Shakespeare Portal

Act 2, Scene 3

London. Before a tavern.

  1. [Enter Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, Boy, and Hostess.]
  2. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  3. 800 Prithee, honey, sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.
  4. Pistol
  5. 801 No; for my manly heart doth yearn.
  6. 802 Bardolph, be blithe; Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins;
  7. 803 Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,
  8. 804 And we must yearn therefore.
  9. Bardolph
  10. 805 Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in
  11. 806 heaven or in hell!
  12. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  13. 807 Nay, sure, he's not in hell. He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever
  14. 808 man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end and went
  15. 809 away an it had been any christom child. 'A parted even just
  16. 810 between twelve and one, even at the turning o' the tide: for
  17. 811 after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers,
  18. 812 and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way;
  19. 813 for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green
  20. 814 fields. "How now, Sir John!" quoth I; "what, man! be o' good
  21. 815 cheer." So 'a cried out, "God, God, God!" three or four times.
  22. 816 Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God; I
  23. 817 hop'd there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts
  24. 818 yet. So 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet. I put my hand
  25. 819 into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone;
  26. 820 then I felt to his knees,
  27. [and they were as cold as any stone;]
  28. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  29. 821 and so upward and upward, and all was as cold as any stone.
  30. Corporal Nym
  31. 822 They say he cried out of sack.
  32. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  33. 823 Ay, that 'a did.
  34. Bardolph
  35. 824 And of women.
  36. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  37. 825 Nay, that 'a did not.
  38. Boy
  39. 826 Yes, that 'a did; and said they were devils incarnate.
  40. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  41. 827 'A could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour he never liked.
  42. Boy
  43. 828 'A said once, the devil would have him about women.
  44. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  45. 829 'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women; but then he was
  46. 830 rheumatic, and talk'd of the whore of Babylon.
  47. Boy
  48. 831 Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose,
  49. 832 and 'a said it was a black soul burning in hell-fire?
  50. Bardolph
  51. 833 Well, the fuel is gone that maintain'd that fire. That's all the
  52. 834 riches I got in his service.
  53. Corporal Nym
  54. 835 Shall we shog? The King will be gone from Southampton.
  55. Pistol
  56. 836 Come, let's away. My love, give me thy lips.
  57. 837 Look to my chattels and my movables.
  58. 838 Let senses rule; the word is "Pitch and Pay."
  59. 839 Trust none;
  60. 840 For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes
  61. 841 And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck;
  62. 842 Therefore, Caveto be thy counsellor.
  63. 843 Go, clear thy crystals. Yoke-fellows in arms,
  64. 844 Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys,
  65. 845 To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!
  66. Boy
  67. 846 And that's but unwholesome food, they say.
  68. Pistol
  69. 847 Touch her soft mouth, and march.
  70. Bardolph
  71. 848 Farewell, hostess.
  72. [Kissing her.]
  73. Corporal Nym
  74. 849 I cannot kiss; that is the humour of it; but, adieu.
  75. Pistol
  76. 850 Let housewifery appear. Keep close, I thee command.
  77. Hostess (Mistress Quickly)
  78. 851 Farewell; adieu.
  79. [Exeunt.]