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Hot. To-night, say I.

Content.

Ver. Come, come, it may not be. I wonder much,
Being men of such great leading as you are,
That you foresee not what impediments
Drag back our expedition: certain horse
Of my cousin Vernon's are not yet come up:
Your uncle Worcester's horse came but to-day;
And now their pride and mettle is asleep,
Their courage with hard labour tame and dull,
That not a horse is half the half of himself.
Hot. So are the horses of the enemy
In general, journey-bated and brought low:
The better part of ours are full of rest.

Wor. The number of the king exceedeth ours:
For God's sake, cousin, stay till all come in.

[The trumpet sounds a parley.

Enter SIR WALTER BLUnt.

Blunt. I come with gracious offers from the king, If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect.

Hot. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt; and would to God

You were of our determination!

Some of us love you well; and even those some

Envy your great deservings and good name,

Because you are not of our quality,

But stand against us like an enemy.

Blunt. And God defend but still I should stand so,

So long as out of limit and true rule

You stand against anointed majesty!

But, to my charge.-The king hath sent to know
The nature of your griefs; and whereupon

You conjure from the breast of civil peace

Such bold hostility; teaching his duteous land
Audacious cruelty. If that the king

Have any way your good deserts forgot,

Which he confesseth to be manifold,

He bids you name your griefs; and with all speed
You shall have your desires with interest,

And pardon absolute for yourself, and these

Herein misled by your suggestion.

Hot. The king is kind; and well we know the king Knows at what time to promise, when to pay.

My father and my uncle and myself
Did give him that same royalty he wears;
And when he was not six-and-twenty strong,
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low,
poor unminded outlaw sneaking home,

A

My father gave him welcome to the shore;
And when he heard him swear, and vow to God,
He came but to be Duke of Lancaster,

To sue his livery and beg his peace,

With tears of innocency and terms of zeal,-
My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd,
Swore him assistance, and perform'd it too.
Now, when the lords and barons of the realm
Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him,
The more and less came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages;
Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,
Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths,
Gave him their heirs as pages, follow'd him
Even at the heels in golden multitudes.
He presently, -as greatness knows itself,-
Steps me a little higher than his vow
Made to my father, while his blood was poor,
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees,
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth;
Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country's wrongs; and, by this face,
This seeming brow of justice, did he win
The hearts of all that he did angle for:
Proceeded further; cut me off the heads
Of all the favourites that the absent king
In deputation left behind him here,
When he was personal in the Irish war.
Blunt. Tut, I came not to hear this.
Hot.

Then to the point.

In short time after, he depos'd the king;
Soon after that, depriv'd him of his life;

And, in the neck of that, task'd the whole state:
To make that worse, suffer'd his kinsman March,-
Who is, if every owner were well plac'd,

Indeed his king,-to be incag'd in Wales,
There without ransom to lie forfeited;
Disgrac'd me in my happy victories;
Sought to entrap me by intelligence;

Rated my uncle from the council-board;
In rage dismiss'd my father from the court;
Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong;
And, in conclusion, drove us to seek out
This head of safety; and withal to pry

Into his title, the which we find

Too indirect for long continuance.

Blunt. Shall I return this answer to the king? Hot. Not so, Sir Walter: we'll withdraw awhile. Go to the king; and let there be impawn'd

Some surety for a safe return again,

And in the morning early shall my uncle
Bring him our purposes: and so, farewell.

Blunt. I would you would accept of grace and love.
Hot. And may be so we shall.

Blunt.

SCENE IV.-YORK.

Pray God you do! [Exeunt.

A Room in the ARCHBISHOP's House.

Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, and SIR MICHAEL. Arch. Hie, good Sir Michael; bear this sealed brief With winged haste to the lord marshal;

This to my cousin Scroop; and all the rest

To whom they are directed. If you knew

How much they do import, you would make haste.
Sir M. My good lord,

guess their tenor.

I

Arch.

Like enough you do.

To-morrow, good Sir Michael, is a day

Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Must bide the touch; for, sir, at Shrewsbury,
As I am truly given to understand,

The king, with mighty and quick-raised power,
Meets with Lord Harry: and I fear, Sir Michael,
What with the sickness of Northumberland,

Whose power was in the first proportion,

And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence,-
Who with them was a rated sinew too,

And comes not in, o'erruled by prophecies,

I fear the power of Percy is too weak

To wage an instant trial with the king.

Sir M. Why, my good lord, you need not fear; there is And Lord Mortimer.

Arch.

No, Mortimer is not there.

[Douglas,

Sir M. But there is Mordake, Vernon, Lord Harry Percy,

And there is my Lord of Worcester; and a head
Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.

Arch. And so there is; but yet the king hath drawn
The special head of all the land together :-

The Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster,

The noble Westmoreland, and warlike Blunt;
And many more corrivals and dear men

Of estimation and command in arms.

Sir M. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well oppos'd. Arch. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear; And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed: For if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the king Dismiss his power, he means to visit us, For he hath heard of our confederacy,And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him: Therefore make haste. I must go write again To other friends; and so, farewell, Sir Michael.

[Exeunt severally.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-The KING'S Camp near Shrewsbury. Enter KING HENRY, PRINCE HENRY, PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, SIR WALTER BLUNT, and SIR JOHN FALSTAFF.

K. Hen. How bloodily the sun begins to peer Above yon bosky hill! the day looks pale

At his distemperature.

P. Hen.

The southern wind

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes;
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.

K. Hen. Then with the losers let it sympathize,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win.

[Trumpet sounds.

Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.

How now, my Lord of Worcester! 'tis not well
That you and I should meet upon such terms
As now we meet. You have deceiv'd our trust;
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to it? will you again unknit

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This churlish knot of all-abhorred war?
And move in that obedient orb again

Where you did give a fair and natural light;
And be no more an exhal'd meteor,
A prodigy of fear, and a portent

Of broached mischief to the unborn times?
Wor. Hear me, my liege:

For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life

With quiet hours; for, I do protest,

I have not sought the day of this dislike.

K. Hen. You have not sought it! how comes it, then? Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.

P. Hen. Peace, chewet, peace!

Wor. It pleas'd your majesty to turn your looks
Of favour from myself and all our house;
And yet I must remember you, my lord,
We were the first and dearest of your friends.
For you my staff of office did I break

In Richard's time; and posted day and night
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.

It was myself, my brother, and his son,
That brought you home, and boldly did outdare
The dangers of the time: you swore to us,-
And you did swear that oath at Doncaster,-
That you
did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right,
The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster:
To this we swore our aid. But in short space
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head;
And such a flood of greatness fell on you,-
What with our help, what with the absent king,
What with the injuries of a wanton time,
The seeming sufferances that you had borne,
And the contrarious winds that held the king
So long in his unlucky Irish wars
That all in England did repute him dead,-
And, from this swarm of fair advantages,
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand;
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;
And, being fed by us, you us'd us so
As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,
Useth the sparrow,-did oppress our nest,

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