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Henry V: Act II, Scene 1

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Henry V
Act II, Scene 1

London. A street in Eastcheap.

William Mollison as Pistol

William Mollison as Pistol

George Henry, 1905

  1. Enter Corporal Nym and Lieutenant Bardolph.

Bardolph

1
  1. Well met, Corporal Nym.

Nym

2
  1. Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph.

Bardolph

3
  1. What, are Ancient Pistol and you friends yet?

Nym

4 - 9
  1. For my part, I care not; I say little; but when time shall
  2. serve, there shall be smiles—but that shall be as it may. I
  3. dare not fight, but I will wink and hold out mine iron. It
  4. is a simple one, but what though? It will toast cheese, and
  5. it will endure cold as another man’s sword will; and there’s
  6. an end.

Bardolph

10 - 12
  1. I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends, and we’ll be
  2. all three sworn brothers to France. Let’t be so, good
  3. Corporal Nym.

Nym

13 - 15
  1. Faith, I will live so long as I may, that’s the certain of
  2. it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may:
  3. that is my rest, that is the rendezvous of it.

Bardolph

16 - 18
  1. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly,
  2. and certainly she did you wrong, for you were troth-plight
  3. to her.

Nym

19 - 23
  1. I cannot tell; things must be as they may. Men may sleep,
  2. and they may have their throats about them at that time, and
  3. some say knives have edges. It must be as it may; though
  4. patience be a tir’d mare, yet she will plod—there must be
  5. conclusions—well, I cannot tell.
  1. Enter Pistol and Hostess Quickly.

Bardolph

24 - 25
  1. Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife. Good corporal, be
  2. patient here.

Nym

26
  1. How now, mine host Pistol?

Pistol

27 - 29
  1. Base tike, call’st thou me host?
  2. Now by Gadslugs I swear I scorn the term;
  3. Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.

Hostess

30 - 35
  1. No, by my troth, not long; for we cannot lodge and board a
  2. dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live honestly by the
  3. prick of their needles but it will be thought we keep a
  4. bawdy-house straight.
  5. Nym and Pistol draw.
  6. O welliday, Lady, if he be not hewn now, we shall see
  7. willful adultery and murder committed.

Bardolph

36
  1. Good lieutenant! Good corporal! Offer nothing here.

Nym

37
  1. Pish!

Pistol

38
  1. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! Thou prick-ear’d cur of Iceland!

Hostess

39
  1. Good Corporal Nym, show thy valor, and put up your sword.

Nym

40
  1. Will you shog off? I would have you solus.

Pistol

41 - 48
  1. “Solus,” egregious dog? O viper vile!
  2. The “solus” in thy most mervailous face,
  3. The “solus” in thy teeth, and in thy throat,
  4. And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy;
  5. And which is worse, within thy nasty mouth!
  6. I do retort the “solus” in thy bowels,
  7. For I can take, and Pistol’s cock is up,
  8. And flashing fire will follow.

Nym

49 - 53
  1. I am not Barbason, you cannot conjure me. I have an humor to
  2. knock you indifferently well. If you grow foul with me,
  3. Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair
  4. terms. If you would walk off, I would prick your guts a
  5. little in good terms, as I may, and that’s the humor of it.

Pistol

54 - 56
  1. O braggard vile and damned furious wight!
  2. The grave doth gape, and doting death is near,
  3. Therefore exhale.

Bardolph

57 - 58
  1. Hear me, hear me what I say. He that strikes the first
  2. stroke, I’ll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier.
  1. Draws.

Pistol

59 - 61
  1. An oath of mickle might, and fury shall abate.
  2. Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give.
  3. Thy spirits are most tall.

Nym

62 - 63
  1. I will cut thy throat one time or other in fair terms, that
  2. is the humor of it.
Costume designs for Pistol, Bardolph, and Nym

Costume designs for Pistol, Bardolph, and Nym

19th century

Pistol

64 - 73
  1. Couple à gorge!
  2. That is the word. I thee defy again.
  3. O hound of Crete, think’st thou my spouse to get?
  4. No, to the spittle go,
  5. And from the powd’ring-tub of infamy
  6. Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid’s kind,
  7. Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse.
  8. I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly
  9. For the only she; and—pauca, there’s enough too!
  10. Go to.
  1. Enter the Boy.

Boy

74 - 77
  1. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, and your
  2. hostess. He is very sick, and would to bed. Good Bardolph,
  3. put thy face between his sheets, and do the office of a
  4. warming-pan. Faith, he’s very ill.

Bardolph

78
  1. Away, you rogue!

Hostess

79 - 81
  1. By my troth, he’ll yield the crow a pudding one of these
  2. days. The King has kill’d his heart. Good husband, come home
  3. presently.
  1. Exit with Boy.

Bardolph

82 - 84
  1. Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to France
  2. together; why the devil should we keep knives to cut one
  3. another’s throats?

Pistol

85
  1. Let floods o’erswell, and fiends for food howl on!

Nym

86
  1. You’ll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?

Pistol

87
  1. Base is the slave that pays.

Nym

88
  1. That now I will have: that’s the humor of it.

Pistol

89
  1. As manhood shall compound. Push home.
  1. They draw.

Bardolph

90 - 91
  1. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I’ll kill
  2. him; by this sword, I will.
  1. Draws.

Pistol

92
  1. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.

Bardolph

93 - 94
  1. Corporal Nym, and thou wilt be friends, be friends; and thou
  2. wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Prithee put up.

Nym

95
  1. I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at betting?

Pistol

96 - 102
  1. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay,
  2. And liquor likewise will I give to thee,
  3. And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood.
  4. I’ll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me.
  5. Is not this just? For I shall sutler be
  6. Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
  7. Give me thy hand.

Nym

103
  1. I shall have my noble?

Pistol

104
  1. In cash, most justly paid.

Nym

105
  1. Well, then that’s the humor of’t.
  1. Enter Hostess.

Hostess

106 - 109
  1. As ever you come of women, come in quickly to Sir John. Ah,
  2. poor heart! He is so shak’d of a burning quotidian tertian,
  3. that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to
  4. him.

Nym

110 - 111
  1. The King hath run bad humors on the knight, that’s the even
  2. of it.

Pistol

112 - 113
  1. Nym, thou hast spoke the right.
  2. His heart is fracted and corroborate.

Nym

114 - 115
  1. The King is a good king, but it must be as it may; he passes
  2. some humors and careers.

Pistol

116
  1. Let us condole the knight, for, lambkins, we will live.
  1. Exeunt.
Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Pistol: In cash, most justly paid.
Nym: Well, then that’s the humor of’t.

From: Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Mary Cowden Clarke, Charles Cowden Clarke, 1870

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