SCENE V.-Pomfret. The Dungeon of the Castle. Enter KING RICHARD. K. Rich. I have been studying how I may compare For no thought is contented. The better sort,- As thus,-"Come, little ones; Come, little ones;" and then again,— Thus play I, in one person, many people, And straight am nothing.-[Music.] Music do I hear? I wasted time, and now doth time waste me; For now hath time made me his numbering clock: Is pointing still, in cleansing them from tears. Are clamorous groans, that strike upon my heart, Thanks, noble peer; Groom. Hail, royal prince! K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Tell me, gentle friend, Groom. So proudly, as if he disdain'd the ground. Spur-gall'd, and tir'd, by jaunting Bolingbroke. Enter Keeper, with a dish. Keep. [To the Groom.] Fellow, give place; here is no longer stay. K. Rich. If thou love me, 'tis time thou wert away. Groom. What my tongue dares not, that my heart shall say. [Exit. Keep. My lord, will't please you to fall to? K. Rich. Taste of it first, as thou art wont to do. Keep. My lord, I dare not: Sir Pierce of Exton, who lately came from the king, commands the contrary. K. Rich. The foul fiend take Henry of Lancaster, and thee! Patience is stale, and I am weary of it. Keep. Help, help, help! [Strikes the Keeper. Enter SIR PIERCE OF EXTON, and Servants, armed. K. Rich. How now! what means death in this rude assault? Villain, thine own hand yields thy death's instrument. [Snatching a weapon, and killing one, and then That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire, [Dies. Both have I spilt;-O, would the deed were good! [Exeunt. SCENE VI.-Windsor. A Room in the Castle. Flourish. Enter BOLINGBROKE as King, YORK, Lords, and Attendants. Boling. Kind uncle York, the latest news we hear Is, that the rebels have consum'd with fire Our town of Cicester in Glostershire; But whether they be ta'en, or slain, we hear not. Enter NORTHUMBERLAND. Welcome, my lord: what is the news? North. First, to thy sacred state wish I all happiness. The heads of Salisbury, Spencer, Blunt, and Kent: [Presenting a paper. Boling. We thank thee, gentle Percy, for thy pains; And to thy worth will add right worthy gains. Enter FITZWATER. Fitz. My lord, I have from Oxford sent to London The heads of Brocas, and Sir Bennet Seely, Two of the dangerous consorted traitors, Boling. Thy pains, Fitzwater, shall not be forgot; Enter PERCY, with the BISHOP of Carlisle. Percy. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster, But here is Carlisle living, to abide Thy kingly doom and sentence of his pride. Choose out some secret place, some reverend room, Enter EXTON, with Attendants bearing a coffin. The mightiest of thy greatest enemies, Richard of Bourdeaux, by me hither brought. Boling. Exton, I thank thee not; for thou has wrought A deed of slander, with thy fatal hand, Upon my head, and all this famous land. Exton. From your own mouth, my lord, did I this deed. I hate the murderer, love him murdered. The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labor, That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow: [Exeunt. THE HISTORY OF KING HENRY IV. PART I. SHAKSPEARE seems to have designed that the whole series of action, from the beginning of Richard II. to the end of Henry V. should be considered as one work upon one plan, only broken into parts by the necessity of exhibition. In following out this design, the Poet has drawn largely from "The Chronicles" for his strictly historical characters and incidents; thus exhibiting the men and deeds of the times vividly and impressively, and presenting to the student of History the "truest conceptions of England's feudal ages." In this play Shakspeare has introduced a group of imaginary characters, who, although not strictly historical, are yet faithful types of certain phases of society in the period represented. These fictitious personages are made to surround the young and dissolute Prince Henry, and, with their rich comic humor, serve to make the two parts of Henry IV. the most attractive of the whole historical series. Foremost in this imaginary creation looms the unapproachable Falstaff, a character so rich in humor and so lifelike in its embodiment, that we feel it impossible not to conceive him to be as strictly historical in his delineation as Henry IV. himself. In our necessary revision of the humors of the fat knight, we have endeavored in all earnestness not to divest him of his inimitable characteristics. The transactions contained in this Historical Drama are comprised within the period of about ten months, for the action commences with the battle of Halidown Hill, or Holmedon, which was fought on Holy-rood day (the 14th of September), 1402, and it closes with the defeat and death of Hotspur, at Shrewsbury, which engagement happened on Saturday, the 21st July, 1403. PERSONS REPRESENTED. KING HENRY THE FOURTH. HENRY, Prince of Wales, PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER, Sons to the King. RALPH NEVILLE, Earl of Westmoreland. Sir WALTER BLUNT. THOMAS PERCY, Earl of Worcester, |