Then was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy; and page to Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk,

Sil. This Sir John, cousin, that comes hither anon about soldiers?

I saw

Shal. The same Sir John; the very same. him break Skogan's head at the court gate, when he was a crack, not thus high: and the very same day I did fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn. O, the mad days that I have spent! and to see how many of my old acquaintance are

dead!

Sil. We shall all follow, cousin.

Shal. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure: very sure; death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks, at Stamford fair? Sil. Truly, cousin, I was not there.

Shal. Death is certain.-Is old Double of your town living yet?

Sil. Dead, sir.

--

Shal. Dead!-See, see!-he drew a good bow ;And dead!-he shot a fine shoot :-John of Gaunt lov'd him well, and betted much money on his head, Dead!-he would have clapp'd i' the clout at twelve score and carried you a forehand shaft a fourteen, and fourteen and a half, that it would have done a man's heart good to see.-How a score of ewes now? Sil. Thereafter as they be a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds,

Shal. And is old Double dead!

Sil. Here come two of Sir John Falstaff's men, as I think.

Enter DAVY, BARDOLPII and PAGE.

Bard. Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you, which is Justice Shallow ?

Shal. I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this, county, and one of the king's justices of the peace: what is your good pleasure with me?

Bard. My captain, sir, commends him to you; my captain, Sir John Falstaff: a tall gentleman, and a most gallant leader.

Shal. He greets me well, sir; I knew him a good back-sword man: how doth the good knight? may I ask, how my lady his wife doth ?

Bard. Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated, than with a wife.

Shal. It is well said, i' faith, sir; and it is well said indeed too. Better accommodated!—it is good; yea, indeed, is it: good phrases are surely, and ever were, very commendable. Accommodated!-it comes of accommodo: very good; a good phrase.

Bard. Pardon, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase, call you it? By this day, I know not the phrase: but I will maintain the word with my sword, to be a soldier-like word, and a word of exceeding good command. Accommodated,—that is, when a man is, as they say, accommodated; or when a man is,-being -whereby, he may be thought to be accommodated; which is an excellent thing.

Shal. It is very just:-Look, here comes good Sir John.

Enter FALSTAFF.

Give me your good hand, give me your worship's good hand: by my troth, you look well, and bear your years very well: welcome, good Sir John.

Fal. I am glad to see you well, good master Robert Shallow ;-master Sure-card, as I think. Shal. No, Sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission with me.

Fal. Good master Silence, it well befits you should be of the peace.

Sil. Your good worship is welcome.

Fal. Fie! this is hot weather.-Gentlemen, have you provided me here half a dozen sufficient men?

Will you

sit?

Shal. Marry, have we, sir.

[They sit.

Fal. Let me see them, I beseech you. Shal. Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the roll?-Let me see, let me see, let me see. So, so, so, so: Yea, marry, sir:-Ralph Mouldy!-let them appear as I call;-[Exit DAVY.] let them do so, let them do so.-Let me see ;-Where is Mouldy?

Enter MOULDY, SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, and
BULLCALF, as they are called.

Moul. Here, an't please you.

Shal. What think you, Sir John? a good limbed fellow young, strong, and of good friends.

Fal. Is thy name Mouldy?

Moul. Yea, an't please you.

Fal. "Tis the more time thou wert used.

Shal. Ha! ha ha! most excellent, i'faith! things that are mouldy, lack use: very singular good!— Well, said, Sir John; very well said.

Fal. Prick him.

Moul. My old dame will be undone now, for one to do her husbandry, and her drudgery: you need not to have pricked me; there are other men fitter to go out than I.

Shal. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside; know you where you are? For the other, Sir John :-let me see;-Simon Shadow !

Fal. Ay marry, let me have him to sit under: he's like to be a cold soldier.

Shal. Where's Shadow!
Shad. Here, sir.

Fal. Shadow, whose son art thou?
Shad. My mother's son, sir.

Fal. Thy mother's son ! like enough; and thy father's shadow: so the son of the female is the shadow of the male: it is often so, indeed; but not much of the father's substance.

Shal. Do you like him, Sir John?

Fal. Shadow will serve for summer,-prick him; -for we have a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book.

Shal. Thomas Wart!

Fal. Where's he?

Wart. Here, sir.

Fal. Is thy name Wart?

Wart. Yea, sir.

Fal. Thou art a very ragged wart.
Shal. Shall I prick him, Sir John?

Fal. It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame stands upon pins: prick him no more.

Shal. Ha! ha ha!-you can do it, sir; you can do it: I commend you well.-Francis Feeble! Feeble. Here, sir.

Fal. What trade art thou, Feeble!

Feeble. A tailor, sir.

Fal. Well said, tailor? well said, most forcible Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse.-Prick him, master Shallow.-Who is next?

Shal. Peter Bullcalf of the green!
Fal. Yea, marry, let us see Bullcalf.

Bull. Here, sir.

Fal. Trust me, a likely fellow !-Come, prick me Bullcalf, till he roar again.

Bull. O lord!-good my lord captain.

Fal. What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked?
Bull. O lord, sir! I am a diseased man.

Fal. What disease hast thou?

Bull. A whoreson cold, sir; a cough, sir; which I caught with ringing in the king's affairs, upon his coronation day, sir.

Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we will have away thy cold; and I will take such order, that thy friends shall ring for thee.-Is here all?

Shal. There is one more called than your number,

you must have but four here, sir;-and so, I pray you, go in with me to dinner.

[They rise. Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to see you, in good troth, Master Shallow.

Shal. Oh, Sir John, do you remember since we lay all night in the windmill, in St. George's Fields?

Fal. No more of that, good Master Shallow, no more of that.

Shal. Ha, it was a merry night. And is Jane Nightwork alive?

Fal. She lives, Master Shallow.
with me.

Shal. She could never away

Fal. Never, never: she would always say, she could not abide Master Shallow.

Shal. By the mass, I could anger her to the heart. She was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well?

Fal. Old, old, Master Shallow.

Shal. Nay, she must be old: she cannot chuse but be old; certain, she's old; and had Robin Nightwork by old Nightwork, before I came to Clement's Inn.

Sil. That's fifty-five years ago.

Shal. Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that that this knight and I have seen!-Ha, Sir John, said I well?

Fal. We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow.

Shal. That we have, that we have, that we have; in faith, Sir John, we have our watch-word was, "Hem, boys!"-Come, let's to dinner; come, let's to dinner :-Ö, the days that we have seen!-Come,

come.

[Exeunt SHALLOW, FALSTAFF, SILENCE, and PAGE.

Bull. Good Master Corporate Bardolph, stand my friend; and here is four Harry ten shillings in French

E