II. ii. 25-31. Shirts were made of holland linen

King Henry the Fourth
129
(worth ‘eight shillings an ell/ cf. 1 Henry IV, III. iii. 83). The play on the words holland and low- countries is apparent. The Prince proceeds to as¬ sume that Poins’s shortage in shirts is due to the fact that his old shirts are serving as garments for his illegitimate children, who ‘bawl out’ from ‘the ruins of his linen.’