Henry IV Part 2: Act 2, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 2, Scene 1 of Henry IV Part 2 from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text	Translated Text
Source: Folger Shakespeare Library
Enter Hostess Quickly of the tavern with two Officers, Fang and Snare, who lags behind. HOSTESS Master Fang, have you entered the action? FANG It is entered. HOSTESS Where’s your yeoman? Is ’t a lusty yeoman? Will he stand to ’t? FANG, calling Sirrah! Where’s Snare? 5 HOSTESS O Lord, ay, good Master Snare. SNARE, catching up to them Here, here. FANG Snare, we must arrest Sir John Falstaff. HOSTESS Yea, good Master Snare, I have entered him and all.	We are now in Eastcheap, a lively market street in London. Mistress Quickly, a tavern hostess who has been recently widowed, discuss the details of a lawsuit she has recently brought against Falstaff. Fang, an officer, assures Quickly that he's entered the suit. Then officer Snare shows up to help Fang arrest Falstaff.
SNARE It may chance cost some of us our lives, for he will stab. HOSTESS Alas the day, take heed of him. He stabbed me in mine own house, and that most beastly, in good faith. He cares not what mischief he does. If his 15 weapon be out, he will foin like any devil. He will spare neither man, woman, nor child.	Quickly warns the officers to be careful because Falstaff is armed and dangerous. One time he even "stabbed" Mistress Quickly in her own house. She warns that once Falstaff whips out his "weapon," he's not afraid to use it. (You may have noticed the bawdy double entendre here. Mistress Quickly has a tendency to talk this way but she doesn't quite seem to be aware that she's doing it.)
FANG If I can close with him, I care not for his thrust. HOSTESS No, nor I neither. I’ll be at your elbow. FANG An I but fist him once, an he come but within my 20 view— HOSTESS I am undone by his going. I warrant you, he’s an infinitive thing upon my score. Good Master Fang, hold him sure. Good Master Snare, let him not ’scape. He comes continuantly to Pie Corner, 25 saving your manhoods, to buy a saddle, and he is indited to dinner to the Lubber’s Head in Lumbert Street, to Master Smooth’s the silkman. I pray you, since my exion is entered, and my case so openly known to the world, let him be brought in to his 30 answer. A hundred mark is a long one for a poor lone woman to bear, and I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off, and fubbed off from this day to that day, that it is a shame to be thought on. There is no honesty in 35 such dealing, unless a woman should be made an ass and a beast to bear every knave’s wrong. Yonder he comes, and that arrant malmsey-nose knave, Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do your offices, Master Fang and Master Snare, do me, do me, 40 do me your offices.	Fang talks a little smack about what he's about to do to Falstaff if the guy tries to put up a fight and Mistress Quickly says she'll help out if Falstaff tries anything. Then Mistress Quickly tells us why she's suing – Falstaff owes her a lot of money.
Enter Sir John Falstaff and Bardolph, and the Page. FALSTAFF How now, whose mare’s dead? What’s the matter? FANG Sir John, I arrest you at the suit of Mistress Quickly. 45 FALSTAFF Away, varlets!—Draw, Bardolph. Cut me off the villain’s head. Throw the quean in the channel. They draw.	Enter Falstaff and his Page. Fang announces that Falstaff's under arrest and Falstaff draws his sword and tells Bardolph to cut off Fang's head. He also says "Throw the quean in the channel." Translation: "Throw the whore in the gutter."
HOSTESS Throw me in the channel? I’ll throw thee in the channel. Wilt thou, wilt thou, thou bastardly 50 rogue?—Murder, murder!—Ah, thou honeysuckle villain, wilt thou kill God’s officers and the King’s? Ah, thou honeyseed rogue, thou art a honeyseed, a man-queller, and a woman-queller. FALSTAFF Keep them off, Bardolph. 55 OFFICERS A rescue, a rescue! HOSTESS Good people, bring a rescue or two.—Thou wot, wot thou? Thou wot, wot ta? Do, do, thou rogue. Do, thou hempseed. PAGE Away, you scullion, you rampallian, you fustilarian! 60 I’ll tickle your catastrophe.	Mistress Quickly's not having any of that so she says she's going to throw Falstaff in the gutter. A brawl ensues. During the dustup, Mistress Quickly calls Falstaff a "bastardly rogue" and a killer. Falstaff calls for help from his chum, Bardolph, and then Falstaff's Page screams at Quickly to get away from Falstaff before he gives her a spanking. (Seriously. He threatens to "tickle [her] catastrophe" with his whip.)
Enter Lord Chief Justice and his Men. CHIEF JUSTICE What is the matter? Keep the peace here, ho! HOSTESS Good my lord, be good to me. I beseech you stand to me. CHIEF JUSTICE How now, Sir John? What, are you brawling here? 65 Doth this become your place, your time, and business? You should have been well on your way to York.— Stand from him, fellow. Wherefore hang’st thou upon him?	Just when things are getting interesting, the Lord Chief Justice enters and breaks up the tussle. Mistress Quickly turns to the LCJ and says, "I beseech you, stand to me." Translation: Please help. (And, yes, there's also an unintentional pun on the LCJ having an erection for her.) As expected, the LCJ begins to lecture Falstaff: this is no way for a man of Falstaff's station (he's an army Captain and a recruiter of soldiers) to behave. Besides, shouldn't Falstaff be on his way to York to fight the rebels with the rest of the king's forces?
HOSTESS O my most worshipful lord, an ’t please your Grace, I am a poor widow of Eastcheap, and he is arrested at my suit. CHIEF JUSTICE For what sum? HOSTESS It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all I 75 have. He hath eaten me out of house and home. He hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his. To Falstaff. But I will have some of it out again, or I will ride thee o’ nights like the mare. FALSTAFF I think I am as like to ride the mare if I have 80 any vantage of ground to get up. CHIEF JUSTICE How comes this, Sir John? Fie, what man of good temper would endure this tempest of exclamation? Are you not ashamed to enforce a poor widow to so rough a course to come by her 85 own?	Mistress Quickly plays the martyr, calling herself a "poor widow" who's suing Falstaff because he's "eaten [her] out of house and home." FYI: This is the first recorded use of the phrase "eaten out of house and home." So, you could say that Shakespeare coined this saying (along with about a gazillion others). The LCJ turns to Falstaff and attempts to shame him for being such a scoundrel.
FALSTAFF What is the gross sum that I owe thee? HOSTESS Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself and the money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a parcel-gilt goblet, sitting in my Dolphin chamber at 90 the round table by a sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday in Wheeson week, when the Prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing-man of Windsor, thou didst swear to me then, as I was washing thy wound, to marry me and make me my lady thy wife. 95 Canst thou deny it? Did not Goodwife Keech, the butcher’s wife, come in then and call me Gossip Quickly, coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar, telling us she had a good dish of prawns, whereby thou didst desire to eat some, whereby I told thee 100 they were ill for a green wound? And didst thou not, when she was gone downstairs, desire me to be no more so familiarity 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 105 shillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath. Deny it if thou canst.	Falstaff, who has no shame, demands to know how much he owes Mistress Quickly. Here's where things start to look a lot like an episode of Judge Judy. Mistress Quickly says that Falstaff owes her everything. Not only did he borrow a ton of money, he also promised to marry her, which he hasn't done.
FALSTAFF 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, 110 poverty hath distracted her. But, for these foolish officers, I beseech you I may have redress against them. CHIEF JUSTICE Sir John, Sir John, I am well acquainted with your manner of wrenching the true cause the 115 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, practiced upon the easy-yielding spirit of this woman, 120 and made her serve your uses both in purse and in person. HOSTESS Yea, in truth, my lord. CHIEF JUSTICE Pray thee, peace.—Pay her the debt you owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done with 125 her. The one you may do with sterling money, and the other with current repentance.	Falstaff turns to the Lord Chief Justice and says this woman just can't be trusted and implies that poverty has made her crazy. He also says that Quickly's been going around town telling people that her son looks a lot like the Lord Chief Justice, who is possibly the boy's father. The LCJ's not buying it. He calls out Falstaff for his bad behavior. Falstaff has obviously swindled Mistress Quickly.
FALSTAFF My lord, I will not undergo this sneap without reply. You call honorable boldness “impudent sauciness.” If a man will make curtsy and say 130 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. CHIEF JUSTICE You speak as having power to do wrong; 135 but answer in th’ effect of your reputation, and satisfy the poor woman. FALSTAFF Come hither, hostess. He speaks aside to the Hostess. CHIEF JUSTICE Now, Master Gower, what news? GOWER The King, my lord, and Harry Prince of Wales 140 Are near at hand. The rest the paper tells. He gives the Chief Justice a paper to read.	Falstaff asks if he can be excused from all this unpleasantness since he's so important and busy. In fact, he's on an important mission from the king and doesn't have time to deal with Mistress Quickly's petty lawsuit. Too bad, says the LCJ. Falstaff needs to make amends with the tavern hostess, or else. Falstaff and Quickly speak privately (meaning, we can't hear them) while the LCJ chats with Gower about a letter that's just arrived.
FALSTAFF, to the Hostess As I am a gentleman! HOSTESS Faith, you said so before. FALSTAFF As I am a gentleman. Come. No more words of it. 145 HOSTESS By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be fain to pawn both my plate and the tapestry of my dining chambers. FALSTAFF Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking. And for thy walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the 150 Prodigal or the German hunting in waterwork is worth a thousand of these bed-hangers and these fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound, if thou canst. Come, an ’twere not for thy humors, there’s not a better wench in England. Go wash thy face, 155 and draw the action. Come, thou must not be in this humor with me. Dost not know me? Come, come. I know thou wast set on to this. HOSTESS Pray thee, Sir John, let it be but twenty nobles. I’ faith, I am loath to pawn my plate, so God 160 save me, la. FALSTAFF Let it alone. I’ll make other shift. You’ll be a fool still. HOSTESS Well, you shall have it, though I pawn my gown. I hope you’ll come to supper. You’ll pay 165 me all together? FALSTAFF Will I live? Aside to Bardolph. Go with her, with her. Hook on, hook on. HOSTESS Will you have Doll Tearsheet meet you at supper? 170 FALSTAFF No more words. Let’s have her.	Then we catch the tail end of Falstaff and Quickly's conversation. Apparently, Falstaff has talked her out of suing him and has also asked to borrow more money from her. (Can you believe the nerve of this guy?) When she complains that she'll have to pawn all of her dishes and her clothes, Falstaff guilt-trips her into making the loan anyway. Then Mistress Quickly arranges for Falstaff to hook up with her friend (and Falstaff's favorite prostitute), Doll Tearsheet, over dinner.
Hostess, Fang, Snare, Bardolph, Page, and others exit. CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower I have heard better news. FALSTAFF, to Chief Justice What’s the news, my good lord? CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower Where lay the King 175 tonight? GOWER At Basingstoke, my lord. FALSTAFF, to Chief Justice I hope, my lord, all’s well. What is the news, my lord? CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower Come all his forces back? 180 GOWER No. Fifteen hundred foot, five hundred horse Are marched up to my Lord of Lancaster Against Northumberland and the Archbishop. FALSTAFF, to Chief Justice Comes the King back from Wales, my noble lord? CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower You shall have letters of me presently. 185 Come. Go along with me, good Master Gower.	Quickly, Bardolph, the Page, Fang, and Snare exit the stage, leaving Falstaff, the LCJ, and Gower on stage. The LCJ and Gower discuss the letter that the Lord Chief Justice recently received, ignoring all of Falstaff's nosy questions about what's going on. Apparently, the LCJ just learned that the king's forces are marching up to meet with Lancaster before they rumble with Northumberland, York, and the other rebels. The LCJ promises to write Gower in the near future as he continues to ignore Falstaff, who desperately wants to know what's going on.
FALSTAFF My lord! CHIEF JUSTICE What’s the matter? FALSTAFF Master Gower, shall I entreat you with me to dinner? 190 GOWER I must wait upon my good lord here. I thank you, good Sir John. CHIEF JUSTICE Sir John, you loiter here too long, being you are to take soldiers up in counties as you go. FALSTAFF Will you sup with me, Master Gower? 195 CHIEF JUSTICE What foolish master taught you these manners, Sir John? FALSTAFF Master Gower, if they become me not, he was a fool that taught them me.—This is the right fencing grace, my lord: tap for tap, and so part fair. 200 CHIEF JUSTICE Now the Lord lighten thee. Thou art a great fool. They separate and exit.	Falstaff can't get anything out of the LCJ so he invites Gower to dinner. The LCJ tells Falstaff to scram – he's not getting any information. Besides, Falstaff's supposed to be recruiting soldiers, not messing around in Eastcheap.

Original Text

Translated Text

Source: Folger Shakespeare Library

Enter Hostess Quickly of the tavern with two Officers,
Fang and Snare, who lags behind.

HOSTESS Master Fang, have you entered the action?

FANG It is entered.

HOSTESS Where’s your yeoman? Is ’t a lusty yeoman?
Will he stand to ’t?

FANG, calling Sirrah! Where’s Snare? 5

HOSTESS O Lord, ay, good Master Snare.

SNARE, catching up to them Here, here.

FANG Snare, we must arrest Sir John Falstaff.

HOSTESS Yea, good Master Snare, I have entered him
and all.

We are now in Eastcheap, a lively market street in London. Mistress Quickly, a tavern hostess who has been recently widowed, discuss the details of a lawsuit she has recently brought against Falstaff. Fang, an officer, assures Quickly that he's entered the suit. Then officer Snare shows up to help Fang arrest Falstaff.

SNARE It may chance cost some of us our lives, for he
will stab.

HOSTESS Alas the day, take heed of him. He stabbed me
in mine own house, and that most beastly, in good
faith. He cares not what mischief he does. If his 15
weapon be out, he will foin like any devil. He will
spare neither man, woman, nor child.

Quickly warns the officers to be careful because Falstaff is armed and dangerous. One time he even "stabbed" Mistress Quickly in her own house. She warns that once Falstaff whips out his "weapon," he's not afraid to use it. (You may have noticed the bawdy double entendre here. Mistress Quickly has a tendency to talk this way but she doesn't quite seem to be aware that she's doing it.)

FANG If I can close with him, I care not for his thrust.

HOSTESS No, nor I neither. I’ll be at your elbow.

FANG An I but fist him once, an he come but within my 20
view—

HOSTESS I am undone by his going. I warrant you, he’s
an infinitive thing upon my score. Good Master
Fang, hold him sure. Good Master Snare, let him
not ’scape. He comes continuantly to Pie Corner, 25
saving your manhoods, to buy a saddle, and he is
indited to dinner to the Lubber’s Head in Lumbert
Street, to Master Smooth’s the silkman. I pray you,
since my exion is entered, and my case so openly
known to the world, let him be brought in to his 30
answer. A hundred mark is a long one for a poor
lone woman to bear, and I have borne, and borne,
and borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed
off, and fubbed off from this day to that day, that it is
a shame to be thought on. There is no honesty in 35
such dealing, unless a woman should be made an
ass and a beast to bear every knave’s wrong. Yonder
he comes, and that arrant malmsey-nose knave,
Bardolph, with him. Do your offices, do your offices,
Master Fang and Master Snare, do me, do me, 40
do me your offices.

Fang talks a little smack about what he's about to do to Falstaff if the guy tries to put up a fight and Mistress Quickly says she'll help out if Falstaff tries anything.

Then Mistress Quickly tells us why she's suing – Falstaff owes her a lot of money.

Enter Sir John Falstaff and Bardolph, and the Page.

FALSTAFF How now, whose mare’s dead? What’s the
matter?

FANG Sir John, I arrest you at the suit of Mistress
Quickly. 45

FALSTAFF Away, varlets!—Draw, Bardolph. Cut me off
the villain’s head. Throw the quean in the
channel.

They draw.

Enter Falstaff and his Page. Fang announces that Falstaff's under arrest and Falstaff draws his sword and tells Bardolph to cut off Fang's head.

He also says "Throw the quean in the channel." Translation: "Throw the whore in the gutter."

HOSTESS Throw me in the channel? I’ll throw thee in
the channel. Wilt thou, wilt thou, thou bastardly 50
rogue?—Murder, murder!—Ah, thou honeysuckle
villain, wilt thou kill God’s officers and the King’s?
Ah, thou honeyseed rogue, thou art a honeyseed, a
man-queller, and a woman-queller.

FALSTAFF Keep them off, Bardolph. 55

OFFICERS A rescue, a rescue!

HOSTESS Good people, bring a rescue or two.—Thou
wot, wot thou? Thou wot, wot ta? Do, do, thou
rogue. Do, thou hempseed.

PAGE Away, you scullion, you rampallian, you fustilarian! 60
I’ll tickle your catastrophe.

Mistress Quickly's not having any of that so she says she's going to throw Falstaff in the gutter. A brawl ensues.

During the dustup, Mistress Quickly calls Falstaff a "bastardly rogue" and a killer.

Falstaff calls for help from his chum, Bardolph, and then Falstaff's Page screams at Quickly to get away from Falstaff before he gives her a spanking. (Seriously. He threatens to "tickle [her] catastrophe" with his whip.)

Enter Lord Chief Justice and his Men.

CHIEF JUSTICE
What is the matter? Keep the peace here, ho!

HOSTESS Good my lord, be good to me. I beseech you
stand to me.

CHIEF JUSTICE
How now, Sir John? What, are you brawling here? 65
Doth this become your place, your time, and
business?
You should have been well on your way to York.—
Stand from him, fellow. Wherefore hang’st thou
upon him?

Just when things are getting interesting, the Lord Chief Justice enters and breaks up the tussle.

Mistress Quickly turns to the LCJ and says, "I beseech you, stand to me." Translation: Please help. (And, yes, there's also an unintentional pun on the LCJ having an erection for her.)

As expected, the LCJ begins to lecture Falstaff: this is no way for a man of Falstaff's station (he's an army Captain and a recruiter of soldiers) to behave. Besides, shouldn't Falstaff be on his way to York to fight the rebels with the rest of the king's forces?

HOSTESS O my most worshipful lord, an ’t please your
Grace, I am a poor widow of Eastcheap, and he is
arrested at my suit.

CHIEF JUSTICE For what sum?

HOSTESS It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all I 75
have. He hath eaten me out of house and home. He
hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his.
To Falstaff. But I will have some of it out again, or I
will ride thee o’ nights like the mare.

FALSTAFF I think I am as like to ride the mare if I have 80
any vantage of ground to get up.

CHIEF JUSTICE How comes this, Sir John? Fie, what
man of good temper would endure this tempest of
exclamation? Are you not ashamed to enforce a
poor widow to so rough a course to come by her 85
own?

Mistress Quickly plays the martyr, calling herself a "poor widow" who's suing Falstaff because he's "eaten [her] out of house and home."

FYI: This is the first recorded use of the phrase "eaten out of house and home." So, you could say that Shakespeare coined this saying (along with about a gazillion others).

The LCJ turns to Falstaff and attempts to shame him for being such a scoundrel.

FALSTAFF What is the gross sum that I owe thee?

HOSTESS Marry, if thou wert an honest man, thyself
and the money too. Thou didst swear to me upon a
parcel-gilt goblet, sitting in my Dolphin chamber at 90
the round table by a sea-coal fire, upon Wednesday
in Wheeson week, when the Prince broke thy head
for liking his father to a singing-man of Windsor,
thou didst swear to me then, as I was washing thy
wound, to marry me and make me my lady thy wife. 95
Canst thou deny it? Did not Goodwife Keech, the
butcher’s wife, come in then and call me Gossip
Quickly, coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar,
telling us she had a good dish of prawns, whereby
thou didst desire to eat some, whereby I told thee 100
they were ill for a green wound? And didst thou not,
when she was gone downstairs, desire me to be no
more so familiarity 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 105
shillings? I put thee now to thy book-oath. Deny it if
thou canst.

Falstaff, who has no shame, demands to know how much he owes Mistress Quickly.

Here's where things start to look a lot like an episode of Judge Judy. Mistress Quickly says that Falstaff owes her everything. Not only did he borrow a ton of money, he also promised to marry her, which he hasn't done.

FALSTAFF 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, 110
poverty hath distracted her. But, for these foolish
officers, I beseech you I may have redress against
them.

CHIEF JUSTICE Sir John, Sir John, I am well acquainted
with your manner of wrenching the true cause the 115
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, practiced
upon the easy-yielding spirit of this woman, 120
and made her serve your uses both in purse and in
person.

HOSTESS Yea, in truth, my lord.

CHIEF JUSTICE Pray thee, peace.—Pay her the debt you
owe her, and unpay the villainy you have done with 125
her. The one you may do with sterling money, and
the other with current repentance.

Falstaff turns to the Lord Chief Justice and says this woman just can't be trusted and implies that poverty has made her crazy. He also says that Quickly's been going around town telling people that her son looks a lot like the Lord Chief Justice, who is possibly the boy's father.

The LCJ's not buying it. He calls out Falstaff for his bad behavior. Falstaff has obviously swindled Mistress Quickly.

FALSTAFF My lord, I will not undergo this sneap without
reply. You call honorable boldness “impudent
sauciness.” If a man will make curtsy and say 130
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.

CHIEF JUSTICE You speak as having power to do wrong; 135
but answer in th’ effect of your reputation, and
satisfy the poor woman.

FALSTAFF Come hither, hostess.

He speaks aside to the Hostess.

CHIEF JUSTICE Now, Master Gower, what news?

GOWER
The King, my lord, and Harry Prince of Wales 140
Are near at hand. The rest the paper tells.

He gives the Chief Justice a paper to read.

Falstaff asks if he can be excused from all this unpleasantness since he's so important and busy. In fact, he's on an important mission from the king and doesn't have time to deal with Mistress Quickly's petty lawsuit.

Too bad, says the LCJ. Falstaff needs to make amends with the tavern hostess, or else.

Falstaff and Quickly speak privately (meaning, we can't hear them) while the LCJ chats with Gower about a letter that's just arrived.

FALSTAFF, to the Hostess As I am a gentleman!

HOSTESS Faith, you said so before.

FALSTAFF As I am a gentleman. Come. No more words
of it. 145

HOSTESS By this heavenly ground I tread on, I must be
fain to pawn both my plate and the tapestry of my
dining chambers.

FALSTAFF Glasses, glasses, is the only drinking. And for
thy walls, a pretty slight drollery, or the story of the 150
Prodigal or the German hunting in waterwork is
worth a thousand of these bed-hangers and these
fly-bitten tapestries. Let it be ten pound, if thou
canst. Come, an ’twere not for thy humors, there’s
not a better wench in England. Go wash thy face, 155
and draw the action. Come, thou must not be in this
humor with me. Dost not know me? Come, come. I
know thou wast set on to this.

HOSTESS Pray thee, Sir John, let it be but twenty
nobles. I’ faith, I am loath to pawn my plate, so God 160
save me, la.

FALSTAFF Let it alone. I’ll make other shift. You’ll be a
fool still.

HOSTESS Well, you shall have it, though I pawn my
gown. I hope you’ll come to supper. You’ll pay 165
me all together?

FALSTAFF Will I live? Aside to Bardolph. Go with her,
with her. Hook on, hook on.

HOSTESS Will you have Doll Tearsheet meet you at
supper? 170

FALSTAFF No more words. Let’s have her.

Then we catch the tail end of Falstaff and Quickly's conversation. Apparently, Falstaff has talked her out of suing him and has also asked to borrow more money from her. (Can you believe the nerve of this guy?) When she complains that she'll have to pawn all of her dishes and her clothes, Falstaff guilt-trips her into making the loan anyway.

Then Mistress Quickly arranges for Falstaff to hook up with her friend (and Falstaff's favorite prostitute), Doll Tearsheet, over dinner.

Hostess, Fang, Snare, Bardolph, Page,
and others exit.

CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower I have heard better news.

FALSTAFF, to Chief Justice What’s the news, my good
lord?

CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower Where lay the King 175
tonight?

GOWER At Basingstoke, my lord.

FALSTAFF, to Chief Justice I hope, my lord, all’s
well. What is the news, my lord?

CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower Come all his forces back? 180

GOWER
No. Fifteen hundred foot, five hundred horse
Are marched up to my Lord of Lancaster
Against Northumberland and the Archbishop.

FALSTAFF, to Chief Justice
Comes the King back from Wales, my noble lord?

CHIEF JUSTICE, to Gower
You shall have letters of me presently. 185
Come. Go along with me, good Master Gower.

Quickly, Bardolph, the Page, Fang, and Snare exit the stage, leaving Falstaff, the LCJ, and Gower on stage.

The LCJ and Gower discuss the letter that the Lord Chief Justice recently received, ignoring all of Falstaff's nosy questions about what's going on.

Apparently, the LCJ just learned that the king's forces are marching up to meet with Lancaster before they rumble with Northumberland, York, and the other rebels.

The LCJ promises to write Gower in the near future as he continues to ignore Falstaff, who desperately wants to know what's going on.

FALSTAFF My lord!

CHIEF JUSTICE What’s the matter?

FALSTAFF Master Gower, shall I entreat you with me to
dinner? 190

GOWER I must wait upon my good lord here. I thank
you, good Sir John.

CHIEF JUSTICE Sir John, you loiter here too long, being
you are to take soldiers up in counties as you go.

FALSTAFF Will you sup with me, Master Gower? 195

CHIEF JUSTICE What foolish master taught you these
manners, Sir John?

FALSTAFF Master Gower, if they become me not, he was
a fool that taught them me.—This is the right
fencing grace, my lord: tap for tap, and so part fair. 200

CHIEF JUSTICE Now the Lord lighten thee. Thou art a
great fool.

They separate and exit.

Falstaff can't get anything out of the LCJ so he invites Gower to dinner. The LCJ tells Falstaff to scram – he's not getting any information. Besides, Falstaff's supposed to be recruiting soldiers, not messing around in Eastcheap.

Henry IV Part 2: Act 2, Scene 1 Translation

A side-by-side translation of Act 2, Scene 1 of Henry IV Part 2 from the original Shakespeare into modern English.

Original Text

Translated Text

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