Unto this king of smiles, this Bolingbroke,

When you and he came back from Ravenspurg.

North. At Berkley castle.

Hot. You say true.

Why, what a candy deal of courtesy

This fawning greyhound then did proffer me!
Look, When his infant fortune came to age,'-
And,—' gentle Harry Percy,'—and, ‘kind cousin,'-
O, the devil take such cozeners! -God forgive

me!

Good uncle, tell your tale, for I have done.
Wor. Nay, if you have not, to 't again;
We'll stay your leisure.

Hot.

I have done, i' faith.

Wor. Then once more to your Scottish prisoners : Deliver them up without their ransom straight; And make the Douglas' son your only mean For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons, Which I shall send you written,—be assured, Will easily be granted you. My lord,

[to Northumberland.

Your son in Scotland being thus employ'd,—

Shall secretly into the bosom creep

Of that same noble prelate, well beloved,
The archbishop.

Hot. Of York, is 't not?

Wor. True; who bears hard

His brother's death at Bristol, the lord Scroop.

I speak not this in estimation,

As what I think might be; but what I know
Is ruminated, plotted, and set down;

And only stays but to behold the face
Of that occasion that shall bring it on.

Hot. I smell it: upon my life, it will do well. North. Before the game 's afoot, thou still let'st

slip.1

Hot. Why, it cannot choose but be a noble

plot :

And then the power of Scotland, and of York,
To join with Mortimer, ha?

Wor.
And so they shall.
Hot. In faith, it is exceedingly well aim'd.
Wor. And 'tis no little reason bids us speed,
To save our heads by raising of a head: 2
For, bear ourselves as even as we can,
The king will always think him in our debt;
And think we think ourselves unsatisfied,
Till he hath found a time to pay us home.
And see already, how he doth begin
To make us strangers to his looks of love.

Hot. He does, he does; we'll be revenged on him.

Wor. Cousin, farewell.—No farther go in this, Than I by letters shall direct your course. When time is ripe, which will be suddenly, I'll steal to Glendower and lord Mortimer; Where you and Douglas, and our powers at once (As I will fashion it) shall happily meet,

To let slip is to loose the greyhound.

A body of forces.

To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms,
Which now we hold at much uncertainty.

North. Farewell, good brother. We shall thrive, 1 trust.

Hot. Uncle, adieu. O, let the hours be short, Till fields, and blows, and groans applaud our sport!

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE 1.

Rochester. An inn yard.

Enter a CARRIER, with a lantern in his hand.

1 Car. Heigh ho! An't be not four by the day, I'll be hanged: Charles' wain is over the new chimney, and yet our horse not packed. What, ostler !

Ost. [within.] Anon, anon.

1 Car. I pr'ythee, Tom, beat Cut's saddle; put a few flocks in the point: the poor jade is wrung in the withers out of all cess.?

Enter another CARRIER.

2 Car. Pease and beans are as dank3 here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the

The name of his horse

• Measure.

• Wet.

bots. This house is turned upside down, since Robin ostler died.

1 Car. Poor fellow! never joyed since the price of oats rose: it was the death of him.

2

2 Car. I think, this be the most villanous house in all London road for fleas. I am stung like a tench.

1 Car. Like a tench? by the mass, there is ne'er a king in Christendom could be better bit than I have been since the first cock.

2 Car. Why, they will allow us ne'er a jorden, and then we leak in your chimney; and your chamber-lie breeds fleas like a loach.

1 Car. What, ostler! come away, and be hanged;

come away.

2 Car. I have a gammon of bacon, and two races of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing-cross.

1 Car. 'Odsbody! the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved.-What, ostler!-A plague on thee! hast thou never an eye in thy head? canst not hear? An 'twere not as good a deed as drink, to break the pate of thee, I am a very villain. Come, and be hanged:-hast no faith in thee?

Enter GADSHILL.

Gads. Good-morrow, carriers. What's o' clock? 1 Car. I think it be two o'clock.

Gads. I pry'thee, lend me thy lantein, to see my gelding in the stable.

1 Car. Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick worth two of that, i' faith.

Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thine.

2 Car. Ay, when? canst tell?-Lend me thy lantern, quoth a?-marry, I'll see thee hanged first. Gads. Sirrah carrier, what time do you mean to come to London ?

2 Car. Time enough to go to bed with a candle, I warrant thee. Come, neighbor Mugs, we'll call up the gentlemen; they will along with company, for they have great charge. [Exeunt Carriers.

Gads. What, ho! chamberlain !

Cham. [within.] At hand, quoth pick-purse.1 Gads. That's even as fair as-at hand, quoth the chamberlain; for thou variest no more from picking of purses, than giving direction doth from laboring: thou layest the plot how.

Enter CHAMBERLAIN.

Cham. Good morrow, master Gadshill. It holds current, that I told you yesternight. There's a franklin in the wild of Kent, hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold: I heard him tell it to one of his company, last night at supper; a

1 A proverbial expression, in allusion to the vigilance of the pick-purse.

A freeholder with a small estate.