And gorgeous as the sun at midsummer,
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, 104
His cushes on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,
Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury,
And vaulted with such ease into his seat,
As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds,
To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus 109
And witch the world with noble horsemanship.
Hot. No more, no more: worse than the sun in March
This praise doth nourish agues. Let them come;
They come like sacrifices in their trim, 113
And to the fire-ey'd maid of smoky war
All hot and bleeding will we offer them:
The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit 116
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire
To hear this rich reprisal is so nigh
And yet not ours. Come, let me taste my horse,
Who is to bear me like a thunderbolt 120
Against the bosom of the Prince of Wales:
Harry to Harry shall, hot horse to horse,
Meet and ne'er part till one drop down a corse.
O! that Glendower were come.
Ver.There is more news: 124
I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along,
He cannot draw his power these fourteen days.
Doug. That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet.
War. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound. 128
Hot. What may the king's whole battle reach unto?
Ver. To thirty thousand.
104 beaver: helmet
105 cushes: cuisses, thigh-armor
109 wind: wheel round
111-112 Cf. n.
113 trim: trappings
118 reprisal: prize
