Page:Henry IV Part 1 (1917) Yale.djvu/88

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thy face, the son of utter darkness. When thou

rannest 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-burned.

How now, Dame Partlet the hen! have you

inquired yet who picked my pocket?

Host. Why, Sir John, what do you think,

Sir John? Do you think I keep thieves in my

house? I have searched, I have inquired, so has

my husband, man by man, boy by boy, servant

by servant: the tithe of a hair was never lost in

my house before.

Fal. You lie, hostess: Bardolph was shaved

and lost many a hair; and I'll be sworn my

pocket was picked. Go to, you are a woman; go.

Host. Who, I? No; I defy thee: God's light!

 45 ignis fatuus: will o' the wisp

48 links: torches

51 as good cheap: at as good a bargain

53 salamander: mythical animal supposed to live in fire

60 Partlet; cf. n. 