Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

The thieves are all scatter'd and possess'd with fear
So strongly that they dare not meet each other; 110
Each takes his fellow for an officer.

Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death,
And lards the lean earth as he walks along:
Were 't not for laughing, I should pity him.
Poins. How the rogue roar'd!

Scene III.

Warkworth Castle.

Enter Hotspur solus, reading a letter.

[Exeunt.

ΙΟ

Hot. 'But for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house.' He could be contented: why is he not, then? In respect of the love he bears our house: he shows in this, he loves his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me see some more. The purpose you undertake is dangerous; '-why, that 's certain : 'tis dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink; but I tell you, my lord fool, out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. The purpose you undertake is dangerous; the friends you have named uncertain; the time itself unsorted; and your whole plot too light for the counterpoise of so great an opposition.' Say you so, say you so? I say unto you again, you are a shallow cowardly hind, and you lie. What a lack-brain is this! By the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant: a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation; an excel- 20

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

HOTSPUR (reading): "But for mine own part, my lord, I could be well contented to be there, in respect of the love I bear your house'

[ocr errors]

KING HENRY IV Part I Act II Scene 3

lent plot, very good friends. What a frosty-
spirited rogue is this! Why, my lord of York
commends the plot and the general course of the
action. 'Zounds, an I were now by this rascal,
I could brain him with his lady's fan. Is there
not my father, my uncle, and myself? lord
Edmund Mortimer, my lord of York, and Owen
Glendower? is there not besides the Douglas?
have I not all their letters to meet me in arms by
the ninth of the next month? and are they not 30
some of them set forward already? What a
pagan rascal is this! an infidel! Ha! you shall
see now in very sincerity of fear and cold heart,
will he to the king, and lay open all our proceed-
ings. O, I could divide myself, and go to buf-
fets, for moving such a dish of skim milk with so
honourable an action! Hang him! let him tell
the king: we are prepared. I will set forward
to-night.

Enter Lady Percy.

How now, Kate! I must leave you within these two

hours.

Lady. O, my good lord, why are you thus alone?

40

For what offence have I this fortnight been
A banish'd woman from my Harry's bed?
Tell me, sweet lord, what is 't that takes from thee
Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?
Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,
And start so often when thou sit'st alone?

Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks,
And given my treasures and my rights of thee

50

To thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy?
In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch'd,
And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;
Speak terms of manage to thy bounding steed;
Cry Courage! to the field!' And thou hast talk'd
Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,

Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,

Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,

60

Of prisoners' ransom, and of soldiers slain,
And all the currents of a heady fight.
Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war
And thus hath so bestirr'd thee in thy sleep,
That beads of sweat hath stood upon thy brow,
Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;
And in thy face strange motions have appear'd,
Such as we see when men restrain their breath
On some great sudden hest. O, what portents are
these?

Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,
And I must know it, else he loves me not.

Hot. What, ho!

Enter Servant.

Is Gilliams with the packet gone?

Serv. He is, my lord, an hour ago.

69

Hot. Hath Butler brought those horses from the sheriff? Serv. One horse, my lord, he brought even now.

Hot. What horse? a roan, a crop-ear, is it not?

Serv. It is, my lord.

Hot.

That roan shall be my throne.
Well, I will back him straight: O esperance!
Bid Butler lead him forth into the park.

[Exit Servant.

« PredošláPokračovať »