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 Halidown-hill,) which battle. was fought on Holyrood day, (the 14th of September) 1402; and it closes with the defeat and death of Hotspur at Shrewsbury; gagewhich ment happened on Saturday the 21st of July (the eye 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. Woolf, Jan. 9, 1598. For the piece supposed to have been its original, see Six old Plays on which Shakspeare founded, &c. published for S. Leacroft, Charing Cross. STEEVENS. vShakspeare has apparently designed a regular connection of these dramatic histories from Richard the Second to Henry the Fifth, King Hensay, at the end of Richard the Second, declares >his purpose to visit the Holy Land, which he re¬ sumes in the first speech of this play. The com

plaint made by King Henry in the last act of Richard the Second, of the wildness of his son, prepares the reader for the frolicks 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 Shakspeare's Plays. ́ Malone.

Page 2, line 4. Prince John of Lancaster,] The persous of the drama were originally collected by Mr. Rowe, who has given the title of Duke of Lancaster to Prince John, a mistake which Shakspeare has heen no where 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 Lançacter. But all his sons (till they had peerages, as Clarence, Bedjord, 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.

P. 5, 1. 10-12. Find we a time for frighted peace &c.] That is," let us soften peace to rest a while without dis turbance, that she may recover breath to propose new wars. JOHNSON.

ri

P. 5, 1. 13 and fol. No more the thirsty A Erinnys of this soil Shall daub her lips &c.]By her lips Shak speare may mean the lips of peace, who is

nords Yall Sur furado

ne qi:- nt ole on

mentioned in the second line; or may use the thirsty entrance of the soil, for the porous surface of the earth, through which all moisture enters, and is thirstily drank, or soaked up.

STEEVENS.

If there be corruption in the text, I believe Shakspeare meant, however licentiously, to say, No more shall this soil have the lips of her thirsty entrance, or mouth, daubed with the blood f her own

children.

"Ups, in my apprehension, refers to soil in the preceding line, and not to peace, as has been suggested. Shakspeare seldom attends to the integrity of his metaphors. MALONE.

The thirsty entrance of the soil is nothing more or less, than the face of the earth parch'd and crack'd as it always appears in a dry summer. As to its being personified, it is certainly no such unusual practice with Shakspeare. Every one talks familiarly of Mother Earth; and they who live upon her face, may without much impropriety be called her children. Our author only confines the image to his own country. The allusion is to the Baron's wars, RITSON.

The emendment which I should propose, is to read Erinnys, instead of entrance. By Erinnys is meant the fury of discord.

It is evident that the words, her own children, her fields, her flowrets, must all necessarily refer to this soil, and that Shakspeare in this place, as in many others, uses the personal pronoun instead of the impersonal; her instead of its; unless we suppose he means to personify the soil, as he does in Richard II. where Bolingbroke departing on his exile says:

sweet soil, adieu!