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ACT I, SCENE I.

London. The palace.

Enter KING HENRY, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, the EARL of WESTMORELAND, SIR WALTER BLUNT, and others

KING HENRY IV
001: So shaken as we are, so wan with care,
002: Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
003: And breathe short-winded accents of new broils
004: To be commenced in strands afar remote.
005: No more the thirsty entrance of this soil
006: Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood;
007: Nor more shall trenching war channel her fields,
008: Nor bruise her flowerets with the armed hoofs
009: Of hostile paces: those opposed eyes,
010: Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
011: All of one nature, of one substance bred,
012: Did lately meet in the intestine shock
013: And furious close of civil butchery
014: Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
015: March all one way and be no more opposed
016: Against acquaintance, kindred and allies:
017: The edge of war, like an ill-sheathed knife,
018: No more shall cut his master. Therefore, friends,
019: As far as to the sepulchre of Christ,
020: Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
021: We are impressed and engaged to fight,
022: Forthwith a power of English shall we levy;
023: Whose arms were moulded in their mothers' womb
024: To chase these pagans in those holy fields
025: Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet
026: Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd
027: For our advantage on the bitter cross.
028: But this our purpose now is twelve month old,
029: And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:
030: Therefore we meet not now. Then let me hear
031: Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
032: What yesternight our council did decree
033: In forwarding this dear expedience.

WESTMORELAND
034: My liege, this haste was hot in question,
035: And many limits of the charge set down
036: But yesternight: when all athwart there came
037: A post from Wales loaden with heavy news;
038: Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
039: Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
040: Against the irregular and wild Glendower,
041: Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken,
042: A thousand of his people butchered;
043: Upon whose dead corpse there was such misuse,
044: Such beastly shameless transformation,
045: By those Welshwomen done as may not be
046: Without much shame retold or spoken of.

KING HENRY IV
047: It seems then that the tidings of this broil
048: Brake off our business for the Holy Land.

WESTMORELAND
049: This match'd with other did, my gracious lord;
050: For more uneven and unwelcome news
051: Came from the north and thus it did import:
052: On Holy-rood day, the gallant Hotspur there,
053: Young Harry Percy and brave Archibald,
054: That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
055: At Holmedon met,
056: Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour,
057: As by discharge of their artillery,
058: And shape of likelihood, the news was told;
059: For he that brought them, in the very heat
060: And pride of their contention did take horse,
061: Uncertain of the issue any way.

KING HENRY IV
062: Here is a dear, a true industrious friend,
063: Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse.
064: Stain'd with the variation of each soil
065: Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours;
066: And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
067: The Earl of Douglas is discomfited:
068: Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights,
069: Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see
070: On Holmedon's plains. Of prisoners, Hotspur took
071: Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son
072: To beaten Douglas; and the Earl of Athol,
073: Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith:
074: And is not this an honourable spoil?
075: A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not?

WESTMORELAND
076: In faith,
077: It is a conquest for a prince to boast of.

KING HENRY IV
078: Yea, there thou makest me sad and makest me sin
079: In envy that my Lord Northumberland
080: Should be the father to so blest a son,
081: A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
082: Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
083: Who is sweet Fortune's minion and her pride:
084: Whilst I, by looking on the praise of him,
085: See riot and dishonour stain the brow
086: Of my young Harry. O that it could be proved
087: That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
088: In cradle-clothes our children where they lay,
089: And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet!
090: Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.
091: But let him from my thoughts. What think you, coz,
092: Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
093: Which he in this adventure hath surprised,
094: To his own use he keeps; and sends me word,
095: I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.

WESTMORELAND
096: This is his uncle's teaching; this is Worcester,
097: Malevolent to you in all aspects;
098: Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up
099: The crest of youth against your dignity.

KING HENRY IV
100: But I have sent for him to answer this;
101: And for this cause awhile we must neglect
102: Our holy purpose to Jerusalem.
103: Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we
104: Will hold at Windsor; so inform the lords:
105: But come yourself with speed to us again;
106: For more is to be said and to be done
107: Than out of anger can be uttered.

WESTMORELAND
108: I will, my liege.

Exeunt

ACT I, SCENE II.

London. An apartment of the Prince's.

Enter the PRINCE OF WALES and FALSTAFF

FALSTAFF
001: Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad?

PRINCE HENRY
002: Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack
003: and unbuttoning thee after supper and sleeping upon
004: benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to
005: demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know.
006: What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the
007: day? Unless hours were cups of sack and minutes
008: capons and clocks the tongues of bawds and dials the
009: signs of leaping-houses and the blessed sun himself
010: a fair hot wench in flame-coloured taffeta, I see no
011: reason why thou shouldst be so superfluous to demand
012: the time of the day.

FALSTAFF
013: Indeed, you come near me now, Hal; for we that take
014: purses go by the moon and the seven stars, and not
015: by Phoebus, he,'that wandering knight so fair.' And,
016: I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art king, as, God
017: save thy grace,--majesty I should say, for grace
018: thou wilt have none,--

PRINCE HENRY
019: What, none?

FALSTAFF
020: No, by my troth, not so much as will serve to
021: prologue to an egg and butter.

PRINCE HENRY
022: Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly.

FALSTAFF
023: Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not
024: us that are squires of the night's body be called
025: thieves of the day's beauty: let us be Diana's
026: foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the
027: moon; and let men say we be men of good government,
028: being governed, as the sea is, by our noble and
029: chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we steal.

PRINCE HENRY
030: Thou sayest well, and it holds well too; for the
031: fortune of us that are the moon's men doth ebb and
032: flow like the sea, being governed, as the sea is,
033: by the moon. As, for proof, now: a purse of gold
034: most resolutely snatched on Monday night and most
035: dissolutely spent on Tuesday morning; got with
036: swearing 'Lay by' and spent with crying 'Bring in;'
037: now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder
038: and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

FALSTAFF
039: By the Lord, thou sayest true, lad. And is not my
040: hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench?

PRINCE HENRY
041: As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And
042: is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance?

FALSTAFF
043: How now, how now, mad wag! what, in thy quips and
044: thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a
045: buff jerkin?

PRINCE HENRY
046: Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern?

FALSTAFF
047: Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a
048: time and oft.

PRINCE HENRY
049: Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part?

FALSTAFF
050: No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there.

PRINCE HENRY
051: Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my coin would stretch;
052: and where it would not, I have used my credit.

FALSTAFF
053: Yea, and so used it that were it not here apparent
054: that thou art heir apparent--But, I prithee, sweet
055: wag, shall there be gallows standing in England when
056: thou art king? and resolution thus fobbed as it is
057: with the rusty curb of old father antic the law? Do
058: not thou, when thou art king, hang a thief.

PRINCE HENRY
059: No; thou shalt.

FALSTAFF
060: Shall I? O rare! By the Lord, I'll be a brave judge.

PRINCE HENRY
061: Thou judgest false already: I mean, thou shalt have
062: the hanging of the thieves and so become a rare hangman.

FALSTAFF
063: Well, Hal, well; and in some sort it jumps with my
064: humour as well as waiting in the court, I can tell
065: you.

PRINCE HENRY
066: For obtaining of suits?

FALSTAFF
067: Yea, for obtaining of suits, whereof the hangman
068: hath no lean wardrobe. 'Sblood, I am as melancholy
069: as a gib cat or a lugged bear.

PRINCE HENRY
070: Or an old lion, or a lover's lute.

FALSTAFF
071: Yea, or the drone of a Lincolnshire bagpipe.

PRINCE HENRY
072: What sayest thou to a hare, or the melancholy of
073: Moor-ditch?

FALSTAFF
074: Thou hast the most unsavoury similes and art indeed
075: the most comparative, rascalliest, sweet young
076: prince. But, Hal, I prithee, trouble me no more
077: with vanity. I would to God thou and I knew where a
078: commodity of good names were to be bought. An old
079: lord of the council rated me the other day in the
080: street about you, sir, but I marked him not; and yet
081: he talked very wisely, but I regarded him not; and
082: yet he talked wisely, and in the street too.

PRINCE HENRY
083: Thou didst well; for wisdom cries out in the
084: streets, and no man regards it.

FALSTAFF
085: O, thou hast damnable iteration and art indeed able
086: to corrupt a saint. Thou hast done much harm upon
087: me, Hal; God forgive thee for it! Before I knew
088: thee, Hal, I knew nothing; and now am I, if a man
089: should speak truly, little better than one of the
090: wicked. I must give over this life, and I will give
091: it over: by the Lord, and I do not, I am a villain:
092: I'll be damned for never a king's son in
093: Christendom.

PRINCE HENRY
094: Where shall we take a purse tomorrow, Jack?

FALSTAFF
095: 'Zounds, where thou wilt, lad; I'll make one; an I
096: do not, call me villain and baffle me.

PRINCE HENRY
097: I see a good amendment of life in thee; from praying
098: to purse-taking.

FALSTAFF
099: Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a
100: man to labour in his vocation.
[Enter POINS]
101: Poins! Now shall we know if Gadshill have set a
102: match. O, if men were to be saved by merit, what
103: hole in hell were hot enough for him? This is the
104: most omnipotent villain that ever cried 'Stand' to
105: a true man.

PRINCE HENRY
106: Good morrow, Ned.

POINS
107: Good morrow, sweet Hal. What says Monsieur Remorse?
108: what says Sir John Sack and Sugar? Jack! how
109: agrees the devil and thee about thy soul, that thou
110: soldest him on Good-Friday last for a cup of Madeira
111: and a cold capon's leg?

PRINCE HENRY
112: Sir John stands to his word, the devil shall have
113: his bargain; for he was never yet a breaker of
114: proverbs: he will give the devil his due.

POINS
115: Then art thou damned for keeping thy word with the devil.

PRINCE HENRY
116: Else he had been damned for cozening the devil.

POINS
117: But, my lads, my lads, to-morrow morning, by four
118: o'clock, early at Gadshill! there are pilgrims going
119: to Canterbury with rich offerings, and traders
120: riding to London with fat purses: I have vizards
121: for you all; you have horses for yourselves:
122: Gadshill lies to-night in Rochester: I have bespoke
123: supper to-morrow night in Eastcheap: we may do it
124: as secure as sleep. If you will go, I will stuff
125: your purses full of crowns; if you will not, tarry
126: at home and be hanged.

FALSTAFF
127: Hear ye, Yedward; if I tarry at home and go not,
128: I'll hang you for going.

POINS
129: You will, chops?

FALSTAFF
130: Hal, wilt thou make one?

PRINCE HENRY
131: Who, I rob? I a thief? not I, by my faith.

FALSTAFF
132: There's neither honesty, manhood, nor good
133: fellowship in thee, nor thou camest not of the blood
134: royal, if thou darest not stand for ten shillings.

PRINCE HENRY
135: Well then, once in my days I'll be a madcap.

FALSTAFF
136: Why, that's well said.

PRINCE HENRY
137: Well, come what will, I'll tarry at home.

FALSTAFF
138: By the Lord, I'll be a traitor then, when thou art king.

PRINCE HENRY
139: I care not.

POINS
140: Sir John, I prithee, leave the prince and me alone:
141: I will lay him down such reasons for this adventure
142: that he shall go.

FALSTAFF
143: Well, God give thee the spirit of persuasion and him
144: the ears of profiting, that what thou speakest may
145: move and what he hears may be believed, that the
146: true prince may, for recreation sake, prove a false
147: thief; for the poor abuses of the time want
148: countenance. Farewell: you shall find me in Eastcheap.

PRINCE HENRY
149: Farewell, thou latter spring! farewell, All-hallown summer!

Exit Falstaff

POINS
150: Now, my good sweet honey lord, ride with us
151: to-morrow: I have a jest to execute that I cannot
152: manage alone. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto and Gadshill
153: shall rob those men that we have already waylaid:
154: yourself and I will not be there; and when they
155: have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut
156: this head off from my shoulders.

PRINCE HENRY
157: How shall we part with them in setting forth?

POINS
158: Why, we will set forth before or after them, and
159: appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at
160: our pleasure to fail, and then will they adventure
161: upon the exploit themselves; which they shall have
162: no sooner achieved, but we'll set upon them.

PRINCE HENRY
163: Yea, but 'tis like that they will know us by our
164: horses, by our habits and by every other
165: appointment, to be ourselves.

POINS
166: Tut! our horses they shall not see: I'll tie them
167: in the wood; our vizards we will change after we
168: leave them: and, sirrah, I have cases of buckram
169: for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.

PRINCE HENRY
170: Yea, but I doubt they will be too hard for us.

POINS
171: Well, for two of them, I know them to be as
172: true-bred cowards as ever turned back; and for the
173: third, if he fight longer than he sees reason, I'll
174: forswear arms. The virtue of this jest will be, the
175: incomprehensible lies that this same fat rogue will
176: tell us when we meet at supper: how thirty, at
177: least, he fought with; what wards, what blows, what
178: extremities he endured; and in the reproof of this
179: lies the jest.

PRINCE HENRY
180: Well, I'll go with thee: provide us all things
181: necessary and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap;
182: there I'll sup. Farewell.

POINS
183: Farewell, my lord.

Exit Poins

PRINCE HENRY
184: I know you all, and will awhile uphold
185: The unyoked humour of your idleness:
186: Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
187: Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
188: To smother up his beauty from the world,
189: That, when he please again to be himself,
190: Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
191: By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
192: Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
193: If all the year were playing holidays,
194: To sport would be as tedious as to work;
195: But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
196: And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
197: So, when this loose behavior I throw off
198: And pay the debt I never promised,
199: By how much better than my word I am,
200: By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
201: And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
202: My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
203: Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
204: Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
205: I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
206: Redeeming time when men think least I will.

Exit

ACT I, SCENE III.

London. The palace.

Enter the KING, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, SIR WALTER BLUNT, with others

KING HENRY IV
001: My blood hath been too cold and temperate,
002: Unapt to stir at these indignities,
003: And you have found me; for accordingly
004: You tread upon my patience: but be sure
005: I will from henceforth rather be myself,
006: Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition;
007: Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down,
008: And therefore lost that title of respect
009: Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud.

EARL OF WORCESTER
010: Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves
011: The scourge of greatness to be used on it;
012: And that same greatness too which our own hands
013: Have holp to make so portly.

NORTHUMBERLAND
014: My lord.--

KING HENRY IV
015: Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see
016: Danger and disobedience in thine eye:
017: O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory,
018: And majesty might never yet endure
019: The moody frontier of a servant brow.
020: You have good leave to leave us: when we need
021: Your use and counsel, we shall send for you.

Exit Worcester

KING HENRY IV [To North]
022: You were about to speak.

NORTHUMBERLAND
023: Yea, my good lord.
024: Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded,
025: Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,
026: Were, as he says, not with such strength denied
027: As is deliver'd to your majesty:
028: Either envy, therefore, or misprison
029: Is guilty of this fault and not my son.

HOTSPUR
030: My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
031: But I remember, when the fight was done,
032: When I was dry with rage and extreme toil,
033: Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword,
034: Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd,
035: Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd
036: Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home;
037: He was perfumed like a milliner;
038: And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
039: A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
040: He gave his nose and took't away again;
041: Who therewith angry, when it next came there,
042: Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talk'd,
043: And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by,
044: He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
045: To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
046: Betwixt the wind and his nobility.
047: With many holiday and lady terms
048: He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded
049: My prisoners in your majesty's behalf.
050: I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,
051: To be so pester'd with a popinjay,
052: Out of my grief and my impatience,
053: Answer'd neglectingly I know not what,
054: He should or he should not; for he made me mad
055: To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet
056: And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman
057: Of guns and drums and wounds,--God save the mark!--
058: And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth
059: Was parmaceti for an inward bruise;
060: And that it was great pity, so it was,
061: This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd
062: Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
063: Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
064: So cowardly; and but for these vile guns,
065: He would himself have been a soldier.
066: This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord,
067: I answer'd indirectly, as I said;
068: And I beseech you, let not his report
069: Come current for an accusation
070: Betwixt my love and your high majesty.

SIR WALTER BLUNT
071: The circumstance consider'd, good my lord,
072: Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said
073: To such a person and in such a place,
074: At such a time, with all the rest retold,
075: May reasonably die and never rise
076: To do him wrong or any way impeach
077: What then he said, so he unsay it now.

KING HENRY IV
078: Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners,
079: But with proviso and exception,
080: That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
081: His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
082: Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd
083: The lives of those that he did lead to fight
084: Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower,
085: Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March
086: Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then,
087: Be emptied to redeem a traitor home?
088: Shall we but treason? and indent with fears,
089: When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
090: No, on the barren mountains let him starve;
091: For I shall never hold that man my friend
092: Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost
093: To ransom home revolted Mortimer.

HOTSPUR
094: Revolted Mortimer!
095: He never did fall off, my sovereign liege,
096: But by the chance of war; to prove that true
097: Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds,
098: Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took
099: When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,
100: In single opposition, hand to hand,
101: He did confound the best part of an hour
102: In changing hardiment with great Glendower:
103: Three times they breathed and three times did
104: they drink,
105: Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood;
106: Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks,
107: Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
108: And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank,
109: Bloodstained with these valiant combatants.
110: Never did base and rotten policy
111: Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
112: Nor could the noble Mortimer
113: Receive so many, and all willingly:
114: Then let not him be slander'd with revolt.

KING HENRY IV
115: Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;
116: He never did encounter with Glendower:
117: I tell thee,
118: He durst as well have met the devil alone
119: As Owen Glendower for an enemy.
120: Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth
121: Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer:
122: Send me your prisoners with the speediest means,
123: Or you shall hear in such a kind from me
124: As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland,
125: We licence your departure with your son.
126: Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it.

Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train

HOTSPUR
127: An if the devil come and roar for them,
128: I will not send them: I will after straight
129: And tell him so; for I will ease my heart,
130: Albeit I make a hazard of my head.

NORTHUMBERLAND
131: What, drunk with choler? stay and pause awhile:
132: Here comes your uncle.

Re-enter WORCESTER

HOTSPUR
133: Speak of Mortimer!
134: 'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul
135: Want mercy, if I do not join with him:
136: Yea, on his part I'll empty all these veins,
137: And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust,
138: But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer
139: As high in the air as this unthankful king,
140: As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke.

NORTHUMBERLAND
141: Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.

EARL OF WORCESTER
142: Who struck this heat up after I was gone?

HOTSPUR
143: He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners;
144: And when I urged the ransom once again
145: Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale,
146: And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
147: Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.

EARL OF WORCESTER
148: I cannot blame him: was not he proclaim'd
149: By Richard that dead is the next of blood?

NORTHUMBERLAND
150: He was; I heard the proclamation:
151: And then it was when the unhappy king,
152: --Whose wrongs in us God pardon!--did set forth
153: Upon his Irish expedition;
154: From whence he intercepted did return
155: To be deposed and shortly murdered.

EARL OF WORCESTER
156: And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth
157: Live scandalized and foully spoken of.

HOTSPUR
158: But soft, I pray you; did King Richard then
159: Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer
160: Heir to the crown?

NORTHUMBERLAND
161: He did; myself did hear it.

HOTSPUR
162: Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king,
163: That wished him on the barren mountains starve.
164: But shall it be that you, that set the crown
165: Upon the head of this forgetful man
166: And for his sake wear the detested blot
167: Of murderous subornation, shall it be,
168: That you a world of curses undergo,
169: Being the agents, or base second means,
170: The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather?
171: O, pardon me that I descend so low,
172: To show the line and the predicament
173: Wherein you range under this subtle king;
174: Shall it for shame be spoken in these days,
175: Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
176: That men of your nobility and power
177: Did gage them both in an unjust behalf,
178: As both of you--God pardon it!--have done,
179: To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,
180: An plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke?
181: And shall it in more shame be further spoken,
182: That you are fool'd, discarded and shook off
183: By him for whom these shames ye underwent?
184: No; yet time serves wherein you may redeem
185: Your banish'd honours and restore yourselves
186: Into the good thoughts of the world again,
187: Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
188: Of this proud king, who studies day and night
189: To answer all the debt he owes to you
190: Even with the bloody payment of your deaths:
191: Therefore, I say--

EARL OF WORCESTER
192: Peace, cousin, say no more:
193: And now I will unclasp a secret book,
194: And to your quick-conceiving discontents
195: I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,
196: As full of peril and adventurous spirit
197: As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud
198: On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.

HOTSPUR
199: If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim:
200: Send danger from the east unto the west,
201: So honour cross it from the north to south,
202: And let them grapple: O, the blood more stirs
203: To rouse a lion than to start a hare!

NORTHUMBERLAND
204: Imagination of some great exploit
205: Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.

HOTSPUR
206: By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap,
207: To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
208: Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
209: Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
210: And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;
211: So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
212: Without corrival, all her dignities:
213: But out upon this half-faced fellowship!

EARL OF WORCESTER
214: He apprehends a world of figures here,
215: But not the form of what he should attend.
216: Good cousin, give me audience for a while.

HOTSPUR
217: I cry you mercy.

EARL OF WORCESTER
218: Those same noble Scots
219: That are your prisoners,--

HOTSPUR
220: I'll keep them all;
221: By God, he shall not have a Scot of them;
222: No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not:
223: I'll keep them, by this hand.

EARL OF WORCESTER
224: You start away
225: And lend no ear unto my purposes.
226: Those prisoners you shall keep.

HOTSPUR
227: Nay, I will; that's flat:
228: He said he would not ransom Mortimer;
229: Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
230: But I will find him when he lies asleep,
231: And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer!'
232: Nay,
233: I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
234: Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him
235: To keep his anger still in motion.

EARL OF WORCESTER
236: Hear you, cousin; a word.

HOTSPUR
237: All studies here I solemnly defy,
238: Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke:
239: And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales,
240: But that I think his father loves him not
241: And would be glad he met with some mischance,
242: I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale.

EARL OF WORCESTER
243: Farewell, kinsman: I'll talk to you
244: When you are better temper'd to attend.

NORTHUMBERLAND
245: Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool
246: Art thou to break into this woman's mood,
247: Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!

HOTSPUR
248: Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods,
249: Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear
250: Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.
251: In Richard's time,--what do you call the place?--
252: A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire;
253: 'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept,
254: His uncle York; where I first bow'd my knee
255: Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,--
256: 'Sblood!--
257: When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh.

NORTHUMBERLAND
258: At Berkley castle.

HOTSPUR
259: You say true:
260: Why, what a candy deal of courtesy
261: This fawning greyhound then did proffer me!
262: Look,'when his infant fortune came to age,'
263: And 'gentle Harry Percy,' and 'kind cousin;'
264: O, the devil take such cozeners! God forgive me!
265: Good uncle, tell your tale; I have done.

EARL OF WORCESTER
266: Nay, if you have not, to it again;
267: We will stay your leisure.

HOTSPUR
268: I have done, i' faith.

EARL OF WORCESTER
269: Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
270: Deliver them up without their ransom straight,
271: And make the Douglas' son your only mean
272: For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons
273: Which I shall send you written, be assured,
274: Will easily be granted. You, my lord,
[To Northumberland]
275: Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,
276: Shall secretly into the bosom creep
277: Of that same noble prelate, well beloved,
278: The archbishop.

HOTSPUR
279: Of York, is it not?

EARL OF WORCESTER
280: True; who bears hard
281: His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop.
282: I speak not this in estimation,
283: As what I think might be, but what I know
284: Is ruminated, plotted and set down,
285: And only stays but to behold the face
286: Of that occasion that shall bring it on.

HOTSPUR
287: I smell it: upon my life, it will do well.

NORTHUMBERLAND
288: Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip.

HOTSPUR
289: Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot;
290: And then the power of Scotland and of York,
291: To join with Mortimer, ha?

EARL OF WORCESTER
292: And so they shall.

HOTSPUR
293: In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.

EARL OF WORCESTER
294: And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
295: To save our heads by raising of a head;
296: For, bear ourselves as even as we can,
297: The king will always think him in our debt,
298: And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,
299: Till he hath found a time to pay us home:
300: And see already how he doth begin
301: To make us strangers to his looks of love.

HOTSPUR
302: He does, he does: we'll be revenged on him.

EARL OF WORCESTER
303: Cousin, farewell: no further go in this
304: Than I by letters shall direct your course.
305: When time is ripe, which will be suddenly,
306: I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer;
307: Where you and Douglas and our powers at once,
308: As I will fashion it, shall happily meet,
309: To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms,
310: Which now we hold at much uncertainty.

NORTHUMBERLAND
311: Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust.

HOTSPUR
312: Uncle, Adieu: O, let the hours be short
313: Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport!

Exeunt

ACT II, SCENE I.

Rochester. An inn yard.

Enter a Carrier with a lantern in his hand

First Carrier
001: Heigh-ho! an it be not four by the day, I'll be
002: hanged: Charles' wain is over the new chimney, and
003: yet our horse not packed. What, ostler!

Ostler [Within]
004: Anon, anon.

First Carrier
005: I prithee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks
006: in the point; poor jade, is wrung in the withers out
007: of all cess.

Enter another Carrier

Second Carrier
008: Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog, and that
009: is the next way to give poor jades the bots: this
010: house is turned upside down since Robin Ostler died.

First Carrier
011: Poor fellow, never joyed since the price of oats
012: rose; it was the death of him.

Second Carrier
013: I think this be the most villanous house in all
014: London road for fleas: I am stung like a tench.

First Carrier
015: Like a tench! by the mass, there is ne'er a king
016: christen could be better bit than I have been since
017: the first cock.

Second Carrier
018: Why, they will allow us ne'er a jordan, and then we
019: leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds
020: fleas like a loach.

First Carrier
021: What, ostler! come away and be hanged!

Second Carrier
022: I have a gammon of bacon and two razors of ginger,
023: to be delivered as far as Charing-cross.

First Carrier
024: God's body! the turkeys in my pannier are quite
025: starved. What, ostler! A plague on thee! hast thou
026: never an eye in thy head? canst not hear? An
027: 'twere not as good deed as drink, to break the pate
028: on thee, I am a very villain. Come, and be hanged!
029: hast thou no faith in thee?

Enter GADSHILL

GADSHILL
030: Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock?

First Carrier
031: I think it be two o'clock.

GADSHILL
032: I pray thee lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding
033: in the stable.

First Carrier
034: Nay, by God, soft; I know a trick worth two of that, i' faith.

GADSHILL
035: I pray thee, lend me thine.

Second Carrier
036: Ay, when? can'st tell? Lend me thy lantern, quoth
037: he? marry, I'll see thee hanged first.

GADSHILL
038: Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to London?

Second Carrier
039: Time enough to go to bed with a candle, I warrant
040: thee. Come, neighbour Mugs, we'll call up the
041: gentleman: they will along with company, for they
042: have great charge.

Exeunt carriers

GADSHILL