Bast. Madam, an if my brother had my shape, And I had his, Sir Robert his 12, like him : And if my legs were too such riding-rods,

My arms such eel-skins stuff'd; my face so thin, That in mine ear I durst not stick a rose,

Lest men should say, Look, where three-farthings 13 goes!

And, to 1 his shape, were heir to all this land, 'Would, I might never stir from off this place, I'd give it every foot to have this face;

I would not be sir Nob 15 in any case.

Eli. I like thee well; Wilt thou forsake thy fortune, Bequeath thy land to him, and follow me; I am a soldier, and now bound to France.

Bast. Brother, take you my land, I'll take my

chance:

Your face hath got five hundred pounds a year;
Yet sell your face for five pence, and 'tis dear.-
Madam, I'll follow you unto the death.

Eli. Nay, I would have you go before me thither.
Bast. Our country manners give our betters way.
K. John. What is thy name?

Wotton's beautiful poem of The Happy Man we have a line resembling this:

'Lord of himself, though not of lands,

And having nothing yet hath all.'

12 Sir Robert his for Sir Robert's;' his, according to a mistaken notion formerly received, being the sign of the genitive

case.

13 Queen Elizabeth coined threepenny, threehalfpenny, and threefarthing pieces; these pieces all had her head on the obverse, and some of them a rose on the reverse. Being of silver, they were extremely thin; and hence the allusion. The roses stuck in the ear, or in a lock near it, were generally of ribbon; but Burton says that it was once the fashion to stick real flowers in the ear. Some gallants had their ears bored and wore their mistresses' silken shoestrings in them.

14 To his shape, i. e. in addition to it. VOL. IV.

G G

15 Robert.

Bast. Philip, my liege; so is my name begun;
Philip, good old Sir Robert's wife's eldest son.
K. John. From henceforth bear his name whose
form thou bear'st:

Kneel thou down, Philip, but arise 16
Arise Sir Richard, and Plantagenet17.

more great:

Bast. Brother, by the mother's side, give me your
hand;

My father gave me honour, yours gave land:-
Now blessed be the hour by night or day,
When I was got, Sir Robert was away.
Eli. The very spirit of Plantagenet!—
I am thy grandame, Richard; call me so.
Bast. Madam, by chance, but not by truth:
What though?

Something about, a little from the right,

In at the window, or else o'er the hatch 18: Who dares not stir by day, must walk by night; And have is have, however men do catch: Near or far off, well won is still well shot; And I am I, howe'er I was begot.

K. John. Go, Faulconbridge; now hast thou thy desire,

A landless knight makes thee a landed squire.— Come, madam, and come, Richard; we must speed For France, for France; for it is more than need. Bast. Brother, adieu; Good fortune come to thee! For thou wast got i' the way of honesty.

[Exeunt all but the Bastard. A foot of honour better than I was;

But many a many foot of land the worse.

16 The old copy reads rise.

17 Plantagenet was not a family name, but a nick-name, by which a grandson of Geoffrey, the first Earl of Anjou, was distinguished from his wearing a broom-stalk in his bonnet.

is These expressions were common in the time of Shakspeare for being born out of wedlock.

Well, now can I make any Joan a lady:

Good den 19, Sir Richard,-God-a-mercy, fellow;-
And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter:
For new-made honour doth forget men's names;
'Tis too respective 20, and too sociable,

For

your conversion 21. Now your traveller 22 He and his toothpick at my worship's mess 23; And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd, Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise My picked man of countries : -My dear sir (Thus, leaning on my elbow, I begin),

24

I shall beseech you-That is question now;
And then comes answer like an ABC-book 25
O sir, says answer, at your best command ;
At your employment; at your service, sir:-
No, sir, says question, I, sweet sir, at yours:
And, so, ere answer knows what question would
(Saving in dialogue of compliment;

And talking of the Alps, and Apennines,
The Pyrenean, and the river Po),

19 Good evening.

20 Respective does not here mean respectful, as the commentators have explained it, but considerative, regardful. See Merchant of Venice, Act v. Sc. 1.

21 Change of condition.

22 It is said, in All's Well that Ends Well, that' a traveller is a good thing after dinner.' In that age of newly excited curiosity, one of the entertainments at great tables seems to have been the discourse of a traveller. To use a toothpick seems to have been one of the characteristics of a travelled man who affected foreign fashions.

23 At my worship's mess' means at that part of the table where I, as a knight, shall be placed. See note on All's Well that Ends Well, Act i. Sc. 2. Your worship' was the regular address to a knight or esquire, in Shakspeare's time, as your honour' was to a lord.

24 My picked man of countries may be equivalent to my travelled fop: picked generally signified affected, over nice, or curious in dress. Conquisite is explained in the dictionaries exquisitely, pikedly so that our modern exquisites and dandies are of the

same race.

25 An ABC or absey-book, as it was then called, is a catechism.

It draws towards supper in conclusion.so..
But this is worshipful society,

And fits the mounting spirit, like myself:
For he is but a bastard to the time,
That doth not smack of observation 26:
(And so am I, whether I smack, or no);
And not alone in habit and device,
Exterior form, outward accoutrement;
But from the inward motion to deliver
Sweet, sweet, sweet poison for the age's tooth:
Which, though I will not practise to deceive,
Yet, to avoid deceit, I mean to learn;
For it shall strew the footsteps of my rising.-
But who comes in such haste, in riding robes?
What woman-post is this? hath she no husband,
That will take pains to blow a horn before her???

Enter LADY FAULCONBRIDGE and JAMES
GURNEY.

O me! it is my mother;-How now, good lady?
What brings you here to court so hastily?
Lady F. Where is that slave, thy brother? where

is he,

That holds in chase mine honour up and down?

son?

Bast. My brother Robert? old Sir Robert's Colbrand the giant, that same mighty man? Is it Sir Robert's son, that you seek so? Lady F. Sir Robert's son! Ay,thou unreverend boy, Sir Robert's son! Why scorn'st thou at Sir Robert? He is Sir Robert's son; and so art thou.

26 i. e. he is accounted but a mean man, in the present age, who does not show by his dress, deportment, and talk, that he has travelled and made observations in foreign countries.

27 Shakspeare probably meant to insinuate that a woman who travels about like a post was likely to horn her husband.

28 Colbrand was a Danish giant, whom Guy of Warwick discomfited in the presence of King Athelstan. The History of Guy was a popular book in the poet's age. Drayton has de scribed the combat very pompously in his Polyolbion.

Bast. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile!
Gur. Good leave, good Philip.

Bast.
Philip?-sparrow 29!-James,
There's toys abroad 30; anon I'll tell thee more.

[Exit GURNEY.

Madam, I was not old Sir Robert's son;

Sir Robert might have eat his part in me
Upon Good Friday, and ne'er broke his fast:
Sir Robert could do well; Marry, (to confess!)
Could he get me? Sir Robert could not do it;
We know his handy-work:-Therefore, good mother,
To whom am I beholden for these limbs?

Sir Robert never holp to make this leg.

Lady F. Hast thou conspired with thy brother too, That for thine own gain should'st defend mine honour? What means this scorn, thou most untoward knave? Bast. Knight, knight, good mother, Basilisco

like 31:

What! I am dubb'd; I have it on my shoulder.
But, mother, I am not Sir Robert's son;

I have disclaim'd Sir Robert, and my land;

29 The Bastard means 'Philip! Do you take me for a sparrow?' The sparrow was called Philip from its note, which was supposed to have some resemblance to that word, 'phip phip the sparrows as they fly.'-Lyly's Mother Bombie.

30 i. e. rumours, idle reports.

31 This is a piece of satire on the stupid old drama of Soliman and Perseda, printed in 1599, which had probably become the butt for stage sarcasm. In this piece there is a bragging cowardly knight called Basilisco. His pretension to valour is so blown and seen through that Piston, a buffoon servant in the play, jumps upon his back, and will not disengage him till he makes Basilisco swear upon his dagger to the contents, and in the terms he dictates; thus:

Bas. O, I swear, I swear.

Pist. By the contents of this blade,-
Bas. By the contents of this blade,—
Pist. I, the aforesaid Basilico-

Bas. I, the aforesaid Basilico,-knight, good fellow, knight.
Pist. Knave, good fellow, knave.