DISCHARGE, disband, dismiss; | ENGAGED; "engaged to this

DOLE, dealing, distribution; i. 1. EVER AMONG, Schmidt says,
169.

1

but seven or eight years old, must have left him early without sufficient control; but his grandmother, the Countess of Hereford, sister of Archbishop Arundel, bestowed some pains on his education, and at eleven years of age he was entered a student at Queen's College, Oxford, a fact which is recorded by an inscription on one of the windows,

"In Perpetuam Rei Memoriam : —

Imperator Britanniæ,

Triumphator Galliæ,
Hostium Victor et sui,
Henricus V.,

Parvi Hujus Cubiculi,

Olim magnus incola."

Fuller alludes to the chamber over the gateway as the one used by Henry when a scholar at Oxford.

Shakspeare, in his portrait of "Prince Hal," has taken the groundwork of his facts chiefly from Holinshed and Stow, with some few hints from the old drama called The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth; but these facts and hints have been clothed in the poet's own immortal language with singular felicity and beauty. The Prince of Wales, who was so created the day after his father's coronation, won his spurs at Shrewsbury, where he behaved with great bravery, and was "hurt in the face by an arrow" (Holinshed), -a wound which the young hero calls in the play "a shallow scratch," and refuses to quit the field.

PRINCE JOHN OF LANCASTER. John Plantagenet, third son of Henry the Fourth, born in 1389, is here rightly called as above, since he did not receive any

other style until the reign of his brother, who created him "Duke of Bedford," under which name he is a character in King Henry V.; but he figures more prominently in the First Part of King Henry VI. as the "Regent of France." He was however made by his father Constable of England, Governor of Berwick, Warden of the East Marches towards Scotland, and a K. G.

EARL OF WESTMORELAND. This nobleman may be well called, in the usual lists of the characters, one of the "Friends to the King." He was the head of that great Northern house of Nevill, which exercised so much sway in this and several succeeding reigns. Gilbert de Nevill came in with the Conqneror, and his grandson, Gilbert de Nevill, married the daughter and heir of Bertram de Bulmer, a powerful Northern baron. Ralph Nevill, fourth baron, is the character in this play. He was born in 1365, succeeded his father, John Nevill, in 1389, was created Earl of Westmoreland in 1397 by Richard II., but was the first to join Bolingbroke's standard, and became his most powerful supporter against the rebellious Percies. The further consideration of this great baron, and his numerous family, will be resumed in the next play.

SIR WALTER Blunt. This gallant knight, standardbearer to Henry the Fourth, fell on the battle-field of Shrewsbury, mistaken for his royal master, being "Semblably furnish'd like the king himself” (v. 3. 21).

He was one of the ancient family of Blount of Sodington, which came to his father, Sir Walter Blount, by marrying Joan, daughter and sole heir of Sir William de Sodington, his first wife. By his second wife, Eleanor,

daughter and heir of Sir John Beauchamp, he was father of the character in this play, who was one of the executors to the will of John of Gaunt.

THOMAS PERCY, Earl of Worcester. This noble was a younger brother of the Earl of Northumberland in this play. He had been distinguished in war and embassies in the reign of Edward III., serving with the Black Prince, and in 1387 was admiral of the fleet. King Richard II. created him Earl of Worcester in 1397, and made him steward of his household; but the earl "broke his staff of office," as recorded in the preceding play, when his brother was "proclaimed traitor" for joining Bolingbroke. From being one of the warmest supporters of the new king, Worcester became the most bitter of his opponents; and he wilfully distorted to his nephew Hotspur "The liberal and kind offer of the king "(v.1.2), and thus brought on the decisive battle of Shrewsbury, so fatal to the fortunes of the Percies. Being taken prisoner, he was beheaded July 23, 1403, two days after the fight. HENRY PERCY, Earl of Northumberland. The prophetic words of King Richard in the preceding play (v. 1. 55-61) find their accomplishment in this :

"Northumberland, thou ladder wherewithal

The mounting Bolingbroke ascends my throne,

Though he divide the realm and give thee half,

It is too little, helping him to all."

"The impatient spirit of Henry Percy, and the factious disposition of the Earl of Worcester, younger brother of