my

*

Which most true and inward-duteous fpirit
Teacheth this proftrate and exterior bending.
Heav'n witnefs with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your Majefty,
How cold it ftruck my heart! If I do feign,
O let me in my prefent wildness die,

And never live to fhew th' incredulous world
The noble Change that I have purposed.
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
(And dead almoft, my Liege, to think you were)
I fpake unto the Crown, as having fenfe,
And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending
Hath fed upon the body of my father,
Therefore thou best of gold art worst of gold;
Other, lefs fine in carrat, is more precious,

Preferving life in med'cine potable,

But thou, moft fine, moft honour'd, most renowned, Haft eat thy bearer up. Thus, Royal Liege, Accufing it, I put it on my head,

To try with it, as with an enemy,

That had before my face murder'd my father,
The quarrel of a true inheritor.

But if it did infect my blood with joy,
Or fwell my thoughts to any strain of pride,
If any rebel or vain fpirit of mine

Did with the least affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to the Might of it;
Let heav'n for ever keep it from my head,
And make me as the pooreft vaffal is,
That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!
K. Henry. O my fon!

Heav'n put it in thy mind to take it hence,

*True is loyal.

6 In med cine potable.] There has long prevailed an opinion that a folution of gold has great medicinal virtues, and that incorruptibility of gold might be

communicated to the body impregnated with it. Some have pretended to make potable gold among other frauds practifed on credulity.

That

That thou might'ft win the more thy father's love,
Pleading fo wifely in excufe of it.

Come hither, Harry, fit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel,
That ever I fhall breathe. Heav'n knows, my fon,
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways
I met this crown; and I my felf know well,
How troublesome it fate upon my head.
To thee it fhall defcend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;

For all the foil of the atchievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me
But as an honour fnatch'd with boift'rous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid

My gain of it by their affiftances;

Which daily grew to quarrel and to blood-fhed,
Wounding fuppofed peace.

9 All these bold fears

Thou feeft, with peril I have anfwered,

For all my reign hath been but as a Scene,
Acting that Argument; and now my death

'Changes the mode; for what in me was purchas'd,
Falls upon thee in a much fairer fort;
So thou the garland wear'ft fucceffively.

but time and meafure in finging, or the pitch in fpeaking: Modus, a word peculiar to the ancient Drama: For the metaphor is continued from the words immediately preceding,

-as a Scene, Acting that Argument

WARBURTON. Mode is here in its ufual

fenfe, the form or fate of things. Nothing is more eafy than to make obfcurities and clear them.

2 Succeffively.] To order of fucceffion. Every ufurper fnatches a claim of hereditary right as foon as he can.

Yet

Yet though thou stand't more fure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, fince griefs are green,
And all thy friends, which thou must make thy friends,
Have but their flings and teeth newly ta'en out,
By whofe fell working I was firft advanc'd,
And by whofe pow'r I well might lodge a fear,
To be again difplac'd; which to avoid
I cut them off, and had a purpose now
3 To lead out many to the Holy Land;
Left Reft and lying ftill might make them look
Too near into my State. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy courfe to bufy giddy minds

With foreign Quarrels; that action, hence, borne out,
May wafte the memory of former days.

More would I, but my Lungs are wafted fo,
That ftrength of fpeech is utterly deny'd me.
* How I came by the Crown, O God, forgive!
And grant it may with thee in true peace live.
P. Henry. My gracious Liege,

You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right muft my Poffeffion be;
Which I with more than with a common pain,
'Gainft all the world, will rightfully maintain.

3 To lead our many to the Holy Land] As plaufible as this reading is, it is corrupt. ShakeSpear, I think, wrote,

To leat OUR manyour many or meiny, i. e. our people.

WARLURTON. As plaufible as this emendation is I think it wrong. The fente is: Of thefe who af et my furpation, fome I have cut off, and many I inter ded to lead abroad, This journey to the Holy Land, of which the king very frequent

ly revives the mention, had two motives, religion and policy. He durft not wear the ill-gotten crown without expiation, but in the act of expiation he contrives to make his wickednefs fucceffful.

4 Haw I came, &c.] This is a true picture of a mind divided between heaven and earth He prays for the profperity of guilt while he deprecates its punishment.

Enter

Enter Lord John of Lancaster, and Warwick.

K. Henry. Look, look, here comes my John of Lancafter.

Lan. Health, peace and happiness to my royal father!

K. Henry. Thou bring'ft me happinefs and peace, fon John;

But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare, wither'd Trunk. Upon thy fight
My worldly business makes a period.

Where is my lord of Warwick?

P. Henry. My lord of Warwick.

K. Henry. Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did fwoon? War. 'Tis call'd Jerufalem, my noble lord.

K. Henry. Laud be to God! even there my life

muft end.

It hath been prophefy'd to me many years,
I should not die but in Jerufalem,
Which vainly I fuppos'd the Holy Land.
But bear me to that chamber, there I'll lye:
In that Jerufalem fhall Harry die.

[Exeunt.

ACT

ACT V. SCENE I.

Shallow's Seat in Glo'ftershire.

Enter Shallow, Silence, Falstaff, Bardolph, and Page.

SHALLOW.

Y cock and pye, Sir, you fhall not away to night.

B What! Davy, I fay

Fal. You muft excufe me, mafter Robert Shallow. Shal. I will not excufe you; you shall not be excufed. Excufes fhall not be admitted: there is no excufe fhall ferve: you fhall not be excus'd. Why, Davy!

Davy. Here, Sir.

Enter Davy.

Shal. Davy, Davy, Davy, let me fee, Davy, let me fee;-yea, marry, William Cook, bid him come hither.-Sir John, you fhall not be excus'd.

Davy. Marry, Sir, thus. Thofe precepts cannot be ferv'd; and, again, Sir, fhall we fow the head-land with wheat?

Shal. With red wheat, Davy. But, for William Cook. Are there no young Pidgeons?

Davy. Yea, Sir-Here is now the Smith's note for fhoeing, and plow-irons.

5 I will not excuse you, &c.] The fterility of Justice Sha'low's wit is admirably defcribed, in thus making him, by one of the fineft ftrokes of nature, fo often vary his phrafe, to exprefs one and the fame thing, and that the commoneft, WARBURTON.

"The Je precepts cannot be ferv'd.] Precept is a juftice's warrant. To the offices which Falfaf gives Day in the following feene, may be added that of justice's clerk. Davy has almost as many employments as Scrub in the Stratagem.

Skal