Fal. And here is my speech. Stand aside, nobility.
Host. O Jesu, this is excellent sport, i' faith![2532]375
Fal. Weep not, sweet queen; for trickling tears are vain.[2533]
Host. O, the father, how he holds his countenance![2534]
Fal. For God's sake, lords, convey my tristful queen;[2535]
For tears do stop the flood-gates of her eyes.
Host. O Jesu, he doth it as like one of these harlotry[2536]380
players as ever I see!
Fal. Peace, good pint-pot; peace, good tickle-brain.
Harry, I do not only marvel where thou spendest thy time,
but also how thou art accompanied: for though the camomile,
the more it is trodden on the faster it grows, yet[2537]385
youth, the more it is wasted the sooner it wears. That thou[2538]
art my son, I have partly thy mother's word, partly my
own opinion, but chiefly a villanous trick of thine eye and[2539]
a foolish hanging of thy nether lip, that doth warrant me.[2540]
If then thou be son to me, here lies the point; why, being[2541]390
son to me, art thou so pointed at? Shall the blessed sun[2542]
of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries? a question
not to be asked. Shall the son of England prove a thief
and take purses? a question to be asked. There is a thing,
Harry, which thou hast often heard of and it is known to395
many in our land by the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient
writers do report, doth defile; so doth the company thou
keepest: for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink
but in tears, not in pleasure but in passion, not in words
only, but in woes also: and yet there is a virtuous man400
whom I have often noted in thy company, but I know not
his name.
Prince. What manner of man, an it like your majesty?[2543]
Fal. A goodly portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent; of[2544]
a cheerful look, a pleasing eye and a most noble carriage;405
and, as I think, his age some fifty, or, by'r lady, inclining to
three score; and now I remember me, his name is Falstaff:
if that man should be lewdly given, he deceiveth me; for,[2545]
Harry, I see virtue in his looks. If then the tree may be[2546]
known by the fruit, as the fruit by the tree, then,[2546]410
peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue in that Falstaff: him keep
with, the rest banish. And tell me now, thou naughty[2547]
varlet, tell me, where hast thou been this month?
Prince. Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand
for me, and I'll play my father.415