And lend no ear unto my purposes.- Hot. Nay, I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak Wor. Cousin; a word. Hear you, Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy, Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke. And that same sword-and-buckler1 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-tongue and impatient fool Art thou, to break into this woman's mood, Hot. Why, look you, I am whipped and scourged with rods, Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear In Richard's time,-what do you call the place?— 1 "Sword-and-buckler prince," is here used as a term of contempt. The following extracts will help us to the precise meaning of the epithet:-"This field, commonly called West Smithfield, was for many years called Ruffian's 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."-Stowe's Survey of London. 2 The first quarto, 1598, reads wasp-stung, which Steevens thought the true reading. The quarto of 1599 reads wasp-tongue. The folio altered it, unnecessarily, to wasp-tongued. "Twas where the mad-cap duke his uncle kept; Hot. You say true. Why, what a candy' deal of courtesy This fawning greyhound then did proffer me! Good uncle, tell your tale, for 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 assured, Will easily be granted.-You, my lord, [TO NORTHUMBERLAND. Your son in Scotland being thus employed,— Of that same noble prelate, well beloved, 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,2 As what I think might be, but what I know Hot. I smell it: upon my life, it will do well. 1 i. e. "what a deal of candy courtesy." 2 Conjecture. And then the power of Scotland, and of York,- Wor. To make us strangers to his looks of love. Hot. He does, he does; we'll be revenged on him. Wor. Cousin, farewell.-No further go in this, 2 Than I by letters shall direct your course. To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms, North. Farewell, good brother;—we shall thrive, 1 trust. Hot. Uncle, adieu.-O, let the hours be short, Till fields, and blows, and groans, applaud our sport! [Exeunt. 1 A body of forces. 2 This was a common address, in Shakspeare's time, to nephews, nieces, and grandchildren. See Holinshed, passim. Hotspur was Worcester's nephew.. 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 hanged. Charles' wain1 is over the new chimney, and yet our horse not packed. What, ostler! Ost. [Within.] Anon, anon. 1 Car. I pr'ythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle, put a few flocks in the point; the poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess.2 Enter another Carrier. 2 Car. Pease and beans are as dank here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots: this house is turned upside down, since Robin ostler died. 1 Car. Poor fellow! never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of him. 2 Car. I think this be the most villanous house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like a tench.3 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 jorden, and then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.4 1 Car. What, ostler! come away and be hanged; come away. 1 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 fre quently used for a countryman, in old books, from the Saxon ceorl. 2 "Out of all cess" is "out of all measure." 3 Dr. Farmer thought tench a mistake for trout; probably alluding to the red spots with which the trout is covered. 4 Mason suggests that "breeds fleas as fast as a loach breeds loaches," may be the meaning of the passage; the loach being reckoned a peculiarly prolific fish. 2 Car. I have a gammon of bacon, and two razes1 of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing Cross. I Car. 'Odsbody! 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. Gads. Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock? Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding in the stable. 1 Car. Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick worth two of that, i' faith. Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thine. 2 Car. Ay, when? canst tell?-Lend me thy lantern, quoth a?-Marry, I'll see thee hanged first. 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, neighbor 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.3 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 laboring; thou lay'st the plot how. Enter Chamberlain. Cham. Good morrow, master Gadshill. It holds current, that I told you yesternight. There's a frank 1 Theobald asserts that a raze is the Indian term for a bale. The word is sometimes used for a fraile, or little rush-basket, such as figs, raisins, &c. are usually packed in. 2 This is one of the Poet's anachronisms. Turkeys were not brought into England until the reign of Henry VIII. 3 This is a proverbial phrase, frequently used in old plays. |