William Shakespeare: King Henry IV Part I

ACT V. 2. Scene II. The Rebel Camp.

[Enter Worcester and Vernon.]

WOR.
O no, my nephew must not know, Sir Richard,
The liberal-kind offer of the King.

VER.
'Twere best he did.

WOR.
Then are we all undone.
It is not possible, it cannot be,
The King should keep his word in loving us;
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this offence in other faults:
Suspicion all our lives shall be stuck full of eyes;
For treason is but trusted like the fox,
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up,
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or sad or merrily,
Interpretation will misquote our looks;
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall,
The better cherish'd, still the nearer death.
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot:
It hath th' excuse of youth and heat of blood,
And an adopted name of privilege,--
A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen:
All his offences live upon my head
And on his father's: we did train him on;
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all.
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know,
In any case, the offer of the King.

VER.
Deliver what you will, I'll say 'tis so.
Here comes your cousin.

[Enter Hotspur and Douglas; Officers and Soldiers behind.]

HOT.
My uncle is return'd: deliver up
My Lord of Westmoreland.--Uncle, what news?

WOR.
The King will bid you battle presently.

DOUG.
Defy him by the Lord Of Westmoreland.

HOT.
Lord Douglas, go you and tell him so.

DOUG.
Marry, I shall, and very willingly.

[Exit.]

WOR.
There is no seeming mercy in the King.

HOT.
Did you beg any? God forbid!