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K. HENRY.

Heav'n pardon thee. Yet let me wonder, Harry,
At thy affections, which do hold a wing
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou hast rudely loff,
Which by thy younger brother is supply'd;
And art almost an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood.
The hope and expectation of thy time
Is ruin'd, and the foul of every man
Prophetically does fore-think thy fall.
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
So ftale and cheap to vulgar company;
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession,
And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
But being feldom seen, I could not ftir,
But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at,
That men would tell their children, this is he;
Others would say, where? which is Bolingbroke?
And then I stole all courtesy from heav'n,

And dreft myself in much humility,

That I did pluck allegiance from mens hearts,

Loud

Loud shouts and falutations from their mouths,
Even in the prefence of the crowned king.
Thus I did keep my person fresh and new,
My prefence, like a robe pontifical,
Ne'er seen, but wonder'd at ; and so my state,
Seldom, but sumptuous, shew'd like a feast,
And won, by rareness, such folemnity.
The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits,
Soon kindled, and soon burnt; 'searded his state,
Mingled his royalty with carping fools;
Had his great name profaned with their scorns;
And gave his countenance, against his name,
To laugh at gybing boys, and stand the push
Of every beardless, vain comparative;
Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity.

That, being daily swallow'd by mens eyes,
They surfeited with honey, and began
To loath a taste of sweetness; whereof a little
More than a little, is by much too much.
So when he had occasion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckow is in June,

Heard, not regarded; seen but with such eyes,
As, fick and blunted with community,

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Afford no extraordinary gaze;.

Such, as is bent on fun-like majesty,
When it shines seldom in admiring eyes;
But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids down,
Slept in his face, and rendred such aspect
As cloudy men use to their adversaries,
Being with his presence glutted, gorg'd and full.
And in that very line, Harry, stand'st thou;
For thou hast loft thy princely privilege
With vile participation; not an eye,
But is a-weary of thy common fight,

Save mine, which hath defir'd to see thee more :

Which now doth, what I would not have it do,

Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.

Our author is so little under the difcipline of Art, that we are apt to ascribe his happiest successes, as well as his most unfortunate failings, to Chance. But I cannot help thinking, there is more of contrivance and care in his execution of this play, than in almost any he has written. It is a more regular drama than his other historical plays, less charged with absurdities, and less involved in confufion. It is indeed liable to those objections, which are made to Tragicomedy. But if the pedantry of learning could ever recede from its dogmatical rules, I think that this play, instead of being condemned for being of that species, would obtain favour for the species itself, though perhaps correct taste may be offended with the transitions from grave and important, to light and ludicrous subjects: and more still with those from great and illustrious, to low and mean persons. Foreigners, unused to these compositions, will bemuch disgusted at them. The vulgar call all animals that are not natives of their own country, monsters, however beautiful they may be in their form, or wisely adapted to their climate, and natural destination. The prejudices of Pride are as violent and unreasonable, as the superstitions of Ignorance. On the French Parnassus, a tragi-comedy of this kind will be deemed a monster fitter to be shewn to the people at a fair, than exhibited to circles of the learned and

those

polite. From some peculiar circumstances G3 relating

7.

relating to the characters in this piece, we may, perhaps, find a fort of apology for the motley mixture thrown into it. We cannot but suppose, that at the time it was written, many stories yet subsisted of the wild adventures of this Prince of Wales, and his idle companions. His subsequent reformation, and his conquests in France, rendered him a very popular character. It was a delicate affair to expose the follies of Henry V. before a people proud of his victories, and tender of his fame, at the same time so informed of the extravagancies, and excesses of his youth, that he could not appear divested of them with any degree of historical probability. Their enormity would have been greatly heightened, if they had appeared in a piece entirely serious, and full of dignity and decorum. How happily therefore was the character of Falstaffe introduced, whose wit and festivity in some measure excuse the Prince for admitting him into his familiarity, and suffering himself to be led by him into some irregularities. There is hardly a

young

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