Political Animal. Victor L. Cahn

out

      This head of safety, and withal to pry

      Into his title, the which we find

      Too indirect for long continuance.

      (IV, iii, 97–105)

      His passion aside, Hotspur’s rationale for this new rebellion rests on individual affront. We remember that when Bullingbrook and his alliance overthrew Richard, the causes included the King’s confiscating the lands and treasury of John of Gaunt, and therefore as his son, Bullingbrook could insist with justification:

      I am a subject,

      And I challenge law. Attorneys are denied me,

      And therefore personally I lay my claim

      To my inheritance of free descent.

      (Richard II, II, iii, 133–136)

      Richard also imposed unfair taxes to support what was judged to be an immoral war in Ireland. In these lines, however, Hotspur offers no such reasoning, only his own jealousy of Henry’s position.