Hot. And you in hell, as often as he hears Glend. I cannot blame him: 8 at my nativity Hot. Why, fo it would have done At the fame feafon, if your mother's cat Glend. The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble. Hot. O, then the earth fhook to fee the heavens on fire, And not in fear of your nativity. 9 Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth Within her womb; which, for enlargement ftriving, Glend. Coufin, of many men I do not bear these croffings. Give me leave 66 8 at my nativity, &c.] Moft of thefe prodigies appear to have been invented by Shakespeare. Holinfhed fays only, Strange wonders happened at the nativity of this man; for "the fame night he was born, all his father's horfes in the "ftable were found to stand in biood up to their bellies." STEEVENS. 9 Difeafed nature-] The poet has here taken, from the perverfenefs and contrarioufnefs of Hotfpur's temper, an opportunity of raifing his character, by a very rational and philofophical confutation of fuperftitious error. JOHNSON, Το To tell you once again, that at my birth I am not in the roll of common men. And bring him out, that is but woman's fon, Can trace me in the tedious ways of art, Or hold me pace in deep experiments. Hot. I think there is no man fpeaks better Welsh.— I will to dinner. Mort. Peace, coufin Percy; you will make him mad. Glend. I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hot. Why, fo can I; or fo can any man: But will they come, when you do call for them? Glend. Why, I can teach thee, coufin, to command The devil. Hot. And I can teach thee, coufin, to shame the devil, By telling truth: Tell truth and fhame the devil.- No more of this unprofitable chat. Glend. Three times hath Henry Bolingbroke made head Against my power: thrice, from the banks of Wye, And fandy-bottom'd Severn, have I fent Him bootless home, and weather-beaten, back. Hot. Home, without boots, and in foul weather too! How 'scapes he agues, in the devil's name? Glend. Glend. Come, here's the map: fhall we divide our right, According to our three-fold order taken? Mort. The archdeacon hath divided it England, from Trent, and Severn hitherto, lords, And in my conduct fhall your ladies come; Upon the parting of your wives and you. Hot. Methinks, my moiety, north from Burton here, In quantity equals not one of yours. See, how this river comes me cranking in, It fhall not wind with fuch a deep indent, 2 Glend. Glend. Not wind? it fhall, it must; you fee it doth. Mort. But mark, he bears his course, and runs me up With like advantage on the other fide, Gelding the oppofed continent as much, Wor. Yes, but a little charge will trench him here, Hot. I'll have it fo; a little charge will do it. Hot. Will not you? Glend. No, nor you shall not. Hot. Who fhall fay me nay? Glend. Why, that will I. Hot. Let me not understand you then; Speak it in Welsh. Glend. I can fpeak English, lord, as well as you; For I was train'd up in the English court, Where, being young, I framed to the harp And gave the tongue a helpful ornament; Hot. Marry, and I'm glad of it with all my heart; I had rather be a kitten, and cry, mew, Than one of these fame metre-ballad-mongers: 2 -the tongue-] The English language. JOHNSON. a brazen candlestick turn'd,] The word candlestick, which deftroys the harmony of the line, was anciently written canftick. Heywood, and feveral of the old writers, conftantly fpell it in this manner. STEEVENS, But, But, in the way of bargain, mark ye me, Are the indentures drawn? fhall we be gone? 3.(I'll hafte the writer) and, withal, Break with your wives of your departure hence. [Exit. Mort. Fie, coufin Percy, how you cross my father! Hot. I cannot choofe. Sometimes he angers me, With telling of the moldwarp and the ant, Of the dreamer Merlin, and his prophecies; And of a dragon, and a finless fish, A clip-wing griffin, and a moulting raven, A couching lion, and a ramping cat, And fuch a deal of fkimble-fkamble stuff, As puts me from my faith. I tell you whatHe held me the last night at least nine hours, In reckoning up the feveral devils names That were his lacqueys: I cry'd, bum,—and well,-go to, But mark'd him not a word. O, he's as tedious 3 (I'll hafte the writer)] He means the writer of the articles. POPE. 4 of the mold-warp and the ant,] This alludes to an old prophecy, which is faid to have induced Owen Glendower to take arms against king Henry. See Hall's Chronicle, fo. 20. POPE. So, in The Mirror of Magiftrates, written by Phaer, the old tranflator of Virgil, Owen Glendower is introduced fpeaking of himself, "And for to fet us hereon more agog, "A prophet came (a vengeance take them all!) "Whom Merlin doth a mould-warpe ever call, "Which fhould divide his kingdom them among." STEEVENS. Worfe |