Page:Henry IV Part 2 (1921) Yale.djvu/22

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And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd,

As men drink potions, that their weapons only

Seem'd on our side: but, for their spirits and souls,

This word, rebellion, it had froze them up,

As fish are in a pond. But now the bishop

Turns insurrection to religion:

Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts,

He's follow'd both with body and with mind,

And doth enlarge his rising with the blood

Of fair King Richard, scrap'd from Pomfret stones;

Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause;

Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land,

Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke;

And more and less do flock to follow him.

North. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth,

This present grief had wip'd it from my mind.

Go in with me; and counsel every man

The aptest way for safety and revenge:

Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed:

Never so few, and never yet more need.

Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor

to my water?

Page. He said, sir, the water itself was a good

healthy water; but, for the party that owed it,

he might have moe diseases than he knew for.

 196 queasiness: squeamishness

204, 205 Cf. n.

204 enlarge: widen the scope or appeal

208 Bolingbroke; cf. n.

209 more and less: high and low

214 make: collect

 4 owed: owned 