Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off:
And yet, in faith, it is not; his present want[2887]
Seems more than we shall find it: were it good[2888]45
To set the exact wealth of all our states[2888][2889]
All at one cast? to set so rich a main[2889][2890]
On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?[2891]
It were not good; for therein should we read[2892][2893]
The very bottom and the soul of hope,[2893][2894]50
The very list, the very utmost bound
Of all our fortunes.[2895]
Doug. Faith, and so we should;[2895][2896]
Where now remains a sweet reversion:[2895]
We may boldly spend upon the hope of what[2895][2897][2898]
Is to come in:[2895][2898]55
A comfort of retirement lives in this.[2899]
Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
If that the devil and mischance look big
Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.
Wor. But yet I would your father had been here.60
The quality and hair of our attempt[2900]
Brooks no division: it will be thought[2901]
By some, that know not why he is away,
That wisdom, loyalty and mere dislike
Of our proceedings kept the earl from hence:65
And think how such an apprehension
May turn the tide of fearful faction
And breed a kind of question in our cause;
For well you know we of the offering side[2902]
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement,70
And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us:
This absence of your father's draws a curtain,[2903]
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear
Before not dreamt of.
Hot. You strain too far.[2904]75
I rather of his absence make this use:
It lends a lustre and more great opinion,
A larger dare to our great enterprise,[2905]
Than if the earl were here; for men must think,
If we without his help can make a head80
To push against a kingdom, with his help[2906]
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down.[2907]
Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
Doug. As heart can think: there is not such a word[2908]
Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear.[2908][2909]85
Enter Sir Richard Vernon.
Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul.[2910]
Ver. Pray God my news be worth a welcome, lord.
The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong,
Is marching hitherwards; with him Prince John.[2911]
Hot. No harm: what more?