If

Enter Sir Walter Blunt.

Blunt. I come with gracious Offers from the King, you vouchsafe me hearing, and respect.

Hot. Welcome, Sir Walter Blunt and would to God, You were of our determination;

7.

Some of us love you well, and ev'n thofe Some
Envy your great defervings, and good name,
Because you are not of our quality;

But ftand against us like an enemy.

Blunt. And heav'n defend, but ftill I fhould ftand fo, So long as out of limit, and true rule,

You ftand against anointed Majefty.

But, to my Charge The King hath fent to know
The nature of your griefs, and whereupon

You conjure from the breaft of civil peace
Such bold hoftility, feaching his dutious Land
Audacious cruelty.If that the King

Have any way your good deferts forgot,
Which he confeffeth to be manifold,

He bids you name your griefs:and with all speed
You shall have your defires, with intereft:

And pardon abfolute for your felf, and these,

Herein mif-led by your fuggeftion.

1

Hot. The King is kind: and well we know, the King Knows at what time to promife, when to pay. My father and my uncle, and my self,good lo Did give him that fame Royalty he wears: And when he was not fix and twenty ftrong, Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, A poor unminded Out-law, fneaking home, My father gave him welcome to the fhore: And when we heard him fwear, and vow to God, He came to be but Duke of Lancaster, To fue his livery and beg his peace, With tears of innocence and terms of zeal, My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd, Swore him affiftance, and perform'd it too. Now, when the Lords and Barons of the Realm Perceiv'd, Northumberland did lean to him, VOL. III. E e

They

They, more and lefs, came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages,
Attended him on bridges, ftood in lanes,
Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths,
Gave him their heirs, as pages following him
Even at the heels, in golden multitudes.
He presently, as Greatnefs knows it felf,
Steps me a little higher than his vow
Made to my father, while his blood was poor,
Upon the naked fhore at Ravenfpurg:

And now, forfooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain Edicts, and fome ftrait Decrees,
That lay too heavy on the Common-wealth;
Cries out upon abuses, feems to weep
Over his Country's wrongs; and by this face,
This feeming brow of justice, did he win
The hearts of all that he did angle for:
Proceeded further, cut me off the heads
Of all the Fav'rites that the absent King
In Deputation left behind him here,
When he was perfonal in the Irish war.
Blunt. I came not to hear this.
Hot. Then, to the point.

In fhort time after, he depos'd the King,
Soon after That depriv'd him of his life:

And, in the neck of That, task'd the whole State.

To make that worfe, fuffer'd his kinfman March,
(Who is, if every Owner were right plac'd,
Indeed, his King) to be encag'd in Wales,
There without ranfom to lie forfeited:
Difgrac'd me in my happy Victories,
Sought to intrap me by intelligence,
Rated my uncle from the Council-board,
In rage difmifs'd my father from the Court,
Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong,
And in conclufion drove us to feek out

1

This head of fafety, and withal to pry.

Into his Title too, the which we find
Too indirect for long continuance..

Blunt. Shall I return this anfwer to the King?

Hot.

Hot. Not fo, Sir Walter; we'll withdraw a while:

Go to the King, and let there be impawn'd

Some Surety for a fafe return again;

And in the morning early fhall my unele
Bring him our purposes: and fo farewel.

Blunt. I would, you would accept of grace and love!

Hot. It may be, so we shall.

Blunt. Pray heav'n, you do!

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to the Archbishop of York's Palace.

Enter the Archbishop of York, and Sir Michell. York. HIE, good Sir Michell, bear this fealed bridf With winged hafte to the Lord Marefhal ;

This to my coufin Scroop, and all the rest
To whom they are directed: if you knew
How much they do import, you wou'd make hafte.
Sir Mich. My lord, I guess their tenour.
York. Like enough.

To morrow, good Sir Michell, is a day,
Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Muft bide the touch. For, Sir, at Shrewsbury,
As I am truly giv'n to understand,

The King, with mighty and quick-railed Power,
Meets with lord Harry; and I fear, Sir Michell,
What with the fickness of Northumberland,
Whofe Pow'r was in the firft proportion;
And what with Owen Glendower's abfence thence,
Who with them was a rated finew too,
And comes not in, o'er-rul'd by prophecies;
I fear, the Pow'r of Percy is too weak,

To wage an inftant tryal with the King.

Sir Mich. Why, my good lord, there's Douglas, and lord Mortimer.

York. No, Mortimer is not there.

Sir Mich. But there is Mordako, Vernon, Harry Percy, And there's my lord of Worcester, and a head

Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.

Eez

York.

York. And fo there is: but yet the King hath drawn
The special head of all the Land together:
The Prince of Wales, lord John of Lancaster,
The noble Westmorland, and warlike Blunt ;
And many more corrivals, and dear men

Of eftimation and command in arms.

Sir Mich. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well
oppos'd.

York. I hope no lefs: yet, needful 'tis to fear.
And to prevent the worft, Sir Michell, fpeed;
For if lord Percy thrive not, ere the King
Difmifs his Power, he means to vifit us;
For he hath heard of our Confederacy,
And 'tis but wifdom to make ftrong against him:
Therefore make haste, I must go write again
To other friends; and fo farewel, Sir Michell. [Exeunt.

A CT V.

SCENE, the Camp at Shrewsbury.

Enter King Henry, Prince of Wales, Lord John of Lancaster, Earl of Westmorland, Sir Walter Blunt, and Falstaff.

H

K. HENRY.

OW bloodily the Sun begins to peer
Above yon busky hill! the day fooks pale
At his diftemperature.

P. Henry. The fouthern wind

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes,
And, by his hollow whiftling in the leaves,
Foretels a tempeft, and a bluft'ring day.

OK, Henry, Then with the lofers let it fympathize,
For nothing can feem foul to those that win..

[The Trumpet founds.

Enter

1.I

Enter Worcester, and Sir Richard Vernon.
K. Henry, How now, my lord of Wor' fter? 'tis not
well,
That you and I should meet upon fuch terms
As now we meet. You have deceiv'd our Trust,
And made us doff our eafie robes of Peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What fay you to't? will you again unknit
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war,
And move in that obedient Orb again,
Where you did give a fair and natural light;
And be no more an exhal'd 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 proteft,

I have not fought the day of this diflike.

K. Henry. You have not fought it, Sir? how comes it then?

Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it. (20)

(20) Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.

Prince. Peace, Chevet, peace.] This, I take to be an arbitrary Refinement of Mr. Pope's: nor can I eafily agree, that Chevet is ShakeSpeare's Word here. Why fhould Prince Henry call Falstaff Bolfter, for interpofing in the Difcourfe betwixt the King and Worcester? With Submiffion, he does not take him up here for his unreasonable Size, but for his ill-tim'd unfeafonable Chattering. I therefore have preferr'd the Reading of the Old Books. A Chewet, or Chuet, is a noify chattering Bird, a Pie. This carries a proper Reproach to Falstaff for his meddling and impertinent Jeft. And befides, if the Poet had intended that the Prince fhould fleer at Falstaff, on Account of his Corpulency, I doubt not, but he would have call'd him Bolter in plain English, and not have wrapp'd up the Abuse in the French Word Chevet. In another Paffage of this Play, the Prince honeftly calls him Quilt; "Tis pity, Mr. Pope did not turn this into Lodier, or Materas, if his French would extend fo far. As to Prince Henry, his Stock in this Language was fa fmall, that when he comes to be King, he hammers out one fmall Sentence of it to Princess Catharine, and tells her, It is as eafy for him to conquer the Kingdom as to speak fo much more French.

E e 3

P. Henry