ACT Sit, cousin Percy; sit, good cousin Hotspur: Doth speak of you, his cheek looks pale; and, with Hot. And you in hell, as often as he hears Glend. I cannot blame him: at my nativity, 5 III. Can trace me in the tedious ways of art, 10 The devil. the devil, By telling truth; Tell truth,and shame the devil.— If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, 15 And I'll be sworn, I have power to shame him hence. 20 25 30 O, while you live, tell truth, and shame the devil. No more of this unprofitable chat. [made head According to our three-fold order taken? Mort. The archdeacon hath divided it England, from Trent and Severn hitherto, Within her womb; which, for enlargement striv-40 Glend. Cousin, of many inen My father Glendower is not ready yet, 45 Nor shall we need his help these fourteen days:Within that space you may have drawn together Your tenants,friends, and neighbouring gentlemen. [To Glendower. I do not bear these crossings. Give me leave 2 Glend. A shorter time shall send me to your lords, That is, entrance, beginning. An induction, however, was anciently something introductory to a play. The cresset-lights were lights fixed on a moveable frame, or cross like a turnstile, and were carried on poles, in processions. Beldame is used here simply in the sense of ancient mother. • Perhaps we should read crankling. 3 A huge A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle' out. It shall not wind with such a deep indent, With like advantage on the other side; [here, Wor. Yea, but a little charge will trench him Hot. I'll have it so; a little charge will do it. Hot. Will not you? Glend. No, nor you shall not. Hot. Let me not understand you then, Glend. I can speak English, lord, as well as you And gave the tongue a helpful ornament; ; 5 As puts me from my faith. I tell you what,— But mark'd him not a word. O, he's as tedious Worse than a smoaky house :-I had rather live Mort. In faith, he is a very worthy gentleman; In strange concealments'; `valiant as a lion, Might so have tempted him, as you have done, Wor. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame; 25 And, since your coming hither, have done enough To put him quite beside his patience. You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault; Tho' sometimes it shew greatness, courage, blood, (And that's the dearest grace it renders you,) Hot. Marry, and I'm glad on't with all my heart; 30 Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage, I had rather be a kitten and cry-mew, Than one of these same metre ballad-mongers: I had rather hear a brazen candlestick* turn'd, Or a dry wheel grate on the axle-tree; And that would nothing set my teeth on edge, Glend. Come, you shall have Trent turn'd. To any well-deserving friend; But, in the way of bargain, mark ye me, Are the indentures drawn? shall we be gone? ( haste the writer') and, withal, [Exit. Defect of manners, want of government, 40 Hot. Well, I am school'd; Good manners be Here come our wives, and let us take our leave. 45 She'll be a soldier too, she'll to the wars. Mort. Fie, cousin Percy! how you cross my 50| Hot. I cannot chuse: sometimes he angers me A clip-wing'd griffin, and a moulten raven, 55 Mort. Good father, tell her,-she, and my aunt Shall follow in your conduct speedily. [Glendower speaks to her in Welsh, and she answers him in the same. Glend. She's desperate here; a peevish selfwill'd harlotry, one That no persuasion can do good upon. [Lady speaks to Mortimer in Welsh. Mort.Tunderstand thy looks: that pretty Welsh Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens, I am too perfect in; and, but for shame, A cantle is a corner or piece of any thing. 2 Mr. Steevens says that the real name of Owen Glendower was laughan, and that he was originally a barrister of the Middie Temple. i. e. the English Janguage. The word is written-canstick in the quartos 1598, 1599, and 1608; and so it might have been pronounced. 'He means the writer of the articles. This alludes to an old prophecy, which is said to have induced Owen Glendower to take up arms against king Henry. The mould-warp is the mele, so called because it renders the surface of the earth unlevel by the hillocks which it raises. i. e. skilled in wonderful secrets. In such a parley should I answer thee. I understand thy kisses, and thou mine, 'Till I have learn'd thy language; for thy tongue "And those musicians that shall play to you, 5 Lady. What's that? Hot. Peace! she sings. [Here the lady sings a Welsh song. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too. Lady. Not mine, in good sooth. Hot. Not yours, in good sooth! 'Heart, you swear like a comfit-maker's wife! Not you, in good sooth; and, As true as I live; and, As God shall mend me; and, As sure as day: and givest 10 such sarcenet surety for thy oaths, as if thou never walk'dst further than Finsbury'. Swear me, Kate, like a lady, as thou art, A good mouth-filling oath! and leave In sooth, Lady. I will not sing. Hot. 'Tis the next way to turn tailor1o, or be As hot lord Percy is on fire to go. Hot. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down: Come, quick, quick; that I may lay my 30 head in thy lap. Lady. Go, ye giddy goose. [The music plays. Hot. Now, I perceive, the devil understa ds And 'tis no marvel, he's so humorous. [Welsh; By'r-Lady, he's a good musician. Lady. Then should you be nothing but musical; for you are altogether govern'd by humours. Lie still, ye thief, and hear the lady sing in Welsh. Hot. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish. Lady. Would'st have thy head broken? Lady. Then be still. Hot. Neither; 'tis a woman's fault". Hot. To the Welsh lady's bed. 35 SCENE [Exeunt. II. The presence-chamber in Windsor. K. Henry. Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Must have some private conference: But be near I know not whether God will have it so, A It was long the custom in this country, to strew the floors with rushes, as we now cover them with carpets. The expression is beautiful; intimating, that the god of sleep should not only sit on his eye-lids, but that he should sit crown'd, that is, pleased and delighted. i. e. our papers of conditions, our articles. Every composition, whether play, ballad, or history, was anciently called a book. *And for an, which often signifies in our author if or tho', is frequently used by old writers. proverbial expression; meaning, that it is the usual fault of women never to do what they are bid or desired to do. Open walks and fields near Chiswell-street, London-Wall, by Moorgate; and at that time the cominon resort of the citizens. i. e. protestations as common as the letters which children learn from an alphabet of ginger-bread. What we now call spice, was then denominated pepper, gingerbread. i. e. to such as have their cloaths adorned with shreds of velvet, which appear then to have been a city fashion. The next way-is the nearest way. 10 Tailors seem to have been as remarkable for singing as weavers, of whose musical turn Shakspeare has before made mention in this play. "The honourable Daines Barrington observes, that "a gold-finch still continues to be called a proud tailor, in some parts of England," which renders this passage intelligible, that otherwise seems to have no meaning whatsoever. Perhaps this bird is called proud tailor, because his plumage is va ried like a suit of cloaths made out of remnants of different colours, such as a tailor might be supposed to wear. The sense then will be this :-The next thing to singing oneself, is to teach birds to sing, the gold-finch and the Robin. See note above. "Service for action, simply. 14 i. e. in the pas sages of thy life. 12 Such Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean at-1 Such barren pleasures, rude society, As, in reproof of many tales devis'd,- K. Henry. Heaven pardon thee!-yet let me At thy affections, which do hold a wing Had his great name profaned with their scorns; 5 Grew a companion to the common streets, That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, He was but as the cuckow is in June, 25 But is a-weary of thy common sight, [lord, P. Henry. I shall hereafter, my thrice gracious 30 Be more myself. K. Henry. For all the world, As thou art to this hour, was Richard then He doth fill fields with harness in the realm; And military title capital, Through all the kingdoms that acknowledgeChrist? 50 Thrice hath this Hotspur Mars in swathing cloaths, This infant warrior, in his enterprizes Discomfited great Douglas; ta'en him once, 1 Mean attempts are unworthy undertakings. Lewd does not in this place barely signify wanton, but licentious. i. e. officious parasites. i. e. True to him that had then possession of the crown. This is an allusion to the story of Prometheus's theft, who stole fire from thence; and as with this he made a man, so with that Bolingbroke made a king. Rash is heady, thoughtless: bavin is brushwood, which, tired, burns fiercely, but is soon out. The metaphor seems to be taken from mingling course wool with fine, and carding them together, whereby the value of the latter is diminished. The king means, that Richard mingled and carded together his royal state with carping fools, &c. To card is used by other writers for, to mix. 'i. e. jesting, prating, &c. The quarto 1598, reads cap'ring i. e. made his presence injurious to his reputation. "Meaning, of every boy whose vanity incited him to try his wit against the king's. Comparative, means equal, or rival in any thing. enfeoff is a law term, signifying to invest with possessions. fools. 10 To Τα K. Henry. The earl of Westmoreland set forth But wherefore do I tell these news to thee? 3 [so: Your majesty's good thoughts away from me! 'Would they were multitudes; and on my head Thou shalt have charge, and sovereign trust herein. How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of 20 The Boar's-head Tavern in East-cheap. Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me like an 25 old lady's loose gown; I am wither'd like an old apple-John. Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking; I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of 30a church is made of, I am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse; the inside of a church :-Company, villainous company, hath been the spoil of me. 35 Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot live long. Ful. Why, there it is:-come, sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given as a gentleman need to be; virtuons enough: swore little; dic'd, not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house, not above once in a quar40 ter-of an hour; paid money that I borrow'd, three or four times; liv'd well, and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass. Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you 45 must needs be out of all compass; out of all reasonable compass, Sir John. 50 Fal. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life: thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lanthorn in the poop,-but 'tis in the nose of thee; thou art the knight of the burning lamp. Bard. Why, sir John, my face does you no harm. Fal. No, I'll be sworn; I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a death's head, or a me mento mori: I never see thy face, but I think upon 155 hell-fire, and Dives that liv'd in purple; for 1i. e. make head. Dearest here means mostfatal, most mischievous, and should be spelled derest. 'Favours mean some decoration usually worn by knights in their helmets, as a present from a mistress, or a trophy from an enemy. + Mr. Steevens conjectures, that a brewer's horse does not, perhaps, mean a dray-horse, but the cross-beam on which beer-barrels are carried into cellars, &c. and that the allusion may be to the taper form of this machine; while Mr. Tyrwhitt thinks, that "Falstaff does not mean to point out any similitude to his own condition, but, on the contrary, some striking dissimilitude. He says here, I am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse; just as in act II. sc. iv. he asserts the truth of several parts of his narrative, on pain of being considered as a rogue-a Jew-an Ebrew Jew -a bunch of radish-a horse." there |