And at the time of my departure thence He was much feared by his physicians. Wor. I would the state of time had first been whole Ere he by sickness had been visited : His health was never better worth than now. Hot. Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect The very life-blood of our enterprise ; 'T is catching hither, even to our camp. On any soul removed, but on his own. Wor. Your father's sickness is a maim to us. Hot. A perilous gash, a very limb lopped off:And yet, in faith, it's not; his present want Seems more than we shall find it :—were it good To set the exact wealth of all our states All at one cast? to set so rich a main On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour? It were not good; for therein should we read The very list, the very utmost bound Of all our fortunes. Doug. 'Faith, and so we should ; Where now remains a sweet reversion; A comfort of retirement lives in this. Hot. A rendezvous, a home to fly unto, If that the devil and mischance look big Upon the maidenhead of our affairs. Wor. But yet, I would your father had been here. The quality and hair of our attempt By some, that know not why he is away, And breed a kind of question in our cause: And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence This absence of your father's draws a curtain, Before not dreamt of. Hot. You strain too far. I rather of his absence make this use: It lends a lustre, and more great opinion, Than if the earl were here; for men must think, Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole. Spoke of in Scotland as this term of fear. Enter Sir RICHARD VERNON. Hot. My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul. Ver. Pray God, my news be worth a welcome, lord. The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong, Is marching hitherwards; with him, Prince John. Hot. No harm: what more? Ver. And further, I have learned, The king himself in person is set forth, Hot. He shall be welcome too. son, Where is his The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales, Ver. All furnished, all in arms, All plumed like estridges that wing the wind; As full of spirit as the month of May, And witch the world with noble horsemanship. Hot. No more, no more: worse than the sun in March, This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come; They come like sacrifices in their trim,— And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war, And yet not ours. -Come, let me taste my horse, Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales: Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse, Meet, and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.— O, that Glendower were come ! Ver. There is more news: I learned in Worcester, as I rode along, He cannot draw his power this fourteen days. Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet. Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty My father and Glendower being both away, |