SCENE III. London. Before a tavern.

[Enter Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, Boy, and Hostess.]

HOSTESS.
Prithee, honey, sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

PISTOL.
No; for my manly heart doth yearn.
Bardolph, be blithe; Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins;
Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,
And we must yearn therefore.

BARDOLPH.
Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in
heaven or in hell!

HOSTESS.
Nay, sure, he's not in hell. He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever
man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end and went
away an it had been any christom child. 'A parted even just
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 his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green
fields. "How now, Sir John!" quoth I; "what, man! be o' good
cheer." So 'a cried out, "God, God, God!" three or four times.
Now I, to comfort him, bid him 'a should not think of God; I
hop'd there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts
yet. 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 talk'd 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 maintain'd 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 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.

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, I thee command.

HOSTESS.
Farewell; adieu.

[Exeunt.]