Henry IV, Pt. 1
Act IV, Scene 3
The rebel camp near Shrewsbury .
Prince Henry and Falstaff on plain near Shrewsbury
Johann Heinrich Ramberg, 1829
- Enter Hotspur , Worcester , Douglas , Vernon .
Hotspur
1- We’ll fight with him tonight .
Earl of Worcester
2- It may not be .
Earl of Douglas
3- You give him then advantage .
Vernon
4- Not a whit .
Hotspur
5- Why say you so ? Looks he not for supply ?
Vernon
6- So do we .
Hotspur
7- His is certain , ours is doubtful .
Earl of Worcester
8- Good cousin , be advis’d , stir not tonight .
Vernon
9- Do not , my lord .
Earl of Douglas
10 - 11- You do not counsel well ,
- You speak it out of fear and cold heart .
Vernon
12 - 18- Do me no slander , Douglas . By my life ,
- And I dare well maintain it with my life ,
- If well - respected honor bid me on ,
- I hold as little counsel with weak fear
- As you , my lord , or any Scot that this day lives .
- Let it be seen tomorrow in the battle
- Which of us fears .
Earl of Douglas
19- Yea , or tonight .
Vernon
20- Content .
Hotspur
21- Tonight , say I .
Vernon
22 - 30- Come , come , it may not be . I wonder much ,
- Being men of such great leading as you are ,
- That you foresee not what impediments
- Drag back our expedition . Certain horse
- Of my cousin Vernon’s are not yet come up .
- Your uncle Worcester’s horses came but today ,
- And now their pride and mettle is asleep ,
- Their courage with hard labor tame and dull ,
- That not a horse is half the half of himself .
Hotspur
31 - 33- So are the horses of the enemy
- In general journey - bated and brought low .
- The better part of ours are full of rest .
Earl of Worcester
34 - 35- The number of the King exceedeth our .
- For God’s sake , cousin , stay till all come in .
- The trumpet sounds a parley .
- Enter Sir Walter Blunt .
Blunt
36 - 37- I come with gracious offers from the King ,
- If you vouchsafe me hearing and respect .
Hotspur
38 - 43- Welcome , Sir Walter Blunt ; and would to God
- You were of our determination !
- Some of us love you well , and even those some
- Envy your great deservings and good name ,
- Because you are not of our quality ,
- But stand against us like an enemy .
Blunt
44 - 57- And God defend but still I should stand so ,
- So long as out of limit and true rule
- You stand against anointed majesty .
- But to my charge . The King hath sent to know
- The nature of your griefs , and whereupon
- You conjure from the breast of civil peace
- Such bold hostility , teaching his duteous land
- Audacious cruelty . If that the King
- Have any way your good deserts forgot ,
- Which he confesseth to be manifold ,
- He bids you name your griefs , and with all speed
- You shall have your desires with interest
- And pardon absolute for yourself and these
- Herein misled by your suggestion .
Hotspur
58 - 94- The King is kind , and well we know the King
- Knows at what time to promise , when to pay .
- My father and my uncle and myself
- Did give him that same royalty he wears ,
- And when he was not six and twenty strong ,
- Sick in the world’s regard , wretched and low ,
- A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home ,
- My father gave him welcome to the shore ;
- And when he heard him swear and vow to God
- He came but to be Duke of Lancaster ,
- To sue his livery and beg his peace ,
- With tears of innocency and terms of zeal ,
- My father , in kind heart and pity mov’d ,
- Swore him assistance , and perform’d it too .
- Now when the lords and barons of the realm
- Perceiv’d Northumberland did lean to him ,
- The more and less came in with cap and knee ,
- Met him in boroughs , cities , villages ,
- Attended him on bridges , stood in lanes ,
- Laid gifts before him , proffer’d him their oaths ,
- Gave him their heirs as pages , followed him
- Even at the heels in golden multitudes .
- He presently , as greatness knows itself ,
- Steps me a little higher than his vow
- Made to my father , while his blood was poor ,
- Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurgh ,
- And now forsooth takes on him to reform
- Some certain edicts and some strait decrees
- That lie too heavy on the commonwealth ,
- Cries out upon abuses , seems to weep
- Over his country’s wrongs , and by this face ,
- This seeming brow of justice , did he win
- The hearts of all that he did angle for ;
- Proceeded further — cut me off the heads
- Of all the favorites that the absent King
- In deputation left behind him here ,
- When he was personal in the Irish war .
I come with gracious offers from the King, if you vouchsafe me hearing and respect.
From: Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare
Mary Cowden Clarke, Charles Cowden Clarke, 1870
Blunt
95- Tut , I came not to hear this .
Hotspur
96 - 112- Then to the point .
- In short time after , he depos’d the King ,
- Soon after that , depriv’d him of his life ,
- And in the neck of that , task’d the whole state ;
- To make that worse , suff’red his kinsman March
- ( Who is , if every owner were well plac’d ,
- Indeed his king ) to be engag’d in Wales ,
- There without ransom to lie forfeited ;
- Disgrac’d me in my happy victories ,
- Sought to entrap me by intelligence ,
- Rated mine uncle from the Council - board ,
- In rage dismiss’d my father from the court ,
- Broke oath on oath , committed wrong on wrong ,
- And in conclusion drove us to seek out
- This head of safety , and withal to pry
- Into his title , the which we find
- Too indirect for long continuance .
Blunt
113- Shall I return this answer to the King ?
Hotspur
114 - 118- Not so , Sir Walter ; we’ll withdraw a while .
- Go to the King , and let there be impawn’d
- Some surety for a safe return again ,
- And in the morning early shall mine uncle
- Bring him our purposes . And so farewell .
Blunt
119- I would you would accept of grace and love .
Hotspur
120- And may be so we shall .
Blunt
121- Pray God you do .
- Exeunt .
Costume design for soldier of Douglas
Charles Hamilton Smith, Emma Hamilton Smith, 19th century