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Fal. There's a merry heart! Good Master Silence, I'll give you a health for that anon.

sir,

Shal. Give Master Bardolph some wine, Davy.

Davy. Sweet sir, sit; I'll be with you anon; most sweet sit. Master page, good master page, sit. [Bard. and Page sit at another table.] - Proface! What you want in meat, we'll. have in drink: but you must bear; the heart's all.

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[Exit.

Shal. Be merry, Master Bardolph; and, my little soldier there, be merry.

Sil. Be merry, be merry, my wife has all;

For women are shrews, both short and tall:
'Tis merry in hall when beards wag all,

And welcome merry Shrove-tide.

Be merry, be merry, &c.

[Singing.

Fal. I did not think Master Silence had been a man of this mettle.

Sil. Who, I? I have been merry twice and once ere now.

Re-enter DAVY.

Davy. There's a dish of leather-coats for you.

Shal. Davy,

Davy. Your worship?

straight.

Sil.

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A cup of wine, sir?

A cup of wine that's brisk and fine,
And drink unto the leman mine;
And a merry heart lives long-a.
Fal. Well said, Master Silence.
Sil. And we shall be merry;
o' the night.

-

[Singing.

now comes in the sweet

Fal. Health and long life to you, Master Silence!

Sil.

Fill the cup, and let it come;

I'll pledge you a mile to the bottom.

[Singing.

Shal. Honest Bardolph, welcome: if thou wantest any thing, and wilt not call, beshrew thy heart. [To the Page] Welcome, my little tiny thief, and welcome indeed too.

I'll drink to Master Bardolph, and to all the cavaleroes about London.

Davy. I hope to see London once ere I die.

Bard. An I might see you there, Davy,

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Shal. By the mass, you'll crack a quart together, -ha! will you not, Master Bardolph?

Bard. Yea, sir, in a pottle-pot.

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Shal. By God's liggens, I thank thee: the knave will stick by thee, I can assure thee that: 'a will not out; he is true bred.

Bard. And I'll stick by him, sir.

Shal. Why, there spoke a king. Lack nothing: be merry. [Knocking within.] Look who's at door there, ho! who knocks?

Fal. Why, now you have done me right.

Sil.

Is't not so?

Fal. "Tis so.

[Exit Davy.

[To Silence, who has just drunk a bumper. Do me right,

And dub me knight:

Samingo.

[Singing.

Sil. Is't so? Why, then, say an old man can do somewhat.

Re-enter DAVY.

Davy. An't please your worship, there's one Pistol come

from the court with news.

Fal.

From the court! let him come in.

How now, Pistol!

Enter PISTOL.

Pist. Sir John, God save you!

Fal. What wind blew you hither, Pistol?

Pist. Not the ill wind which blows no man to good. Sweet knight, thou art now one of the greatest men in the realm.

Sil. By'r lady, I think 'a be, but goodman Puff of Barson. Pist. Puff!

Puff in thy teeth, most recreant coward base!

Sir John, I am thy Pistol and thy friend,
And helter-skelter have I rode to thee;

And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,

And golden times, and happy news of price.

Fal. I pray thee, now, deliver them like a man of this world.

Pist. A foutra for the world and worldlings base! I speak of Africa and golden joys.

Fal. O base Assyrian knight, what is thy news? Let King Cophetua know the truth thereof.

Sil. And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John.

Pist. Shall dunghill curs confront the Helicons?

And shall good news be baffled?

Then, Pistol, lay thy head in Furies' lap.

[Singing.

Shal. Honest gentleman, I know not your breeding.
Pist. Why, then, lament therefore.

Shal. Give me pardon, sir: - if, sir, you come with news from the court, I take it there 's but two ways, either to utter them, or to conceal them. I am, sir, under the king, in some authority.

Pist. Under which king, besonian? speak, or die.
Shal. Under King Harry.

Pist.

Shal. Harry the Fourth.
Pist.

Harry the Fourth? or Fifth?

A foutra for thine office!

Sir John, thy tender lambkin now is king;
Harry the Fifth's the man. I speak the truth:
When Pistol lies, do this; and fig me, like
The bragging Spaniard.

Fal. What, is the old king dead?

Pist. As nail in door: the things I speak are just.

Fal. Away, Bardolph! saddle my horse. Master Robert Shallow, choose what office thou wilt in the land, 'tis thine. — Pistol, I will double-charge thee with dignities. Bard. O joyful day!

I would not take a knighthood for my fortune.

Pist. What, I do bring good news?

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Fal. Carry Master Silence to bed. Master Shallow, my Lord Shallow, be what thou wilt; I am fortune's steward. Get on thy boots: we'll ride all night. O sweet Pistol! Away, Bardolph! [Exit Bard.] — Come, Pistol, utter more to me; and, withal, devise something to do thyself good. Boot, boot, Master Shallow: I know the young king is sick for me. Let us take any man's horses; the laws of England are at my commandment. Blessed are they that have been my friends; and woe to my lord chief-justice!

Pist. Let vultures vile seize on his lungs also! "Where is the life that late I led?" say they: Why, here it is; — welcome this pleasant day!

SCENE IV. London. A street.

[Exeunt.

Enter Beadles, dragging in Hostess and DOLL TEARSHEET. Host. No, thou arrant knave; I would to God that I might die, that I might have thee hanged: thou hast drawn. my shoulder out of joint.

First Bead. The constables have delivered her over to me; and she shall have whipping-cheer enough, I warrant her: there hath been a man or two lately killed about her.

Dol. Nut-hook, nut-hook, you lie. Come on; I'll tell thee what, thou damned tripe-visaged rascal, an the child I go with do miscarry, thou wert better thou hadst struck thy mother, thou paper-faced villain.

Host. O the Lord, that Sir John were come! he would make this a bloody day to somebody. But I pray God the fruit of her womb miscarry!

First Bead. If it do, you shall have a dozen of cushions again; you have but eleven now. Come, I charge you both go with me; for the man is dead that you and Pistol beat among you.

Dol. I'll tell thee what, thou thin man in a censer, I will have you as soundly swinged for this, you blue-bottle rogue, you filthy famished correctioner, if you be not swinged, I'll forswear half-kirtles.

First Bead. Come, come, you she knight-errant, come. Host. O God, that right should thus overcome might! Well, of sufferance comes ease.

Dol. Come, you rogue, come; bring me to a justice.
Host. Ay, come, you starved bloodhound.

Dol. Goodman death, goodman bones!

Host. Thou atomy, thou!

Dol. Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal.

First Bead. Very well.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. A public place near Westminster Abbey.

Enter three Grooms, strewing rushes.

First Groom. More rushes, more rushes.

Sec. Groom. The trumpets have sounded twice.

Third Groom. "Twill be two o'clock ere they come from the coronation.

First Groom. Dispatch, dispatch.

[Exeunt.

Enter FALSTAFF, SHALLOW, PISTOL, BARDOLPH, and the Page. Fal. Stand here by me, Master Robert Shallow; I will make the king do you grace: I will leer upon him as 'a comes by; and do but mark the countenance that he will give me.

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Pist. God bless thy lungs, good knight. Fal. Come here, Pistol; stand behind me! [To Shallow] O, if I had had time to have made new liveries, I would have bestowed the thousand pound I borrowed of you. But 'tis no matter; this poor show doth better: this doth infer the zeal I had to see him;

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Shal. It doth so.

Fal. It shows my earnestness of affection,

Shal. It doth so.

Fal. My devotion,

Shal. It doth, it doth, it doth.

--

Fal. As it were, to ride day and night; and not to deliberate, not to remember, not to have patience to shift me, Shal. It is most certain.

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