usual
blundering way, mistakes Arthur for Abraham.]

[Footnote I.19: _'A made a finer end,_] To make a fine end is not
an uncommon expression for making a good end. The Hostess means
that Falstaff died with becoming resignation and patient
submission to the will of Heaven.]

[Footnote I.20: _----an it had been any christom child;_] i.e.,
child that has wore the _chrysom_, or white cloth put on a new
baptized child.]

[Footnote I.21: _----turning o' the tide:_] It has been a very old
opinion, which Mead, _de imperio solis_, quotes, as if he believed
it, that nobody dies but in the time of ebb: half the deaths in
London confute the notion; but we find that it was common among
the women of the poet's time. --JOHNSON.]

[Footnote I.22: _----I saw him fumble with the sheets,_] Pliny, in
his chapter on _the signs of death_, makes mention of "_a fumbling
and pleiting of the bed-clothes._" The same indication of
approaching death is enumerated by Celsus, Lommius, Hippocrates,
and Galen.]

[Footnote I.23: _'A could never abide carnation;_] Mrs. Quickly
blunders, mistaking the word _incarnate_ for a colour. _In
questions of Love_, published 1566, we have "_yelowe, pale, redde,
blue, whyte, gray, and incarnate._"]

[Footnote I.24: _Shall we shog off?_] i.e., shall we move off--jog
off?]

[Footnote I.25: _Let senses rule;_] i.e., let prudence govern
you--conduct yourself sensibly.]

[Footnote I.26: _----Pitch and pay;_] A familiar expression,
meaning pay down at once, pay ready money; probably throw down
your money and pay.]

[Footnote I.27: _----hold-fast is the only dog,_] Alluding to
the proverbial saying-- "Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is a
better."]

[Footnote I.28: _----caveto be thy counsellor._] i.e., let
_prudence_ be thy counsellor.]

[Footnote I.29: _----clear thy crystals._] Dry thine eyes.]

HISTORICAL NOTE TO CHORUS--ACT FIRST

(A) _----should famine, sword, and fire,
Crouch for employment._]

Holinshed states that when the people of Rouen petitioned Henry V., the
king replied "that the goddess of battle, called Bellona, had three
handmaidens, ever of necessity attending upon her, as blood, fire, and
famine." These are probably the _dogs of war_ mentioned in Julius Caesar.

HISTORICAL NOTES TO ACT FIRST.

(B) KING HENRY _on his throne,_] Kin