Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS.

DOUG. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads:

I am the Douglas, fatal to all those

That wear those colours on them.-What art thou, That counterfeit 'ft the perfon of a king?

K. HEN. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at heart,

So many of his fhadows thou haft met,
And not the very king. I have two boys,
Seek Percy, and thyfelf, about the field:
But, feeing thou fall'ft on me fo luckily,
I will affay thee; fo defend thyfelf.

DOUG. I fear, thou art another counterfeit ; And yet, in faith, thou bear'ft thee like a king: But mine, I am fure, thou art, whoe'er thou be, And thus I win thee.

[They fight; the King being in danger, enter Prince HENRY.

P. HEN. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like

Never to hold it up again! the fpirits

Of Shirley,' Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:
It is the prince of Wales, that threatens thee;
Who never promifeth, but he means to pay."—
[They fight; DoUGLAS flies.

Of Shirley, &c.] The old copies, redundantly,

Of valiant Shirly, &c. STEEVENS.

6 Who never promijeth, but he means to pay.] We should certainly read:

Who never promifeth, but means to pay.

which agrees with what the Prince fays in the first A&t:

"And pay the debts I never promifed." M. MASON.

Cheerly, my lord; How fares your grace?—
Sir Nicholas Gawfey hath for fuccour fent,
And fo hath Clifton; I'll to Clifton ftraight.

K. HEN. Stay, and breathe a while :Thou haft redeem'd thy loft opinion;" And show'd, thou mak'ft fome tender of my life, In this fair rescue thou haft brought to me.

P. HEN. O heaven! they did me too much injury,
That ever faid, I hearken'd for your death.
If it were fo, I might have let alone

The infulting hand of Douglas over you;
Which would have been as speedy in your end,
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And fav'd the treacherous labour of your fon.
K. HEN. Make up to Clifton, I'll to fir Nicholas
Gawfey.
[Exit King HENRY.

Enter HOTSPUR.

Hor. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.

P. HEN. Thou speak'ft as if I would deny my

name.

Hor. My name is Harry Percy.

P. HEN.

Why, then I fee

A very valiant rebel of the name.

7 Thou haft redeem'd thy loft opinion;] i. e. thy loft reputation; for in that fense the word was then used. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Thierry and Theodoret:

"What opinion will the managing

"Of this affair bring to my wifdom! my invention
"Tickles with approbation on't!"

Again, in The Gamefter, by Shirley, 1637:

"Patience! I mean you have the opinion of a valiant gentleman; one that dares fight and maintain your honour against odds.”

REED.

I am the prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To fhare with me in glory any more:

Two ftars keep not their motion in one sphere;
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy, and the prince of Wales.

Hor. Nor fhall it, Harry, for the hour is come
To end the one of us; And 'would to God,
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!
P. HɛN. I'll make it greater, ere I part from

thee;

And all the budding honours on thy crest
I'll crop, to make a garland for my head.

Hor. I can no longer brook thy vanities.

[They fight.

Enter FALSTAFF.

FAL. Well faid, Hal! to it, Hal!-Nay, you fhall find no boy's play here, I can tell you.

Enter DOUGLAS; he fights with FALSTAFF, who falls down as if he were dead, and exit DoUGLAS. HOTSPUR is wounded, and falls.

Hor. O, Harry, thou haft robb'd me of my youth:

8

I better brook the lofs of brittle life,

O, Harry, thou haft robb'd me of my youth:] Shakspeare has chofen to make Hotspur fall by the hand of the Prince of Wales; but there is, I believe, no authority for the fact. Holinfhed fays, "The king flew that day with his own hand fix and thirty perfons of his enemies. The other [i. e. troops] of his party, encouraged by his doings, fought valiantly, and flew the Lord Percy, called Henry Hotipur." Speed fay's Percy was killed by an unknown hand. MALONE.

Than those proud titles thou haft won of me; They wound my thoughts, worfe than thy fword my flefh:

But thought's the flave of life, and life time's fool;
And time, that takes furvey of all the world,
Must have a stop. O, I could prophecy,
But that the earthy and cold hand of death
Lies on my tongue :-No, Percy, thou art duft,
And food for

[Dies. P. HEN. For worms, brave Percy: Fare thee well, great heart!

Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou fhrunk!2
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound;
But now, two paces of the vileft earth

Is room enough: 3-This earth, that bears thee dead,*

9

thofe proud titles thou haft won of me;

They wound my thoughts,

But thought's the flave of life, and life time's fool;

And time,

Muft have a stop.] Hotfpur in his laft moments endeavours to confole himself. The glory of the prince wounds his thoughts; but thought, being dependent on life, muft ceafe with it, and will foon be at an end. Life, on which thought depends, is itself of no great value, being the fool and fport of time; of time, which with all its dominion over fublunary things, muft itself at last be ftopped. JOHNSON.

Hotfpur alludes to the Fool in our ancient farces, or the reprefentations commonly called Death's Dance, &c. The fame allufion occurs in Measure for Measure, and Love's Labour's Loft. STEEVENS.

The fame expreffion is to be found in our author's 106th Sonnet: "Love's not Time's fool." MALONE.

2 Ill-weav'd ambition, &c.] A metaphor taken from cloth, which fhrinks when it is ill-weav'd, when its texture is loofe. JOHNSON. 3 A kingdom for it was too fmall a bound; &c.]

"Carminibus confide bonis-jacet ecce Tibullus;
"Vix manet è toto parva quod urna capit." Ovid.

that bears thee dead,] The most authentick

JOHNSON.

сору, the

Bears not alive fo ftout a gentleman.
If thou wert fenfible of courtesy,

5

I should not make fo dear a fhow of zeal:-
But let my favours hide thy mangled face;"
And, even in thy behalf, I'll thank myself
For doing these fair rites of tenderness.
Adieu, and take thy praise with thee to heaven!
Thy ignomy fleep with thee in the grave,
But not remember'd in thy epitaph!-

[He fees FALSTAFF on the ground.
What! old acquaintance! could not all this flesh
Keep in a little life? Poor Jack, farewell!
I could have better fpar'd a better man,
O, I should have a heavy miss of thee,
If I were much in love with vanity.
Death hath not ftruck fo fat a deer to-day,
Though many dearer,' in this bloody fray :-

quarto of 1598, and the folio, have-the dead. The true reading is found in a quarto of no authority or value, 1639; but it is here clearly right. MALONE.

5

-fo dear a show-] Thus the firft and beft quarto. All the fubfequent copies have-fo great, &c. MALONE.

6 But let my favours hide thy mangled face;] We should readfavour, face, or countenance. He is ftooping down here to kiss Hotfpur. WARBURTON.

He rather covers his face with a scarf, to hide the ghaftliness of death. JOHNSON.

See p. 518, n. 5. MALONE.

7 ignomy] So the word ignominy was formerly written. Thus, in Troilus and Creffida, A&t V. fc. iii:

"Hence broker lacquey! ignomy and fhame," &c.

Again, in Lord Cromwell, 1602:

"With fcandalous ignomy and flanderous fpeeches."

See Vol. IV. p. 265, n. 4. MALONE.

REED.

-fo fat a deer} There is in thefe lines a very natural