SCENE III.—An Apartment in KING EDWARD'S Tent.
Enter EDWARD and PERCY.
Edward.—Well, my Lord Percy, thou hast made good speed. What say these haughty burghers to our clemency?
Percy.—In truth, your Grace, they are right haughty
burghers.
One wondrous civil gentleman proposed
To write his answer on your servant's tongue—
Using his sword as clerks might do a quill—
Then thrust it on an arrow for a post-boy!
Edward.—Such service he shall meet. What said their governor?
Percy.—Marry! the old boy said I was no gentleman,
And bade me read my answer in the eyes
Of—Heaven defend me!—such a squalid crew!
One looked like death run from his winding sheet;
Another like an ague clothed in rags;
A third had something of the human form,
But every bone was cursing at its fellow.
Now, though I vow that I could read my fate
In every damsel's eyes that kissed a moonbeam,
I've yet to learn the meaning of the words
Wrote on the eyeballs of his vellum-spectres,
But the old man is henpecked!
Edward.—Prythee, Lord Percy, lay thy fool's tongue by, And tell thy meaning plainly.
Percy.—Nay, pardon me, your majesty; I wot Your servant is the fool his father made him, And the most dutiful of all your subjects.
Edward.—We know it, Percy. But what of his wife?
Percy.—Why, if the men but possess half her spirit, You might besiege these walls till you have counted The grey hairs on the child that's born next June.