Scene Three
[York. The Archbishop's Palace]
Enter Archbishop, Hastings, Mowbray, and Lord Bardolph.
Arch. Thus have you heard our cause and known our means;
And, my most noble friends, I pray you all,
Speak plainly your opinions of our hopes:
And first, Lord Marshal, what say you to it? 4
Mowb. I well allow the occasion of our arms;
But gladly would be better satisfied
How in our means we should advance ourselves
To look with forehead bold and big enough 8
Upon the power and puissance of the king.
Hast. Our present musters grow upon the file
To five-and-twenty thousand men of choice;
And our supplies live largely in the hope 12
Of great Northumberland, whose bosom burns
With an incensed fire of injuries.
L. Bard. The question, then, Lord Hastings, standeth thus:
Whether our present five-and-twenty thousand 16
May hold up head without Northumberland.
Hast. With him, we may.
L. Bard.Ay, marry, there's the point:
But if without him we be thought too feeble,
My judgment is, we should not step too far 20
Till we had his assistance by the hand;
For in a theme so bloody-fac'd as this,
Conjecture, expectation, and surmise
Of aids incertain should not be admitted. 24
10 file: muster roll
12 supplies: reinforcements
