I do not think a braver gentleman,

More active-valiant, or more valiant-young,
More daring, or more bold, is now alive,
To grace this latter age with noble deeds.
For my part, I may speak it to my shame,
I have a truant been to chivalry;

And so, I hear, he doth account me too :
Yet this before my father's majesty,

I am content, that he shall take the odds

Of his great name and estimation;

And will, to save the blood on either side,

Try fortune with him in a single fight.

Interpretation will misquote our looks;
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall,
The better cherish'd, still the nearer death. »
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot,
It hath the excuse of youth, and heat of blood;
And an adopted name of privilege,→

A hair-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen :
All his offences live upon my head,
And on his father's ;-we did train him on;
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,
We, as the spring of all, shall pay for all.
Therefore, good cousin, let not Harry know,

K. Hen. And, prince of Wales, so dare we In any case, the offer of the king.
venture thee: *

Albeit, considerations infinite

Do make against it :-No, good Worcester, no,
We love our people well; even those we love,
That are misled upon your cousin's part:
And, will they take the offer of our grace,
Both be, and they, and you, yea, every man
Shall be my friend again, and I'll be his :
So tell your cousin, and bring me word
What he will do:-But if he will not yield,
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us,
And they shall do their office. So, be gone;
We will not now be troubled with reply:
We offer fair, take it advisedly.

[Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON.
P. Hen. It will not be accepted, on my life:
The Douglas and the Hotspur, both together
Are confident against the world in arins.

K. Hen. Hence, therefore, every leader to
his charge;

For, on their answer, will we set on them:
And God befriend us, as our cause is just!

[Exeunt KING, BLUNT, and Prince JOHN. Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me so; 'tis a point of friendship.

P. Hen. Nothing but a Colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and fare

well.

Fal. I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well.

P. Hen. Why, thou owest God a death.

[Exit.
Fal. 'Tis not due yet; I would be loath to
pay him before his day. What need I be so
forward with him that calls not on me? Well,
'tis no matter; Honour pricks me on. Yea, but
how if honour prick me off when I come on:
how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an
arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound?
No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No.
What is honour? a word. What is in that word,
honour? What is that honour? Air. A trim
reckoning I-Who hath it? He that died o'
Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he
hear it? No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the
dead. But will it not live with the living?
No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it :-there-
fore I'll none of it: Honour is a mere scutcheon,
and so ends my catechism.
[Exit.
SCENE IL-The Rebel Camp.-Enter WOR-
CESTER and VERNON.

Wor. O no, my nephew must not
Sir Richard,

The liberal kind offer of the king.
Ver. 'Twere best he did.

Wor. Then are we all undone.

It is not possible, it cannot be,

know,

The king should keep his word in loving us :
He will suspect us still, and find a time
To punish this offence in other faults:
Suspicion shall be all stuck full of eyes:
For treason is but trusted like the fox;
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd
up,

Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or sad, or merrily,

• It is common for the king to be here seated on a drum, and to rise at this line; when Falstaff, who is strangely placed behind hun, tumbles down, to create a very ill-timed Bartholomew-fair laugh.

Ver. Deliver what you will, I'll say, 'tis so. Here comes your cousin.

Enter HOTSPUR and DOUGLAS; and Officers
and Soldiers, behind.

Hot. My uncle is return'd :-Deliver up
My lord of Westmoreland.-Uncle, what news?
Wor. The king will bid you battle presently.
Doug. Defy him by the lord of Westmore-

land.

Which cannot choose but bring him quickly on.
Wor. The prince of Wales stepp'd forth before
the king,

And nephew, challeng'd you to single fight.
Hot. O 'would the quarrel lay upon our

beads;

[day, And that no man might draw short breath to But I and Harry Monmouth! Tell me, tell me, How show'd his tasking? seem'd it in contempt?

Ver. No, by my soul; I never in my life
Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly,
Unless a brother should a brother dare
To gentle exercise and proof of arms.
He gave you all the duties of a man ;
Trimm'd up your praises with a princely
tongue;

Spoke your deservings like a chronicle;
Making you ever better than his praise,
By still dispraising praise, valued with you
And, which became him like a prince indeed,
He made a blushing cital of himself;
And chid his truant youth with such a grace,
As if he master'd there a double spirit
Of teaching and of learning, instantly.
There did he pause: but let me tell the
world,-

If he outlive the envy of this day,
England did never owe so sweet a hope,
So much misconstrued in his wantonness.
Hot. Cousin, I think thou art enamoured
Upon his follies; never did I hear
Of any prince, so wild, at liberty :-
But, be he as he will, yet once ere night
I will embrace him with a soldier's arm,
That he shall shrink under my courtesy.——
Arm, arm, with speed-And, fellows, soldiers,
friends,

Better consider what you have to do,
Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,
Can lift your blood up with persuasion.

• Own.

Enter a MESSENGER.

Mess. My lord, here are letters for you.
Het. I cannot read them now.→
O gentlemen, the time of life is short:
To spend that shortness basely, were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,
Still ending at the arrival of an hour.
An if we live, we live to tread on kings;

If die, brave death, when princes die with us!
Now for our conscience,-the arms are fair,
When the intent of bearing them is just.

Enter another MESSENGER.
Mess. My lord, prepare; the king comes on

apace.

Hot. I thank him that he cuts me from my tale,

For I profess not talking: Only this

Let each man do his best: and here draw I
A sword, whose temper I intend to stain
With the best blood that I can meet withal
In the adventure of this perilous day.
Now, Esperance!-Percy !-And set on.
Sound all the lofty instruments of war,
And by that music let us all embrace :
For, heaven to earth, some of us never shall
A second time do such a courtesy.
[The Trumpets sound. They embrace, and

exeunt.

Walter Blant; there's honour for you: Here's
no vanity - am as hot as molten fead, and as
heavy too: God keep lead out of the! I need n
|more weight than mine own bowels.-I have led
my raggamuffins where they are peppered
there's but three of my hundred and fifty lef
alive; and they are for the town's end, to be
during life. But who comes here?

Enter Prince HENRY.

P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here? len
me thy sword:

Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the boofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are unreveng'd: Pr'ythee, len
thy sword:

Fal. O Hal, I pr'ythee, give me leave t breathe a while.-Turk Gregory never did suc deeds in arms, as I have done this day. I hav paid Percy, I have made him sure.

P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to ki thee. Lend me thy sword, I pr'ythee.

Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be aliv thou get'st not my sword; but take my pisto if thou wilt.

P. Hen. Give it me: What, is it in the case Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's th will sack a city.

[The Prince draws out a bottle of sac P. Hen. What, is't a time to jest and dal now? [Throws it at him and ex Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I'll pierce bi If he do come in my way, so if he do not, it come in his willingly, let him make a carb nado of me. I like not such grinning hono as Sir Walter hath: Give me life: which if can save, so; if not, honour comes unlooked fo

Thou crossest me? what honour dost thou seek and there's an end.'
Upon my head?

Doug. Know then, my name is Douglas;
And I do haunt thee in the battle thus,
Because some tell me that thou art a king.
Blunt. They tell thee true.

Doug. The lord of Stafford dear to-day hath
bought

Thy likeness; for, instead of thee, king Harry,
This sword hath ended him: so shall it thee,
Unless thou yield thee as my prisoner. [Scot,
Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud
And thou shalt find a king that will revenge
Lord Stafford's death.

[They fight, and BLUNT is slain.
Enter HOTSPUR.

Hot. O Donglas, hadst thou fought at Hol-
medon thus,

I never had triumph'd upon a Scot.

[Ex

KIN

SCENE IV.-Another part of the Field. Alarums. Excursions. Enter the Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN, and WES MORELAND.

K. Hen. I pr'ythee,

[much:

Harry, withdraw thyself; thon bleed'st t
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.
P. John. Not 1, my lord, unless I did ble

too.

P. Hen. I do beseech your majesty, make u Lest your retirement do amaze your friends. K. Hen. I will do so :

My lord of Westmoreland, lead him to bis ter West. Come, my lord, I will lead you your tent

P. Hen. Lead me, my lord? I do not ne your help:

Doug. All's done, all's won; here breathless And heaven forbid a shallow scratch sho

lies the king.

Hot. Where?

[Exeunt.

P. Hen. Oh! this boy
Lends mettle to us all!

Other Alarums.-Enter FALSTAFF

Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here; here's no scoring,

[E

but upon the pate.-Soft! who art thou? Sir I am the Douglas, fatal to all those

In resemblance.

A piece of meat cut crossways for the gridiron

That wear those colours on them.-What art
[thou,
That counterfeit'st the person of a king?
K. Hen. The king himself; who, Douglas,
grieves at heart,

So many of his shadows thou hast met,
And not the very king. I have two boys,
Seek Percy and thyself about the field:
But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee; so defend thyself.

Doug. I fear thou art another counterfeit ;
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king:
But mine, I am sure, thou art, who'er thou be,
And thus I win thee.

[They fight; the KING being in danger, enter Prince HENRY.

P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou
art like

Never to hold it up again! the spirits
Of Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:
It is the prince of Wales that threatens thee;
Who never promiseth, but he means to pay.-
[They fight; DOUGLAS flies.
Cheerly, my lord; How fares your grace?—
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent,
And so hath Clifton; I'll to Clifton straight.
K. Hen. Stay, and breathe a while :-
• [life,
Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion;
And show'd thou mak'st some tender of my
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.
P Hen. O heaven! they did me too much
injury,

P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy: Fare thee
well, great heart!-

Ill weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound:
But now, two paces of the vilest earth

Is room enough;-This earth, that bears thee
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman. [dead,
If thou wert sensible of courtesy,

I should not make so dear a show of zeal :-
But let my favours hide thy maugled face;
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
Thy ignomy sleep with thee in the grave,
But not remembered in thy epitaph!-

[Exit.

[He sees FALSTAFF on the ground. What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell! I could have better spar'd a better man. OI should have a heavy miss of thee, If I were much in love with vanity. Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day, Though many dearer, in this bloody fray :Embowell'd will I see thee by and by; Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie. Fal. [Rising slowly.] Embowelled! if thou embowel me to-day, I'll give you leave to pow'Sblood, der me, and eat me too, to-morrow. 'twas time to counterfeit, or that hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie, am no counterfeit: To die, is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the counterfeit of a man, who hath not the life of a man: but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby liveth, is to be no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of life indeed. The better part of valour Nich-is-discretion; in the which better part, I have saved my life. 'Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead: How, if he should counterfeit too, and rise? I am afraid he would prove the better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him sure: yea, and I'll swear I killed him. Why may not he rise, as well as I nothing confutes me but eyes, and nobody sees me. Therefore, Sirrab, [Stabbing him.] with a new wound in your thigh, come you along with me. [Takes HOTSPUR on his back. Re-enter Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN. P. Hen. Come, brother John, full bravely hast thou flesh'd Thy maiden sword.

That ever said I hearken'd for your death.
If it were so, I might have let alone
The insulting hand of Douglas over you;
Which would have been as speedy in your end,
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And sav'd the treacherous labour of your son.
K. Hen. Make up to Clifton, I'll to Sir
olas Gawsey.
[Exit King HENRY.

Enter HOTSPUR.
Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Mon-
mouth.

P. Hen. Thou speak'st as if I would deny

my name.

Hot. My name is Harry Percy.
P. Hen. Why, then I see

A very valiant rebel of the name.

I am the prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To share with me in glory any more:
Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy and the prince of Wales.

Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come
To end the one of us; And 'would to God,
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
P. Hen. I'll make it greater, ere I part from
And all the budding honours on thy crest [thee;
I'll crop to make a garland for my head.
Hot. I can no longer brook thy vanities.
[They fight.

Enter EALSTAFF.
Fal. Well said, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you
shall find no boy's play here, I can tell you.
Enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF,
who falls down as if he were dead, and
exit DOUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and
falls.

Het. O Harry, thou hast robb'd me of my [youth, I better brook the loss of brittle life, Than those proud titles thou hast won of me; They wound my thoughts, worse than thy sword [fool; my flesh; But thought's the slave of life, and life time's And time, that takes survey of all the world, Must have a stop. O I could prophesy, But that the earthy and cold hand of death Lies on my tongue :-No, Percy, thou art dust, [Dies.

And food for

There is no reason to suppose that Hotspur was slain by the Prince of Wales 'he probably fell by an unknown hand.

+ Reputation.

P. John. But, soft! whom bave we here?
Did you not tell me, this fat man was dead?
P. Hen. I did; I saw him dead, breathless,
[and bleeding
Upon the ground.-
[speak:
Art thou alive? or is it fantasy
That plays upon our eyesight? I pr'ythee
We will not trust our eyes, without our ears :—
Thou art not what thou seem'st.

Fal. No, that's certain; I am not a double
man but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I
There is Percy: [Throwing the body
a Jack.
down.] if your father will do me any honour
80; if not, let him kill the next Percy himself.
look to be either earl or duke, I can assure
you.

P. Hen. Why, Percy I killed myself, and saw thee dead.

Fal. Didst thou? Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!-I grant you, I was down, and out of breath; and so was he: but we arose both at an instant, and fought a long hour by Shrewsbury clock. If I may be believed, so; if not, let them that should reward valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take it upon my death, I gave him this wound in the thigh: if the man were alive, and would deny it, I would make him eat a piece of my sword. P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard.

P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother
John.-

Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back;
For my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll gild it with the happiest terms I have.

[A Retreat is sounded.
The trumpet sounds retreat, the day is our's.
Come, brother, let's to the highest of the field,
To see what friends are living, who are dead.
[Exeunt Prince HENRY and Prince JOHN.
Fal. I'il follow, as they say for reward. He
that rewards me, God reward him! If I do
grow great, I'll grow less; for I'll purge, and
leave sack, and live cleanly, as a nobleman
should do.
[Exit, bearing off the body.

SCENE V.-Another part of the Field. The Trumpets sound.-Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN, WESTMORELAND and others, with WORCESTER and VERNON, prisoners.

P. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find re-
buke.-

Ill-spirited Worcester! did we not send grace,
Pardon, and terms of love to all of you?
And would'st thou turn our offers contrary?
Misuse the tenor of thy kinsman's trust?
Three knights upon our party slain to-day,
A noble earl, and many a creature else,
Had been alive this hour,

If, like a Christian, thou hadst truly borne
Betwixt our armies true intelligence.

K. Hen. Bear Worcester to the death, and
Vernon too :

Other offenders we will pause upon.-
[Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON, guarded.
How goes the field?

P. Hen. The noble Scot, lord Douglas, when
he saw

The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him,
The noble Percy slain and all his men
Upon the foot of fear,-fled with the rest;
And, falling from a hill, he was so bruis'd,
That the pursuers took him. At my teut
The Douglas is; And I beseech your grace,
I may dispose of him.

K. Hen. With all my heart.

P. Hen. Then, brother Johu of Lancaster to
This honourable bounty shall belong: [you
Go to the Douglas and deliver him
Up to his pleasure, rausomless, and free:
His valour, shown upon our crests to-day,
Hath taught us how to cherish such high deeds,
Even in the bosom of our adversaries.

K. Hen. Then this remains, that we divide
our power.-

You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland,
Towards York shall bend you, with your dearest
speed,

To meet Northumberland and the prelate
Scroop,

Who, as we hear, are busily in arms:
Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales,
To fight with Glendower and the earl of March
Rebellion in this land shall lose his sway,

Wor. What I have done, my safety urged me Meeting the check of such another day:

to;

And I embrace this fortune patiently,

Since not to be avoided it falls on me.

And since this business so fair is done,
Let us not leave till all our own be won.

[Exeunt.

1

SECOND PART

OF

KING HENRY IV.

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.

SHAKSPEARE 19 supposed to have written this play in 1598. Its action comprehends a period of nine years, commencing with Hotspur's death, 1403, and terminating with the coronation of Henry V. 1412-13. Many of the tragic scenes in this second portion of the history are forcible and pathetic; but the comedy is of a much looser and more indecent character, than any in the preceding part. Shallow is an odd though pleasing portrait of a brainless magistrate; and a character, it is to be feared, not peculiar to Glostershire only. In thus exhibiting his worship to the ridicule of an audience, Shakspeare amply revenged himself on his old Warwickshire prosecutor. On the character of Falstaff, as exhibited in the two plays, Dr. Johnson makes the following admirable remarks: "Falstaff! unimitated, unimitable Falstaff, how shall I describe thee; thou compound of sense and vice; of sense which may be admired, but not esteemed; of vice which may be despised, but hardly detested. Falstaff is a character loaded with faults, and with those faults which naturally produce contempt. He is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a boaster; always ready to cheat the weak, and prey upon the poor; to terrify the timorous, and insult the defenceless. At once obsequious and malignant, he satirizes in their absence those whom he lives by flattering. He is familiar with the prince, only as an agent of vice; but of this familiarity he is so proud, as not only to be supercilious and haughty with common men, but to think his interest of importance to the Duke of Lancaster. Yet the man thus corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself necessary to the prince that despises him, by the most pleasing of all qualities, perpetual gaity; by an unfailing power of exciting laughter, which is the more freely indulged, as his wit is not of the splendid or ambitious kind, but consists in easy scapes and sallies of levity, which make sport, but raise no envy. It must be observed, that he is stained with no enormous or sanguinary crimes, so that his licentiousness is not so offensive but that it may be borne for his mirth."