Fal. I come, mafter Shallow; I come, mafter Shal

low.

[Exit Falstaff.

SCENE II.

Changes to the Court, in LONDON.

Enter the Earl of Warwick, and the Lord Chief Justice. War.OW now, my lord Chief Juftice, whither away?

HOW

Ch. Juft. How doth the King?

War. Exceeding well; his cares are now all ended. Ch. Juft. I hope, not dead?

War. He's walk'd the way of Nature;

And to our purposes he lives no more.

Ch. Juft. I would his Majefty had call'd me with

o him:

The fervice, that I truly did his life,

Hath left me open to all injuries.

War. Indeed I think the young King loves you

not.

Ch. Juft. I know, he doth not; and do arm myfelf To welcome the condition of the time,

Which cannot look more hideously on me,
Than I have drawn it in my fantafy.

Enter Lord John of Lancaster, Gloucester, and Clarence.
War. Here come the heavy iffue of dead Harry.
O, that the living Harry had the temper
Of him, the worst of these three gentlemen,
How many Nobles then fhould hold their places,
That muft ftrike fail to fpirits of vile fort!
Ch. Juft. Alas, I fear all will be overturn'd.
Lan. Good morrow, coufin Warwick.
Glou. Cla. Good morrow, coufin.

Lan. We meet, like men that had forgot to fpeak.

Z 2

War.

War. We do remember; but our argument Is all too heavy to admit much Talk.

Lan. Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy!

Ch. Juft. Peace be with us, left we be heavier ! Glou. O, good my lord, you've loft a friend, indeed; And I dare swear, you borrow not that face Of feeming forrow; it is, fure, your own.

Lan. Tho' no man be affur'd what grace to find, You ftand in coldeft expectation.

I am the forrier; 'would, 'twere otherwife.

Cla. Well, you must now speak Sir John Falstaff fair,

Which swims against your stream of quality.

Ch. Juft. Sweet Princes, what I did, I did in Ho

nour,

Led by th' impartial conduct of my foul;
And never fhall you fee, that I will beg
A ragged and foreftall'd remiffion.
If truth and upright innocency fail me,
I'll to the King my mafter that is dead,
And tell him who hath fent me after him.
War. Here comes the Prince."

Enter Prince Henry.

Ch. Just. Heav'n fave your Majefty!

K. Henry. This new and gorgeous garment, Ma

fenfe here.

jesty!

1 A RAGGED and foreftall'd remiffion.] Ragged has no We fhould read, A rated and for ftail'd remiffion. i e. a remiffion that must be fought for, and bought with fupplication.

WARBURTON. Different minds have different perplexities. I am more puzzled with forefall'd than with ragged, for ragged, in our authour's li

centious diction, may eafily fignify beggarly, mean, bafe, ignominious; but foreftalled I know not how to apply to remifion in any fenfe primitive or figurative, I fhould be glad of another word, but cannot find it. Perhaps by foreftall'd remiffion, he may mean a pardon begged by a voluntary confeffion of offence, and anticipation of the charge.

Sits not fo eafy on me, as you think.

Brothers, you mix your fadnefs with fome fear;
This is the English, 2 not the Turkish Court;
Not Amurath an Amurath fucceeds,

But Harry, Harry. Yet be fad, good brothers,
For, to fpeak truth, it very well becomes you:
Sorrow fo royally in you appears,

That I will deeply put the fashion on,
And wear it in my heart. Why then, be fad;
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burthen laid upon us all.
For me, by heav'n, I bid you be affur'd,
I'll be your father and your brother too,
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep that Harry's dead? and fo will I;
But Harry lives, that fhall convert thofe tears
By number into hours of happiness.

Lan. &c. We hope no other from your Majefty. K. Henry. You all look ftrangely on me; and you [To the Ch. Juft. You are, I think, affur'd, I love you not.

moft;

Ch. Juft. I am affur'd, if I be meafur'd rightly, Your Majefty hath no just cause to hate me.

K. Henry. No! might a Prince of my great hopes forget

So great indignities you laid upon me?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly send to prison
Th' immediate heir of England? 3 was this eafy?
May this be wash'd in Lethe, and forgotten?
Ch. Juft. I then did ufe the perfon of your father,
The image of his Power lay then in me;
And in th' adminiftration of his Law,

Not the Turkish court.] Not the court where the prince that mounts the throne puts his brothers to death.

3 Was this eafy?] That is, was this not grievous? ShakeSpeare has eafy in this fenfe elfewhere.

Z 3

While

While I was bufie for the Common-wealth,
Your Highness pleased to forget my Place,
The Majefty and Pow'r of Law and Juftice,
The image of the King whom I prefented,
And ftruck me in my very Seat of Judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,

I

gave bold way to my authority,

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the Garland,
To have a fon fet your decrees at naught,
To pluck down juftice from your awful bench,
4 To trip the courfe of law, and blunt the fword
That guards the peace and fafety of your perfon,,
Nay more, to fpurn at your most royal image,
5 And mock your working in a second body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the cafe yours;
Be now the father, and propofe a fon,

Hear your own dignity fo much profan'd,
See your most dreadful laws fo loosely flighted,
Behold your felf fo by a fon difdain'd,
And then imagine me taking your part,
And in your pow'r fo filencing your fon.
After this cold conlid'rance, sentence me;
And, as you are a King, speak in your State,
What I have done that mifbecame my place,
My perfon, or my Liege's Sovereignty.

K. Henry. You are right Juftice, and you weigh this well,

Therefore ftill bear the balance and the fword;
And I do wish, your Honours may increase,
Till you do live to fee a fon of mine
Offend you, and obey you, as I did.

4 To trip the courfe of Law.] To defeat the procefs of juftice, a metaphor taken from the act of tripping a runner.

5 To mock your working in a fecond body.] To treat with contempt your acts executed by

a reprefentative.

6 In your fate.] In your regal character and office, not with the paffion of a man interested, but with the impartiality of a Legislator.

So

So fhall I live to fpeak my father's words;
Happy am I, that have a man fo bold,
That dares do juftice on my proper fon;
And no lefs happy, having fuch a fon,
That would deliver up his Greatness fo
• Into the hand of juftice.'-You committed me;
For which I do commit into your hand

Th' unftain'd fword that you have us'd to bear;
With this remembrance, that you use the fame
With a like bold, juft, and impartial fpirit,
As you have done 'gainst me. There is my hand,
You fhall be as a father to my youth,

My voice fhall found, as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will ftoop and humble my intents,
To your well-practis'd wife directions.
And, Princes all, believe me, I beseech you;
7 My father is gone wild into his Grave,
For in his tomb lye my affections;

8

And with his fpirit fadly I furvive,
To mock the expectations of the world;
To fruftrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, which hath writ me down
After my feeming. Tho' my tide of blood
Hath proudly flow'd in vanity 'till now;
Now doth it turn and ebb back to the sea,
Where it shall mingle with 9 the state of floods,
And flow henceforth in formal Majefty.