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And many moe corrivals and dear men

Of estimation and command in arms.

SIR MICHAEL. Doubt not, my lord, they shall be well

oppos'd.

ARCHBISHOP. I hope no less, yet needful 'tis to fear;
And, to prevent the worst, Sir Michael, speed:
For if Lord Percy thrive not, ere the king
Dismiss his power, he means to visit us,
For he hath heard of our confederacy,

And 'tis but wisdom to make strong against him:
Therefore make haste. I must go write again
To other friends; and so farewell, Sir Michael.

33. they Q1 he Ff.

35

40

Exeunt

31. moe: more. The old comparative of 'many.' In Middle English 'moe,' or 'mo,' was used of number and with collective nouns; 'more' had reference specifically to size.

ACT V

SCENE I. [The KING's camp near Shrewsbury]

Enter the KING, PRINCE OF WALES, LORD JOHN OF LANCASTER, SIR WALTER BLUNT, and FALSTAFF

KING HENRY. How bloodily the sun begins to peer Above yon busky hill! the day looks pale

At his distemperature.

PRINCE OF WALES.

The southern wind

Doth play the trumpet to his purposes,
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves
Foretells a tempest and a blustering day.

5

KING HENRY. Then with the losers let it sympathise, For nothing can seem foul to those that win.

The trumpet sounds

Enter WORCESTER [and VERNON]

How now, my Lord of Worcester! 'tis not well
That you and I should meet upon such terms
As now we meet. You have deceiv'd our trust,
And made us doff our easy robes of peace,

2. busky Ff bulky Q1.

10

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To crush our old limbs in ungentle steel:
This is not well, my lord, this is not well.
What say you to it? will you again unknit
This churlish knot of all-abhorred war?
And move in that obedient orb again
Where you did give a fair and natural light,
And be no more an exhal'd meteor,

A prodigy of fear and a portent

Of broached mischief to the unborn times?
WORCESTER. Hear me, my liege:
For mine own part, I could be well content
To entertain the lag-end of my life
With quiet hours; for I do protest,

I have not sought the day of this dislike.

15

20

25

KING HENRY. You have not sought it! how comes it,

then?

FALSTAFF. Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it. PRINCE OF WALES. Peace, chewet, peace!

WORCESTER. It pleas'd your majesty to turn your looks Of favour from myself and all our house; And yet I must remember you, my lord,

25. do Ff | Q1 omits.

31

13. our old limbs. The king was at this time but thirty-seven years old. But in his development of historical characters Shakespeare's chief interest was to bring the substance of historic truth within the conditions of dramatic effect.

17. obedient orb: orbit (or path) of obedience. Cf. V, iv, 65. 29. chewet: chough (i.e. chatterer, prater). The word is found in Cotgrave: "chouette, a chough, cadesse, daw, jackdaw." The word also meant a "dish made of various kinds of meat or fish, chopped fine, and mixed with spices and fruits."-Murray. Bacon, in Sylva "chuetts, which are likewise minced meat."

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We were the first and dearest of your friends.
For you my staff of office did I break

In Richard's time; and posted day and night
To meet you on the way, and kiss your hand,
When yet you were in place and in account
Nothing so strong and fortunate as I.

It was myself, my brother and his son,
That brought you home and boldly did outdare
The dangers of the time. You swore to us,
And you did swear that oath at Doncaster,
That you did nothing purpose 'gainst the state;
Nor claim no further than your new-fall'n right,
The seat of Gaunt, dukedom of Lancaster:
To this we swore our aid. But in short space
It rain'd down fortune showering on your head;
And such a flood of greatness fell on you,
What with our help, what with the absent king,
What with the injuries of a wanton time,
The seeming sufferances that you had borne,
And the contrarious winds that held the king
So long in his unlucky Irish wars
That all in England did repute him dead:
And from this swarm of fair advantages
You took occasion to be quickly woo'd
To gripe the general sway into your hand;
Forgot your oath to us at Doncaster;

35

40

45

50

55

58. Forgot . . . Doncaster. "At his comming unto Doncaster, the earle of Northumberland, and his sonne sir Henry Persie, wardens of the marches against Scotland, with the earle of Westmerland, came unto him, where he sware unto those lords, that he would demand no more than the lands that were to him descended by inheritance from his father, and in right of his wife."-Holinshed.

And being fed by us you us'd us so

As that ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird,

60

Useth the sparrow; did oppress our nest;
Grew by our feeding to so great a bulk

That even our love durst not come near your sight
For fear of swallowing; but with nimble wing
We were enforc'd, for safety sake, to fly
Out of your sight and raise this present head;
Whereby we stand opposed by such means
As you yourself have forg'd against yourself
By unkind usage, dangerous countenance,
And violation of all faith and troth

Sworn to us in your younger enterprise.

65

70

KING HENRY. These things indeed you have articulate, Proclaim'd at market-crosses, read in churches,

To face the garment of rebellion

With some fine colour that may please the eye

72. articulate Q1 | articulated Ff.

75

60. gull: unfledged bird. Cf. Timon of Athens, II, i, 31-32: "a naked gull, Which flashes now a phoenix." In Elizabethan slang, a 'gull' was a fool or a dupe, as in the title of Dekker's work, The Gull's Hornbook.-cuckoo's bird: young cuckoo. Shakespeare has many references to the extraordinary habits of the cuckoo in usurping the nests of other birds, especially that of the hedge-sparrow, and leaving her egg to be hatched there by the foster-bird. In Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History, first published in 1601, is a remarkable account of these habits of the cuckoo mingled with not a few folk-stories on the subject, but the birds whose nests are usurped are given there as the stock-dove and the 'titling.' Shakespeare seems to be the first writer to refer to the usurpation of the hedge-sparrow's nest, and this we owe not improbably to his own personal observation.

67. we stand opposed: we stand in opposition to you. 72. articulate: set down in articles. See Abbott, § 342.

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