Act. iii. sc. 3. Bolingbroke's speech: Noble lord, Go to the rude ribs of that ancient castle, &c. Observe the fine struggle of a haughty sense of power and ambition in Bolingbroke with the necessity for dissimulation. Ib. sc. 4. See here the skill and judgment of our poet in giving reality and individual life, by the introduction of accidents in his historic plays, and thereby making them dramas, and not histories. How beautiful an islet of repose-a melancholy repose, indeed-is this scene with the Gardener and his Servant. And how truly affecting and realizing is the incident of the very horse Barbary, in the scene with the Groom in the last act! Groom. I was a poor groom of thy stable, King, When thou wert King; who, travelling towards With much ado, at length have gotten leave K. Rich. Rode he on Barbary? Bolingbroke's character, in general, is an instance how Shakspeare makes one play introductory to another; for it is evidently a preparation for Henry IV., as Gloster in the third part of Henry VI. is for Richard III. I would once more remark upon the exalted idea of the only true loyalty developed in this noble and impressive play. We have neither the rants of Beaumont and Fletcher, nor the sneers of Massinger; the vast importance of the personal character of the sovereign is distinctly enounced, whilst, at the same time, the genuine sanctity which surrounds him is attributed to, and grounded on, the position in which he stands as the convergence and exponent of the life and power of the state. The great end of the body politic appears to be to humanize, and assist in the progressiveness of, | the animal man ;—but the problem is so complicated with contingencies as to render it nearly impossible to lay down rules for the formation of a state. And should we be able to form a system of government, which should so balance its different powers as to form a check upon each, and so continually remedy and correct itself, it would, nevertheless, defeat its own aim;-for man is destined to be guided by higher principles, by universal views, which can never be fulfilled in this state of existence,-by a spirit of progressiveness which can never be accomplished, for then it would cease to be. Plato's Republic is like Bunyan's Town of Man-Soul,-a description of an individual, all of whose faculties are in their proper subordination and inter-dependence; and this it is assumed may be the prototype of the state as one great individual. But there is this sophism in it, that it is forgotten that the hu man faculties, indeed, are parts and not separate things; but that you could never get chiefs who were wholly reason, ministers who were wholly understanding, soldiers all wrath, labourers all concupiscence, and so on through the rest. Each of these partakes of, and interferes with, all the others. HENRY IV. PART I. ACT I. sc. 1. King Henry's speech: No more the thirsty entrance of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood. A MOST obscure passage: but I think Theobald's interpretation right, namely, that thirsty entrance' means the dry penetrability, or bibulous drought, of the soil. The obscurity of this passage is of the Shakspearian sort. Ib. sc. 2. In this, the first introduction of Falstaff, observe the consciousness and the intentionality of his wit, so that when it does not flow of its own accord, its absence is felt, and an effort visibly made to recall it. Note also throughout how Falstaff's pride is gratified in the power of influencing a prince of the blood, the heir apparent, by means of it. Hence his dislike to Prince John of Lancaster, and his mortification when he finds his wit fail on him: P. John. Fare you well, Falstaff: I, in my condition, Fal. I would you had but the wit; 'twere better than your dukedom.-Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not love me;-nor a man cannot make him laugh. Second Carrier's speech: 6 Act ii. sc. 1. .... breeds fleas like a loach. : Perhaps it is a misprint, or a provincial pronunciation, forleach,' that is, blood-suckers. Had it been gnats, instead of fleas, there might have been some sense, though small probability, in Warburton's suggestion of the Scottishloch.' Possibly loach,' or lutch,' may be some lost word for dovecote, or poultry-lodge, notorious for breeding fleas. In Stevens's or my reading, it should properly be loaches,' or 'leeches,' in the plural; except that I think I have heard anglers speak of trouts like a salmon. 6 Act iii. sc. 1. Glend. Nay, if you melt, then will she run mad. This nay' so to be dwelt on in speaking, as to be equivalent to a dissyllable -, is characteristic of the solemn Glendower; but the imperfect line She bids you Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, &c. is one of those fine hair-strokes of exquisite judgment peculiar to Shakspeare;—thus detaching the Lady's speech, and giving it the individuality and entireness of a little poem, while he draws attention to it. HENRY IV. PART II. ACT II. sc. 2. P. Hen. Sup any women with him? Puge. None, my lord, but old mistress Quickly, and mistress Doll Tear-sheet. I P. Hen. This Doll Tear-sheet should be some road. AM sometimes disposed to think that this re spectable young lady's name is a very old corruption for Tear-street-street-walker, terere stratam (rium.) Does not the Prince's question rather show this? This Doll Tear-street should be some road?' Act iii. sc. 1. King Henry's speech: ..... Then, happy low, lie down ; Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. I know no argument by which to persuade any one to be of my opinion, or rather of my feeling; but yet I cannot help feeling that Happy low-liedown!' is either a proverbial expression, or the burthen of some old song, and means, Happy the man, who lays himself down on his straw bed or chaff pallet on the ground or floor!" Ib. sc. 2. Shallow's speech : Rah, tah, tah, would 'a say; bounce, would 'a say, &c. That Beaumont and Fletcher have more than once been guilty of sneering at their great master, |