William Shakespeare: King Henry IV Part II

ACT III. 2. SCENE II. Gloucestershire. Before Justice Shallow's house. (continued)

SILENCE.
We shall all follow, cousin.

SHALLOW.
Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure: death, as the Psalmist
saith, is certain to all; all shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at
Stamford fair?

SILENCE.
By my troth, I was not there.

SHALLOW.
Death is certain. Is old Double of your town living yet?

SILENCE.
Dead, sir.

SHALLOW.
Jesu, Jesu, dead! a' drew a good bow; and dead! a' shot a fine shoot:
John a Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on his head.
Dead! a' would have clapped i' the clout at twelve score; and carried
you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it
would have done a man's heart good to see. How a score of ewes now?

SILENCE.
Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten
pounds.

SHALLOW.
And is old Double dead?

SILENCE.
Here come two of Sir John Falstaffs men, as I think.

[Enter Bardolph, and one with him.]

BARDOLPH.
Good morrow, honest gentlemen: I beseech you, which is justice
Shallow?

SHALLOW.
I am Robert Shallow, sir; a poor esquire of this county, and one
of the king's justices of the peace: what is your good pleasure
with me?

BARDOLPH.
My captain, sir, commends him to you; my captain, Sir John
Falstaff, a tall gentleman, by heaven, and a most gallant leader.

SHALLOW.
He greets me well, sir. I knew him a good backsword man. How
doth the good knight? may I ask how my lady his wife doth?

BARDOLPH.
Sir, pardon; a soldier is better accommodated than with a wife.