Rum.
Open your ears; For which of you will stop
The vent of hearing, when loud Rumour speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth:
Upon my tongues ^note continual slanders ride;
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with ^note false reports:
I speak of peace, while covert enmity,
Under the smile of safety, wounds the world:
And who but Rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful musters, and prepar'd defence;
Whilst ^note the big year, swoln with some other grief,
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe
Blown by surmises, ^note jealousies, conjectures;

And of so easy and so plain a stop,
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wavering multitude,
Can play upon it. But what need I thus
My well-known body to anatomize
Among my houshold? Why is Rumour here?
I run before king Harry's victory;
Who, in a bloody field by Shrewsbury,
Hath beaten down young Hot-spur, and his troops,
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion
Even with the rebels' blood. But what mean I,
To speak of truth at ^note first? my office is
To noise abroad—that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hot-spur's sword;
And that the king before the Douglas' rage
Stoop'd his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumour'd through the peasant towns
Between that royal ^note field of Shrewsbury
And this † worm-eaten hold ^note of ragged stone,
Where ^note Hot-spur's father, old Northumberland,
Lies crafty-sick: the posts come tiring on,
And not a man of them brings other news
Than they have learn'd ^note of me; From Rumour's tongues
They bring smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs. [Exit. SCENE II. The same. Porter before the Gate; Enter Lord Bardolph.

Bar.
Who keeps the gate here ^note, ho?—Where is the earl?

Por.
What shall I say you are?

Bar.
Tell thou the earl,
That the lord Bardolph doth attend him here.

Por.
His lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard;
Please it your honour, knock but at the gate,
And he himself will answer. Enter Northumberland.

Bar.
Here comes the earl.

Nor.
What news, lord Bardolph? every minute now
Should be the father of some stratagem:
The times are wild; contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose,
And bears down all before him.

Bar.
Noble earl,
I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.

Nor.
Good, an heaven will ^note.

Bar.
As good as heart can wish:—
The king is almost wounded to the death;
And, in the fortune of my lord your son,
Prince Harry slain outright; and both the Blunts
Kill'd by the hand of Douglas: young prince John,
And Westmoreland, and Stafford, fled the field;
And Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk sir John,
Is prisoner to your son: O, such a day,
So fought, so follow'd, and so fairly won,
Came not, 'till now, to dignify the times,
Since Cæsar's fortunes!

Nor.
How is this deriv'd?
Saw you the field? came you from Shrewsbury?

Bar.
I spake with one, my lord, that came from thence;
A gentleman well bred, and of good name,
That freely render'd me these news for true. Enter Travers, at a Distance.

Nor.
Here comes my servant Travers, whom I ^note sent
On tuesday last to listen after news.

Bar.
My lord, I over-rode him on the way;
And he is furnish'd with no certainties,
More than he haply may retail from me.

Nor.
Now, Travers, what good tidings come with you?

Tra.
My lord, sir ^note John Umfrevile turn'd me back,
With joyful tidings; and, being better hors'd,
Out-rode me. After him, came, spurring hard ^note,
A gentleman almost fore-spent with speed,
That stop'd by me to breath his bloody'd horse:
He ask'd the way to Chester; and of him
I did demand, what news from Shrewsbury.
He told me, that rebellion had bad luck ^note,
And that young Harry Percy's spur was cold:
With that, he gave his able horse the head,
And, bending forward ^note, strook his armed heels ^note
Against the panting sides of his poor jade
Up to the rowel head; and, starting so,
He seem'd in running to devour the way,
Staying no longer question.

Nor.
Ha! again?14Q0667
Said he, young Harry Percy's spur was cold?
Of Hot-spur, cold-spur? that rebellion
Had met ill luck?

Bar.
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.

Nor.
Why should the gentleman ^note, that rode by Travers,
Give then such instances of loss?

Bar.
Who, he?
He was some hilding fellow, that had stoln
The horse he rode on; and, upon my life,

Spoke ^note at adventure. Look, here comes more news. Enter Morton.

Nor.
Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf,
Fore-tells the nature of a tragick volume:
So looks the strond, whereon the ^note imperious flood
Hath left a witness'd usurpation.—
Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrewsbury?

Mor.
I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord;
Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask,
To fright our party.

Nor.
How doth my son, and brother?
Thou trembl'st; and the whiteness in thy cheek
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.
Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless,
So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone,
Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him, half his Troy was burn'd ^note:
But Priam ^note found the fire, ere he his tongue;
And I my Percy's death, ere thou report'st it.
This thou would'st say;—Your son did thus, and thus;
Your brother, thus; so fought the noble Douglas;
Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds:
But in the end, to stop mine ear ^note indeed,
Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,
Ending with—brother, son, and all are dead.

Mor.
Douglas is living, and your brother yet:
But, for my lord your son,—

Nor.
Why, he is dead.
See, what a ready tongue suspicion hath!
He, that but fears the thing he would not know,
Hath, by instinct, knowledge from others' eyes,
That what he fear'd is chanced ^note. Yet speak, Morton:

Tell thou thy earl ^note, his divination lies;
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.

Nor.
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,
To speak a truth. If he be slain, say so ^note:
The tongue offends not, that reports his death:
And he doth sin, that doth bely the dead;
Not he, which says the dead is not alive.
Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a losing office; and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a sullen bell,
Remember'd knolling ^note a departing friend.

Bar.
I cannot think, my lord, your son is dead.

Mor.
I am sorry, I should force you to believe
That, which I would to heaven I ^note had not seen:
But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state,
Rend'ring faint quittance, weary'd and out-breath'd,
To Harry ^note Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat down
The never-daunted Percy to the earth,
From whence with life he never more sprung up.
In few, his death, (whose spirit lent a fire
Even to the dullest peasant in his camp)
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away
From the best temper'd courage in his troops:
For from his metal ^note14Q0668 was his party steel'd;
Which once in him rebated ^note, all the rest
Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead.
And as the thing that's heavy in itself,

Upon enforcement, flies with greatest speed;
So did our men, heavy in Hot-spur's loss,
Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear,
That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim,
Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety,
Fly from the field: Then was the noble ^note Worcester
Too soon ^note ta'en prisoner: and that furious Scot,
The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword
Had three times slain the appearance of the king,
'Gan vail his stomack, and did grace the shame
Of those that turn'd their backs; and, in his flight,
Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all
Is,—that the king hath won; and hath sent out
A speedy power, to encounter you, my lord,
Under the conduct of young Lancaster,
And Westmoreland: this is the news at full.

Nor.
For this I shall have time enough to mourn.
In poison there is physick; and these news ^note,
Having been well, that would have made me sick,
Being sick, have in some measure made me well:
And as the wretch, whose fever-weaken'd joints,
Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life,
Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire
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; [throwing it from him.
A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel,
Must glove this hand: and hence, thou sickly quoif;
Thou art a guard too wanton for the head,
Which princes, flush'd ^note with conquest, aim to hit.
Now bind my brows with iron; And approach

The rugged'st ^note hour that time and spite dare bring,
To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland!
Let heaven kiss earth! Now let not nature's hand
Keep the wild flood confin'd! let order die!
And let the world ^note no longer be a stage,
To feed contention in a ling'ring act;
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,
And darkness be the burier of the dead!

Tra.
This ^note strained14Q0669 passion doth you wrong, my lord. ^note

Bar.
Sweet earl, divorce not wisdom from your honour.

Mor.
The lives of all your loving complices
Lean on your ^note health; the which, if you give o'er
To stormy passion, must perforce decay.
You cast the event of war, my noble lord, ^note
And sum'd the account of chance, before you said,—
Let us make head: it was your presurmise,
That, in the dole of blows your son might drop:
You knew,14Q0670 he walk'd o'er perils, on an edge ^note
More likely to fall in, than to get o'er:
You were advis'd, his flesh was capable
Of wounds, and scars; and that his forward spirit
Would lift him where most trade of danger rang'd;
Yet did you say,—Go forth; and none of this,
Though strongly appprehended, could restrain
The stiff-born action: What hath then befall'n,
Or what hath this bold enterprize brought forth,
More than that being which was like to be?

Bar.
We all, that are engaged to this loss,
Knew that we ventur'd on such dang'rous seas,
That, if we wrought out life, 'twas ten to one:

And yet we ventur'd,14Q0671 for the gain propos'd
Choak'd the respect of likely peril fear'd;
And, since we are o'er-set, venture again.
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 ^note the truth,—
The gentle archbishop of York is up, ^note
With well-appointed powers; he is a man,
Who with a double surety binds his followers.
My lord your son had only but the corps,
But shadows, and the shews of men, to fight:
For that same word, rebellion, did divide
The action of their bodies from their souls;
And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd,
As men drink potions; that their weapons only
Seem'd on our side, but, for their spirits and souls,
This word, rebellion, it had froze them up,
As fish are in a pond: But now the bishop
Turns insurrection to religion:
Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts,
He's follow'd both with body and with mind;
And doth enlarge his rising with the blood
Of fair king Richard, scrap'd from Pomfret stones:
Derives from heaven his quarrel, and his cause;
Tells them, he doth bestride a bleeding land,
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke;
And more, and less, do flock to follow him.

Nor.
I knew of this before; but, to speak truth,
This present grief had wip'd it from my mind.
Go in with me; and counsel every man
The aptest way for safety, and revenge:
Get posts, and letters, and make friends with speed;

Never so few, and never ^note yet more need. [Exeunt. SCENE III. London. Street before the Court. Enter Sir John Falstaff; a Page ^note with him, bearing his Sword and Buckler.

Fal.

Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor to my water?

Pag.

He said, sir, the water itself was a good healthy water: but, for the party that ow'd it, he might have more diseases than he knew cure for.14Q0672

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 overwhelm'd ^note 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 whorson mandrake, thou art fitter to be worn in my cap, than to wait at my heels. I was never man'd with an agat 'till now: but I will set ^note you neither in gold nor silver, but in vile apparell, and send you back again to your master for a jewel; the juvenal, the prince your master, whose chin is not yet fledg'd ^note.—I will sooner have a beard grow in the palm of my hand, than he shall get one on his ^note cheek; yet he will not stick to say, his face is a face royal. Heaven may ^note finish it when he will, it is not a hair amiss yet: he may keep it14Q0673 still at a ^note face-royal, for a barber shall never earn sixpence out of it; and yet he will be ^note crowing, as if he had writ man ever since his father was a batchelor. He may keep his own grace,

but he is ^note almost out of mine, I can assure him.—What said Mr. Dombledon ^note, about the satten for my short ^note cloak, and slops ^note?

Pag.

He said, sir, you should procure him better asrance than Bardolph: he would not take his bond ^note, and yours; he lik'd not the security.

Fal.

Let him be damn'd like the glutton! may his ^note tongue be hotter!—A whorson Achitophel ^note! a rascally yea ^note-forsooth knave! to bear a gentleman in hand, and then stand upon security! The whorson smooth-pates ^note do now wear nothing but high shoes, and bunches of keys at their girdles; and if a man is through with them in honest taking up, then they must stand upon—security: I had as lief ^note they would put rat's-bane in my mouth, as offer to stop it with security. I look'd he should ^note have sent me two and twenty yards of satten, as I am true ^note knight, and he sends me security. Well, he may sleep in security; for he hath the horn of abundance, and the lightness of his wife shines through it: and yet cannot he see, though he have his own lanthorn to light him.— Where's Bardolph? ^note

Pag.

He's gone into Smithfield ^note to buy your worship a horse.

Fal.

I bought him in Paul's, and he'll buy me a horse in Smithfield: if I could get me a ^note wife in the stews, I were man'd, hors'd, and wiv'd.