The king is set from London; and the scene SCENE I. The same. Eastcheap. Enter NYм and BARDOLPH. Bard. Well met, corporal Nym. Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. [Exit. Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends yet? Nym. For my part, I care not. I say little but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles; 2-but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one; but what though? It will toast cheese; and it will endure cold as another man's sword will; and there's the humor of it. Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you friends; 1 "But till the king come forth, and but till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our scene." The old copy reads: "But till the king come forth, and not till then." The emendation was proposed by Mr. Roderick, and deserves admission into the text. Malone has plainly shown that it is a common typographical error. The objection is, that a scene in London intervenes; but this may be obviated by transposing that scene to the end of the first act. The division into acts and scenes, it should be recollected, is the arbitrary work of Mr. Rowe and the subsequent editors; and the first act of this play, as it is now divided, is unusually short. This chorus has slipped out of its place. 2 "When time shall serve, there shall be smiles." Dr. Farmer thought that this was an error of the press for smites, i. e. blows, a word used in the Poet's age, and still provincially current. The passage, as it stands, has been explained:"I care not whether we are friends at present; however, when time shall serve, we shall be in good humor with each other; but be it as it may." and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France; let it be so, good corporal Nym. Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may that is my rest,' that is the rendezvous of it. Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her. Nym. I cannot tell; things must be as they may. Men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and, some say, knives have edges. It must be as it may though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell.2 Enter PISTOL and MRS. QUICKLY. Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife: -good corporal, be patient here.-How now, mine host Pistol? 3 Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me-host? Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term; Quick. No, by my troth, not long; for we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen, that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy-house straight. [NYм draws his sword.] O well-i-day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! we shall see wilful adultery and murder committed. Good lieutenant Bardolph,-good cor poral, offer nothing here. 1 "That is my rest; " that is my determination. 2 i. e. "I know not what to say or think of it." See this phrase amply illustrated in Mr. Gifford's Ben Jonson, vol. i. p. 125. No phrase is more common in our old dramatic writers. 3 i. e. base fellow. Still used in the north; where a tike is also a dog of a large, common breed. 4 The folio has "O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not hewn now;" an evident error of the press. The quarto reads, "O Lord! here's corporal Nym's-now," &c. Nym. Pish! Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog!1 thou prick-eared cur of Iceland! Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valor of a man, and put up thy sword. Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you solus. [Sheathing his sword. Pist. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile! The solus in thy most marvellous face; The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy; For I can take,2 and Pistol's cock is up, And flashing fire will follow. 3 Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I have a humor to knock you indifferently well. If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms; if you would walk off, I would prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and that's the humor 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. 1 "Iceland dogges, curled and rough all over, which, by reason of the length of their heare, make show neither of face nor of body. And yet thes curres, forsoothe, because they are so strange, are greatly set by, esteemed, taken up, and made of, many times instead of the spaniell gentle or comforter." Abraham Fleming's translation of Caius de Canibus, 1576, Of English Dogges.--Island cur is again used as a term of contempt in "Epigrams served out in Fifty-two several Dishes;" no date :— "He wears a gown lac'd round, laid down with furre, Or, miser-like, a pouch where never man Could thrust his finger, but this island curre." 2 For I can take." Malone would change this, without necessity, to "I can talk." Pistol only means, "I can understand or comprehend you." 3 Barbason is the name of a demon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give, Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humor 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,1 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? Pist. Base is the slave that pays. Nym. That now I will have; that's the humor 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. 1 "The lazar kite of Cressid's kind." Of Cressida's nature, see Troilus and Cressida. 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. Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. Nym. I shall have my noble? Pist. In cash most justly paid. Nym. Well, then, that's the humor 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 humors 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 humors, and careers. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live. [Exeunt. 1 The noble was worth six shillings and eight-pence. |