Again, when Davy pledges Bardolph-"A cup of wine, sir!" Silence chimes in with, "A cup of wine that 's brisk and fine." But the capstone to his revelry is when he accepts Falstaff's pledge to a bumper, and the knight, patronising him, says, "Why, now, you have done me right!" Silence's reply is worth a whole mint: "Do me right, And dub me knight, Samingo! Is't not so? "Sil. Is't so? Why, then, say an old man can do somewhat." So real is this extraordinary scene, that even his scraps become shorter and shorter, at length ending in two or three words; and when the party breaks up, Falstaff says, “ Carry Master Silence to bed!" There is one speech by the "knight of the burning lamp," the immortal Bardolph, which will answer the purpose of comment and illustration of his character. It is when Shallow asks him if his master, Sir John, be married? and he replies, "Your pardon, sir, a soldier is better accommodated than with a wife." Shallow rejoins : "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 thinks he is quizzing him for his use of the word, and defends himself: "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-he may be thought to be-'accommodated,' which is an excellent thing!" Not content with filling his scene with three such worthies as Falstaff, Shallow, and Silence, the poet stretches on the career of his imagination, and introduces that whiskered cata-mountain, Ancient Pistol; a character quite as grotesque and amusing in his walk as the half-witted justices. Pistol, however, is not an original invention of Shakespeare's; but he was intended to be a satire upon some euphuistic and bombastious characters that are to be found in other plays of his time; and Mackenzie says that he has even taken identical passages, in all their "robustious periwig-pated" absurdity, and putting them into Pistol's mouth, they become the natural effusions of a braggart and a poltroon. If Shakespeare really intended to represent Falstaff as a coward, a white-livered fellow, although very questionable that such was his design, he has produced a complete distinction in the effects of the passion in the two men. In Falstaff it was policy; in Pistol it was negation, an incompetence of the principle of self-respect, as in Parolles. Pistol is introduced to bring the news of Henry IV.'s death, and he does it like a showman. This scene, with its variety of character and richness of humour, will form a choice voluntary as conclusion to our homily. There is Pistol with his fustian; Falstaff humouring him in his bombast, and spouting blank verse, too; Shallow bewildered and obfuscated, and Master Silence whiffling his scraps of ballads. "What wind blew you hither, Pistol?" says Falstaff: "Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good. Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the realm. ** * Sir John, I am thy Pistol, and thy friend, "Fal. I pr'ythee now, deliver them like a man of this world. "Pist. A foutra for the world, and worldlings base! I speak of Africa, and golden joys. "Fal. O base Assyrian knight! what is thy news? Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof. "Sil. [Singing.] 'And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.' "Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons? And shall good news be baffled? Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap. Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding. "Pist. Why, then, lament therefore. "Shal. Give me pardon, sir. If, sir, you come with news from the court, I take it there is but two ways,-either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am, sir, under the king in some authority. “Pist. Under which king, Bezonian? speak, or die. "Shal. Under King Harry. "Pist. "Shal. Harry the Fourth. "Pist. Harry the Fourth, or Fifth ? A foutra for thine office! Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king; Harry the Fifth's the man. I speak the truth: When Pistol lies, do this, [makes a contemptuous gesture,] and fig me, like The bragging Spaniard. "Fal. What! is the old king dead? "Pist. As nail in door: the things I speak are just. ** "Fal. Away, Bardolph! saddle my horse.-Master Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine. -Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities. Carry Master Silence to bed.-Master Shallow, my Lord Shallow, be what thou wilt; I am fortune's steward. Get on thy boots; we'll ride all night.-O sweet Pistol!-Away Bardolph! [Exit Bard.] Come, Pistol, utter more to me; and, withal, devise something to do thyself good. Boot, boot, Master Shallow; I know the young king is sick for me. Let us take any man's horses; the laws of England are at my commandment. Happy are they which have been my friends, and woe unto my Lord Chief-Fustice!" |