Glend. Do so;

And those musicians that shall play to you,
Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence;
And straight they shall be here. Sit, and attend.
Hot. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down:
Come, quick, quick; that I may lay my head in thy
lap.

Lady P. Go, ye giddy goose.

[The Music Plays. Hot. Now I perceive, the devil understands Welsh ; And 'tis no marvel, he is so humorous.

By'r lady, he's a good musician.

10

Lady P. Then, should you1o be nothing but musical, For you are altogether governed by humours.

Lie still, ye thief, and hear the lady sing

In Welsh.

Hot. I had rather hear, lady, my brach, howl in Irish1.

Lady. P. Would'st thou have thy head broken?
Hot. No.

Lady P. Then be still.

Hot. Neither; 'tis a woman's fault?.

Lady P. Now, God help thee!

Hot. To the Welsh lady's bed.

Lady P. What's that?

Hot. Peace! she sings.

[A Welsh Song by Lady M.

Hot. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too.
Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth.

Hot. Not yours, in good sooth! 'Heart! you swear like a comfit-maker's wife. Not you, in good sooth;

ment between himself, Glendower, and Percy, in the preparation of which Glendower had undertaken to "haste the writer."

10 Then, SHOULD you—] The folio adopts the corruption of the quartos, 1608, and 1613, by having, "Then would you," &c.

1 I had rather hear, lady, my BRACH, howl in Irish.] "Brach" is hound. See Vol. iii. p. 108, note 6.

2 Neither; 'tis a woman's fault.] He refuses either to listen or to be still, and he seems to mean that to refuse to hear, and to be constantly talking, is a usual fault in a woman.

and, as true as I live; and, as God shall mend me;

and, as sure as day:

And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths,

As if thou never walk'dst farther than Finsbury.
Swear me, Kate, like a lady as thou art,
A good-mouth-filling oath; and leave in sooth,
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread,
To velvet-guards3, and Sunday-citizens.
Come, sing.

Lady P. I will not sing.

Hot. 'Tis the next way to turn tailor, or be redbreast teacher. An the indentures be drawn, I'll away within these two hours; and so come in when ye will.

[Exit. Glend. Come, come, lord Mortimer; you are as

slow,

As hot lord Percy is on fire to go.

By this our book is drawn: we'll but seal, and then
To horse immediately.

Mort.

With all my heart.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King HENRY, Prince of Wales, and Lords.

K. Hen. Lords, give us leave. The Prince of Wales and I,

Must have some private conference: but be near at

hand,

For we shall presently have need of you.

66

[Exeunt Lords.

3 To velvet-guards,] Stubbes, in his "Anatomy of Abuses," 1583, (a great

authority in matters of ancient dress) says, that women's gowns in his day were guarded with great guards of velvet." See, for an explanation of "guards,” Vol. ii. p. 51. 196. and 498.

VOL. IV.

U

I know not whether God will have it so,
For some displeasing service I have done,
That, in his secret doom, out of my blood
He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
But thou dost, in thy passages of life,

Make me believe, that thou art only mark'd
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven,
To punish my mistreadings. Tell me else,
Could such inordinate, and low desires,

Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts, Such barren pleasures, rude society,

As thou art match'd withal, and grafted to,

Accompany the greatness of thy blood,
And hold their level with thy princely heart?
P. Hen. So please your majesty, I would, I could
Quit all offences with as clear excuse,

As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge
Myself of many I am charg'd withal:
Yet such extenuation let me beg,
As, in reproof of many tales devis'd,

Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,
By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers,
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth.
Hath faulty wander'd, and irregular,

Find pardon on my true submission*.

K.Hen. God pardon thee!—yet let me wonder, Harry,
At thy affections, which do hold a wing
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost,
Which by thy younger brother is supplied;
And art almost an alien to the hearts

Of all the court, and princes of my blood:
The hope and expectation of thy time

4 Find pardon on my true submission.] The construction is, says Johnson, "Let me beg so much extenuation, that upon confutation of many false charges, I may be pardoned some that are true." The whole speech is parenthetically involved: the sense of "reproof" is disproof in this passage; or, as Johnson explains it, confutation.

Is ruin'd; and the soul of every man
Prophetically does fore-think thy fall.
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
So stale and cheap to vulgar company,
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession,
And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
By being seldom seen, I could not stir,
But like a comet I was wonder'd at;

That men would tell their children, "This is he:" Others would say,-"Where? which is Bolingbroke?" And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,

And dress'd myself in such humility,

That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts 5,
Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned king.
Thus did I keep my person fresh, and new;
My presence, like a robe pontifical,

Ne'er seen but wonder'd at: and so my state,
Seldom, but sumptuous, showed like a feast;
And wan by rareness such solemnity.

The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits,
Soon kindled, and soon burn'd: carded his state';

That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,] "Apparently copied (says Malone) from Marlowe's 'Lust's Dominion,' written before 1593." This play was not by Marlowe, (as has been shown in a note on p. 98) nor was it written until after 1598, in which year some of the historical events employed in the play occurred: the parallel passage is "And pull obedience from thy subjects' hearts: if there were any imitation, it was of and not by Shakespeare.

6

and rash BAVIN wits,] A "bavin" is a faggot made of brushwood, but not merely brushwood, as Johnson supposes. Holloway, in his “General Dictionary of Provincialisms," 8vo, 1838, states that in Kent and Sussex a bavin means a brush faggot."

7-CARDED his state;] Warburton understood "carded" as discarded: Steevens believed it to mean that Richard II. mixed his state with baser materials, and he introduced several quotations to support his notion. Ritson, on the other hand, took it that Richard played his state away, as at cards. The explanation of Steevens seems preferable.

Mingled his royalty with carping fools';
Had his great name profaned with their scorns;
And gave his countenance, against his name,
To laugh at gibing boys, and stand the push
Of every beardless vain comparative:
Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:

That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They surfeited with honey; and began

To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occasion to be seen,

He was but as the cuckoo is in June,
Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes,
As, sick and blunted with community,

Afford no extraordinary gaze,

Such as is bent on sun-like majesty,

When it shines seldom in admiring eyes;

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids down,
Slept in his face, and render'd such aspect
As cloudy men use to their adversaries,
Being with his presence glutted, gorg'd, and full.
And in that very line, Harry, stand'st thou;
For thou hast lost thy princely privilege,

With vile participation: not an eye

But is a-weary of thy common sight,

Save mine, which hath desir'd to see thee more;
Which now doth that I would not have it do,
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.

8 Mingled his royalty with CARPING fools ;] The quarto, 1598, reads capring; that of 1599 and all subsequent editions have "carping," which is perhaps right, as is indicated by the next line, "Had his great name profaned with their scorns," i. e. with the scorns of "carping fools." To carp, as Warton showed, formerly meant to prate and jest; but in 1617, Minsheu explains it in his Dictionary," to taunt, to find fault with, or bite with words," and such certainly was its most usual signification. "Carping" might be easily misprinted capring; or capring, i. e. capering, may be the true reading, in reference to the courtrevels and dances.

9 As cloudy men use to their adversaries,] The folio, 1623, adopting the corruption of the two later quartos, reads, "use to do to their adversaries.