K. HENRY.

I know not whether God will have it so,
For fome difpleafing fervice I have done;
That, in his fecret doom, out of my blood
He'll breed revengement, and a scourge for me.
But thou doft in thy paffages of life

Make me believe that thou art only mark'd
For the hot vengeance and the rod of heav'n,
To punish my mif-treadings. Tell me, else
Could fuch inordinate and low defires,

Such poor, fuch bafe, fuch lewd, fuch mean attempts,
Such barren pleasures, rude fociety

As thou art match'd withal, and grafted to,

Accompany the greatnefs of thy blood,

And hold their level with thy princely heart?

K. HENRY.

Heav'n pardon thee. Yet let me wonder, Harry,
At thy affections, which do hold a wing
Quite from the flight of all thy ancestors.
Thy place in council thou haft rudely loft,
Which by thy younger brother is supply'd;
And art almoft an alien to the hearts
Of all the court and princes of my blood.

The

The hope and expectation of thy time
Is ruin'd, and the foul of every man
Prophetically does fore-think thy fall.
Had I fo lavish of my prefence been,
So common-hackney'd in the eyes of men,
So ftale and cheap to vulgar company;
Opinion, that did help me to the crown,
Had ftill kept loyal to poffeffion,
And left me in reputelefs banishment,
A fellow of no mark, nor likelihood.
But being feldom feen, I could not stir,
But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at,

That men would tell their children, this is he;
Others would say, where? which is Bolingbroke?
And then I ftole all courtefy from heav'n,
And drest myself in much humility,

That I did pluck allegiance from mens hearts,
Loud fhouts and falutations from their mouths,

Even in the prefence of the crowned king.
Thus I did keep my person fresh and new,
My prefence, like a robe pontifical,

Ne'er feen, but wonder'd at; and fo my state,
Seldom, but fumptuous, fhew'd like a feaft,
And won, by rareness, fuch folemnity,
The skipping king, he ambled up and down

With fhallow jefters, and rafh bavin wits,

Soon kindled, and foon burnt; 'fcarded his ftate,
Mingled his royalty with carping fools;
Had his great name profaned with their scorns;
And gave
his countenance, against his name,
To laugh at gybing boys, and stand the push
Of every beardless, vain comparative;

Grew a companion to the common streets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity.

That, being daily fwallow'd by mens eyes,
They furfeited with honey, and began

To loath a taste of sweetness; whereof a little

More than a little, is by much too much.

So when he had occafion to be seen,

He was

but as the cuckow is in June,

2

Heard, nor regarded; feen but with fuch eyes,

As, fick and blunted with community,

Afford no extraordinary gaze;

Such, as is bent on fun-like majesty,

When it shines feldom in admiring eyes ;

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids down,
Slept in his face, and rendred fuch afpect

As cloudy men ufe to their adverfaries,

Being with his prefence glutted, gorg'd and full,
And in that very line, Harry, ftand'st thou;

T

For thou haft loft thy princely privilege

& With vile participation; not an eye,
But is a-weary of thy common fight,
Save mine, which hath defir'd to Tee thee more:
Which now doth, what I would not have it do,
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.

Qur author is fo little under the difcipline of Art, that we are apt to afcribe his happiest fucceffes, as well as his most unfortunate failings, to Chance. But I cannot help thinking, there is more of contri vance and care in his execution of this play, than in almost any he has written. It is a more regular drama than his other hif torical plays, lefs charged with abfurdities, and lefs involved in confufion. It is indeed liable to those objections, which are made to Tragi-comedy. But if the pedantry of learning could ever recede from its dogmatical rules, I think that this play, instead of being condemned for being of that fpecies, would obtain favour for the fpecies itself, though perhaps correct. tafte may be offended with the transitions from grave and important, to light and luG 3 dicrous

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dicrous fubjects: and more ftill with those from great and illustrious, to low and mean perfons. Foreigners, unused to these compofitions, will be much difgufted at them. The vulgar call all animals that are not natives of their own country, monsters, however beautiful they may be in their form, or wifely adapted to their climate, and natural destination. The prejudices of Pride are as violent and unreasonable, as the fuperftitions of Ignorance. On the French Parnaffus, a tragi-comedy of this kind will be deemed a monfter fitter to be fhewn to the people at a fair, than exhibited to circles of the learned and polite. From fome peculiar circumstances relating to the characters in this piece, we may, perhaps, find a fort of apology for the motley mixture thrown into it. We cannot but fuppofe, that at the time it was written, many ftories yet fubfifted of the wild adventures of this Prince of Wales, and his idle companions. His fubfequent reformation, and his conquefts in France, rendered him a very popular character. It was a deli