England according to law: that done, the king pardoned the said earl his fine and ransom.*

This is not the place for legal discussions; but surely this judgment of the lords, that Northum berland's offence did not amount to "levying war against the king," must have been obtained by his influence among his peers, many of whom were probably as ill affected as he was to the king. Probably the judges were superseded, that the law might be strained.†

The conspirators are now introduced in deliberation at the palace of the archbishop. Northumland was still absent, and Bardolph, who appears to have been closely connected with him, and who, in fact, was not concerned in the present outbreak, is properly made doubtful of the prudence of rising

• Parl. Hist., i. 290; which is warranted by the Rolls, iii. 524; in 5 Hen. IV.

I was not aware of this case when I made an observation on the statute of treasons, in Lardner's British Statesmen, vol. v. 203. I take this to have been a proceeding under that statute.

Hastings and Mowbray are mentioned by Holinshed. Edward Hastings, of the family of Hastings, Lords Hastings and Earls of Pembroke; but never, as it is said, summoned as a peer. Banks, i. 338. Thomas Mowbray was son and heir of the banished Norfolk. In 1405 he had been accused of a concern in taking away the son of the Earl of March from Windsor. Hol., 33.

of Duke

without him; but the warlike counsels of the pre-
late prevailed. I give a part of what Pope calls
his "excellent speech," the former part being unfit
for insertion.*

"What trust is in these times ?

They, that when Richard lived would have him die,
Are now become enamour'd on his grave:

Thou, that threw'st dust upon his goodly head,
When through proud London he came sighing on,
After the admired heels of Bolingbroke,

Cry'st now, O Earth, yield us that king again,
And take thou this!' O thoughts of men accurst!
Past, and to come, seem best; things present, worst."

And Hastings urged that the king's forces

Are in three heads; one power against the French,
And one against Glendower."

This is correct; the contest with Wales still
went on, and a force was about this time sent to
Calais, under Prince Thomas;† Henry was still at
war with the French, who had assisted Owen Glen-
dower.

* The commentators have noticed a mistake of the poet in styling Prince John, Duke of Lancaster. He had not that title until after the accession of Henry the Fifth. Bosw., 44. when he was created Duke of Bedford, he never was Di

I know not why Hastings says that he knew not who commanded this force.

Lane

The scene between Northumberland, his wife,† and daughter-in-law, is Shakspeare's creature, and of fair proportions. But the earl did now deter- not? mine, as Shakspeare relates, to return into Scotland; he gave way to the solicitations of the females of his family, and, instead of joining the rebel force, betook himself to Wales. The reasoning of Lady Percy, plausible though fallacious, might well have prevailed with one of stouter heart. I will give only her apostrophe to her dead husband.

"By his light

Did all the chivalry of England move

To do brave acts. He was indeed the glass
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.
He had no legs, that practised not his gait;
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,
Became the accents of the valiant;

For those that could speak low and tardily
Would turn their own perfection to abuse,

To seem like him so that in speech, in gait,
In diet, in affections of delight,

* Act ii. Sc. 3.

+ This was his second wife, Maude, sister and heir of Anthony, Lord Lucy, and widow of Gilbert Umfraville, Earl of Angus. Hotspur's mother was Margaret, daughter of Ralph, Lord Neville of Raby. Collins, ii. 265.

October 8th, 1403, after the battle of Shrewsbury, a warrant was issued for the apprehending this lady, on what ground I know not; see Tyler, i. 248.

In military rules, humours of blood,

He was the mark and glass, copy and book,

That fashion'd others. And him-O wondrous him!
O miracle of men !-him did you leave
(Second to none, unseconded by you),
To look upon the hideous god of war
In disadvantage; to abide a field

Where nothing but the sound of Hotspur's name

Did seem defensible ;-so you left him :
Never, O never, do his ghost the wrong,

To hold your honour more precise and nice
With others than with him."

Of the celebrated address to sleep, * Shakspeare has the whole merit.

"How many thousand of my poorest subjects

Are at this hour asleep! Sleep, gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,

Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,

And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,

Under the canopies of costly state,

And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody?

O, thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch,

Act iii. Sc. 1.

A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge;

And in the visitation of the winds,

Who take the ruffian billows by the top,

Curling their monstrous heads and hanging them
With deaf'ning clamours in the slippery clouds,
That with the hurly death itself awakes?
Can'st thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down,
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

*

Surry and Warwickt are historical persons, likely to be with the king. The mention of Glendower's death is a mistake taken from Holinshed; he lived till 1415.

A passage in this scene exhibits Shakspeare's carelessness as to facts and circumstances, even those which he had recorded or invented. In referring to Richard's prediction of Northumberland's defec

* Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel and Surry. Banks, ii. 693. ↑ Richard de Beauchamp; Shakspeare invariably styles him Neville. (Bosw. iii.) The title afterwards, as we shall see, came to that family by marriage. Banks, iii. 722. See Bosw., xvi. 310; and xvii. 113.