SCENE

III.

The fame. Another Room in the Palace.

Enter King HENRY, NORTHUMBERLAND, WORCESTER, HOTSPUR, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and Others.

K. HEN. My blood hath been too cold and temperate,

Unapt to ftir at these indignities,

And you have found me; for, accordingly,
You tread upon my patience: but, be fure,
I will from henceforth rather be myself,
Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition; 3
Which hath been smooth as oil, foft as young down,
And therefore loft that title of respect,

Which the proud foul ne'er pays, but to the proud.

3 I will from henceforth rather be myself,

Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition;] i. e. I will from henceforth rather put on the character that becomes me, and exert the refentment of an injured king, than ftill continue in the inactivity and mildnefs of my natural difpofition. And this sentiment he has well expreffed, fave that by his ufual licence, he puts the word condition for difpofition. WARBURTON.

The commentator has well explained the fenfe, which was not very difficult, but is mistaken in fuppofing the use of condition licentious. Shakspeare ufes it very frequently for temper of mind, and in this fenfe the vulgar ftill fay a good or ill-conditioned man, JOHNSON.

So, in K. Henry V. A&t V: "Our tongue is rough, coz, and condition is not fmooth." Ben Jonfon ufes it in the same sense, in The New Inn, A& I. sc. vi:

my

"You cannot think me of that coarfe condition,

"To envy you any thing." STEEVENS.

So alfo all the contemporary writers. See Vol. V. P. 412, n. 53 and Vol. VI. p. 29, n. 8. MALONE.

WOR. Our house, my fovereign liege, little deferves

The scourge of greatness to be used on it;

And that fame greatness too which our own hands Have holp to make fo portly.

NORTH. My lord,

K. HEN. Worcester, get thee gone, for I fee danger

3

And difobedience in thine eye: O, fir,
Your prefence is too bold and peremptory,
And majefty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a fervant brow."

You have good leave' to leave us; when we need
Your ufe and counfel, we fhall fend for you.―

[Exit WORCESTER.

You were about to speak. [To NORTHUMBERLAND. Yea, my good lord.

NORTH. Those prifoners in your highness' name demanded, Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took, Were, as he says, not with fuch strength denied As is deliver'd to your majefty:

Either envy, therefore, or mifprifion

Is guilty of this fault, and not my fon.

3

I fee danger-] Old copies I do fee, &c. STEEVENS.

4 And majefty might never yet endure

The moody frontier of a fervant brow.] Frontier was anciently ufed for forehead. So Stubbs, in his Anatomy of Abuses, 1595: "Then on the edges of their bolfter'd hair, which standeth crested round their frontiers, and hanging over their faces," &c.

STEEVENS.

And majesty might never yet endure, &c.] So, in K. Henry VIII: "The hearts of princes kifs obedience,

"So much they love it; but to ftubborn spirits,

They fwell and grow as terrible as ftorms." MALONE.

5 You have good leave-] i. e. our ready affent. So, in K. John: "Good leave, good Philip."

See note 9, p. 24. STEEVENS.

Hor. My liege, I did deny no prisoners.
But, I remember, when the fight was done,
When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil,
Breathlefs and faint, leaning upon my fword,
Came there a certain lord, neat, and trimly drefs'd,
Fresh as a bridegroom; and his chin, new reap'd,
Show'd like a ftubble-land at harveft-home: "
He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nose, and took't away again;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in fnuff: -and ftill he fmil'd, and talk'd;

6 at harveft-home:] That is, a time of feftivity.

JOHNSON.

If we understand harvest-home in the general fenfe of a time of feftivity, we fhall lose the most pointed circumftance of the comparifon. A chin new fhaven is compared to a stubble-land at harveft-home, not on account of the feftivity of that season, as I apprehend, but because at that time, when the corn has been but juft carried in, the stubble appears more even and upright, than at any other. TYRWHITT.

7 A pouncet box,] A fmall box for mufk or other perfumes then in fashion: the lid of which, being cut with open work, gave it its name; from poinfoner, to prick, pierce, or engrave.

WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton's explanation is juft. At the christening of Queen Elizabeth, the Marchionefs of Dorfet gave, according to Holinfhed," three gilt bowls pounced, with a cover."

So alfo, in Gawin Douglas's Translation of the ninth Æneid: "wroght richt curiously

"With figuris grave, and punfit ymagery." STEEVENS. 8 Took it in fnuff:] Snuff is equivocally used for anger, and a powder taken up the nose.

So, in The Fleire, a comedy by E. Sharpham, 1610: "Nay be not angry; I do not touch thy nofe, to the end it should take any thing in fuuff."

Again, in Decker's Satiromaftix, 1602:

'tis enough,

Having fo much fool, to take him in fuuff;"

And, as the foldiers bore dead bodies by,
He call'd them-untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a flovenly unhandsome corfe
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.

With many holiday and lady terms

8

He question'd me; among the rest, demanded
My prifoners, in your majefty's behalf.

I then, all fmarting, with my wounds being cold,
To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,"

and here they are talking about tobacco. Again, in Hinde's Eliofo Libidinofo, 1606: "The good wife glad that he took the matter fo in fnuff," &c. STEEVENS.

8 With many holiday and lady terms-] So, in A Looking Glass for London and England, 1598: "Thefe be but holiday terms, but if you heard her working day words. Again, in The Merry Wives of Windfor: "he fpeaks holiday." STEEVENS.

وو

9 I then, all fmarting, with my wounds being cold,

To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,] But in the beginning of the fpeech he reprefents himself at this time not as cold but hot, and inflamed with rage and labour:

"When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil," &c.

I am therefore perfuaded that Shakspeare wrote and pointed it thus: I then all fmarting with my wounds; being gall'd

To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay, &c. WARBURTON. Whatever Percy might fay of his rage and toil, which is merely declamatory and apologetical, his wounds would at this time be certainly cold, and when they were cold would smart, and not before. If any alteration were neceffary, I fhould tranfpofe the lines: I then all fmarting with my wounds being cold,

Out of my grief, and my impatience,

To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,
Anfwer'd neglectingly.

A popinjay is a parrot. JOHNSON.

The fame tranfpofition had been propofed by Mr. Edwards. In John Alday's Summarie of fecret Wonders, &c. bl. 1. no date, we are told that "The Popingay can fpeake humaine speach, they come from the Indias" &c.

From the following paffage in The Northern Lafs, 1632, it should feem, however, that a popinjay and a parrot were distinct birds: "Is this a parrot or a popinjay?"

Out of my grief and my impatience,
Anfwer'd neglectingly, I know not what;

He fhould, or he fhould not; for he made me

mad,

To fee him shine so brifk, and smell fo fweet,
And talk fo like a waiting-gentlewoman,

Of guns, and drums, and wounds, (God fave the mark!)

3

And telling me, the fovereign'ft thing on earth
Was fpermaceti, for an inward bruise; 3
And that it was great pity, fo it was,
That villainous falt-petre fhould be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and, but for thefe vile guns,+

Again, in Nafh's Lenten Stuff, &c. 1599: the parrot, the popinjay, Philip-fparrow, and the cuckow." In the ancient poem called The Parliament of Birds, bl. 1. this bird is called "the popynge jay of paradyfe." STEEVENS.

It appears from Minfheu that Dr. Johnfon is right. See his Dict. 1617, in v. Parret. MALONE.

The old reading may be fupported by the following paffage in Barnes's Hiftory of Edward III. p. 786: The efquire fought ftill, until the wounds began with lofs of blood to cool and fmart."

So, in Mortimeriados, by Michael Drayton, 4to. 1596: "As when the blood is cold, we feel the wound.

2

TOLLET.

MALONE.

- grief—] i. e. pain. In our ancient tranflations of phyfical treatifes, dolor ventris is commonly called belly-grief. STEEVENS.

3 -Spermaceti, for an inward bruife;] So, in Sir T. Overbury's Characters, 1616: [An Ordinary Fencer.] "His wounds are feldom skin-deepe; for an inward bruise lambstones and sweetebreads are his only Spermaceti." BowLE.

4 but for thefe vile guns, &c.] A fimilar thought occurs in Questions of profitable and pleafant Concernings, &c. 1594, p. 11: "I confeffe thofe gunnes are diuellith things, and make many men runne away that other wayes would not turne their heads."

STEEVENS.