And now their pride and mettle is asleep,
Their courage with hard labour tame and dull,
That not a horse is half the half of himself.

Hot. So are the horses of the enemy
In general, journey bated, and brought low:
The better part of ours are full of rest.

Wor. The number of the king exceedeth ours; For God's sake, cousin, stay till all come in.

If

[The trumpet sounds a parley.

Enter Sir WALTER BLUNT.

Blunt. I come with gracious offers from the

king,

you vouchsafe me hearing and respect.

Hot. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt ; and would to

God

You were of our determination!

Some of us love you well; and even those some
Envy your great deservings and good name,
Because you are not of our quality

But stand against us like an enemy.

Blunt. And God defend but still I should stand

So,

So long as out of limit and true rule

You stand against anointed majesty.

But, to my charge.--The king hath sent to know

The nature of your griefs, and whereupon

You conjure from the breast of civil peace
Such bold hostility, teaching his duteous land.
Audacious cruelty? If that the king

Have any way your good deserts forgot,
Which he confesseth to be manifold,

He bids you name your griefs, and, with all speed
You shall have your desires with interest,

And pardon absolute for yourself and these
Herein misled by your suggestion.

Hot. The king is kind; and well we know the king

Knows at what time to promise, when to pay.
My father and my uncle and myself

Did give him that same royalty he wears;
And, when he was not six-and-twenty strong,
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low,
A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home,
My father
gave him welcome to the shore;

And when he heard him swear and vow to God,
He came but to be Duke of Lancaster,

To sue his livery and beg his

peace,

With tears of innocence and terms of zeal,
My father, in kind heart and pity moved,
Swore him assistance, and performed it too.
Now, when the lords and barons of the realm

Perceived Northumberland did lean to him,

The more and less came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages,

Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,

Laid gifts before him, proffered him their oaths,
Gave him their heirs as pages, followed him
Even at the heels in golden multitudes.
He presently, -as greatness knows itself,-
Steps me a little higher than his vow
Made to my father while his blood was poor,
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts and some strait decrees
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth ;
Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country's wrongs; and, by this face,
This seeming brow of justice, did he win
The hearts of all that he did angle for;
Proceeded further; cut me off the heads
Of all the favourites that the absent king
In deputation left behind him here
When he was personal in the Irish war.
Blunt. Tut, I came not to hear this.

Hot.
Then, to the point.
In short time after he deposed the king;
Soon after that, deprived him of his life;

And, in the neck of that, tasked the whole state:
To make that worse, suffered his kinsman March-
Who is, if every owner were well placed,
Indeed his king-to be engaged in Wales.
There without ransom to lie forfeited ;
Disgraced me in my happy victories;
Sought to entrap me by intelligence ;
Rated my uncle from the council-board ;
dismissed my father from the court;
Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong,
And, in conclusion, drove us to seek out
This head of safety; and. withal, to pry
Into his title, which we find to be

In rage

Too indirect for long continuance.

Blunt. Shall I return this answer to the king?

Hot. Not so, Sir Walter; we'll withdraw a

while.

Go to the king, and let there be impawned

Some surety for a safe return again,
And in the morning early shall mine uncle
Bring him our purposes; and so farewell.

Blunt. I would you would accept of grace and

love.

Hot. And, may be, so we shall.

Blunt.

'Pray God, you do!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-York.

A Room in the Archbishop's

House.

Enter the Archbishop of YORK and Sir MICHAEL.

Arch. Hie, good Sir Michael; bear this sealed brief

With winged haste to the lord marshal;

This to my cousin Scroop; and all the rest
To whom they are directed. If you knew

How much they do import, you would make haste.
Sir M. My good lord,

guess their tenor.

I

Arch.

Like enough, you do.

To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day

Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Must bide the touch. For, sir, at Shrewsbury,

As I am truly given to understand,

The king, with mighty and quick-raised power, Meets with Lord Harry: and, I fear, Sir Michael, What with the sickness of Northumberland,

Whose power was in the first proportion,

And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence,
Who with them was a rated sinew too,
And comes not in, o'er-ruled by prophecies,
I fear the power of Percy is too weak
To wage an instant trial with the king.