Sir M. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well opposed.
Arch. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear;
And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed:
For if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the King
Dismiss his power, he means to visit us,
For he hath heard of our confederacy;
And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him :
Therefore make haste. I must go write again
To other friends; and so, farewell, Sir Michael.

[Exeunt:

ACT V.

SCENE I. The King's Camp near Shrewsbury.

Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, LANCASTER, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and Sir JOHN FALSTAFF.

King. How bloodily the Sun begins to peer

Above yon bosky hill! the day looks pale

At his distemperature.

Prince.

The southern wind

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes;
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.

King. Then with the losers let it sympathize,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win. —

[The Trumpet sounds..

1 Bosky is woody, bushy. So in Milton's Comus:

I know each lane, and every alley green,
Dingle, or bushy dell of this wild wood,
And every bosky bourn from side to side.

Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.

How now, my Lord of Worcester ! 'tis not well
That you and I should meet upon such terms
As now we meet. You have deceived our trust;
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs 2 in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to't? will you again unknit
This churlish knot of all-abhorrèd war?
And move in that obedient orb3 again
Where you did give a fair and natural light;
And be no more an exhaled meteor,

A prodigy of fear, and a portent

Of broached mischief to the unborn times?
Wor. Hear me, my liege:

For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for, I do protest,

I have not sought the day of this dislike.

King. You have not sought it! why, how comes it, then? Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.

Prince. Peace, chewet,5 peace!

2 The King was at this time but thirty-six years old. But in his development of historical characters Shakespeare had little regard to dates, so he could bring the substance of historic truth within the conditions of dramatic effect; and he here anticipates several years in the King's life, that he may make Prince Henry old enough for the course of action ascribed to him. 8 Obedient orb is orbit of obedience. The Poet often has orb for orbit. 4 Hours is here a dissyllable.

5 The meaning of chewet is thus explained from Bacon's Natural History: "As for chuets, which are likewise minced meat, instead of butter and fat, were good to moisten them partly with cream, or almond and pistachio milk."

Wor. It pleased your Majesty to turn your looks
Of favour from myself and all our House;
And yet I must remember you, my lord,
We were the first and dearest of your friends.
For you my staff of office did I break

In Richard's time; and posted day and night
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.

It was myself, my brother, and his son,

And

That brought you home, and boldly did outdare
The dangers of the time. You swore to us,
you
did swear that oath at Doncaster,
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right,
The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster:
To this we swore our aid. But in short space
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head;
And such a flood of greatness fell on you,
What with our help, what with the absent King,
What with the injuries of a wanton time,
The seeming sufferances that you had borne,
And the contrarious winds that held the King
So long in his unlucky Irish wars

That all in England did repute him dead, –
And, from this swarm of fair advantages,
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand;
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster ;
And, being fed by us, you used us so

As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo-bird,6

6 The cuckoo has a habit of laying her eggs in the hedge-sparrow's nest,

Useth the sparrow; did oppress our nest;

Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk,

That even our love durst not come near your sight
For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing
We were enforced, for safety-sake, to fly
Out of your sight, and raise this present head:
Whereby we stand opposed by such means
As you yourself have forged against yourself,
By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,
And violation of all faith and troth
Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.

King. These things, indeed, you have articulate,8
Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches,
To face the garment of rebellion

With some fine colour that may please the eye
Of fickle changelings and poor discontents,9

The cuckoo chickens

and leaving them there to be hatched by the owner. are then cherished, fed, and cared for by the sparrow as her own children, until they grow so large as to "oppress her nest," and become so greedy and voracious as to frighten and finally drive away their feeder from her own home. Something of the same kind is affirmed of the cuckoo and titlark in Holland's Pliny, which first came out in 1601, some years after this play was written: 'The Titling, therefore, that sitteth, being thus deceived, hatcheth the egge, and bringeth up the chicke of another birde; and this she doth so long, untill the young cuckow, being once fledge and readie to flie abroad, is so bold as to seize upon the old titling, and eat her up that hatched her." Shakespeare seems to have been the first to notice how the hedge-sparrow was wont to be treated by that naughty bird. Gull here means unfledged nestling." So several editors say; still I doubt it, and suspect it has the sense of the Latin gulo, a voracious eater.

་་

7 "We stand opposed" here means "we stand in opposition to you." 8 Articulate is here used in the past tense for articulated, as in the passage from Holland's Pliny in the preceding note: "Being once fledge and readie to flie abroad." To articulate is to set down in articles.

9 Discontents for malcontents. So, again, in Antony and Cleopatra, i. 4: "To the ports the discontents repair."

Which gape and rub the elbow at the news
Of hurlyburly innovation :

And never yet did insurrection want
Such water-colours to impaint his cause;
Nor moody beggars, starving for a time
Of pellmell havoc and confusion.

Prince. In both our armies there is many a soul
Shall pay full dearly for this encounter,

If once they join in trial. Tell your nephew,
The Prince of Wales doth join with all the world
In praise of Henry Percy: by my hopes,
This present enterprise set off his head,10
I do not think a braver gentleman,
More active-valiant or more valiant-young,
More daring or more bold, is now alive
Το grace this latter age with noble deeds.
For my part, — I may speak it to my shame, -
I have a truant been to chivalry ;

And so I hear he doth account me too :
Yet this before my father's Majesty,

-

I am content that he shall take the odds

Of his great name and estimation,

And will, to save the blood on either side,

Try fortune with him in a single fight.

King. And, Prince of Wales, so dare we venture thee,

Albeit considerations infinite

Do make against it. —No, good Worcester, no;

We love our people well; even those we love

That are misled upon your cousin's part;

And, will they take the offer of our grace,

10 His present rebellion being excepted or struck off from his record.