Chapter LXXXI: Act II

SC. 1. "But with nobility and tranquillity."

To all appearance, _gentility_ would be more correct; but he may be playing on the ignorance of the Chamberlain, to whom the word was unknown. He then says 'great-onyers' for great-ones.

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SC. 2. "Away, good Ned. _Fat_ Falstaff sweats to death."

So also Capell.

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SC. 3. "One horse, my lord, he _hath_ brought even now."

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SC. 4. "Ned, prythee come out of that fat room."

I suspect we should read _hot_ room.

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"Pitiful-hearted Titan, that melted at the sweet tale of the son's."

So I read, with the two earliest 4tos; the others and the folio have _sun_ for 'son's'; and, with Malone, I see a reference to the Tale of Phaethon. Of the double genitive there are many instances. Theobald, who is followed by Singer, read _butter_ for 'Titan,' thinking there was an incongruity. But the Prince, in the exuberance of his spirits, spoke rather at random, heedless of the unconnectedness of his discourse.

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"If thou didst, then behold that compound."

It may be that _never_ has been omitted before 'didst.'

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"Away, you starveling, you elf-skin."

Hanmer and Warburton were right, I think, in reading _eel_ for 'elf.'

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"You dried neat's tongue, _you_ bull's pizzle, you stock-fish."

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"There is virtue in that Falstaff; him keep with."

The poet probably wrote 'him keep with _thee_.'

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"Misleader of youth, Falstaff, that old, white-bearded Satan."

It would be better, both for emphasis and metre, to read '_that_ Falstaff.'