Enter NORTHUMBERLAND.

Welcome, my lord. What is the news with you"?
North. First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness :
The next news is,-I have to London sent

The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent':
The manner of their taking may appear
At large discoursed in this paper here.

[Presenting a paper.

Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains, And to thy worth will add right worthy gains.

Enter FITZWATER.

Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London
The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely,
Two of the dangerous consorted traitors,
That sought at Oxford thy dire overthrow.

Boling. Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot;
Right noble is thy merit, well I wot.

Enter PERCY, with the Bishop of Carlisle.

Percy. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster, With clog of conscience, and sour melancholy,

Hath yielded up his body to the grave;

But here is Carlisle living, to abide
Thy kingly doom, and sentence of his pride.
Boling. Carlisle, this is your doom 1:—
Choose out some secret place, some reverend room,
More than thou hast, and with it joy thy life;
So, as thou liv'st in peace, die free from strife:
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen.

8 Welcome, my lord. What is the news WITH YOU?] The words "with you are from the corr. fo. 1632. They complete the line, which there could be no reason for leaving incomplete, and it is a colloquial expression that often occurs. The carelessness of the old printer, probably, occasioned the loss.

9

of SALISBURY, SPENCER, Blunt, and Kent :] So the folio. The 4to. reads, "of Oxford, Salisbury, Blunt, and Kent." The reading of the folio (says Malone) is historically right.

1 Carlisle, this is your doom:] This brief mode of address is more forcible than the line, as we find it amended in the corr. fo. 1632,

"Bishop of Carlisle, this shall be your doom."

It is very likely that the expletive words were purposely left out by the poet, and we do not insert them, although they were perhaps spoken on the stage in the presence of the old annotator. The additions may, however, only have been the result of his own notions of fitness, as regards the metre.

Enter EXTON, with Attendants bearing a coffin.
Exton. Great king, within this coffin I present
Thy buried fear: herein all breathless lies
The mightiest of thy greatest enemies,
Richard of Bourdeaux, by me hither brought.

Boling. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou hast wrought A deed of slander with thy fatal hand'

Upon my head, and all this famous land.

Exton. From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed.
Boling. They love not poison that do poison need,
Nor do I thee though I did wish him dead,
I hate the murderer, love him murdered.
The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labour,
But neither my good word, nor princely favour :
With Cain go wander through the shades of night,
And never show thy head by day nor light.-
Lords, I protest, my soul is full of woe,
That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow :
Come, mourn with me for that I do lament,
And put on sullen black incontinent3.

I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land,
To wash this blood off from my guilty hand.
March sadly after: grace my mournings here',
In weeping after this untimely bier.

[Exeunt.

2 A deed of SLANDER with thy fatal hand] This is the original, and, no doubt, authentic reading of the 4to, 1597. That of 1598 printed slaughter for “slander," and it was followed by all the other 4tos. and folios. In the corr. fo. 1632 slaughter is amended to "slander;" and as might be expected, it is ein Werk der Schande in the German version.

3 And put on sullen black incontinent.] The old corrector of the folio, 1632, here alters the punctuation, putting a full point before "incontinent," instead of a colon (as in the old copies) after it. It is true that in the very opening of the next play the King speaks of his intended voyage to Palestine; but whether "incontinent " (i. e. immediately) apply to that undertaking, or to the putting on "sullen black" for the death of Richard II., is a matter of too little consequence, as regards the poet, to induce us to make a change, which contradicts the always received, and perhaps correct, reading.

grace my MOURNINGS here,] The 4to, 1597, has "mournings" in the plural: the folio prints it in the singular. The same remark will apply to "the shades of night," eight lines above.

FIRST PART

OF

KING HENRY IV.

"The History of Henrie the Fovrth; With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henrie Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir John Falstalffe. At London, Printed by P. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1598." 4to. 40 leaves.

"The History of Henrie the Fovrth; With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir Iohn Falstalffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. At London, Printed by S. S. for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Angell. 1599." 4to. 40 leaves.

"The History of Henrie the Fourth, With the battell at Shrewsburie, betweene the King, and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceits of Sir John Falstalffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. London Printed by Valentine Simmes, for Mathew Law, and are to be solde at his shop in Paules Churchyard, at the signe of the Fox. 1604." 4to. 40 leaves.

"The History of Henry the fourth, With the battell of Shrewseburie, betweene the King, and Lord Henry Percy, surnamed Henry Hotspur of the North. With the humorous conceites of Sir John Falstalffe. Newly corrected by W. Shake-speare. London, Printed for Mathew Law, and are to be sold at his shop in Paules Churchyard, neere unto S. Augustines gate, at the signe of the Foxe. 1608." 4to. 40 leaves.

The 4to edition of 1613 also consists of 40 leaves; and the only differences between its title-page and that of 1608 are the date, and the statement that it was "Printed by W. W."

In the folio of 1623, "The First Part of Henry the Fourth, with the Life and Death of Henry Sirnamed Hot-spvrre," occupies twenty-six pages, viz. from p. 46 to p. 73 inclusive. In the later folios it is reprinted in the same form.