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Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's 25 foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we be men of good government, being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal. Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by

IV. iii: "answer me roundly to the point," and Brome, A Mad Couple well Match'd, II. i.

23-25. let not... beauty] "A thief of the day's beauty "may have been, like the German Tagesdieb, a euphemism for a loafer, and "a squire of the night's body" was perhaps a euphemism for a highwayman. "Let us," says Falstaff, "who go by the moon and not by the sun, be called, if you will, 'squires of the night's body' (i.e. highwaymen), but not thieves of the day's beauty' (i.e. loafers, wastrels)." Theobald substituted booty for beauty, interpreting: "Let us not be called thieves, the purloiners of that booty, which, to the proprietors, was the purchase of honest labour and industry by day." Steevens explains: "let not us who are body squires to the night," i.e. adorn the night, "be called a disgrace to the day." Wright: "let us not be called thieves by the sun, that is in broad daylight," comparing, for the construction, Coriolanus, 11. iii. 19. Daniel conjectures beauty for body and booty for beauty. There is a word-play upon night and "knight," as also possibly on body," "beauty" and "booty.

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25, 26. Diana's foresters] attendants upon the huntress Diana. Cf. the expression "Diana's rangers" in Cymbeline, II. iii. 73.

26. shade] darkness, as in Sonnets, xviii. II.

26. minions] servants. Skelton, Speke, Parrot, 21: "I am a mynyon to wayt vppon a quene.'

27, 28. of good government] of exemplary life. So in Beaumont and Fletcher, The Scornful Lady, 1: "Other women of good carriage and

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government," and Heywood, An Apol-
ogy for Actors (Shak. Soc. ed., p. 44):
Many amongst us I know to be
of government, of sober lives and tem-
perate carriages."

28, 29. being. moon] Cf. Heywood, King Edward IV. Part II. (Pearson, i. 162): "Women all are gouernd by the moon," and Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel: "govern'd by the moon, the giddy Jews. Shakespeare and his contemporaries refer frequently to the moon as the cause of the tides. See Drayton, The Man in the Moon:

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"I am the rectress of this globe below,

and

And with my course the sea doth ebb and flow," etc.;

Dekker, London Triumphing (Pearson, iii. 242); and Donne, Metempsychosis, First Song: "this great soule Which, as the Moon the Sea, moves us.' Cf. also Hamlet, 1. i. 118, and Midsummer-Night's Dream, 11. i. 103.

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28-30. our... steal] So Wilkins, The Miseries of Enforced Marriage (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix. 528): "the moon, patroness of all purse takers."

29, 30. under... steal] with a play on the double meaning of countenance, viz. face and patronage. See lines 155, 156, post. Pope's we-steal is happy and may be right.

31. it holds well] the simile is apt. Cf. Donne, Biathanatos (ed. 1648, p. 49): "heaven... is certainly good; Life, but probably and possibly. For here it holds well which Athenagoras sayes [Earthly things and Heavenly differ so, as Veri-simile, & Verum]."

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the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most 35 dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing "Lay by " and spent with crying "Bring in ;' now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle.
And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of dur-

ance ?

34. proof, now: a] Rowe; proofe. Now a Qq 1-6, Ff. omitted Ff. 43. As the honey of Hybla] As is the hony Ff.

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36, 37. got Bring in"] got with an oath bidding the traveller "Lay by," and spent with crying to the drawer, "Bring in more wine." "Lay by" may have been equivalent to "Stand and deliver your purses," or was perhaps a command to the travellers to put aside or throw down their arms. See Brome, Covent-Garden Weeded, v. iii: "You shall receive no harm, sir. Lay by your Armes, my Masters. I bring none but friends." Possibly it was one of the watchwords in use among highwaymen to which Bailey's Dict. (Canting Words) refers: "When they meet a Prize upon the Road, they have a Watch-Word, among them, which is no sooner pronounced, but every one falls on. Hudson equates it with "stand close," and others connect it with the nautical expression "lie by," to slacken sail, to bring to. (Cf. Henry VIII. III. i. II.) 38-40. now gallows] Cf. J. Heywood, Three Hundred Epigrammes, 56: "Thou art at an ebbe in Newgate, But thou shalt be aflote at Tyburne ere long." The condemned man was compelled to climb to the ridge or crossbar of the gallows. In the account of the execution of Guy Fawkes in The Weekely Newes, 31 January, 1606, we read that "Fawkes was scarce able to go up the ladder, yet, with much ado, by the help of the hangman, went high enough to break his neck by the fall." Also Beaumont and Fletcher, Thierry and Theodoret, 1. i: "I do now begin to feel myself Tuck'd into a halter, and a ladder Turning from me, one pulling

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45

41. By the Lord]

at my legs too"; and Wilkins, The Miseries of Enforced Marriage (Hazlitt's Dodsley, ix. 528).

43. lad of the castle] A cant term for a roisterer. Steevens quotes from Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation, 1593 (Grosart, ii. 44): "And heere is a lusty ladd of the Castell, that will binde Bears, and ride golden Asses to death"; and Farmer cites the same author's Foure Letters, 1592 (Grosart, i. 225): "Old Lads of the Castell, with their rappinge bable." "Old Dick of the castle" occurs in Nashe's Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up, The Dedication (Grosart, iii. 6). Farmer says that "old lad of the castle" is equivalent to "old lad of Castile, a Castilian "; and Rushton suggests an allusion to the Castle, one of the "allowed Stewhouses" mentioned in Stow's Survey of London (ed. 1720, iv. 7). See Introd. P. xi.

44. a buff jerkin] An allusion to the catchpole or sergeant who wore a jerkin or sleeveless jacket of a stout kind of leather called buff. Comedy of Errors, IV. ii. 45: "he's in a suit of buff which rested him," and Barry, Ram Alley (Hazlitt's Dodsley, x. 330): "certain goblins [sergeants] in buff jackets."

44, 45. robe of durance] With a pla on the meanings of durance, viz. bu. or other stout durable material (cf. "everlasting") and imprisonment. The same quibble occurs in Dekker and Webster, Westward Hoe, ш. ii: "Honest Sergeant where didst

buy this buffe? Let me not liue but Ile giue thee a good suite of durance."

Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin?

Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?

Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft.

Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?

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Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch; 55 and where it would not, I have used my credit. Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent that thou art heir apparent-But, I prithee, sweet wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou art king? and resolution thus fubbed as 60 it is with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.

46. what, in] what in Qq 1, 5, 6, Ff. apparent But] Rowe; apparant. But Qq, Ff. 1-6; fobb'd Fi; snubd or snub'd Qq 7, 8. 62. king] a king Qq 3-6, Ff.

Cf. Comedy of Errors, Iv. iii. 27; "the man [the sergeant] that takes pity on decayed men and gives them suits of durance"; and Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, III. ii; "Tell my lady that I go in a suit of durance for her sake."

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57. not] omitted Ff.

58.

60. fubbed] fubd Qq 61. law ?] law, or law: Qq 1-6.

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purpose let it play openly with the las-
civious wind." From this passage and
from Comedy of Errors, 1. ii. 127, it
would appear that
heir "
was pro-
nounced as "hair." On the other
hand we read in Harvey, Three Pro-
per Letters, 1580: "we have... ayer
bothe pro aere and pro haerede, for we say
not Heire but plain Aire for him to (or
else Scoggan's Aier were a poor jest).”

60. fubbed] cheated, robbed of its reward; as in Brome, The Court Beggar, II. i; "My Fob has been fubd to day of six pieces." Many editors prefer the fobb'd of F. So in Greene, Mamillia (Grosart, ii. 102): "I will not.. fobbe you with fayre wordes, and foule deedes." Bailey's Dict. (Canting Words): "Fob, a Cheat, or Trick." For "resolution " cf. lines 34, 35 ante: "a purse of gold most resolutely snatched."

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61. antic] mountebank, buffoon. See Bailey's Dict. (Canting Words): 'Anticks, such as dress themselves up with Ribbons, mismatched Colours, Feathers, &c. "; ct. also Henry V. 111. ii. 34, and Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1325. It. antico, grotesque. "The Picture of an English Antick" in Ashton's Humour, Wit, and Satire of the Seventeenth Century (p. 94).

See

Prince. No; thou shalt.

Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave

judge. Prince. Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.

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Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell 70

you.

Prince. For obtaining of suits?

Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman hath no lean wardrobe.

'Sblood, I am as melan

75

choly as a gib cat or a lugged bear.

Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.

Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.

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pardon me."

72. obtaining of suits] So in Dekker, Guls Horn-Booke (Grosart, ii. 239): "If you be a Courtier, discourse of the obtaining of suits." For Falstaff's quibble cf. Brome, The Northern Lasse, IV. i.: "Squelch. How is it rewarded? Holdup. By obtaining of Sutes made out of cast Gowns."

73, 74. whereof .. wardrobe] The hangman's fee was thirteen pence halfpenny (see Middleton, No Wit, no Help Like a Woman's, v. i), and the felon's clothes were his perquisite. Brome, A Mad Couple well Match'd, 1. i: "I will do some death-deserving thing (though these cloaths goe to th' Hangman for 't)." See also Bacon, Apophthegms (Spedding, vii. 146); Middleton, The Roaring Girl, Iv. i; and Brome, The Northern Lasse, v. i.

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74. 'Sblood] omitted Ff. 75. a gtb cat] a tom cat, a male cat. Sherwood, Eng. French Dict.: “A gibbe (or old male cat)." "Gib" is an abbreviation of Gilbert; cf. Henryson, Fables of Esope (Laing, p. 114): "GibHunter our jollie cat (later called "Gilbert"). The melancholy of the cat was proverbial. See Sidney, Arcadia (ed. 1598, p. 386), and Lyly, Midas, v. ii. "As melancholy as a gib'd cat" is given in Ray's Proverbs.

75. lugged bear] a baited bear, a bear that has been toused and lugged by dogs. Cf. Butler, Hudibras, 1. iii:66 Thy bear is out of peril,

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Though lugg'd, indeed, and wounded ver'ill," and Middleton and Rowley, The Changeling, II. i: "like a common Garden-bull I do but take breath to be lugg'd again." Baret, Alvearie, has "To lug, shake or pull by the eare. Vellere, agitare, vellicare aurem.' 77. drone bagpipe] The drone or bass pipe of a bagpipe emits a deep, monotonous note. Butler's Hudibras, 11. ii: " 'Bagpipes of the loudest drones." The bagpipe was once popular throughout England, but in Shakespeare's day its use seems to have been restricted to Lancashire and Lincolnshire. Heywood, The Witches of Lancashire, III. i: a Lancashire Bag-pipe. is able to charme the Divell.' "Lincolne-shire Bagpipe" is given first among the proverbs of Lincolnshire by Fuller (Worthies of Eng

Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of Moor-ditch?

Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes, and art in- 80 deed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity of good names were were to be bought. An old lord of the council rated me the 85 other day in the street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked wisely, and in the street too.

Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the 90 streets, and no man regards it.

Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration, and art indeed able

80. similes] smiles Qq 1-4, 6-8, F. 83. to God] omitted Ff.

rest.

wisdom. . . and] omitted Ff.

land, 1662, p. 152). "The Bagpipe,"
he says, "in the judgement of the
Rural Midas's, carryeth away the credit
from the Harp of Apollo himself."
Ray (Proverbs) cites Fuller, with the
remark, "whether because the people
here do more delight in the bagpipe
than other, or whether they are more
cunning in playing upon them."
Wright quotes Drayton, Poly-Olbion,
xxiii. 266: "And Bells and Bagpipes
next belong to Lincolnshire." Boswell
refers to Armin, A Nest of Ninnies,
1608 (Shak. Soc. ed., p. 9): “a noyse
of minstrells and a Lincolnshire bag-
pipe was prepared-the minstrels for
the great chamber, the bagpipe for the
hall."
Steevens suspected that by the
"drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe " was
meant the "dull croak of a frog."

78. What... hare] Steevens quotes Drayton, Poly-Olbion, ii. 204: "The melancholie Hare is form'd in brakes and briers," and Webster, The White Devil (ed. Dyce, p. 26): "your melancholy hare."

79. Moor-ditch] A foul ditch, clogged with filth, draining Moorfields between Bishopsgate and Cripplegate. Steevens quotes Dekker, Guls Horn-Booke (Grosart, ii. 212): "a sorer labour then the clensing of Augeaes stable, or the scowring of Moor-ditch." See also The Play of Sir Thomas More (ed. Dyce, p. 51): "Moore had bin better a scowred More

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ditch than a notcht mee thus." Malone cites Taylor's Pennylesse Pilgrimage, 1618 (p. 129): "moody, muddy, Mooreditch melancholy."

81. comparative] fertile in similes and comparisons. See note to III. . 67 post, and cf. Love's Labour's Lost, v. ii. 853-856.

84. commodity] supply, as in Measure for Measure, IV. iii. 5. Sir W. Berkley, The Lost Lady (Hazlitt's Dodsley, xii. 585): “A commodity of beauty that would last forty years, would bear a good price." Reed quotes from The Discoverie of the Knights of the Poste, 1597: "it were well if they knew where a commoditie of names were to be sould, and yet I thinke all the money in their purses could not buy it."

90, 91. for wisdom it] Proverbs i. 20-24: "Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets : She crieth... saying . . I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded." The words "wisdom and" are omitted in F in conformity with the Act of Parliament to Restrain the Abuses of Players. See Introd. p. ix.

92. thou .. iteration] thou hast a profane way of repeating Scripture that will be thy damnation. Or possibly Falstaff refers to the Prince's trick of iterating what has been already

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