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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 murtherous 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', Bolingbroke?
And shall it, in more shame, be further spoken,
That you are fool'd, discarded, and shook off
By him for whom these shames ye underwent ?
No; yet time serves, wherein you may redeem
Your banish'd honours, and restore yourselves
Into the good thoughts of the world again:
Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt
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,-

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

■ O pardon, if. So the folio, and some of the quartos; the first quarto, and that of 1604, 0, pardon me.

This canker. The canker is the dog-rose-the rose of the hedge, not of the garden. In 'Much Ado about Nothing' we have, "I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace.”

Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.
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,

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-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,
And list to me".

HOT. I cry you mercy.

WOR.

Those same noble Scots,

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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;
Forbad 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 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-tongued and impatient fool

a And list to me. This short line is found in the folio, but not in the quartos.

b Wasp-tongued. Wasp-stung, which finds a place in most editions, is the reading of the first quarto. Steevens says Shakspere knew the sting of a wasp was ́not situated in its mouth;~Malone properly replies, "It means only having a tongue as peevish and mischievous as a wasp."

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

Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke.

In Richard's time,-What d' ye call the place?-
A plague upon 't-it is in Gloucestershire;-
'T was where the madcap duke his uncle kept;
His uncle York ;-where I first bow'd my knee
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,
When you and he came back from Ravenspurg.
NORTH. At Berkley 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,"-
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

Нот.

leisure.

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 assur'd,
Will easily be granted.—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,
The archbishop.

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Upon my life it will do wond'rous well.

NORTH. Before the game 's a-foot thou still lett'st slip".

• Estimation-conjecture.

[TO NORTH.

Lett'st slip. The greyhound is held in slips, and is loosened when" the game 's a-foot."

HOT. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot :---
And then the power of Scotland and of York,-
To join with Mortimer, ha ?

WOR.
And so they shall.
HOT. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
WOR. And 't is 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.
HOT. He does, he does; we 'll be reveng'd on him,
WOR. 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.

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

Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport!

[Exeunt.

Suddenly. We make the sentence here end, putting a comma after course, as in the old editions. The modern editors read,

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1 CAR. Heigh ho!

[Scene I.]

ACT II.

SCENE I.-Rochester. An Inn Yard.

Enter a Carrier, with a lantern in his hand.

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!

OST. [Within.] Anon, anon.

1 CAR. 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.

2 CAR. Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog, and this is the next

way to

Charles' wain-the churl's wain-the countryman's waggon. The popular name for the constellation of the Great Bear.

Out of all cess. Ex-cess-ively. The French sans cesse is supposed by Cotgrave to be the same as out of all cess.

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