As he, whose brow, with homely biggin bound,"
Snores out the watch of night. O majesty!
When thou doft pinch thy bearer, thou dost fit
Like a rich armour worn in heat of day,
That scalds with fafety. By his gates of breath
There lies a downy feather, which ftirs not:
Did he fufpire, that light and weightless down
Perforce must move. My gracious lord! my fa◄

ther!

This fleep is found indeed; this is a fleep,
That from this golden rigol hath divorc'd
So many English kings. Thy due, from me,
Is tears, and heavy forrows of the blood;
Which nature, love, and filial tenderness,
Shall, O dear father, pay thee plenteously
My due, from thee, is this imperial crown;
Which, as immediate from thy place and blood,
Derives itself to me. Lo, here it fits,-

[Putting it on his head. Which heaven fhall guard: And put the world's whole ftrength

Into one giant arm, it fhall not force

This lineal honour from me: This from thee
Will I to mine leave, as 'tis left to me.

6

[Exit.

homely biggin bound,] A kind of cap, at present worn only by children; but fo called from the cap worn by the Beruines, an order of nuns.

So, in Monfieur Thomas, by Beaumont and Fletcher, 1639: were the devil fick now,

66

"His horns faw'd off, and his head bound with a biggin."

Again, in Ben Jonfon's Volpone:

"Get you a biggin more, your brain breaks loose.”

STEEVENS.

this golden rigol-] Rigol means a circle. I know

not that it is used by any author but Shakspeare, who introduces it likewife in his Rape of Lucrece :

"About the mourning and congealed face

"Of that black blood, a watry rigol goes." STEEVENS.

K. HEN. Why did you leave me here alone, my lords?

CLA. We left the prince my brother here, my

liege,

Who undertook to fit and watch by you.

K. HEN. The prince of Wales? Where is he? let me fee him:

He is not here.

WAR. This door is open; he is gone this way. P. HUMPH. He came not through the chamber where we stay'd.

K. HEN. Where is the crown? who took it from my pillow?

WAR. When we withdrew, my liege, we left it here.

K. HEN. The prince hath ta'en it hence:-go, feek him out.

Is he fo hafty, that he doth suppose

My fleep my death?

Find him, my lord of Warwick; chide him hither.

[Exit WARWICK.

This part of his conjoins with my disease,

And helps to end me.-See, fons, what things you

are!

How quickly nature falls into revolt,

When gold becomes her object!

For this the foolish over-careful fathers

Have broke their fleep with thoughts, their brains with care,

Their bones with industry;

For this they have engroffed and pil'd up
The canker'd heaps of ftrange-achieved gold;
For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their fons with arts, and martial exercises:
When, like the bee, tolling from every flower
The virtuous fweets;

Our thighs pack'd with wax, our mouths with

honey,

We bring it to the hive; and, like the bees,
Are murder'd for our pains. This bitter taste
Yield his engroffinents to the ending father.-

Re-enter WARWICK.

Now, where is he that will not stay so long
Till his friend fickness hath determin'd2 me?

with thoughts,] Concerning the education and promotion of their children. So, afterwards:

"For this they have been thoughtful to invest
"Their fons with arts," &c.

Mr. Rowe and the fubfequent editors read-with thought; but the change does not appear to me neceffary. MALONE.

9-tolling from every flower-] This fpeech has been contracted, dilated, and put to every critical torture, in order to force it within the bounds of metre, and prevent the admiffion of hemiftichs. I have restored it without alteration, but with those breaks which appeared to others as imperfections. The reading of the quarto is tolling. The folio reads culling. Tolling is taking toll. STEEVENS.

2

* Yield his engroffments-] His accumulations. JOHNSON. determin'd—] i.e. ended; it is still used in this sense in legal conveyances. REED.

So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

66

as it [the hailftone] determines, fo

"Diffolves my life." STEEVENS.

WAR. My lord, I found the prince in the next

room,

Washing with kindly tears his gentle cheeks;
With fuch a deep demeanour in great forrow,
That tyranny, which never quaff'd but blood,
Would, by beholding him, have wash'd his knife
With gentle eye-drops. He is coming hither.
K. HEN. But wherefore did he take away the
crown?

Re-enter Prince HENRY.

Lo, where he comes.-Come hither to me, Harry:--Depart the chamber, leave us here alone.

[Exeunt CLARENCE, Prince HUMPHREY, Lords, &c.

P. HEN. I never thought to hear you speak again.

.

K. HEN. Thy with was father, Harry, to that thought:

I ftay too long by thee, I weary thee.

Doft thou fo hunger for my empty chair,

That thou wilt needs inveft thee with mine honours
Before thy hour be ripe? O foolish youth!

Thou seek'ft the greatnefs that will overwhelm thee.
Stay but a little; for my cloud of dignity
Is held from falling with fo weak a wind,
That it will quickly drop: my day is dim.
Thou haft ftol'n that, which, after fome few hours,
Were thine without offence; and, at my death,
Thou haft feal'd up my expectation : 3
Thy life did manifeft, thou lov'dft me not,
And thou wilt have me die affured of it.

3

-Seal'd up my expectation:] Thou haft confirmed my opinion. JOHNSON.

Thou hid'ft a thousand daggers in thy thoughts;
Which thou haft whetted on thy ftony heart,
To ftab at half an hour of life.4

my

What! canft thou not forbear me half an hour?
Then get thee gone; and dig my grave thyself;
And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear,5
That thou art crowned, not that I am dead.
Let all the tears that fhould bedew my hearfe,
Be drops of balm, to fanctify thy head:
Only compound me with forgotten duft;
Give that, which gave thee life, unto the worms.
Pluck down my officers, break my decrees;
For now a time is come to mock at form,
Harry the fifth is crown'd:-Up, vanity!
Down, royal ftate! all you fage counsellors, hence!
And to the English court affemble now,
From every region, apes of idleness!

Now, neighbour confines, purge you of your fcum:
Have you a ruffian, that will fwear, drink, dance,
Revel the night; rob, murder, and commit

half an hour of my life.] It fhould be remembered that Shakspeare ufes a few words alternately as monofyllables and diffyllables. Mr. Rowe, whose ear was accustomed to the utmost harmony of numbers, and who, at the fame time, appears to have been little acquainted with our poet's manner, first added the word frail to fupply the fyllable which he conceived to be wanting. The quarto writes the word hower, as it was anciently pronounced.

So, Ben Jonfon, in The Cafe is alter'd, 1609:

The reader will find many more inftances in the foliloquy of King Henry VI. Part III. A& II. sc. v.

have followed Mr. Rowe. STEEVENS.

The other editors

And bid the merry bells ring to thine ear,] Copied by

Milton:

"When the merry bells ring round,

"And the jocund rebecks found." MALONE.