He gave his nofe, and took't away again;

Who, therewith angry, when it next came there,

9 Took it in fnuff: and ftill he finil'd, and talk'd; And, as the foldiers bare dead bodies by,

He call'd them untaught knaves, unmannerly,
To bring a flovenly, unhandfome corfe
Betwixt the wind and his nobility.

With many holiday and lady terms

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

I then, all fmarting, with my wounds being cold,

fumes then in fashion: the lid of which, being cut with open work, gave it its name; from poinfoner, to prick, pierce, or engrave. WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton's explanation is juft. At the chriftening of Q. Elizabeth, the marchionefs of Dorfet gave, according to Holinfhed, "three gilt bowls pounced, with a cover."

STEEVENS.

9 Took it in fnuff:] Snuff is equivocally ufed for anger and a powder taken up the nose.

So in The Fleire, a comedy, by E. Sharpham, 1610: "Nay "be not angry, I do not touch thy nofe, to the end it should "take any thing in snuff."

Again, in our author's Love's Labour loft:

"You marr the light, by taking it in fnuff." STEEVENS. 'I then, all smarting, with my wounds being cold,

To be fo pefler'd with a popinjay,] But in the beginning of the fpeech he reprefents himself at this time not as cold but hot, and infamed with rage and labour.

When I was dry with rage and extreme toil, &c.

I am perfuaded therefore that Shakespeare wrote and pointed it thus:

I then all fmarting with my wounds; being gall'd

To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay, &c. WARBURTON. Whatever Percy might fay of his rage and toil, which is merely declamatory and apologetical, his wounds would at this. time be certainly cold, and when they were cold would smart, and not before. If any alteration were neceffary I should tranfpofe the lines:

I then all fmarting with my wounds being cold,

Out of my grief, and my impatience,

To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,

Anfwer'd neglectingly.

A popinjay is a parrot, JOHNSON.

To be fo pefter'd with a popinjay,

Out of my grief and my impatience,

Anfwer'd, neglectingly, I know not what;

He fhould, or fhould 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't thing on earth
Was parmacity, for an inward bruife;
And that it was great pity, fo it was,
This villainous falt-petre fhould be digg'd
Out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd
So cowardly; and, but for thefe vile guns,
He would himfelf have been a foldier.
This bald, unjointed chat of his, my lord,
I answer'd indirectly, as I faid;

And, I beseech you,

let not this report

Come current for an accufation,

Betwixt my love and your high majefty.

Blunt. The circumftance confider'd, good my lord, Whatever Harry Percy then had said To fuch a perfon, and in fuch a place, At fuch a time, with all the reft retold, May reafonably die, and never rife 2 To do him wrong, or any way impeach What then he faid, fo he unfay it now.

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2 To do him wrong, or any way impeach

K. Henry.

What then be faid, fo he unfay it now.] Let us confider the whole pafi.ge, which, according to the prefent reading, bears this literal fenfe. "Whatever Percy then faid may reafonably die and never rife to impeach what he then faid, fo he unfay it now." This is the exact fenfe, or rather nonsense, which the paffage makes in the prefent reading. It should, therefore, without queftion, be thus printed and emended:

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To do him wrong, or any way impeach.
What then be faid, fee, he unfays it now.

i. e."Whatever Percy then faid may reasonably die, and

"" never

K. Henry. Why yet he doth deny his prifoners;
But with provifo and exception,

That we, at our own charge, fhall ranfom ftraight
His brother-in-law, the foolish Mortimer;
Who, on my foul, hath wilfully betray'd
The lives of those that he did lead to fight
Against the great magician, damn'd Glendower;
Whofe daughter, as we hear, the earl of March
Hath lately marry'd. Shall our coffers then
Be empty'd, to redeem a traitor home?
Shall we buy treafon? 3 and indent with fears,
When they have loft and forfeited themselves?
No; on the barren mountains let him ftarve:
For I fhall never hold that man my friend,
Whofe tongue fhall afk me for one penny coft
To ranfom home revolted Mortimer.

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never rife to do him wrong or any-ways impeach him. For "fee, my liege, what he then faid, he now unfays." And the king's anfwer is pertinent to the words, as fo emended : Why, yet he doth deny bis prifoners;

But with provifo, &c.

implying

you are mistaken in faying, fee he now unfays it." But the anfwer is utterly impertinent to what precedes in the common reading. WARBURTON.

The learned commentator has perplexed the paffage. The conftruction is, "Let what he then faid never rife to impeach "him, fo he unfay it now." JOHNSON.

3 — and indent with fears,] The reafon why he fays, bargain and article with fears, meaning with Mortimer, is, because he fuppofed Mortimer had wilfully betrayed his own forces to Glendower out of fear, as appears from his next fpeech. No need therefore to change fears to foes, as the Oxford Editor has done. WARBURTON.

The difficulty feems to me to arife from this, that the king is not defired to article or contract with Mortimer, but with another for Mortimer. Perhaps we may read,

Shall we buy treafon? and indent with peers,.

When they have loft and forfeited themselves?

Shall we purchase back a traitor? Shall we defcend to a compofition with Worcester, Northumberland, and young Percy, who by difobedience have loft and forfeited their honours and themfelves? JOHNSON.

Hot. Revolted Mortimer!

4 He never did fall off, my fovereign liege,
But by the chance of war; 5 to prove that true,
Needs no more but one tongue, for all thofe wounds,
Thofe mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took,
When, on the gentle Severn's fedgy bank,
In fingle oppofition, hand to hand,

He did confound the beft part of an hour
In changing hardiment with great Glendower :
Three times they breath'd, and three times did they
drink,

4 He never did fall off, my fovereign liege,

But by the chance of war ;- -] A poor apology for a foldier, and a man of honour, that he fell off, and revolted by the chance of war. The poet certainly wrote,

But 'bides the chance of war;

i. e. he never did revolt, but abides the chance of war, as a prifoner. And if he ftill endured the rigour of imprifonment, that was a plain proof he was not revolted to the enemy. Hotfpur fays the fame thing afterwards,

· fuffer'd his kinfman March

to be encag'd in Wales.

Here again the Oxford Editor makes this correction his own at the fmall expence of changing 'bides to bore. WARBURTON. The plain meaning is, "he came not into the enemy's power "but by the chance of war.' "To 'bide the chance of war may well enough to fignify, to ftand the hazard of a battle; but can fcarcely mean, to endure the feverities of a prifon. The king charged Mortimer, that he wilfully betrayed his army, and, as he was then with the enemy, calls him revolted Mortimer. Hotfpur replies, that he never fell off, that is, fell into Glendower's hands, but by the chance of war. I fhould not have explained thus tedioufly a paffage fo hard to be mistaken, but that two editors have already miftaken it. JOHNSON.

to prove that true,

Needs no more but one tongue, for all thofe wounds, &c.] This paffage is of obfcure conftruction. The later editors point it, as they understood that for the wounds a tongue was needful, and only one tongue. This is harfh. I rather think it is a broken fentence. "To prove the loyalty of Mortimer," fays Hotfpur,one fpeaking witnefs is fufficient; for his wounds. "proclaim his loyalty, thofe mouthed wounds," &c. JOHNS.

Upon

Upon agreement of fweet Severn's flood;
"Who then affrighted with their bloody looks,
Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds,
And hid 7 his crifp head in the hollow bank,
Blood-ftained with thefe valiant combatants.
8 Never did bare and rotten policy

Colour her working with fuch deadly wounds;
Nor never could the noble Mortimer
Receive fo many, and all willingly:

Then let him not be flander'd with revolt.

K. Henry. Thou doft belie him, Percy, thou dost belie him;

He never did encounter with Glendower

I tell thee, he durft as well have met the devil alone,
As Owen Glendower for an enemy.

Art not ashamed? But, firrah, henceforth
Let me not hear you speak of Mortimer.
Send me your prifoners with the fpeediest means,
Or you fhall hear in fuch a kind from me
As will difpleafe you.-My lord Northumberland,
We licenfe your departure with your son.
-Send us your prifoners, or you'll hear of it.

[Exit K. Henry. Hot. And if the devil come and roar for them,

Who then affrighted, &c.] This paffage has been cenfured as founding nonfenfe, which reprefents a ftream of water as capable of fear. It is mifunderstood. Severn is here not the

flood, but the tutelary power of the flood, who was affrighted, and hid his head in the hollow bank. JOHNSON.

7

his crifp head-] Crifp is curled.

Fletcher, in The Maid of the Mill,

So Beaumont and

"As he fteals by, curls up his head to view you.” Perhaps Shakespeare has bestowed an epithet, applicable only to the ftream of water, on the genius of the tream. STEVENS.

Never did bare and rotten policy] All the quarto's which I have feen read bare in this place. The firft folio, and a. the fubfequent editions, have bufe. I believe bare is right: Never did policy lying open to detection to colour its workings." JOHNSON.

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