And then imagine me taking your part,
And in your power fo filencing your fon.
After this cold confid'rance fentence me :
And, as you are a king, fpeak in your ftate,
What I have done that misbecame my place,
My perfon, or my liege's fovereignty.

P. HENRY. You are right, Juftice, and you weigh this well:

Therefore ftill bear the balance and the fword;

And I do wish your honours may increase,

Till you do live to fee a fon of mine.
Offend you, and obey you, as I did:
So fhall I live to speak my father's words:
Happy am I, that have a man fo bold
That dares do Juftice on my proper fon;
And no lefs happy, having fuch a fon,
That would deliver up his greatness so
Into the hand of justice -
You committed me;
For which I do commit into your hand
Th' unftained fword that you have us'd to bear;
With this remembrance, that you use the fame
With a like bold, juft, and impartial spirit,
As you have done 'gainst me.

There is my hand,
You fhall be as a father to my youth:

My voice hall found as you do prompt mine ear;
And I will ftoop and humble my intents

To your well-practis'd wife directions.

And princes all, believe me, I beseech you;
My father is wild into his grave;

gone

For in his tomb lie my affections;
And with his fpirit fadly I furvive, '
To mock the expectations of the world;
To fruftrate prophecies, and to raze out
Rotten opinion, which hath writ me down
After my feeming. Though my tide of blood

Hath

Hath proudly flow'd in vanity till now;
Now doth it turn and ebb unto the fea,
Where it fhall mingle with the ftate of floods,
And flow henceforth in formal majesty.

Now call we our high court of parliament :
And let us choofe fuch limbs of uoble counsel
That the great body of our ftate may go
In equal rank with the best govern'd nation;
That war or peace, or both at once, may
As things acquainted and familiar to us.
In which you, father, fhall have foremost hand.
Our coronation done, we will accite

(As I before remember'd) all our state,

be

And (Heav'n configning to my good intents)
No prince, or peer, fhall have juft caufe to fay,
Heav'n fhorten Harry's happy life one day.

SHAKSPEARE.

CHAP. XII.

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY AND BISHOP OF ELY.

CANT. My lord, I'll tell you; that felf bill is urg'd,
Which, in the eleventh year o' th' laft king's reign,
Was like, and had indeed against us pafs'd,

But that the fcrambling and unquiet time

Did push it out of farther queftion.

ELY. But how, my lord, fhall we refift it now? CANT. It must be thought on. If it pafs against us, We lofe the better half of our poffeffion :

For all the temporal lands which men devout
By teftament have given to the church,
Would they trip from us; being valued thus;
As much as would maintain to the king's honour

Full

Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good efquires;
And to relief of lazars and weak age
Of indigent faint fouls, paft corporal toil,
A hundred almshoufes right well fupplied;
And to the coffers of the king, befide,

A thousand pounds by th' year. Thus runs the bill.
ELY. This would drink deep.

CANT. 'Twould drink the cup and all.
ELY. But what prevention?

CANT. The king is full of grace and fair regard.
ELY. And a true lover of the holy church.
CANT. The courfes of his youth promis'd it not;
The breath no fooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment,
Confideration, like an angel came,

And whipp'd th' offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a Paradife,

T'envelop and contain celeftial spirits.
Never was fuch a fudden fcholar made :
Never came reformation in a flood

With fuch a ready current, fcouring faults:
Norever hydra-headed Wilfulness

So foon did lofe his feat, and all at once,
As in this king.

ELY. We're bleffed in the change.

CANT. Hear him but reason in divinity,

And, all admiring, with an inward with

You would defire the king were made a prelate.
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You'd fay, it had been all in all his study.
Lift his difcourfe of war, and you fhall hear
A fearful battle rendered you in mufic.
Turn him to any caufe of policy,

The

'The Gordian knot of it he will unloofe,
Familiar as his garter. When he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill;

And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honeyed fentences:
So that the art and practic part of life,
Must be the mistress to this theorique.

Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain;
His companies unletter'd, rude, and fhallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets," sports;
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any fequeftration.

From open haunts and popularity.

ELY. The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle, And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen beft, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality :

And fo the Prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildnefs; which, no doubt,
Grew like a fummer grafs,. fafteft by night,
Unfeer, yet crefcive in his faculty.

CANT. It muft be fo: for miracles are ceas'd:
And therefore we must needs admit the means,
How things are perfected.

CHAP. XIII.

SHAKSPEARE

HAMLET AND HORATIO.

HOR. HAIL to your lordship!

HAM. I am glad to fee

you well.

Horatio!or I do forget myself.

HOR. The fame, my lord, and your poor fervant ever. HAM. Sir, my good friend: I'll change that name

with you:

And what makes you from Wittenburg, Horatio?

HOR. A truant difpofition, good, my lord.

HAM

HAM. I would not hear your enemy say so!
Nor fhall you do mine ear that violence,
To make it truster of your own report
Against yourself. I know you are no truant;
But what is your affair in Elfinoor?

We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart.

HOR. My lord, I came to fee your father's funeral. HAM. I pray thee do not mock me, fellow-ftudent; I think it was to fee my mother's wedding.

HOR. Indeed, my lord, it follow'd hard upon.

HAM. -Thrift, thrift, Horatio; the funeral bak'd meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables.

Would I had met my direft foe in Heav'n,

Or ever I had feen that day, Horatio!
My father-Methinks I fee my

HOR. Oh where, my lord?

father.

HAM. In my mind's eye, Horatio.

HOR. I faw him once, he was a goodly king.
HAM. He was a man, take him for all in all,
I fhall not look upon his like again.

HOR. My lord, I think I faw him yesternight.
HAM. Saw! who?

HOR. My lord, the king your father.

HAM. The king my father!

HOR. Seafon your admiration but a while,

With an attentive ear; till I deliver,

Upon the witness of these gentlemen,

This marvel to you.

HAM. For Heav'n's love, let me hear!

HOR. Two nights together had thefe gentlemen,
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch,

In the dead waste and middle of the night,
Been thus encountered: A figure like your father,
Arm'd at all points exactly, cap-à-pe,

Appears before them, and with folemn march

Goes