OBSERVATIONS. KING HENRY IV. PART I.] The transactions contained in this historical drama are comprised within the period of about ten months; for the action commences with the news brought of Hotspur having defeated the Scots under Archibald earl of Douglas at Holmedon, (or Halidownhill,) which battle was fought on Holy-rood day, (the 14th of September,) 1402; and it closes with the defeat and death of Hotspur at Shrewsbury; which engagement happened on Saturday the 21st of July, (the eve of Saint Mary Magdalen,) in the year 1403. THEOBALD. This play was first entered at Stationers' Hall, Feb. 25, 1597, by Andrew Wise. Again, by M. Woolff, Jan. 9, 1598. For the piece supposed to have been its original, see Six old Plays on which Shakespeare founded, &c. published by S. Leacroft, Charing-Cross. STEEVENS. Shakespeare has apparently designed a regular connection of these dramatic histories from Richard the Second to Henry the Fifth. King Henry, at the end of Richard the Second, declares his purpose to visit the Holy Land, which he resumes in the first speech of this play. The complaint made by King Henry in the last Act of Richard the Second, of the wildness of his son, prepares the reader for the frolics which are here to be recounted, and the characters which are now to be exhibited. JOHNSON. This comedy was written, I believe, in the year 1597. See An Attempt to ascertain the Order of Shakespeare's Plays, Vol. II. MALONE. THOMAS PERCY, earl of Worcester. HENRY PERCY, earl of Northumberland. SCROOP, archbishop of York. ARCHIBALD, earl of Douglas. OWEN GLENDOWER. Sir RICHARD Vernon. Sir JOHN FALSTAFF. POINS. GADSHILL. BARDOLPH. Lady PERCY, wife to Hotspur, and sister to Mortimer. timer. Mrs. QUICKLY, hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap. Lords, Officers, Sheriff, Vintner, Chamberlain, Drawers, Two Carriers, Travellers, and Attendants. SCENE, England. [1] The persons of the drama were originally collected by Mr. Rowe, who has given the title of Duke of Lancaster to Prince John, a mistake which Shakespeare has no where been guilty of in the first part of this play, though in the second he has fallen into the same error. King Henry IV. was himself the last person that ever bore the title of Duke of Lancaster. But all his sons (till they had peerages, as Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester,) were distinguished by the name of the royal house, as John of Lancaster, Humphrey of Lancaster, &c. and in that proper style the present John (who became afterwards so illustrious by the title of Duke of Bedford,) is always mentioned in the play before us. STEEVENS: FIRST PART OF KING HENRY IV. ACT I. SCENE I.-London. A Room in the Palace. Enter King HENRY, WESTMORELAND, Sir WALTER BLUNT, and others. King Henry. So shaken as we are, so wan with care, No more the thirsty Erinnys2 of this soil Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood; As far as to the sepulchre of Christ, [1] That is, let us soften peace, to rest awhile without disturbance, that she may recover breath to propose new wars. JOHNSON. By Erinnys is meant the fury of discord. M. MASON. [3] The lawfulness and justice of the holy wars have been much disputed; but perhaps there is a principle on which the question may be easily determined. If it be part of the religion of the Mahometans to extirpate by the sword all other religions, it is, by the laws of self-defence, lawful for men of every other religion, and for Christians among others, to make war upon Mahometans, simply as Mahometans, as men obliged by their own principles to make war upon Christians, and only lying in wait till opportunity shall promise them success. JOHNSON. Upon this note Mr. Gibbon makes the following observation: "If the reader will turn to the first scene of the First part of king Henry IV. he will see in the |