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

Fal. Go to: peace, Mouldy, you fhall go. Mouldy, it is time you were spent.

Moul. Spent?

Shal. Peace, fellow, peace: ftand afide: know you where you are? for the other, Sir John. Let me fee: Simon Shadow.

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

Shal. Where's Shadow?
Shad. Here, Sir.

Fal. Shadow, whofe fon art thou?
Shad. My mother's fon, Sir.

Fal. Thy mother's fon! like enough; and thy father's fhadow: fo the fon of the female is the fhadow of the male: it is often fo, indeed, but not of the father's fubftance.

Shal. Do you like him, Sir John?

Fal. Shadow will ferve for fummer; prick him; for we have a number of fhadows do fill up the mufter-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 down, Sir John?

Fal. It were fuperfluous; for his apparel is built upon his back, and the whole frame flands 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.

Feeble. A woman's tailor, Sir.

Shal. Shall I prick him, Sir?

Fal. You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he would have prick'd you. Wilt thou make as many holes in an enemy's battel, as thou haft done in a woman's petticoat?

Feeble. I will do my good will, Sir; you can have

no more.

Fal. Well faid, good woman's tailor; well faid, courageous Feeble: thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful Dove, or most magnanimous moufe. Prick the woman's tailor well, mafter Shallow, deep, master Shallow.

Feeble. I would, Wart might have gone, Sir.

Fal. I would, thou wert a man's tailor, that thou might'ft mend him, and make him fit to go. I cannot put him to be a private foldier, that is the leader of fo many thousands. Let that fuffice, moft forcible Feeble.

Feeble. It fhall fuffice.

Fal. I am bound to thee, reverend Feeble. Who is the next?

Shal. Peter Bull-calf of the Green.

Fal. Yea, marry, let us fee Bull-calf.

Bul. Here, Sir.

Fal. Trust me, a likely fellow. Come, prick me Bull-calf, till he roar again.

Bul. Oh, good my lord captain,

Fal. What, doft thou roar before th'art prickt? Bul. Oh, Sir, I am a difeafed man.

Fal. What disease haft thou?

Bul. A whorefon Cold, Sir: a cough, Sir, which I caught with ringing in the King's affairs, upon his Coronation-day, Sir.

Fal. Come, thou fhalt go to the wars in a gown: we will have away thy Cold, and I will take fuch order that thy friends fhall ring for thee. Is here all? Shal. There is two more called than

H 5

your number,

you

you must have but four here, Sir; and fo, I pray you, go in with me to dinner.

Fal. Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry dinner. I am glad to fee you, in good troth, mafter Shallow.

Shal. O, Sir John, do you remember fince we lay all night in the wind-mill in Saint 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 Night-work alive?

Fal. She lives, mafter Shallow.

Shal. She never could away with me.

Fal. Never, never: she would always fay, she could not abide mafter Shallow.

Shal. By the mafs, I could anger her to the heart: fhe was then a Bona-roba. Doth fhe hold her own

well?

Fal. Old, old, mafter Shallow.

Shal. Nay, fhe must be old, fhe cannot chuse but be old; certain, she's old, and had Robin Night-work by old Night-work, before I came to Clement's Inn. Sil. That's fifty-five years ago.

Shal. Ha, coufin Silence, that thou hadst feen That, that this knight and I have feen!hah, Sir John, faid I well?

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

Shal. That we have, that we have, in faith, Sir John, we have our watch-word was, hem, boys.Come, let's to dinner; Oh, the days that we have feen! come, come.

Bul. Good mafter corporate Bardolph, ftand my friend, and here is four Harry ten fhillings in French Crowns for you: in very truth, Sir, I had as lief be hang'd, Sir, as go; and yet for my own part, Sir, I do not care, but rather because I am unwilling, and for mine own part, have a defire to ftay with my

friends;

friends; else, Sir, I did not care for mine own part fo much.

Bard. Go to ; ftand aside.

Moul. And good mafter corporal captain, for my old Dame's-fake stand my friend: fhe hath no body to do any thing about her when I am gone, and fhe's old and cannot help herself: you shall have forty, Sir.

Bard. Go to; ftand aside.

Feeble. I care not, a man can die but once; we owe God a death, I will never bear a base mind: if it be, my destiny, fo: if it be not, so. No man is too good to ferve his Prince; and let it go which way it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next. Bard. Well faid, thou art a good fellow. Feeble. 'Faith, I will bear no base mind. Fal. Come, Sir, which men fhall I have? Shal. Four of which you please.

Bard. Sir, a word with you:-I have three pound to free Mouldy and Bull-calf.

Fal. Go to: well.

Shal. Come, Sir John, which four will you have? Fal. Do you chufe for me.

Shal. Marry then, Mouldy, Bull-calf, Feeble, and Shadow.

Fal. Mouldy, and Bull-calf-for you, Mou'dy, ftay at home till you are past service: and for your part, Bull-calf, grow till you come unto it: I will none of you.

Shal. Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong, they are your likelieft men, and I would have you ferv'd with the best.

Fal. Will you tell me, master Shallow, how to chufe a man? care I for the limb, the thewes, the ftature, bulk and big femblance of a man? give me the fpirit, mafter Shallow. Here's Wart; you fee what a ragged appearance it is: he fhall charge you and discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's hammer; come off

H 6

and

and on, fwifter than he that gibbets on the brewer's bucket. And this fame half-fac'd fellow Shadow, give me this man, he prefents no mark to the enemy; the fo-man may with as great aim level at the edge of a pen-knife and, for a retreat, how fwiftly will this Feeble, the woman's tailor, run off? O give me the fpare men, and fpare me the great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph.

:

Bard. Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. Fal. Come, manage me your caliver: fo, very well, go to, very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a little, lean, old, chopt, bald fhot. Well faid, Wart, thou art a good scab: hold, there is a tefter for thee.

Shal. He is not his craft-mafter, he doth not do it right. I remember at Mile-End Green, when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was then Sir Dagonet in Arthur's Show: there was a little quiver fellow, and he would manage you his piece thus; and he would about, and about, and come you in, and come you in: rah, tah, tah, would he fay; bounce, would he fay, and away again would he go, and again would he come: I fhall never fee fuch a fellow.

Fal. Thefe fellows will do well. Mafter Shallow, God keep you; farewel, mafter Silence. I will not use many words with you, fare you well, gentlemen both. I thank you, I must a dozen mile to night. Bardolph, give the foldiers coats.

Shal. Sir John, heaven blefs you, and profper your affairs, and fend us peace. As you return, vifit my houfe. Let our old acquaintance be renewed: perad venture, I will with you to the Court.

Fal. I would you would, mafter Shallow.
Shal. Go to: I have fpoke at a word.

well.

Fare you [Exit. On, Barwill fetch

Fal. Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. dolph, lead the men away. As I return, I off thefe Juftices: I do fee the bottom of Justice

Shallow.