prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and that's the humour of it.

Pist. O braggard vile, and damned furious wight! The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale.

[PISTOL and NYм draw. Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say:-he that strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier. [Draws. Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate. 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.

Pist. Coupe le gorge, that's 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 powdering tub of infamy

Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind, Doll Tear-sheet she by name, and her espouse: -I have, and I will hold the quondam Quickly For the only she; and-Pauca, there's enough.

Enter the Boy.

Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, —and you, hostess ;-he is very sick, and would to bed. -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. QUICKLY 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?

i

exhale.] i. e. Draw, hale, or lug out. This is Malone's explanation of the word, which is approved by Gifford.-Ben Jonson, vol. ii. 444.

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 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. I shall have my noble?

Pist. In cash most justly paid.

Nym. Well then, that's the humour of it.

Re-enter Mrs. QUICKLY.

Quick. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to sir John Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked 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.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Southampton. A Council-Chamber.

Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND.

Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors. 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.

Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,' Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd with princely favours,— That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell

His sovereign's life to death and treachery!

Trumpet sounds.

Enter King HENRY, SCROOP, CAMBRIDGE, GREY, Lords, and Attendants.

P. Hen. 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 powers we bear with us, Will cut their passage through the force of France; Doing the execution, and the act,

For which we have in headm assembled them?

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;

Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.

Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd,
Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject,

that was his bedfellow,] "The said Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometimes to be his bedfellow."Holinshed. This familiar appellation, which appears strange to us, was common among our ancestors.-STEEVENS.

in head-] i. e. In force.

grows not in a fair consent—] i, e. In friendly concord.—MALONE. I should prefer reading goes.

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 thankfulAnd shall forget the office of our hand,

Sooner than quittance of desert and merit,
According to the weight and worthiness.

Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil;
And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
To do your grace incessant services.

K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter,
Enlarge the man committed yesterday,
That rail'd against our person: we consider,
It was excess of wine that set him on ;
And, on his more advice," we pardon him.

Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security :
Let him be punish'd, sovereign; lest example
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful.

[ness;

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 Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch.

If little faults, proceeding on distemper,"

Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye,'
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested,
Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their dear

care,

And tender preservation of our person,―

Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes; Who are the late commissioners ?s

P

१

I

create-] i. e. Compounded or made up of duty and zeal.

more advice,] On his return to more coolness of mind.-JOHNSON. distemper,] i. e. Intoxication.

how shall we stretch our eye,] If we may not wink at small faults, how

wide must we open our eyes at great.-JOHNSON.

* Who are the late commissioners?] That is, as appears from the sequel, who are the persons lately appointed commissioners?-M. MASON.

Cam. I one, my lord;

Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. So did you me, my liege.

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,
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours :-
Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.—
My lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,—
We will aboard to-night.-Why, how now, gentlemen?
What see you in those papers, that you lose

So much complexion?-look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper.-Why, what read you there,
That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood

Out of appearance?

Cam.

I do confess my fault;

And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal.

K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick' in us but late,
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:

You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;

For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.-
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,

These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge here,—
You know, how apt our love was, to accord
To furnish him with all appertinents
Belonging to his honour; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd,
And sworn unto the practices of France,
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which,
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is,-hath likewise sworn.-But O!
What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop; thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature!
Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold,

- quick-] That is, living.