Did give him that same royalty he wears;
And when he was not six-and-twenty strong,
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low,
A poor unminded outlaw sneaking home,
My father gave him welcome to the shore:
And, when he heard him swear, and vow to God,
He came but to be duke of Lancaster,

To sue his livery, and beg his peace,
With tears of innocency, and terms of zeal,
My father, in kind heart and pity mov'd,
Swore him assistance, and perform'd it too.
Now, when the lords and barons of the realm
Perceiv'd Northumberland did lean to him,
The more and less came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages,
Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,
Laid gifts before him, proffer'd him their oaths,
Gave him their heirs, as pages follow'd him",
Even at the heels, in golden multitudes.
He presently, as greatness knows itself,
Steps me a little higher than his vow
Made to my father, while his blood was poor,
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees,
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth;
Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country's wrongs; and, by this face,
This seeming brow of justice, did he win
The hearts of all that he did angle for:
Proceeded farther; cut me off the heads
Of all the favourites, that the absent king
In deputation left behind him here,
When he was personal in the Irish war.

5 Gave him their heirs, as pages follow'd him,] This is old punctuation, which ought to be some guide, though no rule. Malone suggests that the sense may be, "Gave him their heirs as pages; follow'd him," &c.

Then, to the point.

Blunt. Tut! I came not to hear this.
Hot.
In short 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 worse, suffer'd his kinsman March
(Who is, if every owner were well plac'd,
Indeed his king) to be engag'd in Wales',
There without ransom to lie forfeited;
Disgrac'd me in my happy victories;
Sought to entrap me by intelligence;
Rated my uncle from the council-board;
In rage dismiss'd my father from the court;
Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong,
And, in conclusion, drove us to seek out
This head of safety; and, withal, to pry
Into his title, the which we find

Too indirect for long continuance.

Blunt. Shall I return this answer to the king?
Hot. Not so, sir Walter: we'll withdraw awhile.
Go to the king; and let there be impawn'd
Some surety for a safe return again,

And in the morning early shall mine uncle
Bring him our purposes; and so farewell.

Blunt. I would you would accept of grace and love.
Hot. And, may be, so we shall.

Blunt.

'Pray God you do!
[Exeunt.

6 TASK'D the whole state;] i. e. tar'd the whole state. In the time of Shakespeare, to task seems to have been as commonly used as to tax.

7 to be ENGAG'D in Wales,] Theobald altered "engag'd" into incag'd, but without any ground for the change: "engag'd" signifies delivered as a gage or hostage; and Mr. Barron Field refers me to a line in Act v. sc. 2 of this play, which directly supports the old reading :

"And Westmoreland, that was engag'd, did bear it."

Here Malone properly printed "engag'd," though in the instance of the text above he strangely preferred incag'd.

SCENE IV.

York. A Room in the Archbishop's House.

Enter the Archbishop of YORK, and Sir MICHAEL'.

Arch. Hie, good sir Michael; bear this sealed brief, With winged haste to the lord marshal:

This to my cousin Scroop; and all the rest
To whom they are directed. If you knew

How much they do import, you would make haste.
Sir M. My good lord,

Arch.

Like enough, you do.

To-morrow, good sir Michael, is a day,

Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men
Must bide the touch; for, sir, at Shrewsbury,
As I am truly given to understand,

The king, with mighty and quick-raised power,
Meets with lord Harry: and, I fear, sir Michael,
What with the sickness of Northumberland,
Whose power was in the first proportion,

And what with Owen Glendower's absence thence,
Who with them was a rated sinew too,
And comes not in, o'er-rul'd by prophecies,
I fear, the power of Percy is too weak

To wage an instant trial with the king.

Sir M. Why, my good lord, you need not fear; There is Douglas, and lord Mortimer.

Arch. No, Mortimer is not there.

Sir M. But there is Mordake, Vernon, lord Harry Percy,

8 - and SIR MICHAEL.] So called here, so addressed by the archbishop, and so printed in the prefixes: why his name should be omitted in the modern editions, and he only called "a gentleman," is not explained.

9 a rated SINEw too,] The folio reads, “rated firmly."

And there's my lord of Worcester; and a head
Of gallant warriors, noble gentlemen.

Arch. And so 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 Westmoreland, and warlike Blunt,
And many more corrivals, and dear men

Of estimation and command in arms.

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

Arch. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear,
And, to prevent the worst, sir Michael, speed;
For, if lord Percy thrive not, ere the king
Dismiss his power, he means to visit us,
For he hath heard of our confederacy,

And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him:
Therefore, make haste. I must go write again
To other friends; and so farewell, sir Michael.

[Exeunt.

ACT V. SCENE I.

The King's Camp near Shrewsbury.

Enter King HENRY, Prince HENRY, Prince JOHN of Lancaster, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and Sir JOHN FAL

STAFF.

K. Hen. How bloodily the sun begins to peer Above yond' busky hill10: the day looks pale

At his distemperature.

P. Hen.

The southern wind

10 Above yond' BUSKY hill!] i. e. woody; from the middle Latin boscus, or from the French bosque; therefore more properly spelt bosky, as it stands in "The Tempest," Act iv. sc. 1. Milton also writes it bosky. Peele, in his " Edward I.” 1593, speaks of "a busky wood," which is tautologous, unless we understand it bushy wood. See Dodsley's Old Plays, last edit. vol. xi. p. 78.

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes;
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretels a tempest, and a blustering day.

K. Hen. Then, with the losers let it sympathise,
For nothing can seem foul to those that win.-

[Trumpet sounds.

Enter WORCESTER and VERNON.

How now, my lord of Worcester! 'tis not well,
That you and I should meet upon such terms
As now we meet. You have deceiv'd our trust,
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,
To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord; this is not well.
What say you to it? 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 protest',

I have not sought the day of this dislike.

K. Hen. You have not sought it! how comes it then?

Fal. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it.
P. Hen. Peace, chewet, peace?!

Wor. It pleas'd your majesty, to turn your looks

1 With quiet hours; for, I Do protest,] "Do" was first inserted in the folio, 1623, for the purpose of completing the metre. It also adds to the emphasis.

2 Peace, CHEWET, peace!] Steevens quotes a book of cookery, printed in 1596, and Bacon's Natural History, to prove that "chewet" was a species of fat dish, made of minced meat. On the other hand, Theobald asserts that “chewet” is “a noisy chattering bird-a pie.” He quotes no authority, and seems to have mistaken the species of pie intended. After all, "chewet" may be only a form of printing suet, a word very applicable to Falstaff.