his prisoners were Earl Worcester and Sir Richard Vernon, whom he ordered at once to be put to death. Lord Douglas, when he saw the fortunes of the day quite turned from him, fled with his forces, and falling, was so bruised that the pursuers captured him. Prince Henry had placed him in his tent, and now prayed the king that he might dispose of him; and when the king granted his request, the noble prince gave Douglas his freedom without ransom, for, as he said, the Scot's valour, shown upon their crests that day, had taught him how to cherish such high deeds.

The king then divided his forces, Prince John and Westmoreland going towards York against the Earl of Northumberland and Archbishop Scroop, while himself and Prince Henry went towards Wales to fight with Glendower and the Earl of March; and thus ended the well-fought day of Shrewsbury, and with it the life of the noble but too impetuous Hotspur.

KING HENRY IV.-PART II.

WHEN

HEN the news of King Henry's victory over Hotspur and his allies at Shrewsbury reached the ears of the Earl of Northumberland, the aged nobleman was overcome by grief to hear of the death of his valorous son; but he was alarmed, as well, for his own safety. For with the tidings of the ruin of his son's cause came a warning that the king's forces were marching upon him and upon Archbishop Scroop of York, because they had been secretly engaged to help the younger Percy in his venture against the crown. In the midst of his sorrows, therefore, the old earl was compelled to prepare for battle with the royal army, and this he set about with all haste. But, as he was on the point of starting out to join the archbishop, his wife and his daughter-in-law, the widow of Hotspur, pleaded with him to seek safety in flight, and rather to dissemble with his fellow-plotters as he had found it in his heart to do with his own son, than to venture upon open hostility with the king. This the earl finally decided to do, and he departed

for Scotland, there to abide until better days should permit him to return in peace.

In the mean time the Archbishop of York had also heard of the king's victory at Shrewsbury, and had called upon his allies to join him in his cause against the royal powers. In a room of his palace he met Lord Hastings, Lord Bardolph, Lord Mowbray, and other enemies of the king, and counselled with them how best to encounter the victorious forces of Prince John and the Earl of Westmoreland which were marching rapidly against them. The muster of the rebels amounted to five-and-twenty thousand men of choice; but their supplies lived largely in the hope of great Northumberland, whose bosom, said Lord Hastings, burned with an incensed fire of injuries. Lord Bardolph questioned whether their present forces might hold up head without the earl, and his judgment was that they should not step too far till they had Northumberland's assistance by the hand, else, he said, they would be like one who draws the model of a house beyond his power to build it, and who, when half through, gives over the work and leaves it a naked subject to the weeping clouds and waste for churlish winter's tyranny. But Lord Hastings was more of the temper of Hotspur, and was for proceeding without the tardy earl; for, said he, the unfirm king has divided his force in three heads: one against the French, one against Glendower, and the third must take up us, and thus divided we may hope to defeat him. The archbishop, who was

also anxious for the attack because the king had executed his brother, supported the opinion of Lord Hastings and said there was little danger that King Henry should draw his several strengths together and come against them in his full "Let us power. on," he urged. "The commonwealth is sick of its choice of Bolingbroke for king, for a giddy and unsure foundation is his who builds upon the vulgar heart." Then he broke forth in a lament upon the unstable times which had desired King Richard's death but were now enamoured of his grave; and in such a strain he won his allies to take up the fight against Prince John's approaching forces without the aid of Northumberland.

While this was taking place in the north, the king and the Prince of Wales had returned to London with their followers, among whom was Sir John Falstaff, now more than ever given over to boastfulness and brawling because of his deeds in the battle of Shrewsbury. The king was sick; but the prince longed again for his old boon companions of Eastcheap, and he confessed to Poins that though it showed vilely in him yet, in truth, he desired small beer. "How ill it follows," said Poins, "after you have laboured so hard you should talk so idly. Tell me, how many good young princes would do so, their fathers lying so sick as yours is?" The prince confessed that he could weep for his father, that his heart bled inwardly for him, but that if he gave way to his sadness he would only be misunderstood and called hypocrite; and