Enter Lady Percy

How now, Kate? I must leave you within these two hours.

LADY PERCY

Omy good lord, why are you thus alone ?

For what offence have I this fortnight been

A banished woman from my Harry’s bed?

Tell me, sweet lord, what is’t that takes from thee

Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep?

Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,

And start so often when thou sitt‘st alone?

Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks,

And given my treasures and my rights of thee

To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy?

In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watched,

And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars,

Speak terms of manège to thy bounding steed,

Cry ‘Courage! To the field!’ And thou hast talked

Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,

Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,

Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,

Of prisoners ransomed, and of soldiers slain,

And all the currents of a heady fight.

Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,

And thus hath so bestirred thee in thy sleep,

That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow

Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;

And in thy face strange motions have appeared,

Such as we see when men restrain their breath

On some great sudden hest. O,what portents are

these?

Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,

And I must know it, else he loves me not.

HOTSPUR

What ho!

Enter Servant

Is Gilliams with the packet gone?

SERVANT

He is, my lord, an hour ago.

HOTSPUR

Hath Butler brought those horses from the sheriff?

SERVANT

One horse, my lord, he brought even now.

HOTSPUR

What horse? A roan, a crop-ear, is it not?

SERVANT

It is, my lord.

HOTSPUR That roan shall be my throne.

Well, I will back him straight.—O,Esperance!—

Bid Butler lead him forth into the park.

LADY PERCY

But hear you, my lord.

HOTSPUR What sayst thou, my lady?

LADY PERCY

What is it carries you away?

HOTSPUR Why, my horse,

My love, my horse.

LADY PERCY Out, you mad-headed ape!

A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen

As you are tossed with.

In faith, I’ll know your business, Harry, that I will.

I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir

About his title, and hath sent for you

To line his enterprise; but if you go—

HOTSPUR

So far afoot? I shall be weary, love.

LADY PERCY

Come, come, you paraquito, answer me

Directly to this question that I ask.

In faith, I’ll break thy little finger, Harry,

An if thou wilt not tell me all things true.

HOTSPUR

Away, away, you trifler! Love ? I love thee not,

I care not for thee, Kate. This is no world

To play with maumets and to tilt with lips.

We must have bloody noses and cracked crowns,

And pass them current, too. God’s me, my horse!—

What sayst thou, Kate? What wouldst thou have

with me?

LADY PERCY

Do you not love me? Do you not indeed?

Well, do not, then, for since you love me not

I will not love myself. Do you not love me?

Nay, tell me if you speak in jest or no.

HOTSPUR Come, wilt thou see me ride ?

And when I am a-horseback, I will swear

I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate.

I must not have you henceforth question me

Whither I go, nor reason whereabout.

Whither I must, I must; and, to conclude,

This evening must I leave you, gentle Kate.

I know you wise, but yet no farther wise

Than Harry Percy’s wife; constant you are,

But yet a woman; and for secrecy

No lady closer, for I well believe

Thou wilt not utter what thou dost not know.

And so far will I trust thee, gentle Kate.

LADY PERCY How, so far?

HOTSPUR

Not an inch further. But hark you, Kate,

Whither I go, thither shall you go too.

Today will I set forth, tomorrow you.

Will this content you, Kate?

LADY PERCY It must, of force. Exeunt

2.5 Enter Prince Harry

PRINCE HARRY Ned, prithee come out of that fat room, and lend me thy hand to laugh a little.

Enter Poins ⌈at another door⌉

POINS Where hast been, Hal?

PRINCE HARRY With three or four loggerheads, amongst three or fourscore hogsheads. I have sounded the very bass-string of humility. Sirrah, I am sworn brother to a leash of drawers, and can call them all by their christen names, as ‘Tom’, ‘Dick’, and ‘Francis’. They take it already, upon their salvation, that though I be but Prince of Wales yet I am the king of courtesy, and tell me flatly I am no proud jack like Oldcastle, but a Corinthian, a lad of mettle, a good boy—by the Lord, so they call me; and when I am King of England I shall command all the good lads in Eastcheap. They call drinking deep ‘dyeing scarlet’, and when you breathe in your watering they cry ‘Hem!’ and bid you ‘Play it off!’ To conclude, I am so good a proficient in one quarter of an hour that I can drink with any tinker in his own language during my life. I tell thee, Ned, thou hast lost much honour that thou wert not with me in this action. But, sweet Ned—to sweeten which name of Ned I give thee this pennyworth of sugar, clapped even now into my hand by an underskinker, one that never spake other English in his life than ‘Eight shillings and sixpence’, and ‘You are welcome’, with this shrill addition, ‘Anon, anon, sir ! Score a pint of bastard in the Half-moon!’ or so. But, Ned, to drive away the time till Oldcastle come, I prithee do thou stand in some by-room, while I question my puny drawer to what end he gave me the sugar, and do thou never leave calling ‘Francis!’, that his tale to me may be nothing but ‘Anon!’ Step aside, and I’ll show thee a precedent.