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stroke I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier.

[Draws]

PISTOL.

An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate.

[PISTOL and Nym sheathe their swords]

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.

PISTOL.

'Couple a gorge!'

That is 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 powd'ring 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 the only she; and- pauca, there's enough.

Go to.

Enter the Boy

BOY.

Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master; and your

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.

BARDOLPH.

Away, you rogue.

HOSTESS.

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

BARDOLPH.

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?

PISTOL.

Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on!

NYM.

You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?

PISTOL.

Base is the slave that pays.

NYM.

That now I will have; that's the humour of it.

PISTOL.

As manhood shall compound: push home.

[PISTOL and Nym draw]

BARDOLPH.

By this sword, he that makes the first thrust I'll kill

him; by this sword, I will.

PISTOL.

Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.

[Sheathes his sword]

BARDOLPH.

Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends; an

thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Prithee put up.

NYM.

I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at betting?

PISTOL.

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.

[Sheathing his sword] I shall have my noble?

PISTOL.

In cash most justly paid.

NYM.

[Shaking hands] Well, then, that's the humour of't.

Re-enter HOSTESS

HOSTESS.

As ever you come of women, come in quickly to Sir John.

Ah, poor heart! he is so shak'd 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.

PISTOL.

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.

PISTOL.

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

Exeunt

SCENE II. Southampton. A council-chamber

Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND

BEDFORD.

Fore God, his Grace is bold, to trust these traitors.

EXETER.

They shall be apprehended by and by.

WESTMORELAND.

How smooth and even they do bear themselves,

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,

Crowned with faith and constant loyalty!

BEDFORD.

The King hath note of all that they intend,

By interception which they dream not of.

EXETER.

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 the KING, SCROOP,

CAMBRIDGE, GREY, and attendants

KING HENRY.

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 pow'rs 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