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Port. His lordship is walk'd forth into the orchard: Please it your honour, knock but at the gate, And he himself will answer.

Enter Northumberland.

Bard. Here comes the earl.

North. What news, lord Bardolph? every minute

now

Should be the father of fome ftratagem.

The times are wild; contention, like a horse
Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loose,
And bears down all before him.

Bard. Noble earl,

I bring you certain news from Shrewsbury.
North. Good, if heaven will!

Bard. As good as heart can wish :-
The king is almost wounded to the death;
And, in the fortune of my lord your fon,
Prince Harry flain outright; and both the Blunts.
Kill'd by the hand of Douglas: young prince John,
And Westmorland, and Stafford, fled the field;
And Harry Monmouth's brawn, the hulk Sir John,
Is prifoner to your fon. O, fuch a day,
So fought, fo follow'd, and fo fairly won,
Came not till now, to dignify the times,
Since Cæfar's fortunes!

North. How is this deriv'd?

Saw you the field? came you from Shrewsbury?
Bard. I fpoke with one, my lord, that came from
thence;

A gentleman well bred, and of good name,
That freely render'd me these news for true.
North. Here comes my fervant Travers, whom I

fent

On Tuesday laft to liften after news.

Bard. My lord, I over-rode him on the way, And he is furnifh'd with no certainties,

More than he, haply, may retail from me.

Enter

Enter Travers.

North. Now, Travers, what good tidings come with you?

Tra. My lord, Sir John Umfrevile turn'd me back With joyful tidings; and, being better hors'd, Out-rode me. After him came, fpurring hard, A gentleman, almoft fore-fpent with speed, That stopp'd by me, to breathe his bloodied horse: He afk'd the way to Chefter; and of him I did demand what news from Shrewsbury. He told me, that rebellion had bad luck, And that young Harry Percy's fpur was cold: With that he gave his able horse the head, And, bending forward, ftruck his armed heels Against the panting fides of his poor jade Up to the 7 rowel-head; and, ftarting fo, He feem'd in running to devour the way, Staying no longer question.

North. Ha!- -again?

6

*

Said he, young Harry Percy's fpur was cold?
Of Hotfpur, Coldfpur?-that rebellion
Had met ill luck?

Bard. My lord, I'll tell you what-
If my young lord your fon have not the day,
Upon mine honour, for a 9 filken point
I'll give my barony. Never talk of it.

armed heels] Thus the quarto 1600. The folia 1623, reads able heels; the modern editors, without authority, agile heels. STEEVENS.

6

poor jade] Poor jade is ufed not in contempt, but in compaffion. Poor jade means the horse wearied with his journey. STEEVENS. -rowel-head ;

7

-] I think that I have obferved in old prints the rowel of thofe times to have been only a fingle fpike. JOHNSON.

He Jeem'd in running to devour the way,] So in The Book of Job, chap. xxxix. "He fwalloweth the ground in fierceness and rage." STEEVENS.

9

-filken point] A point is a string tagged, or lace.

[blocks in formation]

North. Why fhould the gentleman, that rode by Travers,

Give then fuch inftances of lofs?

Bard. Who he?

He was ' fome hilding fellow, that had ftol'n
The horse he rode on; and, upon my life,

Spoke at adventure. Look, here comes more news.

Enter Morton.

North. Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf, Foretels the nature of a tragic volume.

So looks the ftrond, whereon the imperious flood
Hath left a witnefs'd ufurpation.-

Say, Morton, did'ft thou come from Shrewsbury?
Mort. I ran from Shrewsbury, my noble lord;
Where hateful death put on his ugliest mask
To fright our party.

North. How doth my fon, and brother?
Thou trembleft; and the whitenefs in thy check
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.
Even fuch a man, fo faint, fo fpiritless,
So dull, fo dead in look, 3 fo woe-be-gone,
Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him, half his Troy was burn'd:
But Priam found the fire, ere he his tongue,
And I my Percy's death, ere thou report'ft it.
This would'st thou say-Your fon did thus, and thus;

-fome bilding fellow,-] For bilderling, i. e. base,

degenerate. POPE.

like to a title-leaf,-] It may not be amifs to ob ferve, that in the time of our poet, the title-page to an elegy, as well as every intermediate leaf, was totally black. I have several in my poffeffion, written by Chapman, the tranflator of Homer, and ornamented in this manner. STEEVENS.

3

-fo woe-be-gone,] The word was common enough amongst the old Scotish and English poets, as G. Douglas, Chaucer, lord Buckhurft, Fairfax; and fignifies, far gone in woe. WARBURTON,

Your

Your brother, thus; fo fought the noble Douglas;
Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds:
But in the end, to ftop mine ear indeed,
Thou haft a figh to blow away this praife,
Ending with brother, fon, and all are dead!
Mort. Douglas is living, and your brother, yet:
But for my lord your fon-

North. Why, he is dead.

See what a ready tongue fufpicion hath!

He that but fears the thing he would not know,
Hath, by instinct, knowledge from other's eyes,
That what he fear'd is chanc'd. Yet fpeak, Morton,
Tell thou thy earl his divination lies;

And I will take it as a fweet difgrace,

And make thee rich for doing me fuch wrong.
Mort. You are too great to be by me gainfaid:
4 Your spirit is too true, your fears too certain.
North. 5 Yet, for all this, fay not that Percy's dead.
I see a strange confeffion in thine eye:

Thou

• Your Spirit-] The impreffion upon your mind, by which you conceive the death of your fon. JOHNSON.

Yet, for all this, fay not, &c.] The contradiction in the first part of this fpeech might be imputed to the distraction of Northumberland's mind; but the calmnefs of the reflection, contained in the last lines, feems not much to countenance fuch a fuppofition. I will venture to diftribute this paffage in a manner which will, I hope, feem more commodious; but do not with the reader to forget, that the most commodious is not always the true reading.

Bard. Yet for all this, fay not that Percy's dead.
North. I fee a frange confeffion in thine eye;
Thou shak' ft thy head, and hold'ft it fear, or fin,
To speak a truth. If he be flain, fay fo.
The tongue offends not, that reports his death;
And he doth fin, that doth belie the dead,

Not he that faith the dead is not alive.

Morton. Yet the first bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a lofing office, and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a fullen bell,
Remember'd, tolling a departing friend.
A a 3

Here

6

Thou shak'st thy head; and hold'st it fear, or fin,
To speak a truth. 7 If he be flain, say so.
The tongue offends not that reports his death;
And he doth fin that doth belie the dead,
Not he which fays the dead is not alive.
Yet the firft bringer of unwelcome news
Hath but a lofing office; and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a fullen bell,
Remember'd knolling a departing friend.

Bard. I cannot think, my lord, your fon is dead.
Mort. I am forry I fhould force you to believe
That which I would to heaven I had not feen:
But thefe mine eyes faw him in bloody ftate,
Rend'ring faint quittance, wearied and out-breath'd,
To Henry Monmouth; whofe fwift wrath beat down
The never-daunted Percy to the earth,

From whence, with life, he never more fprung up.
In few; his death, whofe fpirit lent a fire
Even to the dulleft peafant in his camp,
Being bruited once, took fire and heat away
From the beft-temper'd courage in his troops;
8 For from his metal was his party steel'd;
Which once in him abated, all the reft
Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead.

And

Here is a natural interpofition of Bardolph at the beginning, who is not pleafed to hear his news confuted, and a proper preparation of Morton for the tale which he is unwilling to tell. JOHNSON.

6

hold it in fear, or fin,] Fear for danger.

WARBURTON.

If he be flain, fay fo.] The words fay fo are in the firft folio, but not in the quarto: they are neceffary to the verse, but the fenfe proceeds as well without them. JoHNSON. 3 For from his metal was his party fteel'd;

wich once in him abated,-] The word metal is one of thefe hacknied metaphorical terms, which refumes fo much of a literal fenfe as not to need the idea (from whence the figure is taken) to be kept up. So that it may with elegance enough be laid, his metal was abated, as well as bis courage was abated.

See

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