And she hath commended me to her children as a very gallant gentleman and a true knight. Jove that sees all hath a goodly commodity of mirth; I doubt not his sides ache at times, as if they had conceived another wine-god. “Among the folk that bear thee company” Well well, it was a goodly rogue that wrote it, though the verse runs but lamely! A goodly rogue.
(Bardolph steals back into the room.)
BARDOLPH
Well, Sir John?
FALSTAFF
(He addresses Bardolph. As the speech goes on Bardolph’s jaw drops lower and lower as he gapes his astonishment) Look you, he might have lived cleanly and forsworn sack, he might have been a gallant gentleman and begotten grandchildren and had a quiet nook at the ingleside to rest his old bones; but he is dead long since. He might have writ himself armigero in many a bill or obligation or quittance or what not; he might have left something behind him save unpaid tavern bills; he might have heard cases, harried poachers and quoted old saws; and slept in his own family chapel through sermons yet unwrit, beneath his presentment, done in stone, and a comforting bit of Latin but he is dead long since.
(Mistress Quickly too steals in.)
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Well, Sir John?
FALSTAFF