his The next news is I have to London sent Boling Enter KEEPER, with a Dish. Keep. Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay. [To the GROOM. K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away. Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say. [Exit. Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to? K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. Keep. My lord, I dare not; Sir Pierce of Exton, who Lately came from the king, commands the contrary. K. Rich. The devil take Henry of Lancaster, and thee! Patience is stale, and I am weary of it. [Beats the KEEPER. Keep. Help, help, help ! Enter EXTON, and Servants, armed. K. Rich. How now? what means death in this rude assault ? Villain, thy own hand yields thy death's instrument. [Snatching a weapon and killing one, Go thou, and fill another room in hell. That [He kills another, then EXTON strikes him down. hand shall burn in never-quenching fire, That staggers thus my person.-Exton, thy fierce hand Hath with the king's blood stain'd the king's For now the devil, that told me I did well, Flourish. Enter BOLINGBROKE, and YORK, The manner of their taking may appear [Presenting a paper. Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains; And to thy worth will add right worthy gains. Enter FITZWATER. Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely; Right noble is thy merit, well I wot. Enter PERCY, with the Bishop of CARLISLE. Percy. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster, With clog of conscience, and sour melancholy, - More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life; For though mine enemy thou hast ever been, Enter EXTON, with ATTENDANTS bearing a Exton. Great king, within this coffin I present Thy buried fear herein all breathless lies Boling. They love not poison that do poison need, Nor do I thee; though I did wish him dead,” But neither my good word, nor princely fa vour: With Cain go wander through the shade of night, Lords, I protest my soul is full of woe, Come, mourn with me for what I do lament, March sadly after; grace my Welcome, my lord: What is the news? mournings [Exeunt. It was long the prevailing opinion that Sir Piers Exton, and others of his guards, fell upon Richard in the eastle of Pomfret, where he was confined, and despatched him with their halberts. But it is more probable that he was starved to death in prison; and it is said that he prolonged his unhappy life for a fortnight, after all sustenance was denied him, before he reached the end of his miseries.---Hume. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. SHAKSPEARE wrote this dramatic history about the year 1597, founding it upon six old plays previously published. The action commences with Hotspur's defeat of the Scots at Halidowa Hill, Sep. 14, 1402; and closes with the defeat and death of that leader at Shrewsbury, July 21, 1403. None of Shakspeare's plays are perhaps so frequently read, as this and the one which succeeds it; but the want of ladies, and matter to interest females, lies so heavily upon it, that even with an excellent Falstaff, it can only enjoy occasional life upon the stage. The speeches of King Henry, though clothed in a fine, stately, and nervous diction, are much too long; and a deal of the humour, sparkling as it is, cannot be heard without a blush. The scene of the carriers is grossly indecent, and so very low, that it might be rejected without the slightest injury to the piece. The choleric Hotspur, and the mad-cap Prince of Wales, are, however, charming portraits; great, original, and just; exhibiting the nicest discernment in the character of mankind, and presenting a moral of very general application. But the subtle rognery of Falstaff---his laughable soliloquies---his whimsical investigations, --and his invincible assumption---(the richer and more ludicrous when opposed to his sneaking cowardice) are strokes of dramatic genius which render this fat old man' the leading attraction of the play: and though his character is vicious in every respect, he is furnished with so much wit, as to be almost too great a favourite. ACT I. SCENE 1-London.-A Room in the Enter King HENRY, WESTMORELAND, Sir K. Hen. So shaken as we are, so wan with Find we a time for frighted peace to pant, No more shall trenching war channel her fields, Which,-like the meteors of a troubled heaven, To chase these pagans, in those holy fields, And bootless 'tis to tell you-we will go; West. My liege, this baste was hot in ques- And many limits of the charge set down this broil Brake off our business for the Holy Land. of Enter HENRY Prince of Wales, and Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. Hen. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou West. This, match'd with other, did, my gra- would'st truly know. What the devil hast thou cious lord; For more uneven and unwelcome news Came from the north, and thus it did import. At Holmedon met, Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour; And shape of likelihood, the news was told; K. Hen. Here is a dear and true-industrious Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse, Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of our's; news. The earl of Douglas is discomfited; Mordake the earl of Fife, and eldest son It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the signs of leaping-houses, and the blessed sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata; I see no reason why thou should'st be so superfluons 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,-be, that wandering knight so fair. And, I pray thee, sweet wag, when thou art king,-as God save thy grace, (majesty I should say, for grace thou wilt have none,). P. Hen. What, none? Fal. No, by my troth; not so much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter. P. Hen. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundly. Fal. Marry, then, sweet wag, when thou art king, let not us, that are squires of the night's body, be called thieves of the day's beauty; let be-Diana's foresters, gentlemen of the shade, minions of the moon: And let men say we be men of good government; being governed as the sea is, by our noble and chaste mistress the moon, under whose countenance we-steal. P. Hen. Thou say'st well; and it holds well too for the fortune of us, that are the moon's men, doth ebb and flow like the sea; being governed as the sea is, by the moon. As for proof now: A purse of gold most resolutely K. Hen. Yea, there thou makʼst me sad, and snatched on Monday night, and most dissolutely mak'st me sin, In envy that my lord Northumberland A son, who is the theme of honour's tongue; That some night-tripping fairy had exchang'd Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners, Malevolent to you in all aspects; spent on Tuesday morning; got with swearing -lay by ; and spent with crying-bring in: now, in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder, and by and by, in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows. Fal. By the Lord, thou say'st true, lad. And is not my hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench ? P. Hen. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most sweet robe of durance? § Fal. How now, how now, mad wag? what, in thy quips, and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin? P. Hen. Why, what a pox have I to do with my hostess of the tavern? Fal. Well, thou hast called her to a reckoning many a time and oft. P. Hen. Did I ever call for thee to pay thy part? Fal. No; I'll give thee thy due, thou hast paid all there. P. Hen. Yea, and elsewhere, so far as my Which makes him prune¶ himself, and bristle up coin would stretch; and where it would not, i The crest of youth against your dignity. have used my credit. Fal. Yea, and so used it, that were it not here Covered with dirt of different • Favourites. Trim, as birds clean their feathers." + Stand still. 1 More wine, The dress of sheriff's officers. |