Enter PERCY, with the BISHOP OF CARLISLE. Percy. The grand conspirator, abbot of Westminster, 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 murderèd. The guilt of conscience take thou for thy labor, That blood should sprinkle me to make me grow: I'll make a voyage to the Holy Land, To wash this blood off from my guilty hand:- [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. HENRY PERCY, Earl of Northumberland. ARCHIBALD, Earl of Douglas. Sir RICHARD VERNON. Sir JOHN FALSTAFF. Sir MICHAEL, a Friend of the Archbishop of York. POINS. GADSHILL. BARDOLPH LADY PERCY, Wife to Hotspur, and Sister to Mortimer. LADY MORTIMER, Daughter to Glendower, and Wife to Mortimer. SCENE,-ENGLAND. ACT I. SCENE I.-London. A Room in the Palace. Enter KING HENRY, WESTMORELAND, Sir Walter Blunt, and others. K. Hen. So shaken as we are, so wan with care, And breathe short-winded accents of new broils No more the thirsty entrance of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood; Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven, Forthwith a power of English shall we levy; Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet, Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland, West. My liege, this haste was hot in question, K. Hen. It seems, then, that the tidings of this broil West. This, match'd with other, did, my gracious lord; For more uneven and unwelcome news Came from the north, and thus it did import: Where they did spend a sad and bloody hour; And shape of likelihood, the news was told; K. Hen. Here is a dear, and true-industrious friend, Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours; And he hath brought us smooth and welcome news. Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, On Holmedon's plains: of prisoners, Hotspur took To beaten Douglas, and the earls of Athol, Of Murray, Angus, and Menteith: And is not this an honorable spoil? A gallant prize? ha, cousin, is it not? West. In faith, It is a conquest for a prince to boast of. K. Hen. Yea, there thou mak'st me sad, and mak'st me sin In envy that my lord Northumberland Of my young Harry. O that it could be prov'd, To his own use he keeps; and sends me word, West. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcester, Which makes him prune himself, and bristle up K. Hen. But I have sent for him to answer this; Our holy purpose to Jerusalem. Cousin, on Wednesday next our council we West. I will, my liege. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-London. Another Room in the Palace. Enter PRINCE HENRY and FALSTAFF. Fal. Now, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. Hen. Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly, which thou wouldst truly know. What hast thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack, and minutes capons, I see no reason why thou should'st be so superfluous to demand the time of the day. Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hall; for we that take purses, go by the moon and the seven stars, and not by Phœbus, -he, "that wandering knight so fair." And, I pr'ythee, sweet wag, when thou art king,-as, heaven save thy grace, (majesty, I should say, for grace thou wilt have none,)— |