And curbs himself even of his natural scope,
When you do cross his humour; 'faith, he does :
I warrant you, that man is not alive,

Might so have tempted him as you have done,
Without the taste of danger and reproof;
But do not use it oft, let me entreat you.

Wor. In faith, my lord, you are too wilful-blame ;*
And since your coming hither have done enough
To put him quite beside his patience.

You must needs learn, lord, to amend this fault :
Though sometimes it show greatness, courage, blood,
(And that's the dearest grace it renders you,)
Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage,
Defect of manners, want of government,
Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain :
The least of which, haunting a nobleman,

Loseth men's hearts; and leaves behind a stain
Upon the beauty of all parts besides,

Beguiling them of commendation.

Hot. Well, I am school'd; good manners be your speed!

Here come our wives, and let us take our leave.

Re-enter GLENDOWER, with the ladies.

Mort. This is the deadly spite that angers me,My wife can speak no English, I no Welsh.

Glen. My daughter weeps; she will not part with you, She'll be a soldier too, she'll to the wars.

Mort. Good father, tell her,—that she, and my aunt Percy,

Shall follow in your conduct speedily.

[GLENDOWER speaks to his daughter in Welsh, and she answers him in the same.

Glend. She's desperate here; a peevish self-will'd harlotry,

One no persuasion can do good upon.

[Lady M. speaks to MORTIMER in Welsh. that pretty Welsh

Mort. I understand thy looks

Which thou pourest down from these swelling heavens,

I am too perfect in; and, but for shame,

In such a parley would I answer thee. [LadyM.speaks.

I understand thy kisses, and thou mine,

(8) This is a mode of speech with which I am not acquainted. Perhaps it might be read, too wilful-blunt, or, too wilful bent.

JOHNS.

And that's a feeling disputation :

But I will never be a truant, love,

Till I have learn'd thy language; for thy tongue
Makes Welsh as sweet as ditties highly penn'd,
Sung by a fair queen in a summer's bower,
With ravishing division, to her lute.

Glend. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad.
[Lady M. speaks again.
Mort. O, I am ignorance itself in this.
Glend. She bids you,

Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, 9
And rest your gentle head upon her lap,
And she will sing the song that pleaseth you,
And on your eye-lids crown the god of sleep,
Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness;
Making such difference 'twixt wake and sleep,*
As is the difference betwixt day and night,
The hour before the heavenly-harness'd team
Begins his golden progress in the east.

Mort. With all my heart I'll sit, and hear her sing :
By that time will our book, I think, be drawn.
Glend. Do so;

And those musicians that shall play to you,

Hang in the air a thousand leagues from hence ;
Yet straight they shall be here; sit, and attend.

Hot. Come, Kate, thou art perfect in lying down: Come, quick, quick; that I may lay my head in thy lap. Lady P. Go, ye giddy goose.

[GLENDOWER speaks some Welsh words, and then the music plays.

Hot. Now I perceive, the devil understands Welsh ; And 'tis no marvel, he's so humorous.

By'r-lady, he's a good musician.

Lady P. Then should you be nothing but musical; for you are altogether governed by humours. Lie still, ye thief, and hear the lady sing in Welsh.

Hot. I had rather hear Lady, my brach, howl in Irish.
Lady P. Would'st thou have thy head broken?
Hot. No.

[9] It was the custom in this country, for many ages to strew the floors with rushes, as we now cover them with carpets. JOHNS.

[] She will lull you by her song into soft tranquillity, in which you shall be so near to sleep as to be free from perturbation, and so much awake as to be sensible of pleasure; a state partaking of sleep and wakefulness, as the twilight of night and day. JOHŃ. [2] Our paper conditions. JOHN.

20* VOL. IV.

Lady P. Then be still.

Hot. Neither; 'tis a woman's fault.

Lady P. Now God help thee!

Hot. To the Welsh lady's bed.

Lady P. What's that?

Hot.Peace! she sings. [A Welsh Song sung by Lady M. Come, Kate, I'll have your song too.

Lady P. Not mine, in good sooth.

Hot. Not yours, in good sooth! 'Heart, you swear like a comfit-maker's wife! Not you, in good sooth; and, As true as I live; and, As God shall mend me; and, As sure as day :

And giv'st such sarcenet surety for thy oaths,

As if thou never walk'dst further than Finsbury.
Swear me, Kate, like a lady, as thou art,

A good mouth-filling oath; and leave in sooth,
And such protest of pepper-gingerbread, 3
To velvet-guards, 4 and Sunday-citizens.
Come, sing.

Lady P. I will not sing.

Hot. "Fis the next way to turn tailor, or be red-breast teacher.5 An the indentures be drawn, I'll away within these two hours; and so come in when ye will. [Exit. Glend. Come, come, lord Mortimer; you are as slow As hot lord Percy is on fire to go.

By this our book's drawn; we'll but seal, and then
To horse immediately.

Mort. With all my heart.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

London. A Room in the Palace

Enter King HENRY, Prince

of Wales, and Lords.

K. Hen. Lords, give us leave; the Prince of Wales

and I,

Must have some conference: But be near at hand,
For we shall presently have need of you.—

[Exeunt Lords.

[3] i. e. protestations as common as the letters which children learn from an alphabet of gingerbread What we now call spice gingerbread was then called pepper gingerbread STEEV. Such protestations as are uttered by the makers of gingerbread

MALONE.

[4] To such as have their clothes adorned with shreds of velvet, which was I suppose the finery of cockneys JOHNS "The cloaks, doublets," &c says Stubbs in his Anatomy of Abuses, were guarded with velvet guaris, or else laced with costly lice." STEEV. [5] The next way is the nearest way. STEEV

I know not whether God will have it so,
For some displeasing service I have done,
That in his secret doom, out of my blood
He'll breed revengement and a scourge for me;
But thou dost, in thy passages of life,

Make me believe,-that thou art only mark'd
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heaven,
To punish my mis-treadings. Tell me else,
Could such inordinate, and low desires,

Such poor, such bare, such lewd, such mean attempts,
Such barren pleasures, rude society,

As thou art match'd withal, and grafted to,
Accompany the greatness of thy blood,

And hold their level with thy princely heart?
P. Hen. So please your majesty, I would, I could
Quit all offences with as clear excuse,
As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge
Myself of many I am charg'd withal:
Yet such extenuation let me beg,

As, in reproof of many tales devis'd, 7-
Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,-
By smiling pick-thanks, and base newsmongers,
I may, for some things true, wherein my youth
Hath faulty wander'd and irregular,

Find pardon on my true submission.

K. Hen.God pardon thee!-yet let me wonder, Harry, At thy affections, which do hold a wing

Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou hast rudely lost,
Which by thy younger brother is supplied ;
And art almost an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood:
The hope and expectation of thy time
Is ruin'd; and the soul of every man
Prophetically does fore-think thy fall.
Had I so lavish of my presence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
So stale and cheap to vulgar company;
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had still kept loyal to possession ;9

[6] In the passages of thy life.

STEEV.

171 Reproof here means disproof. M. MASON.

[8] i. e. officious parasites. STEEV

[9] True to him that had then possession of the crown. JOHNS.

And left me in reputeless banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
By being seldom seen, I could not stir,
But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at:

That men would tell their children, This is he ;
Others would say,-Where? which is Bolingbroke?
And then I stole all courtesy from heaven,'
And dress'd myself in such humility,

That I did pluck allegiance from men's hearts,
Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths,
Even in the presence of the crowned king.
Thus did I keep my person fresh, and new ;
My presence, like a robe pontifical,

Ne'er seen, but wonder'd at: and so my state,
Seldom, but sumptuous, showed like a feast;
And won, by rareness, such solemnity.

The skipping king, he ambled up and down
With shallow jesters, and rash bavin wits, 2
Soon kindled, and soon burn'd: carded his state ;3
Mingled his royalty with capering fools;

Had his great name profaned with their scorns ;
And gave his countenance, against his name,
To laugh at gibing boys, and stand the push
Of every beardless vain comparative :4
Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:5

That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They surfeited with honey; and began

To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occasion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,

Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes,
As, sick and blunted with community,

[1] The meaning, I apprehend, is,-I was so affable and popular that I engrossed the devotion and reverence of all men to myself, and thus defrauded heaven of its worshippers.

MAL

[2] Rash is heady, thoughtless: Bavin, is brushwood, which, fired, burns fiercely, but is soon out. JOHNS.

[3] By carding his state, the King means that his predecessor set his consequence to hazard, played it away (as a man loses his fortune) at cards. RITSON.

[4] Of every boy whose vanity incited him to try his wit against the king's. When Louis XIV was asked, why, with so much wit, he never attempted raillery, he answered, that he who practised raillery, ought to bear it in his turn, and that to stand the butt of raillery was not suitable to the dignity of a king. Scudery's Conversation. JOHNS

[5] To enfeoff, is a law term, signifying to invest with possession. STEE.