| ACT I SCENE III | London. The palace. |
| [
Enter the KING, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR,
SIR WALTER BLUNT, with others
] |
| KING HENRY IV | My blood hath been too cold and temperate, |
| Unapt to stir at these indignities, |
| And you have found me; for accordingly |
| You tread upon my patience: but be sure |
| I will from henceforth rather be myself, | 5 |
| Mighty and to be fear'd, than my condition; |
| Which hath been smooth as oil, soft as young down, |
| And therefore lost that title of respect |
| Which the proud soul ne'er pays but to the proud. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Our house, my sovereign liege, little deserves | 10 |
| The scourge of greatness to be used on it; |
| And that same greatness too which our own hands |
| Have holp to make so portly. |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | My lord.-- |
| KING HENRY IV | Worcester, get thee gone; for I do see | 15 |
| Danger and disobedience in thine eye: |
| O, sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory, |
| And majesty might never yet endure |
| The moody frontier of a servant brow. |
| You have good leave to leave us: when we need | 20 |
| Your use and counsel, we shall send for you. |
[Exit Worcester] |
| You were about to speak. |
| [To North] |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | Yea, my good lord. |
| Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded, |
| Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took, | 25 |
| Were, as he says, not with such strength denied |
| As is deliver'd to your majesty: |
| Either envy, therefore, or misprison |
| Is guilty of this fault and not my son. |
| HOTSPUR | My liege, I did deny no prisoners. | 30 |
| But I remember, when the fight was done, |
| When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, |
| Breathless and faint, leaning upon my sword, |
| Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly dress'd, |
| Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin new reap'd | 35 |
| Show'd like a stubble-land at harvest-home; |
| He was perfumed like a milliner; |
| And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held |
| A pouncet-box, which ever and anon |
| He gave his nose and took't away again; | 40 |
| Who therewith angry, when it next came there, |
| Took it in snuff; and still he smiled and talk'd, |
| And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, |
| He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly, |
| To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse | 45 |
| Betwixt the wind and his nobility. |
| With many holiday and lady terms |
| He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded |
| My prisoners in your majesty's behalf. |
| I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold, | 50 |
| To be so pester'd with a popinjay, |
| Out of my grief and my impatience, |
| Answer'd neglectingly I know not what, |
| He should or he should not; for he made me mad |
| To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet | 55 |
| And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman |
| Of guns and drums and wounds,--God save the mark!-- |
| And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth
|
| Was parmaceti for an inward bruise; |
| And that it was great pity, so it was, | 60 |
| This villanous salt-petre should be digg'd |
| Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, |
| Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd |
| So cowardly; and but for these vile guns, |
| He would himself have been a soldier. | 65 |
| This bald unjointed chat of his, my lord, |
| I answer'd indirectly, as I said; |
| And I beseech you, let not his report |
| Come current for an accusation |
| Betwixt my love and your high majesty. | 70 |
| SIR WALTER BLUNT | The circumstance consider'd, good my lord, |
| Whate'er Lord Harry Percy then had said |
| To such a person and in such a place, |
| At such a time, with all the rest retold, |
| May reasonably die and never rise | 75 |
| To do him wrong or any way impeach |
| What then he said, so he unsay it now. |
| KING HENRY IV | Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners, |
| But with proviso and exception, |
| That we at our own charge shall ransom straight | 80 |
| His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer; |
| Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd |
| The lives of those that he did lead to fight |
| Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower, |
| Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March | 85 |
| Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then, |
| Be emptied to redeem a traitor home? |
| Shall we but treason? and indent with fears, |
| When they have lost and forfeited themselves? |
| No, on the barren mountains let him starve; | 90 |
| For I shall never hold that man my friend |
| Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost |
| To ransom home revolted Mortimer. |
| HOTSPUR | Revolted Mortimer! |
| He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, | 95 |
| But by the chance of war; to prove that true |
| Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds, |
| Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took |
| When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, |
| In single opposition, hand to hand, | 100 |
| He did confound the best part of an hour |
| In changing hardiment with great Glendower: |
| Three times they breathed and three times did |
| they drink, |
| Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; | 105 |
| Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, |
| Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, |
| And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, |
| Bloodstained with these valiant combatants. |
| Never did base and rotten policy | 110 |
| Colour her working with such deadly wounds; |
| Nor could the noble Mortimer |
| Receive so many, and all willingly: |
| Then let not him be slander'd with revolt. |
| KING HENRY IV | Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him; | 115 |
| He never did encounter with Glendower: |
| I tell thee, |
| He durst as well have met the devil alone |
| As Owen Glendower for an enemy. |
| Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth | 120 |
| Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer: |
| Send me your prisoners with the speediest means, |
| Or you shall hear in such a kind from me |
| As will displease you. My Lord Northumberland, |
| We licence your departure with your son. | 125 |
| Send us your prisoners, or you will hear of it. |
| [Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train] |
| HOTSPUR | An if the devil come and roar for them, |
| I will not send them: I will after straight |
| And tell him so; for I will ease my heart, |
| Albeit I make a hazard of my head. | 130 |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | What, drunk with choler? stay and pause awhile: |
| Here comes your uncle. |
| [Re-enter WORCESTER] |
| HOTSPUR | Speak of Mortimer! |
| 'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul |
| Want mercy, if I do not join with him: | 135 |
| Yea, on his part I'll empty all these veins, |
| And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust, |
| But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer |
| As high in the air as this unthankful king, |
| As this ingrate and canker'd Bolingbroke. | 140 |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Who struck this heat up after I was gone? |
| HOTSPUR | He will, forsooth, have all my prisoners; |
| And when I urged the ransom once again |
| Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale, | 145 |
| And on my face he turn'd an eye of death, |
| Trembling even at the name of Mortimer. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | I cannot blame him: was not he proclaim'd |
| By Richard that dead is the next of blood? |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | He was; I heard the proclamation: | 150 |
| And then it was when the unhappy king, |
| --Whose wrongs in us God pardon!--did set forth |
| Upon his Irish expedition; |
| From whence he intercepted did return |
| To be deposed and shortly murdered. | 155 |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth |
| Live scandalized and foully spoken of. |
| HOTSPUR | But soft, I pray you; did King Richard then |
| Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer |
| Heir to the crown? | 160 |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | He did; myself did hear it. |
| HOTSPUR | Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin king, |
| That wished him on the barren mountains starve. |
| But shall it be that you, that set the crown |
| Upon the head of this forgetful man | 165 |
| And for his sake wear the detested blot |
| Of murderous subornation, shall it be, |
| That you a world of curses undergo, |
| Being the agents, or base second means, |
| The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather? | 170 |
| O, pardon me that I descend so low, |
| To show the line and the predicament |
| Wherein you range under this subtle king; |
| Shall it for shame be spoken in these days, |
| Or fill up chronicles in time to come, | 175 |
| That men of your nobility and power |
| Did gage them both in an unjust behalf, |
| As both of you--God pardon it!--have done, |
| To put down Richard, that sweet lovely rose, |
| An plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke? | 180 |
| And shall it in more shame be further spoken, |
| That you are fool'd, discarded and shook off |
| By him for whom these shames ye underwent? |
| No; yet time serves wherein you may redeem |
| Your banish'd honours and restore yourselves | 185 |
| Into the good thoughts of the world again, |
| Revenge the jeering and disdain'd contempt |
| Of this proud king, who studies day and night |
| To answer all the debt he owes to you |
| Even with the bloody payment of your deaths: | 190 |
| Therefore, I say-- |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Peace, cousin, say no more: |
| And now I will unclasp a secret book, |
| And to your quick-conceiving discontents |
| I'll read you matter deep and dangerous, | 195 |
| As full of peril and adventurous spirit |
| As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud |
| On the unsteadfast footing of a spear. |
| HOTSPUR | If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim: |
| Send danger from the east unto the west, | 200 |
| So honour cross it from the north to south, |
| And let them grapple: O, the blood more stirs |
| To rouse a lion than to start a hare! |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | Imagination of some great exploit |
| Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. | 205 |
| HOTSPUR | By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap, |
| To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon, |
| Or dive into the bottom of the deep, |
| Where fathom-line could never touch the ground, |
| And pluck up drowned honour by the locks; | 210 |
| So he that doth redeem her thence might wear |
| Without corrival, all her dignities: |
| But out upon this half-faced fellowship! |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | He apprehends a world of figures here, |
| But not the form of what he should attend. | 215 |
| Good cousin, give me audience for a while. |
| HOTSPUR | I cry you mercy. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Those same noble Scots |
| That are your prisoners,-- |
| HOTSPUR | I'll keep them all; | 220 |
| By God, he shall not have a Scot of them; |
| No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not: |
| I'll keep them, by this hand. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | You start away |
| And lend no ear unto my purposes. | 225 |
| Those prisoners you shall keep. |
| HOTSPUR | Nay, I will; that's flat: |
| He said he would not ransom Mortimer; |
| Forbad my tongue to speak of Mortimer; |
| But I will find him when he lies asleep, | 230 |
| And in his ear I'll holla 'Mortimer!' |
| Nay, |
| I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak |
| Nothing but 'Mortimer,' and give it him |
| To keep his anger still in motion. | 235 |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Hear you, cousin; a word. |
| HOTSPUR | All studies here I solemnly defy, |
| Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke: |
| And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales, |
| But that I think his father loves him not | 240 |
| And would be glad he met with some mischance, |
| I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Farewell, kinsman: I'll talk to you |
| When you are better temper'd to attend. |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool | 245 |
| Art thou to break into this woman's mood, |
| Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own! |
| HOTSPUR | Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourged with rods, |
| Nettled and stung with pismires, when I hear |
| Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke. | 250 |
| In Richard's time,--what do you call the place?-- |
| A plague upon it, it is in Gloucestershire; |
| 'Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept, |
| His uncle York; where I first bow'd my knee |
| Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,-- | 255 |
| 'Sblood!-- |
| When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh. |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | At Berkley castle. |
| HOTSPUR | You say true: |
| Why, what a candy deal of courtesy | 260 |
| This fawning greyhound then did proffer me! |
| Look,'when his infant fortune came to age,' |
| And 'gentle Harry Percy,' and 'kind cousin;' |
| O, the devil take such cozeners! God forgive me! |
| Good uncle, tell your tale; I have done. | 265 |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Nay, if you have not, to it again; |
| We will stay your leisure. |
| HOTSPUR | I have done, i' faith. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Then once more to your Scottish prisoners. |
| Deliver them up without their ransom straight, | 270 |
| 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 employ'd, | 275 |
| Shall secretly into the bosom creep |
| Of that same noble prelate, well beloved, |
| The archbishop. |
| HOTSPUR | Of York, is it not? |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | True; who bears hard | 280 |
| His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop. |
| I speak not this in estimation, |
| As what I think might be, but what I know |
| Is ruminated, plotted and set down, |
| And only stays but to behold the face | 285 |
| Of that occasion that shall bring it on. |
| HOTSPUR | I smell it: upon my life, it will do well. |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip. |
| HOTSPUR | Why, it cannot choose but be a noble plot; |
| And then the power of Scotland and of York, | 290 |
| To join with Mortimer, ha? |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | And so they shall. |
| HOTSPUR | In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | And 'tis no little reason bids us speed, |
| To save our heads by raising of a head; | 295 |
| For, bear ourselves as even as we can, |
| The king will always think him in our debt, |
| And think we think ourselves unsatisfied, |
| Till he hath found a time to pay us home: |
| And see already how he doth begin | 300 |
| To make us strangers to his looks of love. |
| HOTSPUR | He does, he does: we'll be revenged on him. |
| EARL OF WORCESTER | Cousin, farewell: no further go in this |
| Than I by letters shall direct your course. |
| When time is ripe, which will be suddenly, | 305 |
| I'll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer; |
| Where you and Douglas and our powers at once, |
| As I will fashion it, shall happily meet, |
| To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms, |
| Which now we hold at much uncertainty. | 310 |
| NORTHUMBERLAND | Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust. |
| HOTSPUR | Uncle, Adieu: O, let the hours be short |
| Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport! |
| [Exeunt] |
1 Henry IV Overview (with theme analysis)