North. Yea, my good lord. Those prisoners in your highness' name demanded, Either envy, therefore, or misprision Is guilty of this fault and not my son. Hot. My liege, I did deny no prisoners. 30 But I remember, when the fight was done, He was perfumed like a milliner; And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held. He gave his nose and took't away again; Who therewith angry, when it next came there, 40 And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly, With many holiday and lady terms He question'd me; amongst the rest, demanded I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold, Out of my grief and my impatience, Answer'd neglectingly I know not what, 50 He should, or he should not; for he made me mad To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet, Of guns and drums and wounds,-God save the mark! And telling me the sovereign'st thing on earth And that it was great pity, so it was, Betwixt my love and your high majesty. Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my lord, King. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners, But with proviso and exception, That we at our own charge shall ransom straight Who, on my soul, hath wilfully betray'd Against that great magician, damn'd Glendower, 60 70 80 Hath lately married. Shall our coffers, then, Shall we buy treason? and indent with fears, Hot. Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, 90 But by the chance of war: to prove that true In single opposition, hand to hand, He did confound the best part of an hour In changing hardiment with great Glendower: 100 Three times they breathed and three times did they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank Colour her working with such deadly wounds; Receive so many, and all willingly: Then let not him be slander'd with revolt. King. Thou dost belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him; He never did encounter with Glendower: I tell thee, He durst as well have met the devil alone 121 Art thou not ashamed? But, sirrah, henceforth [Exeunt King Henry, Blunt, and train. North. What, drunk with choler? stay and pause a while: Here comes your uncle. Hot. Re-enter Worcester. Speak of Mortimer! 'Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul Yea, on his part I 'll empty all these veins, 130 And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust, As high in the air as this unthankful king, North. Brother, the king hath made your nephew mad. And when I urged the ransom once again 140 Trembling even at the name of Mortimer. Wor. I cannot blame him: was not he proclaim'd By Richard that dead is the next of blood? North. He was; I heard the proclamation: And then it was when the unhappy king,- From whence he intercepted did return To be deposed and shortly murdered. 150 Wor. And for whose death we in the world's wide mouth Hot. But, soft, I pray you; did King Richard then North. He did; myself did hear it. That wish'd him on the barren mountains starve. The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather? Wherein you range under this subtle king; Or fill up chronicles in time to come, As both of you-God pardon it!-have done, 160 170 |