 2 Henry VI.
III. ii. 310, and Jonson, The Sad
Shepherd, 11. ii: "the sad mandrake
Whose groans are deathful."
Falstaff's allusion is to the mandrake's
resemblance to a manikin.
14. to be
cap] For the thought,
cf. Jonson, The Magnetic Lady, I. i:
"the very man, the jewel Of all the
you may wear him Here
on your breast, or hang him in your
ear," and The New Inn, 11. ii: "Bird
of her ear, and she shall wear thee
there, A Fly of gold, enamell'd," with
an allusion to a character called Fly.
Falstaff alludes, by implication, to the
fashion of wearing a jewel in the
hat, which came in towards the end
of Elizabeth's reign. Feathers were
neglected in favour of the jewelled hat-
band, which was frequently worn in the
following reign unaccompanied by a
plume (Planché, British Costumes, p.
304).

14-15. wait... heels] Cf. Chapman, Monsieur D'Olive, iv. ii: “D'Olive [to his Page] . . . twenty pounds annuity shall not purchase you from my heels!" 15. manned] provided with attendants, as in Chapman, Monsieur D'Olive,

III. i: "To be mand with one bare
Page!"

15. agate] An allusion to the small figures, cut in agates, which were worn in rings and brooches. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, 1. iv. 56: "no bigger than an agate-stone"; Much Ado, III. i. 65: "an agate very vilely cut" (an illnatured description of a man of low stature); Jonson, The New Inn, II. ii: "the Naples hat, With the Rome hatband, and the Florentine agat." The passage, from The New Inn suggests that the image of an agate may have been presented to Falstaff's fancy by the previous allusion to the page as "fitter to be worn in my cap," etc.

16. inset] set, as a jewel, in gold or silver. New Eng. Dict. cites one other example of "inset" (from the seventeenth century). For the image suggested, cf. Dekker, Satiro-mastix (Pearson, i. 245): "Ide weare thee as a lewell set in golde."

17. vile] mean.

18. jewel] scil. a brooch; with a play on the figurative use of the word, as in Merry Wives, 111. iii. 45: "my heavenly jewel," where Falstaff is addressing Mrs. Ford, and, ironically, in The London Chanticleers, xi: “I am a pretty jewel to run away with her cabinet.'

18. a jewel,-the juvenal] An indifferent pun, for which cf. J. Shirley, The Gentleman of Venice, III. iv: "are you the Jew, where be the jewels?" Juvenal, youth, used jocularly as in

whose chin is not yet fledge. I will sooner have a
beard grow in the palm of my hand than he shall get 20
one on his cheek; and yet he will not stick to say his
face is a face-royal: God may finish it when he will,
'tis not a hair amiss yet: he may keep it still at a face-
royal, for a barber shall never earn sixpence out of it;
and yet he'll be crowing as if he had writ man ever
since his father was a bachelor. He may keep his own
grace, but he's almost out of mine, I can assure him.
What said Master Dumbleton about the satin for my
short cloak and my slops?

19. fledge] fledg'd, Ff; fledged Cambridge.] 21. on] off Q. &Q; om. Ff. 22. God] Heauen Ff. 23. 'tis] it is Ff.

25

21. and]

23. at] as Ff 2-4.

25. he'll] he will Ff. 27. he's] he is Ff. 28. Master Dumbleton] M. Dom29. my slops] slops Ff.

bledon Ff; master Dommelton Q.

Love's Labour's Lost, 1. ii. 8, and
Brome, The New Academy, III. vii:
“this Juvenal.” Rowe (ed. 2) read
Juvenil.

19. fledge] fledged, covered with down. For fledge, cf. Jonson, A Tale of a Tub, Iv. iv: "you'll be flown Ere I be fledge," and T. Nabbes, The Bride, II. vi. O.E. unfligge, unfledged.

19-21. I will ... cheek] For this gibe at the Prince's beardless youth, cf. Basilisco's description of Erastus, in Kyd, Soliman and Perseda, 1. iii: "a child Whose chin beares no impression of manhood, Not an hayre, not an excrement." Also Jonson, The Silent Woman, II. i, and Middleton, A Trick to Catch the Old One, 11. i: "a chin not worth a hair." He that hath no beard is less than a man," says Beatrice in Much Ado, 11. i. 39, 40. For "on" Collier conjectured of (Q off).

21. stick] hesitate, scruple. Munday and Chettle, Death of Robert Earl of Huntingdon, II. ii: " They will not stick to swear," and Jonson, Sejanus, II. ii.

22. face-royal] Cf. Beaumont and Fletcher, A King and No King, 1. i: 'if you had . . . reach'd him on the ear, you had made the blood-royal run about his head."

23. 'tis not a hair amiss] See Lodge and Greene, A Looking Glasse for London and England, II. i, where Remilia, in praise of her own beauty, says: "Looke, Aluida, a haire stands not amisse." Remilia had just before asked: "My haires, surpasse they not

Apollos locks? Are not my Tresses curled with such art As loue delights to hide him in their faire?" As the Prince had no hair on his face, not a hair on it was out of order.

23, 24. at a face-royal] A quibble on the senses "as a royal face," and "at the value of the king's face (cf. Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 614) on a royal," or rose-noble, a gold coin worth about ten shillings. As the Prince's beardless face would not cost him sixpence at a barber's, it would continue to be a faceroyal, being still worth ten shillings.

25. writ man] described himself, in legal instruments, etc., as being of full age. The heir, Pennyboy jun., in Jonson, The Staple of News, 1. i, refers to his twenty-first birthday as-" the day I do write man.' Cf. Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling, 1. iv; and H. Shirley, The Martyr'd Souldier, iv. ii: "[he] may write Esquire if he list at the bottome of the paper."

27. grace... mine] With a quibble on the use of " grace " in the title "your grace," and the sense "favour." Falstaff perpetrates a similar pun in 1 Henry ÏV. 1. ii. 17, 18.

28. Dumbleton] Malone's emendation, after a conjecture by Steevens. There is a Dumbleton Hill-a pleasant landmark, with which Shakespeare was, no doubt, familiar-on the road between Evesham and Tewkesbury. Steevens also suggested Double-done, and Mason Double-down.

29. short cloak] A short cloak scarcely reaching to the waist. Of the longer

Page. He said, sir, you should procure him better assurance than Bardolph: he would not take his band and yours; he liked not the security.

Fal. Let him be damned, like the glutton! pray God his tongue be hotter! A whoreson Achitophel! a rascally yea-forsooth knave! to bear a gentleman in hand, and 35

30. Page.] Boy Q (throughout scene). sir Iohn Q (passim).

33. pray God] may Ff. 34. Achitophel] Architophel F 2. 34, 35. rascally yea-forsooth knave!] Rascally-yea-forsooth-knaue, Ff; rascall: yea forsooth knaue, Q.

then stand upon security! The whoreson smooth-pates do now wear nothing but high shoes, and bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is through with them in honest taking up, then they must stand upon security. I had as lieve they would put ratsbane in 40 my mouth as offer to stop it with security. I looked a' should have sent me two and twenty yards of satin, as I am a true knight, and he sends me security. Well, he may sleep in security; for he hath the horn of 40. lieve] liue Q; lief Ff, Cambridge. 43. a true] true Ff.