Great Britain -- History -- Henry IV, 1399-1413 -- Drama; Henry IV, King of England, 1367-1413 -- Drama; Historical drama
Fal. Bardolph, am I not fall'n away vilely since this last
action?
Do I not bate? Do I not dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me
like
an old lady's loose gown! I am withered like an old apple
John.
Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some
liking.
I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no
strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside
of a
church is made of, I am a peppercorn, a brewer's horse. The
inside of a church! Company, villanous company, hath been the
spoil of me.
Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful you cannot live long.
Fal. Why, there is it! Come, sing me a bawdy song; make me
merry. I
was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be, virtuous
enough: swore little, dic'd not above seven times a week,
went to
a bawdy house not above once in a quarter- of an hour, paid
money
that I borrowed- three or four times, lived well, and in good
compass; and now I live out of all order, out of all compass.
Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you must needs be out
of
all compass- out of all reasonable compass, Sir John.
Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life. Thou art
our
admiral, thou bearest the lantern in the poop- but 'tis in
the
nose of thee. Thou art the Knight of the Burning Lamp.
Bard. Why, Sir John, my face does you no harm.
Fal. No, I'll be sworn. I make as good use of it as many a man
doth
of a death's-head or a memento mori. I never see thy face but
I
think upon hellfire and Dives that lived in purple; for there
he
is in his robes, burning, burning. if thou wert any way given
to
virtue, I would swear by thy face; my oath should be 'By this
fire, that's God's angel.' But thou art altogether given
over,
and wert indeed, but for the light in thy face, the son of
utter
darkness. When thou ran'st up Gadshill in the night to catch
my
horse, if I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus or
a
ball of wildfire, there's no purchase in money. O, thou art a
perpetual triumph, an everlasting bonfire-light! Thou hast
saved
me a thousand marks in links and torches, walking with thee
in
the night betwixt tavern and tavern; but the sack that thou
hast
drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the
dearest
chandler's in Europe. I have maintained that salamander of
yours
with fire any time this two-and-thirty years. God reward me
for
it!
Bard. 'Sblood, I would my face were in your belly!
Fal. God-a-mercy! so should I be sure to be heart-burn'd.
Enter Hostess.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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