ACT I.
Scene I. London. The palace.
Enter King Henry, Lord John of Lancaster, the Earl of Westmoreland, Sir Walter Blunt, and others.[1971]
King. So shaken as we are, so wan with care,[1972]
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
To be commenced in stronds afar remote.[1973]
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil[1974]5
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;[1975]
No more shall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs[1976][1977]
Of hostile paces: those opposed eyes,[1977][1978]
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,10
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil butchery
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,[1979]
March all one way and be no more opposed15
Against acquaintance, kindred and allies:[1980]
The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross[1981]20
We are impressed and engaged to fight,
Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;[1982]
Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' womb[1983]
To chase these pagans in those holy fields[1984]
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet25
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter cross.
But this our purpose now is twelve month old,[1985]
And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:
Therefore we meet not now. Then let me hear30
Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
What yesternight our council did decree
In forwarding this dear expedience.[1986]
West. My liege, this haste was hot in question,
And many limits of the charge set down35
But yesternight: when all athwart there came
A post from Wales loaden with heavy news;
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight[1987]
Against the irregular and wild Glendower,40
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken,[1988]
A thousand of his people butchered;[1989]
Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,[1990]
Such beastly shameless transformation,[1991]
By those Welshwomen done, as may not be45
Without much shame retold or spoken of.[1992]
King. It seems then that the tidings of this broil
Brake off our business for the Holy Land.
West. This match'd with other did, my gracious lord;[1993]
For more uneven and unwelcome news[1994]50
Came from the north and thus it did import:[1995]
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon met,[1996][1997]55
Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour;[1996]
As by discharge of their artillery,
And shape of likelihood, the news was told;[1998]
For he that brought them, in the very heat[1999]
And pride of their contention did take horse,60
Uncertain of the issue any way.
King. Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,[2000]
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each soil[2001]
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;[2002]65
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.[2003]
The Earl of Douglas is discomfited:
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,[2004]
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see[2005]
On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur took[2006]70
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son[2007]
To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol,[2008][2009]
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith:[2009][2010]
And is not this an honourable spoil?
A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?[2011]75
West. In faith,[2011]
It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.[2011]
King. Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin
In envy that my Lord Northumberland
Should be the father to so blest a son,[2012]80
A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride:
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and dishonour stain the brow85
Of my young Harry. O that it could be proved[2013]
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,[2014]
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet![2015]
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.90
But let him from my thoughts. What think you, coz,[2016]
Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath surprised,
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.95
West. This is his uncle's teaching: this is Worcester,
Malevolent to you in all aspects;
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up[2017]
The crest of youth against your dignity.
King. But I have sent for him to answer this;100
And for this cause awhile we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we[2018]
Will hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:[2018][2019]
But come yourself with speed to us again;105
For more is to be said and to be done[2020]
Than out of anger can be uttered.
West. I will, my liege. [Exeunt.
Scene II. London. An apartment of the Prince's.
Enter the Prince of Wales and Falstaff.[2021]
Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?
Prince. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old[2022]
sack and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon
benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand[2023]
that truly which thou wouldst truly know. What a devil5
hast thou to do with the time of the day? Unless hours
were cups of sack and minutes capons and clocks the
tongues of bawds and dials the signs of leaping-houses
and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-coloured
taffeta, I see no reason why thou shouldst be so[2024]10
superfluous to demand the time of the day.
Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that[2025]
take purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not[2026]
by Phœbus, he, 'that wandering knight so fair.' And, I
prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God save[2027]15
thy grace,—majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have
none,—
Prince. What, none?
Fal. No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to[2028]
be prologue to an egg and butter.20
Prince. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.
Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let
not us that are squires of the night's body be called thieves
of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's foresters, gentlemen[2029]
of the shade, minions of the moon; and let men say we25
be men of good government, being governed, as the sea
is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose
countenance we steal.[2030]
Prince. Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for
the fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and30
flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is, by the
moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold most resolutely[2031]
snatched on Monday night and most dissolutely spent on
Tuesday morning; got with swearing 'Lay by' and spent[2032]
with crying 'Bring in;' now in as low an ebb as the foot of35
the ladder and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of[2033]
the gallows.
Fal. By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not[2034]
my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?[2035]
Prince. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the[2036]40
castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of
durance?
Fal. How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy
quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with
a buff jerkin?45
Prince. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess
of the tavern?
Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many[2037]
a time and oft.
Prince. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?50
Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all
there.
Prince. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would
stretch; and where it would not, I have used my credit.
Fal. Yea, and so used it that, were it not here apparent[2038]55
that thou art heir apparent—But, I prithee, sweet[2039]
wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when thou
art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is with the rusty[2040]
curb of old father antic the law? Do not thou, when thou
art king, hang a thief.[2041]60
Prince. No; thou shalt.
Fal. Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave[2042]
judge.
Prince. Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou
shalt have the hanging of the thieves and so become a65
rare hangman.
Fal. Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with
my humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell you.
Prince. For obtaining of suits?
Fal. Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman70
hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy as a[2043]
gib cat or a lugged bear.[2044]
Prince. Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.
Fal. Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.[2045]
Prince. What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy75
of Moor-ditch?
Fal. Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art[2046]
indeed the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young[2047]
prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more with
vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a commodity[2048]80
of good names were to be bought. An old lord of
the council rated me the other day in the street about you,[2049]
sir, but I marked him not; and yet he talked very[2049]
wisely, but I regarded him not; and yet he talked wisely,[2050]
and in the street too.[2051]85
Prince. Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the[2052]
streets, and no man regards it.[2052][2053]
Fal. O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed[2054]
able to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon[2055]
me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew thee,90
Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man should[2056]
speak truly, little better than one of the wicked. I must
give over this life, and I will give it over: by the Lord, an[2057]
I do not, I am a villain: I'll be damned for never a king's
son in Christendom.95
Prince. Where shall we take a purse to-morrow, Jack?
Fal. 'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an[2058]
I do not, call me villain and baffle me.
Prince. I see a good amendment of life in thee; from
praying to purse-taking.100
Fal. Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for
a man to labour in his vocation.
Enter Poins.[2059]
Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a match.[2060][2061]
O, if men were to be saved by merit, what hole in hell
were hot enough for him? This is the most omnipotent105
villain that ever cried 'Stand' to a true man.
Prince. Good morrow, Ned.
Poins. Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur
Remorse? what says Sir John Sack and Sugar?[2062]
Jack! how agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that[2062][2063]110
thou soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira
and a cold capon's leg?
Prince. Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall
have his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of proverbs:[2064]
he will give the devil his due.[2065]115
Poins. Then art thou damned for keeping thy word
with the devil.
Prince. Else he had been damned for cozening the[2066]
devil.
Poins. But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by120
four o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going to[2067]
Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders riding to London
with fat purses: I have vizards for you all; you have
horses for yourselves: Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester:
I have bespoke supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we[2068]125
may do it as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff
your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry at home[2069]
and be hanged.
Fal. Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go[2070]
not, I'll hang you for going.130
Poins. You will, chops?
Fal. Hal, wilt thou make one?
Prince. Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.[2071]
Fal. There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good fellowship
in thee, nor thou earnest not of the blood royal, if[2072]135
thou darest not stand for ten shillings.[2073]
Prince. Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap.
Fal. Why, that's well said.
Prince. Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.
Fal. By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou[2074]140
art king.
Prince. I care not.
Poins. Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me[2075]
alone: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure
that he shall go.145
Fal. Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and[2076]
him the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may[2076]
move and what he hears may be believed, that the true[2077]
prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false thief; for the
poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell: you150
shall find me in Eastcheap.
Prince. Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, Allhallown[2078]
summer! [Exit Falstaff.[2079]
Poins. Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us
to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot manage155
alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill shall rob[2080]
those men that we have already waylaid; yourself and I
will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you
and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my shoulders.[2081]
Prince. How shall we part with them in setting[2082]160
forth?
Poins. Why, we will set forth before or after them, and
appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure
to fail, and then will they adventure upon the exploit
themselves; which they shall have no sooner achieved, but[2083]165
we'll set upon them.
Prince. Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by[2084]
our horses, by our habits and by every other appointment,
to be ourselves.
Poins. Tut! our horses they shall not see; I'll tie170
them in the wood; our vizards we will change after we[2085]
leave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram for the[2086]
nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.
Prince. Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us.[2087]
Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as[2088][2089]175
true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the third,[2089]
if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll forswear arms.
The virtue of this jest will be, the incomprehensible lies
that this same fat rogue will tell us when we meet at supper:[2090]
how thirty, at least, he fought with; what wards, what[2091]180
blows, what extremities he endured; and in the reproof of[2092]
this lies the jest.[2093]
Prince. Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things
necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap;[2094]
there I'll sup. Farewell.185
Poins. Farewell, my lord. [Exit.
Prince. I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds190
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.195
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behaviour I throw off200
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;[2095]
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,205
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.[2096]
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will. [Exit.[2097]
Scene III. London. The palace.[2098]
Enter the King, Northumberland, Worcester, Hotspur, Sir Walter Blunt, with others.
King. My blood hath been too cold and temperate,
Unapt to stir at these indignities,
And you have found me; for accordingly[2099]
You tread upon my patience: but be sure[2100]
I will from henceforth rather be myself,5
Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition;[2101]
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down,[2102]
And therefore lost that title of respect[2103]
Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud.[2104]
Wor. Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves10
The scourge of greatness to be used on it;
And that same greatness too which our own hands
Have holp to make so portly.[2105]
North. My lord,—[2106]
King. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see[2107]15
Danger and disobedience in thine eye:
O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory,[2108]
And majesty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a servant brow.[2109]
You have good leave to leave us: when we need20
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. [Exit Wor.[2110]
You were about to speak. [To North.
North. Yea, my good lord.[2111]
Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded,[2112]
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,[2113]
Were, as he says, not with such strength denied[2114]25
As is deliver'd to your majesty:[2115]
Either envy, therefore, or misprision[2116]
Is guilty of this fault and not my son.[2117]
Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
But I remember, when the fight was done,30
When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd,[2118]
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;35
He was perfumed like a milliner;
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose and took 't away again;[2119]
Who therewith angry, when it next came there,[2119]40
Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talk'd,[2119][2120]
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,[2121]
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.45
With many holiday and lady terms[2122]
He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded[2123]
My prisoners in your majesty's behalf.
I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,[2124]
To be so pester'd with a popinjay,[2125][2126]50
Out of my grief and my impatience,[2125]
Answer'd neglectingly I know not what,
He should, or he should not; for he made me mad[2127]
To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman55
Of guns and drums and wounds,—God save the mark!—
And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth[2128]
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,
This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd[2129]60
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
He would himself have been a soldier.[2130]
This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,65
I answer'd indirectly, as I said;[2131]
And I beseech you, let not his report[2132]
Come current for an accusation
Betwixt my love and your high majesty.
Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my lord,70
Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said[2133]
To such a person and in such a place,
At such a time, with all the rest re-told,
May reasonably die and never rise
To do him wrong or any way impeach75
What then he said, so he unsay it now.[2134]
King. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners,[2135]
But with proviso and exception,
That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;80
Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd[2136]
The lives of those that he did lead to fight
Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower,[2137]
Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March[2138]
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then,85
Be emptied to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treason? and indent with fears,[2139]
When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
No, on the barren mountains let him starve;[2140]
For I shall never hold that man my friend90
Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost
To ransom home revolted Mortimer.
Hot. Revolted Mortimer!
He never did fall off, my sovereign liege,[2141]
But by the chance of war: to prove that true[2141][2142]95
Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds,[2143]
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took,
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,[2144]
In single opposition, hand to hand,
He did confound the best part of an hour100
In changing hardiment with great Glendower:
Three times they breathed and three times did they drink,
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood;
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,105
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank[2145]
Bloodstained with these valiant combatants.
Never did base and rotten policy[2146]
Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
Nor never could the noble Mortimer[2147]110
Receive so many, and all willingly:
Then let not him be slander'd with revolt.[2148]
King. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;[2149]
He never did encounter with Glendower:
I tell thee,[2150]115
He durst as well have met the devil alone
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.
Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth[2151]
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer:
Send me your prisoners with the speediest means,120
Or you shall hear in such a kind from me
As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland,[2152]
We license your departure with your son.
Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it.
[Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train.[2153]
Hot. An if the devil come and roar for them,[2154]125
I will not send them: I will after straight
And tell him so; for I will ease my heart,
Albeit I make a hazard of my head.[2155]
North. What, drunk with choler? stay and pause awhile:
Here comes your uncle.
Re-enter Worcester.[2156]
Hot. Speak of130
'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul[2157]
Want mercy, if I do not join with him:
Yea, on his part I'll empty all these veins,[2158]
And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust,[2159]
But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer[2160]135
As high in the air as this unthankful king,[2161]
As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke.
North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.
Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was gone?
Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners;140
And when I urged the ransom once again
Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale,
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.
Wor. I cannot blame him: was not he proclaim'd[2162]145
By Richard that dead is the next of blood?[2163]
North. He was; I heard the proclamation:
And then it was when the unhappy king,—
Whose wrongs in us God pardon!—did set forth
Upon his Irish expedition;150
From whence he intercepted did return
To be deposed and shortly murdered.
Wor. And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth
Live scandalized and foully spoken of.[2164]
Hot. But, soft, I pray you; did King Richard then155
Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer[2165]
Heir to the crown?
North. He did; myself did hear it.
Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king,
That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve.[2166]
But shall it be, that you, that set the crown160
Upon the head of this forgetful man
And for his sake wear the detested blot[2167]
Of murderous subornation, shall it be,[2168]
That you a world of curses undergo,
Being the agents, or base second means,165
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather?[2169]
O, pardon me that I descend so low,[2170]
To show the line and the predicament
Wherein you range under this subtle king;
Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,170
Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
That men of your nobility and power
Did gage them both in an unjust behalf,[2171]
As both of you—God pardon it!—have done,
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,175
And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke?
And shall it in more shame be further spoken,
That you are fool'd, discarded and shook off
By him for whom these shames ye underwent?
No; yet time serves wherein you may redeem180
Your banish'd honours and restore yourselves[2172]
Into the good thoughts of the world again,
Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
Of this proud king, who studies day and night
To answer all the debt he owes to you[2173]185
Even with the bloody payment of your deaths:[2174]
Therefore, I say,—
Wor. Peace, cousin, say no more:
And now I will unclasp a secret book,[2175]
And to your quick-conceiving discontents[2176]
I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,[2177]190
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud[2178]
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.[2179]
Hot. If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim:[2180]
Send danger from the east unto the west,195
So honour cross it from the north to south,[2181]
And let them grapple: O, the blood more stirs[2182]
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
North. Imagination of some great exploit
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.200
Hot. By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap,[2183]
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;205
So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
Without corrival all her dignities:[2184]
But out upon this half-faced fellowship!
Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here,
But not the form of what he should attend.[2185]210
Good cousin, give me audience for a while.[2186]
Hot. I cry you mercy.
Wor. Those same noble Scots[2187]
That are your prisoners,—[2187]
Hot. I'll keep them all;
By God, he shall not have a Scot of them;[2188]
No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not:215
I'll keep them, by this hand.
Wor. You start away
And lend no ear unto my purposes.
Those prisoners you shall keep.
Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat:[2189]
He said he would not ransom Mortimer;
Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer;220
But I will find him when he lies asleep,
And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer!'[2190]
Nay,[2191]
I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak[2191]
Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him,[2192]225
To keep his anger still in motion.
Wor. Hear you, cousin; a word.[2193]
Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy,
Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke:
And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales,230
But that I think his father loves him not
And would be glad he met with some mischance,
I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale.[2194]
Wor. Farewell, kinsman: I'll talk to you[2195]
When you are better temper'd to attend.235
North. Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool[2196]
Art thou to break into this woman's mood,
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own![2197]
Hot. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods,
Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear240
Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.
In Richard's time,—what do you call the place?—[2198]
A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire;[2199]
'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept.
His uncle York; where I first bow'd my knee245
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,—[2200]
'Sblood!—[2201]
When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh.
North. At Berkley-castle.
Hot. You say true:250
Why, what a candy deal of courtesy[2202]
This fawning greyhound then did proffer me![2203]
Look, 'when his infant fortune came to age,'[2204]
And 'gentle Harry Percy,' and 'kind cousin;'
O, the devil take such cozeners! God forgive me![2205]255
Good uncle, tell your tale; I have done.[2206][2207]
Wor. Nay, if you have not, to it again;[2206][2208][2209]
We will stay your leisure.[2206][2208]
Hot. I have done, i' faith.[2210]
Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
Deliver them up without their ransom straight,260
And make the Douglas' son your only mean[2211]
For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons
Which I shall send you written, be assured,
Will easily be granted. You, my lord,[2212] [To Northumberland.
Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,265
Shall secretly into the bosom creep[2213]
Of that same noble prelate, well beloved,
The archbishop.
Hot. Of York, is it not?[2214]
Wor. True; who bears hard270
His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop.[2215]
I speak not this in estimation,
As what I think might be, but what I know
Is ruminated, plotted and set down,
And only stays but to behold the face275
Of that occasion that shall bring it on.
Hot. I smell it: upon my life, it will do well.[2216]
North. Before the game is a-foot, thou still let'st slip.[2217]
Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot:[2218]
And then the power of Scotland and of York,280
To join with Mortimer, ha?
Wor. And so they shall.[2219]
Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
To save our heads by raising of a head;
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,285
The king will always think him in our debt,
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,[2220]
Till he hath found a time to pay us home:[2221]
And see already how he doth begin[2222]
To make us strangers to his looks of love.290
Hot. He does, he does: we'll be revenged on him.
Wor. Cousin, farewell: no further go in this
Than I by letters shall direct your course.[2223]
When time is ripe, which will be suddenly,[2223]
I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer;[2224]295
Where you and Douglas and our powers at once,
As I will fashion it, shall happily meet,
To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms,
Which now we hold at much uncertainty.
North. Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust.300
Hot. Uncle, adieu: O, let the hours be short[2225]
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport! [Exeunt.[2226]