ACT SECOND
Flourish. Enter Chorus.
Now all the youth of England are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man: 4
They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air 8
And hides a sword from hilts unto the point
With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets,
Promis'd to Harry and his followers.
The French, advis'd by good intelligence 12
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear, and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.
O England! model to thy inward greatness, 16
Like little body with a mighty heart,
What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural!
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out 20
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills
With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,
One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the second,
Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,
Have, for the gilt of France,—O guilt, indeed!—
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,— 28
If hell and treason hold their promises,—
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
Linger your patience on, and we'll digest
The abuse of distance; force a play. 32
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton:
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,
We'll not offend one stomach with our play. 40
But, till the king come forth and not till then,
Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. Exit.
Scene One
[London. A street]
Enter Corporal Nym and Lieutenant Bardolph.
Bard. Well met, Corporal Nym.
Nym. Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph.
Bard. What, are Ancient Pistol and you
friends yet? 4
Nym. For my part, I care not: I say little;
but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles;
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 an end. 11
Bard. I will bestow a breakfast to make you
friends, 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. 18
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. 21
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.
Enter Pistol and [Hostess] Quickly.
Bard. Here comes Ancient Pistol and his
wife. Good corporal, be patient here. How
now, mine host Pistol!
Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me host?
Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term; 32
Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.
Host. No, by my troth, not long; for we can-
not lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentle-
women that live honestly by the prick of their
needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy-
house straight. O well-a-day, Lady! if
he be not drawn now: we shall see wilful
adultery and murder committed. 40
Bard. Good lieutenant! good corporal! offer
nothing here.
Nym. Pish!
Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland! 44
Host. Good Corporal Nym, show thy valour
and put up your sword.
Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you
solus.
Pist. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile!
The solus in thy most mervailous face;
The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat,
And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy;
And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth! 53
I do retort the solus in thy bowels;
For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up,
And flashing fire will follow. 56
Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot con-
jure me. I have an humour to knock you in-
differently 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 humour of it.
Pist. O braggart vile and damned furious wight! 64
The grave doth gape, and doting death is near;
Therefore exhale.
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. 72
Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other,
in fair terms; that is the humour of it.
Pist. 'Couple a gorge!'
That is the word. I thee defy again. 76
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, 80
Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse:
I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly
For the only she; and—pauca, there's enough.
Go to.
Enter the Boy.
Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my
master, and your hostess: he is very sick, and
would to bed. Good Bardolph, put thy face be-
tween his sheets and do the office of a warming-
pan. Faith, he's very ill. 88
Bard. Away, you rogue!
Host. 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.
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? 96
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. 100
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. 105
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 ene-
mies with me too. Prithee, put up. 109
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, 113
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 116
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. 121
Enter Hostess.
Host. 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. 128
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. 133
Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we
will live. [Exeunt.]
Scene Two
[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, 4
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 dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours, 9
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery!
Sound trumpets. Enter the King, Scroop, Cambridge, and Grey [with Attendants].
K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. 12
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, 16
Doing the execution and the act
For which we have in head assembled them?
Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.
K. Hen. I doubt not that; since we are well persuaded 20
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. 24
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. 28
Grey. True: 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 thankfulness, 32
And 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, 36
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 40
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 45
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O! let us yet be merciful.
Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. 48
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 52
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, 56
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: 60
Who are the late commissioners?
Cam. I one, my lord:
Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. So did you me, my liege. 64
Grey. And I, 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: 68
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 72
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, 76
And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
| Grey. | To which we all appeal. | |
| Scroop. |
K. Hen. The mercy that was quick in us but late
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd: 80
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.
See you, my princes and my noble peers, 84
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 88
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 92
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, 97
That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold
Wouldst thou have practis'd on me for thy use!
May it be possible that foreign hire 100
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil
That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross
As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason and murder ever kept together, 105
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause
That admiration did not whoop at them: 108
But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was
That wrought upon thee so preposterously 112
Hath got the voice in hell for excellence:
And other devils that suggest by treasons
Do botch and bungle up damnation
With patches, colours, and with forms, being fetch'd 116
From glistering semblances of piety;
But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up,
Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,
Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. 120
If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus
Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,
He might return to vasty Tartar back,
And tell the legions, 'I can never win 124
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.'
O! how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance. Show men dutiful?
Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned? 128
Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?
Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet,
Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger, 132
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,
Not working with the eye without the ear,
And but in purged judgment trusting neither? 136
Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man and best indu'd
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee; 140
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man. Their faults are open:
Arrest them to the answer of the law;
And God acquit them of their practices! 144
Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the
name of Richard Earl of Cambridge.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of
Henry Lord Scroop of Masham. 148
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of
Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.
Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd,
And I repent my fault more than my death; 152
Which I beseech your highness to forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.
Cam. For me, the gold of France did not seduce,
Although I did admit it as a motive 156
The sooner to effect what I intended:
But God be thanked for prevention;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,
Beseeching God and you to pardon me. 160
Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself,
Prevented from a damned enterprise. 164
My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.
K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.
You have conspir'd against our royal person,
Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers 168
Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death;
Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,
His princes and his peers to servitude,
His subjects to oppression and contempt, 172
And his whole kingdom into desolation.
Touching our person seek we no revenge;
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws 176
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death;
The taste whereof, God of his mercy give
You patience to endure, and true repentance 180
Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.
Now, lords, for France! the enterprise whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war, 184
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason lurking in our way
To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now
But every rub is smoothed on our way. 188
Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver
Our puissance into the hand of God,
Putting it straight in expedition.
Cheerly to sea! the signs of war advance: 192
No king of England, if not king of France.
Scene Three
[London. A street]
Enter Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, Boy, and Hostess.
Host. Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me
bring thee to Staines.
Pist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.
Bardolph, be blithe; Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins; 4
Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,
And we must yearn therefore.
Bard. Would I were with him, wheresome'er
he is, either in heaven or in hell! 8
Host. Nay, sure, he's not in hell: he's in Ar-
thur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bo-
som. A' made a finer end and went away an it
had been any christom child; a' parted even just 12
between twelve and one, even at the turning o'
the tide: for after I saw him fumble with the
sheets and play with flowers and smile upon his
fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for 16
his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a' babbled of
green fields. 'How now, Sir John!' quoth I:
'what, man! be of good cheer.' So a' cried out
'God, God, God!' three or four times: now I, 20
to comfort him, bid him a' should not think of
God, I hoped there was no need to trouble him-
self with any such thoughts yet. So a' bade me
lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand 24
into the bed and felt them, and they were as
cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and
so upward, and upward, and all was as cold as
any stone. 28
Nym. They say he cried out of sack.
Host. Ay, that a' did.
Bard. And of women.
Host. Nay, that a' did not. 32
Boy. Yes, that a' did; and said they were
devils incarnate.
Host. A' could never abide carnation; 'twas
a colour he never liked. 36
Boy. A' said once, the devil would have him
about women.
Host. A' did in some sort, indeed, handle
women; but then he was rheumatic, and talked
of the whore of Babylon. 41
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? 44
Bard. Well, the fuel is gone that maintained
that fire: that's all the riches I got in his ser-
vice.
Nym. Shall we shog? the king will be gone
from Southampton. 49
Pist. Come, let's away. My love, give me thy lips.
Look to my chattels and my moveables:
Let senses rule, the word is, 'Pitch and pay'; 52
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. 56
Go, clear thy crystals. 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. 61
Pist. Touch her soft mouth, and march.
Bard. Farewell, hostess. [Kissing her.]
Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of
it; but, adieu. 65
Pist. Let housewifery appear: keep close, I thee command.
Host. Farewell; adieu. Exeunt.
Scene Four
[France. An Apartment in the French King's Palace]
Flourish. Enter the French King, the Dauphin, the Dukes of Berri and Bretagne [the Constable, and Others].
Fr. King. 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 Bretagne, 4
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: 8
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 12
Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields.
Dau. 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,— 17
But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected,
As were a war in expectation. 20
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: 25
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,
Her sceptre so fantastically borne
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth, 28
That fear attends her not.
Con.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, 33
How modest in exception, and withal
How terrible in constant resolution,
And you shall find his vanities forespent 36
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. 40
Dau. 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: 44
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;
Which of a weak and niggardly projection
Doth like a miser spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth.
Fr. King. Think we King Harry strong; 48
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: 52
Witness our too much memorable shame
When Cressy battle fatally was struck
And all our princes captiv'd by the hand
Of that black name, Edward Black Prince of Wales; 56
Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing,
Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,
Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface 60
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him. 64
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. Ambassadors from Harry King of England
Do crave admittance to your majesty.
Fr. King. We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them.
You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends. 68
Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs
Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten
Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,
Take up the English short, and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head: 73
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.
Enter Exeter [with Lords and train].
Fr. King. From our brother of England?
Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majesty. 76
He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
That you divest yourself, and lay apart
The borrow'd glories that by gift of heaven,
By law of nature and of nations 'long 80
To him and to his heirs; namely, the crown
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain
By custom and the ordinance of times
Unto the crown of France. That you may know
'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim, 85
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the dust of old oblivion rak'd,
He sends you this most memorable line, 88
In every branch truly demonstrative;
Willing you overlook this pedigree;
And when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his most fam'd of famous ancestors, 92
Edward the Third, he bids you then resign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.
Fr. King. Or else what follows? 96
Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
In thunder and in earthquake like a Jove, 100
That, if requiring fail, he will compel;
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy
On the poor souls for whom this hungry war 104
Opens his vasty jaws; and on your head
Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,
The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans,
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers, 108
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my message;
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
To whom expressly I bring greeting too. 112
Fr. King. For us, we will consider of this further:
To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother of England.
Dau.For the Dauphin,
I stand here for him: what to him from England? 116
Exe. Scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt,
And anything that may not misbecome
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.
Thus says my king: an if your father's highness 120
Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
He'll call you to so hot an answer of it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France 124
Shall chide your trespass and return your mock
In second accent of his ordnance.
Dau. Say, if my father render fair return,
It is against my will; for I desire 128
Nothing but odds with England: to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with the Paris balls.
Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it, 132
Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe:
And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference—
As we his subjects have in wonder found—
Between the promise of his greener days 136
And these he masters now. Now he weighs time
Even to the utmost grain; that you shall read
In your own losses, if he stay in France.
Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our mind at full. Flourish. 140
Exe. Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king
Come here himself to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.
Fr. King. You shall be soon dispatch'd with fair conditions: 144
A night is but small breath and little pause
To answer matters of this consequence. Exeunt.
Footnotes to Act II
Chorus
Act Second S. d. Flourish: music of trumpets
12 intelligence: reconnaissance
14 policy: trickery
18 would: would have
19 kind: true to their kinship
20 France: the king of France
22 crowns: crown-pieces, gold
Scene One
3 Ancient: Ensign
6 smiles; cf. n.
8 wink: shut my eyes
11 there's an end; cf. n.
17 rest: resolve; cf. n.
18 rendezvous; cf. n.
21 troth-plight: betrothed
31 tike: cur
38 Lady: an oath by the Virgin Mary
44 Iceland dog; cf. n.
47 shog: move
50 mervailous: marvelous
52 perdy: par Dieu
55 take: take fire
57 Barbason: name of a fiend; cf. n.
66 exhale: draw forth (thy sword)
70 mickle might: great weight
72 tall: valiant
75 Couple a gorge: coupe la gorge
77 hound of Crete; cf. n.
78 spital: hospital
79 powdering-tub; cf. n.
80 the lazar kite of Cressid's kind; cf. n.
83 pauca: briefly
86 thy face; cf. n.
92 presently: immediately
103 compound: decide
107 an: if
112 noble: 6s. 8d.
116 sutler: one who sells provisions and liquor
124 quotidian tertian; cf. n.
128 the even of it; cf. 'the long and the short of it'
130 fracted: broken
corroborate; cf. n.
133 careers; cf. n.
134 condole: sympathise with
Scene Two
2 by and by: immediately
15 powers: forces
18 in head: as an army
34 quittance: reward
40 Enlarge: set free
43 his more advice: his return to greater coolness of mind
46 by his sufferance: because he is pardoned
53 orisons: petitions
54 proceeding on distemper: arising from drunkenness
61 the late commissioners: those lately commissioned
63 it: i.e., his commission
79 quick: alive
86 apt: ready
accord: consent
90 unto the practices: in accord with the plots
91 Hampton: Southampton
107 grossly: palpably
108 admiration: wonder
109 proportion: seemliness
112 preposterously: contrary to the natural order of things
113 voice: verdict
114 suggest: seduce
117 glistering: glittering
118 temper'd: moulded (to his purpose)
stand up; cf. n.
119 instance: motive
123 Tartar: Tartarus (the classical hell)
126 jealousy: suspicion
127 affiance: trust
Show: appear
133 blood: passion
134 complement: external appearance
136 but in purged judgment: except after careful scrutiny
137 bolted: sifted; i.e., tested
139 full-fraught: fully laden (with virtues)
best indu'd: most richly endowed
151 discover'd: revealed
155-157 Cf. n.
159 in sufferance: while suffering the penalty
166 quit: pardon
169 earnest: pledge money
175 tender: cherish
181 dear: grievous
183 like: in equal degree
188 rub: obstacle
191 straight: at once
expedition: motion
192 signs: standards
advance: raise
Scene Three
2 bring: accompany
Staines: first stage on the road from London to Southampton
3 yearn: grieve
9 Arthur's bosom; cf. n.
11 A': he
an: as if
12 christom: not yet a month old
17, 18 and a' babbled of green fields; cf. n.
29 of: against
sack: a white wine
39 handle: talk of
40 rheumatic: error for 'lunatic'
52 senses: prudence
word: motto
Pitch and pay: cash down
54 wafer-cakes: i.e., very fragile
56 caveto: beware
57 clear thy crystals: dry your eyes (?)
66 housewifery: economy
Scene Four
Scene Four S. d. Constable; cf. n.
2 more than carefully: with more than common care
7 line: strengthen
9 England: the king of England
10 gulf: whirlpool
13 fatal and neglected: fatally neglected
25 Whitsun morris-dance; cf. n.
28 humorous: full of whims
34 exception: offering objections
36 forespent: past
37 Brutus; cf. n.
46 projection: calculation
50 been flesh'd: preyed; cf. n.
57 mountain sire: mighty father
64 fate: what he is destined to perform
67 present: immediate
80 'long: belong
85 sinister: unfair
awkward: perverse
88 line: pedigree
91 evenly deriv'd: directly descended
94 indirectly: wrongfully
101 requiring: requesting
102 in the bowels: by the mercy
124 womby vaultages: deep caverns
126 second accent of his ordnance: echoes of his cannon
129 odds: discord
136 greener: younger
137 masters: possesses
145 breath: breathing space