molten lead, and as heavy too: God keep lead out of me! I need no more weight than mine own bowels.—I have led my raggamuffins where they are peppered: there 's but three of my hundred and fifty2 left alive; and they are for the town's end, to beg during life. But who comes here?

Enter Prince HENRY.

P. Hen. What, stand'st thou idle here? lend me thy sword:

Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies,
Whose deaths are unreveng❜d: Pry'thee, lend thy sword.3
Fal. O Hal, I pr'ythee, give me leave to breathe a
while. Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms,✨

in common speech, was used to design, ironically, the excess of a thing. Thus, Ben Jonson, in Every Man in his Humour, says: "Ohere's no foppery!

Death, I can endure the stocks better." Meaning, as the passage shews, that the foppery was excessive. And so in many other places. Warburton.

I am in doubt whether this interpretation, though ingenious and well supported, is true. The words may mean, here is real honour, no vanity, or empty appearance. Johnson.

I believe Dr. Warburton is right: the same ironical kind of expression occurs in The Mad Lover of Beaumont and Fletcher: Here 's no villainy!

66

"I am glad I came to the hearing."

Again, in Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub:

"Here was no subtle device to get a wench!"

Again, in the first part of Jeronimo, &c. 1605:

"Here's no fine villainy! no damned brother!"

Again, in our author's Taming of the Shrew: "Here 's no knavery!" Steevens.

2 there's but three of my hundred and fifty-] All the old copies have-There's not three &c. They are evidently erroneThe same mistake has already happened in this play, where it has been rightly corrected. See p. 303, n. 8. So again, in Coriolanus, 1623:

ous.

3

"Cor. Ay, but mine own desire?

"1 Cit. How, not your own desire?" Malone.

Pry'thee, lend thy sword.] Old copies, redundantly,
Steevens.
Pry'thee, lend me thy sword.

--

Turk Gregory never did such deeds in arms,] Meaning Gregory the Seventh, called Hildebrand. This furious friar surmounted almost invincible obstacles to deprive the Emperor of his right of investiture of bishops, which his predecessors had

as I have done this day. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure.

P. Hen. He is, indeed; and living to kill thee. I pr'ythee, lend me thy sword.

Fal. Nay, before God, Hal, if Percy be alive, thou get'st not my sword; but take my pistol, if thou wilt. P. Hen. Give it me: What, is it in the case? Fal. Ay, Hal; 'tis hot, 'tis hot; there's that will sack a city.6 [The Prince draws out a bottle of sack. P. Hen. What, is 't a time to jest and dally now? [Throws it at him, and exit. Fal. Well, if Percy be alive, I 'll pierce him.

If he

long attempted in vain. Fox, in his History, hath made Gregory so odious, that I don't doubt but the good Protestants of that time were well pleased to hear him thus characterized, as uniting the attributes of their two great enemies, the Turk and Pope, in one. Warburton. On the subject of Hildebrand's exploits an ancient tragedy was written, though the title of it only has reached us. Hence, perhaps, our author's acquaintance with Turk Gregory. I have paid Percy, I have made him sure. P. Hen. He is, indeed; and &c.] The Prince's answer, which is apparently connected with Falstaff's last words does not cohere so well as if the knight had said-

5 -

I have made him sure; Percy's safe enough.

Steevens.

Perhaps a word or two like these may be lost. Johnson.

Sure has two significations; certainly disposed of, and safe. Falstaff uses it in the former sense, the Prince replies to it in the latter. Steevens.

6 sack a city.] A quibble on the word sack. Johnson.

The same quibble may be found in Aristippus, or the Fovial Philosopher, 1630: "-it may justly seem to have taken the name of suck from the sacking of cities." Steevens.

7 If Percy be alive, I'll pierce him.] Certainly, he'll pierce him, i. e. Prince Henry will, who is just gone out to seek him. Besides, I'll pierce him, contradicts the whole turn and humour of the speech. Warburton.

I rather take the conceit to be this: To pierce a vessel is to tap it. Falstaff takes up his bottle, which the Prince had tossed at his head, and being about to animate himself with a draught, cries: If Percy be alive, I'll pierce him, and so draws the cork. I do not propose this with much confidence. Johnson.

Ben Jonson has the same quibble in his New Inn, Act III:

"Sir Pierce anon will pierce us a new hogshead."

I believe Falstaff makes this boast that the Prince may hear it; and continues the rest of the speech in a lower accent, or when VOL. VIII.

ве

do come in my way, so: if he do not, if I come in his, willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. I like not such grinning honour as sir Walter hath: Give me life: which if I can save, so; if not, honour comes unlooked for, and there's an end. [Exit.

SCENE IV.

Another Part of the Field.

Alarums. Excursions. Enter the King, Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN, and WESTMORELAND.

K. Hen. I pr'ythee;

Harry, withdraw thyself; thou bleed'st too much:9—
Lord John of Lancaster, go you with him.

P. John. Not I, my lord, unless I did bleed too.
P. Hen. I do beseech your majesty, make up,
Lest your retirement do amaze your friends.1
K. Hen. I will do so:-

My lord of Westmoreland, lead him to his tent.

West. Come, my lord, I will lead you to your tent. P. Hen. Lead me, my lord? I do not need your help : And heaven forbid, a shallow scratch should drive The prince of Wales from such a field as this; Where stain'd nobility lies trodden on,

And rebels' arms triúmph in massacres!

P. John. We breathe too long:-Come, cousin Westmoreland,

he is out of hearing. Shakspeare has the same play on words in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, sc. ii. Steevens.

Shakspeare was not aware that he here ridiculed the serious etymology of the Scottish historian: "Piercy a penetrando oculum Regis Scotorum, ut fabulatur Boetius." Skinner. H. White.

8 -a carbonado of me:] A Carbonado is a piece of meat cut cross-wise for the gridiron. Johnson.

So, in The Spanish Gypsie, by Middleton and Rowley, 1653: "Carbonado thou the old rogue my father,. "While you slice into collops the rusty gammon his man."

Steevens.

---

Steevens.

9 thou bleed'st too much:] History says, the Prince was wounded in the face by an arrow. 1 amaze your friends.] i. e. throw them into consternation.

Steevens.

Our duty this way lies; for God's sake, come.

[Exeunt P. JOHN, and WEST.

P. Hen. By heaven, thou hast deceiv'd me, Lancaster,

I did not think thee lord of such a spirit:
Before, I lov'd thee as a brother, John;
But now, I do respect thee as my soul.

K. Hen. I saw him hold lord Percy at the point,
With lustier maintenance than I did look for

Of such an ungrown warrior.2

P. Hen.

Lends mettle to us all!

O, this boy

[Exit.

Alarums. Enter DOUGLAS.

Doug. Another king! they grow like Hydra's heads:

I am the Douglas, fatal to all those

That wear those colours on them-What art thou,
That counterfeit'st the person of a king?

K. Hen. The king himself; who, Douglas, grieves at

heart,

So many of his shadows thou hast met,
And not the very king. I have two boys,
Seek Percy, and thyself, about the field:
But, seeing thou fall'st on me so luckily,
I will assay thee; so defend thyself.

Doug. I fear, thou art another counterfeit;
And yet, in faith, thou bear'st thee like a king:
But mine, I am sure, thou art, whoe'er thou be,

And thus I win thee. [They fight; the King being in danger, enter Prince HENRY.

P. Hen. Hold up thy head, vile Scot, or thou art like Never to hold it up again! the spirits

Of Shirley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my arms:
It is the prince of Wales, that threatens thee;
Who never promiseth, but he means to pay.4-

[They fight; DOUGLAS flies.

2 I saw him hold lord Percy at the point,

With lustier maintenance than I did look for &c.] So, Holinshed, p. 759: "- the earle of Richmond withstood his violence, and kept him at the sword's point without advantage, longer than his companions either thought or judged." Steevens.

3 Of Shirley, &c.] The old copies, redundantly,

Of valiant Shirley, &c. Steevens.

4 Who never promiseth, but he means to pay.] We should cer tainly read:

Cheerly, my lord; How fares your grace?-
Sir Nicholas Gawsey hath for succour sent,
And so hath Clifton; I'll to Clifton straight.
K. Hen. Stay, and breathe a while:-

Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion;5

And show'd, thou makʼst some tender of my life,
In this fair rescue thou hast brought to me.

P. Hen. O heaven! they did me too much injury,
That ever said, I hearken'd for your death.
If it were so, I might have let alone

The insulting hand of Douglas over you;
Which would have been as speedy in your end,
As all the poisonous potions in the world,
And sav'd the treacherous labour of your son.

K. Hen. Make up to Clifton, I'll to sir Nicholas Gaw

sey.

Enter HOTSPUR.

[Exit K. HEN.

Hot. If I mistake not, thou art Harry Monmouth.
P. Hen. Thou speak'st as if I would deny my name.
Hot. My name is Harry Percy.

P. Hen.

A very valiant rebel of the name.

Why, then I see

I am the prince of Wales; and think not, Percy,
To share with me in glory any more:

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere;
Nor can one England brook a double reign,
Of Harry Percy, and the prince of Wales.

Hot. Nor shall it, Harry, for the hour is come
To end the one of us; And 'would to God,
Thy name in arms were now as great as mine!

Who never promiseth, but means to pay.

which agrees with what the Prince says in the first Act:

"And pay the debts I never promised." M. Mason.

5 Thou hast redeem'd thy lost opinion;] i. e. thy lost reputations for in that sense the word was then used. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Thierry and Theodoret:

"What opinion will the managing

"Of this affair bring to my wisdom!"my invention
"Tickles with approbation on 't!"

Again, in The Gamester, by Shirley, 1637:

"Patience! I mean you have the opinion of a valiant gentleman; one that dares fight and maintain your honour against

odds." Reed.