Document: All > Shakespeare > Histories > King Henry V > Act II, scene III
[Enter PISTOL, Hostess, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy]
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 hoped 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 talked 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 maintained 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]
KING HENRY V
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