| Many an English ditty lovely well | |
| And gave the tongue a helpful ornament, | |
| A virtue that was never seen in you. | |
| 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 ballad-mongers; | |
| I had rather hear a brazen canstick turn'd, | |
| Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree; | |
| 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 turn'd. | |
| HOTSPUR I do not care: I'll give thrice so much land | |
| To any well-deserving friend; | |
| But in the way of bargain, mark ye me, | |
| I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair. | |