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. BARD. I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends; 10 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: 20 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. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell. Enter PISTOL and HOSTESS BARD. Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife: good corporal, be patient here. How now, mine host Pistol! PIST. Base tike, call'st thou me host? Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term; HOST. No, by my troth, not long; for we cannot lodge 11 sworn brothers to France] bosom comrades on our visit to France. 15 rest] stake or wager; a term in the game of “primero.” 23 mare] The Folios read name; the Quarto, mare, which Theobald restored. 24 conclusions] an end to all things. 30 28 tike] ugly cur. and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy house straight. [Nym and Pistol draw.] O well a day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! we shall see wilful adultery and murder committed. BARD. Good lieutenant! good corporal! offer nothing here. NYM. Pish! PIST. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland! HOST. Good Corporal Nym, show thy valour, and put up your sword. NYM. Will you shog off? I would have you solus. For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, NYм. I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I 35 drawn] Theobald's emendation of the Folio reading hewn. 39 Iceland dog] a shaggy, sharp-eared, white-haired dog, in much favour with Elizabethan ladies. 43 shog off] jog on, pack off. Cf. II, iii, 45, infra. 45 mervailous] Pistol's affected pronunciation of "marvellous.” 47 perdy] a corruption of "par Dieu," "by God." 50 take] "take fire ог "catch fire; used of a gun "going off." Pistol is talking to himself as if he were a pistol. 52 Barbason] a popular name of a fiend of hell, already mentioned in M. Wives, II, ii, 265; see note there. 40 50 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. 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. 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. NYM. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms that is the humour of it. PIST. "Couple a gorge!" That is the word. I thee defy again. O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get? 57 that's the humour of it] that's my meaning. This catch-phrase, which is constantly in Nym's mouth, satirises a passing vogue common parlance, which brought the word "humour constant use in vague and barely intelligible senses. 60 exhale] draw swords, in Pistol's vocabulary. into 69 "Couple a gorge!"] Corruption of "Coupe la gorge," cut your throat. 71 O hound of Crete] Cretan hounds were credited by classical authors with special excellence. Shakespeare describes hunting with dogs of fine breed in Crete, Mids. N. Dr., IV, i, 110 seq. 72-73 spital... powdering-tub] a reference to the hospital and the treatment accorded there to sufferers from venereal disease. "Powderingtub" literally means "salting-tub.” 60 70 And from the powdering-tub of infamy Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, and you, hostess: he is very sick, and would to bed. 80 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! 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 90 on! NYм. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of at betting? PIST. Base is the slave that pays. you NYм. That now I will have: that's the humour of it. 74 the lazar kite of Cressid's kind] Cressida, the faithless mistress of Troilus, whose story was treated at length by Shakespeare in Troil. and Cress., died, according to some traditions, an inmate of a leper's hospital. "Lazar kite" would mean literally a leprous bird of carrion. "Kite of Cressid's kind" is applied to women of bad character by many Elizabethan writers. 85 killed] broken. Cf. line 121, infra : "His heart is fracted." PIST. As manhood shall compound: push home. [They draw. 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. Prithee, put up. NYм. I shall have my eight shillings I won of betting? you at PIST. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay; Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. NYM. I shall have my noble? PIST. In cash most justly paid. NYм. Well, then, that's the humour of 't. Re-enter 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, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him. 101 put up] sheathe thy sword. 104 A noble] A coin worth 6s. 8d. 116 quotidian tertian] Mrs. Quickly jumbles together two kinds of fever, the "quotidian," in which the paroxysms take place every day, and the "tertian," in which they take place every third day. 101 110 |