Of burning cressets; and at my birth

The frame and huge foundation of the earth
Shaked like a coward.

Hot. Why, so it would have done at the same season, if your mother's cat had but kittened, though yourself had never been born.

Glend. I say the earth did shake when I was born.

Hot. And I say the earth was not of my mind,

If you suppose as fearing you it shook.

Glend. The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.

Hot. O, then the earth shook to see the heavens on fire, And not in fear of your nativity.

Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth

In strange eruptions; oft the teeming earth
Is with a kind of colic pinch'd and vex'd
By the imprisoning of unruly wind

16. huge] Q 1; omitted the rest. arranged as verse by Pope, Steevens lines (the first ending shooke) Ff.

(1793).
28. oft] Qq 1-3; of

Within her womb; which, for enlargement striving,
Shakes the old beldam earth and topples down
Steeples and moss-grown towers. At your birth
Our grandam earth, having this distemperature,
In passion shook.

Glend.

Cousin, of many men

I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave
To tell you once again that at my birth
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
The goats ran from the mountains, and the herds

Were strangely clamorous to the frighted fields.
These signs have mark'd me extraordinary;
And all the courses of my life do show

I am not in the roll of common men.

Where is he living, clipp'd in with the sea

35

40

That chides the banks of England, Scotland, Wales, 45

32. topples] Qq; tombles or tumbles Ff. roule Qq I, 2.

Wales the rest.

40. to] in Pope.

43. roll]

44. he] Qq 1-3; the the rest. 45. Wales] Qq 1-4; and

(trans. Holland, ed. 1603, p. 825). The same opinion concerning the cause of earthquakes is given by Pliny (Nat. Hist. 11. lxxix). Cf. Lyly, The Woman in the Moone, III. ii; Lodge and Greene, A Looking Glasse for London and England, 1594 (Dyce's Peele and Greene, p. 132), where earthquakes are ascribed to "winds enclosed in the earth, Or fracture of the earth by rivers' force"; and Milton, Samson Agonistes, 1647-8. Plutarch enumerates no less than eleven diverse opinions held by philosophers in regard to earthquakes.

31. enlargement] release from imprisonment, liberty. Marlowe, Jew of Malta (Dyce's Marlowe, p. 254): "I will practise thy enlargement thence."

Hazlitt's Dodsley, x. 116: "my distemperature."

35. passion] grief of the body, pain. 39. The goats. mountains] Elton compares Virgil, Eneid, iv. 152 et seq.

39, 40. the herds...fields] Malone refers to an account of the earthquake in Sicily (Jan. 11, 1692-3) in Philosophical Transactions, No. 202, p. 833: "the Birds flew about astonish'd in the Air... the Beasts and Cattle in the Fields ran crying about affrighted." 41. These signs. . .] See Introd., xxxvi.

P.

42. courses] proceedings, tenor, as in Henry V. 1. i. 24. So Massinger, The iv: Guàrdian, v. 66 an unfortunate Gentleman, Not born to these low courses.'

43. common men] So Massinger, The Emperor of the East, 1. ii:

"those hidden studies, Whose knowledge is denied to

common men."

32. beldam] grandam (line 34), grandmother. Dekker, The Ravens Almanacke (Grosart, iv. 205), has "our aged Grandam (the earth)," and both Raleigh and Bacon speak of "our grandmother, the earth." Cf. Gower, Confessio Amantis, iv. 2251: "Sche which oure 44. clipp'd in with] encircled by, enEldemoder is, The Erthe." compassed by. Cf. King John, v. ii. 32, 33. topples towers] Cf. 34; Neptune's arms, who clippeth Chapman, Bussy d'Ambois (1607), II. thee about"; and Sir John Davies, i; "as when a fume. within the Orchestra: "the sea that fleets about womb of earth Exceeds his the Land, And like a girdle clips her prison's strength And then it solide wast." tosseth temples in the air."

34. distemperature] disorder, disease, as in Comedy of Errors, v. i. 82; and

45. chides] A favourite word with Shakespeare to express the chafing of the waves upon the shore; cf. Henry

Which calls me pupil, or hath read to me?
And bring him out that is but woman's son
Can trace me in the tedious ways of art,
And hold me pace in deep experiments.
Hot. I think there's no man speaks better Welsh.
I'll to dinner.

Mort. Peace, cousin Percy; you will make him mad.
Glend. I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hot. Why, so can I, or so can any man;
But will they come when you do call for them?
50. there's] there is Pope.

VIII. III. ii. 197. Banks, shores, as
in Richard III. iv. iv. 525.

46. read to me] lectured me, been my tutor. So in Beaumont and Fletcher, The Island Princess, I. i: "Lord, how this uncle of mine Hath read to me," and ibid. 111. i; “Quisana. This is a rare lecture! Pin. Read to them that understand."

48. trace me] follow in my footsteps. See Beaumont and Fletcher, The Spanish Curate, v. i: "none shall live that shall desire to trace us In our black paths"; and H. Glapthorne, Albertus Wallenstein, 11. ii: “[my zeal is] Past imitation too, should they who strive To trace me, take the constancy of swans."

48. art] magic, as often in Tempest, and elsewhere in Shakespeare.

49. hold me pace] keep pace with me, rival me. Cf. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Pilgrim, I. ii; "they cannot hold pace with her pieties"; and The Humorous Lieutenant, 1. i; "Must these hold pace with us, And on the same file hang their memories."

50. no man... Welsh] Alluding perhaps to the vain-glorious disposition of the Welsh; or Hotspur may mean, "no man speaks a more unintelligible jargon, such skimble-skamble stuff." Welsh was, in popular opinion, a most difficult if not barbarous language. See Webster, The White Devil, III. i: Why, this is Welsh to Latin."

46

53. I can call spirits...] R. Scot (Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584) writes concerning the conjurors who "fetch divels out of Hell, and angels out of Heaven," that "with a kind of Majestie, and with authoritie they call up by name, and have at their commandment seventie and nine principal and princelie

50

55

divels, who have under them, as their ministers, a great multitude of legions of pettie divils" (bk. xv. ch. x.). The curious will find in Scot the "forms of adjuring or citing of the spirits aforesaid to arise and appear" (bk. xv. ch. xiii.). In Glanvil's Saducismus Triumphatus, D. H. More's Letter, 1681, there is a pleasant story of an old gentleman who "had used all the Magical Ceremonies of Conjuration he could to raise the Devil or a Spirit, and

had a most earnest desire to meet with one, but never could do it." See Life of Benvenuto Cellini, 1. lxiv (trans. J. A. Symonds) for an account of a necromancer who in a short space of time filled the whole Coliseum with spirits whom he summoned with “awful invocations," calling them by name.

53. vasty] So in Henry V. 11. ii. 123; Drayton, The Owle, 134; and R. Chester, Loues Martyr, 1601 (ed. Grosart, p. 8); "the vastie earth." A poetical form of " vast," as 'hugy" of "huge" and "stilly" of "still"."

55. will... them?] Hotspur's scepticism was shared by Shakespeare and his fellow-dramatists. See Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances, v. ii: "dost thou think the Devil such an Asse as people make him? Such a poor coxcomb? such a penny foot-post? Compel'd with cross and pile to run of errands? With Asteroth and Behemoth, and Belfagor?" Mr. P. A. Daniel (New Shak. Soc. Trans., 188792) cites an interesting parallel from Luigi Groto's La Calisto (1580), III. iii, where Febo says of a great magician that he can "Dagli antichi sepolchri chiamar le anime -to which another character replies: "Ben, il chiamarle sarà cosa facile. Il caso sia, che vog

Glend. Why, I can teach you, cousin, to command
The devil.

Hot. And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil
By telling truth: tell truth, and shame the devil.
If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither,
And I'll be sworn I have power to shame him hence.
O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil!
Mort. Come, come, no more of this unprofitable chat.
Glend. Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head
Against my power; thrice from the banks of Wye
And sandy-bottom'd Severn have I sent him
Bootless home and weather-beaten back.

Hot. Home without boots, and in foul weather too!

How 'scapes he agues, in the devil's name?

Glend. Come, here's the map: shall we divide our right
According to our threefold order ta'en?

Mort. The archdeacon hath divided it
Into three limits very equally:

56, 57. Why . . . devil.] as in Capell; one line in Qq; prose Ff. you] Qq 1-4; thee the rest.

60

65

70

56.

58. coz] coose Qq 1-4; coosen Qq 5, 6; cousin 59. tell. devil] in italics Ff.

or Cousin the rest. 63. Come .. chat] one line Qq; prose Ff; two lines (the first Come, come,) Pope. 66. sent] hent Q5, Ff 1, 2. 68. Home too!] two lines (the first ending Bootes,) Ff. 69. 'scapes] scapes Qq, Ff. 70. Come... right] as two lines (the first ending Mappe :) Ff. here's] here is Qq.

liono rispondere." R. Scot (Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584, p. 434) writes: "it is well tried. . he [the Spirit] will not answer every one."

59. tell truth...] "Speak the truth, and shame the devil" is in Ray's Proverbs, 1670. Cf. Nashe, The Unfortunate Traveller, 1594 (ed. Gosse, p. 98); "shall I shame the devil, and speake the truth?"; and Beaumont and Fletcher, The Chances, v. ii: "They say he can raise Devils, Can he make 'em Tell truth too, when he has rais'd 'em? for believe it, These Devils are the lyingst Rascals."

64, 65. made head Against] advanced against, opposed. North's Plutarch, Eumenes: "the horsemen, which he had set up to make head against the footmen of the Macedonians," and Fabius: "he slew them that made head against him."

67. Bootless] The syllable "Boot-" forms the first foot; or possibly "Bootless" is a trisyllable, as "wrestler in As You Like It, 11. ii. 13, "1" or "r

following a consonant being often syllabic. Dante (De Vulgari Eloquio, 11. v) remarks of a line of verse of de Bornello's, "Quod carmen licet decasyllabum videatur, secundum rei veritatem, endecasyllabum est; nam duae consonantes extremae non sunt de syllaba praecedente. Et licet propriam vocalem non habeant, virtutem syllabae non tamen amittunt."

67. weather-beaten] Hardyng (Chronicle, ed. 1812, p. 359) says that Henry was thrice compelled by "mystes and tempestes" to retire before Glendower.

68. without boots] The same quibble occurs in Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, 1. ii: "But I have no boots. No, faith, it's no boot to follow him now."

...

England, from Trent and Severn hitherto,
By south and east is to my part assign'd:
All westward, Wales beyond the Severn shore,
And all the fertile land within that bound,
To Owen Glendower: and, dear coz, to you
The remnant northward, lying off from Trent.
And our indentures tripartite are drawn ;
Which being sealed interchangeably,

75

80

A business that this night may execute,
To-morrow, cousin Percy, you and I

To meet your father and the Scottish power,
As is appointed us, at Shrewsbury.

And my good Lord of Worcester will set forth

85

My father Glendower is not ready yet,

Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days.
Within that space you may have drawn together
Your tenants, friends, and neighbouring gentlemen.
Glend. A shorter time shall send me to you, lords:

And in my conduct shall your ladies come;
From whom you now must steal and take no leave,
For there will be a world of water shed
Upon the parting of your wives and you.

Hot. Methinks my moiety, north from Burton here,
In quantity equals not one of yours:
See how this river comes me cranking in,
89. [to Gle.] Capell.

"limit" was an administrative division
of a shire, or a district within the juris-
diction of a Court.

74. hitherto] so far, to this point (on the map). So in Job xxxviii. II: "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." Sherwood: "Hitherto, Iusqu'icy, jusques icy."

80. indentures tripartite] a deed or sealed agreement between three parties. Minshew: "Indenture tripartite of three parties, quadripartite of four parties"; Lord Campbell (Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements) observes that the business of partitioning England is conducted "in as clerk-like, attorney-like fashion, as if it had been the partition of a manor between joint tenants, tenants in common, or copar

ceners.

80. drawn] drafted. Cf. Dekker, If this be not a good Play (Pearson, iii. 278): "let there be a proclamation drawne "; J. Howell, Lexicon Tetra

90

95

glotton, 1660: "To draw, or ingross an Instrument in writing."

81. sealed interchangeably] sealed reciprocally. Lord Campbell (Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements, p. 78) refers to the form of the testatum clause in an indenture: "In witness whereof the parties interchangeably have hereto set their hands and seals." Cf. Troilus and Cressida, 1. ii. 62.

92. in my conduct] under my escort, as in Othello, 11. i. 75.

94. For] for else, as in Antony and Cleopatra, 11. vii. 66.

94. water] Cf. Othello, IV. ii. 104. 96. moiety] share, portion; as in King Lear, 1. i. 7.

98. cranking] winding. Cf. Venus and Adonis, 682: "He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles." A noun "crank," a turn, a winding way, occurs in Coriolanus, 1. i. 141, and in Beaumont and Fletcher, Two Noble Kinsmen, I. ii: "The cranks and turns