gentleman, the inventory of whose wardrobe includes two shirts, " one for superfluity and another for use," and two pair of silk stockings, one of which had been the "peach-colored ones (2 Henry IV., ii., 2, 14). It is in another way that the poet's imagination rises into the "heaven of invention." At the battle of Shrewsbury, it is recorded that Hotspur was slain, and that "the Prince holp his father like a lusty young gentleman; for although he was hurt in the face with an arrow, so that divers noblemen would have conveyed him out of the field, yet he would not suffer them so to do." Out of this narrative Shakespeare creates the Prince's rescue of his father from the sword of Douglas, his challenge to Henry Percy, and the single combat between the rival aspirants, in which Hotspur falls.

On the person of Hotspur and the dramatic contrast between him and Prince Hal there is little to say that is not obvious at first sight. That "speaking thick" (i. e., rapidly), "which Nature made his blemish," is magnificently used, e. g., in the dialogue with Northumberland and Worcester, where twenty lines (1 Henry IV., i., 2, 168-179) have to be recited without taking breath. And there is one thing which, strangely enough, seems to have escaped some actors of high repute; and that is the necessity of a change of tone in v., 2, 81. from that of high heroic daring to a certain pathos of presentiment. Without that the delineation loses in depth.

In judging of the comic scenes, the greatest in any literature, it must be remembered that the robbery on Gad's Hill, in which the "madcap " Prince took part, was a necessary incident of the tradition. Shakespeare's handling of it is best appreciated by comparing The Famous Victories of Henry V. The facts concerning this wretched production are succinctly stated by Grant White in his introduction to 1 Henry IV. But there can be no harm in resuming them here.

1. Sir John Oldcastle, familiarly addressed as "Jockey," is clearly known (oh, wondrous transformation!) to have been the original of Falstaff, and Ned, in the same poor play, is no other than Poins. Shakespeare has set these "mates" against each other, and thus has contrived to render this "trick of

youth" compatible with his own conception of Prince Hal.

2. In Mr. Grant White's words: "The exploit of the robbery is upon Gad's Hill, and the name Gad's Hill is also that of one of the agents in the adventure. The rendezvous of the Prince and his companions is a tavern in Eastcheap; the scene in which Falstaff plays King in Henry IV. has a strange counterpart in the Famous Victories, where Henry V. (i. e., Prince Hal), having struck the Chief Justice and been sent to the Fleet, two other characters travesty the occurrence, one playing the Judge, the other the Prince."

3. I may add some other small coincidences. There is a "“ who poor carrier," was wont to spie out our booties," and in his pack there is "a raze of ginger." There is "Thiefe," the Prince's man, who in some ways answers to Bardolph. There is a boy named Robin; the persons robbed are Receivers for the King; there is a Sheriff; there is a "capon's leg "; and the Prince speaks as follows in a scene with Sir John Oldcastle and Ned:

"So soon as I am King, thou shalt be my Lord Chief Justice." Ned: "Shall I? I'll be the bravest Lord Chief Justice that ever England."

was in

Henry V. “Thou shalt hang none but pickpurses and horse-stealers, and such base-minded vilaines, but that fellow that will stand by the highway side courageously with his sword and buckler and take a purse, that fellow give him commendation, and I will give him an annual pension out of my Exchequer."

It is needless to point out how this dross is turned to gold in 1 Henry IV., i., 2.

4. After the coronation the King discards his companions, and the Chief Justice is made Protector of the Realm: compare 2 Henry IV., v., 2, 118.