Page 729 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2
P. 729
HOTSPUR
Who shall say me nay?
GLENDOWER
Why, that will I.
HOTSPUR
Let me not understand you then; speak it in Welsh.
GLENDOWER
I can speak English, lord, as well as you; [120]
For I was trained up in the English court,
Where, being but young, I framèd to the harp
Many an English ditty lovely well,
And gave the tongue a helpful ornament −
A virtue that was never seen in you. [125]
HOTSPUR
Marry, and I am glad of it with all my heart!
I had rather be a kitten and cry mew
Than one of these same metre ballet-mongers.
I had rather hear a brazen canstick turned
Or a dry wheel grate on the axletree, [130]
And that would set my teeth nothing on edge,
Nothing so much as mincing poetry.
’Tis like the forced gait of a shuffling nag.
GLENDOWER
Come, you shall have Trent turned.
HOTSPUR
I do not care. I’ll give thrice so much land [135]
To any well-deserving friend;
But in the way of bargain, mark ye me,
I’ll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.
Are the indentures drawn? Shall we be gone?
