Or break it all to pieces: Or there we'll sit, O'er France and all her almost kingly dukedoms : Tombless, with no remembrance over them: Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth, Enter Ambassadors of France. Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure Or shall we sparingly show you far off The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy? K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king ; Amb. Thus then, in few. Your highness, lately sending into France, Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim, Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege. K.Hen.We are glad,the dauphin is so pleasant wit h us. His present, and your pains, we thank you for: When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set, Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard: Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler, [1] This word signifies dominion, now obsolete. STEEV. That all the courts of France will be disturb'd That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn. To whom I do appeal: And in whose name, To venge me as may, and to put forth So, get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin, When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it.- Exe. This was a merry message. K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it. [Descends from his throne. Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour, That may give furtherance to our expedition : [3] Chace is a term at tennis. JOHNS. [4 Living hence means, I believe, withdrawing from the court, the place in which he is now speaking. STEEV. 5) To qualify myself for this undertaking. I have descended from my station, and studied the arts of life in a lower character. JOHNS. [6] When ordnance was first used, they discharged balls, not of iron, but of stone. JOHNS. 32 VOL. IV. For we have now no thought in us but France; ACT II. Enter CHORUS. Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire, And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point, O England!-model to thy inward greatness, What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out With treacherous crowns: and three corrupted men,- [7] This imagery is wonderfully fine, and the thought exquisite. Expectation sitting in the air, designs the height of their ambition; and the sword hid from the hilt to the point with crowns and coronets, that all sentiments of danger were lost in the thoughts of giory. WARB.The idea is taken from the ancient representation of trophies in tapestry or painting. Among these it is very common to see swords encircled with naval or mural crowns. STEEV. [8] That is, the king of France. MAL. Sir Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland,- 8 And by their hands this grace of kings must die, & SCENE I. [Exit. The same. Eastcheap. Enter NYM and BARDOLPH Bard. Well met, corporal Nym.' Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. 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 ;-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 humour of it. Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France;2 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 [8] i.e. He who does the greatest honour to the title. By the same kind of phraseology the usurper in Hamlet is called the vice of kings.' WARB. [9] i. e. you shall pass the sea without the qualms of sea-sickness. JOHN. [1] At this scene begins the connection of this play with the latter part of Henry IV. The characters would be indistinct, and the incidents unintelligi. ble, without the knowledge of what passed in the two foregoing plays JOH. [2] The humour of sworn brothers, should be opened a little. In the time of adventure, it was usual for two chiefs to bind themselves to share in each other's fortune, and divide their acquisitions between them. So these three scoundrels set out for France. WHALLEY. 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. Enter PISTOL and Mrs. 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; Quic. 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-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! O Lord! here's corporal Nym's-now shall we have wilful adultery and murder committed. Good lieutenant Bardolph,-good corporal, offer nothing here. Nym. Pish! Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-eared cur of Iceland !3 Quic. Good corporal Nym, show the valour 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; I do retort the solus in thy bowels : For I can take, 4 and Pistol's cock is up, And flashing fire will follow. Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I have a humour to knock you indifferently well: If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my ra [3] He seems to allude to an account credited in Elizabeth's time, that in the north there was a nation with human bodies and dog's heads. JOHNS. [4] The whole sentence consists in allusions to Pistol's name. M. MASON. [5] Barbason is the name of a dæmon mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor. STEEV. |