"I am not yet of Percy's mind, the Hotspur of the North ; he that kills me some six or seven dozens of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says to his wife—Fy upon this quid life! I want work. O my sweet Harry, says she, how many hast thou killed to-day? Give my roan horse a drench, says he; and answers, Some fourteen, an hour after ; a trifle, a trifle."[1] This scene, in which we see the real domestic life of Percy and his wife, is as delightful as it is succinct a scene in which she checks the boisterous hero with the boldest words :
"Lady Percy. Come, come, you paraquito, answer me
Directly unto this question that I ask :
In faith, I'll break thy little finger, Harry,
An if thou wilt not tell me all things true.
Hotspur. Away,
Away, you trifler ! Love? I love thee not,
I care not for thee, Kate : this is no world
To play with mammets, and to tilt with lips :
We must have bloody noses and crack'd crowns,
And pass them current too.—Gods me, my horse !—
What say'st thou, Kate? what wouldst thou have with me?
Lady Percy. Do you not love me? do you not, indeed?
Well, do not, then ; for since you love me not,
I will not love myself. Do you not love me?
Nay, tell me if you speak in jest or no.
Hotspur. Come, wilt thou see me ride 1
And when I am o' horseback, I will swear
I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate ;
1 must not have you henceforth question me
Whither I go, nor reason whereabout :
- ↑ first Part of King Henry IV., act ii. sd. 4.
