K. Hen. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds; ! The blood weeps from my heart, when I do shape, War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him The prince but studies his companions, guage, 'Tis needful, that the most immodest word The prince will, in the perfectness of time, By which his grace must mete the lives of others; K. Hen. 'Tis seldom-when the bee doth leave In the dead carrion.'-Who's here? Westmoreland? Enter WESTMORELAND. K. Hen. And wherefore should these good news Will fortune never come with both hands full, P. Humph. Comfort, your majesty! Cla. [Swoons. O my royal father! West. My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself, look up! War. Be patient, princes; you do know, these fits And the old folk, time's doting chronicles, West. Health to my sovereign! and new hap- Say, it did so, a little time before piness Added to that that I am to deliver! Prince John, your son, doth kiss your grace's hand: K. Hen. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer Which ever in the haunch of winter sings Har. From enemies heaven keep your majesty; The Ear! Northumberland, and the Lord Bardolph, 1 Affections, in the language of Shakspeare's time, are passions, desires. Appetitus animi. 2 A parallel passage occurs in Terence : quo modo adolescentulus Meretricum ingenia et mores posset noscere Mature ut cum cognovit, perpetuo oderit.' 3 As the bee, having once placed her comb in a car cass, stays by her honey, so he that has once taken pleasure in bad company will continue to associate with those that have the art of pleasing him. That our great grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died. Into some other chamber: softly, 'pray. [They convey the King into an inner part of War. Call for the music in the other room. dull and sino were synonymous. Dullness, slow. ness; tarditas, tardivete. Somewhat dull or slowe; tardiusculus, tardelet;' says Baret. But Shakspeare uses dulness for drowsiness in the Tempest. And Baret has also this sense :- Slow, dull, asleepe, drousie, astonied, heavie; torpidus. It has always been thought that slow music induces sleep. Ariel enters playing solemn music to produce this effect, in the Tenipes. The notion is not peculiar to our great poet, as the following 5 Mure for wall is another of Shakspeare's Latin-exquisite lines, almost worthy of his hand, may wi isms. It was not in frequent use by his cotemporaries. Wrought it thin is made it thin by gradual detriment: Drought being the preterite of work. 4 The detail contained in Prince John's letter. 6. To fear anciently signified to make afraid, as well as to dread. A vengeance light on thee that so doth feare me, or makest me so feared.'-Baret. 7 That is, equivocal births, monsters. 8 i. e. as if the year. 9 An historical fact. On Oct. 12, 1411, this happened. 10 Johnson asserts that dull here signifies melancholy, gentle, soothing. Malone says that it means ' producing dullness or heaviness.' The fact is that ness:- 'Oh, lull me, lull me, charming air, Grief who need fear That hath an ear? Down let him lie, And slumbering die, And change his soul for harmony.' (From Wit Restored, 1659.) They are attributed to Dr. Strode, who died in 1644 P. Humph. He alter'd much upon the hearing it. For this the foolish over-careful fathers With joy, he will recover without physic. The king your father is dispos'd to sleep. P. Hen. No; I will sit and watch here by the 485 Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with care, Their bones with industry; For this they have engrossed and pil'd up Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with honey, Now, where is he that will not stay so long room, Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks, With such a deep demeanor in great sorrow, That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood, Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife fa-With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither. K. Hen. But wherefore did he take away the crown? This sleep is sound indeed; this is a sleep, Into one giant arm, it shall not force Cla. [Exit. Re-enter WARWICK, and the rest. K. Hen. Why did you leave me here alone, my lords? Cla. We left the prince my brother here, my liege, thee. Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity Who undertook to sit and watch by you. let me see him : He is not here. War. This door is open; he is gone this way. P. Humph. He came not through the chamber where we stay'd. K. Hen. Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow? War. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here. K. Hen. The prince hath ta'en it hence:--go, Is he so hasty, that he doth suppose Find him, my lord of Warwick; chide him hither. are! What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour? 4 i. e. circle; probably from the old Italian rigolo, a 7 i. e. ended. It is still used in that sense in legal conveyances. Si. e. confirmed my opinion. 9 Hour, anciently written hoer, is used sometimes as a dissyllable, as well by Shakspeare as others. 10 This playing upon words seems to have been highly admired in the age of Shakspeare England shall give him office, honour, might: tears, The moist impediments unto my speech, How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign, But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd, To try with it,-as with an enemy, But if it did infect my blood with joy, Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride; Did, with the least affection of a welcome, And make me as the poorest vassal is, K. Hen. O my son! Heaven put it in thy mind, to take it hence, That thou might'st win the more thy father's love, Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed; That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my son, By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways, I met this crown; and I myself know well, I The Variorum Shakspeare reads: How troublesome it sat upon my head: So thou the garland wear'st successively. 8 Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out; With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, May waste the memory of the former days. You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me; Enter PRINCE JOHN of Lancaster, WARWICK, K. Hen. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancaster. P. John. Health, peace, and happiness, to my royal father! K. Hen. Thou bring'st me happiness, and peace son John; But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown 'Let me no more from this obedience rise (Which my most true and inward duteous spirit Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending! Johnson and others have considered this passage as obscure in the construction; but it was only made so by their wrong pointing. The obvious sense is, 'Let me no more rise from this obeisance, which my most loyal and inwardly duteous spirit teacheth this prostrate and exterior bending.' Obeisance and obedience were for merly used indiscriminately the one for the other. Truth. is always used for loyalty. 2 It was long a prevailing opinion that a solution of gold had great medicinal virtues; and that the incorrupt. ibility of the metal might be communicated to the body impregnated with it. Potable gold was one of the panacea of ancient quacks. 3 Soil is stain, spot, blemish. 4 Supposed peace is imagined peace, counterfeit, not real. 5 Fears are objects of fear; terrors. 7 Purchas'd here signifies obtained by eager pursuit. It is from the French pourchas, and was sometimes so spelled when used to signify the obtaining of lands or honours by any other means than by title or descent. See Spelman's Glossary, in purchacia; and Minshew's Guide to the Tongues, in pour chas. 8 i. e. by order of succession. Johnson observes that every usurper snatches a claim of hereditary right as soon as he can.' So did Richard Cromwell in his first speech to parliament :- For my own part being, by the providence of God, and the disposition of the law, my father's successor, and bearing the place in the government that I do,' &c.-Harleian Miscellany, vol p. 21. 9 Mason proposes to read I cut some off, which seems indeed necessary. The sense would then be, Some I have cut off, and many I intended to lead to the Holy Land.' 10 This is a true picture of a mind divided between heaven and earth. He prays for the prosperity of guilt, while he deprecates its punishment. 11 At length he recovered his speech and understanding, and perceiving himselfe in a strange place, which he knew not, he willed to know if the chamber had anis particular name, whereunto answer was made, that it was called Jerusalem. Then said the king, Lauds be given to the Father of Heaven, for now I know that I shall die here in this chamber, according to the propheste, SCENE I. Glostershire. A Hall in Shallow's Shal. By cock and pye,' sir, you shall not away to-night.- -What, Davy, I say! Ful. You must excuse me, master Robert Shallow. Shal. I will not excuse you; you shall not be excused; excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve; you shall not be excused. Why, Davy! Davy. Here, sir. Enter DAVY. Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy,-let me see, Davy; let me see-yea, marry, William cook, bid him come hither. Sir John, you shall not be excused. Davy. Marry, sir, thus ;-those precepts cannot be served: and, again, sir,-Shall we sow the headland with wheat? Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But for William cook :- -Are there no young pigeons? Davy. I grant your worship, that he is a knave, sir: but yet, God forbid, sic, but a knave should have some countenance at his friend's request. An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not. I have served your worship truly, sir, this eight years; and if I cannot once or twice in a quarter bear out a knave against an honest man, I have but a very little credit with your wor ship. The knave is mine honest friend, sir; therefore, I beseech your worship, let him be counte nanced. Shal. Go to; I say, he shall have no wrong. Look about, Davy. [Exit DAVY.] Where are you, Sir John? Come, off with your boots.-Give me your hand, master Bardolph. Bard. I am glad to see your worship. Sha!. I thank thee with all my heart, kind master Bardolph:—and welcome, my tall fellow. [To the Page.] Come, Sir John. [Exit SHALLOW. Fal. I'll follow you, good master Robert Shallow. Bardolph, look to our horses. [Exeunt BARDOLPH and Page.] If I were sawed into quantities, I should make four dozen of such bearded hermit'sstaves as master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing, to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his: They, by observing him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justicelike serving-man; their spirits are so married in conjunction with the parti cipation of society, that they flock together in consent, like so many wild geese. If I had a suit to master Shallow, I would humour his men, with the imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I would curry with master Shallow, that no man could better command his servants. It is certain, that either wise bearing, or ignorant carriage, is caught, as men take diseases, one of another: therefore, let men take heed of their company. I Shal. He shall answer it :-Some pigeons, will devise matter enough out of this Shallow, to Davy; a couple of short-legged hens; a joint of keep Prince Harry in continual laughter, the wearmutton; and any pretty little tiny kickshaws, telling-out of six fashions (which is four terms, or two William cook. Davy. Yes, sir.--Here is now the smith's note, for shoeing, and plough-irons. Shal. Let it be cast, and paid:-Sir John, you shall not be excused. Davy. Now, sir, a new link to the bucket must needs be had;-And, sir, do you mean to stop any of William's wages, about the sack he lost the other day at Hinckley fair? actions,) and he shall laugh without intervallums. O, it is much, that a lie, with a slight oath, and a jest, with a sad brow," will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders! O, you shall see him laugh, till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up. Shal. [Within.] Sir John! Fal. I come, master Shallow; I come, master Shallow. [Exit FALSTAFF. SCENE II. Westminster. A Room in the Palace. Enter WARWICK and the Lord Chief Justice. War. How now, my lord chief justice? whither away? Ch. Just. How doth the king? as by cock and pie, by the mousefoot, and many such of me declared, that I should depart this life in Jerusa-like.' lem.-Holinshed, p. 541. 2 Precepts are warrants. Davy has almost as many employments as Scrub in the Beaux Stratagem. 3 i. e. cast up, computed. 4 A friend in court is worth a penny in purse,' is one of Camden's proverbial sentences. See his Remaines, 4to. 1605. 5 Wilnecote or Wincot, is a village in Warwickshire, near Stratford. The old copies read Woncol The late Dr. Vincent pointed out a remarkable coincidence in a passage of Anna Comnena (Alexias, lib. vi. p. 162, ed. Paris, 1658,) relating to the death of Robert Guiscard, king of Sicily, in a place called Jerusalem, at Cephalonia. In Lodge's Devils Conjured is a similar story of Pope Sylvester; but the Pope outwitted the Devil. And Fuller, in his Church History, b. v. p. 178, relates something of the same kind about Cardinal Wol6 This is no exaggerated picture of the course of jus sey, of whom it had been predicted that he should have tice in Shakspeare's time. Sir Nicholas Bacon, in a his end at Kingston. Which was thought to be fulfilled speech to parliament, 1559, says, 'Is it not a inonstrous by his dying in the custody of Sir William Kingston. disguising to have a justice a maintainer, acquitting 1 This adjuration, which seems to have been a pop-some for gain, enditing others for malice, bearing with ular substitute for profane swearing, eccurs in several him as his servant, overthrowing the other as his enemy.' old plays. By cock is supposed to be a corruption or D'Ewes, p. 34. He repeats the same words again in disguise of the name of God in favour of pious ears: 1571. Ib. 153. A member of the house of commons, but the addition of pie has not yet been satisfactorily in 1601, says, 'A justice of peace is a living creature, accounted for. It has been conjectured that it may be that for half a dozen chickens will dispense with a dezen only a ludicrous oath by the common sign of an ale- of penal statutes,' &c. house, The Cock and Magpie, or Cock and Pie, being a most ancient and favourite sign. It should appear from the following passage, in A Catechisme containing the Summe of Religion, by George Giffard, 1583, that it was not considered as a corruption of the sacred name. Men suppose that they do not offende when they do not sweare falsely, and because they will not take the name of God to abuse it, they sware by small things ; | 7 Consent is accord, agreement; a combination for any particular purpose. Baret renders 'sectu, a divers consente in sundry wilful opinions.' 8 i. e. admitted to their master's confidence. 9 There is something humorous in making a spend. thrift compute time by the operation of an action for debt. 10 i. e. a serious face. War. Exceeding well; his cares are now all And wear it in my heart. Why then, be sad: ended. Ch. Just. I hope, not dead. with him: The service that I truly did his life, War. Indeed, I think, the young king loves you not. Ch. Just. I know, he doth not; and do arm my- To welcome the condition of the time; Enter PRINCE JOHn, Prince HumphREY, CLA- War. Here come the heavy issue of dead Harry: Ch. Just. Alas! I fear, all will be overturn'd. But entertain no more of it, good brothers, Yet weep, P. John, &c. We hope no other from your ma- King. You all look strangely on me ;-and you Ch. Just. I then did use the person of your father; P. John. We meet like men that had forgot to The majesty and power of law and justice, speak. War. We do remember; but our argument Is all too heavy to admit much talk. P. John. Well, peace be with him that hath made us heavy! Ch. Just. Peace be with us, lest we be heavier! And I dare swear, you borrow not that face You stand in coldest expectation: I am the sorrier; 'would, 'twere otherwise. nour, Led by the impartial conduct of my soul; Enter KING HENRY V. Ch. Just. Good morrow; and heaven save your King. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty, But Harry Harry: Yet be sad, good brothers, 1 A ragged and forestalled remission' is a remission or pardon obtained by beggarly supplication. Forestal ling is prevention. In a former scene the prince says to his father : 'But for my tears, &c. I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke.' 2 Amurath IV. emperor of the Turks, died in 1596; his second son, Amurath, who succeeded him, had all his brothers strangled at a feast, to which he invited them, while yet ignorant of their father's death. It is highly probable that Shakspeare alludes to this transaction. The play may have been written while the fact was still recent. 3 Was this easy? was this a light offence? 4 It has already been remarked that Sir William Gascoigne, the chief justice in this play, died in the reign of Henry IV.; and consequently this scene has The image of the king whom I presented, King. You are right, justice, and you weigh this well; Therefore still bear the balance and the sword: no foundation in fact. Shakspeare was misled by 5 Treat with contempt your acts executed by a repre. sentative. 6 i. e. image to yourself that you have a son. 7 In your regal character and office. 8 Remembrance; that is admonition o warning |
