wilful abuse; and then I know how to handle
you.
Fal. No abuse, Hal, o' mine honour; no
abuse. 344
Prince. Not to dispraise me, and call me
pantler and bread-chipper and I know not what?
Fal. No abuse, Hal.
Poins. No abuse! 348
Fal. No abuse, Ned, in the world; honest
Ned, none. I dispraised him before the wicked,
that the wicked might not fall in love with him;
in which doing I have done the part of a careful 352
friend and a true subject, and thy father is to
give me thanks for it. No abuse, Hal; none,
Ned, none: no, faith, boys, none.
Prince. See now, whether pure fear and 356
entire cowardice doth not make thee wrong this
virtuous gentlewoman to close with us? Is she
of the wicked? Is thine hostess here of the
wicked? Or is thy boy of the wicked? Or 360
honest Bardolph, whose zeal burns in his nose, of
the wicked?
Poins. Answer, thou dead elm, answer.
Fal. The fiend hath pricked down Bardolph 364
irrecoverable; and his face is Lucifer's privy-
kitchen, where he doth nothing but roast malt-
worms. For the boy, there is a good angel about
him; but the devil outbids him too. 368
Prince. For the women?
Fal. For one of them, she is in hell already,
and burns poor souls. For the other, I owe her
money; and whether she be damned for that, I 372
know not.
358 close: make peace
363 dead elm; cf. n.
364 pricked down: marked down
366, 367 malt-worms: ale-topers
