ill is upon his own head, the King is not to anfwer

for it.

Bates. I do not defire he fhould anfwer for me, and yet I determine to fight luftily for him.

K. Henry. I myself heard the King fay, he would not be ranfom'd.

Will. Ay, he faid fo, to make us fight chearfully; but, when our throats are cut, he may be ranfom'd, and we ne'er the wifer.

K. Henry. If I live to fee it, I will never truft his word after.

Will. You pay him then; that's a perilous fhot out of an Elder-gun, that a poor and private difpleasure can do against a monarch! you may as well go about to turn the fun to ice, with fanning in his face with a Peacock's feather; you'll never truft his word after ! come, 'tis a foolish faying.

K. Lenry. Your reproof is fomething too round: I fhould be angry with you, if the time were convenient. Will. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you live. K. Henry. I embrace it.

Will. How fhall I know thee again?

K. Henry. Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it in my bonnet, then if ever thou dar'ft acknowledge it, I will make it my quarrel.

Will. Here's my glove; give me another of thine. K. Henry. There..

Will. This will I alfo wear in my cap; if ever thou come to me and fay, after to-morrow, this is my glove; by this hand, I will give thee a box on the

car.

K. Henry. If ever I live to fee it, I will challenge it. Will. Thou dar'ft as well be hang'd.

K. Henry. Well, I will do it, though I take thee in the King's company.

3 That's a perilous flot out of is a great difpleofure that an eldir an Elder-gun.] In the old play gun can do against a cannon. the thought is more opened. It

Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well.

;

Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be friends we have French quarrels enow, if you could tell how to reckon.

K. Henry. Indeed, the French may lay* twenty French crowns to one, they will beat us, for they bear them on their shoulders; but it is no English treafon to cut French crowns, and to-morrow the King himself will be a clipper. [Exeunt foldiers.

* Upon the King! let us our lives, our fouls,
Our debts, our careful wives, our children and
Our fins, lay on the King; he must bear all.
O hard condition, and twin-born with greatness,
Subject to breath of ev'ry fool, whofe fenfe
No more can feel but his own wringing.
What infinite heart-eafe muft Kings neglect,
That private men enjoy? and what have Kings,
That private have not too, fave ceremony?
Save gen'ral ceremony?

And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
What kind of God art thou, that fuffer'ft more
Of mortal griefs, than do thy worshippers?
What are thy rents? what are thy comings in?

What is thy SOUL OF adora

tion?] Thus is the laft line given us, and the nonfenfe of it made worse by the ridiculous pointing. We should read, What

H

O ceremony, fhew me but thy worth,
What is thy foul, O adoration?

Art thou aught elfe but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men?

Wherein thou art lefs happy, being fear'd,
Than they in fearing.

What drink'st thou oft, inftead of homage fweet,
But poifon'd flatt'ry? O be fick, great greatness,
And bid thy ceremony give thee curc.
Think'ft thou, the fiery fever will go out
With titles blown from adulation?

Will it give place to flexure and low bending?
Can't thou, when thou command'ft the beggar's knee,
Command the health of it? no, thou proud dream,
That play't fo fubtly with a King's repofe;
I am a King, that find thee; and I know,
'Tis not the balm, the fcepter and the ball,
The fword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The enter tiffued robe of gold and pearl,
The 'farfed title running 'fore the King,
The throne he fits on, nor the tide of pomp

is thy TOLL, O adoration! Let
us examine how the context
ftands with my emendation: What
are thy rents? What are thy com-
ings-in? What is thy worth?
What is thy toll? (i. e. the
duties, and impofts, thou rece v-
eft :) All here is confonant, and
agreeable to a fenfible exclama-
tion. So King John: - No
Italian priest full ythe or TOLL in
eur dominions. But the Oxford
Editor, now he finds the way
open for alteration, reads, What
is thy fhew of adoration. By
which happy emendation, what
is about to be enquired into,
is firft taken for granted: name-
ly, that ceremony is but a fhew.
And to make room for this word
here, which is found in the im-

mediate preceding line, he degrades it there. but puts as good a word indeed in its itead, that is to say, tell. WARBURTON.

This emendation is not ill conceived, yet I believe it is erroneous. The first copy reads, What? is the foul of Odoratim. This is incorrect, but I think we may discover the true reading cafily enough to be, What is thy foul, O adoration? That is, reverence paid to Kings, ubat art thou within? What are thy real qualities? What is thy intrinfick value?

6 Farfed title running, &c.] Farfed is fuffed. The tumid pufty titles with which a king's name is always introduced. This I think is the fenfe.

That

That beats upon the high fhore of this world;
No, not all these thrice-gorgeous ceremonies,
Not all thefe, laid in bed majestical,

'Can fleep fo foundly as the wretched slave;
Who, with a body fill'd, and vacant mind,
Gets him to reft, cramm'd with distressful bread,
Never fees horrid night, the child of hell,
But, like a lacquey, from the rife to fet,
Sweats in the eye of Phabus; and all night
Sleeps in Elyfium; next day, after dawn,
Doth rife, and help Hyperion to his horfe;
And follows fo the ever-running year
With profitable labour to his grave:
And, but for ceremony, fuch a wretch,
Winding up days with toil, and nights with fleep,
Hath the fore-hand and vantage of a King.
The flave, a member of the country's peace,
Enjoys it; but in grofs brain little wots,
What watch the King keeps to maintain the peace;
Whose hours the peafant beft advantages.

SCENE VI.

Enter Erpingham.

Erp. My Lord, your Nobles, jealous of your abfence,

Seek through your camp to find you.

K. Henry. Good old Knight,

Collect them all together at my tent:

I'll be before thee.

Erp. I fhall do't, my Lord.

[Exit.

K. Henry, O God of battles! fteel my foldiers

hearts ;

7 Can fleep fo foundly, &c.] Thefe lines are exquifitely pleafing. To fweat in the eye of Pho

bus, and to fleep in Elyfium, are expreffions very poetical.

Pof

Poffefs them not with fear; take from them now
The fenfe of reck'ning; left th' oppofed numbers
Pluck their hearts from them.-Not to-day, O Lord,
O not to day, think not upon the fault

My father made in compaffing the crown.
I Richard's body have interred new,

And on it have beftow'd more contrite tears,
Than from it iffu'd forced drops of blood.
Five hundred Poor I have in yearly pay,

Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up
Tow'rd heav'n to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chauntries, where the fad and folemn priefts
Sing ftill for Richard's foul. More will I do;
Tho' all that I can do, is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon.

66

8 In former editions:

take from them now The Senfe of reck'ning of th oppofed Numbers:

Puck their hearts from them] Thus the first folio. The Poet might intend," Take from them the Senfe of reckoning thofe "oppofed Numbers; which "might pluck their Courage "from them." But the relative not being exprefs'd, the Senfe is very obfcure. THEOB. The change is admitted by Dr. Warburton, and rightly. Sir T. Hanmer reads,

th oppofd numbers
Which fand Lefore them.
This reading he borrowed from
the old quarto, which gives the
paffage thus,

Take from them now the fenfe
of reckoning,
That the oppojed multitudes that
ftand before them
May not appall their courage.

Enter

9 Since that my penitence comes

after ALL,

Imploring pardon] We muft obferve, that Henry IV. had committed an injuftice, of which he, and his fon, reap'd the fruits. But reafon tells us, justice demands that they who share the profits of iniquity, fhall fhare alfo in the punishment. Scripture again tells us, that when men have finned, the Grace of God gives frequent invitations to repentance; which, in the language of Divines, are ftiled Calls, Thele. if neglected, or careleЛly dallied with, are, at length, irrecoverably withdrawn, and then repentance comes to late. All this fhews that the unintelligible reading of the text should be corrected thus,

comes after CALL. WARBURTON.

I wish the commentator had explained his meaning a little better;