And left me in reputelefs banishment, (10) That men would tell their children, "This is he." That I did pluck allegiance from mens' hearts, Ne'er feen, but wonder'd at: and fo my ftate, Soon kindled, and foon burnt: (11) 'fcarded his state: Had his great name profaned with their fcorns; That being daily fwallow'd by mens' eyes, They furfeited with honey, and began To loath the taste of fweetnefs: whereof a little More than a little is by much too much. So (10) That he, &c.] At pulchrum eft digito monftrarier, & dicier bic eft. Perfius. (11) 'Scarded, &c.] i. e. difcarded, threw off. This reading is Mr. Warburton's: the old one is carded: this elifion is not unufual with the poets; frequently amongst the older ones `we have fdein for difdain, &. So when he had occafion to be seen, He was but as the cuckow is in June, Heard, not regarded: feen, but with such eyes, Afford no extraordinary gaze ; Such as is bent on fun-like majesty, But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids down, As cloudy men ufe to their adverfaries, Being with his prefence glutted, gorg'd, and full. Prince Henry's modeft Defence of himself. -Heav'n forgive them that so much have fway’d Would they were multitudes, and on my head I do befeech your Majefty, may falve ACT IV. SCENE II. A gallant Warrior. faw young Harry with his beaver on, (12) And witch the world with noble horsemanship.. Hotfpur's Impatience for the Battle -Let them come They come like facrifices in their trim, And yet not ours. Come, let me take my horse, Against the bofom of the Prince of Wales! Meet, and ne'er part, till one drop down a coarfe. ACT (12) O] Others read up; and there feems great probability in it. -Tell your nephew, young, The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world: Prince Henry's pathetic Speech on the Death of Hotspur.. -Brave Percy-Fare thee well, A kingdom for it was too fmall a bound: Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead, I should not make fo great a show of zeal. Falfaf's Falstaff's Catechifm. (13) Well, 'tis no matter, honour pricks me on. But how, if honour prick me off, when I come on? How then? Can honour fet to a leg? No; or an arm? No: or take away the grief of a wound? No: honour hath no fkill in fugery then? No: what is honour? a word. What is the word honour? air: a trim reckoning. Who hath it? he that dy'd a Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No: doth he hear it? No: is it infenfible then? yea, to the dead: but will it not live with the living? No: why? detraction will not fuffer it. Therefore, I'll none of it; honour is a mere fcutcheon, and fo ends my catechifm. SCENE (13) Well, &c.] In the King and no King of Beaumont and Fletcher, we have a character, plainly drawn from Shakespear's Falstaff; how fhort it is, and must neceffarily be of the original, I need not observe. "I think, fays Mr. Theobald, in his first note on that play, the character of Beffus must be allowed in general a fine copy from Shakespear's inimitable Falstaff. He is a coward, yet would fain fet him for a hero: oftentatious without any grain of merit to fupport his vain-glory: a liar throughout, to exalt his affumed qualifications; and lewd, without any countenance from the ladies to give him an umbrage for it. As to his wit and humour, the precedence muft certainly be adjudg'd to Falstaff, the great original." The authors, in the third act, have introduced him, talking on the Lame fubject with Falstaff here; though not in the fame excellent manner (an account of which, fee in Mr. Upton's obfervations on Shakespear, p. 113.) Bejus. "They talk of fame, I have gotten it in the wars, and will afford any man a reafonable pennyworth; fome will fay, they could be content to have it, but that it is to be atchiev'd with danger; but my opinion is otherwife: for if I might stand still in cannon-proof, and have fame fall upon me, I would refufe it; my reputation came principally by thinking to run away, which nobody knows but Mardonius, and, I think, he conceals it to anger me, &c." The falfe and foolish notions of fame and honour are no where, that I know of, fo well and juftly cenfured, as in Mr. Wollafton's Religion of Nature delineated, le&t. 5. p. 116. printed in 1726. |