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Henry IV, Part 1 - Act 4, scene 1
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Henry IV, Part 1 - Act 4, scene 1Act 4, scene 1
⌜Scene 1⌝
Synopsis:
Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas learn that Hotspur’s father, Northumberland, is too sick to join them in the coming battle. They also learn that King Henry is approaching with a great army, including the splendidly armed Prince Hal, and that Glendower and his forces have been delayed.
⌜Enter Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas.⌝HOTSPUR
2239 Well said, my noble Scot. If speaking truth
2240 In this fine age were not thought flattery,
2241 Such attribution should the Douglas have
2242 As not a soldier of this season’s stamp
2243 5 Should go so general current through the world.
2244 By God, I cannot flatter. I do defy
2245 The tongues of soothers. But a braver place
2246 In my heart’s love hath no man than yourself.
2247 Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.
DOUGLAS 2248 10Thou art the king of honor.
2249 No man so potent breathes upon the ground
2250 But I will beard him.
HOTSPUR 2251 Do so, and ’tis well.
Enter ⌜a Messenger⌝ with letters.
2252 What letters hast thou there? ⌜To Douglas.⌝ I can but
2253 15 thank you.
MESSENGER 2254 These letters come from your father.
HOTSPUR
2255 Letters from him! Why comes he not himself?
MESSENGER
2256 He cannot come, my lord. He is grievous sick.
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159
HOTSPUR 2257 Zounds, how has he the leisure to be sick
2258 20 In such a justling time? Who leads his power?
2259 Under whose government come they along?
MESSENGER, ⌜handing letter to Hotspur, who begins
reading it⌝
2260 His letters bears his mind, not I, my ⌜lord.⌝
WORCESTER
2261 I prithee, tell me, doth he keep his bed?
MESSENGER
2262 He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth,
2263 25 And, at the time of my departure thence,
2264 He was much feared by his physicians.
WORCESTER
2265 I would the state of time had first been whole
2266 Ere he by sickness had been visited.
2267 His health was never better worth than now.
HOTSPUR
2268 30 Sick now? Droop now? This sickness doth infect
2269 The very lifeblood of our enterprise.
2270 ’Tis catching hither, even to our camp.
2271 He writes me here that inward sickness—
2272 And that his friends by deputation
2273 35 Could not so soon be drawn, nor did he think it
2274 meet
2275 To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
2276 On any soul removed but on his own;
2277 Yet doth he give us bold advertisement
2278 40 That with our small conjunction we should on
2279 To see how fortune is disposed to us,
2280 For, as he writes, there is no quailing now,
2281 Because the King is certainly possessed
2282 Of all our purposes. What say you to it?
WORCESTER
2283 45 Your father’s sickness is a maim to us.
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161
HOTSPUR 2284 A perilous gash, a very limb lopped off!
2285 And yet, in faith, it is not. His present want
2286 Seems more than we shall find it. Were it good
2287 To set the exact wealth of all our states
2288 50 All at one cast? To set so rich a main
2289 On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?
2290 It were not good, for therein should we read
2291 The very bottom and the soul of hope,
2292 The very list, the very utmost bound
2293 55 Of all our fortunes.
DOUGLAS
2294 Faith, and so we should, where now remains
2295 A sweet reversion. We may boldly spend
2296 Upon the hope of what ⌜is⌝ to come in.
2297 A comfort of retirement lives in this.
HOTSPUR
2298 60 A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
2299 If that the devil and mischance look big
2300 Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.
WORCESTER
2301 But yet I would your father had been here.
2302 The quality and hair of our attempt
2303 65 Brooks no division. It will be thought
2304 By some that know not why he is away
2305 That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike
2306 Of our proceedings kept the Earl from hence.
2307 And think how such an apprehension
2308 70 May turn the tide of fearful faction
2309 And breed a kind of question in our cause.
2310 For well you know, we of the off’ring side
2311 Must keep aloof from strict arbitrament,
2312 And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence
2313 75 The eye of reason may pry in upon us.
2314 This absence of your father’s draws a curtain
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163
2315
That shows the ignorant a kind of fear2316 Before not dreamt of.
HOTSPUR 2317 You strain too far.
2318 80 I rather of his absence make this use:
2319 It lends a luster and more great opinion,
2320 A larger dare, to our great enterprise
2321 Than if the Earl were here, for men must think
2322 If we without his help can make a head
2323 85 To push against a kingdom, with his help
2324 We shall o’erturn it topsy-turvy down.
2325 Yet all goes well; yet all our joints are whole.
DOUGLAS
2326 As heart can think. There is not such a word
2327 Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear.
Enter Sir Richard Vernon.
HOTSPUR
2328 90 My cousin Vernon, welcome, by my soul.
VERNON
2329 Pray God my news be worth a welcome, lord.
2330 The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong,
2331 Is marching hitherwards, with him Prince John.
HOTSPUR
2332 No harm, what more?
VERNON 2333 95 And further I have learned
2334 The King himself in person is set forth,
2335 Or hitherwards intended speedily,
2336 With strong and mighty preparation.
HOTSPUR
2337 He shall be welcome too. Where is his son,
2338 100 The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,
2339 And his comrades, that daffed the world aside
2340 And bid it pass?
VERNON 2341 All furnished, all in arms,
2342 All plumed like estridges that with the wind
2343 105 Bated like eagles having lately bathed,
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165
2344
Glittering in golden coats like images,2345 As full of spirit as the month of May,
2346 And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer,
2347 Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
2348 110 I saw young Harry with his beaver on,
2349 His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly armed,
2350 Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury
2351 And vaulted with such ease into his seat
2352 As if an angel ⌜dropped⌝ down from the clouds,
2353 115 To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus
2354 And witch the world with noble horsemanship.
HOTSPUR
2355 No more, no more! Worse than the sun in March
2356 This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come.
2357 They come like sacrifices in their trim,
2358 120 And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war
2359 All hot and bleeding will we offer them.
2360 The mailèd Mars shall on his ⌜altar⌝ sit
2361 Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
2362 To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh
2363 125 And yet not ours. Come, let me taste my horse,
2364 Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt
2365 Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales.
2366 Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,
2367 Meet and ne’er part till one drop down a corse.
2368 130 O, that Glendower were come!
VERNON 2369 There is more news.
2370 I learned in Worcester, as I rode along,
2371 He ⌜cannot⌝ draw his power this fourteen days.
DOUGLAS
2372 That’s the worst tidings that I hear of ⌜yet.⌝
WORCESTER
2373 135 Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound.
HOTSPUR
2374 What may the King’s whole battle reach unto?
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167
VERNON 2375 To thirty thousand.
HOTSPUR 2376 Forty let it be.
2377 My father and Glendower being both away,
2378 140 The powers of us may serve so great a day.
2379 Come, let us take a muster speedily.
2380 Doomsday is near. Die all, die merrily.
DOUGLAS
2381 Talk not of dying. I am out of fear
2382 Of death or death’s hand for this one half year.
They exit.