图书图片
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

King. 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 Glen-
dower,

Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March
Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then, 85
Be emptied to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treason, and indent with fears,
When they have lost and forfeited themselves?
No, on the barren mountains let him starve;
For I shall never hold that man my friend
Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost
To ransom home revolted Mortimer.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer!

90

[blocks in formation]

North. What, drunk with choler? Stay and

pause a while.

Here comes your uncle.

129

[blocks in formation]

And when I urg'd the ransom once again

140

Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd

pale,

And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling even at the name of Mortimer.
Wor. I cannot blame him. Was not he pro-
claim'd

145

[blocks in formation]

165

But shall it be, that you, that set the crown 160
Upon the head of this forgetful man
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?
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,
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,

170

175

And plant this thorn, this canker, Bolingbroke?

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

180

185

Your banish'd honours and restore yourselves
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.
Therefore, I say,
Wor.
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,
As full of peril and adventurous spirit
As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud
On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.

190

Hot. If he fall in, good night! or sink or swim.

195

Send Danger from the east unto the west,
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!

North. Imagination of some great exploit Drives him beyond the bounds of patience. 200 Hot. By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap,

To pluck bright Honour from the pale-fac'd 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; 205
So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
Without corrival all her dignities.
But out upon this half-fac'd fellowship!

Wor. He apprehends a world of figures here,
But not the form of what he should attend. 210
Good cousin, give me audience for a while.
Hot. I cry you mercy.
Wor.

That are your prisoners,
Hot.

Those same noble Scots

I'll keep them all! By God, he shall not have a Scot of them; 214 No, if a Scot would save his soul, he shall not! I'll keep them, by this hand. Wor.

You start away And lend no ear unto my purposes. Those prisoners you shall keep. Hot. 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, And in his ear I'll holla " Mortimer!'

Nay,

220

I'll have a starling shall be taught to speak Nothing but. "Mortimer," and give it him, 225 To keep his anger still in motion.

Wor. Hear you, cousin; a word. Hot. All studies here I solemnly defy, Save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke; And that same sword-and-buckler Prince of Wales,

230

But that I think his father loves him not
And would be glad he met with some mischance,
I would have him poison'd with a pot of ale.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Gads. What, ho! chamberlain ! Cham. At hand, quoth pick-purse. Gads. That's even as fair as- at hand, quoth the chamberlain; for thou variest no more from picking of purses than giving direction doth from labouring; thou lay'st the plot how.

67

Cham. Good morrow, Master Gadshill. It holds current that I told you yesternight: there's a franklin in the wild of Kent hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold. I heard him tell it to one of his company last night at supper; a kind of auditor; one that hath abundance of charge too, God knows what. They are up already, and call for eggs and butter. They will away presently. 66 Gads. Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas' clerks, I'll give thee this neck.

Cham. No, I'll none of it. I pray thee, keep that for the hangman; for I know thou worshipp'st Saint Nicholas as truly as a man of falsehood may.

72

Gads. What talkest thou to me of the hangman? If I hang, I'll make a fat pair of gallows; for if I hang, old Sir John hangs with me, and thou know'st he is no starveling. Tut there are other Troians that thou dream'st not of, the which for sport sake are content to do the profession some grace, [78 that would, if matters should be look'd into, for their own credit sake, make all whole. I am joined with no foot land-rakers, no longstaff sixpenny strikers, none of these mad mustachio purple-hued malt-worms; but with nobility and tranquillity, burgomasters and great oneyers; such as can hold in, such as will strike sooner than speak, and speak sooner [85 than drink, and drink sooner than pray; and yet, 'zounds, I lie; for they pray continually to their saint, the commonwealth; or rather, not pray to her, but prey on her, for they ride up and down on her and make her their boots.

91

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Fal. Poins! Poins, and be hang'd! Poins! Prince. [Coming forward.] Peace, ye fat-kidney'd rascal! what a brawling dost thou keep! Fal. Where's Poins, Hal?

Prince. He is walk'd up to the top of the hill; I'll go seek him. [Withdraws.]

Fal. I am accurs'd to rob in that thief's company. The rascal hath removed my horse, and tied him I know not where. If I travel but four foot by the squire further afoot, I shall break my wind. Well, I doubt not but to die a fair death for all this, if I scape hanging for killing that rogue. I have forsworn his [15 company hourly any time this two and twenty years, and yet I am bewitch'd with the rogue's company. If the rascal have not given me medicines to make me love him, I'll be hang'd. It could not be else; I have drunk medi- [20 cines. Poins! Hal! a plague upon you both! Bardolph! Peto! I'll starve ere I'll rob a foot further. An 't were not as good a deed as drink, to turn true man and to leave these rogues, I am the veriest varlet that ever [25 chewed with a tooth. Eight yards of uneven ground is threescore and ten miles afoot with me; and the stony-hearted villains know it well enough. A plague upon it when thieves cannot be true one to another! (They whistle.) Whew! A plague upon you all! Give me [30 my horse, you rogues; give me my horse, and be hang'd!

Prince. [Coming forward.] Peace, ye fat-guts! lie down. Lay thine ear close to the ground and list if thou canst hear the tread of travellers.

35

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Fal. So I do, against my will.

Poins. [Coming forward.] O, 't is our setter; I know his voice. Bardolph, what news?

54

Bard. Case ye, case ye; on with your vizards. There's money of the King's coming down the hill; 't is going to the King's exchequer.

Fal. You lie, ye rogue; 't is going to the King's tavern.

Gads. There's enough to make us all.
Fal. To be hang'd.

Prince. Sirs, you four shall front them in the narrow lane; Ned Poins and I will walk lower. If they scape from your encounter, then they light on us.

Peto. How many be there of them?
Gads. Some eight or ten.

[ocr errors]

Fal. 'Zounds, will they not rob us? Prince. What, a coward, Sir John Paunch? Fal. Indeed, I am not John of Gaunt, your grandfather; but yet no coward, Hal.

71

Prince. Well, we leave that to the proof. Poins. Sirrah Jack, thy horse stands behind the hedge; when thou need'st him, there thou shalt find him. Farewell, and stand fast.

[ocr errors]

Fal. Now cannot I strike him, if I should be hang'd.

Prince. [Aside.] Ned, where are our disguises.

Poins. [Aside.] Here, hard by. Stand close. [Exeunt Prince and Poins.] Fal. Now, my masters, happy man be his dole, say I. Every man to his business.

Enter the TRAVELLERS.

81

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Fal. Hang ye, gorbellied knaves, are ye undone? No, ye fat chuffs; I would your store were here! On, bacons, on! What, ye knaves! young men must live. You are grandjurors, are ye? We'll jure ye, faith.

97

[Here they rob them and bind them. Exeunt.

Re-enter PRINCE HENRY and POINS [in buck

ram].

Prince. The thieves have bound the true men. Now, could thou and I rob the thieves and go merrily to London, it would be argu

[blocks in formation]

The thieves are all scatt'red and possess'd with fear

So strongly that they dare not meet each other;
Each takes his fellow for an officer.
Away, good Ned. Falstaff sweats to death, 115
And lards the lean earth as he walks along.
Were 't not for laughing, I should pity him.
Poins. How the [fat] rogue roar'd! [Exeunt.

SCENE III. [Warkworth Castle.] Enter HOTSPUR, solus, reading a letter. 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 [s 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 [10 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?

say unto you again, you are a shallow, [15 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 excellent plot, very good friends. [20 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, [25 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 some of them set forward already? What a pagan rascal [s0 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 proceedings. O,

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,
Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,
Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,
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, 00
That beads of sweat have 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.]

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

now.

Hot. What horse? 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.]

Lady. But hear you, my lord.
Hot. What say'st thou, my lady?
Lady. What is it carries you away?
Hot. Why, my horse, my love, my horse.
Lady. Out, you mad-headed ape!
A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen
As you are toss'd with. In faith,
I'll know your business, Harry, that I will.
I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir

75

« 上一页继续 »