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

mouth

Live scandaliz'd, and foully spoken of.

Hot. But soft, I pray you; Did King Richard then Proclaim my brother 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 starved. 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 ;—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,

Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks;
So he, that doth redeem her thence, might wear,
Without corrival, all her dignities :

But out upon this half-faced fellowship.

Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here,
But not the form of what he should attend.-
Good cousin, give me audience for a while.
Hot. I cry you mercy.

Wor. Those same noble Scots,

That are your prisoners,—

Hot. I'll keep them all;

By heaven, he shall not have a Scot of them :

No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not:

I'll keep them, by this hand.

Wor. You start away,

And lend no ear unto my purposes.―
Those prisoners you shall keep.

Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat:

He said, he would not ransom Mortimer;
Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer;
But I will find him when he lies asleep,
And in his ear I'll holla-Mortimer!

Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak
Nothing but Mortimer, and give it him,
To keep his anger still in motion.

Wor. Hear you, cousin; a word.

Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy,
Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke:

And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales.-

But that I think his father loves him not,

And would be glad he met with some mischance,

I'd have him poisoned with a pot of ale.

Wor. Farewell, kinsman! I will talk to you,

When you are better tempered to attend.

North. Why, what a wasp-tongued and impatient fool Art thou, to break into this woman's mood;

Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!

Hot. Why, look you, I am whipped and scourged with rods,

Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear
Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.

In Richard's time,-What do you call the place?—
A plague upon 't! it is in Gloucestershire ;-
'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept;
His uncle York ;-where I first bowed my knee
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,
When you and he came back from Ravenspurg.
North. At Berkeley Castle.

Hot. You say true:

Why, what a candy deal of courtesy

This fawning greyhound then did proffer me!
Look," when his infant fortune came to age,"

And," gentle Harry Percy,-and, "kind cousin,❞—

M

O the devil take such cozeners!--God forgive me!-
Good uncle, tell your tale, for I have done.
Wor. Nay, if you have not, to 't again;
We'll stay your leisure.

Hot. I have done, in sooth.

Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners.
Deliver them up without their ransom straight,
And make the Douglas' son your only mean
For powers in Scotland; which,-for divers reasons,
Which I shall send you written,—be assured,
Will easily be granted.-

When time is ripe, which will be suddenly,

I'll steal to Glendower, and Lord Mortimer;

Where you and Douglas, and your powers at once (As I will fashion it), shall happily meet,

To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms,

Which now we hold at much uncertainty.

North. Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust. Hot. Uncle, adieu :- -O let the hours be short,

"Till fields, and blows, and groans applaud our sport! SHAKESPERE.

HENRY IV.-PART I.

Second Selection.

Enter HOTSPUR, Worcester, and Douglas.

Hot. Well said, my noble Scot; if speaking truth,
In this fine age, were not thought flattery,

Such attribution should the Douglas have,
As not a soldier of this season's stamp

Should go so general current through the world.
By Heaven, I cannot flatter; I defy

The tongues of soothers; but a braver place,
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself:
Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.
Doug. Thou art the king of honour :
No man so potent breathes upon the ground,
But I will beard him.

Hot. Do so, and 'tis well :

Enter a MESSENGER, with Letters.

What letters hast thou there?—I can but thank you.
Mess. These letters come from your father.

Hot. Letters from him! Why comes he not himself?
Mess. He cannot come, my lord; he's grievous sick.
Hot. Zounds! how has he the leisure to be sick
In such a justling time? Who leads his power?
Under whose government come they along?
Mess. His letters bear his mind, not I, my
lord.
Wor. I prithee tell me, doth he keep his bed?
Mess. He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth;
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! His sickness doth infect The very life-blood of our enterprise;

'Tis 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 is 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?

Wor. But yet I would your father had been here,
The quality and air of our attempt

[Aside.

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;
This absence of your father draws a curtain,
That shews 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 your 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. Where is his son,

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:

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.