Page:Henry IV Part 1 (1917) Yale.djvu/138

124  There are two possible interpretations of this speech. The first (Malone's) is that Falstaff is referring here to the real danger which now confronts them; the second (Wright's) is that Falstaff, all absorbed in 'playing out the play' waves the Hostess aside and continues his defence of himself. If we accept the first interpretation, we may paraphrase Falstaff's speech as follows: 'Dost thou hear that, Hal? Don't yield to one of your mad impulses now, and make light of a serious matter.' Hal's reply would tend to support this interpretation.

 Falstaff hides behind the curtain which divided the outer from the inner stage in the Elizabethan theatre; the others 'walk above,' i.e., on the balcony above the inner stage.

 the best of all my land. All Lincolnshire and part of Nottinghamshire. See map.

 The division of the kingdom was made by the conspirators, according to Holinshed, 'through a foolish credit given to a vain prophecy' that Henry was a moldwarp (a mole) whose kingdom should be divided among a wolf, a dragon, and a lion. This cryptic prophecy was attributed to Merlin, and is referred to in The Mirror for Magistrates (1559):

Hotspur evidently has not shared in the 'foolish credit' given to the 'vain prophecy' and his only memory of the discussion is that Glendower talked a lot of Celtic nonsense.