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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 breath'd, 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 slander'd with revolt.

K. HEN. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;

He never did encounter with Glendower; [alone,
I tell thee, he durst as well have met the devil
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.

Art thou not asham'd? 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 Northumberland,
We license your departure with your son:--
Send us your prisoners, or you'll hear of it.

[Exeunt KING HENRY, BLUNT, and Train. Hor. 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, Albeit I make a hazard of my head.b NORTH. What, drunk with choler! stay, and pause awhile;

Here comes your uncle.

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(*) First folio, yes.

(+) First folio, In his behalf. (1) First folio, downfall.

a "Severn is here not the flood, but the tutelary power of the flood, who was affrighted, and hid his head in the hollow bank." -JOHNSON.

b Albeit I make a hazard of my head.] So all the quarto copies; the folio reads, Although it be with hazard, &c.

An eye of death.] Not surely, as Johnson and Steevens interpret it, an eye menacing death, but, an eye of deadly fear. You may redeem your banish'd honours,-]

WOR. Who struck this heat up after I was

gone?

Hor. He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners; And when I urg'd the ransom once again

Of my

wife's brother, then his cheek look'd
pale;

And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.
WOR. I cannot blame him: was he not pro-
claim'd,

By Richard that dead is, the next of blood?
NORTH. 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 depos'd, and, shortly murdered.

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

Live scandaliz'd, and foully spoken of.

[then

Hor. But, soft, I pray you; did king Richard
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 wish'd him on the barren mountains stary'd.
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 murd'rous 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 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

(*) First folio omits, Edmund.

(t) First folio, wore. (1) First folio omits, me, and inserts, if. Mr. Collier's annotator, in the very wantonness of emendation, substitutes "tarnish'd" for "banish'd." In Massinger's play of "The Maid of Honour," Act I. Sc. 1, we have

"Rouse us, sir, from the sleep

Of idleness, and redeem our mortgaged honours." And in "The Custom of the Country," (Beaumont and Fletcher,) Act II. Sc. 1:

"Upon my life, this gallant

Is bribed to repeal banish'd swords.”

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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-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."
HOT. I cry you mercy.
WOR.

That are your prisoners,

HOT.

Those same noble Scots,

I'll keep them all; By God, 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.

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a To rouse a lion, than to start a hare.] That Shakespeare was an accomplished "woodman," may be inferred from his perfect acquaintance with the technical phraseology of the craft. The appropriate expression for raising the nobler animals for the chase was to rouse; the boar was reared; the fox unkenneled; and the hare started.

b Good cousin, give me audience for a while.] The folio, weakening the force of the passage, adds, And list to me.

e I solemnly defy,] Defy was sometimes employed in old language in the sense of renounce.

And that same sword-and-buckler prince of Wales,-] Upon the introduction of the rapier and dagger, the sword-and-buckler fell into desuetude among the higher classes, and were accounted fitting weapons for the vulgar only, such as Hotspur implies were

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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-stung and im-
patient 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 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 do you call the place?—
A plague upon't!-it is in Glostershire ;-
'Twas where the mad-cap duke his uncle kept;
His uncle York ;-where I first bow'd my knee
Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,-
'sblood!+

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Hor. 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 leisure.

Нот.
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

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f

the associates of the prince. Thus in "Florio's First Fruites," 1578:- What weapons bear they?-Some sword and dagger, some sword and buckler.-What weapon is that buckler ?—A clownish dastardly weapon, and not fit for a gentleman."

e Why, what a wasp stung and impatient fool-] So the first quarto, 1598; in the second edition, 1599, wasp-stung was altered to wasp-tongue; and in the folio, 1623, it is, wasp-tongu'd.

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For powers in Scotland; which, for divers

reasons,

Which I shall send you written,-be assur'd,
Will easily be granted.-You, my lord,-
[To NORTHUMBERLAND.
Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,-
Shall secretly into the bosom creep
Of that same noble prelate, well belov'd,
The archbishop.

HOT. Of York, is 't not?

WOR. 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.

Hor. I smell it; upon my life, it will do well.*

NORTH. Before the game's afoot, thou still let'st slip.b

с

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.

(*) First folio, wondrous well.

a I speak not this in estimation,-] Estimation here means supposition, conjecture.

b Thou still let'st slip] Thou always let'st slip. To let slip is a hunting technical; the hounds are held by the leash until the

HOT. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd. WOR. 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. 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

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1 CAR. Like a tench? by the mass,* there is ne'er a king in Christendom could be better bit than I have been since the first cock.

2 CAR. Why, they will allow us ne'er a jordan, and then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.(1)

1 CAR. What, ostler! come away, and be hanged! come away.

2 CAR. I have a gammon of bacon, and two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing

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GADS. Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to London?

2 CAR. 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. GADS. What, ho! chamberlain ! CHAM. [Within.] At hand, quoth pick-purse. GADS. 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.(2)

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a There is ne'er a king in Christendom-] So the folio: the quartos read, ne'er a king christen.

b And two razes of ginger.] Supposed to mean roots of ginger. e I think it be two o'clock.] Steevens suggests that the Carrier, suspecting Gadshill, tries to deceive him as to the hour; because the first observation made in the scene is, that it is four o'clock. d Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick, &c.-] Here the quarto copies have, Nay, by God, soft, I know, &c. The reading in the text is that of the folio.

e Ay, when, can'st tell?-] A proverbial saying. See note (d) p. 127, of the present volume.

f At hand, quoth pick-purse.] A proverbial expression of common currency in Shakespeare's time.

g Eggs and butter.] Buttered eggs constituted the usual breakfast formerly, especially in Lent.

h Saint Nicholas' clerks.] Under what circumstances St. Nicholas became the patron of scholars, an account is given in note (1), p. 43; but why he was reckoned the tutelary guardian

Enter Chamberlain.

CHAM. 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.

GADS. Sirrah, if they meet not with saint Nicholas' clerks," I'll give thee this neck.

CHAM. No, I'll none of it; I pr'ythee, keep that for the hangman; for, I know, thou worship'st saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may.

GADS. What talk'st 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 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; (3) such as can hold in; such as will strike sooner than speak, and speak sooner than drink, and drink sooner than pray: and yet, zounds!* I lie; for they pray continually to their saint, the commonwealth; or, rather, not pray to her, but prey on her; for they ride up and down on her, and make her their boots.

CHAM. What, the commonwealth their boots? will she hold out water in foul way?

GADS. She will, she will; justice hath liquored her. We steal as in a castle, cock-sure: we have the receipt of fern-seed, we walk invisible.(4) CHAM. Nay, by my faith, I think you are more beholden to the night, than to§ fern-seed, for your walking invisible.

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of cut-purses has not yet been satisfactorily explained, although the expression so applied is repeatedly met with in old books. Thus in Glareanus Vadeanus's Panegyrick upon Tom Coryat :

"A mandrake grown under some heavy tree,
There where Saint Nicholas knights not long before,
Had dropt their fat axungia to the lee."

And again, in Rowley's play of "A Match at Midnight:"_"I think yonder comes prancing down the hills from Kingston a couple of St. Nicholas's clerks."

Such as can hold in; such as will strike sooner than speak, and speak sooner than drink, &c.] By such as can hold in, Gadshill, in his professional jargon, may mean such as can hold on, or stick to the purpose; but the subsequent gradation is not very in66 stand." telligible, unless by speak is to be understood, cry, k Nay, by my faith, I think you are, &c.-] The folio omits by my faith, and reads,-Nay, I think rather, you, &c.

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