Enter Worcester.

Hot. Speak of Mortimer?

Yes, I will speak of him; and let my foul
Want mercy, if I do not join with him.
In his behalf, I'll empty all these veins,
And shed my dear blood drop by drop in dust,
4 But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer
As high i'th' Air as this unthankful King,
As this ingrate and cankred Bolingbroke.

North. Brother, the King hath made your Nephew mad. [To Worcester. Wor. Who ftrook this heat up, after I was gone? Hot. He will, forfooth, have all my prifoners: And when I urg'd the ransom once again

Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale.
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling ev'n at the name of Mortimer.

Wor. I cannot blame him; was he not proclaim'd,
By Richard that dead is, the next of blood?
North. He was: I heard the Proclamation;
And then it was, when the unhappy King

(Whose wrongs in us, God pardon!) did fet forth
Upon his Irish expedition ;

From whence he, intercepted, did return
To be depos'd, and fhortly murthered.

[mouth

Wor. And for whose death, we in the world's wide

Live fcandaliz'd, and foully spoken of.

Hot. But foft, I pray you ;-did King Richard then Proclaim my brother Mortimer

Heir to the Crown?

North. He did; my felf did hear it.

Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his coufin King, That wish'd him on the barren mountains ftarv'd.

4 But I will lift the downfall'n Mortimer] The Quarto of 1599 reads down-trod Mortimer : which is better.

But

But fhall it be, that you, that set the Crown
Upon the head of this forgetful man,
And for his fake wear the detefted blot
Of murd❜rous Subornation? fhall it be,
That you a world of curfes undergo,
Being the agents or base second means,
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather?
(O pardon me, that I defcend fo low,
To fhew the line and the predicament
Wherein you range under this fubtle King)
Shall it for fhame be spoken in these days,
Or fill up Chronicles in time to come,
That men of your Nobility and Power
Ingag'd them Both in an unjust behalf;
(As Both of you, God pardon it! have done :)
put down Richard, that fweet lovely Rofe,
And plant this Thorn, this Canker Bolingbroke?
And fhall it in more shame be further spoken,
That you are fool'd, discarded, and fhook off
By him, for whom these shames ye underwent?
No; yet time ferves, wherein you may redeem
Your banish'd Honours, and reftore your felves
Into the good thoughts of the world again.
Revenge the jeering and difdain'd contempt
Of this proud King, who ftudies day and night
To anfwer all the debt he owes unto you,
Ev'n with the bloody payments of your deaths:
Therefore, I fay-

To

Wor. Peace, Coufin, fay no more.
And now I will unclafp a fecret book,
And to your quick-conceiving difcontents
I'll read you matter, deep and dangerous;
As full of peril and advent'rous fpirit,
As to o'er-walk a current, roaring loud,
$ On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.

5 On the unfleadfast footing of a spear.] i. e. of a fpear laid

acrofs.

Enter Worcester.

Hot. Speak of Mortimer?

Yes, I will fpeak of him; and let
my foul
Want mercy, if I do not join with him.

In his behalf, I'll empty all these veins,
And shed my dear blood drop by drop in duft,
4 But I will lift the down-trod Mortimer
As high i'th' Air as this unthankful King,
As this ingrate and cankred Bolingbroke.

North. Brother, the King hath made your Nephew mad. [To Worcester. Wor. Who ftrook this heat up, after I was gone? Hot. He will, forfooth, have all my prifoners: And when I urg'd the ransom once again

Of my wife's brother, then his cheek look'd pale.
And on my face he turn'd an eye of death,
Trembling ev'n at the name of Mortimer.

Wor. I cannot blame him; was he not proclaim'd,
By Richard that dead is, the next of blood?
North. He was: I heard the Proclamation;
And then it was, when the unhappy King

(Whose wrongs in us, God pardon!) did fet forth Upon his Irish expedition;

From whence he, intercepted, did return

To be depos'd, and fhortly murthered.

[mouth

Wor. And for whose death, we in the world's wide

Live fcandaliz'd, and foully spoken of.

Hot. But foft, I pray you ;-did King Richard then Proclaim my brother Mortimer

Heir to the Crown?

North. He did, my self did hear it.

Hot. Nay, then I cannot blame his coufin King, That wish'd him on the barren mountains ftarv'd.

4 But I will lift the downfall'n Mortimer] The Quarto of 1599 reads down-trod Mortimer : which is better.

But

But fhall it be, that you, that fet the Crown
Upon the head of this forgetful man,
And for his fake wear the detefted blot
Of murd❜rous Subornation? fhall it be,
That you a world of curfes undergo,
Being the agents or base second means,
The cords, the ladder, or the hangman rather?
(O pardon me, that I defcend fo low,
To fhew the line and the predicament
Wherein you range under this fubtle King)
Shall it for fhame be spoken in these days,
Or fill up Chronicles in time to come,
That men of your Nobility and Power
Ingag'd them Both in an unjust behalf;
(As Both of you, God pardon it! have done :)
Το put down Richard, that fweet lovely Rose,
And plant this Thorn, this Canker Bolingbroke?
And fhall it in more fhame be further spoken,
That you are fool'd, difcarded, and fhook off
By him, for whom these fhames ye underwent?
No; yet time ferves, wherein you may redeem
Your banish'd Honours, and restore your felves
Into the good thoughts of the world again.
Revenge the jeering and difdain'd contempt
Of this proud King, who studies day and night
To answer all the debt he owes unto you,
Ev'n with the bloody payments of your deaths:
Therefore, I fay

Wor. Peace, Coufin, fay no more.
And now I will unclasp a fecret book,
And to your quick-conceiving difcontents
I'll read you matter, deep and dangerous;
As full of peril and advent'rous fpirit,
As to o'er-walk a current, roaring loud,
On the unsteadfast footing of a fpear.

5 On the unfeadfast footing of a spear.] i. e. of a fpear laid

acrofs.

Hot. If he fall in, good night. Or fink or fwim, Send Danger from the east unto the west,

So Honour crofs it from the north to fouth;
And let them grapple.-O! the blood more stirs
To rouze a Lion, than to start a Hare.

North. Imagination of fome great exploit

Drives him beyond the bounds of patience.

Hot. By heav'n, methinks, it were an eafie leap, To pluck bright Honour from the pale-fac'd Moon;

6 By heav'n, methinks,&c.] Gildon,a critic of the fize of Dennis, &c. calls this fpeech, without any ceremony, a ridiculous rant and abfolute madness. Mr. Theobald talks in the fame ftrain. The French critics had taught these people juft enough to underftand where Shakespear had tranfgreffed the rules of the Greek tragic writers; and, on thofe occafions, they are full of the poor frigid cant, of fable, fentiment, diction, unities, &c. But it is another thing to get to Shakespear's fense: to do this required a little of their own. For want of which, they could not fee that the poet here uses an allegorical covering to express a noble and very natural thought. Hot-fpur, all on fire, exclaims against buckstering and bartering for honour, and dividing it into fhares. O! fays he, could I be fure that when I had purchased honour I fhould wear her dignities without a Rival-what then? why then,

By heav'n methinks, it were an eafie leap,

To pluck bright Honour from the pale-fac'd Moon:

i. e. tho' fome great and fhining character in the most elevated orb, was already in poffeffion of her, yet it would, methinks, be eafy by greater acts, to eclipfe his glory, and pluck all his honours

from him;

Or dive into the bottom of the deep,

And pluck up drowned honour by the locks:

i. e. or what is ftill more difficult, tho' there were in the world no great examples to incite and fire my emulation, but that honour was quite funk and buried in oblivion, yet would I bring it back into vogue, and render it more illuftrious than ever. So that we fee, tho' the expreffion be sublime and daring, yet the thought is the natural movement of an heroic mind. Euripides at leaft thought fo, when he put the very fame fentiment, in the fame words, into the mouth of Eteocles- I will not, madam, difguife my thoughts; I could fcale heaven, I could defcend to the very entrails of the earth, if fo be that by that price I could obtain a kingdom.

Or