HENRY

ACT I. SCENE I.

The Court in London.

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

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.

No more the thirsty entrance of this Soil'
Shall damp her lips with her own children's blood;
No more fhall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruife her flowrets with the armed hoofs

Of hoftile paces. + Those opposed eyes,

Which, like the meteors of a troubled heav'n,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil butchery,
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 those 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 purpose 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,

com

befeeming ranks march all one way;
but from the nature of those me-
teors to which they are
pared; namely long ftreaks of
red, which represent the lines of
armies; the appearance of which,
and their likeness to fuch lines,
gave occafion to all the fuperfti-
tion of the common people con-
cerning 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. WARBURT.
This paffage is not very ac-
curate in the expreffion, but I
think nothing can be changed.

5 As far as to the fepulchre,

&c.] The lawfulness and juftice of the holy wars have been much difputed; but perhaps there is a principle on which the queftion may be easily determined. If it be part of the religion of the Mahometans, to extirpate by the fword all other religions, it is, by the law of self-defence, lawful for men of every other religion, and for Christians among others, to make war upon Mahometans, fimply as Mahometans, as men obliged by their own principles to make war upon Chriftians, and only lying in wait till opportunity hall promise them fuccefe.

What yefternight our Council did decree,
In forwarding this dear expedience ❝.

Weft. My Liege, this hafte was hot in question,
7 And many limits of the Charge fet down
But yefternight: when, all athwart, there came
A Poft from Wales, loaden with heavy news;
Whofe 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 thoufand of his people butchered,

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

K. Henry. It seems then, that the tidings of this

broil

Brake of our business for the holy Land.

Weft. This, matcht with other, did, my gracious

lord;

For more uneven and unwelcome news

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

And fhape 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.

K. Henry. Here is a dear and true-induftrious 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:

this dear expedience.] And many limits For expedition. WARBURTON. mits for estimates.

-] LiWARBURT.

And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news.
The Earl of Dowglas is difcomfited;

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

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

And is not this an honourable spoil?

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

Weft. In faith, a conquest for a Prince to boast of. K. Henry. Yea, there thou mak'st 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 ftreighteft 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.
But let him from my thoughts.-

Coufin,

-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 shall 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

Which makes him PRUNE this the Oxford Editor gives his

himself,-] Doubtless Shake- fiat.

fpeare wrote PLUME. And to VOL. IV.

WARBURTON.

I am not fo confident as those two