And make the Douglas' son your only mean For powers in Scotland; which, for divers reasons Will easily be granted. [To NORTH.] You, my lord, Shall secretly into the bosom creep Of that same noble prelate, well beloved, Hot. Of York, is't not? True; who bears hard His brother's death at Bristol, the Lord Scroop. 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't: upon my life, it will do well. North. Before the game's a-foot, thou still lett'st slip.30 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. 29 Estimation in the sense of conjecture or inference. 30 This phrase is taken from hunting. To let slip is to let loose the hounds when the game is ready for the chase. Unless the fox is a-foot, or out of his hole, the hunters cannot get at him. 31 That is, save their heads by making prompt headway in resistance. The use of head for army was common. The King will always think him in our debt, To make us strangers to his looks of love. Hot. He does, he does: we'll be revenged on him. To bear our fortunes in our own strong arms, North. Farewell, good brother: we shall thrive, I trust. Till fields and blows and groans applaud our sport! [Exeunt. 32 To pay home is to pay, that is, punish, thoroughly, or to the uttermost. So in The Tempest, v. 1: "I will pay thy graces home both in word and deed"; where, however, pay is reward. 33 Cousin was a common term for nephew, niece, grandchild, and what we mean by the word. ACT II. SCENE I.-Rochester. An Inn-Yard. Enter a Carrier with a lantern in his hand. I Car. Heigh-ho! an't be not four by the day, I'll be hang'd: Charles' wain is over the new chimney, and yet our horse' not pack'd.-What, ostler ! Ost. [Within.] Anon, anon. I 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.2 Enter another Carrier. 2 Car. Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog,3 and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots: this house is turned upside down since Robin ostler died. I Car. Poor fellow! never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of him. 1 Charles' Wain was the vulgar name for the constellation called the Great Bear. It is a corruption of Chorles' or Churl's wain. 2 The withers of a horse is the ridge between the shoulder bones at the bottom of the neck, right under the point of the saddle. Wrung as thus used is the same as gall'd. So in Hamlet: "Let the gall'd jade wince, our withers are unwrung." - Flocks are flakes or locks of wool. Cess is an old word for tax or subsidy; the original of assess. When an assessment was exorbitant, it was said to be out of all cess; excessive. The Beggars' Bush of B. and F.: "When the subsidy's increased, we are not a penny cess'd." 3 Dank is moist, damp. The dog was probably as much overworked in comparisons three centuries ago as he is now. — "The next way" is the nearest way. Bots is worms, a disease that horses sometimes die of. 4 The price of grain was very high in 1596; which may have put Shakespeare upon making poor Robin thus die of one idea. 2 Car. I think this be the most villainous house in all London road for fleas : I am stung like a tench.5 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. What, ostler! come away and be hang'd; come away.6 2 Car. I have a gammon of bacon and two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing-cross.7 1 Car. 'Odsbody, the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved.9— 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 hang'd: hast no faith in thee? Enter GADSHILL. Gads. Good morrow, carriers. What's o'clock? Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thy lantern, to see my gelding in the stable. I Car. Nay, soft, I pray ye; I know a trick worth two of that, i'faith. Gads. I pr'ythee, lend me thine. 5 Some fresh-water fish are at certain seasons infested with a sort of lice, and so might be said to be stung. 6 Come away, is come along, or come, simply. Repeatedly so. A raze of ginger is said to have been a term for a package of ginger; how large does not appear: not to be confounded with race, a root. — Charing-cross was an ancient shrine, said to have been erected in memory of Eleanor, Queen of Edward the First. Though the spot is now in the heart of London, three centuries ago it was in the outskirts of the city. 8 Another disguised oath, whittled down from God's body. 9 Turkeys were not brought into England until the reign of Henry VIII. 10 The Carrier has just said, "An't be not four by the day, I'll be hang'd." Probably he suspects Gadshill, and tries to mislead him. 2 Car. Ay, when? canst tell? Lend me thy lantern, quoth a? marry, I'll see thee hang'd 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, neighbour Muggs, we'll call up the gentlemen: they will along with company, for they have great charge. Gads. What, ho! chamberlain ! [Exeunt Carriers. Cham. [Within.] At hand, quoth pick-purse.11 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 labouring; thou lay'st the plot how.12 Enter Chamberlain. It holds current Cham. Good morrow, Master Gadshill. that I told you yesternight: there's a franklin 13 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 kind of auditor; 14 one that hath abundance of charge too, God knows what. They are up already, and call for eggs and butter: they will away presently. 11 A slang phrase of the time, often found in old plays. 12 Chamberlain was a term applied to certain tavern officers; probably much the same as bar-keeper in our time. As here represented, chamberlains often concerted with highwaymen for the waylaying of travellers, themselves sharing in the profits. 18 A freeholder or yeoman, a man above a vassal or villain, but not a gentleman. This was the Franklin of the age of Elizabeth. In earlier times he was a person of much more dignity. 14 An auditor was an officer of the revenue: his " abundance of charge " was doubtless money belonging to the State; as Gadshill afterwards says, "'tis going to the King's exchequer." |