Part 12 (1/2)

”_Hot_ Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come, when you do call for theiven to Prince Henry in the previous act:

”_Fal_ Owen, Owen,--the same;--and his son-in-law, Mortihtly Scot of Scots, Douglas, that runs o' horseback up a hill perpendicular,--

_P Hen_ He that rides at high speed, and with his pistol kills a sparrow flying

_Fal_ You have hit it

_P Hen_ So did he never the sparrow”

But this frank conte is not the only or the chief characteristic possessed by Hotspur and Harry Percy in common Hotspur disdains the Prince:

”_Hot_ Where is his son, The nimble-footed mad-cap Prince of Wales, And his comrades that daffed the world aside And bid it pass?”

and the Prince mimics and makes fun of Hotspur:

”_P Hen_ He that kills me some six or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands and says to his wife, 'Fie upon this quiet life! I ork'”

Then Hotspur brags of what he will do when he ht I will embrace him with a soldier's arm, That he shall shrink under my courtesy”

And in precisely the same strain Prince Henry talks to his father:

”_P Hen_ The tie His glorious deeds for nities”

It is true that Prince Henry on more than one occasion praises Hotspur, while Hotspur is content to praise hinificant: such as it is, it is well seen when the two heroes meet

”_Hot_ My name is Harry Percy

_P Hen_ Why, then I see A very valiant rebel of that naly oes on:

”I am the Prince of Wales, and think not, Percy, To share with lory any more; Two stars keep not their n Of Harry Percy and the Prince of Wales ”

And so the boainst the other like systole and diastole which balance each other in the same heart But the worst of the matter is, that Prince Henry and Hotspur, as we have already noticed, have both the sa ain, though Hotspur finds the finer expression for it when he cries that he will ”pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon”

To the student of the play it really looks as if Shakespeare could not iine any other incentive to noble or heroic deeds but this love of glory: for nearly all the other serious characters in the play sing of honour in the sa Henry IV envies Northuue,”

and declares that Percy hath got ”never-dying honour against renowned Douglas” The Douglas, too, can find no other hich to praise Hotspur--”thou art the king of honour”: even Vernon, a : he says to Douglas:

”If well-respected honour bid me on, I hold as little counsel eak fear As you or any Scot that this day lives”

Falstaff hi ”pricks hi Pistol adelled” from his weary limbs

The French, too, when they are beaten by Henry V all bemoan their shame and loss of honour, and have no word of sorrow for their ruined hoed women and children The Dauphin cries: