Ay! and a mother; I will pledge my earldom,
And be but plain Hal Percy all my life,
If she despise not gallows, death, and children,
And earn for thee a crown of shame, my master!
In sooth, I am ashamed to draw my sword,
Lest I should see my face in its bright blade;
For sure my mother would not know her son,
As he goes blushing on his hangman's errand.



SCENE VI.--_A Street_--_the Market-place.


Enter_ ELLIOT _and_ Populace.

_Elliot_--You heard, my townsmen, how our gracious governor
Did talk to us of honour--! you all heard him!
Can any of you tell us what is _honour?
He_ drinks his wine, _he_ feeds on beeves and capons;
_His_ table groans beneath a load of meats;
_His_ hounds, _his_ hawks, are fed like Christian men!
_He_ sleeps in a downy couch, o'erhung with purple;
And these, all these are _honourable_ doings!
He talks of _liberty_!
Is it, then, _liberty_ to be cooped up
Within these prison walls, to starve from want,
That we may have the liberty--mark it, my friends!--
The wondrous _liberty_ to call him _Governor_?
Had ye the hearts or hands your fathers had,