Mowb. Why not to him in part, and to us all
That feel the bruises of the days before, 100
And suffer the condition of these times
To lay a heavy and unequal hand
Upon our honours?
West.O! my good Lord Mowbray,
Construe the times to their necessities, 104
And you shall say indeed, it is the time,
And not the king, that doth you injuries.
Yet, for your part, it not appears to me
Either from the king or in the present time 108
That you should have an inch of any ground
To build a grief on: were you not restor'd
To all the Duke of Norfolk's signories,
Your noble and right well-remember'd father's? 112
Mowb. What thing, in honour, had my father lost,
That need to be reviv'd and breath'd in me?
The king that lov'd him as the state stood then,
Was force perforce compell'd to banish him: 116
And then that Harry Bolingbroke and he,
Being mounted and both roused in their seats,
Their neighing coursers daring of the spur,
Their armed staves in charge, their beavers down, 120
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel,
And the loud trumpet blowing them together,
Then, then when there was nothing could have stay'd
My father from the breast of Bolingbroke, 124
O! when the king did throw his warder down,
His own life hung upon the staff he threw;
Then threw he down himself and all their lives
That by indictment and by dint of sword 128
104 to: according to
114 breath'd: given breath of life
117 ff. Cf. n.
120 armed staves: lances
in charge: in rest for the charge
beavers: movable fronts of the helmets
121 sights: eyeholes of the helmet
125 warder: staff of command
