-Good Bardolph, put thy nose between his sheets, and do the office of a warming-pan: 'faith, he 's very ill. Bard. Away, you rogue. Quick. 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 Mrs. QUICK. 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 on! Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting? Pist. Base is the slave that pays.' Nym. That now I will have; that's the humour of it. Pist. As manhood shall compound; Push home. 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. Pr'ythee, put up. Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting? Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay; And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood: Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. 9 Nym. I shall have my noble? Pist. In cash most justly paid. Nym. Well then, that 's the humour of it. and you, hostess;] The folio has-and your hostess. Corrected by Sir T. Hanmer. The emendation is supported by the quarto: "Hostess, you must come straight to my master, and you host Pistol." Malone. 1 Base is the slave that pays.] Perhaps this expression was proverbial. I meet with it in The Fair Maid of the West, by Heywood, 1631: "My motto shall be, Base is the man that pays." Steevens. Re-enter Mrs. QUICKLY. Quick. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to sir John Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked2 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. Pist. 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. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live.3 SCENE II. Southampton. A Council-Chamber. [Exeunt. Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND. Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these trai tors. Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by. West. How smooth and even they do bear themselves! As if allegiance in their bosoms sat, Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty. Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of. 2 Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow, Arcadia: 4 so shaked &c.] Thus Sidney, in the first Book of his "And precious couches full oft are shaked with a fever." Steevens. 3 -for, lambkins, we will live.] That is, we will live as quietly and peaceably together as lambkins. The meaning has, I think, been obscured by a different punctuation: "for, lambkins, we will live." Malone. Lambkins seems to me a fantastick title by which Pistol addresses his newly-reconciled friends, Nym and Bardolph. The words-we will live, may refer to what seems uppermost in his head, his expected profits from the camp, of which he has just given them reason to expect a share. I have not therefore departed from the old punctuation. Steevens. 4 that was his bedfellow,] So, Holinshed: "The said Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometime to be his bedfellow." The familiar appellation of bed Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd' with princely favours,- K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. For which we have in head assembled them?7 Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. K. Hen. I doubt not that: since we are well persuaded, We carry not a heart with us from hence, That grows not in a fair consent with ours; 8 fellow, which appears strange to us, was common among the ancient nobility. There is a letter from the sixth Earl of Northumberland, (still preserved in the collection of the present Duke) addressed "To his beloved cousyn Thomas Arundel,” &c. which begins, "Bedfellow, after my most harté recommendacion." So, a comedy called A Knack to know a Knave, 1594: "Yet, for thou wast once bedfellow to a king, "And that I lov'd thee as my second self," &c. This unseemly custom continued common till the middle of the last century, if not later. Cromwell obtained much of his intelligence during the civil wars from the mean men with whom he slept.-Henry Lord Scroop was the third husband of Joan Duchess of York, stepmother of Richard Earl of Cambridge. Malone. 5 cloy'd and grac'd-] Thus the quarto. The folio reads —dull'd and eloy'd. Perhaps dull'd is a mistake for dol'd. Steevens. 6 to death and treachery!] Here the quartos insert a line omitted in all the following editions: Exe. O! the lord of Masham! Johnson. 7 For which we have in head assembled them?] This is not an English phraseology. I am persuaded Shakspeare wrote: For which we have in aid assembled them? alluding to the tenures of those times. Warburton. 'It is strange that the commentators should forget a word so eminently observable in this writer, as head for an army formed. Johnson. In head seems synonymous to the modern military term in force. Malone. & That grows not in a fair consent with ours;] So, in Macbeth: Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject, That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government. Grey. Even those, that were your father's enemies, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal. K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of thankful ness; And shall forget the office of our hand,1 Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil; K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter, Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security: Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life, After the taste of much correction. K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me "If you shall cleave to my consent,” &c. Consent is union, &c. Steevens. ours. 9 in a fair concent-] In friendly concord; in unison with Malone. hearts create-] Hearts compounded or made up of duty and zeal. Johnson. 1 And shall forget the office of our hand,] Perhaps our author, when he wrote this line, had the fifth verse of the 137th Psalm in his thoughts: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning." Steevens. 2 — more advice,] On his return to more coolness of mind. Johnson. See Vol. II, p. 179, n. 3. Malone. Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye,4 care, And tender preservation of our person, Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes; Who are the late commissioners?5 Cam. I one, my lord; Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. Grey. And me, my royal sovereign. K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there is yours; There yours, lord Scroop of Masham ;-and, sir knight, 3 •proceeding on distemper,] i. e. sudden passions. Warburton. Perturbation of mind. Temper is equality or calmness of mind, from an equipoise or due mixture of passions. Distemper of mind is the predominance of a passion, as distemper of body is the predominance of a humour. Johnson. Dis It has been just said by the king, that it was excess of wine that set him on, and distemper may therefore mean intoxication. temper'd in liquor is still a common expression. Chapman, in his Epicedium on the Death of Prince Henry, 1612, has personified this species of distemper: "Frantick distemper, and hare-ey'd unrest." And Brabantio says, that Roderigo is · "Full of supper and distemp'ring draughts." Again, Holinshed, Vol. III, p. 626: ". gave him wine and strong drink in such excessive sort, that he was therewith distempered, and reel'd as he went." Steevens. how shall we stretch our eye,] If we may not wink at small faults, how wide must we open our eyes at great? Johnson. 5 Who are the late commissioners?] That is, as appears from the sequel, who are the persons lately appointed commissioners? M. Mason. |