Henry IV, Part II by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 3
York. The ARCHBISHOP’S palace
Lord Hastings : To us no more; nay, not so much, Lord Bardolph;
[p]For his divisions,
as the times do brawl,
[p]Are in three heads: one power against the
French,
[p]And one against Glendower; perforce a third
[p]Must take up
us. So is the unfirm King
[p]In three divided; and his coffers
sound
[p]With hollow poverty and emptiness.
Lord Hastings : If he should do so,
[p]He leaves his back unarm'd, the French and
Welsh
[p]Baying at his heels. Never fear that.
Lord Hastings : The Duke of Lancaster and Westmoreland;
[p]Against the Welsh, himself
and Harry Monmouth;
[p]But who is substituted against the French
[p]I
have no certain notice.
Lord Mowbray : Shall we go draw our numbers, and set on?
Lord Hastings : We are time's subjects, and time bids be gone.
Lord Mowbray : I well allow the occasion of our amis;
[p]But gladly would be better
satisfied
[p]How, in our means, we should advance ourselves
[p]To look
with forehead bold and big enough
[p]Upon the power and puissance of
the King.
Lord Hastings : Our present musters grow upon the file
[p]To five and twenty thousand
men of choice;
[p]And our supplies live largely in the hope
[p]Of
great Northumberland, whose bosom burns
[p]With an incensed fire of
injuries.
Lord Hastings : With him, we may.
Lord Hastings : But, by your leave, it never yet did hurt
[p]To lay down likelihoods
and forms of hope.
Lord Hastings : Grant that our hopes--yet likely of fair birth--
[p]Should be
still-born, and that we now possess'd
[p]The utmost man of
expectation,
[p]I think we are so a body strong enough,
[p]Even as we
are, to equal with the King.
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