Act 4, Scene 1

The Rebel Camp near Shrewsbury.

[Enter Hotspur, Worcester, and Douglas.]
Hotspur
1948 Well said, my noble Scot: if speaking truth
1949 In this fine age were not thought flattery,
1950 Such attribution should the Douglas have,
1951 As not a soldier of this season's stamp
1952 Should go so general-current through the world.
1953 By God, I cannot flatter; I defy
1954 The tongues of soothers; but a braver place
1955 In my heart's love hath no man than yourself:
1956 Nay, task me to my word; approve me, lord.
Earl of Douglas
1957 Thou art the king of honour:
1958 No man so potent breathes upon the ground
1959 But I will beard him.
Hotspur
1960 Do so, and 'tis well.—
[Enter a Messenger with letters.]
Hotspur
1961 What letters hast thou there?—I can but thank you.
Messenger
1962 These letters come from your father.
Hotspur
1963 Letters from him! why comes he not himself?
Messenger
1964 He cannot come, my lord; he's grievous sick.
Hotspur
1965 Zwounds! how has he the leisure to be sick
1966 In such a justling time? Who leads his power?
1967 Under whose government come they along?
Messenger
1968 His letters bears his mind, not I, my lord.
Earl of Worcester
1969 I pr'ythee, tell me, doth he keep his bed?
Messenger
1970 He did, my lord, four days ere I set forth,
1971 And at the time of my departure thence
1972 He was much fear'd by his physicians.
Earl of Worcester
1973 I would the state of time had first been whole
1974 Ere he by sickness had been visited:
1975 His health was never better worth than now.
Hotspur
1976 Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect
1977 The very life-blood of our enterprise;
1978 'Tis catching hither, even to our camp.
Hotspur
1979 He writes me here, that inward sickness,—
1980 And that his friends by deputation could not
1981 So soon be drawn; no did he think it meet
1982 To lay so dangerous and dear a trust
1983 On any soul removed, but on his own.
1984 Yet doth he give us bold advertisement,
1985 That with our small conjunction we should on,
1986 To see how fortune is disposed to us;
1987 For, as he writes, there is no quailing now,
1988 Because the King is certainly possess'd
1989 Of all our purposes. What say you to it?
Earl of Worcester
1990 Your father's sickness is a maim to us.
Hotspur
1991 A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off:—
1992 And yet, in faith, 'tis not; his present want
1993 Seems more than we shall find it. Were it good
1994 To set the exact wealth of all our states
1995 All at one cast? to set so rich a main
1996 On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?
1997 It were not good; for therein should we read
1998 The very bottom and the soul of hope,
1999 The very list, the very utmost bound
2000 Of all our fortunes.
Earl of Douglas
2001 Faith, and so we should;
2002 Where now remains a sweet reversion;
2003 And we may boldly spend upon the hope
2004 Of what is to come in:
2005 A comfort of retirement lives in this.
Hotspur
2006 A rendezvous, a home to fly unto,
2007 If that the Devil and mischance look big
2008 Upon the maidenhead of our affairs.
Earl of Worcester
2009 But yet I would your father had been here.
2010 The quality and hair of our attempt
2011 Brooks no division: it will be thought
2012 By some, that know not why he is away,
2013 That wisdom, loyalty, and mere dislike
2014 Of our proceedings, kept the earl from hence:
2015 And think how such an apprehension
2016 May turn the tide of fearful faction,
2017 And breed a kind of question in our cause;
2018 For well you know we of the offering side
2019 Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement,
2020 And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence
2021 The eye of reason may pry in upon us.
2022 This absence of your father's draws a curtain,
2023 That shows the ignorant a kind of fear
2024 Before not dreamt of.
Hotspur
2025 Nay, you strain too far.
2026 I, rather, of his absence make this use:
2027 It lends a lustre and more great opinion,
2028 A larger dare to our great enterprise,
2029 Than if the earl were here; for men must think,
2030 If we, without his help, can make a head
2031 To push against the kingdom, with his help
2032 We shall o'erturn it topsy-turvy down.
2033 Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
Earl of Douglas
2034 As heart can think: there is not such a word
2035 Spoke in Scotland as this term of fear.
[Enter Sir Richard Vernon.]
Hotspur
2036 My cousin Vernon! welcome, by my soul.
Sir Richard Vernon
2037 Pray God my news be worth a welcome, lord.
2038 The Earl of Westmoreland, seven thousand strong,
2039 Is marching hitherwards; with him Prince John.
Hotspur
2040 No harm: what more?
Sir Richard Vernon
2041 And further, I have learn'd
2042 The King himself in person is set forth,
2043 Or hitherwards intended speedily,
2044 With strong and mighty preparation.
Hotspur
2045 He shall be welcome too. Where is his son,
2046 The nimble-footed madcap Prince of Wales,
2047 And his comrades, that daff the world aside,
2048 And bid it pass?
Sir Richard Vernon
2049 All furnish'd, all in arms;
2050 All plumed like estridges that with the wind
2051 Bate it; like eagles having lately bathed;
2052 Glittering in golden coats, like images;
2053 As full of spirit as the month of May
2054 And gorgeous as the Sun at midsummer;
2055 Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
2056 I saw young Harry—with his beaver on,
2057 His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd—
2058 Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,
2059 And vault it with such ease into his seat,
2060 As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds,
2061 To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus,
2062 And witch the world with noble horsemanship.
Hotspur
2063 No more, no more: worse than the Sun in March,
2064 This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come;
2065 They come like sacrifices in their trim,
2066 And to the fire-eyed maid of smoky war,
2067 All hot and bleeding, will we offer them:
2068 The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit
2069 Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
2070 To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh,
2071 And yet not ours.—Come, let me taste my horse,
2072 Who is to bear me, like a thunderbolt,
2073 Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales:
2074 Harry and Harry shall, hot horse to horse,
2075 Meet, and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.—
2076 O, that Glendower were come!
Sir Richard Vernon
2077 There is more news:
2078 I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along,
2079 He cannot draw his power this fourteen days.
Earl of Douglas
2080 That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet.
Earl of Worcester
2081 Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound.
Hotspur
2082 What may the King's whole battle reach unto?
Sir Richard Vernon
2083 To thirty thousand.
Hotspur
2084 Forty let it be:
2085 My father and Glendower being both away,
2086 The powers of us may serve so great a day.
2087 Come, let us take a muster speedily:
2088 Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily.
Earl of Douglas
2089 Talk not of dying: I am out of fear
2090 Of death or death's hand for this one half-year.
[Exeunt.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 1951rhetorical device
“soldier of this season's stamp / Should go so general-current”
Hotspur compares Douglas to a freshly minted coin: a soldier of 'this season's stamp' means one stamped or coined in this age, and 'general-current' means accepted as good currency everywhere, like a coin that passes freely through any market. The metaphor praises Douglas as a warrior whose valor is recognized throughout the world.
TLN 1953archaic vocab
“I defy / The tongues of soothers”
'Soothers' are flatterers — people who 'soothe' by telling others only what they want to hear. Hotspur is insisting that his praise of Douglas is sincere truth, not empty flattery.
TLN 1956archaic vocab
“task me to my word; approve me, lord”
'Task me to my word' means 'put my promise to the test' or 'hold me to what I say.' 'Approve me' means 'put me to the proof' or 'test whether I am what I claim.' Hotspur is inviting Douglas to test him, confident that his actions will bear out his words.
TLN 1958archaic vocab
“No man so potent breathes upon the ground / But I will beard him”
To 'beard' someone meant to confront them face to face with defiant boldness — literally, to grab them by the beard, the most provocative insult one man could offer another. Douglas is declaring that no living man is powerful enough that he would not dare to face him down directly.
TLN 1965archaic vocab
“Zwounds! how has he the leisure to be sick”
'Zwounds' is a contracted oath from 'by God's wounds' — a reference to Christ's wounds on the cross. It was one of the most forceful oaths in Elizabethan English, somewhere between 'damn it' and a stronger modern expletive. Parliament's Act to Restrain Abuses of Players (1606) later banned oaths like this from the stage, which is why later editions sometimes soften it.
TLN 1984archaic vocab
“he give us bold advertisement, / That with our small conjunction we should on”
'Advertisement' here means advice or counsel, not a commercial notice. 'Conjunction' means the union or joining together of their forces. Hotspur reports that Northumberland's letter urges them boldly to advance even with their reduced combined army.
TLN 1994rhetorical device
“set the exact wealth of all our states / All at one cast? to set so rich a main / On the nice hazard”
Hotspur uses gambling imagery to argue against committing everything on a single battle. 'Cast' is a single throw of the dice; a 'main' is the total stake put up at risk in the dice game hazard; 'nice hazard' means a perilously uncertain chance. He is asking: would we be wise to stake everything on one roll?
TLN 2002archaic vocab
“remains a sweet reversion; / And we may boldly spend upon the hope / Of what is to come in”
A 'reversion' is a legal term for an estate or income that will come to the heir when the current holder dies — a future inheritance already promised but not yet received. Douglas is arguing that Northumberland's army, though absent now, is a guaranteed resource they can count on receiving later, like money one knows is coming and can spend in anticipation.
TLN 2010archaic vocab
“The quality and hair of our attempt / Brooks no division”
'Hair' here means nature or character — what something is made of, its grain or texture (as in the 'hair' of a piece of wood). 'Quality and hair' together mean the nature and temper of the enterprise. 'Brooks no division' means will not tolerate, cannot endure, any splitting of the rebel forces. Worcester is warning that their rebellion is too delicate an enterprise to survive the appearance of internal fracture.
TLN 2018archaic vocab
“we of the offering side / Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement, / And stop all sight-holes, every loop”
The 'offering side' means the party that issued the challenge — the rebels, who are the aggressors in this conflict. 'Arbitrement' means close scrutiny or impartial examination (literally, the judgment of an arbiter). 'Sight-holes' and 'loop' (a loophole) are openings through which an observer might peer in. Worcester is saying: as the side that provoked this war, they cannot afford any crack through which hostile, impartial eyes might examine their motives.
TLN 2030archaic vocab
“can make a head / To push against the kingdom”
'Make a head' is a military idiom meaning to raise and muster an army, to bring one's forces to a fighting strength sufficient for a campaign. Hotspur is arguing that if the rebels can press on without Northumberland's forces and still threaten the Crown, their strength will seem all the more formidable when Northumberland's army joins them.
TLN 2050archaic vocab
“All plumed like estridges that with the wind / Bate it”
'Estridges' are ostriches (a variant spelling, from Spanish avestruz via Old French). To 'bate' means to beat the wings impatiently and struggle to take flight — a term from falconry for a hawk that flaps and strains against the leash. Vernon is painting the Welsh and English knights in their plumed helmets as a flock of great birds straining and beating their wings as the wind hits them, restless to be loosed.
TLN 2056cultural context
“young Harry—with his beaver on, / His cuisses on his thighs, gallantly arm'd”
A 'beaver' is the movable face-guard of a helmet — the hinged visor that can be raised or lowered; here it is down, meaning the Prince is battle-ready and his face is hidden. 'Cuisses' (pronounced 'KWIS-iz') are the armor plates that protect the thighs. Vernon is describing Prince Hal fully armed for war from head to leg, a sharp visual contrast to the idle tavern-haunter Hotspur expects.
TLN 2058classical allusion
“Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury, / And vault it with such ease into his seat”
Mercury (Greek Hermes) was the messenger of the gods, famous for the small wings attached to his heels and his helmet that let him fly across the sky at supernatural speed. Vernon compares Prince Hal vaulting onto his warhorse to Mercury launching himself from the earth — effortless, weightless, otherworldly. The image transforms Hal from tavern-wastrel into something divine.
TLN 2061classical allusion
“To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, / And witch the world with noble horsemanship”
Pegasus was the winged horse of Greek mythology, born from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa when Perseus beheaded her; it was ridden by the hero Bellerophon. The name became the classical byword for a magnificent, extraordinary horse. Vernon imagines Prince Hal's warhorse as Pegasus — a supernatural mount for a supernatural rider. 'Witch' means to bewitch, to hold spellbound.
TLN 2063cultural context
“worse than the Sun in March, / This praise doth nourish agues”
An 'ague' is a fever with chills and shaking fits — what we would call a malarial or febrile illness. Early modern physicians believed that the sun's warmth in March, too weak to purge winter's cold dampness but strong enough to stir bad vapors in the air, actually promoted illness rather than curing it. Hotspur is saying that Vernon's praise of Hal makes him sick — or more precisely, that flattery of the enemy is as unhealthy as early-spring sunshine.
TLN 2066classical allusion
“fire-eyed maid of smoky war / All hot and bleeding, will we offer them: / The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit”
The 'fire-eyed maid of smoky war' is Bellona, the Roman goddess of war -- a virgin warrior whose name comes from the Latin for 'war.' 'Mailed Mars' is the god of war, Mars, in his armor ('mail' = chain armor). Hotspur imagines the royal army marching to battle like animals brought as sacrificial offerings to these two war-deities: he will slaughter them on the altar of war, with Mars presiding.
TLN 2088biblical allusion
“Doomsday is near; die all, die merrily”
'Doomsday' is the Day of Judgment — the last day of the world when, according to Christian teaching, the dead will rise, the living and dead will be judged by God, and the world will end. Hotspur uses it loosely: the approaching battle feels like the end of the world, so they might as well die bravely and cheerfully. The defiant joke ('die merrily') is characteristic Hotspur bravado, matching Douglas's boast that he has forgotten the fear of death.