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The FIRST PART of

Η Ε Ν R Y IV.

АСТ І.

SCENE I.

The Court in London.

Enter King Henry, Lord John of Lancafter, Earl of Weftmorland, and others.

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King HENRY.

O fhaken as we are, fo wan with Care,
Find we a time for frighted peace to

pant,

And breathe fhort-winded accents of

new Broils

"To be commenc'd in ftronds a-far remote.

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No more the thirty entrance of this Soil

"Shall trempe her lips with her own children's blood: "No more fhall trenching war channel her fields,

1 Sball damp her lips-] This nonfenfe should be read, Shall TREMPE, i. e. moiften, and refers to thirsty, in the preceding line: Trempe, from the French, tremper, properly fignifies the moiftnefs made by rain.

VOL. IV.

H

"Nor

"Nor bruife her flowrets with the armed hoofs

2

"Of hottile paces. Those opposed files,

"Which, like the meteors of a troubled heav'n,
"All of one nature, of one fubftance bred,
"Did lately meet in the inteftine shock
And furious clofe of civil butchery,

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"Shall now, in mutual, well-befeeming, ranks
"March all one way; and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies:
"The edge of war, like an ill-fheathed knife,
"No more fhall cut his mafter." Therefore, friends,
As far as to the fepulchre of Christ,

(Whofe foldier now, under whofe bleffed Crofs
We are impreffed, and engag'd to fight)
Forthwith a Power of English fhall we levy;
Whofe arms were moulded in their mothers' womb
To chase these Pagans, in thofe holy fields
Over whofe acres walk'd those bleffed feet,
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter Crofs.

But this our purpofe is a twelvemonth old,
And bootlefs 'tis to tell you we will go.
Therefore, we meet not now: Then let me hear,
Of you my gentle Coufin Westmorland,
What yefternight our Council did decree,
In forwarding this dear expedience.

afe

2 -Those oppofed eyes,] The fimilitude is beautiful: But, what eyes meeting in inteftine fhocks, and marching all one way? The true reading is, FILES; which appears not only from the integrity of the metaphor, well befeeming ranks march all one way; but from the nature of those meteors to which they are compared; namely long ftreaks of red, which represent the tines of armies; the appearance of which, and their likeness to fuch lines, gave occafion to all the fuperftition of the common people concerning armies in the air, &c. Out of mere contradiction, the Oxford Editor would improve my alteration of files to arms, and fo lofes both the integrity of the metaphor and the likeness of the comparison.

3 this dear expedience.] For expedition.

West.

Weft. My Liege, this hafte was hot in queftion,
* And many limits of the Charge fet down'
But yesternight when, all athwart, there came
A Poft from Wales, loaden with heavy news;
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
Against th' irregular and wild Glendower,
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken;
A thousand of his people butchered,

Upon whose dead corps there was fuch mifufe,
Such beaftly, fhameless transformation,
By thofe Wellbwomen done, as may not be,
Without much shame, re-told or spoken of.

K. Henry. It feems then, that the tidings of this broil Brake off our bufinefs for the holy Land.

[lord; Weft. This, matcht with other, did, my gracious For more uneven and unwelcome news

Came from the North, and thus it did import.
On holy-rood day, the gallant Hot-Spur there,
Young Harry Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon spent a fad and bloody hour:
As by discharge of their artillery,

And shape of likelihood, the news was told;
For he, that brought it, in the very heat
And pride of their contention, did take horse,
Uncertain of the iffue any way.

4 And many limits-] Limits for eftimates.

5 This, matcht with other like, my gracious Lord,

Far more uneven and unwelcome news] Far more, the Oxford Editor alters to Farther; because this other news is matcht with the former, and yet faid to be Far more uneven: As if two uneven things could not be matcht together! But, to dispatch this emendation from whence it came, we muft obferve the old books (which our Editor appears never once to have look'd into, as trusting all to his own fagacity) read the first line thus,

This, matcht with other, did, my gracious lord: i. e. did break off the bufinefs of the holy land. And this is right.

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K. Henry. Here is a dear and true-industrious friend,
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each foil

Betwixt that Holmedon, and this Seat of ours:
And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
The Earl of Dowglas is discomfited;

Ten thousand bold Scots, three and twenty Knights,
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter fee
On Holmedon's plains. Of prifoners, Hot-fpur took
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest son

To beaten Douglas, and the Earls of Athol,
Of Murry, Angus, and Menteith.

And is not this an honourable spoil?

A gallant prize? ha, coufin, is it not?

Weft. In faith, a conquest for a Prince to boast of. K. Henry. Yea, there thou mak'ft me fad, and mak'ft me fin

In Envy, that my lord Northumberland
Should be the father of fo bleft a fon :

A fon, who is the theam of Honour's tongue :
Amongst a grove, the very ftreightest plant;
Who is fweet Fortune's Minion, and her Pride:
Whilft I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and difhonour ftain the brow
Of my young Harry. O could it be prov'd,
That fome night-tripping Fairy had exchang'd,
In cradle-cloaths, our children where they lay,
And call mine Percy, his Plantagenet ;
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine. [Coufin,
But let him from my thoughts.What think you,
Of this young Percy's pride? the prifoners,
Which he in this adventure hath furpriz'd,
To his own ufe he keeps, and fends me word,
I fhall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.
Weft. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcester,
Malevolent to you in all aspects;

• Which makes him plume himself, and bristle up The Creft of youth against your Dignity.

K. Henry. But I have fent for him to answer this;
And for this cause a while we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerufalem.

Coufin, on Wednesday next our Council we
Will hold at Windfor, fo inform the lords:
But come your felf with speed to us again;
For more is to be faid, and to be done,
Than out of anger can be uttered.

Weft. I will, my Liege.

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A

An Apartment of the Prince's.

[Exeunt.

Enter Henry Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falstaff.

N°Y

Fal. OW, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. Henry. Thou art fo fat-witted with drinking old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches in the afternoon, that thou haft forgotten to demand. That truly, which thou would'ft truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houses, and the bleffed Sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata; I fee no reafon why thou fhould't be fo fuperfluous, to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal. For we, that take purses, go by the moon and seven stars, and not by Phoebus, 7 he, that wandring knight fo fair. And I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art King

6 Which makes him PRUNE himself,-] Doubtless Shakespear wrote PLU ME. And to this the Oxford Editor gives his fiat. 7 be, that wandering] Line of an old ballad.

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