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And left me in reputelefs banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
But being feldom feen, I could not stir,
But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at !

(10) That men would tell their children, "This is he."
Others would fay, "Where? which is Bolingbroke ?"
And then I ftole all courtesy from heav'n,
And dreft myself in much humility,

That I did pluck allegiance from mens' hearts,
Loud fhouts and falutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned king.
Thus did I keep my perfon fresh and new,
My prefence like a robe pontifical,

Ne'er feen, but wonder'd at: and fo my ftate,
Seldom, but fumptuous, fhewed like a feast,
And won, by rarenefs fuch folemnity.
The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With fhallow jefters, and rafh bavin wits,

Soon kindled, and foon burnt: (11) 'fcarded his state:
Mingled his royalty with carping fools:

Had his great name profaned with their fcorns;
And gave his countenance, against his name,
To laugh with gybing boys, and ftand the push
Of every beardlefs, vain comparative :
Grew a companion to the cominon streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:

That being daily fwallow'd by mens' eyes,

They furfeited with honey, and began

To loath the taste of fweetnefs: whereof a little

More than a little is by much too much.

So

(10) That he, &c.] At pulchrum eft digito monftrarier, & dicier

bic eft. Perfius.

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(11) 'Scarded, &c.] i. e. difcarded, threw off. This reading is Mr. Warburton's: the old one is carded: this elifion is not unufual with the poets; frequently amongst the older ones `we have fdein for difdain, &.

So when he had occafion to be seen,

He was but as the cuckow is in June,

Heard, not regarded: feen, but with such eyes,
As fick and blunted with community,

Afford no extraordinary gaze ;

Such as is bent on fun-like majesty,
When it fhines feldom in admiring eyes:

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids down,
Slept in his face, and render'd fuch afpect

As cloudy men ufe to their adverfaries,

Being with his prefence glutted, gorg'd, and full.

Prince Henry's modeft Defence of himself.

-Heav'n forgive them that so much have fway’d
Your Majefty's good thoughts away from me!
I will redeem all this on Percy's head:
And in the closing of fome glorious day,
Be bold to tell you, that I am your fon.
When I will wear a garment all of blood,
And ftain my favours in a bloody mask,
Which, wash'd away, fhall fcower my fhame with it.
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this fame child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hot-fpur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet;
For every honour fitting on his helm,

Would they were multitudes, and on my head
My fhames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I fhall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
T'ingrofs up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to fo ftrict account,
That he shall render every glory up,
Yea, even the flightest worship of his time;
Or I will tear the reck'ning from his heart.
This, in the name of heav'n, I promife here:
The which, if I perform, and do furvive,

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I do befeech your Majefty, may falve
The long-grown wounds of my intemperature...
If not, the end of life cancels all bonds;
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths,
Ere break the fmallest parcel of this vow.

ACT IV. SCENE II.

A gallant Warrior.

faw young Harry with his beaver on, (12)
His cuiffes on his thighs, gallantly arm'd,
Rife from the ground like feather'd Mercury ;:
And vaulted with fuch eafe 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 horsemanship..

Hotfpur's Impatience for the Battle

-Let them come

They come like facrifices 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!
Harry to Harry fhall (not horse to horse)

Meet, and ne'er part, till one drop down a coarfe.
Oh, that Glendower were come!

ACT

(12) O] Others read up; and there feems great probability in it.

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-Tell your nephew,

young,

The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world:
In praife of Harry Percy: by my hopes
(This prefent enterprize fet off his head)
I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant, or more valiant
More daring, or more bold, is now alive,
To grace this latter age with noble deed.
For my part, I may fpeak it to my shame,
I have been a truant to chivalry,
And fo, I hear, he doth account me too.
Yet this before my father's majesty,
I am content that he fhall take the odds
Of his great name and estimation,
And will to fave the blood on either fide,
Try fortune with him in a single fight.

Prince Henry's pathetic Speech on the Death of Hotspur..

-Brave Percy-Fare thee well,
I'll-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a fpirit,

A kingdom for it was too fmall a bound:
But now two paces of the vileft earth

Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead,
Bears not alive fo ftout a gentleman.
If thou wert fenfible of courtefy,

I should not make fo great a show of zeal.
But let my favours hide thy mangled face,
And, ev'n in thy behalf, I'll thank myfelf
For doing thefe fair rights of tenderneis.
Adieu, and take thy praife with thee to heav'n;
Thy ignominy fleep with thee in the grave,
But not remembered in thy epitaph.

Falfaf's

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Falstaff's Catechifm.

(13) Well, 'tis no matter, honour pricks me on. But how, if honour prick me off, when I come on? How then? Can honour fet to a leg? No; or an arm? No: or take away the grief of a wound? No: honour hath no fkill in fugery then? No: what is honour? a word. What is the word honour? air: a trim reckoning. Who hath it? he that dy'd a Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No: doth he hear it? No: is it infenfible then? yea, to the dead: but will it not live with the living? No: why? detraction will not fuffer it. Therefore, I'll none of it; honour is a mere fcutcheon, and fo ends my catechifm.

SCENE

(13) Well, &c.] In the King and no King of Beaumont and Fletcher, we have a character, plainly drawn from Shakespear's Falstaff; how fhort it is, and must neceffarily be of the original, I need not observe. "I think, fays Mr. Theobald, in his first note on that play, the character of Beffus must be allowed in general a fine copy from Shakespear's inimitable Falstaff. He is a coward, yet would fain fet him for a hero: oftentatious without any grain of merit to fupport his vain-glory: a liar throughout, to exalt his affumed qualifications; and lewd, without any countenance from the ladies to give him an umbrage for it. As to his wit and humour, the precedence muft certainly be adjudg'd to Falstaff, the great original." The authors, in the third act, have introduced him, talking on the Lame fubject with Falstaff here; though not in the fame excellent manner (an account of which, fee in Mr. Upton's obfervations on Shakespear, p. 113.) Bejus. "They talk of fame, I have gotten it in the wars, and will afford any man a reafonable pennyworth; fome will fay, they could be content to have it, but that it is to be atchiev'd with danger; but my opinion is otherwife: for if I might stand still in cannon-proof, and have fame fall upon me, I would refufe it; my reputation came principally by thinking to run away, which nobody knows but Mardonius, and, I think, he conceals it to anger me, &c." The falfe and foolish notions of fame and honour are no where, that I know of, fo well and juftly cenfured, as in Mr. Wollafton's Religion of Nature delineated, le&t. 5. p. 116. printed in 1726.

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