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York. A Room in the Archbishop's Houfe.

Enter the Archbishop of York, and a Gentleman.

ARCH. Hie, good fir Michael; bear this fealed brief,'

With winged hafte, to the lord marefhal;"
This to my cousin Scroop; and all the rest
To whom they are directed: if you knew
How much they do import, you would make haste.
GENT. My good lord,

I guess their tenor.

ARCH.

Like enough, you do."
To-morrow, good fir Michael, is a day,
Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Muft 'bide the touch: For, fir, at Shrewsbury,
As I am truly given to understand,

The king, with mighty and quick-raifed power,
Meets with lord Harry: and I fear, fir Michael,-
What with the sickness of Northumberland,
(Whose power was in the first proportion,)
And what with Owen Glendower's abfence thence,

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5-fealed brief,] A brief is fimply a letter. JOHNSON. to the lord marefhal;] Thomas Lord Mowbray.

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MALONE.

Like enough. RITSON.

8 in the firft proportion,] Whofe quota was larger than that of any other man in the confederacy. JOHNSON.

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(Who with them was a rated finew too,"
And comes not in, o'er-rul'd by prophecies,)—
I fear, the power of Percy is too weak
To wage an inftant trial with the king.

GENT. Why, my good lord, you need not fear; there's Douglas,

And Mortimer."

ARCH.

No, Mortimer's not there.

GENT. But there is Mordake, Vernon, lord Harry

Percy,

And there's my lord of Worcester; and a head Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.

ARCH. And fo there is: but yet the king hath

drawn

The special head of all the land together ;-
The prince of Wales, lord John of Lancaster,
The noble Weftmoreland, and warlike Blunt;
And many more corrivals, and dear men
Of estimation and command in arms.

GENT. Doubt not, my lord, they fhall be well oppos'd.

ARCH. I hope no lefs, yet needful 'tis to fear;
And, to prevent the worst, fir Michael, speed:
For, if lord Percy thrive not, ere the king
Difmifs his power, he means to visit us,-
For he hath heard of our confederacy,

And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him;
Therefore, make hafte: I must go write again
To other friends; and fo farewell, fir Michael.
[Exeunt feverally.

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rated finew too,] A rated finew fignifies a strength on which we reckoned; a help of which we made account. JOHNSON. 8 And Mortimer.] Old copies, redundantly,

And lord Mortimer. STEEVENS.

ACT V.9 SCENE I.

The King's Camp near Shrewsbury.

Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN of Lancaster, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and Sir JOHN FALSTAFF.2

K. HEN. How bloodily the fun begins to peer Above yon bufky hill!' the day looks pale At his diftemperature.

P. HEN.

The fouthern wind

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes; +
And, by his hollow whiftling in the leaves,
Foretells a tempeft, and a blustering day.

K. HEN. Then with the lofers let it fympathize; For nothing can seem foul to those that win.

Trumpet.

Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.

How now, my lord of Worcester? 'tis not well,

9 Aa V.] It feems proper to be remarked, that in the editions printed while the author lived, this play is not broken into Acts. The divifion which was made by the players in the first folio, feems commodious enough; but, being without authority, may be changed by any editor who thinks himself able to make a better. JOHNSON.

2 In the old and modern editions the Earl of Westmoreland is made to enter here with the King; but, it appears from a paffage in the next scene that he was left as a hostage in Hotfpur's camp, till Worcester should return from treating with Henry. See p. 571, n. 6. MALONE.

3-bufky bill!] Bufky is woody. (Bofquet, Fr.) Milton writes the word perhaps more properly, bosky. STEEVENS.

to his purpofes;] That is, to the fun's, to that which the fun portends by his unufual appearance. JOHNSON,

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That you and I fhould meet upon fuch terms
As now we meet: You have deceiv'd our truft;
And made us doff our eafy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel: +
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What fay you to't? will you again unknit
This churlifh 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 mifchief 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 proteft,

I have not fought the day of this diflike.

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K. HEN. You have not fought it! how comes it
then?

FAL. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.
P. HEN. Peace, chewet, peace.'

-doff our eafy robes-] i. e. do them off, put them off. So, in King John:

"Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it for fhame."

STEEVENS.

4 To crush our old limbs in ungentle feel:] Shakspeare must have been aware that the King was not at this time more than four years older than he was at the depofition of King Richard. And indeed in the next play, he makes him expressly tell us, that it was

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but eight years fince

"Northumberland, even to the eyes of Richard
"Gave him defiance."

But it is altogether fruitless to attempt the reconciliation of our author's chronology. RITSON.

5 Peace, chewet, peace.] A cherwet, or chuet, is a noify chattering bird, a pie. This carries a proper reproach to Falstaff for s ill-timed and impertinent jeft. THEOBALD.

.XI.

WOR. It pleas'd your majesty, to turn your looks Of favour, from myfelf, and all our house; -401. 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 pofted day and night
To meet you on the way, and kifs your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing fo ftrong and fortunate as I.

It was myself, my brother, and his fon,
That brought you home, and boldly did outdare
The dangers of the time: You fwore to us,-
And you did fwear that oath at Doncaster,
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right,
The feat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster :
To this we fwore our aid. But, in fhort space,
It rain'd down fortune fhowering on your head;
And fuch a flood of greatnefs fell on you,-

In an old book of cookery, printed in 1596, I find a receipt to make cheets, which, from their ingredients, feem to have been fat greafy puddings; and to thefe it is highly probable that the Prince alludes. Both the quartos and folio fpell the word as it now ftands in the text, and as I found it in the book already mentioned. So, in Bacon's Natural History: "As for chuets, which are likewife minced meat, inftead of butter and fat, it were good to moisten them partly with cream, or almond and pistachio milk," &c. It appears from a receipt in The Forme of Cury, a Roll of ancient English Cookery, compiled about A. D. 1390, by the Mafter Cook of King Richard II. and published by Mr. Pegge, 8vo. 1780, that these che-wets were fried in oil. See p. 83, of that work. Cotgrave's Dictionary explains the French word goubelet, to be a kind of round pie refembling our chuet. STEEVENS.

See alfo Florio's Italian Dictionary, 1598: "Frilingotti. A kinde of daintie che wet or minced pie." MALONE.

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my staff of office-] See Richard the Second.

JOHNSON,

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