No more the thirsty entrance of this Soil

Shall damp her lips with her own children's blood
No more fhall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowrets with the armed hoofs
Of hoftile paces. Thofe oppofed eyes,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heav'n,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the inteftine fhock
And furious clofe of civil butchery,

Shall now, in mutual, well-befeeming, ranks
March all one way; and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies;
The edge of war, like an ill-fheathed knife,
No more fhall cut his mafter. Therefore, friends,
As far as to the fepulchre of Christ,

(Whose foldier now, under whofe bleffed Cross
We are impreffed, and engag'd to fight)
Forthwith a Power of English fhall we levy;
Whofe arms were moulded in their mothers' womb
To chase these Pagans, in those holy fields
Over whofe acres walk'd thofe bleffed feet,
Which, fourteen hundred years ago, were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter Crofs.
But this our purpose is a twelvemonth old,
And bootlefs 'tis to tell you we will go.
Therefore, we meet not now: Then let me hear,
Of you my gentle Coufin Weftmorland,
What yefternight our Council did decree,
In forwarding this dear expedience.

Weft. My Liege,. this hafte was hot in question,
And many limits of the Charge fet down
But yefternight: when, all athwart, there came
A Poft from Wales, loaden with heavy news;
Whofe worft was, that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
Against th' irregular and wild Glendower,
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken;
A thousand of his people butchered,
Upon whofe dead corps there was fuch mifufe,
Such beaftly, fhameless transformation,

By

By thofe Welsh women done, as may not be,-
Without much shame, re-told or fpoken of.

K. Henry. It feems then, that the tidings of this broil Brake off our business for the holy Land.

Weft. This, matcht with other, did, my gracious lord ; For more uneven and unwelcome news

Came from the North, and thus it did import.
On holy-rood day, the gallant Hot-Spur there,
Young Harry-Percy, and brave Archibald,
That ever-valiant and approved Scot,
At Holmedon fpent a fad and bloody hour:
As by discharge of their artillery,

And fhape of likelihood, the news was told;
For he, that brought it, in the very heat
And pride of their contention, did take horse,
Uncertain of the issue any way.

K. Henry. Here is a dear and true-induftrious friend,
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each, foil
Betwixt that Holmedon, and this Seat of ours
And he hath brought us fmooth and welcome news.
The Earl of Dowglas is difcomfited;

Ten thousand bold Scots, three and twenty Knights,
Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter fee
On Holmedon's plains. Of prifoners, Hot-fpur took
Mordake the Earl of Fife, and eldest fon

To beaten Douglas, and the Earls of Athol,
Of Murry, Angus, and Menteith.

And is not this an honourable spoil?

A gallant prize? cha, cousin, is it not?

Weft. In faith, a conqueft for a Prince to boaft of. K. Henry, Yea, there thou mak'st me fad, and mak'st mé fin

In Envy, that my lord Northumberland...

Should be the father of so bleft a fon:

A fon, who is the theam of Honour's tongue
Amongst a grove, the very ftraightest plant
Who is fweet Fortune's Minion, and her Pride:
Whilft I, by looking on the praise of him,
See riot and dishonour stain the brow

Of

Of my young Harry. O could it be prov'd,
That fome night-tripping Fairy had exchang'd,
In cradle-cloaths, our children where they lay,
And call'd mine Percy, his Plantagenet;
Then would I have his Harry, and he mine.

But let him from my thoughts.What think you,
Coufin,

Of this young Percy's pride? the prisoners,
Which he in this adventure hath furpriz❜d,
To his own use he keeps, and fends me word,
I shall have none but Mordake Earl of Fife.

Weft. This is his uncle's teaching, this is Worcester, Malevolent to you in all aspects;

Which makes him prune himself, and briftle up
The Creft of youth against your Dignity.

K. Henry. But I have fent for him to answer this
And for this caufe a while we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerufalem.

Coufin, on Wednesday next, our Council we
Will hold at Windsor, fo inform the lords:
But come your felf with fpeed to us again ;
For more is to be faid, and to be done,
Than out of anger can be uttered.
Weft. I will, my Liege.

[Exeunt.

SCENE, an Apartment of the Prince's.

Enter Henry Prince of Wales, and Sir John Falstaff.

Fal.

N°. TOW, Hal, what time of day is it, lad? P. Henry. Thou art fo fat-witted with drinking old fack, and unbuttoning thee after fupper, and fleeping upon benches in the afternoon, that thou haft forgotten to demand That truly, which thou would't truly know. What a devil haft thou to do with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of fack, and minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the figns of leaping-houfes, and the bleffed Sun himself a fair hot wench in flame-colour'd taffata; I fee no reason why thou

should't

fhould't be fo fuperfluous, to demand the time of the day.

Fal. Indeed, you come near me now, Hal. For we, that take purfes, go by the moon and feven ftars, and not by Phoebus, he that wandring knight so fair. And, I pray thee, fweet wag, when thou art King as God fave thy Grace, (Majefty, I fhould fay; for grace thou wilt have none.)

P. Henry. What! none?

Fal. No, by my troth, not fo much as will serve to be prologue to an egg and butter.

P. Henry. Well, how then? come, roundly, roundlyFal. Marry then, fweet wag, when thou art King, (2) let not us that are fquires of the night's body, be call'd thieves of the day's booty. Let us be Diana's forefters, gentlemen of the fhade, minions of the Moon; and let men fay, we be men of good government, being governed as the Sea is, by our noble and chaft miftrefs the Moon, under whofe countenance we fteal.

P. Henry. Thou fay't well, and it holds well too; for the fortune of us, that are the Moon's men, doth ebb and flow like the Sea; being govern'd as the Sea is, by the Moon. As for proof, now: a purse of gold moft refolutely fnatch'd on Monday night, and moft diffolutely fpent on Tuesday morning; got with fwearing, lay by; and fpent with crying, bring in: now in as low an ebb as the foot of the ladder; and by and by in as high a flow as the ridge of the gallows.

to me.

(z) Let››not Us, that are Squires of the Night's body, be call'd Thieves of the Day's Beauty.] This conveys no manner of Idea How could They be call'd Thieves of the Day's Beauty? They robb'd by Moon-fhine; they could not steal the fair Day-light. I have ventur'd to fubftitute, Booty and This I take to be the Meaning. Let us not be call'd Thieves, the Purloiners of that Booty, which, to the Proprietors, was the Purchase of honest Labour and Industry by Day..

Fal.

Fal. By the lord, thou fay't true, lad: and, is not mine Hoftefs of the tavern a moft fweet wench?

(3) P. Henry. As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the caftle; and is not a buff-jerkin a moft fweet robe of durance?

Fal. How now, how now, mad wag; what in thy quips and thy quiddities? what a plague have I to do with a buff jerkin?

P. Henry. Why, what a pox have I to do with my Hoftefs of the tavern?

(3) As the Honey of Hybla, my Old Lad of the Caftle.] Mr. Rowe, (as I have óbferv'd în a Note on The Merry Wives of Windfor,) took notice of a Tradition, that this Part of FalBaff was faid to have been written originally under the Name of Oldcastle. An ingenious Correfpondent (whom I only know by his figning himself L. H.) hints to me, that the Paffage above quoted from our Author proves, what Mr. Rowe tells us was a Tradition. Old Lad of the Caffle feems to have a Refe rence to Oldcastle. Befides, if this not been the Fact, (before the Change was made to Falstaff) why,, in the Epilogue to the Second Part of Henry IV. where our Author promifes to continue his Story with Sir John in it, should he say, Where, for any Thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a Sweat, unless already be be kill'd with your bard Opinions: for Oldcastle dy'd Martyr, and This is not the Man. This looks like declining a Point, that had been made an Objection to him. I'll give a farther Matter in Proof, which feems almost to fix the Charge. I have read an old Play, call'd, The famous Victories of Henry the Vth. containing the Honourable Battle of Agincourt. Action of this piece commences about the 14th Year of K. Henry IVth's Reign, and ends with Henry Vth. marrying Princess Catharine of France. The Scene opens with Prince Henry's Robberies. Sir John "Oldcastle is one of his Gang, and call'd Jockie: and Ned and Gads-bill are two other Comrades.

The

From this old imperfect Sketch, I have a Sufpicion, Shakespeare might form his two Parts of Henry the IVth, and his History of Henry V and, confequently, tis not improbable, that he might continue the mention of Sir John Oldcastle, till fome Defcendants of That Family mov'd Q. Elizabeth to command him to change the Name. a las rod da từng

A

Fal.