Page:Henry IV Part 2 (1921) Yale.djvu/40

28

arity with such poor people; saying that ere

long they should call me madam? And didst

thou not kiss me and bid me fetch thee thirty

shillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath:

deny it if thou canst.

Fal. My lord, this is a poor mad soul; and

she says up and down the town that her eldest

son is like you. She hath been in good case,

and the truth is, poverty hath distracted her.

But for those foolish officers, I beseech you I

may have redress against them.

''Ch. Just.'' Sir John, Sir John, I am well ac-

quainted with your manner of wrenching the

true cause the false way. It is not a confident

brow, nor the throng of words that come with

such more than impudent sauciness from you,

can thrust me from a level consideration; you

have, as it appears to me, practised upon the

easy-yielding spirit of this woman, and made

her serve your uses both in purse and in person.

Host. Yea, in troth, my lord.

''Ch. Just.'' Prithee, peace. Pay her the debt

you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have

done her: the one you may do with sterling

money, and the other with current repentance.

Fal. My lord, I will not undergo this sneap

without reply. You call honourable boldness

impudent sauciness: if a man will make curtsy,

and say nothing, he is virtuous. No, my lord,

my humble duty remembered, I will not be your

suitor: I say to you, I do desire deliverance from

these officers, being upon hasty employment in

the king's affairs.

 119 case: circumstances

128 level: steady

136 current: genuine, with pun upon 'sterling'

137 sneap: snub 