SCENE V. Life demands Action.

(14) O Gentlemen, the time of life is fhort: To spend that shortness bafely were too long, Tho' life did ride upon a dial's point,

Still ending at th' arrival of an hour.

(14) O gentlemen, &c.] See All's well that ends well. A& 5. Scene 4, and the note. Virgil beautifully obferves,

Stat fua cuique dies, breve & irreparabile tempus
Omnibus eft vita; fed famam extendere factis
Hoc virtutis opus.-

To all that breathe is fixt th' appointed date,
Life is but fhort, and circumfcrib'd by fate :
'Tis virtue's work by fame to stretch the span,
Whofe fcanty limit bounds the days of man.

En. 106

PITE.

General Obfervations.

THERE is fomething fo very great, fingular, and attractive, in the two principal characters of this hiftoric piece, (fays Mrs. Griffith) that I find a pleasure in keeping them ftill in view, and contemplating them both in my mind.

Whenever Hotspur or the Prince filled the Scene, which they are either of them, fingly, fufficient to do, I confefs that my heart was fenfible of fuch an emotion, as Sir Philip Sidney faid he afed to be affected with, on a perusal of the old ballad of ChevyChafe; as if he had heard the found of a trumpet. Perhaps the following obfervation may better account for my impulse:

Women are apt to esteem the ancient virtue of courage at an higher rate than men in general are; and this, for these two efpecial reafons. The firft, that it is peculiarly neceffary to their perfonal defence; and the next, that their weakness induces them to form a fublimer notion of this quality, than the ftronger, and therefore braver, fex may naturally be fuppofed to compliment it with. Men, feeling the principles of it in their own breasts, conceive no very fupernatural idea of it; while women, having no fuch premiffes to reafon from, look on it as fomething more than human.

Thefe

These reflections, with the frequent occafions I have had, throughout this play, of comparing the two heroes of it with each other, have tempted me to undertake a parallel between them, after the manner of Plutarch; which, however, I did not mean to have given the reader, as hinted above, 'till I fhould come to the end of the fecond play after this, where our Author has concluded all he had to fay about Henry the Fifth.

But as Shakespear has opened enough of this prince's character, here, to fupply fufficient materials for the comparison, and that his unfortunate rival is juft flain, I thought the parallel might have a better effect on the mind of my readers, in this place, than it would be likely to produce after the delayhad fuffered the impreffion of Hotspur's qualities to wear out: of their remembrance.

A PAR A LLE L.

BETWEEN

HOTSPUR, AND HENRY RRINCE OF WALESS.

THEY are both equally brave; but the courage of Hotspur has a greater portion of fiercenefs in it-The Prince's magna-nimity is more heroic. The first resembles Achilles; the latter is more like Hector. The different principles, too, of their actions help to form and justify this diftinction; as the one invades, and the other defends, a right. Hotspur fpeaks nobly of his rival Douglas, to his face, but after he is become his friend; the Prince does the fame of Hotspur, behind his back, and while he is ftill his enemy.

They both of them poffefs a sportive vein of humour in their fcenes of common life; but Hotspur ftill preferves the furly and refractory haughtinefs of his character, throughout, even in the relaxations he indulges himself in. The Prince has more of eafe and nature in his; delivering himself over to mirth and diffipation, without referve. Hotspur's feftivity feems to refemble that of Hamlet; as affumed merely to relieve anxiety of mind, and cover fanguinary purposes; the Prince's gaiety, like that of Faulconbridge, appears to be more genuine, arifing from natural temper, and an healthful flow of fpirits. The Prince is Alibiades-Percy is-himself.

There is likewife another character in this rich play, of a moft peculiar distinction; as being not only original, but inimi-

table,

* In King John. ·

table, alfo-No copy of it has ever since appeared, either in life or description. Any one of the Dramatis Perfonæ in Congreve's Comedies, or, indeed, in most of the modern ones, might repeat the wit or humour of the feparate parts, with equal effect on the audience, as the perfon to whofe rôle they are appropriated; but there is a certain characteristic pecuniarity in all the humour of Faifaff, that would found flatly in the mouths of Bardolph, Poins, or Peto. In fine, the portrait of this extraordinary perfonage is delineated by fo masterly a hand, that we may venture to pronounce it to be the only one that ever afforded fo high a degree of pleafure, without the least pretence to merit or virtue to fupport it.

The

I

From the orient to the drooping weft,
Making the wind my post-horse, ftill unfold
The acts commenced on this ball of earth;
(1) Upon my tongues continual flanders ride,

The

(1) Upon my, &c.] In the ftage direction, rumour is faid to enter painted full of tongues. Shakespear, in his description of rumour, had doubtless a view either to Virgil's celebrated defcription of fame, or Ovid's defeription of her cave in the 12th book of his metamorphofes: Ifhall give the reader part of both, and in as close a translation as poffible, that he may judge the better.

Monftrum horrendum, &c.

A monster, hideous, vaft; as many plumes
As in her body stick, so many eyes

For ever waking (wondrous to relate)

There grew beneath; as many babling tongues,

And lift'ning ears as many: by night the flies

Noify thro' fhades obfcure, 'twixt earth and heav'n:
Nor are her eyes by pleafing lumber clos'd;
Watchful and prying round, by day, the fits
On fome high palace-top, or lofty tow'r,

And

The which in every language I pronounce;
Stuffing the ears of men with false reports.
I fpeak of peace while covert enmity,
Under the fmile of fafety wounds the world;
And who but rumour, who but only I,
Make fearful mufters, and prepar'd defence,

(2) Whilft the big year, fwoll'n with some other griefs,
Is thought with child by the stern tyrant war,
And no fuch matter? Rumour is a pipe
Blown by furmifes, jealoufies, conjectures;
And of fo eafy and fo plain a stop,

That the blunt monfter, with uncounted heads,
The still difcordant wavering multitude,

Can play upon it.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Contention.

Contention, like a horfe

Full of high feeding, madly hath broke loofe,

And bears down all before him.

And mighty towns alarms: nor lefs intent
On fpreading falfhood, than reporting truth, &c.

SCENE

See Trapp. Virg. Æn. 4.

(To the cave

of fame.)

Atria turba tenent, &c.
Hither in crowds the vulgar come and go;
Millions of rumours here fly to and fro:
Lies mixt with truth, reports that vary still,
The itching ears of folks unguarded fill:
They tell the tale; the tale in telling grows,
And each relater adds to what he knows;
Rash error, light credulity are here,
And caufelefs tranfport, and ill-grounded fear;
New-rais'd fedition, fecret whispers blown
By nameless authors and of things unknown;
Fame all that's done in heav'n, earth, ocean views,
And o'er the world ftill hunts around for news.
See Garth's Ovid. b. 12.

(2) Year, &c.] Others read car.