On Fortune.

P.H. O pardon me, my liege! but for my Will fortune never come with both hands full, tears,

[kneeling But write her fair words still in foulest letters?

The moist impedients unto my speech, She either gives a stomach, and no food

I had forestallid this dear and deep rebuke,

Ere Such are the poor in health ; or else a feast, you with grief had spoke, and I had heard And takes away the stomach—such the rich,

The course of it so far. There is your crown; That have abundance, and enjoy it not.

And He that wears the crown immortally,

Long guard it yours! If I affect it more, Dialogue letween Prince Henry and his Fa- Than as your honor, and as your renown, ther.

Let me no more from this obedience rise Come hither to me, Harry :

(Which my most true and inward duteous spirit Depart the chamber, leave us here alone. Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending!

[Exeunt Lords. Heaven witness with me, when I here came in, P.H. I never thought to hear you speak again. And found no course of breath within your K. Hen. Thy wish was father, Harry, to that Majesty, thought :

How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign, I stay too long by thee, I weary thee.

0, let me in my present wildness die ! Dost thou so hunger for my empty chair, And never live to show the incredulous world That thou wilt needs invest thee with mine | The noble change that I have purposed ! bonors,

Coming to look on you, thinking you dead Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth! (And dead almost, my liege, to think you Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm were), thee.

I spake unto the crown, as having sense, Stay hut a little: for my cloud of dignity And thus upbraided it: “ The care on thee Is held from falling with so weak a wind,

depending, That it will quickly drop; my day is dim. Hath fed upon the body of my father; Thou hast stolen that, which after some few Therefore, thou best of gold, art worst of gold: hours

Other, less fine in caia', is more precious, Were thine without offence; and, at my death Preserving life in med'cine potable: Thou hast seal'd up my expectation :

But thou most fine, most honor d, most reThy life did manifest thou lov'dst me not,

nown'd,

[liege, And thou wilt have me die assurd of it. Hast eat thy bearer up.” Thus, my most royal Thou hid'st a thousand daggers in thy thoughts, Accusing it, I put it on my head ; Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart, To try with it--as with an enemy To stab at half an hour of my life.

That had before my face murdered

my

fatherWhat! canst thou not forbear me half an hour? | The quarrel of a true inheritor. Then get thee gone and dig my grave thyself; But if it did infect my blood with joy, And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride; That thou art crowned, not that I am dead. If any rebel or vain spirit of mine Let all the tears that should bedew my hearse, Did, with the least affection of a welcome, Be drops of balm, to sanctify thy head: Give entertainment to the might of it, Only compound me with forgotten dust, Let God for ever keep it from my head: Give that which gave thee life unto the worms, And make me as the poorest vassal is, Pluck down my officers, break my decrees ; That doth with awe and terror kneel to it! For now a time is come to mock at form, K. Hen. O my son! Henry the Fifth is crown'd:-up, vanity! Heaven put it in thy mind, to take it hence, Down, royal state! All you sage counsellors, That thou mightst win the more thy father's hence!

Pleading so wisely in excuse of it. (love, And to the English court assemble now, Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed; From ev'ry region apes of idleness;

And hear, I think, the very latest counsel (son, Now, neighbour-confines, purge you of your That ever I shall breathe. Heaven knows, my scum :

By what by-paths, and indirect crook'd ways, Have you a ruffian that will swear, drink, dance, I met this crown; and I myself know well, Revel the night ; rob, murder, and commit How troublesome it sat upon my head: The oldest sins the newest kind of ways ? To thee it shall descend with better quiet, Be happy, he will trouble you no more : Better opinion, better confirmation ; England shall double gild his treble guilt : For all the soil of the achievement goes England shall give him office, honor, might: With me into the earth. It seem'd in me, For the fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks But as an honor snatch'd with boisterous The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog

hand; Shall Aesh his tooth in ev'ry innocent. And I had many living, to upbraid O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows ! My gain of it by their assistances ; When that my care could not withhold thy Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed, riots,

Wounding supposed peace: All these bold fears, What wilt thou do when riot is thy care? Thou seest, with peril I have answered: 0, thou wilt be a wilderness again,

For all my reign hath been but as a scene Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants ! Acting that argument; and now my death

ܪ

Changes the mode: for what in me was pur- See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort: [chas'd, Behold youself so by a son disdain'd;
So thou the garland wear'st successively. And then imagine me taking your part,
Yet tho'thou stand'st more sure than I could do, And, in your power, soft silencing your son.
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green;
And all thy friends, which thou must make thy
friends,

$21. THE LIFE OF HENRY V. Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out,

SHAKSPEARE. By whose fell working I was first advanc'd,

Prologue. And by whose pow'r I well might lodge a fear O, FOR a muse of fire, that would ascend, To be again displac'd: which to avoid, The brightest heaven of invention ! I cut them off; and had a purpose now A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, To lead out many to the Holy Land; And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry, Assume the port of Mars; and, at his heels, Be it thy course, to busy giddy minds [out, Leasht in like hounds, should famine, sword, With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne Crouch for employment.

[and fire, May waste the inemory of the former days. More would I, but my lungs are wasted so,

Consideration.

Consideration like an angel, came, That strength of speech is utterly denied me. How I came by the crown, O God, forgive! And whipp'd th' offending Adam out of him, And grant it may with thee in true peace live! Leaving his body as a paradise, P. Tlen. My gracious liege,

To envelope and contain celestial spirits. You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;

King Henry V. his Perfections. Then plain and right must my possession be:

Hear him but reason in divinity, Which 1, with more than with a cominon pain, And, all-admiring, with an inward wish 'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.

You would desire

the king were made a prelate: Reflections on a Crown.

Hear him debate of cominon-wealth affairs,
O polish'd perturbation! golden care ! You would say, it hath been all-in-all his study:
That keeps the ports of slumber open wide List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
To many a watchful night-sleep with it now! A fearful battle rendered you in music.
Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet, Turn him to any course of policy,
As he, whose brow, with homely biggen bound, The gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Snores out the watch of night. O Majesty! Familiar as his garter ; that, when he speaks,
When thou dost pinch thy bearer, thou dost sit The air, a chartered libertine, is still,
Like a rich armor worn in heat of day, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
That scalds with safety.

To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences.
Gold.

The Commonwealth of Bees.
How quickly nature falls into revolt,

So work the honey-bees:
When gold becomes her object !

Creatures that, by a rule in nature, teach
For this the foolish, over-careful fathers
Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their They have a king, and officers of sorts :

The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
brains with care,

Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Their bones with industry;

Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad; For this they have engrossed and pild up

Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, The canker'd heaps of strange achieved gold;

Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; For this they have been thoughtful to invest

Which pillage they with merry march bring Their sons with arts and martial exercises : When, like the bee, culling from ev'ry dow's Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

To the tent-royal of their emperor: [home The virtuous sweets,

honey: The singing masons building roofs of gold ; Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with The civil citizens kneading up the honey; We bring it to the hive; and, like the bees,

The poor mechanic porters crowding in Are murder'd for our pains.

Their heavy burthens at his narrow gate; The Chief Justice to King Henry V. whom he The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum, had imprisoned.

Delivering o'er to executors pale
-If the deed were ill,

The lazy yawning drone.
Be you contented, wearing now the garland,
To have a son set your decrees at nought;

Warlike Spirit.
To pluck down justice from your awful bench; Now all the youth of England are on fire,
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
That guards the peace and safety of your person; Now thrive the armorers, and honor's thought
Nay, more, to spurn at your most royal image, Reigns solely in the breast of every man :
And mock your workings in a second body. They sell the pasture now to buy the horse ;
Question your royal thoughts, make the case Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
Be now the father, and propose a son: [yours, With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
Hear your own dignity so much profana, For now sits expectation in the air;

And hides a sword, fronı hilt'unto the point, With busy hammers closing rivets up,
With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets, Give dreadful note of preparation,
Promis'd to Harry and his followers. The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
England.

And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
O England !--model to thy inward greatness, Proud of their numbers, and secure in soul,
Like liutle body with a mighty heart T'he confident and over-lusty French
What mightst thou do, thát honor would Do the low-rated English play at dice;
thee do,

And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night,
Were all thy children kind and natural ! Who, like a foul and ugly wilch, doth limp
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out So tediously away. The poor condemned Eng.
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires [lish,
With treach'rous crowns.

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate
False Appearances.

The morning's danger; and their gesture sad, 0! how hast thou with jealousy infected Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats, The sweetness of affiance ! show men dutiful? Presenteth them unto the gazing moon Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and So many horrid ghosts. 0, now, who will be learned ?

(mily? The royal captain of this ruin'd band, [hold Why, so didst thou : come they of noble fa- Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, Why, so didst thou: seem they religious ? Let him cry—praise and glory on his head! Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet; For forth he goes, and visits all his host; Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger; Bids them good morrow, with a modest smile; Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood; And calls them-brothers, friends, and counGarnish'd and deck'd in modest compliment : Upon his royal face there is no note (trymen. Not working with the eye, without the ear, How dread an army hath enrounded him; And, but in purged judgement, trusting neither? Nór doth he dedicate one jot of color Such, and so finely bolted, didst thou seem : Unto the weary and all-watched night: And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot, But freshly looks, and overbears attaint, To mark the full-fraught inan, and best endued, With cheerful semblance, and sweet majesty; With some suspicion.

That ev'ry wretch, pining and pale before, King Henry's Character, ly the Constable of Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks ; France.

A largess universal, like the sun,
You are too much mistaken in this king : His liberal eye doth give to ev'ry one,
Question your grace the late ambassadors Thawing cold fear.
With what great state he neard their embassy :

The Miseries of Royalty:
How well supplied with noble counsellors- O hard condition ! twin-born with greatness,
How modest in exception, and, withal, Subjected to the breath of every fool, [ing!
How terrible in constant resolution-

Whose sense no more can feel but hisown wring-
And you shall find, his vanities fore-spent What infinite heart's-ease must kings neglect,
Weré but the out-side of the Roman Brutus, That private men enjoy!
Covering discretion with a coat of folly; And what have kings, that privates have not too,
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
That shall first spring, and be most delicate. And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?

Description of a Fleet setting Sail. What kind of god art thou, that suffer’st more
Suppose, that you have seen

Of mortal griefs, than do thy worshippers ?
The well-appointed king at Hampton-pier What are thy rents, what are thy comings-in?
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet O ceremony, show me but thy worth!
With silken streamers the young Phæbus fan- What is the soul of adoration
ning.

Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form, Play with your fancies; and in them behold, Creating awe and fear in other men, Upon the hempen tackle, ship-boys climbing : Wherein thou art less happy, being fear'd, Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give Than they in fearing?

[sweet, To sounds confus'd: behold the threaden sails, What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage Borne with the invisible and creeping wind, But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatDraw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd And bid thy ceremony give thee cure. [ness, Breasting the lofty surge.

(sea, Think'st thou, the fiery fever will go out Description of Night in a Camp. With titles blown from adulation ? From camp to camp, through the foul womb Will it give place to flexure and low-bending? of night,

Canst thou, when thou command'st the begThe hum of either army stilly sounds,

gar's knee,

[Dream, That the fix'd sentinels almost receive

Command the health of it? No, thou proud The secret whispers of each other's watch : That play'st so subtly with a king's repose; Fire answers fire; and through their paly flames I am a king, that find thee; and I know, Each battle sees the other's umber'd face: 'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball, Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, neighs

(tents, The inter-tissued robo of gold and pearl, Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the The farced title running 'fore the king, The armorers, accomplishing the knights, The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp

U

That beats upon the high shore of this world

The Miseries of War. No, not all these, thrice gorgeous ceremony, Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, Not all these, laid in bed majestical,

Unpruned dies : her hedges even-pleach’d, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave; Like prisoners, widely over-grown with hair, Who, with a body fill'd, and vacant mind, Put forth disorder'd twigs : her fallow leas Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread; The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory, Never sees horrid night, the child of hell; Doth root upon; while that the coulter rusts, But, like a lacquey, from the rise to set, That should deracinate such savagery: Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth Sleeps in Elysiumn; next day, after dawn, The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover, Doth rise, and help Hyperion to his horse : Wanting the sithe, all uncorrected, rank, And follows so the ever-running year, Conceives by idleness ; and nothing teems, With profitable labor, to his grave;

But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs, And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, (sleep, Losing both beauty and utility. Winding up days with toil, and nights with Hath the fore-hand and 'vantage of a king. A Description of the miserable State of the $ 22. THE 1st PART OF HENRY VI. English Army.

SHAKSPEARE. Yon island carrions, desp'rate of their bones,

Glory. Jll-favor’dly become the morning field:

GLORY is like a circle in the water; Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, And our air shakes thein passing scornfully. Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought. Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host,

Marriage. And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps. For marriage is a matter of more worth, Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, Than to be dealt in by attorneyship. With torch-staves in their hands; and the poor jades

For what is wedlock forced but a hell, Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and an age of discord and continual strife? hips;

[eyes, Whereas the contrary bringeth forth bliss, The gum down-roping from their pale dead and is a pattern of celestial peace. And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless;

$ 23. THE 20 PART OF HENRY VI. And their executors, the knavish crows,

SHAKSPEARE. Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour.

A resolved ambitious Woman. King Henry's Speech before the Battle of Follow I must, I cannot go before, Agincourt.

While Glo'ster bears this base and humble He that outlives this day, and comes safe mind. home,

Were I a man, a duke, and next of blood, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, I would remove these tedious stumbling-blocks, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. And smooth any way upon their headless necks, He that shall live this day, and see old age, And, being a woman, I will not be slack Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends, To play my part in fortune's pageant. And say, To-norrow is St. Crispian. (scars : The Lord ever to be remembered. Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his Let never day or night unhallow'd pass, Old men forget ; yet shall not all forget, But still remember what the Lord hath done. But they'll remember, with advantages, Eleanor to the Duke of Glo'ster, while doing What feats they did that day : then shall our

Penance. names,

For, whilst I think I am thy married wife, Familiar in their mouths as household words, And thou a prince, protector of this land, Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Methinks I should not thus be led along, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Glo'ster, Maild up in shame, with papers on my back; Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. And followed with a rabble, that rejoice

Description of the Duke of York's Death. To see my tears, and hear my deep-felt groans. He smil'd me in the face, gave me his haud, The ruthless Aint doth cut my tender feet; And, with a feeble gripe, says, “Dear my lord, And, when I start, the envious people laugh, “ Commend my service to my sovereign." And bid me be advised how I tread. So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck

Silent Resentment deepest. He threw his wounded arm, and kiss'd his lips ; Smooth runs the water where the brook is And so, espous'd to death, with blood he seal'd deep; A testament of noble-ending love.

And in his simple show he harbours treason. The pretty and sweet inanner of it forc'd

A guilty Countenance. Those waters froin me which I would have Upon the eye-balls murd'rous tyranny stopp'd ;

Siis, in grinı majesty, to fright the world. But I had not so much of man in me,

Description of a murdered Person. And all my mother came into mine eyes,

See how the blood is settled in his face ! And gave me up to tears.

Oft have I seen a timely parted ghost,

Lued.

Of ashy semblance, meagre, pale, and bloodless, | Once by the king, and three times thrice by Being all descended to the laboring heart;

thee! Who, in the conflict that it holds with death, / 'Tis not the land I care for, wert thou hence; Attracts the same foraidance 'gainst the enemy; A wilderness is populous enough, Which with the heart there cools, and ne'er So Suffolk had thy heavenly company: returneth

For where thou art, there is the world itself, To blush and beautify the cheek again. With every several pleasure in the world ! But, see, his face is black, and full of blood; And where thou art not, desolation. His eye-balls further out than when he liv’d, Dying with the Person beloved, preferable to Staring full ghastly, like a strangled man:

Purting. His hair upreard, his nostrils stretch'd with If I depart from thee, I cannot live: struggling;

And in thy sight to die, what were it else, His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd But like a pleasant slumber in thy lap! And tugg'd for life, and was by strength sub- Here could'I breathe my soul into the air,

[ing; As mild and gentle as the cradle-babe, Look on the sheets : his hair, you see, is stick- Dying with mother's dug between its lips. His well-proportion'd beard made rough and The Death-bed Horrors of a guilty Conscience. rugged,

Bring me unto my trial when you will: Like to the summer's corn by tempest lodg’d. Died he not in his bed? Where should he die? It cannot be but he was murder'd here; Can I make men live, whether they will or no? The least of all these signs were probable. O! torture me no more, I will confessa

Alive again? Then show me where he is; A good Conscience.

I'll give a thousand pounds to look upon himWhat stronger breast-plate than a heart un- He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them. tainted?

Comb down his hair; look, look! it stands Thrice is he arm'd, that hath his quarrel just :

upright, And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. Give me some drink; and bid the apothecary

Like lime-twigs set to catch my winged soul ! Remorseless Hatred.

Bring the strong poison that I bought of him. A plague upon’em! wherefore should I curse

Night. them?

[groan,

The gaudy, blabbing, and remorseful day Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's Is crept into the bosom of the sea; I would invent as bitter searching terms,

And now loud howling wolves arouse the jades As curs'd, as harsh, as horrible to hear,

That drag the tragic melancholy night; Deliver'd strongly through iny fixed teeth,

Who with their drowsy, slow, and Hagging With full as many signs of deadly hate,

wings,

(jaws As lean-fac'd envy in her loathsome cave:

Clip dead men's graves, and from their misty My tongue should stumble in mine earnest Breathe foul contagious darkness in the air.

Kent.
words,
Mine eyes should sparkle like the beaten fint; | Is term'd the civil'st place of all this isle:

Kent, in the commentaries Cæsar writ,
Mine hair be fix'd on end like one distract;
Ay, ev'ry joint should seem to curse and han :

Sweet is the country, because full of riches; And even now my burden'd heart would break,

The people liberal, valiant, active, wealthy. Should I not curse them. Poison be their drink!

Lord Say's Apology for himself. Gall, worse than gall, the daintiest that they Prayers and tears have mov'd me, gifts could

Justice, with favor, have I always done; taste; Their sweetest shade, a grove of cypress trees ! Their chiefest prospect, murdering basilisks !

When have I aught exacted at your hands, Their softest touch, as smart as lizards' stings; Kent to maintain, the king, the realm, and you? Their music, frightful as the serpent's hiss ;

Large gifts have I bestowed on learned clerks, And boding screech-owls make the concert full! Because my book preferr'd me to the king: All the foul terrors in dark-seated hell

And—seeing ignorance is the curse of God,

Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to Now, by the ground that I am banish'd from, Unless you be possess'd with devilish spirit, Well could I curse away a winter's night,

You cannot but forbear to murder me.
Though standing naked on a mountain top,
Where biting cold would never let grass grow.
Parting Lovers.

§ 24. THE 3d. PART OF HENRY VI.

SHAKSPEARE. And banished I am, if but from thee. Go, speak not to me, even now be gone

The Trunsports of a Crown. 0, go not yet !-Even thus two friends con

-Do but think demn'd

[leaves,

How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown;
Einbrace, and kiss, and take ten thousand Within whose circuit is Elysium,
Loather a hundred times to part than die.-

And all that poets feign of bliss and joy.
Yet now farewell ; and farewell life with thee !

A hungry Lion. Suff. Thus is poor Suffolk ten times banished, So looks the pent-up lion o'er the wretch

never.