cheese; and it will endure cold as another man's sword will and there's an end. Bard. I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France; let it be so, good corporal Nym. Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may: that is my rest, that is the rendezvous of it. Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly: and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her. Nym. I cannot tell; things must be as they may; men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and, some say, knives have edges. It must be as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell. Enter PISTOL and Hostess. Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol and his wife :-good corporal, be patient here.-How now, mine host Pistol? Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me host? Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn the term; Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers. Host. No, by my troth, not long for we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen, that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy-house straight. [NYM and PISTOL draw.] O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn! Now we shall see wilful adultery and murder committed. Good lieutenant Bardolph Bard. Good corporal, offer nothing here. Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prickeared cur of Iceland. Host. Good corporal Nym, show thy valour, and put up thy sword. Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, Nym. I am not Barbason, you cannot conjure me. I have an humour to knock you indifferently well if you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may say, in fair terms: if you would walk off, I would prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may say; and that's the humour of it. Pist. O braggard vile, and damned furious wight! The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale. [PISTOL and NYм draw. Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say :-he that strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier. [Draws. Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate. Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give; Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humour of it. Pist. Coupe le gorge, that's the word ?—I defy thee again. O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get? No; to the spital go, And from the powdering tub of infamy Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind, Enter the Boy. Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, and you, hostess;-he is very sick, and would to bed.-Good Bardolph, put thy face between his sheets, and do the office of a warming pan; 'faith, he's very ill. Bard. Away, you rogue. Host. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one of these days; the king has killed his heart.-Good husband, come home presently. [Exeunt Hostess and Boy. Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to France together. Why the devil should we keep knives to cut one another's throats? of Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on! Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won you at betting? Pist. Base is the slave that pays. Nym. That now I will have; that's the humour of it. Pist. As manhood shall compound: push home. Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust I'll kill him; by this sword, I will, Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course. Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends: an thou wilt not, why, then be enemies with me too. Pr'ythee, put up. Nym. I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at betting? Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay; And liquor likewise will I give to thee, And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood: Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. Nym. I shall have my noble? Pist. In cash most justly paid. Nym. Well, then, that's the humour of it. Re-enter Hostess. Host. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to sir John: ah, poor heart! he is so shaken of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him. Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that's the even of it. Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right; His heart is fracted, and corroborate. Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he passes some humours, and careers. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Southampton. A Council Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and Westmoreland. Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors. Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by. West. How smooth and even they do bear themselves! As if allegiance in their bosoms sat, Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of. Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow, Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours, That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell Trumpet sounds. Enter KING HENRY, SCROop, Cam- K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. My lord of Cambridge, and my kind lord of Masham, And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts; Think you not, that the powers we bear with us Will cut their passage through the force of France; Doing the execution, and the act, For which we have in head assembled them? Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. |