And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to it? will you again unknit
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war?
And move in that obedient orb again,
Where you did give a fair and natural light;
And be no more an exhal'd meteor,
A prodigy of fear, and a portent

Of broached mischief to the unborn times?
Wor. Hear me, my liege:

For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for, I do protest,

I have not sought the day of this dislike.
K. Hen. You have not sought it! how comes
it then?

Fal. Rebellion lay in his way and he found it. P. Hen. Peace, chewet, peace.

a

Chewel-perhaps the name of a chattering bird-certainly the name of a dish, or pie, of minced meat

Wor. It pleas'd your majesty, to turn your
looks

Of favour from myself, and all our house;
And yet I must remember you, my lord,
We were the first and dearest of your friends.
For you, my staff of office did I break
In Richard's time; and posted day and night
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.
It was myself, my brother, and his son,
That brought you home, and boldly did outdare
The danger of the time: You swore to us,—
And
you did swear that oath at Doncaster,-
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right,
The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster :
To this we sware our aid. But, in short space,
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head;
And such a flood of greatness fell on you,-
What with our help; what with the absent king;
What with the injuries of a wanton time;
The seeming sufferances that you had borne;
And the contrarious winds, that held the king
So long in his unlucky Irish wars,
That all in England did repute him dead,——
And, from this swarm of fair advantages,
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your
hand:
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;
And, being fed by us, you used us so
As that ungentle gull the cuckoo's bird
Useth the sparrow : 2 did oppress our nest;
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk,

That even our love durst not come near your sight,

For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing
We were enforc'd, for safety sake, to fly
Out of your sight, and raise this present head:
Whereby we stand opposed by such means
As you yourself have forg'd against yourself;
By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,
And violation of all faith and troth
Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.

K. Hen. These things, indeed, you have arti-
culated,b

Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches, To face the garment of rebellion

With some fine colour, that may please the eye

a Gull. Mr. Grant White points out that in Wilbraham's Cheshire Glossary, "all nestling birds in quite an unfledged state are called gulls in that county." The callow cuckoo, who finally turns out the sparrows, is an "ungentle gull." The word may have a special meaning referring to the voracity of the "cuckoo's bird "-as the sea-gull is supposed to be so called from gulo-gulosus.

b Articulated-exhibited in articles.

Of fickle changelings and poor discontents,
Which gape, and rub the elbow, at the news
Of hurlyburly innovation :

And never yet did insurrection want
Such water-colours to impaint his cause;
Nor moody beggars, starving for a time.
Of pellmell havock and confusion.

P. Hen. In both our armies there is many a soul

Shall pay full dearly for this encounter,
If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew,
The prince of Wales doth join with all the
world

In praise of Henry Percy: By my hopes,-
This present enterprise set off his head,-
I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant, or more valiant-young,
More daring, or more bold, is now alive,
To grace this latter age with noble deeds.
For my part, I may speak it to my shame,
I have a truant been to chivalry;
And so, I hear, he doth account me too:
Yet this before my father's majesty,-

I am content that he shall take the odds

Of his great name and estimation;
And will, to save the blood on either side,
Try fortune with him in a single fight.

K. Hen. And, prince of Wales, so dare we venture thee,

Albeit, considerations infinite

Do make against it :—No, good Worcester, no,
We love our people well; even those we love,
That are misled upon your cousin's part :
And, will they take the offer of our grace,
Both he, and they, and you, yea, every man,
Shall be my friend again, and I'll be his :
So tell your cousin, and bring me word
What he will do:-But if he will not yield,
Rebuke and dread correction wait on us,
And they shall do their office. So, be gone;
We will not now be troubled with reply:
We offer fair, take it advisedly.

[Exeunt WORCESTER and VERNON.
P. Hen. It will not be accepted, on my life:
The Douglas and the Hotspur both together
Are confident against the world in arms.

K. Hen. Hence, therefore, every leader to his charge;

For, on their answer, will we set on them:
And God befriend us, as our cause is just!

[Exeunt KING, BLUNT, and PRINCE JOHN. Fal. Hal, if thou see me down in the battle, and bestride me, so; 't is a point of friendship.

P. Hen. Nothing but a colossus can do thee that friendship. Say thy prayers, and farewell.

Ful. I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well.

P. Hen. Why, thou owest Heaven a death.

[Exit.

Fal. 'Tis not due yet; I would be loath to pay him before his day. What need I be so forward with him that calls not on me? Well, 't is no matter; Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air. A trim reckoning!Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it :-therefore, I'll none of it: Honour is a mere scutcheon, and so ends my catechism. [Exit.

a

For treason is but trusted like the fox;
Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up,
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or sad, or merrily,
Interpretation will misquote our looks;
And we shall feed like oxen at a stall,
The better cherish'd still the nearer death.
My nephew's trespass may be well forgot,

It hath the excuse of youth, and heat of blood;

And an adopted name of privilege,-
A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen :
All his offences live upon my head,

a The earliest quarto reads-"What is in that word, honour? What is that honour?" We follow the folio and the latter quartos. The addition of the first quarto seems surplusage.

b Suspicion-all the old copies read cupposition. All our lives. So the old copies.

How shew'd his tasking?" seem'd it in contempt?

Ver. No, by my soul; I never in my life Did hear a challenge urg'd more modestly, Unless a brother should a brother dare To gentle exercise and proof of arms. He gave you all the duties of a man; Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tonguc; Spoke your deservings like a chronicle; Making you ever better than his praise, By still dispraising praise, valued with you: And, which became him like a prince indeed,

a Tasking. So the first quarto. The folio talking. b Engag'd-held as surety.

He made a blushing cital of himself;
And chid his truant youth with such a grace
As if he master'd there a double spirit,
Of teaching, and of learning, instantly.
There did he pause.
But let me tell the world,-
If he outlive the envy of this day,
England did never owe so sweet a hope,
So much misconstrued in his wantonness.

Hot. Cousin, I think, thou art enamoured
Upon his follies; never did I hear
Of any prince so wild at liberty: a
But, be he as he will, yet once ere night
I will embrace him with a soldier's arm,
That he shall shrink under my courtesy.

Arm, arm, with speed: And, fellows, soldiers, friends,

Better consider what you have to do,

Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,
Can lift your blood up with persuasion.

a At liberty. The reading of the old editions, except the first four quartos, which give a libertie. We cannot think that Johnson's interpretation is correct:-" of any prince that played such pranks, and was not confined as a madman." Hotspur means to say that he never knew of any prince so wild of his own unrestrained will. Capel suggested a libertine, which some have adopted.

b We find the word worthy only in the folio. We have many other examples in this play of lines such as the preceding-having twelve syllables; and it appears to us that all the editorial attempts to get rid of what are called the redundant syllables are sad perversions of ingenuity. which emasculate the text, and destroy the intentions of the author. To those who think that the earlier commentators have, in what they call settling the text, freed it from

Other Alarums. Enter FALSTAFF.

Fal. Though I could 'scape shot-free at London, I fear the shot here: here's no scoring, but upon the pate.-Soft! who are you? Sir Walter Blunt ;-there's honour for you: Here's no vanity! I am as hot as molten lead, and as heavy too: Heaven keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels.-I have led my raggamuffins where they are peppered: there's not three of my hundred and fifty left alive; and they are for the town's end, to beg during life. But who comes here ?

Enter PRINCE HENRY.

P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend
me thy sword:

Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are unreveng'd: Prithee, lend me
thy sword.

Fal. O Hal, I prithee, give me leave to breathe awhile.-Turk Gregory never did such deeds in armis as I have done this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure.

P. Hen. He is, indeed: and living to kill thee. I prithee, lend me thy sword.

Fal. Nay, Hal, if Percy be alive thou gett'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt.

P. Hen. Give it me: What, is it in the case ? Fal. Ay, Hal; 't is hot, 't is hot; there's that will sack a city.

[The PRINCE draws out a bottle of sack. P. Hen. What, is 't a time to jest and dally now? [Throws it at him, and exit. Fal. If Percy be alive I'll pierce him, if he

A fool. The early copies read, Ah, fool! b Turk Gregory. Pope Gregory the Seventh.

lies; [Exeunt PRINCE JOHN and WESTMORELAND. P. Hen. By heaven thou hast deceiv'd me, Lancaster,

I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:
Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John;
But now, I do respect thee as my soul.

K. Hen. I saw him hold lord Percy at the