Must have a 'stop. O, I could prophesy,

But that the earthy and cold hand of 'Death

Lies on my tongue : . . . No, Percy, thou art dust,
And food for-

[Dies.

P. Hen. For worms, brave Percy! Fare thee well, great

heart!

Ill-weaved ambition, how much art thou shrunk!
When that this body did contain a 'spirit,
A 'kingdom for it was too small a bound;
But now... two paces of the vilest earth

Is room enough:-This earth, that bears thee 'dead,
Bears not 'alive so brave' a gentleman.

Adieu! and take thy 'praise with thee to heaven!
Thy 'ignomy sleep with thee in the grave,

But not remembered in thy 'epitaph!

He sees Falstaff on the ground.

What! old acquaintance!... Could not all this flesh
Keep-in a little 'life? Poor Jack, farewell!

I could have better spared a better man.
Death hath not struck so 'fat a deer to-day,
Though many 'dearer, in this bloody fray.
Embowelled will I see thee by-and-by;
Till then, in blood by noble Percy lie.

[Exit.

The victorious Prince, suddenly struck with melancholy at the death of his old friend, proceeds to his camp.-Amid the slain, an apparently dead body begins to stir :-it is Falstaff! He carefully looks round, and makes several attempts to rise; but, on hearing the drums, he crouches under his shield again. At last he gets up with breathless difficulty:

Fal. Embowelled? if thou embowel me 'to-day, I'll give you leave to powder* me, and 'eat me too, 'to-morrow. "T was time to counterfeit; or that hot termagant Scot had paid 'me, scot and lot too. Counterfeit? I lie; I am 'no counterfeit: To 'die is to be a counterfeit; for he is but the 'counterfeit of a man, who hath not the 'life of a man; but to counterfeit dying, when a man thereby 'liveth, is to be 'no counterfeit, but the true and perfect image of 'life indeed. The 'better part of valour is 'discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life. . . . Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he 'be dead. How, if 'he should counterfeit too, and rise? By my faith, I am afraid he would prove the 'better counterfeit. Therefore I'll make him 'sure; yea, and I'll swear 'I killed him. ..

20. R. stout.

3 Ignominy.

* Preserve by pickling: to salt.

Why may not 'he rise, as well as I? Nothing confutes me but eyes,-and nobody sees me :-therefore, sirrah, [stabbing him] with a 'new wound in your thigh, come you along with me.

Falstaff vainly endeavors to take up the dead body. In the midst of his exertions, Prince Henry and Prince John enter.

P. Hen. Come, brother John; full bravely hast thou fleshed Thy maiden sword.

P. John.

But, soft! whom have we here? . . .
Did you not tell me, this fat man was 'dead?

P. Hen. I did; I 'saw him dead, and breathless on the ground.

Art thou 'alive? or is it 'fantasy

That plays upon our eyesight? Pr'ythee, speak!
Thou art not what thou seem'st.

Fal. No, that 's certain; I am not a 'double man; but if I be not Jack Falstaff, then am I Jack. 'There is Percy! If your father will do me any honour, so; if not, let him kill the 'next Percy himself. I look to be either Earl or Duke, I can assure you!

P. Hen. Why, Percy I killed 'myself,—and saw thee dead!
Fal. Didst thou?-O, O, oh! how this world is given to
'lying! I grant you I was 'down, and out of breath,
and so was 'he; but we rose both at an instant, and
fought a long 'hour, by Shrewsbury clock. If I may
be 'believed, so; if not, let them that 'should reward
valour bear the sin upon their own heads. I'll take
it upon my death, 'I gave him this wound in the thigh:
if the man were alive, and would 'deny it, . . . I would
make him eat a piece of my sword!

P. John. This is the strangest tale that e'er I heard.
P. Hen. This is the strangest 'fellow, brother John.-
For 'my part, if a lie may do thee grace,
I'll 'gild it with the happiest terms I have.
The trumpet sounds retreat; the day is ors!
Come, brother, to the highest of the field,

[Retreat heard.

To see what friends are living, who are dead. [Exeunt Princes. Fal. I'll follow, as they say, for 'reward. He that rewards 'me, Heaven reward 'him! If I 'do grow great, I'll grow 'less; for I'll leave sack, and live cleanlyas a 'nobleman 'should do.

[Exit, bearing off the body.

We now accompany the young Princes to the King, who is giving directions concerning the prisoners:

K. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find rebuke.

Worcester and Ve non are

Bear Worcester to the death, and Vernon too;
Other offenders we will pause upon.-led off, guarded.
How goes the field?

P. Hen. The noble Scot, Lord Douglas,-when he saw
The fortune of the day quite turned from him,
The noble Percy slain, and all his men

Upon the foot of fear,-fled with the rest;

But his pursuers took him. I beseech your grace
'I may dispose of him.

K. Hen.

With all my heart.
P. Hen. Then, brother John of Lancaster, to you
This honourable bounty shall belong :--
Go to the Douglas, and deliver him
Up to his pleasure, ransomless, and free.-
'Rebellion in this land shall 'lose his sway,
Meeting the check of such 'another day:
And since this business so far fair is done,
Let us not leave, till 'all our own be won.

[Exeunt.

END OF HENRY IV-PART I.

KING HENRY IV.

PART SECOND.

The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth owes its origin—like the prevenient and subsequent plays-Henry the Fourth Part First, and Henry the Fifth,-partly to the "Chronicles " of Holinshed, and principally to an anonymous drama (performed several years before Shakespeare became a writer for the stage), entitled "The famous Victories of Henry the Fifth."

The first edition of this play was registered in 1599, and published in 1600 it is remarkable for containing on its title page the first entry of Shakespeare's name as a dramatic author. Another edition, with considerable alterations, was printed in the same year. No subsequent edition appeared till the folio collection of 1623.

The Second Part begins with news of the Battle at Shrewsbury in 1403, and is continued till the Death of Henry in 1413. The Time therefore extends over nine years.

The Scenes of the action are in various parts of England.

As a kind of Prologue, or, as it is called, an Induction, Shakespeare introduces the Second Part of King Henry the Fourth by a mythological personage called Rumour, painted over with tongues. The object is to connect this Part with the First one. This Induction is supposed to be spoken outside the Earl of Northumberland's residence at Warkworth.

Rum. Open your ears: For which of you will 'stop
The vent of hearing, when loud 'Rumour speaks?
I, from the Orient to the drooping West,
Making the 'wind my post-horse, still unfold
The acts commencing on this ball of Earth:
Upon my tongues continual 'slanders ride,
(The which in 'every language I pronounce,)
Stuffing the ears of men with 'false reports.
I speak of 'Peace; while covert Enmity,
Under the smile of 'safety, wounds the world:
And who but Rumour,-who but 'only I,-
Make fearful musters and prepared 'defence?
Say, Why is Rumour 'here?

I run 'before King Harry's victory;
Who, in a bloody field, by Shrewsbury,

Hath beaten down young Hotspur and his troops;
Quenching the flame of bold rebellion

Even with the rebels' 'blood. My office is
To noise abroad, that Harry Monmouth fell
Under the wrath of noble Hotspur's sword;
And that the King, before the Douglas' rage,
Stooped his anointed head as low as death.
This have I rumoured-through the pleasant* towns
Between that royal field of Shrewsbury
And this worm-eaten holdt of ragged stone;
Where Hotspur's father, old Northumberland,
Lies 'crafty-sick. The posts come 'tiring on;
And not a man of them brings other news

Than they have learned of 'me: from Rumour's tongues
They bring smooth comforts 'false, 'worse than true
'wrongs.

[Exit.

The first Scene opens on the Earl of Northumberland's Castle at Warkworth. The Earl, pretending still to suffer from his feigned sickness, which had kept him away from the battle at Shrewsbury, does not yet know its result. Lord Bardolph, outside the Castle, calls:

L. Bard. Who keeps the gate here? ho!—

* O. R. peasant.

† Stronghold.