322King. My blood hath beene too cold and temperate,

323Vnapt to stirre at these indignities,

324And you haue found me; for accordingly,

325You tread vpon my patience: But be sure,

326I will from henceforth rather be my Selfe,

327Mighty, and to be fear'd, then my condition

328Which hath beene smooth as Oyle, soft as yong Downe,

329And therefore lost that Title of respect,

330Which the proud soule ne're payes, but to the proud.

331Wor. Our house (my Soueraigne Liege) little deserues

332The scourge of greatnesse to be vsed on it,

333And that same greatnesse too, which our owne hands

334Haue holpe to make so portly.

335Nor. My Lord.

336King. Worcester get thee gone: for I do see

337Danger and disobedience in thine eye.

338O sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory,

339And Maiestie might neuer yet endure

340The moody Frontier of a seruant brow,

341You haue good leaue to leaue vs. When we need

342Your vse and counsell, we shall send for you.

343You were about to speake.

344North. Yea, my good Lord.

345Those Prisoners in your Highnesse demanded,

346Which Harry Percy heere at Holmedon tooke,

347Were (as he sayes) not with such strength denied

348As was deliuered to your Maiesty:

349Who either through enuy, or misprision,

350Was guilty of this fault; and not my Sonne.

351Hot. My Liege, I did deny no Prisoners.

352But, I remember when the fight was done,

353When I was dry with Rage, and extreame Toyle,

354Breathlesse, and Faint, leaning vpon my Sword,

355Came there a certaine Lord, neat and trimly drest;

356Fresh as a Bride-groome, and his Chin new reapt,

357Shew'd like a stubble Land at Haruest home.

358He was perfumed like a Milliner,

359And 'twixt his Finger and his Thumbe, he held

360A Pouncet-box: which euer and anon

361He gaue his Nose, and took't away againe:

362Who therewith angry, when it next came there,

363Tooke it in Snuffe. And still he smil'd and talk'd:

364And as the Souldiers bare dead bodies by,

365He call'd them vntaught Knaues, Vnmannerly,

366To bring a slouenly vnhandsome Coarse

367Betwixt the Winde, and his Nobility.

368With many Holiday and Lady tearme

369He question'd me: Among the rest, demanded

370My Prisoners, in your Maiesties behalfe.

371I then, all-smarting, with my wounds being cold,

372(To be so pestered with a Popingay)

373Out of my Greefe, and my Impatience,

374Answer'd (neglectingly) I know not what,

375He should, or should not: For he made me mad,

376To see him shine so briske, and smell so sweet,

377And talke so like a Waiting-Gentlewoman,

378Of Guns, & Drums, and Wounds: God saue the marke;

379And telling me, the Soueraign'st thing on earth

380Was Parmacity, for an inward bruise:

381And that it was great pitty, so it was,

382That villanous Salt-peter should be digg'd

383Out of the Bowels of the harmlesse Earth,

384Which many a good Tall Fellow had destroy'd

385So Cowardly. And but for these vile Gunnes,

386He would himselfe haue beene a Souldier.

387This bald, vnioynted Chat of his (my Lord)

388Made me to answer indirectly (as I said.)

389And I beseech you, let not this report

390Come currant for an Accusation,

391Betwixt my Loue, and your high Maiesty.

392Blunt. The circumstance considered, good my Lord,

393What euer Harry Percie then had said,

394To such a person, and in such a place,

395At such a time, with all the rest retold,

396May reasonably dye, and neuer rise

397To do him wrong, or any way impeach

398What then he said, so he vnsay it now.

399King. Why yet doth deny his Prisoners,

400But with Prouiso and Exception,

401That we at our owne charge, shall ransome straight

402His Brother-in-Law, the foolish Mortimer,

403Who (in my soule) hath wilfully betraid

404The liues of those, that he did leade to Fight,

405Against the great Magitian, damn'd Glendower:

406Whose daughter (as we heare) the Earle of March

407Hath lately married. Shall our Coffers then,

408Be emptied, to redeeme a Traitor home?

409Shall we buy Treason? and indent with Feares,

410When they haue lost and forfeyted themselues.

411No: on the barren Mountaine let him sterue:

412For I shall neuer hold that man my Friend,

413Whose tongue shall aske me for one peny cost

414To ransome home reuolted Mortimer.

415Hot. Reuolted Mortimer?

416He neuer did fall off, my Soueraigne Liege,

417But by the chance of Warre: to proue that true,

418Needs no more but one tongue. For all those Wounds,

419Those mouthed Wounds, which valiantly he tooke,

420When on the gentle Seuernes siedgie banke,

421In single Opposition hand to hand,

422He did confound the best part of an houre

423In changing hardiment with great Glendower:

424Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink

425Vpon agreement, of swift Seuernes flood;

426Who then affrighted with their bloody lookes,

427Ran fearefully among the trembling Reeds,

428And hid his crispe-head in the hollow banke,

429Blood-stained with these Valiant Combatants.

430Neuer did base and rotten Policy

431Colour her working with such deadly wounds;

432Nor neuer could the Noble Mortimer

433Receiue so many, and all willingly:

434Then let him not be sland'red with Reuolt.

435King. Thou do'st bely him Percy, thou dost bely him;

436He neuer did encounter with Glendower:

437I tell thee, he durst as well haue met the diuell alone,

438As Owen Glendower for an enemy.

439Art thou not asham'd? But Sirrah, henceforth

440Let me not heare you speake of Mortimer.

441Send me your Prisoners with the speediest meanes,

442Or you shall heare in such a kinde from me

443As will displease ye. My Lord Northumberland,

444We License your departure with your sonne,

445Send vs your Prisoners, or you'l heare of it.

446Hot. And if the diuell come and roare for them

447I will not send them. I will after straight

448And tell him so: for I will ease my heart,

449Although it be with hazard of my head.

450Nor. What? drunke with choller? stay & pause awhile,

451Heere comes your Vnckle. Enter Worcester.

452Hot. Speake of Mortimer?

453Yes, I will speake of him, and let my soule

454Want mercy, if I do not ioyne with him.

455In his behalfe, Ile empty all these Veines,

456And shed my deere blood drop by drop i'th dust,

457But I will lift the downfall Mortimer

458As high i'th Ayre, as this Vnthankfull King,

459As this Ingrate and Cankred Bullingbrooke.

460Nor. Brother, the King hath made your Nephew mad

461Wor. Who strooke this heate vp after I was gone?

462Hot. He will (forsooth) haue all my Prisoners:

463And when I vrg'd the ransom once againe

464Of my Wiues Brother, then his cheeke look'd pale,

465And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,

466Trembling euen at the name of Mortimer.

467Wor. I cannot blame him: was he not proclaim'd

468By Richard that dead is, the next of blood?

469Nor. He was: I heard the Proclamation,

470And then it was, when the vnhappy King

471(Whose wrongs in vs God pardon) did set forth

472Vpon his Irish Expedition:

473From whence he intercepted, did returne

474To be depos'd, and shortly murthered.

475Wor. And for whose death, we in the worlds wide mouth

476Liue scandaliz'd, and fouly spoken of.

477Hot. But soft I pray you; did King Richard then

478Proclaime my brother Mortimer,

479Heyre to the Crowne?

480Nor. He did, my selfe did heare it.

481Hot. Nay then I cannot blame his Cousin King,

482That wish'd him on the barren Mountaines staru'd.

483But shall it be, that you that set the Crowne

484Vpon the head of this forgetfull man,

485And for his sake, wore the detested blot

486Of murtherous subornation? Shall it be,

487That you a world of curses vndergoe,

488Being the Agents, or base second meanes,

489The Cords, the Ladder, or the Hangman rather?

490O pardon, if that I descend so low,

491To shew the Line, and the Predicament

492Wherein you range vnder this subtill King.

493Shall it for shame, be spoken in these dayes,

494Or fill vp Chronicles in time to come,

495That men of your Nobility and Power,

496Did gage them both in an vniust behalfe

497(As Both of you, God pardon it, haue done)

498To put downe Richard, that sweet louely Rose,

499And plant this Thorne, this Canker Bullingbrooke?

500And shall it in more shame be further spoken,

501That you are fool'd, discarded, and shooke off

502By him, for whom these shames ye vnderwent?

503No: yet time serues, wherein you may redeeme

504Your banish'd Honors, and restore your selues

505Into the good Thoughts of the world againe.

506Reuenge the geering and disdain'd contempt

507Of this proud King, who studies day and night

508To answer all the Debt he owes vnto you,

509Euen with the bloody Payment of your deaths:

510Therefore I say---

511Wor. Peace Cousin, say no more.

512And now I will vnclaspe a Secret booke,

513And to your quicke conceyuing Discontents,

514Ile reade you Matter, deepe and dangerous,

515As full of perill and aduenturous Spirit,

516As to o're-walke a Current, roaring loud

517On the vnstedfast footing of a Speare.

518Hot. If he fall in, good night, or sinke or swimme:

519Send danger from the East vnto the West,

520So Honor crosse it from the North to South,

521And let them grapple: The blood more stirres

522To rowze a Lyon, then to start a Hare.

523Nor. Imagination of some great exploit,

524Driues him beyond the bounds of Patience.

525Hot. By heauen, me thinkes it were an easie leap,

526To plucke bright Honor from the pale-fac'd Moone,

527Or diue into the bottome of the deepe,

528Where Fadome-line could neuer touch the ground,

529And plucke vp drowned Honor by the Lockes:

530So he that doth redeeme her thence, might weare

531Without Co-riuall, all her Dignities:

532But out vpon this halfe-fac'd Fellowship.

533Wor. He apprehends a World of Figures here,

534But not the forme of what he should attend:

535Good Cousin giue me audience for a-while,

536And list to me.

537Hot. I cry you mercy.

538Wor. Those same Noble Scottes

539That are your Prisoners.

540Hot. Ile keepe them all.

541By heauen, he shall not haue a Scot of them:

542No, if a Scot would saue his Soule, he shall not.

543Ile keepe them, by this Hand.

544Wor. You start away,

545And lend no eare vnto my purposes.

546Those Prisoners you shall keepe.

547Hot. Nay, I will; that's flat:

548He said, he would not ransome Mortimer:

549Forbad my tongue to speake of Mortimer.

550But I will finde him when he lyes asleepe,

551And in his eare, Ile holla Mortimer.

552Nay, Ile haue a Starling shall be taught to speake

553Nothing but Mortimer, and giue it him,

554To keepe his anger still in motion.

555Wor. Heare you Cousin: a word.

556Hot. All studies heere I solemnly defie,

557Saue how to gall and pinch this Bullingbrooke,

558And that same Sword and Buckler Prince of Wales.

559But that I thinke his Father loues him not,

560And would be glad he met with some mischance,

561I would haue poyson'd him with a pot of Ale.

562Wor. Farewell Kinsman: Ile talke to you

563When you are better temper'd to attend.

564Nor. Why what a Waspe-tongu'd & impatient foole

565Art thou, to breake into this Womans mood,

566Tying thine eare to no tongue but thine owne?

567Hot. Why look you, I am whipt & scourg'd with rods,

568Netled, and stung with Pismires, when I heare

569Of this vile Politician Bullingbrooke.

570In Richards time: What de'ye call the place?

571A plague vpon't, it is in Gloustershire:

572'Twas, where the madcap Duke his Vncle kept,

573His Vncle Yorke, where I first bow'd my knee

574Vnto this King of Smiles, this Bullingbrooke:

575When you and he came backe from Rauenspurgh.

576Nor. At Barkley Castle.

577Hot. You say true:

578Why what a caudie deale of curtesie,

579This fawning Grey-hound then did proffer me.

580Looke when his infant Fortune came to age,

581And gentle Harry Percy, and kinde Cousin:

582O, the Diuell take such Couzeners, God forgiue me,

583Good Vncle tell your tale, for I haue done.

584Wor. Nay, if you haue not, too't againe,

585Wee'l stay your leysure.

586Hot. I haue done insooth.

587Wor. Then once more to your Scottish Prisoners.

588Deliuer them vp without their ransome straight,

589And make the Dowglas sonne your onely meane

590For powres in Scotland: which for diuers reasons

591Which I shall send you written, be assur'd

592Will easily be granted you, my Lord.

593Your Sonne in Scotland being thus impl y'd,

594Shall secretly into the bosome creepe

595Of that same noble Prelate, well belou'd,

596The Archbishop.

597Hot. Of Yorke, is't not?

598Wor. True, who beares hard

599His Brothers death at Bristow, the Lord Scroope.

600I speake not this in estimation,

601As what I thinke might be, but what I know

602Is ruminated, plotted, and set downe,

603And onely stayes but to behold the face

604Of that occasion that shall bring it on.

605Hot. I smell it:

606Vpon my life, it will do wond'rous well.

607Nor. Before the game's a-foot, thou still let'st slip.

608Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a Noble plot,

609And then the power of Scotland, and of Yorke

610To ioyne with Mortimer, Ha.

611Wor. And so they shall.

612Hot. Infaith it is exceedingly well aym'd.

613Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids vs speed,

614To saue our heads, by raising of a Head:

615For, beare our selues as euen as we can,

616The King will alwayes thinke him in our debt,

617And thinke, we thinke our selues vnsatisfied,

618Till he hath found a time to pay vs home.

619And see already, how he doth beginne

620To make vs strangers to his lookes of loue.

621Hot. He does, he does; wee'l be reueng'd on him.

622Wor. Cousin, farewell. No further go in this,

623Then I by Letters shall direct your course

624When time is ripe, which will be sodainly:

625Ile steale to Glendower, and loe, Mortimer,

626Where you, and Dowglas, and our powres at once,

627As I will fashion it, shall happily meete,

628To beare our fortunes in our owne strong armes,

629Which now we hold at much vncertainty.

630Nor. Farewell good Brother, we shall thriue, I trust.

631Hot. Vncle, adieu: O let the houres be short,

632Till fields, and blowes, and grones, applaud our sport.