P. Hen. This is the strangest fellow, brother Come, bring your luggage nobly on your back; [A Retreat is sounded. SCENE V.-Another part of the Field. The Trumpets sound.-Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN, WESTMORELAND and others, with WORCESTER and VERNON, prisoners. P. Hen. Thus ever did rebellion find re- Ill-spirited Worcester! did we not send grace, Had been alive this hour, If, like a Christian, thou hadst truly borne K. Hen. Bear Worcester to the death, a Other offenders we will pause upon.- P. Hen. The noble Scot, lord Douglas, when The fortune of the day quite turn'd from him, K. Hen. With all my heart. At my tent [you P. Hen. Then, brother John of Lancaster to K. Hen. Then this remains, that we divide You, son John, and my cousin Westmoreland, Το meet Northumberland and Who, as we hear, are busily in arms: Myself and you, son Harry, will towards Wales, Wor. What I have done, my safety urged me Meeting the check of such another day: to; And I embrace this fortune patiently, Since not to be avoided it fails on me. And since this business so fair is done, [Exeunt. SECOND PART OP KING HENRY IV. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. SHAKSPEARE 18 supposed to have written this play in 1598. Its action comprehends a period of nine years, com mencing with Hotspur's death, 1403, and terminating with the coronation of Henry V. 1412-13. Many of th tragic scenes in this second portion of the history are forcible and pathetic; but the comedy is of a much looser and more indecent character, than any in the preceding part. Shallow is an odd though pleasing por trait of a brainless magistrate; and a character, it is to be feared, not peculiar to Glostershire only. In thu exhibiting his worship to the ridicule of an audience, Shakspeare amply revenged himself on his old War. wickshire prosecutor. On the character of Falstaff, as exhibited in the two plays, Dr. Johnson makes the following admirable remarks: "Falstaff! unimitated, unimitable Falstaff, how shall I describe thee; thou compound of sense and vice; of sense which may be admired, but not esteemed; of vice which may be despised, but hardly detested. Falstaff is a character loaded with faults, and with those faults which naturally produce contempt. He is a thief and a glutton, a coward and a boaster; always ready to cheat the weak, and prey upon the poor; to terrify the timorous, and insult the defenceless. At once obsequious and malignant, he satirizes in their absence those whom he lives by flattering. He is familiar with the prince, only as an agent of vice; but of this familiarity he is so proud, as not only to be supercilious and haughty with common men, but to think his interest of importance to the Duke of Lancaster. Yet the man thus corrupt, thus despicable, makes himself necessary to the prince that despises him, by the most pleasing of all qualities, perpetual gaity; by an unfailing power of exciting laughter, which is the more freely indulged, as his wit is not of the splendid or ambitious kind, but consists in easy scapes and sallies of levity, which make sport, bas raise no envy. It must be observed, that he is stained with no enormous or sanguinary crimes, so that his licentiousness is not so offensive but that it may be borne for his mirth." Make fearful musters and prepar'd defence; grief, Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war, That the blunt monster with uncounted heads, Among my household? Why is Rumour here ? Who, in a bloody field by Shrewsbury, North. Here comes my servant, Travers whom I sent On Tuesday last to listen after news. Bard. My lord, I over-rode him on the way; North. Now, Travers, what good tidings come Tra. My lord, Sir John Uinfrevile turn'd me With joyful tidings; and, being better hors'd, Hath beaten down young Hotspur, and his A gentleman almost forspent with speed, troops, Quenching the flame of bold rebellion Even with the rebel's blood. But what mean I towns Between that royal field of Shrewsbury They bring smooth comforts false, worse than ACT I. SCENE 1.-The same -The PORTER before Port. What shall I say you are? That the lord Bardolph doth attend him here. Please it your honour, knock but at the gate, Enter NORTHUMBERLAND. Bard. Here comes the earl. That stopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horse: Fortells the nature of a tragic volume: So looks the strond, wheron the imperious flood Say, Morton, didst thou come from Shrews- Mor. I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord; Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask, North. What news, lord Bardolph ? every To fright our party. minute now Should be the father of some stratagem: t Bard. Noble earl, I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury. Kill'd by the band of Douglas: young prince And Westmoreland, and Stafford, fled the field; North. How is this deriv'd? Saw you the field? came you from Shrewsbury? A gentleman well bred, and of good name, Northumberland castle. + Important or dreadful event. North. How doth my son and brother? But Priam found the fire, ere he his tongue, thus, Your brother, thus; so fought the noble Doug. Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds: North. Why, he is dead. See, what a ready tongue suspicion hath? |