The fcourge of Greatness to be used on it;

And that fame Greatnefs too, which our own hands
Have help'd to make fo portly.

North. My good lord,

K. Henry. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do fee
Danger and difobedience in thine eye.

O Sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory;
And Majefty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a fervant brow.
You have good leave to leave us.

When we need

Your ufe and counfel, we shall fend for you.

[Exit Worcester.

[To Northumberland.

Those Prisoners, in your Highness' name demanded,
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,
Were, as he fays, not with fuch strength deny'd
As was deliver'd to your Majefty.

Or Envy therefore, or Mifprifion,
Is guilty of this fault, and not my fon.

Hot. My Liege, I did deny no prisoners;
But I remember, when the fight was done,
When I was dry with rage, and extream toil,
Breathlefs, and faint, leaning upon my fword;
Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly drefs'd;
Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin, new-reap'd,
Shew'd like a ftubble land at harvest-home.
He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb, he held

A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nofe: and took't away again;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in fnuff. And ftill he fmil'd, and talk't
And as the foldiers bare dead bodies by,
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a flovenly, unhandfome coarse
Betwixt the wind, and his Nobility.
With many holiday and lady terms
He queftion'd me: amongst the reft, demanded
My prifoners, in your Majesty's behalf.

2 I, then all fmarting with my wounds being cold, To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,

Out of my Grief, and my impatience,
Anfwer'd, neglectingly, I know not what;

He fhould, or fhould not; for he made me mad,
To fee him fhine fo brifk, and fmell fo fweet,

And talk fo like a waiting-gentlewoman,

Of guns, and drums, and wounds; (God fave the mark!)

1 A pouncet-box,-] A fmall box for musk or other perfumes then in fashion: The lid of which being cut with open work gave it its name; from poinfoner, to prick, pierce, or engrave.

WARBURTON. 2 I, then all smarting with my wounds being COLD, (To be jo pefter'd with a popinjay) But in the beginning of the Speech he reprefents himself at this time not as cold but hot, and inflamed with rage and labour.

When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, &c. I am perfuaded therefore that Shakespeare wrote and pointed it thus,

:..

"I then all (marting with my

wounds; being GAL'D "To be fo pefter'd with a papinjay, &c.

WARBURTON. Whatever Percy might fay of his rage and toil, which is merely declamatory and apologetical, his wounds would at this time be certainly cold, and when they were cold would smart, and not before. If any alteration were neceffary I should tranfpofe the lines.

I then all fmarting with my
wounds being cold,
Out of my grief, and my im-
patience,

To be fo pefter'd with a popin-
jay,
Anfever'd neglectingly.
A popinjay is a parrot.

And

And telling me, the fovereign'ft thing on earth
Was Parmacity, for an inward bruise;
And that it was great pity, fo it was,
This villainous falt petre fhould be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly: And but for thefe vile guns,
He would himself have been a foldier.-
This bald, unjointed chat of his, my lord,
I anfwer'd indirectly, as I faid;

And I beseech you, let not this report
Come current for an accufation,

Betwixt my love and your high Majefty.

Blunt. The circumftance confider'd, good my lord, Whatever Harry Percy then had faid, To fuch a perfon, and, in fuch a place, At fuch a time, with all the rest retold, May reasonably die; and never rife 3 To do him wrong, or any way impeach What then he faid, fo he unfay it now.

K. Henry. Why, yet he doth deny his prifoners,

But with provifo and exception,

That we at our own charge shall ransom straight
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
Who, on my foul, hath wilfully betray'd
The lives of those, that he did lead to fight
Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower;
Whofe daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March
Hath lately marry'd. Shall our coffers then
Be empty'd, to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treafon? and indent with fears,
When they have loft and forfeited themselves?
No; on the barren mountains let him starve;
For I fhall never hold that man my friend,
Whose tongue fhall ask me for one penny coft
To ranfom home revolted Mortimer.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer?

" He never did fall off, my fovereign Liege,

But

land, and young Percy, who by difobedience have loft and for feited their honours and themfelves?

5 He never did fall off, my fovereign Liege,

But BY the chance of war ;- -1 A poor apology for a foldier, and a man of honour, that he fell off, and revolted by the chance of war. The Poet certainly wrote,

But 'BIDES the chance of war. i. e. he never did revolt, but abides the chance of war, as a prifoner. And if he still endured the rigour of imprisonment, that was a plain proof he was not revolted to the enemy. Hot-fpur fays the fame thing af terwards,

-fuffer'd his kinfman March to be encag'd in Wales. Here again the Oxford Editor makes

6

But by the chance of war; to prove That true, Needs no more but one tongue; for all thofe wounds, Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took, When on the gentle Severn's fedgy bank,

In fingle oppofition, hand to hand,

He did confound the beft part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower ;
Three times they breath'd, and three times did they
drink,

Upon agreement, of fwift Severn's flood;

? Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid his crifpe head in the hollow bank,
Blood-ftained with thefe valiant Combatants.
Never did bare and rotten Policy

8

makes this correction his own, at the fmall expence of changing 'bides to bore. WARBURTON. The plain meaning is, he came not into the enemy's power but by the chance of war. To 'bide the chance of war may well enough fignify to fand the hazard of a battle, but can fcarcely mean to endure the feverities of a prifon. The King charged Mortimer that he wilfully betrayed his army, and, as he was then with the enemy, calls him revolted Mortimer. HotSpur replies, that he never fell off, that is, fell into Glendower's hands, but by the chance of war. I fhould not have explained thus tediously a paffage fo hard to be mistaken, but that two Editors have already mistaken it.

to prove that true, Needs no more but one tongue, For all thofe wounds, &c.] This paffage is of obfcure conftruction. The later editors point it, as they understood that VOL. IV.

for the wounds a tongue was needful, and only one tongue. This is harth. I rather think it is a broken fentence. To prove the loyalty of Mortimer, fays Hot fpur, one speaking witness is fufficient, for his wounds proclaim his loyalty, thofe mouthed wounds,

&c.

7 Who then affrighted, &c.] This paffage has been cenfured as founding nonfenfe, which reprefents à ftream of water as capable of fear. It is mifundertood. Severn is here not the flood, but the tutelary power of the flood, who was frighted, and hid his head in the hollow bank.

& Never did bare and rotten

policy.] All the quarto's

which I have feen read bare in this place: The first folio, and all the fubfequent editions, have base. I believe bare is right: never did policy lying open to detection fo colour its workings.