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  • Title: Henry IV, Part 2 (Folio 1 1623)
  • Editor: Rosemary Gaby

  • Copyright Rosemary Gaby. This text may be freely used for educational, non-profit purposes; for all other uses contact the Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Editor: Rosemary Gaby
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Henry IV, Part 2 (Folio 1 1623)

    The second Part of King Henry the Fourth. 87
    whereby he thought to be accommodated, which is an
    excellent thing.

    1615Enter Falstaffe.

    Shal. It is very iust: Looke, heere comes good Sir
    Iohn. Giue me your hand, giue me your Worships good
    hand: Trust me, you looke well: and beare your yeares
    very well. Welcome, good Sir Iohn.
    1620Fal. I am glad to see you well, good M. Robert Shal-
    low: Master Sure-card as I thinke?
    Shal. No sir Iohn, it is my Cosin Silence: in Commissi-
    on with mee.
    Fal. Good M. Silence, it well befits you should be of
    1625the peace.
    Sil. Your good Worship is welcome.
    Fal. Fye, this is hot weather (Gentlemen) haue you
    prouided me heere halfe a dozen of sufficient men?
    Shal. Marry haue we sir: Will you sit?
    1630Fal. 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. Raphe Mouldie: let them appeare as I call:
    let them do so, let them do so: Let mee see, Where is
    1635Mouldie?
    Moul. Heere, if it please you.
    Shal. What thinke you (Sir Iohn) a good limb'd fel-
    low: yong, strong, and of good friends.
    Fal. Is thy name Mouldie?
    1640Moul. Yea, if it please you.
    Fal. 'Tis the more time thou wert vs'd.
    Shal. Ha, ha, ha, most excellent. Things that are moul-
    die, lacke vse: very singular good. Well saide Sir Iohn,
    very well said.
    1645Fal. Pricke him.
    Moul. I was prickt well enough before, if you could
    haue let me alone: my old Dame will be vndone now, for
    one to doe her Husbandry, and her Drudgery; you need
    not to haue prickt me, there are other men fitter to goe
    1650out, then I.
    Fal. Go too: peace Mouldie, you shall goe. Mouldie,
    it is time you were spent.
    Moul. Spent?
    Shallow. Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside: Know you
    1655where you are? For the other sir Iohn: Let me see: Simon
    Shadow.
    Fal. I marry, let me haue him to sit vnder: he's like to
    be a cold souldier.
    Shal. Where's Shadow?
    1660Shad. Heere sir.
    Fal. Shadow, whose sonne art thou?
    Shad. My Mothers sonne, Sir.
    Falst. Thy Mothers sonne: like enough, and thy Fa-
    thers shadow: so the sonne of the Female, is the shadow
    1665of the Male: it is often so indeede, but not of the Fathers
    substance.
    Shal. Do you like him, sir Iohn?
    Falst. Shadow will serue for Summer: pricke him: For
    wee haue a number of shadowes to fill vppe the Muster-
    1670Booke.
    Shal. Thomas Wart?
    Falst. Where's he?
    Wart. Heere sir.
    Falst. Is thy name Wart?
    1675Wart. Yea sir.
    Fal. Thou art a very ragged Wart.

    Shal. Shall I pricke him downe,
    Sir Iohn?
    Falst. It were superfluous: for his apparrel is built vp-
    1680on his backe, and the whole frame stands vpon pins: prick
    him no more.
    Shal. Ha, ha, ha, you can do it sir: you can doe it: I
    commend you well.
    Francis Feeble.
    1685Feeble. Heere sir.
    Shal. What Trade art thou Feeble?
    Feeble. A Womans Taylor sir.
    Shal. Shall I pricke him, sir?
    Fal. You may:
    1690But if he had beene a mans Taylor, he would haue prick'd
    you. Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemies Bat-
    taile, as thou hast done in a Womans petticote?
    Feeble. I will doe my good will sir, you can haue no
    more.
    1695Falst. Well said, good Womans Tailour: Well sayde
    Couragious Feeble: thou wilt bee as valiant as the wrath-
    full Doue, or most magnanimous Mouse. Pricke the wo-
    mans Taylour well Master Shallow, deepe Maister Shal-
    low.
    1700Feeble. I would Wart might haue gone sir.
    Fal. I would thou wert a mans Tailor, that yu might'st
    mend him, and make him fit to goe. I cannot put him to
    a priuate souldier, that is the Leader of so many thou-
    sands. Let that suffice, most Forcible Feeble.
    1705Feeble. It shall suffice.
    Falst. I am bound to thee, reuerend Feeble. Who is
    the next?
    Shal. Peter Bulcalfe of the Greene.
    Falst. Yea marry, let vs see Bulcalfe.
    1710Bul. Heere sir.
    Fal. Trust me, a likely Fellow. Come, pricke me Bul-
    calfe till he roare againe.
    Bul. Oh, good my Lord Captaine.
    Fal. What? do'st thou roare before th'art prickt.
    1715Bul. Oh sir, I am a diseased man.
    Fal. What disease hast thou?
    Bul. A whorson cold sir, a cough sir, which I caught
    with Ringing in the Kings affayres, vpon his Coronation
    day, sir.
    1720Fal. Come, thou shalt go to the Warres in a Gowne:
    we will haue away thy Cold, and I will take such order,
    that thy friends shall ring for thee. Is heere all?
    Shal. There is two more called then your number:
    you must haue but foure heere sir, and so I pray you go in
    1725with me to dinner.
    Fal. Come, I will goe drinke with you, but I cannot
    tarry dinner. I am glad to see you in good troth, Master
    Shallow.
    Shal. O sir Iohn, doe you remember since wee lay all
    1730night in the Winde-mill, in S. Georges Field.
    Falstaffe. No more of that good Master Shallow: No
    more of that.
    Shal. Ha? it was a merry night. And is Iane Night-
    worke aliue?
    1735Fal. She liues, M. Shallow.
    Shal. She neuer could away with me.
    Fal. Neuer, neuer: she would alwayes say shee could
    not abide M. Shallow.
    Shal. I could anger her to the heart: shee was then a
    1740Bona-Roba. Doth she hold her owne well.
    Fal. Old, old, M. Shallow.
    Shal. Nay, she must be old, she cannot choose but be
    gg old: