Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty, For you have but mistook me all this while : How can you say to me I am a king? HOTSPUR'S DESCRIPTION OF A FOP. Henry IV. Part I. My liege, I did deny no prisoners; But I remember, when the fight was done, 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, And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by, With many holiday and lady terms He questioned me; among the rest, demanded I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold, Out of my grief and my impatience Answered neglectingly I know not what; He should, or he should not ;- for he made me mad, And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman, Of guns, and drums, and wounds, (God save the mark!) And telling me, the sovereignest thing on earth And, I beseech you, let not this report 66 HOTSPUR READING A LETTER. Henry IV. Part I. “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! I protest, our plot is as good a 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. What a frosty-spirited rogue is this! Why, my lord of York commends the plot and the general course of the action. By this hand, if 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, 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 proceedings. O, I could divide myself and go to buffets, for moving such a dish of skimmed milk with so honourable an action! Hang him! Let him tell the king: We are prepared: I will set forward to-night. HENRY THE FOURTH'S SOLILOQUY ON SLEEP. How many thousand of my poorest subjects Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, And steep my senses in forgetfulness? Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody? O! thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile, Who take the ruffian billows by the top, Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them HENRY THE FIFTH TO HIS TROOPS BEFORE HARFLEUR. Henry V. ONCE more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 1 Loud noise. Then imitate the action of the tiger; Let it pry through the portage' of the head, O'erhang and jutty his confounded 2 base, Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; 4 Have in these parts from morn till even fought, That those whom you called fathers did beget you! And teach them how to war!-And, you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not; 1 The eyes are compared to cannon prying through port-holes. 2 Confound was formerly used for to destroy. 3 The English nobility. Henry first addresses the nobless-then the yeomen. 4 Fetch'd. |