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Henry IV, Pt. 1: Act I, Scene 3

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Henry IV, Pt. 1
Act I, Scene 3

London . The palace .

Byam Shaw, 1901

  1. Enter the King , Northumberland , Worcester , Hotspur , Sir
  2. Walter Blunt , with others .

King Henry IV

1 - 9
  1. My blood hath been too cold and temperate ,
  2. Unapt to stir at these indignities ,
  3. And you have found me , for accordingly
  4. You tread upon my patience ; but be sure
  5. I will from henceforth rather be myself ,
  6. Mighty and to be fear’d , than my condition ,
  7. Which hath been smooth as oil , soft as young down ,
  8. And therefore lost that title of respect
  9. Which the proud soul ne’er pays but to the proud .

Earl of Worcester

10 - 13
  1. Our house , my sovereign liege , little deserves
  2. The scourge of greatness to be us’d on it ,
  3. And that same greatness too which our own hands
  4. Have holp to make so portly .

Earl of Northumberland

14
  1. My lord —

King Henry IV

15 - 22
  1. Worcester , get thee gone , for I do see
  2. Danger and disobedience in thine eye .
  3. O , sir , your presence is too bold and peremptory ,
  4. And majesty might never yet endure
  5. The moody frontier of a servant brow .
  6. You have good leave to leave us . When we need
  7. Your use and counsel , we shall send for you .
  8. Exit Worcester .
  9. You were about to speak .

Earl of Northumberland

23 - 29
  1.                          Yea , my good lord .
  2. Those prisoners in your Highness’ name demanded ,
  3. Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took ,
  4. Were , as he says , not with such strength denied
  5. As is delivered to your Majesty .
  6. Either envy , therefore , or misprision
  7. Is guilty of this fault , and not my son .

Hotspur

30 - 70
  1. My liege , I did deny no prisoners ,
  2. But I remember , when the fight was done ,
  3. When I was dry with rage and extreme toil ,
  4. Breathless and faint , leaning upon my sword ,
  5. Came there a certain lord , neat , and trimly dress’d ,
  6. Fresh as a bridegroom , and his chin new reap’d
  7. Show’d like a stubble - land at harvest - home .
  8. He was perfumed like a milliner ,
  9. And ’twixt his finger and his thumb he held
  10. A pouncet - box , which ever and anon
  11. He gave his nose and took’t away again ,
  12. Who therewith angry , when it next came there ,
  13. Took it in snuff — and still he smil’d and talk’d :
  14. And as the soldiers bore dead bodies by ,
  15. He call’d them untaught knaves , unmannerly ,
  16. To bring a slovenly unhandsome corse
  17. Betwixt the wind and his nobility .
  18. With many holiday and lady terms
  19. He questioned me , amongst the rest demanded
  20. My prisoners in your Majesty’s behalf .
  21. I then , all smarting with my wounds being cold ,
  22. To be so pest’red with a popingay ,
  23. Out of my grief and my impatience
  24. Answer’d neglectingly , I know not what —
  25. He should , or he should not — for he made me mad
  26. To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet ,
  27. And talk so like a waiting - gentlewoman
  28. Of guns , and drums , and wounds , God save the mark !
  29. And telling me the sovereignest thing on earth
  30. Was parmaciti for an inward bruise ,
  31. And that it was great pity , so it was ,
  32. This villainous saltpeter should be digg’d
  33. Out of the bowels of the harmless earth ,
  34. Which many a good tall fellow had destroyed
  35. So cowardly , and but for these vile guns
  36. He would himself have been a soldier .
  37. This bald unjointed chat of his , my lord ,
  38. I answered indirectly , as I said ,
  39. And I beseech you , let not his report
  40. Come current for an accusation
  41. Betwixt my love and your high Majesty .

Byam Shaw, 1901

Blunt

71 - 77
  1. The circumstance considered , good my lord ,
  2. What e’er Lord Harry Percy then had said
  3. To such a person , and in such a place ,
  4. At such a time , with all the rest retold ,
  5. May reasonably die , and never rise
  6. To do him wrong , or any way impeach
  7. What then he said , so he unsay it now .

King Henry IV

78 - 93
  1. Why , yet he doth deny his prisoners ,
  2. But with proviso and exception ,
  3. That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
  4. His brother - in - law , the foolish Mortimer ,
  5. Who , on my soul , hath willfully betray’d
  6. The lives of those that he did lead to fight
  7. Against that great magician , damn’d Glendower ,
  8. Whose daughter , as we hear , that Earl of March
  9. Hath lately married . Shall our coffers then
  10. Be emptied to redeem a traitor home ?
  11. Shall we buy treason ? And indent with fears ,
  12. When they have lost and forfeited themselves ?
  13. No , on the barren mountains let him starve ;
  14. For I shall never hold that man my friend
  15. Whose tongue shall ask me for one penny cost
  16. To ransom home revolted Mortimer .

Hotspur

94 - 113
  1. Revolted Mortimer !
  2. He never did fall off , my sovereign liege ,
  3. But by the chance of war ; to prove that true
  4. Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds ,
  5. Those mouthed wounds , which valiantly he took ,
  6. When on the gentle Severn’s sedgy bank ,
  7. In single opposition hand to hand ,
  8. He did confound the best part of an hour
  9. In changing hardiment with great Glendower .
  10. Three times they breath’d and three times did they drink ,
  11. Upon agreement , of swift Severn’s flood ,
  12. Who then affrighted with their bloody looks ,
  13. Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds ,
  14. And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank ,
  15. Blood - stained with these valiant combatants .
  16. Never did base and rotten policy
  17. Color her working with such deadly wounds ,
  18. Nor never could the noble Mortimer
  19. Receive so many , and all willingly .
  20. Then let not him be slandered with revolt .

King Henry IV

114 - 125
  1. Thou dost belie him , Percy , thou dost belie him ;
  2. He never did encounter with Glendower .
  3. I tell thee ,
  4. He durst as well have met the devil alone
  5. As Owen Glendower for an enemy .
  6. Art thou not asham’d ? But , sirrah , henceforth
  7. Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer .
  8. Send me your prisoners with the speediest means ,
  9. Or you shall hear in such a kind from me
  10. As will displease you . My Lord Northumberland :
  11. We license your departure with your son .
  12. Send us your prisoners , or you will hear of it .
  1. Exit King with Blunt and Train .

Hotspur

126 - 129
  1. And if the devil come and roar for them ,
  2. I will not send them . I will after straight
  3. And tell him so , for I will ease my heart ,
  4. Albeit I make a hazard of my head .
Costume design for a herald

Costume design for a herald

John Miller, George Scharf, 1824

Earl of Northumberland

130 - 131
  1. What ? Drunk with choler ? Stay , and pause a while .
  2. Here comes your uncle .
  1. Enter Worcester .

Hotspur

132 - 139
  1.                        Speak of Mortimer !
  2. ’Zounds , I will speak of him , and let my soul
  3. Want mercy if I do not join with him .
  4. Yea , on his part I’ll empty all these veins ,
  5. And shed my dear blood drop by drop in the dust ,
  6. But I will lift the down - trod Mortimer
  7. As high in the air as this unthankful king ,
  8. As this ingrate and cank’red Bullingbrook .

Earl of Northumberland

140
  1. Brother , the King hath made your nephew mad .

Earl of Worcester

141
  1. Who struck this heat up after I was gone ?

Hotspur

142 - 146
  1. He will , forsooth , have all my prisoners ,
  2. And when I urg’d the ransom once again
  3. Of my wive’s brother , then his cheek look’d pale ,
  4. And on my face he turn’d an eye of death ,
  5. Trembling even at the name of Mortimer .

Earl of Worcester

147 - 148
  1. I cannot blame him : was not he proclaim’d
  2. By Richard , that dead is , the next of blood ?

Earl of Northumberland

149 - 154
  1. He was , I heard the proclamation .
  2. And then it was when the unhappy king
  3. ( Whose wrongs in us God pardon !) did set forth
  4. Upon his Irish expedition ;
  5. From whence he intercepted did return
  6. To be depos’d , and shortly murdered .

Earl of Worcester

155 - 156
  1. And for whose death we in the world’s wide mouth
  2. Live scandaliz’d and foully spoken of .

Hotspur

157 - 159
  1. But soft , I pray you , did King Richard then
  2. Proclaim my brother Edmund Mortimer
  3. Heir to the crown ?

Earl of Northumberland

160
  1.                    He did , myself did hear it .

Hotspur

161 - 190
  1. Nay , then I cannot blame his cousin king ,
  2. That wish’d him on the barren mountains starve .
  3. But shall it be that you , that set the crown
  4. Upon the head of this forgetful man ,
  5. And for his sake wear the detested blot
  6. Of murderous subornation — shall it be
  7. That you a world of curses undergo ,
  8. Being the agents or base second means ,
  9. The cords , the ladder , or the hangman rather ?
  10. O , pardon me that I descend so low
  11. To show the line and the predicament
  12. Wherein you range under this subtle king !
  13. Shall it for shame be spoken in these days ,
  14. Or fill up chronicles in time to come ,
  15. That men of your nobility and power
  16. Did gage them both in an unjust behalf
  17. ( As both of you — God pardon it !— have done )
  18. To put down Richard , that sweet lovely rose ,
  19. And plant this thorn , this canker , Bullingbrook ?
  20. And shall it in more shame be further spoken ,
  21. That you are fool’d , discarded , and shook off
  22. By him for whom these shames ye underwent ?
  23. No , yet time serves wherein you may redeem
  24. Your banish’d honors and restore yourselves
  25. Into the good thoughts of the world again ;
  26. Revenge the jeering and disdain’d contempt
  27. Of this proud king , who studies day and night
  28. To answer all the debt he owes to you
  29. Even with the bloody payment of your deaths .
  30. Therefore I say —

Earl of Worcester

191 - 197
  1.                  Peace , cousin , say no more .
  2. And now I will unclasp a secret book ,
  3. And to your quick - conceiving discontents
  4. I’ll read you matter deep and dangerous ,
  5. As full of peril and adventurous spirit
  6. As to o’erwalk a current roaring loud
  7. On the unsteadfast footing of a spear .
Spranger Barry as Hotspur

Spranger Barry as Hotspur

circa 1769

Hotspur

198 - 202
  1. If he fall in , good night , or sink or swim .
  2. Send danger from the east unto the west ,
  3. So honor cross it from the north to south ,
  4. And let them grapple . O , the blood more stirs
  5. To rouse a lion than to start a hare !

Earl of Northumberland

203 - 204
  1. Imagination of some great exploit
  2. Drives him beyond the bounds of patience .

Hotspur

205 - 212
  1. By heaven , methinks it were an easy leap ,
  2. To pluck bright honor from the pale - fac’d moon ,
  3. Or dive into the bottom of the deep ,
  4. Where fathom - line could never touch the ground ,
  5. And pluck up drowned honor by the locks ,
  6. So he that doth redeem her thence might wear
  7. Without corrival all her dignities ;
  8. But out upon this half - fac’d fellowship !

Earl of Worcester

213 - 215
  1. He apprehends a world of figures here ,
  2. But not the form of what he should attend .
  3. Good cousin , give me audience for a while .

Hotspur

216
  1. I cry you mercy .

Earl of Worcester

217 - 218
  1.                  Those same noble Scots
  2. That are your prisoners —

Hotspur

219 - 222
  1.                          I’ll keep them all !
  2. By God , he shall not have a Scot of them ,
  3. No , if a Scot would save his soul , he shall not !
  4. I’ll keep them , by this hand .

Earl of Worcester

223 - 225
  1.                               You start away ,
  2. And lend no ear unto my purposes .
  3. Those prisoners you shall keep .

Hotspur

226 - 234
  1.                                 Nay , I will ; that’s flat .
  2. He said he would not ransom Mortimer ,
  3. Forbade my tongue to speak of Mortimer ,
  4. But I will find him when he lies asleep ,
  5. And in his ear I’ll holla “ Mortimer !”
  6. Nay ,
  7. I’ll have a starling shall be taught to speak
  8. Nothing but “ Mortimer ,” and give it him
  9. To keep his anger still in motion .

Earl of Worcester

235
  1. Hear you , cousin , a word .

Hotspur

236 - 241
  1. All studies here I solemnly defy ,
  2. Save how to gall and pinch this Bullingbrook ,
  3. And that same sword - and - buckler Prince of Wales ,
  4. But that I think his father loves him not
  5. And would be glad he met with some mischance ,
  6. I would have him poisoned with a pot of ale .

Earl of Worcester

242 - 243
  1. Farewell , kinsman ! I’ll talk to you
  2. When you are better temper’d to attend .

Earl of Northumberland

244 - 246
  1. Why , what a wasp - stung and impatient fool
  2. Art thou to break into this woman’s mood ,
  3. Tying thine ear to no tongue but thine own !

Hotspur

247 - 256
  1. Why , look you , I am whipt and scourg’d with rods ,
  2. Nettled and stung with pismires , when I hear
  3. Of this vile politician , Bullingbrook .
  4. In Richard’s time — what do you call the place ?—
  5. A plague upon it , it is in Gloucestershire —
  6. ’Twas where the madcap duke his uncle kept —
  7. His uncle York — where I first bow’d my knee
  8. Unto this king of smiles , this Bullingbrook —
  9. ’Sblood !
  10. When you and he came back from Ravenspurgh —
Costume design for Hotspur

Costume design for Hotspur

circa 1900

Earl of Northumberland

257
  1. At Berkeley castle .

Hotspur

258 - 264
  1. You say true .
  2. Why , what a candy deal of courtesy
  3. This fawning greyhound then did proffer me !
  4. “ Look when his infant fortune came to age ”
  5. And “ gentle Harry Percy ” and “ kind cousin ”—
  6. O , the devil take such cozeners !— God forgive me !
  7. Good uncle , tell your tale — I have done .

Earl of Worcester

265 - 266
  1. Nay , if you have not , to it again ,
  2. We will stay your leisure .

Hotspur

267
  1.                            I have done , i’ faith .

Earl of Worcester

268 - 278
  1. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners :
  2. Deliver them up without their ransom straight ,
  3. And make the Douglas’ son your only mean
  4. For powers in Scotland , which , for divers reasons
  5. Which I shall send you written , be assur’d
  6. Will easily be granted .
  7. To Northumberland .
  8.                         You , my lord ,
  9. Your son in Scotland being thus employed ,
  10. Shall secretly into the bosom creep
  11. Of that same noble prelate well belov’d ,
  12. The Archbishop .

Hotspur

279
  1. Of York , is it not ?

Earl of Worcester

280 - 286
  1. True , who bears hard
  2. His brother’s death at Bristow , the Lord Scroop .
  3. I speak not this in estimation ,
  4. As what I think might be , but what I know
  5. Is ruminated , plotted , and set down ,
  6. And only stays but to behold the face
  7. Of that occasion that shall bring it on .

Hotspur

287
  1. I smell it . Upon my life , it will do well .

Earl of Northumberland

288
  1. Before the game is afoot thou still let’st slip .

Hotspur

289 - 291
  1. Why , it cannot choose but be a noble plot .
  2. And then the power of Scotland , and of York ,
  3. To join with Mortimer , ha ?

Earl of Worcester

292
  1.                            And so they shall .

Hotspur

293
  1. In faith , it is exceedingly well aim’d .

Earl of Worcester

294 - 301
  1. And ’tis no little reason bids us speed ,
  2. To save our heads by raising of a head ,
  3. For bear ourselves as even as we can ,
  4. The King will always think him in our debt ,
  5. And think we think ourselves unsatisfied ,
  6. Till he hath found a time to pay us home .
  7. And see already how he doth begin
  8. To make us strangers to his looks of love .

Hotspur

302
  1. He does , he does , we’ll be reveng’d on him .

Earl of Worcester

303 - 310
  1. Cousin , farewell ! No further go in this
  2. Than I by letters shall direct your course .
  3. When time is ripe , which will be suddenly ,
  4. I’ll steal to Glendower and Lord Mortimer ,
  5. Where you and Douglas and our powers at once ,
  6. As I will fashion it , shall happily meet
  7. To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms ,
  8. Which now we hold at much uncertainty .

Earl of Northumberland

311
  1. Farewell , good brother , we shall thrive , I trust .

Hotspur

312 - 313
  1. Uncle , adieu ! O , let the hours be short ,
  2. Till fields , and blows , and groans applaud our sport !
  1. Exeunt .
Coat of Arms of Sir Henry Percy (also known as Hotspur)

Coat of Arms of Sir Henry Percy (also known as Hotspur)

Jfdemers

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