Mor.
These promises are fair, the parties sure,
And our induction full of prosperous hope.

Hot.
Lord Mortimer,—and cousin Glendower,—will you
Sit down,—and uncle Worcester: A plague upon it!
I have forgot the map.

Gle.
No, here it is. [laying it on the Table.
Sit, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hot-spur:

For by that name as oft ^note as Lancaster
Doth speak of you, his cheek looks ^note pale; and, with
A rising sigh ^note, he wisheth you in heaven.

Hot.
And you in hell, as often ^note as he hears
Owen Glendower spoke of.

Gle.
I cannot blame him: at my nativity,
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets; ay, and, at my birth,
The frame and huge ^note foundation of the earth
Shak'd like a coward.

Hot.
Why, so it would have done
At the same season, if your mother's cat
Had kitten'd ^note, though yourself had ne'er been born.

Gle.
I say, the earth did shake when I was born.

Hot.
And I say, the earth was not of my mind,
If you suppose, as fearing you it shook.

Gle.
The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.

Hot.
O, then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire,
And not in fear of your nativity.
Diseased nature14Q0631 oftentimes breaks forth
In strange eruptions: oft the ^note teeming earth
Is with a kind of cholic pinch'd and vex'd
By the imprisoning of unruly wind
Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving,
Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples ^note down
Steeples, and moss-grown towers. At your birth,
Our grandam earth, having this distemperature, ^note
In passion shook.

Gle.
Cousin, of many men
I do not bear these crossings ^note. Give me leave
To tell you once again,—that, at my birth,
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes;

The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds
Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields:
These signs have mark'd me extraordinary;
And all the courses of my life do shew,
I am not in the roll of ^note common men.
Where is ^note he living,—clip'd in with the sea
That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales, ^note—
Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me?
And bring him out, that is but woman's son,
Can trace me in the tedious ways ^note of art,
And hold me pace in deep experiments.

Hot.
I think, there's no man that speaks better Welsh:
I will to dinner.

Mor.
Peace, brother Percy; you will make him mad.

Gle.
I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hot.
Why, so can I; or so can any man:
But will they come, when you do call for them?

Gle.
Why, I can teach thee, cousin ^note, to command
The devil.

Hot.
And I can teach thee, cousin ^note, to shame the devil,
By telling truth; Tell truth, and shame the devil:
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither,
And I'll be sworn, I have power to shame him hence.
O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil.

Mor.
Come, come,
No more of this unprofitable chat.

Gle.
Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head
Against my power: thrice, from the banks ^note of Wye,
And sandy-bottom'd Severn, have I sent ^note him,
Bootless, and14Q0632 weather-beaten, home.

Hot.
Home without boots, and in foul weather too!
How scapes he agues, in the devil's name?

Gle.
Come, here's the map; Shall we divide our right,
According to our threefold order ta'en?

Mor.
The arch-deacon hath divided it already
Into three limits, very equally.
England, from Trent and Severn hitherto, [pointing to a Part of the Map.
By south and east, is to my part assign'd:
All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore,
And all the fertile land within that bound,
To Owen Glendower:—and, dear brother, to you
The remnant northward, lying off from Trent.
And our indentures tripartite are drawn:
Which being sealed interchangeably,
(A business that this night may execute)
To-morrow, brother Percy, you, and I,
And my good lord of Worcester, will set forth,
To meet your father, and the Scottish power,
As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury.
My father Glendower is not ready yet,
Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days:—
Within that space, [to Gle.] you may have drawn together
Your tenants, friends, and neighb'ring gentlemen.

Gle.
A shorter time shall send me to you, lords,
And in my conduct shall your ladies come:
From whom you now must steal, and take no leave;
For there will be a world of waters shed,
Upon the parting of your wives and you.

Hot.
Methinks, my moiety,14Q0633 north from Burton here,
In quantity equals not one of yours:
See, how this river comes me cranking ^note in,
And cuts me, from the best of all my land,
A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle ^note out.

I'll have the current in this place dam'd up;
And here † the smug and silver Trent shall run,
In a new channel, fair and evenly:
It shall not wind with such a deep indent,
To rob me of so rich a bottom here.

Gle.
Not wind? it shall, it must; you see, it doth.

Mor.
Yea, but
Mark how he bears his course, and runs me up
With like advantage on the other side;
Gelding the opposed continent as much,
As on the other side it takes from you.

Wor.
Yea, but a little charge will trench him here,
And on this north side win this cape of land;
And then he runs straitly and evenly.

Hot.
I'll have it so; a little charge will do it.

Gle.
I will not have it alter'd.

Hot.
Will not you?

Gle.
No, nor you shall not.

Hot.
Who shall say me, nay?

Gle.
Why, that will I.

Hot.
Let me not understand you then,
Speak it in Welsh.

Gle.
I can speak English, lord, as well as you;
For I was train'd up in the English court:
Where, being but young, I framed to the harp
Many an English ditty, lovely well,
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament;
A virtue that was never seen in you.

Hot.
Marry, and I'm glad on't with all my heart;
I had rather be a kitten, and cry—mew,
Than one of these same metre ^note ballad-mongers:
I had rather hear a brazen candlestick ^note turn'd,

Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree;
And that would set my teeth nothing ^note on edge,
Nothing so much as mincing poetry;
'Tis like the forc'd gait of a shuffling nag.

Gle.
Come, you shall have Trent turn'd.

Hot.
I do not care: ^note I'll give thrice so much land
To any well-deserving friend;
But, in the way of bargain, mark ye me,
I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.
Are the indentures drawn? shall we be gone?

Gle.
The moon shines fair, you may away by night:
I'll haste the writer forward; and, withal,
Break with your wives of your departure hence:
I am afraid, my daughter will run mad,
So much she doteth on her Mortimer. [Exit.

Mor.
Fie, brother Percy! how you cross my father!

Hot.
I cannot choose: sometimes ^note he angers me,
With telling me of the moldwarp and the ant,
Of the dreamer Merlin, and his prophesies;
And of a dragon, and a finless fish,
A clip-wing'd griffin, and a moulten raven,
A couching lion, and ^note a ramping cat,
And such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith. I tell you what,—
He held me, last night, at the least nine hours,
In reck'ning up the several devils' names,
That were his lackeys: I cry'd, hum, and, well; ^note
But mark'd him not a word. O, he's as tedious
As is a tired horse, a railing wife;
Worse than a smoky house: I had rather live,
With cheese and garlick, in a wind-mill, far;
Than feed on cates, and have him talk to me,

In any summer-house in christendom.

Mor.
In faith, he is ^note a worthy gentleman;
Exceedingly ^note well read, and profited
In strange concealments; valiant as a lion,
And wond'rous affable; and as bountiful
As mines of India. Shall I tell you, brother?
He holds your temper in a high respect,
And curbs ^note himself even of his natural scope,
When you do cross ^note his humour; 'faith, he does:
I warrant you, that man is not alive,
Might so have tempted him, as you have done,
Without the taste of danger and reproof;
But do not use it oft, let me entreat you.

Wor.
In ^note faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame;
And, since your coming hither, have done enough
To put him quite ^note beside his patience.
You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault:
Though sometimes it shew greatness, courage, blood,
(And that's the dearest grace it renders you;)
Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage,
Defect of manners, want of government,
Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain:
The least of which, haunting a nobleman,
Loseth men's hearts; and leaves behind a stain
Upon the beauty of all parts besides ^note,
Beguiling them of commendation.

Hot.
Well, I am school'd; Good manners be ^note your speed!
Here come our ^note wives, and let us take our leave ^note. Re-enter Glendower, with the Ladies.

Mor.
This is the deadly spite that angers me,—
My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh.

Gle.
My daughter weeps; she will not part with you,

She'll be a soldier too, she'll to the wars.

Mor.
Good father, tell her,—she, and my sister Percy,14Q0634
Shall follow in your conduct speedily. Glendower speaks to his Daughter in Welsh, and she answers him in the same.

Gle.
She's desperate here; a peevish self-will'd harlotry,
One ^note that no persuasion can do good upon. Daughter again in Welsh, to her Husband.

Mor.
I understand thy looks: that pretty Welsh14Q0635
Which thou pour'st down too from these swelling heavens,
I am too perfect in; and, but for shame,
In such a parly should I ^note answer thee. Daughter again to her Husband; kissing, and embracing him.
I understand thy kisses, and thou mine,
And that's a feeling ^note disputation:
But I will never be a truant, love,
'Till I have learn'd thy language; for thy tongue
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly pen'd,
Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower,
With ravishing division, to her lute.

Gle.
Nay, if you ^note melt, then will she run quite mad. Daughter again to her Husband.

Mor.
O, I am ignorance itself in this.

Gle.
She bids you ^note, on the rushes ^note lay you down,
And rest your gentle head upon her lap,
And she will sing the song ^note that pleaseth you,
And on your eye-lids crown the god of sleep,
Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness;
Making such difference 'twixt ^note wake and sleep,

As is the difference betwixt day and night,
The hour before the heavenly-harness'd teem
Begins his ^note golden progress in the east.

Mor.
With all my heart I'll sit, and hear her sing:
By that time will our book, I think, be drawn.

Gle.
Do so; and those musicians that shall play to you,
Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence ^note;
Yet straight ^note they shall be here: sit, and attend ^note.

Hot.

Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down: Come, quick, quick; that I may lay my head in thy lap.

Lad.

Go, ye giddy goose.