2244Mess. His Letters beares his minde, not I his minde.

2245Wor. I prethee tell me, doth he keepe his Bed?

2246Mess. He did, my Lord, foure dayes ere I set forth:

2247And at the time of my departure thence,

2248He was much fear'd by his Physician.

2249Wor. I would the state of time had first beene whole,

2250Ere he by sicknesse had beene visited:

2251His health was neuer better worth then now.

2252Hotsp. Sicke now? droope now? this sicknes doth infect

2253The very Life-blood of our Enterprise,

2254'Tis catching hither, euen to our Campe.

2255He writes me here, that inward sicknesse,

2256And that his friends by deputation

2257Could not so soone be drawne: nor did he thinke it meet,

2258To lay so dangerous and deare a trust

2259On any Soule remou'd, but on his owne.

2260Yet doth he giue vs bold aduertisement,

2261That with our small coniunction we should on,

2262To see how Fortune is dispos'd to vs:

2263For, as he writes, there is no quailing now,

2264Because the King is certainely possest

2265Of all our purposes. What say you to it?

2266Wor. Your Fathers sicknesse is a mayme to vs.

2267Hotsp. A perillous Gash, a very Limme lopt off:

2268And yet, in faith, it is not his present want

2269Seemes more then we shall finde it.

2270Were it good, to set the exact wealth of all our states

2271All at one Cast? To set so rich a mayne

2272On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre,

2273It were not good: for therein should we reade

2274The very Bottome, and the Soule of Hope,

2275The very List, the very vtmost Bound

2276Of all our fortunes.

2277Dowg. Faith, and so wee should,

2278Where now remaines a sweet reuersion.

2279We may boldly spend, vpon the hope

2280Of what is to come in:

2281A comfort of retyrement liues in this.

2282Hotsp. A Randeuous, a Home to flye vnto,

2283If that the Deuill and Mischance looke bigge

2284Vpon the Maydenhead of our Affaires.

2285Wor. But yet I would your Father had beene here:

2286The Qualitie and Heire of our Attempt

2287Brookes no diuision: It will be thought

2288By some, that know not why he is away,

2289That wisedome, loyaltie, and meere dislike

2290Of our proceedings, kept the Earle from hence.

2291And thinke, how such an apprehension

2292May turne the tyde of fearefull Faction,

2293And breede a kinde of question in our cause:

2294For well you know, wee of the offring side,

2295Must keepe aloofe from strict arbitrement,

2296And stop all sight-holes, euery loope, from whence

2297The eye of reason may prie in vpon vs:

2298This absence of your Father drawes a Curtaine,

2299That shewes the ignorant a kinde of feare,

2300Before not dreamt of.

2301Hotsp. You strayne too farre.

2302I rather of his absence make this vse:

2303It lends a Lustre, and more great Opinion,

2304A larger Dare to your great Enterprize,

2305Then if the Earle were here: for men must thinke,

2306If we without his helpe, can make a Head

2307To push against the Kingdome; with his helpe,

2308We shall o're-turne it topsie-turuy downe:

2309Yet all goes well, yet all our ioynts are whole.

2310Dowg. As heart can thinke:

2311There is not such a word spoke of in Scotland,

2312At this Dreame of Feare.

2314Hotsp. My Cousin Vernon, welcome by my Soule.

2315Vern. Pray God my newes be worth a welcome, Lord.

2316The Earle of Westmerland, seuen thousand strong,

2317Is marching hither-wards, with Prince Iohn.

2318Hotsp. No harme: what more?

2319Vern. And further, I haue learn'd,

2320The King himselfe in person hath set forth,

2321Or hither-wards intended speedily,

2322With strong and mightie preparation.

2323Hotsp. He shall be welcome too.

2324Where is his Sonne,

2325The nimble-footed Mad-Cap, Prince of Wales,

2326And his Cumrades, that daft the World aside,

2327And bid it passe?

2328Vern. All furnisht, all in Armes,

2329All plum'd like Estridges, that with the Winde

2330Bayted like Eagles, hauing lately bath'd,

2331Glittering in Golden Coates, like Images,

2332As full of spirit as the Moneth of May,

2333And gorgeous as the Sunne at Mid-summer,

2334Wanton as youthfull Goates, wilde as young Bulls.

2335I saw young Harry with his Beuer on,

2336His Cushes on his thighes, gallantly arm'd,

2337Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury,

2338And vaulted with such ease into his Seat,

2339As if an Angell dropt downe from the Clouds,

2340To turne and winde a fierie Pegasus,

2341And witch the World with Noble Horsemanship.

2342Hotsp. No more, no more,

2343Worse then the Sunne in March:

2344This prayse doth nourish Agues: let them come.

2345They come like Sacrifices in their trimme,

2346And to the fire-ey'd Maid of smoakie Warre,

2347All hot, and bleeding, will wee offer them:

2348The mayled Mars shall on his Altar sit

2349Vp to the eares in blood. I am on fire,

2350To heare this rich reprizall is so nigh,

2351And yet not ours. Come, let me take my Horse,

2352Who is to beare me like a Thunder-bolt,

2353Against the bosome of the Prince of Wales.

2354Harry to Harry, shall not Horse to Horse

2355Meete, and ne're part, till one drop downe a Coarse?

2356Oh, that Glendower were come.

2357Ver. There is more newes:

2358I learned in Worcester, as I rode along,

2359He cannot draw his Power this fourteene dayes.

2360Dowg. That's the worst Tidings that I heare of

2361yet.

2362Wor. I by my faith, that beares a frosty sound.

2363Hotsp. What may the Kings whole Battaile reach

2364vnto?

2365Ver. To thirty thousand.

2366Hot. Forty let it be,

2367My Father and Glendower being both away,

2368The powres of vs, may serue so great a day.

2369Come, let vs take a muster speedily:

2370Doomesday is neere; dye all, dye merrily.

2371Dow. Talke not of dying, I am out of feare

2372Of death, or deaths hand, for this one halfe yeare.