The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
INDUCTION
[Warkworth. Before Northumberland's Castle]
Enter Rumour, painted full of tongues.
Rum. Open your ears; for which of you will stop
The vent of hearing when loud Rumour speaks?
I, from the orient to the drooping west,
Making the wind my post-horse, still unfold 4
The acts commenced on this ball of earth:
Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
The which in every language I pronounce,
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports. 8
I speak of peace, while covert enmity
Under the smile of safety wounds the world:
And who but Rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful musters and prepar'd defence, 12
Whilst the big year, swoln with some other grief,
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no such matter? Rumour is a pipe
Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures, 16
And of so easy and so plain a stop
That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
The still-discordant wavering multitude,
Can play upon it. But what need I thus 20
My well-known body to anatomize
Among my household? Why is Rumour here?
S. d. Enter Rumour, etc.; cf. n.
2 vent: aperture
4 still: always
17 stop: hole in wind instrument by which difference of pitch is obtained
