Enter TRAVERS. * NORTH. NOW, Travers, what good tidings comes with you? NORTH. Ha-Again. Said he, young Harry Percy's spur was cold? Had met ill luck? BARD. My lord, I'll tell you what ; If my young lord your son have not the day, Upon mine honour, for a silken point I'll give my barony: never talk of it. NORTH. Why should that || gentleman, that rode by Travers, Give, then, such instances of loss? BARD. Who, he? He was some hilding a fellow, that had stol'n The horse he rode on; and, upon my life, Spoke at a venture. Look, here comes more news. Foretells the nature of a tragic volume: So looks the strand, whereon** the imperious flood Enter MORTON. Say, Morton, did'st thou come from Shrewsbury? First folio, from. First folio, ill. (1) First folio, the. (+) First folio, head. First folio, when. First folio, adventure. Some hilding fellow,-] Some degenerate fellow. The epithet hilding was applied indiscriminately to either sex. Thus Capulet says of his daughter, "Romeo and Juliet," Act III. Sc. 5: "Out on her, hilding." Like to a title-leaf,-] Elegiac poems in former times were usually printed with a black border round the title-page, and sometimes with that leaf totally black. NORTH. How doth my son, and brother? And would have told him, half his Troy was burn'd; This thou would'st say,-Your son did thus, and thus ; NORTH. Why, he is dead. He, that but fears the thing he would not know, That what he fear'd is chanced. Yet speak, Morton; And I will take it as a sweet disgrace, And make thee rich for doing me such wrong. MOR. You are too great to be by me gainsaid: Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain. NORTH. Yet, for all this, say not that Percy's dead. I see a strange confession in thine eye: Thou shak'st thy head, and hold'st it fear, or sin, The tongue offends not, that reports his death; BARD. I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead. From whence with life he never more sprung up. (*) Quarto, tolling. Act II. Sc. 2: Rend'ring faint quittance,—] Quittance here means requital, as in "Henry V.” SCENE 1.] In few, his death, (whose spirit lent a fire And Westmoreland: this is the news at full. NORTH. For this I shall have time enough to mourn. In poison there is physic; and these* news, Having been well, that would have made me sick; Out of his keeper's arms; even so my limbs, Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief, Are thrice themselves: hence therefore, thou nice crutch; A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, Must glove this hand: and hence, thou sickly coif; Thou art a guard too wanton for the head, Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit. Now bind my brows with iron; and approach The ragged'st hour that time and spite dare bring, (*) First folio, this. In few,- [That is, in short, in a few words. So in "The Tempest," Act I. Sc. 2:"In few, they hurried us aboard a bark;" and in "Measure for Measure," Act III. Sc. 1.:— "In few, bestowed her on her own lamentation." See note (*) Vol. I., p. 329. b 'Gan vail his stomach,-] Lower his pride or courage. See note (a), Vol. I., p. 378. Buckle under-] Bend under. d Thou nice crutch ;] Nice means here effeminate. e The ragged'st hour-] The roughest hour. To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland! Let heaven kiss earth! Now let not nature's hand And darkness be the burier of the dead! TRA. This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.a Lean on your health; the which, if you give o'er And summ'd the account of chance, before you said,- That, in the dole of blows, your son might drop: Of wounds, and scars; and that his forward spirit BARD. We all that are engaged to this loss, Come, we will all put forth; body and goods. MOR. 'Tis more than time: and, my most noble lord, I hear for certain, and do ‡ speak the truth,s The gentle archbishop of York is up, With well-appointed powers; he is a man, (*) First folio, the. (†) First folio, was. (†) Quarto, dare. TRA. This strained passion doth you wrong, my lord.] This line is omitted in the folio. b Must perforce decay.] The remainder of Morton's speech, after this line, is omitted in the quarto. The dole of blows,-] The dealing, the distribution of blows. d You were advis'd,-J You were aware. e Capable-] That is, susceptible, sensible. Alongst the galupin or silver paved way of heaven, conducted into the great hall of the gods, Mercury sprinkled me with water, which made me capable of their divine presence."-GREENE'S Orpharion, 4to, 1599, p. 7. See note (*), Vol. I., p. 413. Where most trade-] Most traffic. See note (), Vol. I., p. 670. And do speak the truth,-] Here, again, the quarto omits what follows of Morton's speech. Who with a double surety binds his followers. Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts, Of fair King Richard, scrap'd from Pomfret stones ; NORTH. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth, Get posts, and letters, and make friends with speed; [Exeunt. Enter SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his sword FAL. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water? PAGE. He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy water: but, for the party that owed it, he might have more diseases than he knew for. FAL. Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me. The brain of this foolish-compounded clay, man, is not able to invent any thing that tends to laughter, more than I invent, or is invented on me: I am not only witty in myself, but the cause that wit is in other men. I do here walk before thee, like a sow, that hath overwhelmed all her litter but one. If the prince put thee into my service for any other reason than to set me off, why then I have no judgment. Thou whoreson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap, than to wait at my heels. I was never manned with an agateb till now: but I will in-set† you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile apparel, and a More and less,-] That is, great and small. So in "Henry IV." Part I. Act IV. Sc. 3: "The more and less carne in with cap and knee." b I was never manned with an agate—] An agate stone was frequently cut to represent the human form, and was occasionally worn in the hat by gallants. |