SCENE I.-London. Eastcheap. Enter, severally, NYм and BARDOLPH. BARD. Well met, corporal Nym. NYM. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. BARD. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends yet? NYM. For my part, I care not: I say little; but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles; -but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight, but I will wink, and hold out mine iron it is a simple one, but what though? it will toast cheese, and it will endure cold as another man's sword will: and there's an end.a And there's an end.] The quartos read, "And there's the humour of it." And we'll be all three sworn brothers-] See note (a), p. 484, Vol. I. 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. (*) First folio, name. e I will do as I may:] Monck Mason, with some reason, proposed to read:46 -die as I may." There must be conclusions:-well, I cannot tell. BARD. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife: -good corporal, be patient here. Enter PISTOL and Hostess." 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 bawdyhouse straight. [NYм draws his sword.] O wella-day, Lady, if he be not drawn!" now we shall see wilful adultery and murder committed. BARD. Good lieutenant,-good corporal,-offer nothing here. c NYM. Pish !a PIST. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! (1) thou prickcar'd cur of Iceland! HOST. Good corporal Nym, show thy valour, and put up your sword. NYм. Will you shog off? I would have you solus. [Sheathing his sword. PIST. Solus, egregious dog! O viper vile! The solus in thy most marvellous face; The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy; And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth! I do retort the solus in thy bowels: For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, And flashing fire will follow. 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, in fair terms: if you would walk off, I would prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and that's the humour of it. PIST. O braggart vile, and damned furious wight! The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale. [PISTOL and NYм draw their swords. 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 his sword. a Hostess.] The old copies have "Quickly," but evidently hrough inadvertence, as she is always afterwards called "I "Hostess," which, or "Mistress Pistol," is now her proper appellation. bO well-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn! now we shall see, &c.] In the folio, "if he be not hewne now." The correction was made by Theobald. e Good lieutenant,-good corporal,-offer nothing here.] To obviate the inconsistency of Bardolph, himself the lieutenant, designating Pistol by that title, Capell prints, "Good ancient," and Malone makes the sentence a part of the Hostess's speech. This, however, is not the only anomaly of the same kind. In the opening of the present scene, Nym addresses Bardolph as "lieu 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 nose between his sheets, and do the office of a warmingpan: '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? PIST. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on! NYм. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of 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. [PISTOL and NYм draw their swords. 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. tenant," while in Act III. Sc. 2, he calls him "corporal." Again, in the Second Part of "Henry IV." Act V. Sc. 5, Falstaff styles Pistol "lieutenant," though his military rank is only that of "ancient." Whether these incongruities are the effect of design or inattention on Shakespeare's part, (they could hardly arise from carelessness in the printing office,) it is now, perhaps, impossible to determine; we prefer therefore to adhere to the old text. d Pish!] In the quartos "Push!" the older form of the same contemptuous exclamation. See note (a), p. 731, Vol. I. 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?a PIST. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay; NYM. I shall have my noble? NYM. Well then, that's the humour of it. Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND. BED. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors. EXE. They shall be apprehended by and by. a NYм. I shall have my eight shillings, &c.] This speech is omitted in the folio. 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. K. HEN. I doubt not that, since we are well persuaded, We carry not a heart with us from hence, CAM. Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject, That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness GREY. True: those that were your father's enemies Have steep'd their galls in honey, and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal. K. HEN. We therefore have great cause of thankfulness, And shall forget the office of our hand, SCROOP. So service shall with steeled sinews toil, And labour shall refresh itself with hope, K. HEN. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday, a Dull'd and cloy'd-] So the folio; the quartos read, “cloy'd and grac'd. b And, on his more advice,-] This is variously interpreted. We believe it to mean, on his further epresentations. b That rail'd against our person: we consider, CAM. So may your highness, and yet punish too. GREY. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life, After the taste of much correction. K. HEN. Alas, your too much love and care of CAM. I one, my lord; K. HEN. Then, Richard earl of Cambridge, There yours, lord Scroop of Masham ;—and, sir knight, Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours: What see you in those papers, that you lose That hath* so cowarded and chas'd your blood Сам. K. HEN. The mercy, that was quick in us but late, By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd: (*) First folio, have. e And me, my royal sovereign.] The folio has, “And I," &c. The quarto," And me, my lord." These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge here, You know how apt our love was to accord c But he that temper'd thee, bade thee stand learned? Free from gross passion, or of mirth or anger, EXE. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry+ lord Scroop of Masham. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland. SCROOP. Our purposes God justly hath dis- And I repent my fault more than my death; CAM. For me, the gold of France did not Although I did admit it as a motive GREY. Never did faithful subject more rejoice You have conspir'd against our royal person, Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death; Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter, and occasionally, as in the present instance, merely to the taste and elegance displayed in dress. Thus, in a note of Drayton's upon the Epistle from Geraldine to Lord Surrey; "but Apparell and the outward Appearance intituled Complement." f Another fall of man.-] The whole of this speech from the line, "Treason and murder ever kept together," inclusive, is omitted in the quartos. |