SECOND THANE. What is he bragging still that he will come To thrust our Harold's throne from under him? My nurse would tell me of a molehill crying To a mountain 'Stand aside and room for me!' FIRST THANE. Let him come! let him come. Here's to him, sink or swim! [_Drinks_. SECOND THANE. God sink him! FIRST THANE. Cannot hands which had the strength To shove that stranded iceberg off our shores, And send the shatter'd North again to sea, Scuttle his cockle-shell? What's Brunanburg To Stamford-bridge? a war-crash, and so hard, So loud, that, by St. Dunstan, old St. Thor-- By God, we thought him dead--but our old Thor Heard his own thunder again, and woke and came Among us again, and mark'd the sons of those Who made this Britain England, break the North: Mark'd how the war-axe swang, Heard how the war-horn sang, Mark'd how the spear-head sprang, Heard how the shield-wall rang, Iron on iron clang, Anvil on hammer bang-- SECOND THANE. Hammer on anvil, hammer on anvil. Old dog, Thou art drunk, old dog! FIRST THANE. Too drunk to fight with thee! SECOND THANE. Fight thou with thine own double, not with me, Keep that for Norman William! FIRST THANE. Down with William! THIRD THANE. The washerwoman's brat! FOURTH THANE. The tanner's bastard! FIFTH THANE. The Falaise byblow! [_Enter a_ THANE, _from Pevensey, spattered with mud_. HAROLD. Ay, but what late guest, As haggard as a fast of forty days, And caked and plaster'd with a hundred mires, Hath stumbled on our cups? THANE _from Pevensey_. My lord the King! William the Norman, for the wind had changed-- HAROLD. I felt it in the middle of that fierce fight At Stamford-bridge. William hath landed, ha? THANE _from Pevensey_. Landed at Pevensey--I am from Pevensey-- Hath wasted all the land at Pevensey-- Hath harried mine own cattle--God confound him! I have ridden night and day from Pevensey-- A thousand ships--a hundred thousand men-- Thousands of horses, like as many lions Neighing and roaring as they leapt to land-- HAROLD. How oft in coming hast thou broken bread? THANE _from Pevensey_. Some thrice, or so.