With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.

K. Henry. But wherefore did he take away the
Crown?

Enter Prince Henry.

Lo, where he comes. Come hither to me, Harry;
Depart the chamber, leave us here alone. [Exe. Lords.
P. Henry. I never thought to hear you speak again.
K. Henry. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that
thought:

I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.

Doft thou fo hunger for my empty Chair,

That thou wilt needs inveft thee with my Honours,
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!

Thou seek'ft the Greatness, that will overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little; for my cloud of Dignity
Is held from falling with fo weak a wind,
That it will quickly drop; my day is dim.
Thou haft ftoln That, which, after fome few hours,
Were thine without offence; and at my death
Thou haft feal'd up my expectation;

Thy life did manifeft, thou lov'dft me not;
And thou wilt have me die affur'd of it.
Thou hid'ft a thousand daggers in thy thoughts,
Which thou haft whetted on thy ftony heart,
To stab at half an hour of my frail life.

What! canft thou not forbear me half an hour?
Then get thee gone, and dig my Grave thy felf,
And bid the merry bells ring to thy ear
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears, that fhould bedew my herfe,
Be drops of balm to fanctifie thy head;
Only compound me with forgotten duft,
Give That, which gave thee life, unto the worms.
Pluck down my officers, break my decrees
For now a time is come to mock at form;
Henry the Fifth is crown'd: up, Vanity!

Down,

Down, royal State! All you fage Couneellors, hence; "And to the English Court affemble now, "From ev'ry region, apes of Idlenefs:

"Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your fcum; "Have you a ruffian that will fwear? drink? dance? "Revel the night? rob? murder? and commit "The oldest fins the newest kind of ways? "Be happy, he will trouble you no more: [England fhall double gild his treble Guilt; ] England fhall give him office, honour, might: "For the Fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks "The muzzle of reftraint; and the wild dog "Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent. O my poor kingdom, fick with civil blows! When that my care could not withhold thy riots, What wilt thou do when riot is thy care? O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,

Peopled with Wolves, thy old inhabitants.

P. Henry. O pardon me, my Liege! but for my

tears,

[Kneeling.

(The moist impediments unto my fpeech,)
I had fore-ftall'd this dear and deep rebuke,
Ere you with grief had spoke, and I had heard
The course of it fo far. There is your Crown;
And he that wears the crown immortally,
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more,
Than as your Honour, and as your Renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rife,
Which my moft true and inward-duteous fpirit

7 England ball double gild his treble Guilt;] Evidently the nonfenfe of fome foolish Player: For we must make a difference between what Shakespear might be fuppos'd to have written off band, and what he had corrected. Thefe Scenes are of the latter kind; therefore fuch lines by no means to be efteemed his. But except Mr. Pope, (who judicioufly threw out this line) not one of Shakespear's Editors feem ever to have had fo reasonable and neceffary a rule in their heads, when they fet upon correcting this author.

Teacheth this proftrate and exterior bending.
Heav'n witnefs with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your Majefty,
How cold it ftruck my heart! If I do feign,
O let me in my prefent wildness die,

And never live to fhew th' incredulous world
The noble Change that I have purposed.
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
(And dead almoft, my Liege, to think you were)
I fpake unto the Crown, as having sense,
And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending
Hath fed upon the body of my father,

Therefore thou beft of gold art worst of gold;
Other, less fine in carrat, is more precious,
Preferving life in med'cine potable:

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,
Haft eat thy bearer up. Thus, Royal Liege,
Accufing it, I put it on my head,

To try with it (as with an enemy,

That had before my face murder'd my father)
The quarrel of a true inheritor.

But if it did infect my blood with joy,
Or fwell my thoughts to any ftrain of pride,
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine

Did with the least affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to the Might of it;
Let heav'n for ever keep it from my head,
And make me as the pooreft vaffal is,
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
K. Henry. O my fon!

Heav'n put it in thy mind to take it hence,
That thou might'ft win the more thy father's love,
Pleading fo wifely in excuse of it.

Come hither, Harry, fit thou by my bed ;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel,
That ever I fhall breathe. Heav'n knows, my fon,
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways

I met this crown; and I my felf know well,
How troublesome it fate upon my head.
To thee it shall defcend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation:
For all the foil of the atchievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me
But as an Honour snatch'd with boist'rous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid

My gain of it by their affiftances;

8

Which daily grew to quarrel and to blood-shed,
* Wounding supposed peace. All their bold feats
Thou feeft, with peril I have answered.

For all my reign hath been but as a Scene,
Acting that Argument: And now my death
'Changes the mode; for what in me was purchas'd,
Falls upon thee in a much fairer fort;

For thou the garland wear'ft fucceffively.

Yet though thou ftand'st more fure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, fince griefs are green;
And all thy friends, which thou must make thy friends,
Have but their ftings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd,
And by whofe pow'r I well might lodge a fear,
To be again difplac'd: which to avoid

I cut them off, and had a purpose now

8 Wounding fuppofed peace.] Supp fed, for undermined. All THESE bold FEARS,] We fhould certainly read, -All THEIR bold FEATS,

9

i. e. plots, commotions of confpirators.

1 Changes the mode; ] Mode, here, does not fignify fashion, but time and measure in finging, or the pitch in speaking: Modus, a word peculiar to the ancient Drama: For the metaphor is continued from the words immediately preceding,

- as a Scene,

Acting that Argument.

2 So thou the garland

-] We fhould read, FOR thou the

garland

U 3

3 To

To lead our many to the Holy Land;

Left Reft and lying ftill might make them look
Too near into my State. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to bufy giddy minds

With foreign Quarrels; that action, hence, borne out,
May waste the memory of former days.
More would I, but my Lungs are waited fo,
That ftrength of fpeech is utterly deny'd me.
How I came by the Crown, O God, forgive!
And grant it may
with thee in true peace live.

P. Henry. My gracious Liege,
You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right muft my Poffeffion be;
Which I with more than with a common pain,
'Gainst all the world, will rightfully maintain.

Enter Lord John of Lancafter, and Warwick.
K. Henry. Look, look, here comes my John of Lan-
cafter.

Lan. Health, peace and happiness to my royal father! K. Henry. Thou bring'ft me happiness and peace, fon John;

But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare, wither'd, Trunk. Upon thy fight
My worldly business makes a period.
Where is my lord of Warwick?

P. Henry. My lord of Warwick.

K. Henry. Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I firft did fwoon? War. 'Tis call'd Jerufalem, my noble lord. K. Henry. Laud be to God! even there muft end.

It hath been prophefy'd to me many years,

my

life

3 To lead our many to the Holy Land; ] As plaufible as this reading is. it is corrupt. Shakespear, I think, wrote,

people.

To lead OUR many our many or meiny, i. e. our