SparkNotes: Complete Text of Henry V: Act II, Scene iii

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READ STUDY GUIDE: Act II, scenes iii–iv

Act II, Scene iii:
London. Before a tavern.

[Enter Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, Boy, and Hostess.]

HOSTESS:

Prithee, honey, sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

PISTOL:

No; for my manly heart doth yearn.

Bardolph, be blithe; Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins;

Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,

And we must yearn therefore.

BARDOLPH:

Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in

heaven or in hell!

HOSTESS:

Nay, sure, he's not in hell. He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever

man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end and went

away an it had been any christom child. 'A parted even just

between twelve and one, even at the turning o' the tide: for

after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers,

and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way;

for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green

fields. "How now, Sir John!" quoth I; "what, man! be o' good

cheer." So 'a cried out, "God, God, God!" three or four times.

Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God; I

hop'd there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts

yet. So 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet. I put my hand

into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone;

then I felt to his knees,[and they were as cold as any stone;]

and so upward and upward, and all was as cold as any stone.

NYM:

They say he cried out of sack.

HOSTESS:

Ay, that 'a did.

BARDOLPH:

And of women.

HOSTESS:

Nay, that 'a did not.

BOY:

Yes, that 'a did; and said they were devils incarnate.

HOSTESS:

'A could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour he never liked.

BOY:

'A said once, the devil would have him about women.

HOSTESS:

'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women; but then he was

rheumatic, and talk'd of the whore of Babylon.

BOY:

Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose,

and 'a said it was a black soul burning in hell-fire?

BARDOLPH:

Well, the fuel is gone that maintain'd that fire. That's all the

riches I got in his service.

NYM:

Shall we shog? The King will be gone from Southampton.

PISTOL:

Come, let's away. My love, give me thy lips.

Look to my chattels and my movables.

Let senses rule; the word is "Pitch and Pay."

Trust none;

For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes

And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck;

Therefore, Caveto be thy counsellor.

Go, clear thy crystals. Yoke-fellows in arms,

Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys,

To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!

BOY:

And that's but unwholesome food, they say.

PISTOL:

Touch her soft mouth, and march.

BARDOLPH:

Farewell, hostess.

[Kissing her.]

NYM:

I cannot kiss; that is the humour of it; but, adieu.

PISTOL:

Let housewifery appear. Keep close, I thee command.

HOSTESS:

Farewell; adieu.

[Exeunt.]

Henry V

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Henry V

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