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Henry IV, Pt. 1: Act IV, Scene 1

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Henry IV, Pt. 1
Act IV, Scene 1

Scene 1

The rebel camp near Shrewsbury .

  1. Enter Hotspur , Worcester , and Douglas .

Hotspur

1 - 9
  1. Well said , my noble Scot ! If speaking truth
  2. In this fine age were not thought flattery ,
  3. Such attribution should the Douglas have
  4. As not a soldier of this season’s stamp
  5. Should go so general current through the world .
  6. By God , I cannot flatter , I do defy
  7. The tongues of soothers , but a braver place
  8. In my heart’s love hath no man than yourself .
  9. Nay , task me to my word , approve me , lord .

Earl of Douglas

10 - 12
  1. Thou art the king of honor .
  2. No man so potent breathes upon the ground
  3. But I will beard him .
  1. Enter a Messenger with letters .

Hotspur

13 - 14
  1.                       Do so , and ’tis well .—
  2. What letters hast thou there ?— I can but thank you .

First Messenger

15
  1. These letters come from your father .

Hotspur

16
  1. Letters from him ! Why comes he not himself ?

First Messenger

17
  1. He cannot come , my lord , he is grievous sick .

Hotspur

18 - 20
  1. ’Zounds ! How has he the leisure to be sick
  2. In such a justling time ? Who leads his power ?
  3. Under whose government come they along ?

First Messenger

21
  1. His letters bears his mind , not I , my lord .

Earl of Worcester

22
  1. I prithee tell me , doth he keep his bed ?

First Messenger

23 - 25
  1. He did , my lord , four days ere I set forth ,
  2. And at the time of my departure thence
  3. He was much fear’d by his physicians .

Earl of Worcester

26 - 28
  1. I would the state of time had first been whole
  2. Ere he by sickness had been visited ,
  3. His health was never better worth than now .

Hotspur

29 - 42
  1. Sick now ? Droop now ? This sickness doth infect
  2. The very life - blood of our enterprise ,
  3. ’Tis catching hither , even to our camp .
  4. He writes me here , that inward sickness —
  5. And that his friends by deputation could not
  6. So soon be drawn , nor did he think it meet
  7. To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
  8. On any soul remov’d , but on his own .
  9. Yet doth he give us bold advertisement
  10. That with our small conjunction we should on ,
  11. To see how fortune is dispos’d to us ,
  12. For , as he writes , there is no quailing now ,
  13. Because the King is certainly possess’d
  14. Of all our purposes . What say you to it ?

Earl of Worcester

43
  1. Your father’s sickness is a maim to us .

Hotspur

44 - 53
  1. A perilous gash , a very limb lopp’d off —
  2. And yet , in faith , it is not ; his present want
  3. Seems more than we shall find it . Were it good
  4. To set the exact wealth of all our states
  5. All at one cast ? To set so rich a main
  6. On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour ?
  7. It were not good , for therein should we read
  8. The very bottom and the soul of hope ,
  9. The very list , the very utmost bound
  10. Of all our fortunes .

Earl of Douglas

54 - 58
  1.                      Faith , and so we should ,
  2. Where now remains a sweet reversion ,
  3. We may boldly spend upon the hope of what
  4. Is to come in .
  5. A comfort of retirement lives in this .

Hotspur

59 - 61
  1. A rendezvous , a home to fly unto ,
  2. If that the devil and mischance look big
  3. Upon the maidenhead of our affairs .

Earl of Worcester

62 - 77
  1. But yet I would your father had been here .
  2. The quality and hair of our attempt
  3. Brooks no division . It will be thought
  4. By some that know not why he is away
  5. That wisdom , loyalty , and mere dislike
  6. Of our proceedings kept the Earl from hence ,
  7. And think how such an apprehension
  8. May turn the tide of fearful faction ,
  9. And breed a kind of question in our cause .
  10. For well you know we of the off’ring side
  11. Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement ,
  12. And stop all sight - holes , every loop from whence
  13. The eye of reason may pry in upon us .
  14. This absence of your father’s draws a curtain
  15. That shows the ignorant a kind of fear
  16. Before not dreamt of .
illustration to Henry IV

As if an angel dropped down from the clouds, to turn and wind a fiery Pegasus and witch the world with noble horsemanship

illustration to Henry IV

William Blake

Hotspur

78 - 86
  1.                       You strain too far .
  2. I rather of his absence make this use :
  3. It lends a lustre and more great opinion ,
  4. A larger dare to our great enterprise ,
  5. Than if the Earl were here , for men must think ,
  6. If we without his help can make a head
  7. To push against a kingdom , with his help
  8. We shall o’erturn it topsy - turvy down .
  9. Yet all goes well , yet all our joints are whole .

Earl of Douglas

87 - 88
  1. As heart can think . There is not such a word
  2. Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear .
  1. Enter Sir Richard Vernon .

Hotspur

89
  1. My cousin Vernon , welcome , by my soul !

Vernon

90 - 92
  1. Pray God my news be worth a welcome , lord .
  2. The Earl of Westmorland , seven thousand strong ,
  3. Is marching hitherwards , with him Prince John .

Hotspur

93
  1. No harm . What more ?

Vernon

94 - 97
  1.                     And further , I have learn’d ,
  2. The King himself in person is set forth ,
  3. Or hitherwards intended speedily ,
  4. With strong and mighty preparation .

Hotspur

98 - 101
  1. He shall be welcome too . Where is his son ,
  2. The nimble - footed madcap Prince of Wales ,
  3. And his comrades , that daff’d the world aside
  4. And bid it pass ?

Vernon

102 - 115
  1.                  All furnish’d , all in arms ;
  2. All plum’d like estridges , that with the wind
  3. Bated like eagles having lately bath’d ,
  4. Glittering in golden coats like images ,
  5. As full of spirit as the month of May ,
  6. And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer ;
  7. Wanton as youthful goats , wild as young bulls .
  8. I saw young Harry with his beaver on ,
  9. His cushes on his thighs , gallantly arm’d ,
  10. Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury ,
  11. And vaulted with such ease into his seat
  12. As if an angel dropp’d down from the clouds
  13. To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus ,
  14. And witch the world with noble horsemanship .

Hotspur

116 - 129
  1. No more , no more ! Worse than the sun in March ,
  2. This praise doth nourish agues . Let them come !
  3. They come like sacrifices in their trim ,
  4. And to the fire - ey’d maid of smoky war
  5. All hot and bleeding will we offer them .
  6. The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit
  7. Up to the ears in blood . I am on fire
  8. To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh ,
  9. And yet not ours . Come let me taste my horse ,
  10. Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt
  11. Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales .
  12. Harry to Harry shall , hot horse to horse ,
  13. Meet and ne’er part till one drop down a corse .
  14. O that Glendower were come !

Vernon

130 - 132
  1.                             There is more news :
  2. I learn’d in Worcester , as I rode along ,
  3. He cannot draw his power this fourteen days .

Earl of Douglas

133
  1. That’s the worst tidings that I hear of yet .

Earl of Worcester

134
  1. Ay , by my faith , that bears a frosty sound .

Hotspur

135
  1. What may the King’s whole battle reach unto ?

Vernon

136
  1. To thirty thousand .

Hotspur

137 - 141
  1.                     Forty let it be !
  2. My father and Glendower being both away ,
  3. The powers of us may serve so great a day .
  4. Come let us take a muster speedily .
  5. Doomsday is near , die all , die merrily .

Earl of Douglas

142 - 143
  1. Talk not of dying , I am out of fear
  2. Of death or death’s hand for this one half year .
  1. Exeunt .
Banner designs for Glendower, Worcester, and Douglas

Banner designs for Glendower, Worcester, and Douglas

Charles Hamilton Smith, Emma Hamilton Smith, 19th century

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