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 c rystals. 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, Ithee command. Hostess Farewell; adieu.
Exeunt SCENE IV. France. The KING'S palace. Flourish. Enter the FRENCH KING, the DAUPHIN, the DUKESof BERRI and BRETAGNE, the Constable, and others KING OF FRANCE Thus comes the English with full power upon us;And more than carefully it us concerns To answer royally in our defences.
Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne, Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth, And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch, To line and new repair our towns of war With men of courage and with means defendant;For England his approaches makes as fierce As waters to the sucking of a gulf.
It fits us then to be as provident As fear may teach us out of late examples Left by the fatal and neglected English Upon our fields. DAUPHIN My most redoubted father, It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe;For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom, Though war nor no known quarrel were in question, But that defences, musters, preparations, Should be maintain'd, assembled and collected, As were a war in expectation.
Therefore, I say 'tis meet we all go forth To view the sick and feeble parts of France:
And let us do it with no show of fear;
No, with no more than if we heard that England Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance:
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd, Her sceptre so fantastically borne By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth, That fear attends her not. Constable O peace, Prince Dauphin!
You are too much mistaken in this king:
Question your grace the late ambassadors, With what great state he heard their embassy, How well supplied with noble counsellors, How modest in exception, and withal How terrible in constant resolution, And you shall find his vanities forespent Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus, Covering discretion with a coat of folly;As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots That shall first spring and be most delicate. DAUPHIN Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable;But though we think it so, it is no matter:
In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh The enemy more mighty than he seems:
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;Which of a weak or niggardly projection Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting A little cloth. KING OF FRANCE Think we King Harry strong;And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;And he is bred out of that bloody strain That haunted us in our familiar paths:
