Prince. Why doth the crown lye there upon his pillow,
Being fo trouble fome a bedfellow?

O polished perturbation! golden care!
That keeps the ports of flumber open wide,
To many a watchful night. Sleep with it, now,
Yet not fo found, and half fo deeply sweet,
As he whofe brow with homely biggen bound,
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou doft fit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,
That fcalds with fafety. By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather, which stirs not-
Did he fufpire, that light and weighless down
Perforce muft move-My gracious lord! my father!
This fleep is found, indeed; this is a fleep,
That from the golden rigol* hath divorced
So many English kings. Thy due from me
Is tears, and heavy forrows of the blood;
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,
Shall, O my father! pay thee plenteously,

I have continued this fpeech further than was merely neceffary to the purpose for which it was introduced, becaufe I am fond of exhibiting my heroe in the best lights of his character.

ACT V. SCENE I.

There are some good obfervations made here, on the powerful effects of the company we affociate with, over both our minds and manners; and the truth is not the lefs ferious, or worthy of attention, for being humorously urged, or ridiculously expreffed.

Falftaff, on Shallow's going out,

If I were fawed into quantities, 1 fhould make four dozen of fuch bearded hermit ftaves, as mafter Shallow. It is a wonderful thing to fee the femblable coherence of his men's fpirits and his.-They, by obferving of him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by converfing with them, is turned into a juftice-like ferving-man. Their fpirits are fo married in conjunction, with the participation of fociety, that they flock together, in confent, like fo many wild geefe. If I had a fuit to master Shallow, I would humour his men with the imputation of being near their mafter; if to his men, I would curry with mafter Shadow, that no man could better com

* Rigol, a circle, in its common fenfe. Here 'tis put for a diadem.

man d

mand his fervants, It is certain, that either wife bearing, or ignorant carriage, is caught as men take diseases, one of another; therefore, let men take heed of their company. I will devise matter enough out of this Shallow, to keep prince Henry in contiqual laughter, the wearing out of fix fashions; which is four terms, or two actions; and he fhall laugh without intervallums †. Q, it is much, that a lie with a flight oath, and a jeft with a fad I brow, will do with a fellow that never had the ach in his fhoulders. 0, you shall fee him laugh, till his face be like a wet cloak ill laid up.

SCENE II.

The following paffage, though long, will not be found tedious; and is fo full of excellent matter for obfervation, that it would be unpardonable to shorten it. The particulars worthy of notice in it, are already fo ftrongly marked by the principal fpeakers themselves, that it would be an ufelefs and impertinent labour in me, to point them out to the Reader. The prince of Wales, now king, with the dukes of Lancafter, Gloucefter, Clarence, and the Lord Chief Justice.

Chief Justice. Heaven fave your majefty!

Henry. This new and gorgeous garment, majefty,
Sits not fo eafy on me, as you think.

Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear--
This is the English, not the Turkish court ||-
Not Amurath an Amurath fucceeds,

But Harry, Harry-Yet be fad, good brothers,
For, to speak truth, it very well becomes ye;
Sorrow fo royally in you appears,

That I will deeply put the fafhion on,
And wear it in my heart. Why then be fad;
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by Heaven, I bid you be affured,
I'll be your father, and your brother too;
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep that Harry's dead? Well, fo will I;
But Harry lives, that fhall convert those tears
By number into hours of happiness.

The humour here lies in calculating the time of a spendthrift, by law terms, or affions for debt. Johnson.

The vacations between the Terms.

i Sad, for ferious.

The fultan puts all his brothers to death when he mounts the throne, Tig

faid fo, at least,

The

The Brothers. We hope no other from your majesty. ̈
Henry. You all look ftrangely on me; and you most,
Who are, I think, affured I love you not. [To the Chief Jufiice.
Chief Justice. I am affured, if I be meafured rightly,
Your majefty hath no just cause to hate me.

Henry. No might a prince of my great hopes, forget
So great indignities you laid upon me?

What! rate, rebuke, and roughly fend to prifon,
The immediate heir of England? Was this eafy?
May this be washed in Lethe, and forgotten?

Chief Juftice. I then did ufe the perfon of your father;
The image of his power lay then in me;
And in the adminiftration of his law,
While I was bufy for the common weal,
Your highness pleased to forget my place,
The majefty and power of law and juftice,
The image of the king whom I prefented,
And ftruck me in my very feat of judgment;
Whereon, as an offender to your father,
I gave bold fway to my authority,

And did commit you. If the deed were ill,
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a fon fet your decrees at nought,
To pluck down juftice from your awful bench,
To trip the courfe of law, and blunt the fword,
That guards the peace and fafety of your perfon;
Nay more, to fpurn at your most royal image,
And mock your working in a fecond body.
Question your royal thoughts, make the cafe yours;
Be now the father, and propofe a fon,
Hear your own dignity fo much profaned,
See your moft facred laws fo loofely flighted,
Behold yourself so by a fon difdained,
And then imagine me taking your part,
And in your power fo filencing your fon-
After this cold confiderance, fentence me;
And as you are a king, speak in your state,
What I have done that mifbecame my place,
My perfon, or my liege's fovereignty.

Henry. You are right, Juftice, and you weigh this well-
Therefore ftill bear the ballance and the fword;

And I do wish your honours may increase,

Till you do live to fee a fon of mine

Offend you, and obey you as I did ‡.

For which I do commit into your hand,

The unftained fword that you have used to bear;
With this remembrance, that you use the fame

This is an hiftoric fact.

I fhould chufe to alter the line thus---Offend not, but obey you as I did.

With a like bold, juft, and impartial spirit,
There is my hand,
You fhall be as a father to my youth,

As you have done 'gainst me.

My voice fhall found as you do prompt mine ear,
And I will stoop and humble my intents

To your well-practifed wife directions.
And, princes, all believe me, I beseech ye :
My father is gone wild into his grave,
For in his tomb lie my affections ‡ ;
And with his fpirit fadly || I furvive,
To mock the expectations of the world,
To fruftrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, which hath fet me down
After my feeming. Though my tide of blood
Hath proudly flowed in vanity till now,
Now doth it turn, and ebb back to the fea,
Where it fhall mingle with the state of floods,
And flow, henceforth, in formal majesty.
Now call we our high court of Parliament,
And let us chufe fuch limbs of noble counfel,
That the great body of our flate may go
In equal rank with the beft-governed nation;
That war, or peace, or both at once, may be
As things acquainted and familiar to us;

in which you, father, fhall have foremost hand.
Our coronation done, we will accite,

As I before remembered, all our state;
And, Heaven configning to my good intents,
No prince nor peer fhall have juft caufe to say,
Heaven fhorten Harry's happy life one day!

This judge's name was Hankford. But the favourable event here defcribed, never happened, with regard to him. Shakespeare, I fuppofe, only introduced it, by way of heightening our idea of the young king; and in this light, though the fact be falfe, it may, however, according to the diftinction of fome moral writer, be confidered as a fecondary truth, because it correfponds with the character of the agent, and

Wild. The fenfe of the word, in this place, is obfcure; and the figure of fpeech neceffary to explain it, muft be extended on the rack, to confefs its meaning. But as the best way of studying an author, is to make him a comment on himfelf; by this rule we must fuppofe this expreffion to intend, that the reality of his wildness, an impreflion of which his father carried with him to the grave, is as much buried there, as his idea of it is. The prince's wildness is fpoken of inother places, and is mentioned in fuch a manner as to fupport this explica

tion.

Affections. Loofe habits, and diffipated manners.
Sadly, for foberly, feriously, or thoughtfully.

would

would probably have happened, had the poor man lived to have appeared before him.

But, alas! the inconfiftencies of human nature ! This upright judge, this brave man, was ftruck with fuch a panic on the demife of Henry the Fourth, that he inftantly formed a scheme for deftroying himself, in the following manner: He gave ftrict orders to his park keeper, to fhoot any perfon that should attempt to pass through his grounds, without giving an account of his name and bufinefs. In the middle of that night, he put himself in the way, refused to anfwer, and was immediately killed, according to the mad fcheme of his pufillanimous purpose.

SCENE VII.

I fhall clofe my remarks on this Play, with the following noble speech of the young king, in which hịs truly great and amiable character is finely wound up, Falstaff, Pistol, and others.

Falstaff. My king, my Jove, 1 fpeak to thee, my heart!
King. I know thee not, old man, fall to thy prayers-
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!
I have long dreamed of fuch a kind of man,
So furfeit-fwelled, fo old, and fo prophane;
But being awake, I do defpife my dream.
Make lefs thy body hence, and more thy grace;
Leave gormandizing. Know, the grave doth gape
For thee thrice wider than for other men.
Reply not to me with a fool-born jest,
Préfume not that I am the thing I was;

For Heaven doth know, fo fhail the world perceive,
That I have turned away my former self;
So will I thofe that kept it company.
When thou dost hear I am as I have been,
Approach me, and thou shalt be as thou waft,
The tutor and the feeder of my riots:
Till then, I banish thee, on pain of death,
As I fhall do the rest of my misleaders,
Not to come near our perfon, by ten miles.
For competence of life I will allow you,
That lack of means enforce you not to evil;
And, as we hear you do reform yourselves,
We will, according to your ftrength and qualities,
Give you advancement,