King Henry IV, part 2 ; King Henry V

Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel, And the loud trumpet blowing them together; Then, then, when there was nothing could have staid

My father from the breast of Bolingbroke,

O, when the king did throw his warder down,
His own life hung upon the staff he threw :
Then threw he down himself; and all their lives,
That, by indictment, and by dint of sword,
Have since miscarried under Bolingbroke.

WEST. You speak, lord Mowbray, now you know not what:

The earl of Hereford' was reputed then
In England the most valiant gentleman;
Who knows, on whom fortune would then have
smil'd?

But, if your father had been victor there,
He ne'er had borne it out of Coventry :

For all the country, in a general voice,

Cried hate upon him; and all their prayers, and

love,

Were set on Hereford, whom they doted on,

And bless'd, and grac'd indeed, more than the

king.

But this is mere digression from my purpose.-
Here come I from our princely general,

To know your griefs; to tell you from his grace,
That he will give you audience: and wherein

6 SIGHTS of steel,] i. e. the perforated part of their helmets, through which they could see to direct their aim. Visiere, Fr. STEEVens.

7 The EARL of Hereford-] This is a mistake of our author's. He was Duke of Hereford. See King Richard II. MALONE.

And bless'd, and grac'd INDEED, more than the king.] The two oldest folios, (which first gave us this speech of Westmoreland,) read this line thus:

"And bless'd and grac'd and did more than the king." Dr. Thirlby reformed the text very near to the traces of the corrupted reading. THEOBALD.

It shall appear that your demands are just,
You shall enjoy them; every thing set off,
That might so much as think you enemies.

Mow. But he hath forc'd us to compel this offer; And it proceeds from policy, not love.

WEST. Mowbray, you overween, to take it so; This offer comes from mercy, not from fear: For, lo! within a ken, our army lies; Upon mine honour, all too confident To give admittance to a thought of fear. Our battle is more full of names than yours, Our men more perfect in the use of arms, Our armour all as strong, our cause the best; Then reason wills, our hearts should be as good:Say you not then, our offer is compell'd.

MOWв. Well, by my will, we shall admit no parley.

WEST. That argues but the shame of your offence:

A rotten case abides no handling.

HAST. Hath the prince John a full commission, In very ample virtue of his father,

To hear, and absolutely to determine

Of what conditions we shall stand upon?

WEST. That is intended in the general's name': I muse you make so slight a question.

ARCH. Then take, my lord of Westmoreland, this schedule;

9 Then reason wILLS,] The old copy has will. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Perhaps we ought rather to read-"Then reason The same mistake has, I think, happened in The Merry Wives of Windsor. MALONE.

The sense is clear without alteration. Reason wills-is, reason determines, directs. STEEVENS.

That is INTENDED in the general's name:] That is, this power is included in the name or office of a general. We wonder that you can ask a question so trifling. JOHNSON.

Intended-is understood, i. e. meant without expressing, like entendu, Fr. subauditur, Lat. STEEVENS,

For this contains our general grievances:
Each several article herein redress'd;

All members of our cause, both here and hence,
That are insinew'd to this action,

Acquitted by a true substantial form 2;
And present execution of our wills
To us, and to our purposes, consign'd3;

substantial form;] That is, by a pardon of due form and legal validity. JOHNSON.

3 To us, and to our PURPOSES, CONSIGN'D;] The old copies― confin'd. STEevens.

This schedule we see consists of three parts: 1. A redress of general grievances. 2. A pardon for those in arms. 3. Some demands of advantage for them. But this third part is very strangely expressed.

"And present execution of our wills

"To us, and to our purposes, confin'd."

The first line shows they had something to demand, and the second expresses the modesty of that demand. The demand, says the speaker, "is confined to us and to our purposes." A very modest kind of restriction truly! only as extensive as their appetites and passions. Without question Shakspeare wrote

"To us and to our properties confin'd;

i. e. we desire no more than security for our liberties and properties and this was no unreasonable demand. WARBURTON.

This passage is so obscure that I know not what to make of it. Nothing better occurs to me than to read consign'd for confin'd. That is, let the execution of our demands be put into our hands, according to our declared purposes. JOHNSON.

Perhaps we should read [with Sir Thomas Hanmer] confirm'd. This would obviate every difficulty. STEEVENS. I believe two lines are out of place. I read : "For this contains our general grievances,

"And present execution of our wills;

"To us and to our purposes confin'd." FARMER.

The present reading appears to me to be right; and what they demand is, a speedy execution of their wills, so far as they relate to themselves, and to the grievances which they proposed to redress.

M. MASON.

The quarto has confin'd. In my copy of the first folio, the word appears to be consin'd. The types used in that edition were so worn, that ƒ and are scarcely distinguishable. But however it may have been printed, I am persuaded that the true reading is consign'd; that is, sealed, ratified, confirmed; a Latin

We come within our awful banks again*,
And knit our powers to the arm of peace.

WEST. This will I show the general. Please you, lords,

In sight of both our battles we may meet:

sense: " auctoritate consignata literæ. Cicero pro Cluentio." It has this signification again in this play:

"And (God consigning to my good intents)
"No prince nor peer," &c.

Again, in King Henry V.:

"And take with you free power to ratify,
Augment or alter, as your wisdoms best
"Shall see advantageable for our dignity,
Any thing in or out of our demands;
"And we'll consign thereto."

Again, ibid.: "It were, my lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign to-." Confin'd, in my apprehension, is unintelligible.

Supposing these copies to have been made by the ear, and one to have transcribed while another read, the mistake might easily have happened, for consign'd and consin'd are, in sound, undistinguishable; and when the compositor found the latter word in the manuscript, he would naturally print confin'd, instead of a word

that has no existence.

Dr. Johnson proposed the reading that I have adopted, but explains the word differently. The examples above quoted show, I think, that the explication of this word already given is the true one. MALONE.

Though I have followed Mr. Malone's example by admitting Dr. Johnson's conjecture, the notes of various commentators are left before the reader, to whose judgment they are submitted.

STEEVENS.

4 We come within our AWFUL banks again,] Awful banks are the proper limits of reverence. JOHNSON.

So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

"From the society of awful men."

STEEVENS.

It is also used in the same sense in Pericles:

"A better prince and benign lord

"Prove awful both in deed and word." M. MASON.

Dr. Warburton reads lawful. We have awful in the last Act of this play:

To pluck down justice from her awful bench."

Here it certainly means inspiring awe. If awful banks be right, the words must mean due and orderly limits, MALOne.

And either end in peace, which heaven so frame!
Or to the place of difference call the swords
Which must decide it.

ARCH.

My lord, we will do so.

[Exit WEST. Mow B. There is a thing within my bosom, tells me, That no conditions of our peace can stand.

HAST. Fear you not that: if we can make our peace

Upon such large terms, and so absolute,

As our conditions shall consist upon,

Our peace shall stand as firm as rocky mountains.
MowB. Ay, but our valuation shall be such,
That every slight and false-derived cause,
Yea, every idle, nice 7, and wanton reason,
Shall, to the king, taste of this action:
That, were our royal faiths martyrs in love,

5 AND either-] The old copies read-" At either," &c. That easy, but certain, change in the text, I owe to Dr. Thirlby. THEOBALD.

6 CONSIST upon.] Thus the old copies. Modern editorsinsist. STEEVENS.

So,

Perhaps the meaning is, as our conditions shall stand upon, shall make the foundation of the treaty. A Latin sense. in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609:

"Then welcome peace, if he on peace consist."

Livros