"Cavil On The Ninth Part Of A Hair"

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Context: Mortimer, Glendower, and Hotspur, rebels against King Henry IV, look forward to success in their undertaking. Now they are trying to decide which of them will get what portion of Britain when they are successful. Hotspur thinks his share does not equal the shares of the others. The river Trent "comes me cranking in, / And cuts me from the best of all my land / A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out." Hotspur reveals his impetuosity by saying that he will have the "current in this place dammed up, / And here the smug and silver Trent shall run / In a new channel fair and evenly. / It shall not wind with such a deep intent, / To rob me of so rich a bottom here." Glendower replies that he will not have the current altered. After more heated argument, however, Glendower says that Hotspur can have Trent turned. Hotspur then replies that he does not really care for the land, but when striking a bargain he will argue over the smallest part of an item.


HOTSPUR
But in a way of bargain, mark ye me,
I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.

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