alone; I will lay him down fuch reafons for this adventure, that he shall go.

Fal. Well, may't thou have the fpirit of perfuafion, and he the ears of profiting, that what thou speak'it may move, and what he hears may be believ'd; that the true Prince may (for recreation fake.) prove a falfe thief; for the poor abuses of the time want countenance. Farewell, you shall find me in East-cheap.

P. Henry. Farewel, thou latter fpring! Farewel, allhollown fummer! [Exit Fal. Poins Now, my good fweet hony Lord, ride with us to morrow. I have a jeft to execute, that I cannot manage alone. (8) Falstaff, Bardolfe, Peto, and Gadsbill, thall rob thofe men that we have already way-laid; yourself and I will not be there; and when they have the booty, if you and I do not rob them, cut this head off from my fhoulders.

P. Henry.

(S) Falstaff, HARVEY, ROSSIL, and Gads hill all rob those men we have already way-laid.] Thus the whole ftream of editions, from the firft downwards. But thus we have two perfons named,' as characters in this play, that never were once inferted among the Dramatis Perfonæ in any of the impreffions whatfoever. But let us fee who they were, that committed this robbery; and then, perhaps, we may be able to account for this pair of additional thieves, as they at prefent feem. In the fecond act, we come to a scene of the High-way. Falstaff, wanting his horfe, which had been hid on purpose to plague him, calls out on Hal, Poins, Bardolfe, and Peto; and fays, he has a great mind to leave these rogues. Prefently, Gads-bill joins 'em, with intelligence of travellers being at hand; upon which the Prince fays. You four fball front 'em in the narrow lane, Ned Poins and I will walk lower. So that the four to be concerned are Falfaff, Bardolfe, Peto, and Gads-hill. Accordingly, the robbery is committed and the Prince and Poins afterwards rob them four. When the matter comes to an examination in the Boar's-Head Tavern, the Prince rallies Peto and Bardolfe for their running away; who confefs the charge. Upon the evidence now is it not plain, that Bardolfe and Peto were two of the four robbers? And who then can doubt, but Harvey and Rossil were the names of the actors that perform'd thofe two parts; and by mistake, in the old play-house books, put inftead of the names of the characters to be reprefented by them? So, throughout a whole fcene, in Much Ado about Nothing, the names of Kemp and Cowley are

E 3

printed

P. Henry. But how fhall we part with them in fetting forth?

Poins. Why, we will fet forth before or after them; and appoint them a place of meeting, wherein it is at our pleasure to fail; and then will they adventure upon the exploit themfelves, which they shall have no fooner atchiev'd, but we'll fet upon them.

P. Henry. Ay; but, 'tis like, they will know us by our horfes, by our habits, and by every other appointment, to be ourselves.

Poins. Tut, our horfes they fhall not fee, I'll tie them in the wood; our vizors we will change after we leave them; and firrah, I have cafes of buckram for the nonce, to immask our noted outward garments.

P. Henry. But, I doubt, they will be too hard for us. Poins. Well, for two of them, I know them to be as true-bred cowards as ever turn'd back; and for the third, if he fight longer than he fees reafon, I'll forfwear arms. The virtue of this jeft will be, the incomprehenfible lies that this fame fat rogue will tell us when we meet at fupper; how thirty at least he fought with, what wards, what blows, what extremities he endured; and, in the reproof of this, lies the jeft.

P. Henry. Well, I'll go with thee; provide us all things neceffary, and meet me to-morrow night in Eastcheap, there I'll fup. Farewel.

Poins. Farewel, my Lord.

[Exit Poins. P. Henry. I know you all, and will a while uphold The unyok'd humour of your idleness;

Yet herein will I imitate the fun,

Who doth permit the bafe contagious clouds
To fmother up his beauty from the world;

printed in the old books, instead of the Town Clerk and Dogberry : as, in another scene of the fame play, Jack Wilson we find mark'd to enter instead of Balthazar. The like inaccuracies are frequent through Beaumont and Fletcher. It were to be wifhed, indeed, miftakes of this fort had happened throughout our author's works: for fo we might have known what particular parts were perform'd by Shakespeare himself, and the other eminent actors concern'd in the company with him.

That

That when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wondred at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mits
Of vapours, that did feem to ftrangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To fport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they feldom come, they wifht-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off,
And pay the debt I never promised;
By how much better than my word I am,
By fo much fhall I falfify men's hopes;
And, like bright metal on a fullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall fhew more goodly, and attract more eyes,
Than that which hath no foil to fet it off.

I'll fo offend, to make offence a skill;

Redeeming time, when men think least I will. [Exit.

SCENE changes to an Apartment in the Palace.

Enter King Henry, Northumberland, Worcester,
Hotspur, Sir Walter Blunt, and others.

K.Henry. Munapt to ftir at thefe indignities;
you have found me; for accordingly

Y blood hath been too cold and temperate,

And

You tread upon my patience: but be fure,
I will from henceforth rather be myself,
Mighty, and to be fear'd, than my condition,
Which hath been fmooth as oil, foft as young down,
And therefore loft that title of respect,

Which the proud foul ne'er pays, but to the proud.
Wor. Our houfe, my fovereign Liege, little deferves
The fcourge of greatnefs to be used on it;

And that fame greatnefs too, which our own hands
Have help'd to make fo portly.

North. My good Lord,

K. Henry. Worcester, get thee gone; for I do fee Danger and difobedience in thine eye.

O Sir, your presence is too bold and peremptory;
And Majefty might never yet endure
The moody frontier of a fervant brow.
You have good leave to leave us.

Your ufe and counfel, we fhall fend for you.

You were about to speak.

North. Yes, my good Lord.

When we need

Thofe prifoners, in your Highness' name demanded,
Which Harry Percy here at Holmedon took,

Were, as he fays, not with fuch ftrength deny'd
As was deliver'd to your Majefty.

Or envy therefore, or misprifion,

Is guilty of this fault, and not my fon.

Het. My Liege, I did deny no prifoners.
But I remember, when the night was done,
When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil,
Breathlefs, and faint, leaning upon my fword;
Came there a certain Lord, neat, trimly drefs'd;
Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin, new-reap'd,
Shew'd like a stubble land at harveft home.
He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb, he held
A pouncet-box, which ever and anon

He gave his nofe and took't away again;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,
Took it in fnuff.-And ftill he fmil'd, and talk'd;
And as the foldiers bare dead bodies by,
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a flovenly, unhandsome coarfe
Betwixt the wind, and his nobility.

With many holiday and lady terms

He queftion'd me: amongst the reft, demanded
My prifoners, in your Majefty's behalf.

I, then all-fmarting with my wounds being cold,
(To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,)
Out of my grief, and my impatience,
Anfwer'd, neglectingly, I know not what;
He should, or fhould not; for he made me mad,
To fee him fhine fo brifk, and fmell fo fweet,

And

And talk fo like a waiting gentlewoman,

Of guns, and drums, and wounds; (God fave the mark!)
And telling me, the fovereign't thing on earth
Was parmacity, for an inward bruife:

And that it was great pity, fo it was,
This villainous falt-petre fhould be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good, tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly: And but for thefe vile guns,
He would himself have been a foldier.
This bald, unjointed chat of his, my Lord,
I anfwer'd indirectly, as I faid;

And I beseech you, let not this report
Come currant for an accufation,
Betwixt my love and your high Majefty.

Blunt. The circumftance confider'd, good my Lord, Whatever Harry Percy then had faid,

To fuch a perfon, and, in fuch a place,
At fuch a time, with all the rest retold,
May reasonably die; and never rife
To do him wrong, or any way impeach
What then he faid, fo he unfay it now.

K. Henry. Why, yet he doth deny his prifoners,
But with provifo and exception,

That we at our own charge thall ranfom ftrait
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
Who, on my foul, hath wilfully betray'd
The lives of thofe, that he did lead to fight
Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower;
Whole daughter, as we hear, the Earl of March
Hath lately marry'd. Shall our coffers then
Be empty'd, to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treafon ? and indent with fears,
When they have loft and forfeited themselves?
No; on the barren mountains let him ftarve ;
For I fhall never hold that man my friend,
Whofe tongue fhall afk me for one penny coft
To ranfom home revolted Mortimer.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer!