And that same Greatness too, which our own hands Have help'd to make fo portly.

North. My good lord,

K. Henry. Worcester, get thee gone; fór I do sec
Danger and disobedience in thine eye.
O Sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory;
And Majesty might never yet endure

The moody frontlet of a servant brow.
You have good leave to leave us. When we need ;
Your use and counsel, we shall send for you.

[Exit Worcester. You were about to speak. To Northumberland.

North. Yes, my good lord. Those prisoners in your Highness' name demanded, Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took; Were, as he says, not with such strength deny'd As was deliver'd to your Majesty. Or Envy therefore, or Misprifion, Is guilty of this fault, and not my son.

Hot. My Liege, I did deny no prisoners; 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, trimly dress’d; Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin, new-reap'd, Shew'd like a stubble land at harveft-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; Who, therewith angry, when it next came there, Took it in snuff.–And still he fmil'd and talk'd; And as the soldiers bare dead bodies by, He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly, To bring a flovenly, unhandsome coarse Betwixt the wind, and his Nobility. With many holiday and lady terins * The muody frontier[We should read frontlet, i. e. Forehead.

He

He question’d me: amongst the rest, demanded
My prisoners, in your Majesty's behalf.
1, then all smarting with my wounds; being gal'd
To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,
Out of my Grief, and my impatience,
Answer'd, neglectingly, Í know not what;
He should, or should not; for he made me mad,
To see him shine so brisk, and smell so sweet,
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 Parmacity, for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, so it was,
This villainous 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.-
This bald, unjointed chat of his, my lord,
I answer'd indiredly, as I faid;
And I beseech you, * let not his report
Come currant for an accusation,
Betwixt my love and your high Majesty.

Blunt. The circumstance consider'd, good my lord,
Whatever Harry Percy then had said,
To such a person, and, in such a place,
At such a time, with all the reft retold,
May reasonably die; and never rise
To do him wrong, or any way impeach.
What then he said, see, he unfays it now.

K. Henry. Why, yet he doth deny his prisoners,
But with provifo and exception,
That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
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
*.- let not this report] We should read, his.

Against

That true,

Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower;
Whose daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March
Hath lately marry'd. Shall our coffers then
Be empty'd, to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treason ? and indent with fears,
When they have loft and forfeited themselves ?
No; on the barren mountains let him ftárve;
For I shall never hold that man my friend,
Whose
tongue
shall ask me for one penny

coft To ransom home revolted Mortimer.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer? He never did fall off, my sovereign Liege, But by the chance of war; to prove 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, He did confound the best part of an hour Io changing hardiment with great Glendower: Three times they breath'd, 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'd head in the hollow bank,
Blood-stained with these valiant Combatants.
Never did base and rotten Policy
Colour her working with such deadly wounds;
Nor eyer could the noble Mortimer
Receive so many, and all willingly.
Then let him not be flander'd with Revolt.
K. Henry. Thou doft belie him, Percy, thou bel iest

him;
He never did encounter with Glendower ;
He durft as well have met the Devil alone,
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.
Art not asham'd? but, firrah, from this hour
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer.

Send

Send me your prisoners with the speedieft means, Or

you fhall hear in such a kind from me As will displeafe you-My Lord Northumberland, We licence your departure with your fon. Send us your prisoners, or you'll hear of it.

[Exit K. Henry. Hot, And if the Devil come and roar for them, I will not send them. I will after strait, And tell him so; for I will ease my heart, Although it be with hazard of my head. North. What, drunk with choler? ftay, and pause

a while; Here comes your uncle.

Enter Worcester. Hot. Speak of Mortimer ? Yes, I will speak of him; and let my foul Want mercy, if I do not join with him. In his behalf, I'll empty all these veins, And shed any dear blood drop by drop in duft, But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer As high i'th' Air as this unthankful King, As this ingrate and cankred Bolingbroke. North. Brother, the King hath made your Nephew mad.

To Worcester. Wor. Who strook this heat up, after I was gone ?

Hot. He will, forfooth, have all my prisoners :
And when I urg'd the ransom once again
Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale.
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling ev'n at the name of Mortimer.

Wor. I cannot blame him; was he not 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 (Whose wrongs in us, God pardon!) did set forth Upon his Irish expedition;

From

From whence he, intercepted, did return
To be depos'd, and shortly murdered.
Wor. And for whose death, we in the world's wide

mouth
Live scandaliz'd, and foully fpoken of.

Hot. But soft, I pray you ;-did King Richard then Proclaim

my

brother Mortimer Heir to the Crown?

North. He did; myself did hear it. Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his cousin King. That wifh'd him on the barren mountains stary'd. But shall it be, that you, that set the Crown Upon the head of this forgetful man, And for his fake wear the detested blot Of murd'rous Subornation? shall it be, That you a world of curfes undergo, Being the agents or bafe second means, The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather? (O pardon me, that I defcend fo low, To thew the line and the predicament Wherein you range under this fubtle King) Shall it for shame be fpoken in these days, Or fill

up

Chronicles in time to come,
That men of your Nobility and Power
Ingag'd them Both in an unjuft behalf;
(As Both of you, God pardon it! have done:)
To put down Richard, that sweet lovely Rose,
And plant this Thorn, this Canker Boling broke?
And Ihall it in more shame be further spoken,
That you are fool'd, discarded, and took off
By him, for whom these shames ye underwent?
No; yet time ferves, wherein you may redeem
Your banilh'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 unto you,
Ev’n with the bloody payments of your deaths :
Therefore, I'far-

Wor.