So honour cross it from the north to south, North. Imagination of some great exploit Hot. By Heaven, methinks, it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon; Or dive into the bottom of the deep," 19 Where fathom line could never touch the ground, But out upon this half-fac'd 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. That are your prisoners, Hot. Those same noble Scots, I'll keep them all: soul, he shall not: By God, he shall not have a Scot of them; No, if a Scot would save his I'll keep them, by this hand. Wor. You start away, And lend no ear unto my purposes. Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat. He said he would not ransom Mortimer; Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer; But I will find him when he lies asleep, 19 Warburton observes that Euripides has put the same sentiment into the mouth of Eteocles: "I will not, madam, disguise my thoughts; I would scale heaven, I would descend to the very entrails of the earth, if so be that by that price I could obtain a kingdom." And in his ear I'll holla Mortimer! Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak Wor. Hear you, cousin, a word. Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy,20 Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke: And that same sword-and-buckler 21 prince of Wales, But that I think his father loves him not, And would be glad he met with some mischance, I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale. Wor. Farewell, kinsman! I will talk to you, When you are better temper'd to attend. North. Why, what a wasp-tongue 22 and impatient fool 20 To defy was sometimes used in the sense of to renounce, reject, refuse: Thus Constance, in King John: “No, I defy all counsel, all redress." 21 The meaning and force of this epithet are well shown by a passage in Stowe's Survey of London: "This field, commonly called West Smithfield, was for many years called Ruffians' Hall, by reason it was the usual place for frayes and common fighting, during the time that sword and bucklers were in use; when every serving man, from the base to the best, carried a buckler at his back, which hung by the hilt or pomel of his sword." And John Florio, in his First Fruites, 1578:-"What weapons bear they? Some sword and dagger, some sword and buckler. What weapon is that buckler? gentleman." A clownish dastardly weapon, and not fit for a 22 So in the second quarto. The first quarto has wasp-stung, the folio wasp-tongued. Surely, there can be no doubt that wasp tongue is far the best. Mr. Collier, however, prefers wasp-stung, and gives his reason thus: "Northumberland of course means that his son is as impatient as if he had been stung by a wasp, not that he had a wasp's tongue in his head, for the tongue of a wasp is harmless." Which seems a huge little piece of imperti. nence; for the meaning of wasp-tongue manifestly is not that he has the tongue of a wasp, but that his tongue is waspish; in speech he is as peevish, fretful, and stinging as a wasp: which is precise ly true of him as he shows himself in this scene and elsewhere H. Art thou, to break into this woman's mood, Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own! Hot. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods, Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear In Richard's time, what do you call the place? 'Sblood! when you and he came back from Ra venspurg. North. At Berkley castle. Hot. You say true. Why, what a candy deal of courtesy Look, 24 This fawning greyhound then did proffer me! "when his infant fortune came to age," And -"gentle Harry Percy," — and, "kind cous O, the devil take such cozeners! - God forgive me! Good uncle, tell your tale: I have done. Hot. I have done, i'faith. 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 assur'd, 23 Shakespeare uses kept several times in the sense of dwelt. Thus in The Merchant of Venice, Act iii. sc. 3: "It is the most impenetrable cur that ever kept with men." 24 That is, "what a deal of candy courtesy." H. Will easily be granted. [To NORTHUM.] You, my lord, Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd, Shall secretly into the bosom creep Of that same noble prelate, well belov'd, Hot. Of York, is it not? Wor. True; who bears hard His brother's death at Bristol, the lord Scroop. As what I think might be, but what I know And only stays but to behold the face Of that occasion that shall bring it on. Upon my life, it will do wondrous well.26 North. Before the game's afoot, thou still let'st slip.27 Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot. And then the power of Scotland, and of York, To join with Mortimer, ha? 28 Wor. To make us strangers to his looks of love. 25 Conjecture. 28 Wondrous was first supplied in the folio of 1623. H. 27 This phrase is taken from hunting. To let slip is to loose a greyhound. A body of forces. Hot. He does, he does: we'll be reveng'd on him. To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms, I trust. we shall thrive, Hot. Uncle, adieu. O let the hours be short, Till fields, and blows, and groans applaud our sport. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. Rochester. An Inn Yard. Enter a Carrier, with a lantern in his hand. 1 Car. Heigh ho! An't be not four by the day, I'll be hang'd: Charles' wain' is over the new chimney, and yet our horse not pack'd. What, ostler! Ost. [Within.] Anon, anon. 1 Car. I pr'ythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a 29 This was a common address in Shakespeare's time to neph ews, nicces, and grandchildren. Charles' Wain was the vulgar name for the constellation called the Great Bear. It is a corruption of Chorles' or Churl's Wain. Chorl is frequently used for a countryman in old bocks. from the Saxon ceorl. |