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To ransom home revolted Mortimer.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer!

He never did fall off, my sovereign liege,
But by the chance of war: to prove that true

Needs no more but one tongue for all those

wounds,

Those mouthéd wounds, which valiantly he took,
When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank,
In single opposition, hand to hand,

He did confound the best part of an hour

In changing hardiment with great Glendower. Three times they breathed, and three times did they drink,

Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood ;
Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank
Blood-stained with these valiant combatants.
Never did base and rotten policy

Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
Nor never could the noble Mortimer

Receive so many, and all willingly :

Then let him not be slandered with revolt.

K. Hen. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou lost

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I tell thee,

He durst as well have met the devil alone

As Owen Glendower for an enemy.

Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer.

Send me your prisoners with the speediest means, Or you shall hear in such a kind from me

As will displease you.-My Lord Northumber

land,

We license your departure with your son.-
Send us your prisoners, or you'll hear of it.

[Exeunt King HENRY, BLUNT, and Train
Hot. And if the devil come and roar for them,
I will not send them.-I will after straight,
And tell him so: for I will ease my heart,

Although it be with hazard of my head.

North. What, drunk with choler? stay, and

pause awhile:

Here comes your uncle.

Re-enter WORCESTER.

Hot.

Speak of Mortimer!

'Zounds! I will speak of him; and let my soul Want mercy, if I do not join with him :

Yea, on his part, I'll empty all these veins,

And shed my dear blood drop by drop i' the dust,

But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer

As high i' the air as this unthankful king,
As this ingrate and cankered Bolingbroke.

North. [To WORCESTER.] Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.

Wor. Who struck this heat up after I was gone?

Hot. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners; And when I urged the ransom once again

Of my wife's brother, then his cheek looked pale, And on my face he turned an eye of death, · Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.

Wor. I cannot blame him. Was he not pro

claimed,

By Richard that is dead, the next of blood?

North. He was; I heard the proclamation: And then it was when the unhappy kingWhose wrongs in us God pardon !—did set forth Upon his Irish expedition;

From whence he, intercepted, did return

To be deposed and shortly murderéd.

Wor. And for whose death we in the world's

wide mouth

Live scandalised and foully spoken of.

Hot. But, soft, I pray you, did King Richard

then

Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer

Heir to the crown?

North.

He did; myself did hear it.

Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king
That wished him on the barren mountains starve.
But shall it be that you, that set the crown
Upon the head of this forgetful man,

And for his sake wear the detested blot
Of murderous subornation,--shall it be,
That you a world of curses undergo,
Being the agents, or base second means,
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather -
O, pardon me, that I descend so low,

To show the line and the predicament,

Wherein you range under this subtle king :—
Shall it, for shame, be spoken in these days,
Or fill up chronicles in time to come,
That men of your nobility and power
Did gage them both in an unjust behalf—
As both of you, God pardon it! have done-
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose,
And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke?
And shall it, in more shame, be further spoken,
That you are fooled, discarded, and shook off
By him for whom these shames ye underwent ?
No! yet time serves wherein you may redeem

Your banished honours, and restore yourselves
Into the good thoughts of the world again;
Revenge the jeering and disdained contempt
Of this proud king, who studies day and night
To answer all the debt he owes to you
Even with the bloody payment of your deaths.
Therefore, I say,—

Wor.

Peace, cousin, say no more.

And now I will unclasp a secret book,
And to your quick-conceiving discontents
I'll read you matter deep and dangerous,
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
As to o'er-walk a current, roaring loud,
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.

Hot. If he fall in, good-night!—or sink or swim :

Send danger from the east unto the west,
So honour cross it from the north to south,
And let them grapple :—O, the blood more stirs
To rouse a lion than to start a hare!

North. Imagination of some great exploit
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.

Hot. By Heaven, methinks, it were an easy

leap

To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon; Or dive into the bottom of the deep,

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