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 warmingpan: '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 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 14 shalt thou have, and present pay; And liquor likewise will I give to thee, And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood; 14 The noble was worth six shillings and eight-pence. I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;- 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 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 humours on the knight, that's the even of it. Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right; His heart is fracted and corroborate. it Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as may; he passes some humours, and careers. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live. [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 bedfellow1, Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd with princely favours, That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell Trumpet sounds. Enter KING HENRY, SCROOP, 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 Think you not, that the powers we bear with us, For which we have in head3 assembled them? Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. K. Hen. I doubt not that: since we are well We carry not a heart with us from hence, That was his bedfellow.' Thus Holinshed:-' The said Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometime 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 cloy'd and grac'd.' The quarto reads 'dull'd and cloy'd.' 3 For which we have in head assembled them.' In head seems equivalent to the modern military term in force. 4 Consent' is accord, agreement. Vide p. 367 ante, and Macbeth, vol. iv. p. 204, note 7. 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 Under the sweet shade of your government. Grey. Even those that were your father's enemies, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you With hearts create 5 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; K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday, That rail'd 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 punish'd, 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. 5i.e. hearts compounded or made up of duty and zeal. 6 i. e. his better consideration, or more circumspect behaviour. Thus in Measure for Measure, Act v. Sc. 1: Pardon me, noble lord, I thought it was a fault, but knew it not, If little faults, proceeding on distemper7, Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their dear care, And tender preservation of our person,- causes; Who are the late commissioners? Cam. I one, my lord; Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. 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, gentle men? What see you in those papers, that you lose 7 6 Distemper' here put for intemperance, or riotous excess. Thus, in Othello, Brabantio says that Roderigo is 'Full of supper, and distempering draughts.' And Holinshed, vol. iii. p. 626: Gave him wine and strong drink in such excessive sort, that he was therewith distempered and reeled as he went.' 8 i.e. those lately appointed. |