Upon the Maidenhead of our affairs.

Wor. But yet I would your father had been here;
"The quality and hair of our attempt
Brooks no divifion; it will be thought
By fome, that know not why he is away,
That wisdom, loyalty, and meer dislike
Of our proceedings, kept the Earl from hence
And think, how fuch an apprehenfion
May turn the tide of fearful faction,
And breed a kind of queftion in our caufe;
For well you know, we of th' offending fide
Muft keep aloof from ftrict arbitrement;
And ftop all fight-holes, every loop, from whence
The eye of reafon may pry in upon us.
This abfence of your father draws a curtain,
That fhews the ignorant a kind of fear
Before not dreamt upon.

Hot. You ftrain too far;

I rather of his absence make this use,

7 The quality and hair of our attempt.] The hair feems to be the complexion, the character. The metaphor appears harfh to us, but, perhaps, was familiar in our authour's time.

We of th' offending fide.] All the later editions have this reading, but all the older copies which I have feen, from the first quarto to the edition of Rowe, read, we of the off'ring fide. Of this reading the fenfe is obfcure, and therefore the change has been made; but fince neither of fering nor offending are words likely to be mistaken, I cannot but fufpect that offering is right, efpecially as it is read in the first copy of 1599, which is more correctly printed than any fingle edition, that I have yet feen, of a play

It lends a luftre, and more great opinion,

A larger Dare to our great enterprise,

Than if the Earl were here; for men must think,
If we without his help can make a head,
To push against the Kingdom; with his help,
We fhall o'erturn it topfie turvy down.
-Yet all goes well, yet all our joints are whole.
Dowg. As heart can think; there is not fuch a word
Spoke of in Scotland, as this term of fear.

Enter Sir Richard Vernon.

Hot. My coufin Vernon, welcome, by my foul!
Ver. Pray God, my news be worth a welcome, lord.
The Earl of Westmorland, fev'n thousand strong,
Is marching hither, with Prince John of Lancajter.
Hot. No harm; what more?

Ver. And further, I have learn'd,
The King himself in perfon hath fet forth,

Or hitherwards intended fpeedily,

With strong and mighty preparation.

Hot. He fhall be welcome too: where is his fon? The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales, And his comrades, that daft the world afide And bid it pafs?

Ver. 9 All furnifht, all in arms,

9 All furn fet, all in arms,
A plum'd like Efridges, that
wih the wind

Bited Ike Eagles] To bait with the wind app ars to me an improper expreffion. To lait is in the ftyle of falconry, to beat the wing, from the French battre, that is, to flatter in preparation for flight.

All

All plum'd like Eftridges, that with the wind
Baited like Eagles, having lately bath'd:
Glittering in golden coats like images,
As full of spirit as the month of May,
And gorgeous as the Sun at Midfummer;
Wanton as youthful goats, wild as young bulls.
'I faw young Harry, with his beaver on,
*His cuiffes on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,
Rife from the ground like feather'd Mercury;
And vaulted with fuch ease into his feat,
As if an Angel dropt down from the clouds,
To turn and wind a fiery Pegafus,

And witch the world with noble horfemanship.
Hot. No more, no more; worfe than the Sun in
March,

This praise doth nourish agues; let them come.

the difficulty, but has yet left im-
propriety fufficient to make his
reading questionable.
I read,

All furnish'd, all in arms,
All plum'd like Eftridges that
wing the wind
Baited like Eagles.

This gives a ftrong image. They
were not only plum'd like E-
ftridges, but their plumes fut-
tered like thofe of an Estridge
on the wing mounting against
the wind. A more lively repre-
fentation of young men ardent
for enterprize perhaps no writer
has ever given.

Ifaw young Harry, with his beaver ON.] We should read, beaver Up. It is an impropriety to fay on: For the beaver is only the vifiere of the Helmet, which, let down, covers the face. When the foldier was not upon action he wore it up, fo that his face might be seen, (hence

O 4

Vernon fays he far young Harry.) But when upon action, it was let down to cover and fecure the face. Hence in the fecond part of Henry IV. it is faid,

Their armed favs in charge, their beavers down.

WARBURTON.

There is no need of all this note, for beaver may be a belmet; or the prince, trying his armour, might wear his beaver down.

2 His cuiffes on his thighs,-] Cuiffes, French, armour for the thighs.

РОРЕ.

The reafon why his cries are fo particularly mentioned, I conceive to be, that his horfemanfhip is here praifed, and the cuiffes are that part of armour which moft hinders a horfeman's activity.

3 And witch the world-] For bewitch, charm. POPE.

They

They come like Sacrifices in their trim,
And to the fire-ey'd maid of fmoaky war,
All hot, and bleeding, will we offer them.
The mailed Mars fhall on his altar fit
Up to the ears in blood. I am on fire,
To hear this rich reprifal is fo nigh,

And yet not ours, Come, let me take my horse,
Who is to bear me, like a thunder bolt,
Against the bofom of the Prince of Wales.

4 Harry to Harry fhall, hot horse to horfe
Meet, and ne'er part, 'till One drop down a coarse.
Oh, that Glendower were come !

Ver. There is more news:

I learn'd in Worcester, as I rode along,

He cannot draw his Pow'r this fourteen days.
Dowg. That's the worft tidings that I hear of yet.
Wor. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound.
Hot. What may the King's whole Battle reach unto?
Ver. To thirty thoufand.

Hot. Forty let it be;

My father and Glendower being both away,
The Pow'r of us may ferve fo great a day.
Come, let us take a mufter fpeedily;
Dooms-day is near; die all, die merrily.
Dowg. Talk not of dying, I am out of fear
Of death, or death's hand, for this one half year.
[Exeunt.

4 Harry to Harry fhall, hot borje to horfe,

Meet, and ne'er part.] This reading I have reftored from the first edition. The fecond edition in 1622, reads,

mer, who, juftly remarking the impertinence of the negative, reads,

Harry to Harry ball, and horfe to borf,

Meet, and ne'er part.

Harry to Hairy hall, not borfe But the unexampled expreffion

to horfe,

Meet, and ne'er part. which has been followed by all the criticks except Sir Tho. Han

of meeting to, for meeting with or fimply meeting, is yet left. The ancient reading is furcly right.

SCENE

Fal.

Changes to a publick Road, near Coventry.

Enter Falstaff and Bardolph.

thee before

a bottle of fack. Our foldiers fhall march

through; we'll to Sutton-cold-field to night. Bard. Will you give me mony, captain ? Fal. Lay out, lay out.

Bard. This bottle makes an angel.

Fal. And if it do, take it for thy labour; and if it make twenty, take them all, I'll answer the coynage. lieutenant * Peto meet me at the town's end. Bard. I will, captain; farewel.

Bid

my

[Exit. Fal. If I be not afham'd of my foldiers, I am a fowc'd gurnet. I have mif-us'd the King's Prefs damnably; I have got, in exchange of an hundred and fifty foldiers, three hundred and odd pounds. I prefs me none but good houfholders, yeomens fons; enquire me out contracted batchelors, fuch as had been afk'd twice on the banns; fuch a commodity of warm flaves, as had as lieve hear the devil, as a drum; fuch as fear the report of a culverin, worse than a ftruck fowl, or a hurt wild duck. I prefs me none but such

Lieutenant Peto.] This paffage proves that Peto did not go with the prince.

5 Sow'd gurnet.] I believe a forced gurnet is a pickled anchorvy. Much of Falstaff's humour confits in comparing himself to fomewhat little.

Worse than a flruck-fowl, or a hurt wild duck.] The repetition of the fame image difpofed Sir Tho. Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, to read, in op

6