[As they are sharing, the Prince and Poins set upon them; they all run away; and Falstaff, after a blow or two, runs away too, leaving the booty behind them.[2325]
Prince. Got with much ease. Now merrily to horse:
The thieves are all scatter'd and possess'd with fear[2326][2327]
So strongly that they dare not meet each other;[2326]
Each takes his fellow for an officer.[2326][2328]100
Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death,[2326][2329]
And lards the lean earth as he walks along:[2326]
Were 't not for laughing, I should pity him.[2326]
Poins. How the rogue roar'd! [Exeunt.
Scene III. Warkworth Castle.[2330]
Enter Hotspur solus, reading a letter.
Hot. 'But, for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented
to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house.' He[2331]
could be contented: why is he not, then? In respect of[2332]
the love he bears our house: he shows in this, he loves
his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me5
see some more. 'The purpose you undertake is dangerous;'—why,
that's certain: 'tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to
drink; but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle,
danger, we pluck this flower, safety. 'The purpose you undertake[2333]
is dangerous; the friends you have named uncertain; the time[2334]10
itself unsorted; and your whole plot too light for the counterpoise
of so great an opposition.' Say you so, say you so? I say
unto you again, you are a shallow cowardly hind, and you
lie. What a lack-brain is this! By the Lord, our plot is[2335]
a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant:[2336]15
a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation;
an excellent plot, very good friends. What a frosty-spirited
rogue is this! Why, my lord of York commends the plot
and the general course of the action. 'Zounds, an I were[2337]
now by this rascal, I could brain him with his lady's fan.20
Is there not my father, my uncle, and myself? lord
Edmund Mortimer, my lord of York, and Owen Glendower?
is there not besides the Douglas? have I not all
their letters to meet me in arms by the ninth of the next
month? and are they not some of them set forward already?[2338]25
What a pagan rascal is this! an infidel! Ha! you shall[2339]
see now in very sincerity of fear and cold heart, will he to
the king, and lay open all our proceedings. O, I could
divide myself, and go to buffets, for moving such a dish of
skim milk with so honourable an action! Hang him! let[2340]30
him tell the king: we are prepared. I will set forward[2341]
to-night.
Enter Lady Percy.[2342]
How now, Kate! I must leave you within these two hours.[2343]
Lady. O, my good Lord, why are you thus alone?
For what offence have I this fortnight been35
A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is 't that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,[2344]
And start so often when thou sit'st alone?40
Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks;
And given my treasures and my rights of thee
To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd,[2345]
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;[2346]45
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed;
Cry 'Courage! to the field!' And thou hast talk'd
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,[2347]
Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,[2348]
Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,50
Of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers slain,[2349]
And all the currents of a heady fight.[2350]
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war[2351]
And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep,[2352]
That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow,[2353]55
Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;[2354]
And in thy face strange motions have appear'd,
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden hest. O, what portents are these?[2355]
Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,60
And I must know it, else he loves me not.