Fr. King. Think we king Harry strong; And, princes, look, you ftrongly arm to meet him. The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us; And he is bred out of that bloody ftrain, That haunted us in our familiar paths: Witnefs our too much memorable shame, When Creffy battle fatally was struck, And all our princes captiv'd, by the hand Of that black name, Edward black prince of Wales; Whiles that his mountain fire,-on mountain standing', Up in the air, crown'd with the golden fun 2,

8 That haunted us-] To baunt is a word of the utmost horror, which fhews that they dreaded the English as goblins and fpirits. JOHNSON. 9 When Crefy battle fatally was ftruck,] So, in Robert of Gloucefter: and that fole of Somerfete

"His come, and fmyte a batayle."

Again, in the title to one of Sir David Lyndfay's poems: "How king Ninus began the first warres and ftrake the first battell." STEEV.

1 Whiles that bis mountain fire,-on mountain ftanding,] In a fubfequent fcene Fluellen is called in contempt, "a mountain fquire;" but here no disrespect could have been intended; nor indeed could the epithet in that fenfe be applied with any propriety to Edward III. who was not born in Wales, though his father Edward II. was. I believe, if the text is not corrupt, Mr. Steevens's explication is the true one. See the extract from Holinfhed, p. 461, n. 7. Mr. Theobald with fome probability reads-mounting fire; i. e. high-minded, afpiring; but the repetition of the word mountain is much in our author's manner, and therefore I believe the old copy is right. MALONE.

Thus, in Love's Labour's Loft, A& IV:

"Whoe'er he was, he fhew'd a mounting mind."

Mr. Theobald's emendation may be right, and yet I believe the poet meant to give an idea of more than human proportion in the figure of the king:

"Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx, &c." Virg.

"Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremov'd."

So, in Spenfer's Faerie Queen, B. I. c. xi:

Milton.

Where stretch'd he lay upon the funny fide "Of a great hill, bimfelf like a great bill." -agmen agens, magnique ipfe agminis inftar.

Mr. Tollet thinks this paffage may be explained by another in A&t I. fc. ii. "bis most mighty father on a bill." STEEVENS.

2 Up in the air, crown'd with the golden fun,-] Dr. Warburton calls this "the nonfenfical line of fome player." The idea, however, might have been taken from Chaucer's Legend of good Women:

"His gilt heere was ycrownid with a fon." STEEVENS.

Kk 2

Saw

Saw his heroical feed, and fmil'd to fee him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface

The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a ftem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him3.
Enter a Meffenger.

Me. Ambaffadors from Henry King of England
Do crave admittance to your majesty.

Fr. King. We'll give them prefent audience. Go, and bring them. [Exeunt Meff. and certain Lords. You fee, this chafe is hotly follow'd, friends.

Dau. Turn head, and ftop purfuit: for coward dogs Moft spend their mouths, when what they feem to threaten, Runs far before them. Good my fovereign,

Take up the English fhort; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
Self-love, my liege, is not fo vile a fin,

As felf-neglecting.

Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and Train.

Fr. King. From our brother England?

Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majefty.
He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
That you diveft yourself, and lay apart

The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven,
By law of nature, and of nations, 'long

To him, and to his heirs; namely, the crown,
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain,
By cuftom, and the ordinance of times,

Unto the crown of France. That you may know,
'Tis no finifter, nor no aukward claim,

Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the duft of old oblivion rak'd,

3-fate of bim.] His fate is what is allotted him by destiny, or whe: he is fated to perform. JOHNSON.

So Virgil, fpeaking of the future deeds of the defcendants of Æneas: "Attollens humeris famamque et fata nepotum." STEEVENS. A-spend their mouths, ]That is, bark; the sportsman's term. JOHNSON.

He

He fends you this most memorable line, [gives a paper.
In every branch truly demonftrative;
Willing you, overlook this pedigree:
And, when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his most fam'd of famous ancestors,
Edward the third, he bids you then refign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.
Fr. King. Or else what follows?

Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
Therefore in fierce tempeft is he coming,
In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Jove;
(That, if requiring fail, he will compel ;)
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown; and to take mercy
On the poor fouls, for whom this hungry war
Opens his vafty jaws: and on your head
Turns he the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,
The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans,
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my meffage;
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,

To whom expressly I bring greeting too.

Fr. King. For us, we will confider of this further: To-morrow fhall you bear our full intent

Back to our brother of England.

Dau. For the Dauphin,

I ftand here for him; What to him from England?

5- memorable line,] This genealogy; this deduction of his lineage.

JOHNSON. Turns be-] Thus the quarto, 1600. The folio reads turning the widows' tears. MALONE.

6 The dead men's blood,-] The difpofition of the images were more regular, if we were to read thus:

-upon your bead

Turning the dead men's blood, the widows' tears,
JOHNSON.
The orphans' cries, the pining maidens' groans, &c.
Pining is the reading of the quarto, 1600. The folio has-privy.
MALONE,
Blood is the reading of the folio.-The quarto inftead of it has-bones.

Kk 3

Exe.

502

Exe. Scorn, and defiance; flight regard, contempt, And any thing that may not mifbecome

The mighty fender, doth he prize you at.

Thus fays my king: and, if your father's highness
Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you fent his majesty,
He'll call you to so hot an answer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass 7, and return your mock
In fecond accent of his ordnance.

Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply,
It is against my will: for I defire

Nothing but odds with England; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,

I did prefent him with thofe Paris balls.

Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,
Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe:
And, be affur'd, you'll find a difference,
(As we, his fubjects, have in wonder found,)
Between the promise of his greener days,

And thefe he maiters now 9; now he weighs time,
Even to the utmost grain; which fhall read'
In your own loffes, if he ftay in France.

you

Fr. King. To-morrow fhall you know our mind at full.
Exe. Dispatch us with all speed, left that our king

7 Shall chide your trefpafs,] To chide is to refound, to echo. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

"never did I hear

"Such gallant cbiding."

So, in King Henry VIII:

"As doth a rock against the chiding flood." STEEVENS. This interpretation is confirmed by a paffage in the Tempest:

the thunder,

"That deep and dreadful organ pipe, pronounc'd

"The name of Profper; it did bass my trespass." MALONE. of bis ordnance.] Ordnance is here ufed as a trifyllable; being in our author's time improperly written ordinance. MALONE. 9-be masters now;] Thus the folio. The quartos 1600 and 1608, read mufters STEEVENS.

I

you fhall read-] So the folio. The quarto 1600, has—you shall find. MALONE.

Come

Come here himself to queftion our delay;

For he is footed in this land already.

Fr. King. You shall be soon dispatch'd, with fair con

ditions:

A night is but fmall breath, and little pause,
To answer matters of this confequence.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

Enter CHORUS.

Chor. Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,
In motion of no less celerity

Than that of thought. Suppofe, that you have seen
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet

With filken ftreamers the young Phoebus fanning3.
fancies; and in them behold,
Play with your
Upon the hempen tackle, fhip-boys climbing:
Hear the fhrill whistle, which doth order give
To founds confus'd+: behold the threaden fails,
Borne with the invifible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd fea,
Breafting the lofty furge: O, do but think,

2 The well-appointed king at Hampton pier

Embark bis royalty;] The folio, in which alone the choruses are found, reads Dover pier. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald. MALONE.

Among the records of the town of Southampton, they have a minute and authentic account (drawn up at that time) of the encampment of Henry the fifth near the town, before this embarkment for France. It is remarkable, that the place where the army was encamped, then a low level plain or a down, is now entirely covered with fea, and called Westport. T. WARTON.

3. —Phœbus fanning,] Old Copy-fayning. Corrected by Mr. Rowe, MALONE.

4 Hear the forill whistle, which doth order give

To founds confus'd:] So in Perieles, Prince of Tyre, 1609;

the boatswain whistles, and

"The mafter calls, and trebles the confufion." MALONE.

You