_Hot._ Sick now! droop now! this sickness doth infect The very life-blood of our enterprise; 'Tis catching hither, even to our camp. 30 He writes me here, that inward sickness--[2885] And that his friends by deputation could not[2886] So soon be drawn, nor did he think it meet[2886] To lay so dangerous and dear a trust On any soul removed but on his own. 35 Yet doth he give us bold advertisement, That with our small conjunction we should on, To see how fortune is disposed to us; For, as he writes, there is no quailing now, Because the king is certainly possess'd 40 Of all our purposes. What say you to it? _Wor._ Your father's sickness is a maim to us. _Hot._ A perilous gash, a very limb lopp'd off: And yet, in faith, it is not; his present want[2887] Seems more than we shall find it: were it good[2888] 45 To set the exact wealth of all our states[2888][2889] All at one cast? to set so rich a main[2889][2890] On the nice hazard of one doubtful hour?[2891] It were not good; for therein should we read[2892][2893] The very bottom and the soul of hope,[2893][2894] 50 The very list, the very utmost bound Of all our fortunes.[2895] _Doug._ Faith, and so we should;[2895][2896] Where now remains a sweet reversion:[2895] We may boldly spend upon the hope of what[2895][2897][2898] Is to come in:[2895][2898] 55 A comfort of retirement lives in this.[2899] _Hot._ A rendezvous, a home to fly unto, If that the devil and mischance look big Upon the maidenhead of our affairs. _Wor._ But yet I would your father had been here. 60 The quality and hair of our attempt[2900] Brooks no division: it will be thought[2901] By some, that know not why he is away, That wisdom, loyalty and mere dislike Of our proceedings kept the earl from hence: 65 And think how such an apprehension May turn the tide of fearful faction And breed a kind of question in our cause; For well you know we of the offering side[2902] Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement, 70 And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence The eye of reason may pry in upon us: This absence of your father's draws a curtain,[2903] That shows the ignorant a kind of fear Before not dreamt of.