2
[Enter KING HENRY, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, the EARL of WESTMORELAND, SIR WALTER BLUNT, and others]
4
So shaken as we are, so wan with care,
5
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
6
And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
7
To be commenced in strands afar remote.
8
No more the thirsty entrance of this soil
9
Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;
10
Nor more shall trenching war channel her fields,
11
Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs
12
Of hostile paces: those opposed eyes,
13
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
14
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
15
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
16
And furious close of civil butchery
17
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
18
March all one way and be no more opposed
19
Against acquaintance, kindred and allies:
20
The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
21
No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
22
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
23
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
24
We are impressed and engaged to fight,
25
Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;
26
Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' womb
27
To chase these pagans in those holy fields
28
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet
29
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd
30
For our advantage on the bitter cross.
31
But this our purpose now is twelve month old,
32
And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:
33
Therefore we meet not now. Then let me hear
34
Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
35
What yesternight our council did decree
36
In forwarding this dear expedience.
38
My liege, this haste was hot in question,
39
And many limits of the charge set down
40
But yesternight: when all athwart there came
41
A post from Wales loaden with heavy news;
42
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
43
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
44
Against the irregular and wild Glendower,
45
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken,
46
A thousand of his people butchered;
47
Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,
48
Such beastly shameless transformation,
49
By those Welshwomen done as may not be
50
Without much shame retold or spoken of.
52
It seems then that the tidings of this broil
53
Brake off our business for the Holy Land.
55
This match'd with other did, my gracious lord;
56
For more uneven and unwelcome news
57
Came from the north and thus it did import:
58
On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
59
Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald,
60
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
62
Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour,
63
As by discharge of their artillery,
64
And shape of likelihood, the news was told;
65
For he that brought them, in the very heat
66
And pride of their contention did take horse,
67
Uncertain of the issue any way.
69
Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,
70
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse.
71
Stain'd with the variation of each soil
72
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;
73
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
74
The Earl of Douglas is discomfited:
75
Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
76
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see
77
On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur took
78
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son
79
To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol,
80
Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith:
81
And is not this an honourable spoil?
82
A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?
85
It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.
87
Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin
88
In envy that my Lord Northumberland
89
Should be the father to so blest a son,
90
A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
91
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
92
Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride:
93
Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
94
See riot and dishonour stain the brow
95
Of my young Harry. O that it could be proved
96
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
97
In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,
98
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!
99
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.
100
But let him from my thoughts. What think you, coz,
101
Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
102
Which he in this adventure hath surprised,
103
To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
104
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.
105
Earl of Westmoreland.
106
This is his uncle's teaching; this is Worcester,
107
Malevolent to you in all aspects;
108
Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up
109
The crest of youth against your dignity.
111
But I have sent for him to answer this;
112
And for this cause awhile we must neglect
113
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.
114
Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we
115
Will hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:
116
But come yourself with speed to us again;
117
For more is to be said and to be done
118
Than out of anger can be uttered.
119
Earl of Westmoreland.
1
London. An apartment of the Prince’s.
2
[Enter the PRINCE OF WALES and FALSTAFF]
4
Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?
6
Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack
7
and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon
8
benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to
9
demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.
10
What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the
11
day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes
12
capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the
13
signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself
14
a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no
15
reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand
18
Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take
19
purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not
20
by Phoebus, he,'that wandering knight so fair.' And,
21
I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God
22
save thy grace,—majesty I should say, for grace
27
No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to
28
prologue to an egg and butter.
30
Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.
32
Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not
33
us that are squires of the night's body be called
34
thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's
35
foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the
36
moon; and let men say we be men of good government,
37
being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and
38
chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.
40
Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the
41
fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and
42
flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is,
43
by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold
44
most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most
45
dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with
46
swearing 'Lay by' and spent with crying 'Bring in;'
47
now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder
48
and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.
50
By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my
51
hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?
53
As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And
54
is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?
56
How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and
57
thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a
60
Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?
62
Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a
65
Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?
67
No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.
69
Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch;
70
and where it would not, I have used my credit.
72
Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent
73
that thou art heir apparent—But, I prithee, sweet
74
wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when
75
thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is
76
with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do
77
not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.
81
Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.
83
Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have
84
the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.
86
Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my
87
humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell
90
For obtaining of suits?
92
Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman
93
hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy
94
as a gib cat or a lugged bear.
96
Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.
98
Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.
100
What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of
103
Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeed
104
the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young
105
prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more
106
with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a
107
commodity of good names were to be bought. An old
108
lord of the council rated me the other day in the
109
street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet
110
he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and
111
yet he talked wisely, and in the street too.
113
Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the
114
streets, and no man regards it.
116
O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed able
117
to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon
118
me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew
119
thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man
120
should speak truly, little better than one of the
121
wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give
122
it over: by the Lord, and I do not, I am a villain:
123
I'll be damned for never a king's son in
126
Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack?
128
'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an I
129
do not, call me villain and baffle me.
131
I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying
134
Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a
135
man to labour in his vocation.
137
Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a
138
match. O, if men were to be saved by merit, what
139
hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the
140
most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand' to
145
Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse?
146
what says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how
147
agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou
148
soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira
149
and a cold capon's leg?
151
Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have
152
his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of
153
proverbs: he will give the devil his due.
155
Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil.
157
Else he had been damned for cozening the devil.
159
But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four
160
o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going
161
to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders
162
riding to London with fat purses: I have vizards
163
for you all; you have horses for yourselves:
164
Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester: I have bespoke
165
supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it
166
as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff
167
your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry
168
at home and be hanged.
170
Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not,
171
I'll hang you for going.
175
Hal, wilt thou make one?
177
Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.
179
There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good
180
fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood
181
royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.
183
Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap.
185
Why, that's well said.
187
Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.
189
By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.
193
Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone:
194
I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure
197
Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him
198
the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may
199
move and what he hears may be believed, that the
200
true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false
201
thief; for the poor abuses of the time want
202
countenance. Farewell: you shall find me in Eastcheap.
204
Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, All-hallown summer!
207
Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us
208
to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot
209
manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill
210
shall rob those men that we have already waylaid:
211
yourself and I will not be there; and when they
212
have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut
213
this head off from my shoulders.
215
How shall we part with them in setting forth?
217
Why, we will set forth before or after them, and
218
appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at
219
our pleasure to fail, and then will they adventure
220
upon the exploit themselves; which they shall have
221
no sooner achieved, but we'll set upon them.
223
Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by our
224
horses, by our habits and by every other
225
appointment, to be ourselves.
227
Tut! our horses they shall not see: I'll tie them
228
in the wood; our vizards we will change after we
229
leave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram
230
for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.
232
Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us.
234
Well, for two of them, I know them to be as
235
true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the
236
third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll
237
forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the
238
incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will
239
tell us when we meet at supper: how thirty, at
240
least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what
241
extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this
244
Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things
245
necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap;
246
there I'll sup. Farewell.
251
I know you all, and will awhile uphold
252
The unyoked humour of your idleness:
253
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
254
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
255
To smother up his beauty from the world,
256
That, when he please again to be himself,
257
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
258
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
259
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
260
If all the year were playing holidays,
261
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
262
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
263
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
264
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
265
And pay the debt I never promised,
266
By how much better than my word I am,
267
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
268
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
269
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
270
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
271
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
272
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
273
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
2
[Enter the KING, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, SIR WALTER BLUNT, with others]
4
My blood hath been too cold and temperate,
5
Unapt to stir at these indignities,
6
And you have found me; for accordingly
7
You tread upon my patience: but be sure
8
I will from henceforth rather be myself,
9
Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition;
10
Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down,
11
And therefore lost that title of respect
12
Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud.
14
Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves
15
The scourge of greatness to be used on it;
16
And that same greatness too which our own hands
17
Have holp to make so portly.
18
Earl of Northumberland.
21
Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see
22
Danger and disobedience in thine eye:
23
O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory,
24
And majesty might never yet endure
25
The moody frontier of a servant brow.
26
You have good leave to leave us: when we need
27
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you.
29
You were about to speak.
31
Earl of Northumberland.
33
Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded,
34
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,
35
Were, as he says, not with such strength denied
36
As is deliver'd to your majesty:
37
Either envy, therefore, or misprison
38
Is guilty of this fault and not my son.
39
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
40
My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
41
But I remember, when the fight was done,
42
When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,
43
Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
44
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd,
45
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd
46
Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;
47
He was perfumed like a milliner;
48
And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
49
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
50
He gave his nose and took't away again;
51
Who therewith angry, when it next came there,
52
Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talk'd,
53
And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
54
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
55
To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
56
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
57
With many holiday and lady terms
58
He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded
59
My prisoners in your majesty's behalf.
60
I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,
61
To be so pester'd with a popinjay,
62
Out of my grief and my impatience,
63
Answer'd neglectingly I know not what,
64
He should or he should not; for he made me mad
65
To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet
66
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman
67
Of guns and drums and wounds,—God save the mark!—
68
And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth
69
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
70
And that it was great pity, so it was,
71
This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd
72
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
73
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
74
So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
75
He would himself have been a soldier.
76
This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,
77
I answer'd indirectly, as I said;
78
And I beseech you, let not his report
79
Come current for an accusation
80
Betwixt my love and your high majesty.
82
The circumstance consider'd, good my lord,
83
Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said
84
To such a person and in such a place,
85
At such a time, with all the rest retold,
86
May reasonably die and never rise
87
To do him wrong or any way impeach
88
What then he said, so he unsay it now.
90
Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners,
91
But with proviso and exception,
92
That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
93
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
94
Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd
95
The lives of those that he did lead to fight
96
Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower,
97
Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March
98
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then,
99
Be emptied to redeem a traitor home?
100
Shall we but treason? and indent with fears,
101
When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
102
No, on the barren mountains let him starve;
103
For I shall never hold that man my friend
104
Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost
105
To ransom home revolted Mortimer.
106
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
108
He never did fall off, my sovereign liege,
109
But by the chance of war; to prove that true
110
Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds,
111
Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took
112
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,
113
In single opposition, hand to hand,
114
He did confound the best part of an hour
115
In changing hardiment with great Glendower:
116
Three times they breathed and three times did
118
Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood;
119
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks,
120
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
121
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank,
122
Bloodstained with these valiant combatants.
123
Never did base and rotten policy
124
Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
125
Nor could the noble Mortimer
126
Receive so many, and all willingly:
127
Then let not him be slander'd with revolt.
129
Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;
130
He never did encounter with Glendower:
132
He durst as well have met the devil alone
133
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.
134
Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth
135
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer:
136
Send me your prisoners with the speediest means,
137
Or you shall hear in such a kind from me
138
As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland,
139
We licence your departure with your son.
140
Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it.
141
[Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train]
142
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
143
An if the devil come and roar for them,
144
I will not send them: I will after straight
145
And tell him so; for I will ease my heart,
146
Albeit I make a hazard of my head.
147
Earl of Northumberland.
148
What, drunk with choler? stay and pause awhile:
149
Here comes your uncle.
151
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
153
'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul
154
Want mercy, if I do not join with him:
155
Yea, on his part I'll empty all these veins,
156
And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust,
157
But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer
158
As high in the air as this unthankful king,
159
As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke.
160
Earl of Northumberland.
161
Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.
163
Who struck this heat up after I was gone?
164
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
165
He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners;
166
And when I urged the ransom once again
167
Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale,
168
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
169
Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.
171
I cannot blame him: was not he proclaim'd
172
By Richard that dead is the next of blood?
173
Earl of Northumberland.
174
He was; I heard the proclamation:
175
And then it was when the unhappy king,
176
—Whose wrongs in us God pardon!—did set forth
177
Upon his Irish expedition;
178
From whence he intercepted did return
179
To be deposed and shortly murdered.
181
And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth
182
Live scandalized and foully spoken of.
183
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
184
But soft, I pray you; did King Richard then
185
Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer
187
Earl of Northumberland.
188
He did; myself did hear it.
189
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
190
Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king,
191
That wished him on the barren mountains starve.
192
But shall it be that you, that set the crown
193
Upon the head of this forgetful man
194
And for his sake wear the detested blot
195
Of murderous subornation, shall it be,
196
That you a world of curses undergo,
197
Being the agents, or base second means,
198
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather?
199
O, pardon me that I descend so low,
200
To show the line and the predicament
201
Wherein you range under this subtle king;
202
Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,
203
Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
204
That men of your nobility and power
205
Did gage them both in an unjust behalf,
206
As both of you—God pardon it!—have done,
207
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,
208
An plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke?
209
And shall it in more shame be further spoken,
210
That you are fool'd, discarded and shook off
211
By him for whom these shames ye underwent?
212
No; yet time serves wherein you may redeem
213
Your banish'd honours and restore yourselves
214
Into the good thoughts of the world again,
215
Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
216
Of this proud king, who studies day and night
217
To answer all the debt he owes to you
218
Even with the bloody payment of your deaths:
221
Peace, cousin, say no more:
222
And now I will unclasp a secret book,
223
And to your quick-conceiving discontents
224
I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,
225
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
226
As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud
227
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.
228
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
229
If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim:
230
Send danger from the east unto the west,
231
So honour cross it from the north to south,
232
And let them grapple: O, the blood more stirs
233
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!
234
Earl of Northumberland.
235
Imagination of some great exploit
236
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.
237
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
238
By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap,
239
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
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Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
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Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
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And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;
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So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
244
Without corrival, all her dignities:
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But out upon this half-faced fellowship!
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He apprehends a world of figures here,
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But not the form of what he should attend.
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Good cousin, give me audience for a while.
250
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
253
Those same noble Scots
254
That are your prisoners,—
255
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
257
By God, he shall not have a Scot of them;
258
No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not:
259
I'll keep them, by this hand.
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And lend no ear unto my purposes.
263
Those prisoners you shall keep.
264
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
265
Nay, I will; that's flat:
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He said he would not ransom Mortimer;
267
Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
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But I will find him when he lies asleep,
269
And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer!'
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I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
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Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him
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To keep his anger still in motion.
275
Hear you, cousin; a word.
276
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
277
All studies here I solemnly defy,
278
Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke:
279
And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales,
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But that I think his father loves him not
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And would be glad he met with some mischance,
282
I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale.
284
Farewell, kinsman: I'll talk to you
285
When you are better temper'd to attend.
286
Earl of Northumberland.
287
Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool
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Art thou to break into this woman's mood,
289
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!
290
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
291
Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods,
292
Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear
293
Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.
294
In Richard's time,—what do you call the place?—
295
A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire;
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'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept,
297
His uncle York; where I first bow'd my knee
298
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,—
300
When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh.
301
Earl of Northumberland.
303
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
305
Why, what a candy deal of courtesy
306
This fawning greyhound then did proffer me!
307
Look,'when his infant fortune came to age,'
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And 'gentle Harry Percy,' and 'kind cousin;'
309
O, the devil take such cozeners! God forgive me!
310
Good uncle, tell your tale; I have done.
312
Nay, if you have not, to it again;
313
We will stay your leisure.
314
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
315
I have done, i' faith.
317
Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
318
Deliver them up without their ransom straight,
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And make the Douglas' son your only mean
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For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons
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Which I shall send you written, be assured,
322
Will easily be granted. You, my lord,
324
Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,
325
Shall secretly into the bosom creep
326
Of that same noble prelate, well beloved,
328
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
332
His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop.
333
I speak not this in estimation,
334
As what I think might be, but what I know
335
Is ruminated, plotted and set down,
336
And only stays but to behold the face
337
Of that occasion that shall bring it on.
338
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
339
I smell it: upon my life, it will do well.
340
Earl of Northumberland.
341
Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip.
342
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
343
Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot;
344
And then the power of Scotland and of York,
345
To join with Mortimer, ha?
348
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
349
In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
351
And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
352
To save our heads by raising of a head;
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For, bear ourselves as even as we can,
354
The king will always think him in our debt,
355
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,
356
Till he hath found a time to pay us home:
357
And see already how he doth begin
358
To make us strangers to his looks of love.
359
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
360
He does, he does: we'll be revenged on him.
362
Cousin, farewell: no further go in this
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Than I by letters shall direct your course.
364
When time is ripe, which will be suddenly,
365
I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer;
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Where you and Douglas and our powers at once,
367
As I will fashion it, shall happily meet,
368
To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms,
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Which now we hold at much uncertainty.
370
Earl of Northumberland.
371
Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust.
372
Hotspur (Henry Percy).
373
Uncle, Adieu: O, let the hours be short
374
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport!
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