Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give,
Thy spirits are most tall.

Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humor of it.

Pist. Coupe le gorge, that's the word?—I thee defy 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,1
Doll Tear-sheet she by name, and her espouse.
I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly
For the only she; and-pauca, there's enough.

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 nose between his sheets, and do the office of a warming-pan: 'faith, he's very ill.

Bard. Away, you rogue.

Quick. 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 MRS. QUICKLY 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!

Nym. 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 humor 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.

1 "The lazar kile of Cressid's kind." Of Cressida's nature, see Troilus and Cressida.

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.
I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;—
Is not this just?-for I shall sutler be

Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
Give me thy hand.

Nym. I shall have my noble?

Pist. In cash most justly paid.

Nym. Well, then, that's the humor of it.

Re-enter MRS. QUICKLY.

Quick. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to sir John. Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him.

Nym. The king hath run bad humors 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 humors, and careers.

Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live.

1 The noble was worth six shillings and eight-pence. VOL. IV.

18

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. Southampton. A Council Chamber.

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,

Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.

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 cloyed and graced with princely favors,

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery!

Trumpet sounds. Enter KING HENRY, SCROOP, CAMBRIDGE, GREY, Lords, and Attendants.

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.

1 "That was his bedfellow." Thus Holinshed:-"The said lord Scroop was in such favor with the king, that he admitted him sometimes to be his bedfellow." This familiar appellation of bedfellow was common among the ancient nobility. This custom, which now appears so strange and unseemly to us, continued to the middle of the seventeenth century, if not later. Cromwell obtained much of his intelligence during the civil wars from the mean men with whom he slept.

2 "Whom he hath cloyed and graced." The quarto reads, " dulled and cloyed."

K. Hen. I doubt not that; since we are well

per

suaded,

We carry not a heart with us from hence,
That grows not in a fair consent1 with ours;
Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.

Cam. Never was monarch better feared, and loved, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject, That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness

Under the sweet shade of your government.

Grey. Even those, that were your father's enemies, Have steeped 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,

Sooner than quittance of desert and merit,
According to the weight and worthiness.

Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil;
And labor shall refresh itself with hope,
To do your grace incessant services.

K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter,
Enlarge the man committed yesterday,
That railed against our person: we consider,
It was excess of wine that set him on;
And, on his more advice, we pardon him.

Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security.
Let him be punished, sovereign; lest example
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful.

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 me Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch.

If little faults, proceeding on distemper,3

Shall not be winked at, how shall we stretch our eye,

1 "Consent" is accord, agreement.

2 i. e. his better consideration, or more circumspect behavior.
3" Distemper" here put for intemperance, or riotous excess.

When capital crimes, chewed, swallowed, and digested, Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their dear

care

And tender preservation of our person,—

Would have him punished. And now to our French

causes.

Who are the late commissioners?

Cam. I one, my lord;

Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. So did you me, my liege.

Grey. And me, my royal sovereign.

K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there is yours;

There yours, lord Scroop of Masham;—and, sir knight,
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours.-
Read them; and know, I know your worthiness:-
My lord of Westmoreland,-and uncle Exeter,-
We will aboard to-night.-Why, how now, gentlemen?
What see you in those papers, that you lose

So much complexion?-Look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper.-Why, what read you there,
That hath so cowarded and chased your blood
Out of appearance?

Cam.

I do confess my fault;

And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal.

K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppressed and killed.
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.-
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,

These English monsters!-My lord of Cambridge here,

You know how apt our love was to accord
To furnish him with all appertinents

Belonging to his honor; and this man

1 i. e. those lately appointed.