Wor. Then are we all undone.

It is not poffible, it cannot be,

The king fhould keep his word in loving us;
He will fufpect us ftill, and find a time

To punish this offence in other faults:

* Sufpicion, all our lives, fhall be stuck full of eyes:
For treafon is but trusted like the fox;
Who, ne'er fo tame, fo cherish'd, and lock'd up,
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.
Look how we can, or fad, or merrily,
Interpretation will mifquote our looks;
And we fhall feed like oxen at a ftall,
The better cherish'd, ftill the nearer death.
My nephew's trefpafs may be well forgot,
It hath the excufe of youth, and heat of blood;
And an adopted name of privilege,-

A hare-brain'd Hotfpur, govern'd by a spleen:
All his offences live upon my head,

And on his father's;-we did train him on;
And, his corruption being ta'en from us,
We, as the spring of all, fhall pay for all.
Therefore, good coufin, let not Harry know,
In any cafe, the offer of the king.

Ver. Deliver what you will, I'll fay, 'tis fo.
Here comes your coufin.

Enter Hotfpur, and Douglas.

Hot. My uncle is return'd;-Deliver up
My lord of Weftmoreland.-Uncle, what news?
Wor. The king will bid you battle presently.

Sufpicion, all our lives, fhall be fuck full of eyes:] The fame image of fufpicion is exhibited in a Latin tragedy, called Roxana, written about the fame time by Dr, William Alablaster.

All the old copies read-fuppofition. STEEVENS.

3

an adopted name of privilege,

A bare-brain'd Hotspur,

JOHNSON.

The name of Hotspur will privilege him from cenfure. JOHNSON.

Doug. Defy him by the lord of Westmoreland.
Hot. Lord Douglas, go you and tell him fo.
Doug. Marry, and fhall, and very willingly.
[Exit Douglas.
Wor. There is no feeming mercy in the king.
Hot. Did you beg any? God forbid!
Wor. I told him gently of our grievances,
Of his oath-breaking; which he mended thus,-
By now forfwearing that he is forfworn.

He calls us, rebels, traitors; and will scourge
With haughty arms this hateful name in us.

Re-enter Douglas.

Doug. Arm, gentlemen, to arms! for I have thrown A brave defiance in king Henry's teeth,

+ And Weftmoreland, that was engag'd, did bear it; Which cannot chufe but bring him quickly on.

Wor. The prince of Wales ftept forth before the king,

And, nephew, challeng'd you to fingle fight.

Hot. O, would the quarrel lay upon our heads;
And that no man might draw fhort breath to-day,
But I, and Harry Monmouth! Tell me, tell me,
How fhew'd his tasking? feem'd it in contempt?
Ver. No, by my foul; I never in my life
Did hear a challenge urg'd more modeftly,
Unless a brother fhould a brother dare
To gentle exercise and proof of arms.
He gave you all the duties of a man;
Trimm'd up your praises with a princely tongue;
Spoke your defervings like a chronicle;

4 And Weftmoreland, that was engag'd,-] Engag'd is delivered as an hostage. A few lines before, upon the return of Worcefter, he orders Weftmoreland to be difmiffed. JOHNSON.

5 How fhew'd his tasking?] Thus the quarto 1598. The others, with the folio read-talking. STEEVENS.

Making you ever better than his praife,
"By ftill difpraifing praise, valu'd with you:
And, which became him like a prince indeed,
"He made a blufhing cital of himself;
And chid his truant youth with fuch a grace,
As if he mafter'd there a double fpirit,
Of teaching, and of learning, inftantly.
There did he paufe: But let me tell the world,—
If he out-live the envy of this day,
England did never owe fo fweet a hope,
So much mifconftrued in his wantonnefs.
Hot. Coufin, I think, thou art enamoured
Upon his follies; never did I hear

6

By fill difpraifing praise, valu'd with you.] This foolish line is indeed in the folio of 1623, but it is evidently the player's nonfense. WARBURTON.

This line is not only in the first folio, but in all the editions before it that I have feen. Why it should be cenfured as nonsense I know not. To vilify praife, compared or valued with merit fuperior to praise, is no harth expreffion. There is another objection to be made. Prince Henry, in his challenge of Percy, had indeed commended him, but with no fuch hyperboles as might reprefent him above praife; and there feems to be no reason why Vernon fhould magnify the prince's candor beyond the truth. Did then Shakespeare forget the foregoing fcene? or are fome lines loft from the prince's fpeech? JOHNSON.

He made a blufbing cital of himfelf:] Cital for taxation.

POPE. Mr. Pope obferves that by cital is meant taxation; but I rather think it means recital. The verb is used in that fenfe in the Two Gentlemen of Verona, act IV. fc. i:

66

for we cite our faults,

"That they may hold excus'd our lawless lives."

Again, in K. Hen. V. act V. fc. ii:

"Whose want gives growth to the imperfections
"Which you have cited, &c."

Again, in Titus Andronicus, act V:

I do digrefs too much,

"Citing my worthlefs praise." COLLINS.

he mafter'd- -] i, e. was master of. STEEVENS.

Of

• Of any prince, fo wild, at liberty:-
But, be he as he will, yet once ere night
I will embrace him with a foldier's arm,
That he shall shrink under my courtefy.

Arm, arm, with speed:And, fellows, foldiers, friends,

Better confider what you have to do,
Than I, that have not well the gift of tongue,
Can lift your blood up with perfuafion.

Enter a Meffenger.

Meff. My lord, here are letters for you.
Hot. I cannot read them now.-
O gentlemen, the time of life is short;
To spend that shortnefs bafely, were too long,
If life did ride upon a dial's point,

Still ending at the arrival of an hour.

An if we live, we live to tread on kings;
If die, Brave death, when princes die with us!
Now for our confciences,-the arms are fair,
When the intent for bearing them is just.

Enter another Messenger.

Meff. My lord, prepare; the king comes on apace. Hot. I thank him, that he cuts me from my tale, For I profefs not talking; Only this

Let each man do his beft: and here draw I
A fword, whofe temper I intend to stain
With the best blood that I can meet withal

9 Of any prince, fo wild, at liberty:] Of any prince that played fuch pranks, and was not confined as a madman.

JOHNSON. The quartos 1598, 1599, and 1608, read-fo avild a libertie. Perhaps the author wrote-fo wild a libertine. Thus, in Antony and Cleopatra:

66

Tye up the libertine in a field of feasts." STEEVENS. If life] Thus the old copies. Modern editors read: Though life. STEEVENS.

In

In the adventure of this perilous day.
"Now,-Efperance!-Percy!-and set on.-
Sound all the lofty inftruments of war,
And by that mufic let us all embrace :

For, heaven to earth, fome of us never fhall
A fecond time do fuch a courtesy.

[The trumpets found. They embrace, then exeunt.

The King entereth with his power. Alarum to the battle. Then enter Douglas, and Blunt.

Blunt. What is thy name, that in the battle thus Thou croffeft me? what honour doft thou feek Upon my head?

Doug. Know then, my name is Douglas ; And I do haunt thee in the battle thus,

Because fome tell me that thou art a king.

Blunt. They tell thee true.

Doug. The lord of Stafford dear to-day hath bought Thy likeness; for, inftead of thee, king Harry, This fword hath ended him: fo fhall it thee, Unless thou yield thee as my prifoner.

Blunt. I was not born a yielder, thou proud Scot; And thou fhalt find a king that will revenge Lord Stafford's death.

2 Now-Esperance!-] This was the word of battle on Percy's fide. See Hall's Chronicle, folio 22. POPE.

Efperance, or Esperanza, has always been the motto of the Percy family. Efperance en Dieu is the present motto of the duke of Northumberland, and has been long used by his predeceffors. Sometimes it was expreffed Efperance ma Comforte, which is ftill Jegible at Alnwick caftle over the great gate. PERCY.

For, beaven to earth,-] i. e. One might wager heaven to earth.
WARBURTON.