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Henry V
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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.]
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