THE

BEAUTIES

O F

SHAKESPEAR

The First Part of HENRY IV.

S

ACT I. SCENE I.

Peace after Civil War.

O fhaken as we are, fo wan with care,
Find we a time for frighted peace to

pant,

And breathe fhort-winded accents of new broils

To be commenc'd in ftronds a-far remote.

No more, the thirsty entrance of this foil

(1) Shall damp her lips with her own children's blood:

VOL. 11,

B

No

(1) Shall damp.] i. e. wet, moiften: the old editions, and with them the Oxford, read darb; there feems to me fomething greatly like Shakespear in that word, but I have kept damp, as it is generally approv'd. The word files, in the fourth line

following,

No more fhall trenching war channel her fields,
Nor bruise her flowrets with the armed hoofs
Of hoftile paces. Thofe oppofed files,
Which like the meteors of a troubled heav'n,
All of one nature, of one fubftance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious clofe of civil butchery,

Shall now, in mutual, well-beseeming, ranks,
March all one way; and be no more oppos'd
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies:
The edge of war, like an ill-fheathed knife,
No more fhall cut his master.

SCENE. IV. Hotspur's Description of a finical Courtier,

But I remember, when the fight was done,
When I was dry with rage, and extreme toil,
Breathless, and faint, leaning upon my fword;
Came there a certain lord, neat, trimly drefs'd:
Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin, new-reap'd,
Shew'd like a ftubble-land at harveft-home.
He was perfumed like a milliner;

And 'twixt his finger and his thumb, he held
(2) A pouncet-box, which ever and anon
He gave his nofe: (and took't away again;
Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,

following, is in the old editions eyes; and thus alter'd by Mr.
Warburton: others read arms. I don't know whether eyes might
not be justified, but I think files preferabie
See UPT. P. 334.

a

(2) Pouncet-box.] A small box for mufk, or other perfumes, then in fashion, the lid of which being cut with open work, gave it its name : from poinfoner, to prick, pierce, or engrave. So fays Mr. Warburton, and then condemns the next lines as ftupid interpolation of the players: they are certainly not very eafy to be defended, but we find many fuch conceits as thefe in Shakespear.

Took

Took it in fnuff). And ftill he fmil'd and talk'd:
And as the foldiers bare dead bodies by,
He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a flovenly, unhandfome coarfe
Betwixt the wind, and his nobility.

With many holiday and lady terms

He queftion'd me: amongst the reft, demanded
My prisoners in your majesty's behalf.

(3) I then, all fmarting with my wounds, being cold, Out of my grief, and my impatience

To be fo pester'd with a popinjay,

Answer'd, neglectingly, I know not what ;

He should, or should not; for he made me mad,
To fee him fhine fo brifk, and fmell fo fweet,

And talk fo like a waiting gentlewoman,

of guns, and drums, and wounds; (God fave the mark!)

And telling me the fovereign'ft thing on earth
Was parmacety, for an inward bruise ;

And that it was great pity, fo it was,
This villainous falt-petre fhould be digg'd

(3) I then, &c.] When I first read this paffage, I mark'd the lines, as I have printed them, and turning to the ingenious Mr. Edwards's canons of Criticifm (p. 13.) I found he was of opinion, the lines fhould be fo tranfpofed by this means the fenfe of the paffage is quite clear, and we have no occafion for any alteration. 66 Mr. Warburton in order to make a contradiction in the common reading, and fo make way for his emendation, mifreprefents Hotspur as at this time [when he gave this anfwer] not cold, but It is true, that at the beginning of the fpeech he defcribes

bot.

himfelf as

Dry with rage and extreme toil,
Breathlefs, and faint, &c

Then comes in this gay gentleman, and holds him in an idle difcourfe, the heads of which Hotspur gives us ; and it is plain by the context, it must have lafted a confiderable while. Now the more he had heated himself in the action, the more when he came to ftand ftill any time, wou'd the cold air affect his wounds, &c."

EDWARDS.