King. Go; thou art a coward.
Gril. You are my king.
King. Thou say'st, thou dar'st not kill him.
Gril. Were I a coward, I had been a villain,
And then I durst have done't.
King. Thou hast done worse, in thy long course of arms.
Hast thou ne'er killed a man?
Gril. Yes, when a man would have killed me.
King. Hast thou not plundered from the helpless poor?
Snatched from the sweating labourer his food?
Gril. Sir, I have eaten and drank in my own defence, when I was hungry and thirsty; I have plundered, when you have not paid me; I have been content with a farmer's daughter, when a better whore was not to be had. As for cutting off a traitor, I'll execute him lawfully in my own function, when I meet him in the field; but for your chamber-practice, that's not my talent.
King. Is my revenge unjust, or tyrannous?
Heaven knows I love not blood.
Gril. No, for your mercy is your only vice. You may dispatch a rebel lawfully, but the mischief is, that rebel has given me my life at the barricadoes, 104 and, till I have returned his bribe, I am not upon even terms with him.