and steer'd Bade the rough waves subside in peace, You may despise, perhaps, that useless aid, Edw. Know too, reproach for benefits receiv'd War. Why that indeed is frugal honesty; A Edw. When you have counted o'er the num'rous train Of mighty gifts your bounty lavish'd on me, You may remember next the injuries, Which I have done you; let me know them all, And I will make you ample satisfaction. War. Thou canst not thou hast robb'd me of a jewel It is not in thy power to restore; I was the first, shall future annals say, That broke the sacred bond of public trust, That haunt your court, could none be found but Warwick, Edw. And wouldst thou turn the vile reproach on me? If I have broke my faith, and stain'd the name Of England, thank thy own pernicious counsels, That urg'd me to it, and extorted from me A cold consent to what my heart abhorr'd. Edw. These gusts of passion If I have been right War. Elizabeth! Edw. Nay, start not; I have cause Too well I know thy breach of friendship there, Edw. I scorn it, Sir-Elizabeth hath charms, War. By Heav'n, 'tis false! You knew it all, and meanly took occasion, Edw. My claim to happiness, the privilege To choose the partner of my throne and bed; It is a branch of my prerogative. War. Prerogative! what's that? the boast of tyrants ! A borrow'd jewel, glitt'ring in the crown With specious lustre, lent but to betray : You had it, Sir, and hold it-from the people. Edw. And therefore do I prize it: I would guard War. Go to your darling people, then; for soon, Their boasted zeal, and see if one of them Edw. Is it so, my lord? Then mark my words: I've been your slave too long, But henceforth know, proud peer, I am thy master, His pow'r to others' hands but ill deserves War. Look well then to your own; It sits but loosely on your head; for know, Edw. Nor he who threaten'd Edward- EARL OF WARWICK. CHAP. XVIII. HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. Glen. SIT, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hotspur ; For by that name as oft as Lancaster Doth speak of you, his cheek looks pale! and with A risen sigh, he wisheth you in Heav'n. Hot. And you in Hell, as often as he hears Owen Glendower spoke of. Glen. I blame him not at my nativity The front of Heav'n was full of fiery shapes, Of burning cressets; know, that at my birth The frame and the foundation of the earth Shook like a coward. Hot. So it would have done At the same season, if your mother's cat Had kitten'd, though yourself had ne'er been born. BOOK VI. Glen. The Heav'ns were all on fire, the earth did tremble. Hot. O, then the earth shook to see the Heav'ns on fire! And not in fear of your nativity. Diseased Nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions; and the teeming earth Within her womb, which, for enlargement striving, Glen. Cousin, of many men I do not bear these crossings: give me leave I am not in the roll of common men. That chides the banks of England, Wales, or Scotland, And bring him out, that is but woman's son, Or hold me pace in deep experiments. Hot. I think there is no man speaks better Welsh. Glen. I can speak English, Lord, as well as you; For I was train'd up in the English court, Where, being young, 1 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 am glad of it with all my heart; I'd rather be a kitten, and cry mew! Than one of these same metre-balladmongers! I'd rather hear a brazen candlestick turn'd, Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree, And that would nothing set my teeth on edge, Nothing so much as mincing poetry; CHAP. XIX. HOTSPUR READING A LETTER. Bur for my own part, my Lord, I could be well con"tented to be there in respect of the love I bear your "house." He could be contented to be there; why is he not then? "In respect of the love he bears our house?" He shows in this, he loves his own barn better than he loves our house. Let me see some more. "The pur 66 pose you undertake is dangerous." Why, that is certain: it is dangerous to take a cold, to sleep, to drink: but I tell you, my Lord fool, out of this nettle danger we pluck this flower safety. "The purpose you undertake is dangerous, the friends you have named uncertain, the time "itself unsorted, and your whole plot too light for the "counterpoise of so great an opposition." Say you so! say you so! I say unto you again, you are a shallow cowardly hind, and you lie. What a lackbrain is this! By the Lord, our plot is a good plot as ever was laid; our friends true and constant; a good plot, good friends, and full of expectation; an excellent plot, very good friends. What a frosty-spirited rogue this is! Why, my lord of York commends the plot, and the general course of the action. By this hand, if I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with his lady's fan. Are there not my father, my uncle, and myself, lord Edmund Mortimer, my lord of York, and |