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,
Bloodstainèd 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.
KING HENRY IV Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;
He never did encounter with Glendower.
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 ye.— My lord Northumberland,
We license your departure with your son.—
Send us your prisoners, or you’ll hear of it.
To Hotspur
Exeunt King [Henry, Blunt and train]
HOTSPUR An 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.
NORTHUMBERLAND What? Drunk with choler? Stay and pause awhile.
Here comes your uncle.
Enter Worcester
HOTSPUR Speak of Mortimer?
Yes, I will speak of him, and let my soul
Want mercy, if I do not join with him.
In his behalf I’ll empty all these veins,
And shed my dear blood drop by drop i’th’dust,
But I will lift the downfall Mortimer
As high i’th’air as this unthankful king,
As this ingrate and cankered Bullingbrook.
NORTHUMBERLAND Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad.
WORCESTER Who struck this heat up after I was gone?
HOTSPUR 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.
WORCESTER I cannot blame him: was he not proclaimed
By Richard, that dead is, the next of blood?
NORTHUMBERLAND He was. I heard the proclamation.
And then it was when the unhappy king —
Whose wrongs in us God pardon! — did set forth
Upon his Irish expedition,
From whence he intercepted did return
To be deposed and shortly murderèd.
WORCESTER And for whose death we in the world’s wide mouth
Live scandalized and foully spoken of.
HOTSPUR But soft, I pray you; did King Richard then
Proclaim my brother Mortimer
Heir to the crown?
NORTHUMBERLAND He did. Myself did hear it.
HOTSPUR Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king,
That wished him on the barren mountains starved.
But shall it be that you that set the crown
Upon the head of this forgetful man
And for his sake wore 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 if 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, Bullingbrook?
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,
Of this proud king, who studies day and night
To answer all the debt he owes unto you
Even with the bloody payment of your deaths:
Therefore, I say—
WORCESTER 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
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
As to o’er-walk a current roaring loud
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.
HOTSPUR If he fall in, goodnight, 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!
NORTHUMBERLAND Imagination of some great exploit
To Worcester
Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.
HOTSPUR 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 drownèd 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!
WORCESTER He apprehends a world of figures here
To Northumberland
But not the form of what he should attend.—
Good cousin, give me audience for a while and list to me.
HOTSPUR I cry you mercy.
WORCESTER Those same noble Scots
That are your prisoners —
HOTSPUR 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.
WORCESTER You start away
And lend no ear unto my purposes.
Those prisoners you shall keep.
HOTSPUR 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.
WORCESTER Hear you, cousin, a word.
HOTSPUR All studies here I solemnly defy,
Save how to gall and pinch this Bullingbrook.
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 would have poisoned him with a pot of ale.
WORCESTER Farewell, kinsman. I’ll talk to you
When you are better tempered to attend.
NORTHUMBERLAND Why, what a wasp-tongued and impatient fool
To Hotspur
Art thou to break into this woman’s mood,
Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own!
HOTSPUR Why, look you, I am whipped and scourged
with rods,
Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear
Of this vile politician, Bullingbrook.
In Richard’s time — what d’ye 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 Bullingbrook,
When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh.
NORTHUMBERLAND At Berkeley Castle.
HOTSPUR 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’.—
O, the devil take such cozeners! — God forgive me,
To Worcester
Good uncle, tell your tale, for I have done.
WORCESTER Nay, if you have not, to’t again,
We’ll stay your leisure.
HOTSPUR I have done, in sooth.
WORCESTER 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.— You, my lord,
To Northumberland
Your son in Scotland being thus employed,
Shall secretly into the bosom creep
Of that same noble prelate well beloved,
The archbishop.
HOTSPUR Of York, is’t not?
WORCESTER True, who bears hard
His brother’s death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop.
I speak not this in estimation
As what I think might be, but what I know
Is ruminated, plotted and set down,
And only stays but to behold the face
Of that occasion that shall bring it on.
HOTSPUR I smell it:
Upon my life, it will do wondrous well.
NORTHUMBERLAND Before the game’s afoot, thou still let’st slip.
HOTSPUR Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot.
And then the power of Scotland and of York,
To join with Mortimer, ha?
WORCESTER And so they shall.
HOTSPUR In faith, it is exceedingly well aimed.
WORCESTER And ’tis no little reason bids us speed,
To save our heads by raising of a head.
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,
The king will always think him in our debt,
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,
Till he hath found a time to pay us home.
And see already how he doth begin
To make us strangers to his looks of love.
HOTSPUR He does, he does. We’ll be revenged on him.
WORCESTER Cousin, farewell. No further go in this
Than I by letters shall direct your course.
When time is ripe, which will be suddenly,
I’ll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer,
Where you and Douglas and our 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.
NORTHUMBERLAND Farewell, good brother. We shall thrive, I trust.
HOTSPUR Uncle, adieu. O, let the hours be short
Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport!
Exeunt
Act 2 Scene 1
running scene 4
Location: an innyard on the road between London and Canterbury Carrier delivery-man
Enter a Carrier with a lantern in his hand
FIRST CARRIER Heigh-ho! An’t be not four by the day, I’ll be
hanged. Charles’ wain is over the new chimney, and yet our
horse not packed. What, ostler !
OSTLER Anon, anon.
Within
FIRST CARRIER I prithee, Tom, beat Cut’s saddle, put a few flocks
in the point. The poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all
cess.
Enter another Carrier
SECOND CARRIER Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog, and
this is the next way to give poor jades the bots. This house is
turned upside down since Robin the ostler died.
FIRST CARRIER Poor fellow, never joyed since the price of oats
rose. It was the death of him.
SECOND CARRIER I think this is the most villainous house in all
London Road for fleas: I am stung like a tench.
FIRST CARRIER Like a tench? There is ne’er a king in
Christendom could be better bit than I have been since the
first cock.
SECOND CARRIER Why, you will allow us ne’er a jordan, and
then we leak in your chimney, and your chamber-lye breeds
fleas like a loach.
FIRST CARRIER What, ostler! Come away and be hanged! Come
away!
SECOND CARRIER I have a gammon of bacon and two razes of
ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing Cross.
FIRST CARRIER The turkeys in my pannier are quite starved.
What, ostler! A plague on thee! Hast thou never an eye in thy
head? Canst not hear? An ’twere not as good a deed as drink
to break the pate of thee, I am a very villain. Come, and be
hanged! Hast no faith in thee?
Enter Gadshill
GADSHILL Good morrow, carriers. What’s o’clock?
FIRST CARRIER I think it be two o’clock.
GADSHILL I prithee lend me thy lantern to see my gelding in
the stable.
FIRST CARRIER Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick worth two of
that.
GADSHILL I prithee lend me thine.
To the Second Carrier
SECOND CARRIER Ay, when? Can’st tell? Lend me thy lantern,
quoth a? Marry, I’ll see thee hanged first.
GADSHILL Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to
London?
SECOND CARRIER Time enough to go to bed with a candle, I
warrant thee.— Come, neighbour Mugs, we’ll call up the
gentlemen. They will along with company, for they have
great charge.
Exeunt [Carriers]
Enter Chamberlain
GADSHILL What, ho, Chamberlain?
CHAMBERLAIN At hand, quoth pick-purse.
GADSHILL That’s even as fair as — at hand, quoth the
chamberlain, for thou variest no more from picking of
purses than giving direction doth from labouring. Thou
lay’st the plot how.
CHAMBERLAIN Good morrow, Master Gadshill. It holds current
that I told you yesternight: there’s a franklin in the wild of
Kent hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold. I
heard him tell it to one of his company last night at supper, a
kind of auditor, one that hath abundance of charge too, God
knows what. They are up already, and call for eggs and
butter. They will away presently.
GADSHILL Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas’ clerks,
I’ll give thee this neck.
CHAMBERLAIN No, I’ll none of it: I prithee keep that for the
hangman, for I know thou worship’st Saint Nicholas as truly
as a man of falsehood may.
GADSHILL What talkest thou to me of the hangman? If I hang,
I’ll make a fat pair of gallows, for if I hang, old Sir John hangs
with me, and thou know’st he’s no starveling. Tut, there are
other Trojans that thou dream’st not of, the which for sport
&
nbsp; sake are content to do the profession some grace; that would,
if matters should be looked into, for their own credit sake,
make all whole. I am joined with no foot-land rakers, no
long-staff sixpenny strikers, none of these mad mustachio
purple-hued malt-worms, but with nobility and tranquillity,
burgomasters and great oneyers, such as can hold in, such
as will strike sooner than speak, and speak sooner than
drink, and drink sooner than pray. And yet, I lie, for they
pray continually unto their saint, the commonwealth; or
rather not to pray to her, but prey on her, for they ride up and
down on her and make her their boots.
CHAMBERLAIN What, the commonwealth their boots? Will she
hold out water in foul way?
GADSHILL She will, she will; justice hath liquored her. We steal
as in a castle, cocksure. We have the receipt of fern-seed, we
walk invisible.
CHAMBERLAIN Nay, I think rather you are more beholding to the
night than to fern-seed for your walking invisible.
GADSHILL Give me thy hand. Thou shalt have a share in our
purpose, as I am a true man.
CHAMBERLAIN Nay, rather let me have it, as you are a false thief.
GADSHILL Go to. 88 Homo is a common name to all men. Bid the
ostler bring the gelding out of the stable. Farewell, ye muddy
knave.
Exeunt
Act 2 Scene 2
running scene 5
Location: the highway near Gad’s Hill
Enter Prince, Poins and Peto [and Bardolph]
POINS Come, shelter, shelter. I have removed Falstaff’s
horse, and he frets like a gummed velvet.
PRINCE HENRY Stand close.
Poins, Peto and Bardolph stand aside
Enter Falstaff
FALSTAFF Poins! Poins, and be hanged! Poins!
PRINCE HENRY Peace, ye fat-kidneyed rascal. What a brawling
dost thou keep!
FALSTAFF What, Poins? Hal?
PRINCE HENRY He is walked up to the top of the hill.
I’ll go seek him.
Stands aside with the others
FALSTAFF I am accursed to rob in that thief’s company. That
rascal hath removed my horse, and tied him I know not
where. If I travel but four foot by the square further afoot, I