And they did fight with queasiness, constrain'd, 196
As men drink potions, that their weapons only
Seem'd on our side: but, for their spirits and souls,
This word, rebellion, it had froze them up,
As fish are in a pond. But now the bishop 200
Turns insurrection to religion:
Suppos'd sincere and holy in his thoughts,
He's follow'd both with body and with mind,
And doth enlarge his rising with the blood 204
Of fair King Richard, scrap'd from Pomfret stones;
Derives from heaven his quarrel and his cause;
Tells them he doth bestride a bleeding land,
Gasping for life under great Bolingbroke; 208
And more and less do flock to follow him.
North. I knew of this before; but, to speak truth,
This present grief had wip'd it from my mind.
Go in with me; and counsel every man 212
The aptest way for safety and revenge:
Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed:
Never so few, and never yet more need. Exeunt.
Scene Two
[London. A Street]
Enter Sir John [Falstaff,] with his Page bearing his sword and buckler.
Fal. Sirrah, you giant, what says the doctor
to my water?
Page. He said, sir, the water itself was a good
healthy water; but, for the party that owed it, 4
he might have moe diseases than he knew for.
196 queasiness: squeamishness
204, 205 Cf. n.
204 enlarge: widen the scope or appeal
208 Bolingbroke; cf. n.
209 more and less: high and low
214 make: collect
4 owed: owned
