King Henry V · William Shakespeare
SCENE II.--EASTCHEAP, LONDON.
_Enter BARDOLPH,(I) NYM, PISTOL, MRS. QUICKLY, and BOY, L.2 E._ _Quick._ (L.C.) Pr'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.[17] _Pist._ (C.) No; for my manly heart doth yearn.-- Bardolph, be blithe;--Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins; Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead, And we must yearn therefore. _Bard._ (R.) 'Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is! _Quick._ (C.) Sure, he's in Arthur's bosom,[18] if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end,[19] and went away, an it had been any christom child;[20] 'a parted even just between twelve and one, e'en at turning o' the tide:[21] for after I saw him fumble with the sheets,[22] and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a' babbled of green fields. How now, Sir John! quoth I: what, man! be of good cheer. So a' cried out--Heaven, Heaven, Heaven! three or four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of Heaven; I hoped, there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone.
_Nym._ (R.C.) They say he cried out of sack. _Quick._ Ay, that 'a did. _Bard._ And of women. _Quick._ Nay, that 'a did not. _Boy._ (L.) Yes, that 'a did, and said they were devils incarnate. _Quick._ (_crosses L.C._) 'A could never abide carnation;[23] 'twas a colour he never liked. _Boy._ Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose, and 'a said it was a black soul burning in hell-fire? _Bard._ Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire: that's all the riches I got in his service. _Nym._ Shall we shog off?[24] the king will be gone from Southampton. _Pist._ Come, let's away.--My love, give me thy lips. Look to my chattels and my moveables: Let senses rule;[25] the word is, _Pitch and pay_;[26] Trust none; For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes, And hold-fast is the only dog,[27] my duck: Therefore, _caveto_ be thy counsellor.[28] Go, clear thy crystals.[29]--Yoke-fellows in arms, [_Crosses L.H._ Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys, To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck! [_Crosses R.H._ _Boy._ And that is but unwholesome food, they say. _Pitt._ Touch her soft mouth, and march. _Bard._ Farewell, hostess. [_Kissing her._ _Nym._ I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but adieu. _Pist._ Let housewifery appear: keep close, I thee command.
_Quick._ Farewell; adieu. [_Exeunt BARDOLPH, PISTOL, NYM, R.H., and DAME QUICKLY, L.H._ _Boy._ As young as I am, I have observed these three swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they three, though they would serve me, could not be a man to me; for, indeed, three such anticks do not amount to a man. For Bardolph,--he is white-livered and red-faced; by the means whereof 'a faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol,--he hath a killing tongue and a quiet sword; by the means whereof 'a breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym,--he hath heard that men of few words are the best men; and therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest 'a should be thought a coward: but his few bad words are match'd with as few good deeds; for 'a never broke any man's head but his own, and that was against a post when he was drunk. They will steal any thing, and call it--purchase. They would have me as familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or their handkerchiefs: which makes much against my manhood, if I should take from another's pocket to put into mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I must leave them, and seek some better service: their villainy goes against my weak stomach, and therefore I must cast it up. [_Distant March heard. Exit BOY, R.H._
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.