And at the time of my departure thence

He was much feared by his physicians.

Wor. I would the state of time had first been

whole

Ere he by sickness had been visited :

His health was never better worth than now.

Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect

The very life-blood of our enterprise ;

'T is catching hither, even to our camp.
He writes me here, that inward sickness—
And that his friends by deputation could not
So soon be drawn; nor did he think it meet,
To lay so dangerous and dear a trust

On any soul removed, but on his own.
Yet doth he give us bold advertisement,
That with our small conjunction we should on,
To see how fortune is disposed to us;
For, as he writes, there is no quailing now,
Because the king is certainly possessed
Of all our purposes. What say you to it?

Wor. Your father's sickness is a maim to us. Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopped off:And yet, in faith, it's not; his present want Seems more than we shall find it :—were it good To set the exact wealth of all our states

All at one cast? to set so rich a main

On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?

It were not good; for therein should we read
The very bottom and the soul of hope,

The very list, the very utmost bound

Of all our fortunes.

Doug.

'Faith, and so we should ;

Where now remains a sweet reversion;
And we may boldly spend upon the hope.
Of what is to come in :

A comfort of retirement lives in this.

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.

The quality and hair of our attempt
Brooks no division: it will be thought

By some, that know not why he is away,
That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike
Of our proceedings, kept the earl from hence :
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
Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement,

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,
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear

Before not dreamt of.

Hot.

You strain too far.

I rather of his absence make this use:

It lends a lustre, and more great opinion,
A larger dare to our great enterprise,

Than if the earl were here; for men must think,
If we, without his help, can make a head
To push against the kingdom, with his help
We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down.—

Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
Doug. As heart can think: there is not such a
word

Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear.

Enter Sir RICHARD VERNON.

Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul. Ver. Pray God, my news be worth a welcome,

lord.

The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Is marching hitherwards; with him, Prince John. Hot. No harm: what more?

Ver.

And further, I have learned,

The king himself in person is set forth,
Or hitherwards intended speedily,
With strong and mighty preparation.

Hot. He shall be welcome too.

son,

Where is his

The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,
And his comrades, that daffed the world aside,
And bid it pass ?

Ver.

All furnished, all in arms,

All plumed like estridges that wing the wind;
Bated like eagles having lately bathed,
Glittering in golden coats, like images;

As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer;
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on,
His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed,
Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat,
As if an angel dropped down from the clouds
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus

And witch the world with noble horsemanship.

Hot. No more, no more: worse than the sun in

March,

This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come; They come like sacrifices in their trim,—

And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war,
All hot and bleeding, will we offer them :
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh,

And yet not ours. -Come, let me taste my horse, Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt

Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales:

Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,

Meet, and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.— O, that Glendower were come !

Ver.

There is more news:

I learned in Worcester, as I rode along,

He cannot draw his power this fourteen days. Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of

yet.

Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty

My father and Glendower being both away,
The powers of us may serve so great a day.
Come, let us take a muster speedily:
Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily.