Therefore exhale.10

[NYM draws his sword.

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. Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate. — Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give:

Thy spirits are most tall.

[They sheathe their swords.

Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair

terms that is the humour of it.

Pist. Coupe la gorge!

That is the word. I thee defy again.

O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get?
No; to the spital 11 go,

And from the powdering-tub of infamy

Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,
Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse:
I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly
For th' only she; and Pauca,12 there's enough.
Go to.

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 !

10 Pistol's exhale means, draw thy sword. So in King Richard III., i. 2: "'Tis thy presence that exhales this blood from cold and empty veins." The Poet repeatedly has exhale in the same sense.

11 Spital is hospital; and powdering-tub refers to the old mode of treating certain diseases. Pistol means to insinuate that Mistress Doll has gone to an hospital to be treated in that way.

12 That is, pauca verba, few words.

Host. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one of these days: the King has kill'd 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! Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?

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. [Draws his sword.

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 13 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;

13 The noble was worth six shillings and eight pence.

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

Re-enter the Hostess.

Host. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to Sir John. Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian,14 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.15

Pist. Let us condole the knight; for lambkins we will live.16 [Exeunt.

ACT II.

Enter Chorus.

Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:

Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man :

14 The Hostess here uses words, as she has before used adultery, without knowing their meaning. A quotidian is a fever that returns every day; a tertian, every three days.

15 To pass a career is said to have been a technical phrase for galloping a horse violently to and fro, and then stopping him suddenly at the end of the course. Nym refers to the King's sudden change of treatment towards Falstaff, on coming to the crown.

16" We'll live together quietly and peaceably, like little lambs."

They sell the pasture now to buy the horse;
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air;

And hides a sword from hilts unto the point
With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets,
Promised to Harry and his followers.

The French, advised by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear; and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.

O England!—model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart, -

What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural !

But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills

With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,-
One, Richard, Earl of Cambridge; and the second,
Henry Lord Scroop of Masham; and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,-
Have, for the gilt of France -O guilt indeed!

1 This was Richard Plantagenet, second son to Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, who, again, was the fourth son of Edward the Third. He was married to Anne Mortimer, sister to Edmund, Earl of March, and great-granddaughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, who was the second son of Edward the Third. From this marriage sprung Richard, who in the next reign was restored to the rights and titles forfeited by his father, and was made Duke of York. This Richard afterwards claimed the crown in right of his mother, and as the lineal heir from the aforesaid Lionel; and hence arose the long war between the Houses of York and Lancaster. So that the present Earl of Cambridge was the grandfather of Edward the Fourth and Richard the Third. His older brother, Edward, the Duke of York of this play, was killed at the battle of Agincourt, and left no child.

Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,
If Hell and treason hold their promises,

Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The King is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton;
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,
We'll not offend one stomach with our play.

SCENE I.-Southampton. A Council-Chamber.

Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND.

[Exit.

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 dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours;

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell

His sovereign's life to death and treachery!

Trumpets sound. Enter King HENRY, CAMBRIDGE, SCROOP, GREY, Lords, and Attendants.

King. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.