SCENE II. Gloucestershire. Before SHALLOW'S house. The Second part of King Henry the Fourth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry IV, part 2  | Act 3, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE II. Gloucestershire. Before SHALLOW'S house. 

 Enter SHALLOW and SILENCE, meeting; MOULDY,  SHADOW, WART, FEEBLE, BULLCALF, a Servant or two with them  SHALLOW  Come on, come on, come on, sir; give me your hand, 

 sir, give me your hand, sir: an early stirrer, by 

 the rood! And how doth my good cousin Silence? 

 SILENCE  Good morrow, good cousin Shallow. 

 SHALLOW  And how doth my cousin, your bedfellow? and your 

 fairest daughter and mine, my god-daughter Ellen? 

 SILENCE  Alas, a black ousel, cousin Shallow! 

 SHALLOW  By yea and nay, sir, I dare say my cousin William is 

 become a good scholar: he is at Oxford still, is he not? 

 SILENCE  Indeed, sir, to my cost. 

 SHALLOW  A' must, then, to the inns o' court shortly. I was 

 once of Clement's Inn, where I think they will 

 talk of mad Shallow yet. 

 SILENCE  You were called 'lusty Shallow' then, cousin. 

 SHALLOW  By the mass, I was called any thing; and I would 

 have done any thing indeed too, and roundly too. 

 There was I, and little John Doit of Staffordshire, 

 and black George Barnes, and Francis Pickbone, and 

 Will Squele, a Cotswold man; you had not four such 

 swinge-bucklers in all the inns o' court again: and 

 I may say to you, we knew where the bona-robas were 

 and had the best of them all at commandment. Then 

 was Jack Falstaff, now Sir John, a boy, and page to 

 Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk. 

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

 SHALLOW  The same Sir John, the very same. I  see him break 

 Skogan's head at the court-gate, when a' was a 

 crack not thus high: and the very same day did I 

 fight with one Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, 

 behind Gray's Inn. Jesu, Jesu, the mad days that I 

 have spent! and to see how many of my old 

 acquaintance are dead! 

 SILENCE  We shall all follow, cousin. 

 SHADOW  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? 

 SILENCE  By my troth, I was not there. 

 SHALLOW  Death is certain. Is old Double of your town living 

 yet? 

 SILENCE  Dead, sir. 

 SHALLOW  Jesu, Jesu, dead! a' drew a good bow; and dead! a' 

 shot a fine shoot: John a Gaunt loved him well, and 

 betted much money on his head. Dead! a' would have 

 clapped 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? 

 SILENCE  Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be 

 worth ten pounds. 

 SHALLOW  And is old Double dead? 

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



 Enter BARDOLPH and one with him  BARDOLPH  Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you, which 

 is Justice Shallow? 

 SHALLOW  I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this 

 county, and one of the king's justices of th e peace: 

 What is your good pleasure with me? 

 BARDOLPH  My captain, sir, commends him to you; my captain, 

 Sir John Falstaff, a tall gentleman, by heaven, and 

 a most gallant leader. 

 SHALLOW  He greets me well, sir. I knew him a good backsword 

 man. How doth the good knight? may I ask how my 

 lady his wife doth? 

 BARDOLPH  Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated than 

 with a wife. 

 SHALLOW  It is well said, in 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. 

 BARDOLPH  Pardon me, sir; I have heard the word. Phrase call 

 you it? by this good 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, by heaven. Accommodated; that is, when a 

 man is, as they say, accommodated; or when a man is, 

 being, whereby a' may be thought to be accommodated; 

 which is an excellent thing. 

 SHALLOW  It is very just. 



 Enter FALSTAFF  Look, here comes good Sir John. Give me your good 

 hand, give me your worship's good hand: by my 

 troth, you like well and bear your years very well: 

 welcome, good Sir John. 

 FALSTAFF  I am glad to see you well, good Master Robert 

 Shallow: Master Surecard, as I think? 

 SHALLOW  No, Sir John; it is my cousin Silence, in commission with me. 

 FALSTAFF  Good Master Silence, it well befits you should be of 

 the peace. 

 SILENCE  Your good-worship is welcome. 

 FALSTAFF  Fie! this is hot weather, gentlemen. Have you 

 provided me here half a dozen sufficient men? 

 SHALLOW  Marry, have we, sir. Will you sit? 

 FALSTAFF  Let me see them, I beseech you. 

 SHALLOW  Where's the roll? where's the roll? where's the 

 roll? Let me see, let me see, let me see. So, so: 

 yea, marry, sir: Ralph Mouldy! Let them appear as 

 I call; let them do so, let them do so. Let me 

 see; where is Mouldy? 

 MOULDY  Here, an't please you. 

 SHALLOW  What think you, Sir John? a good-limbed fellow; 

 young, strong, and of good friends. 

 FALSTAFF  Is thy name Mouldy? 

 MOULDY  Yea, an't please you. 

 FALSTAFF  'Tis the more time thou wert used. 

 SHALLOW  Ha, ha, ha! most excellent, i' faith! Things that 

 are mouldy lack use: very singular good! in faith, 

 well said, Sir John, very well said. 

 FALSTAFF  Prick him. 

 MOULDY  I was pricked well enough before, an you could 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 pricked me; there are other men fitter 

 to go out than I. 

 FALSTAFF  Go to: peace, Mouldy; you shall go. Mouldy, it is 

 time you were spent. 

 MOULDY  Spent! 

 SHALLOW  Peace, fellow, peace; stand aside: know you where 

 you are? For the other, Sir John: let me see: 

 Simon Shadow! 

 FALSTAFF  Yea, marry, let me have him to sit under: he's like 

 to be a cold soldier. 

 SHALLOW  Where's Shadow? 

 SHADOW  Here, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  Shadow, whose son art thou? 

 SHADOW  My mother's son, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  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 much of the 

 father's substance! 

 SHALLOW  Do you like him, Sir John? 

 FALSTAFF  Shadow will serve for summer; prick him, for we have 

 a number of shadows to fill up the muster-book. 

 SHALLOW  Thomas Wart! 

 FALSTAFF  Where's he? 

 WART  Here, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  Is thy name Wart? 

 WART  Yea, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  Thou art a very ragged wart. 

 SHALLOW  Shall I prick him down, Sir John? 

 FALSTAFF  It were superfluous; for his apparel is built upon 

 his back and the whole frame stands upon pins: 

 prick him no more. 

 SHALLOW  Ha, ha, ha! you can do it, sir; you can do it: I 

 commend you well. Francis Feeble! 

 FEEBLE  Here, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  What trade art thou, Feeble? 

 FEEBLE  A woman's tailor, sir. 

 SHALLOW  Shall I prick him, sir? 

 FALSTAFF  You may: but if he had been a man's tailor, he'ld 

 ha' pricked you. Wilt thou make as many holes in 

 an enemy's battle as thou hast done in a woman's petticoat? 

 FEEBLE  I will do my good will, sir; you can have no more. 

 FALSTAFF  Well said, good woman's tailor! well said, 

 courageous Feeble! thou wilt be as valiant as the 

 wrathful dove or most magnanimous mouse. Prick the 

 woman's tailor: well, Master Shallow; deep, Master Shallow. 

 FEEBLE  I would Wart might have gone, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  I would thou wert a man's tailor, that thou mightst 

 mend him and make him fit to go. I cannot put him 

 to a private soldier that is the leader of so many 

 thousands: let that suffice, most forcible Feeble. 

 FEEBLE  It shall suffice, sir. 

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

 SHALLOW  Peter Bullcalf o' the green! 

 FALSTAFF  Yea, marry, let's see Bullcalf. 

 BULLCALF  Here, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  'Fore God, a likely fellow! Come, prick me Bullcalf 

 till he roar again. 

 BULLCALF  O Lord! good my lord captain,-- 

 FALSTAFF  What, dost thou roar before thou art pricked? 

 BULLCALF  O Lord, sir! I am a diseased man. 

 FALSTAFF  What disease hast thou? 

 BULLCALF  A whoreson cold, sir, a cough, sir, which I caught 

 with ringing in the king's affairs upon his 

 coronation-day, sir. 

 FALSTAFF  Come, thou shalt go to the wars in a gown; we wilt 

 have away thy cold; and I will take such order that 

 my friends shall ring for thee. Is here all? 

 SHALLOW  Here is two more called than your number, you must 

 have but four here, sir: and so, I pray you, go in 

 with me to dinner. 

 FALSTAFF  Come, I will go drink with you, but I cannot tarry 

 dinner. I am glad to see you, by my troth, Master Shallow. 

 SHALLOW  O, Sir John, do you remember since we lay all night 

 in the windmill in Saint George's field? 

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

 SHALLOW  Ha! 'twas a merry night. And is Jane Nightwork alive? 

 FALSTAFF  She lives, Master Shallow. 

 SHALLOW  She never could away with me. 

 FALSTAFF  Never, never; she would always say she could not 

 abide Master Shallow. 

 SHALLOW  By the mass, I could anger her to the heart. She 

 was then a bona-roba. Doth she hold her own well? 

 FALSTAFF  Old, old, Master Shallow. 

 SHALLOW  Nay, she must be old; she cannot choose but be old; 

 certain she's old; and had Robin Nightwork by old 

 Nightwork before I came to Clement's Inn. 

 SILENCE  That's fifty-five year ago. 

 SHALLOW  Ha, cousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that that 

 this knight and I have seen! Ha, Sir John, said I well? 

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

 SHALLOW  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: 

 Jesus, the days that we have seen! Come, come. 



 Exeunt FALSTAFF and Justices  BULLCALF  Good Master Corporate Bardolph, stand my friend; 

 and here's four Harry ten shillings in French crowns 

 for you. In very truth, sir, I had as lief be 

 hanged, sir, as go: and yet, for mine own part, sir, 

 I do not care; but rather, because I am unwilling, 

 and, for mine own part, have a desire to stay with 

 my friends; else, sir, I did not care, for mine own 

 part, so much. 

 BARDOLPH  Go to; stand aside. 

 MOULDY  And, good master corporal captain, for my old 

 dame's sake, stand my friend: she has nobody to do 

 any thing about her when I am gone; and she is old, 

 and cannot help herself: You shall have forty, sir. 

 BARDOLPH  Go to; stand aside. 

 FEEBLE  By my troth, I care not; a man can die but once: we 

 owe God a death: I'll ne'er bear a base mind: 

 an't be my destiny, so; an't be not, so: no man is 

 too good to serve's prince; and let it go which way 

 it will, he that dies this year is quit for the next. 

 BARDOLPH  Well said; thou'rt a good fellow. 

 FEEBLE  Faith, I'll bear no base mind. 



 Re-enter FALSTAFF and the Justices  FALSTAFF  Come, sir, which men shall I have? 

 SHALLOW  Four of which you please. 

 BARDOLPH  Sir, a word with you: I have three pound to free 

 Mouldy and Bullcalf. 

 FALSTAFF  Go to; well. 

 SHALLOW  Come, Sir John, which four will you have? 

 FALSTAFF  Do you choose for me. 

 SHALLOW  Marry, then, Mouldy, Bullcalf, Feeble and Shadow. 

 FALSTAFF  Mouldy and Bullcalf: for you, Mouldy, stay at home 

 till you are past service: and for your part, 

 Bullcalf, grow till you come unto it: I will none of you. 

 SHALLOW  Sir John, Sir John, do not yourself wrong: they are 

 your likeliest men, and I would have you served with the best. 

 FALSTAFF  Will you tell me, Master Shallow, how to choose a 

 man? Care I for the limb, the thewes, the stature, 

 bulk, and big assemblance of a man! Give me the 

 spirit, Master Shallow. Here's Wart; you see what a 

 ragged appearance it is; a' shall charge you and 

 discharge you with the motion of a pewterer's 

 hammer, come off and on swifter than he that gibbets 

 on the brewer's bucket. And this same half-faced 

 fellow, Shadow; give me this man: he presents no 

 mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great aim 

 level at the edge of a penknife. And for a retreat; 

 how swiftly will this Feeble the woman's tailor run 

 off! O, give me the spare men, and spare me the 

 great ones. Put me a caliver into Wart's hand, Bardolph. 

 BARDOLPH  Hold, Wart, traverse; thus, thus, thus. 

 FALSTAFF  Come, manage me your caliver. So: very well: go 

 to: very good, exceeding good. O, give me always a 

 little, lean, old, chapt, bald shot. Well said, i' 

 faith, Wart; thou'rt a good scab: hold, there's a 

 tester for thee. 

 SHALLOW  He is not his craft's master; 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 a' 

 would manage you his piece thus; and a' would about 

 and about, and come you in and come you in: 'rah, 

 tah, tah,' would a' say; 'bounce' would a' say; and 

 away again would a' go, and again would a' come: I 

 shall ne'er see such a fellow. 

 FALSTAFF  These fellows will do well, Master Shallow. God 

 keep you, Master 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 soldiers coats. 

 SHALLOW  Sir John, the Lord bless you! God prosper your 

 affairs! God send us peace! At your return visit 

 our house; let our old acquaintance be renewed; 

 peradventure I will with ye to the court. 

 FALSTAFF  'Fore God, I would you would, Master Shallow. 

 SHALLOW  Go to; I have spoke at a word. God keep you. 

 FALSTAFF  Fare you well, gentle gentlemen. 



 Exeunt Justices  On, Bardolph; lead the men away. 



 Exeunt BARDOLPH, Recruits,  & c  As I return, I will fetch off these justices: I do 

 see the bottom of Justice Shallow. Lord, Lord, how 

 subject we old men are to this vice of lying! This 

 same starved justice hath done nothing but prate to 

 me of the wildness of his youth, and the feats he 

 hath done about Turnbull Street: and every third 

 word a lie, duer paid to the hearer than the Turk's 

 tribute. I do remember him at Clement's Inn like a 

 man made after supper of a cheese-paring: when a' 

 was naked, he was, for all the world, like a forked 

 radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it 

 with a knife: a' was so forlorn, that his 

 dimensions to any thick sight were invincible: a' 

 was the very genius of famine; yet lecherous as a 

 monkey, and the whores called him mandrake: a' came 

 ever in the rearward of the fashion, and sung those 

 tunes to the overscutched huswives that he heard the 

 carmen whistle, and swear they were his fancies or 

 his good-nights. And now is this Vice's dagger 

 become a squire, and talks as familiarly of John a 

 Gaunt as if he had been sworn brother to him; and 

 I'll be sworn a' ne'er saw him but once in the 

 Tilt-yard; and then he burst his head for crowding 

 among the marshal's men. I saw it, and told John a 

 Gaunt he beat his own name; for you might have 

 thrust him and all his apparel into an eel-skin; the 

 case of a treble hautboy was a mansion for him, a 

 court: and now has he land and beefs. Well, I'll 

 be acquainted with him, if I return; and it shall 

 go hard but I will make him a philosopher's two 

 stones to me: if the young dace be a bait for the 

 old pike, I see no reason in the law of nature but I 

 may snap at him. Let time shape, and there an end. 



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