47 carried you ethical dative, used for emphasis and here meaning shot. Cf. 2.1.40–1n.

  *at Q’s erroneous ‘a’ may have resulted from the printer’s eye-skip from the a preceding forehand.

  48 that so that

  49 How … now? Shallow’s continued interest in market prices even as he laments the death of old friends emphasizes his will to live in the face of his own mortality.

  39 By my troth] Q; Truly Cousin F 40, 52 Dooble] Q; Double F 43 Jesu , Jesu, dead!] Q; Dead? See, see: F 43–4 ’A … ’A] Q; hee … hee F 44 fine] QbF; fiue Qa a’Gaunt] Q (a Gaunt); of Gaunt F 46 ’A] Q; hee F i’th’] Q (ith); in the F 47 at] F; a Q

  50 Thereafter … be ‘It depends on their quality.’

  54.1 *The man who accompanies Bardolph is mute and, like other ghost characters who populate the Q SDs of this play (1.3.0.1–3, 2.2.0.1, 3.1.31.1, 4.3.0.1–3), provides evidence that the copy-text for Q may have been an uncorrected holograph. F’s attempt to correct the SD by identifying the ‘one with him’ (Q) as ‘his Boy’ may spring from Bardolph’s appearance with ‘his Boy’ in F at 2.4.109, but Silence’s reference to two … men at 53 suggests that the person accompanying Bardolph is not a page.

  55 *Sisson (Readings) defends F’s attribution of this line to Shallow rather than Silence, arguing that it is ‘surely Shallow’s place’ to greet newcomers as master of the estate. Humphreys adds that the greeting is in the idiom of Shallow, who uses the phrase Honest gentleman while speaking to Pistol at 5.3.107. Yet as Silence employs the same form of greeting earlier in the scene – ‘Good morrow, good cousin Shallow’ (4) – there is no compelling reason to alter the attribution of the line to him in Qb and corrected Qa. Uncorrected Qa, on the other hand, assigns the line to ‘Bardolfe’; but as the SP in the following line also reads ‘Bard.’, this is clearly an error. Berger and Williams (‘Variants’, 115) speculate that the SP at 55 in uncorrected Qa may have been attracted from the SP at 56; but Berger (Second Part, viii) later argues that the attraction was more likely from the SD at 54, and this would account too for uncorrected Qa’s printing of Bardolph’s full name in 55 SP rather than its abbreviation, as in 56 SP.

  57 esquire ordinarily a member of the gentry ranked just below a knight; here, a country squire (OED sb. 2b). Shallow’s poor betrays false modesty.

  60 him himself. See 2.2.123 for comparable use of the objective to replace the reflexive pronoun.

  61 tall valiant

  54.1] Q; Enter Bardolph and his Boy. F (after 52) 55 Good] Qa (corr), Qb; Bardolfe. Good Qa (uncorr); Shal. Good F 59 your good] QaF; your Qb 61–2 by heaven] Q; not in F

  64 backsword man a fencer who used a sword with only one cutting edge, or, alternatively, who for practice used a stick with a basketwork hilt rather than a sword. Cf. 2.4.131.

  64–5 May … doth In his effort to be genteel, Shallow begins the same kind of polite interrogation he used with Silence.

  67 accommodated outfitted, supplied: a word coming into fashion at the end of the 16th century, as Ben Jonson notes in Discoveries, when he condemns the improper use of such ‘perfumed termes of the time, as Accommodation’ (Jonson, 8.632). Like the Hostess in Jonson’s Every Man In His Humour (see 75–6n.), however, Bardolph does not know its meaning, as he reveals at 73–80 when he admits only to having heard the word and defines it tautologically. Cf. similar consideration of the word occupy at 2.4.148–50.

  70, 72 phrases, phrase The term could denote a single word, as in Ham: ‘“beautified” is a vile phrase’ (2.2.110). Bardolph does not understand what Shallow means by phrase and thus defends ‘accommodate’ as a word (73–6).

  72 accommodo In pouncing on the word’s etymology – offering the first person present tense of the Latin accommodare, meaning to fit or make comfortable – Shallow flaunts his schoolboy erudition.

  75–6 soldier-like word Corroborative evidence that ‘accommodate’ was used as military jargon, at least in stage comedy, appears in Jonson’s Every Man In, where Bobadill commands, ‘Hostesse, accommodate vs with another bed-staffe here, quickly: Lend vs another bed-staffe. The woman do’s not vnderstand the wordes of Action’ (1.5.125–8). See also 67n.

  76 word … command either (1) proper military term, or (2) term that comes in handy

  63 well, sir. I] wel, sir, I Q; well: (Sir) I F 67 accommodated] F; accommodate Q 68 in faith] Q; not in F 70 ever were] Q; euery where F 73 Pardon] QaF; Pardon me Qb 74 this] QaF; This good Qb 77 by heaven] Q; not in F 78 is being] Qa; is, beeing QbF

  79 ’a … thought F’s reduction of Q’s phrasing to ‘he thought’ lessens the humour of Bardolph’s stumbling through an attempt to define a word he does not know. His confusion is evident in whereby … to be, which apparently qualifies is being but makes little sense.

  81 just true

  83 like are thriving (OED v. 4). F’s substitution of ‘look’ is an unnecessary simplification.

  86 Soccard Though most editors regard the name as meaningless, it may derive from the term ‘socage’ or ‘soccage’, which the OED defines as a form of tenancy – the holding of land in payment for certain services other than knight-service. Thus ‘soccard’ may have been a colloquial term for ‘tenant’. In substituting the name ‘Sure-card’, the scribe for F was probably trying to make sense of an unfamiliar word, though there is scant agreement on what ‘Sure-card’ means. Malone asserted that it meant ‘boon companion’ in the early 17th century (Suppl.), though there has been no corroboration. Onions glosses it as a ‘person certain to bring success’; but again, no corroboration.

  88 Silence Here and eight other times in Q, Silence’s name appears as ‘Scilens’ or ‘Silens’, aberrerant spellings also found in 146 lines of the Sir Thomas More MS often thought to be written in Shakespeare’s hand, but otherwise unknown. This has been taken by some editors as evidence that the copy-text for Q may have been Shakespeare’s holograph. See 4.3.163n.

  88–9 in commission i.e. holding the office of Justice of the Peace (OED sb.1 2c)

  90–1 it … peace Falstaff puns on Silence’s name: as a Justice of the Peace, it is appropriate that he keep peace – that is, remain silent.

  79 whereby] F; whereby, Q ’a may be] Q; he F 80.1] QaF; Enter sir Iohn Falstaffe. Qb 82 your good] Q; your F 83 By … like] Q; Trust me, you looke F 86 SD] Oxf1 Soccard] Q; Sure-card F 88, 90 Silence] F; Scilens Qa; Silens Qb

  93 Fie … gentlemen possibly a broad hint that Falstaff is thirsty (Cam1)

  94 *half a dozen Inconsistencies in the number of recruits being discussed were never ironed out. Five, not six, men are called in this scene, from whom Falstaff is presumably to select four recruits. Shallow mentions four at 189, 243 and 247, but also claims at 188 that he has called two more than this number. In the event, by allowing the two ablest men to buy out their services, Falstaff winds up with only three.

  sufficient fit, able

  98–9 see: so … so. Shallow is presumably reading through the roll as he speaks. His most salient habit of speech is repetition; his most ardent wish, to ingratiate himself with Falstaff.

  104 friends kin, family. Coming from a respectable family was regarded by Sir John Smythe, in a letter to Lord Burghley dated 28 January 1589/90, as crucial for military discipline, so that ‘footmen [i.e. foot soldiers] do enrol none but such as are gentlemen, yeomen, yeomen’s sons, and artificers of some haviour’ (Hist. Mss, Salisbury Papers, 4.4–5).

  92 SP] Sil. F; Scil. Qa; Silens Qb 94 dozen] Q; dozen of F 96 SD] Oxf1 (after 96) 97–8 1, 2, 3roll] F; roule Qa; rowle Qb 98 let me see: so] QaF; so Qb 99 so, so, so. Yea] so (so, so) yea Q; yea F Rafe] Q; Raphe F 101.1] Davison; not in QF 102 an’t] Qa (and’t); and it Qb; if it F 106 an’t] Q (and’t); if it F 108 i’faith] Q (yfaith); not in F 109–10 in faith] Q; not in F

  111 *i.e. choose him by putting a mark next to his name. The Q compositor apparently mistook this line as a SD.

  112 pricked Mouldy puns on the various meanings of ‘prick’, as (1) provoked or henpecked; (2) turned sour or mouldy (usually said of wine or beer: OED pricked ppl.a 2); but most important for this context, (3) endowed with a penis, for the sexual wordplay continues in the following lines. Cf. Sonnet 20, where Nature is said to have ‘pricked thee out for women’s pleasure’ (13), and Dekker, 1 Honest Whore, 5.2.267–8: ‘you prickt her out nothing but bawdy lessons, but Ile prick you all’.

  113 My … undone Mouldy seems to be intent on deceiving the recruiters. While the old dame he mentions at 229–32, incapable of helping herself, may be his mother, the old dame he mentions here would seem, in this bawdy context, to be a slang term for his wife (akin to ‘my old lady’ in modern parlance), whose being undone puns on the sexual meaning of ‘do’: she will be left both devastated and unfucked if he is recruited. Cf. 2.1.22 and 40–1n.

  114 husbandry … drudgery common double entendres; husbandry means both managing a farm and fulfilling a husband’s role sexually, while drudgery has even more comic overtones, as Dent (L57) reports, quoting an early modern source: ‘To dig anothers [sic] garden’ means ‘to Cuckold one, to do his work and drudgery, as they say for him.’ Cf. AW 1.3.42–4: ‘He that ears my land spares my team, and gives me leave to in the crop; if I be his cuckold, he’s my drudge’.

  116, 117 go For a comparably latent pun on go meaning ‘fuck’, reinforced here by the pun on spent (118), see 166.

  117 Go to! an expression of remonstrance or derisive incredulity, akin to ‘Come, come!’ (OED 93b). Cf. 228, 234.

  118 spent used up, consumed; also a term for achieving orgasm (Williams, Dictionary, 3.1281–2: spend = shed seed), and thus a fitting consummation of the bawdy innuendo above

  121 th’other the others: collective plural

  121–2 *let … Shadow Editors are virtually unanimous in adopting F’s punctuation, so that let me see suggests Shallow is looking over the roll before choosing a name to call. Q’s punctuation, however, is just as defensible: let me see becomes a command for Simon Shadow to appear, and Falstaff’s let me have him (123) echoes that command.

  111 FALSTAFF Prick him.] F; Iohn prickes him. Q (SD after 110) 112 and] Q; if F 121 th’other] Q; the other F 121–2 see Simon] Q; see: Simon F

  122 Shadow The name implies thinness or emaciation. The role would have been appropriate for John Sincklo, an actor who used his thinness to comic effect (see 5.4n.). The name may also allude to the practice of recruiting shadows in order to swindle the public coffers: see 135–6n.

  123–4 let … soldier Falstaff plays on ‘shadow’ as shade to sit under to escape the heat (cf. 93), therefore making Shadow a cool or cold soldier; but ‘cold’ can also mean indifferent, cowardly or, more ominously, dead.

  124 like likely

  127–30 son punning on the opposition of sun and shadow

  129–32 an esoteric joke about Shadow’s paternity, punning on his name. He is doubtless his mother’s son and the image (shadow) of his father; but sons are only reflections of their fathers, and often poor ones. In Shadow’s case the father, as a mere shadow by name, may have no substance: that is, the father may not exist, thus making Shadow, in effect, a shadow of a shadow, or a bastard. For a similar use of much to mean ‘You have little to show’, see 2.4.133n.

  129 son! As the punctuation mark in Q is crowded between ‘sonne’ and ‘like’, it could conceivably be a colon, as in F; but most editors treat it as an exclamation point.

  134 serve a triple pun: (1) suffice (to provide shade for a summer’s day), (2) do military service, or (3) have sexual intercourse

  135–6 shadows … book The term shadows referred to fictitious or dead men whose names were entered in the muster rolls so that corrupt captains could collect their pay, a form of graft. Falstaff’s ready admission to such a fraudulent practice suggests how common it was.

  135 fill to fill

  123 Yea, marry] Q (Yea mary); I marry F 125.1] Davison; not in QF 129 son!] Q (sonne!); sonne: F 131 but much] Q; but not F; but not much Capell 135 fill] Q; to fill F

  137 Thomas Wart A Thomas Warter from Chipping Camden, a village near Stratford-upon-Avon, is included on a list of men from Gloucestershire deemed ‘Able and Sufficient’ for military service in 1608 (MS quoted in Ard2). Aged 50–60, Warter was a carpenter by trade and ‘of lower stature fitt to serve with a Calyver’, details consistent with the description of Wart at 144–5, 261–5 and 271–7. It is conceivable that Shakespeare, in his quest for authentic detail in the recruiting scene, modelled Wart on a man he knew.

  142 ragged tattered in his dress, or full of rough lumps, like a wart (OED adj. 2). Conceivably, Falstaff also puns on ragwort, the popular name of several species of the plant Senecio, or ragweed (OED ragwort sb. 1), which was believed to be an aphrodisiac.

  144–6 The punning on pins and ‘pricks’ leads Falstaff into a carpentry metaphor, wherein Wart’s rags (apparel) are said to be built upon his back and precariously held together by pins, pegs used to join timbers; pins may also refer to Wart’s skinny legs, on which his whole frame stands. Any more pricking might cause it to collapse.

  147 You … it! ‘You have a way with words.’ Shallow is flattering Falstaff’s verbal dexterity.

  150 SP *Following Theobald, many editors assign this line to Falstaff, thinking the question rightly to be his: as Humphreys asserts, ‘Shallow’s office is to produce the recruits, Falstaff’s to question them’. But Q and F agree that it is Shallow’s line, and there is no compelling reason to alter the SP.

  138.1] Davison; not in QF 143 him, Sir John?] Q; him downe, / Sir Iohn? F 144 his] F; not in Q 148 well. – Francis] well: Francis Q; well. / Francis F 148.1] Davison; not in QF 150 SP] Shal. QF; Fal. Theobald

  151–6 As the name Feeble suggests, women’s tailors were ridiculed for being effeminate cowards, as in the proverb ‘It takes nine tailors to make a man.’ They were also mocked as sexual deviants, witness Jonson’s The New Inn wherein Nick Stuffe, the ladies’ tailor, makes love to his wife while dressed in finery commissioned by his rich clients. Tailors were also said to seize the opportunities of their trade for purposes of sexual conquest: the term thus signified a fornicator, a man who used his ‘tail’ or penis to penetrate a client, and, by extension, the penis itself. Therefore, just as a man’s tailor could make a suit of clothes (OED prick v. 20) for Shallow, so could that same tailor thrust him through with sword or prick (OED v. 1). Falstaff’s asking Feeble how many holes he has made in a woman’s petticoat alludes to both his sewing skills and his sexual prowess.

  155 battle army. Cf. 4.1.154, 179.

  157 my good will my best. Inadvertently invoking the bawdy meaning of will as sexual desire, Feeble extends Falstaff’s run of double entendres.

  160–3 courageous … Shallow Falstaff indulges in demeaning oxymorons at the expense of the recruits.

  161 magnanimous valiant

  162 *tailor well F’s punctuation is preferable to Q’s, for well used adverbially to advise Shallow how to prick Feeble makes better sense than for well to serve as an interjection addressed to Shallow for no apparent reason.

  164 would wish. Feeble’s line, indicating that he knows Wart was not pricked, may be evidence that he was already onstage. See discussion of F’s massed entry at 0.1n.

  153 may; but] may, but Q; may: / But F 154 he’d a’] Q (hee’d a); he would haue F SD] Oxf1 162 tailor well] F; tailer: wel Q

  166 mend … go mend his clothes to make him presentable as a soldier, with a pun on mend meaning to reform him or free him from defect, and a bawdy play on fit to go meaning able to fuck. Cf. 116, 117.

  167 put him to enlist him as

  167–8 leader … thousands probably referring to the lice which infest Wart’s clothes. Falstaff jokes that a man who has so many at his command should not be enlisted as a mere soldier.

  168 suffice be reason enough (for not recruiting Wart)

  171 reverend worthy of great respect. Falstaff is continuing his ironic praise of the recruits begun at 159.

  173 green the village green

  176 likely able, suitable: cf. 256.

  176–7 prick … roar another play on prick as (1) choose, or (2) stab. ‘To roar like a bull’ was proverbial (Dent, B715), and in 1H4 Falstaff ‘roared, as every I hear bull-calf’ (2.4.260).

  177 again in response

  182 whoreson See 1.2.15n.

  183–4 ringing … day literally, the ringing of church bells on the annual observance of the monarch’s coronation, a holiday which signalled the beginning of a new administrative year (affairs = business) and often was celebrated with riotous partying. The reference is anachronistic, since the custom was instituted only during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (GWW).

  170 sir] Q; not in F 172 next] Q; the next F 173 o’th’ green] Q; of the Greene F 174 let’s] Q; let vs F

  174.1] Davison (after 173); not in QF 176 ’Fore God] Q; Trust me F prick] Q; pricke me F 178, 180 O Lord] Q; Oh F 179 thou art] Q; th’art F

  185 gown dressing gown worn by the sick: cf. 3.1.0.1n. on nightgown.

  186 have away get rid of (possibly, as the following line implies, through death)

  186–7 take such order make such arrangements

  187 ring for thee Falstaff continues his cynical wordplay: (1) ring in your place while you do military service, or, more slyly, (2) ring bells at your funeral

  188 On the number of recruits, see 94n.

  192 tarry stay for; evidence perhaps that despite his delay in leaving London, Falstaff is not loitering on his way to York. Cf. 290.

  195 Windmill … Field John Norden’s map of London dated 1600 shows a windmill in St George’s Field (Cam1), which lay south of the Thames between Southwark and Lambeth: Shallow may be referring to a tavern or an inn named for it. More probably, though, the Windmill was a brothel. Southwark was noted for its brothels, and Shallow’s phrase lay all night and his mention of Jane Nightwork (197–8), whose name no doubt signalled her profession, increase the probability.